BOOK 1: The Heir Series; Choi Seungcheol

24: STORM

What the ―

Taerin stared at the huge animal in front of her.

Is that a horse?!

Seungcheol effortlessly mounds into the huge white creature, leaving Taerin with her mouth slightly opened. "What are you still doing there?" Seungcheol even asked her.

She looked at him with the same scepticism. "Why? What do you want me to do?" He's not so stupid to tell her to ride that, was he?

Yet looks like Seungcheol was really stupid. "Ride with me." He said.

"What?" Was he crazy? "No, no, no, no." She started stepping backwards. "There's no way I'm going to ride that. . . horse."

"Taerin Dominique! Where do you think you're going?" Seungcheol calls as she walked away from the huge animal and Seungcheol.

"I'm taking a walk." Isn't it obvious? He suddenly came to her and pulled her out of the house? What did he do before this whole thing? Horse-hunting?

She heard heavy thuds coming from behind her. Great!

"Dominique." Seungcheol called again. Now he's using the second name card on her.

"No, Seungcheol. You can't force me to ride that thing." No, no no!

"What wrong with riding a horse?"

She stopped walking and turned to him. She just looked at him as if he's gone insane before walking again.

"Are you afraid of horses?"

She stopped for the second time. "No. I'm afraid of huge animals. Like horses." She said and pointed to the horse who was the same height as her.

"Really? I never knew that." Seungcheol said. He seemed to be amused.

"Well, now you know." She muttered. Seungcheol was not there before when she had an accident involving horses. So of course, he wouldn't know.

She continued her walking. If she's going on tour, she'd rather walk on foot than be on top of that horse. Yet it seems like Seungcheol's not in the mood to give up.

"Come on, Taerin. It would be nice if we ―"

"Nice?" She cut him. What's nice about it? She practically broke her arms because of that incident, back in LA, when the horse she was riding went hysterical and threw her away. She almost lost her job then because she couldn't move a finger. Oh, that was definitely fun.

Seungcheol sighed. "I mean, it would be more convenient to use as a means of transportation."

She thought of something else and she remembered she saw carts earlier. "I saw carts. I can use one."

"Carts can't go up the valleys." Seungcheol countered. "And there are parts that can't be reached by carts nor cars. Only horses can."

"Then I'll not go up to those places." That's not even a problem.

"Come on. You'll miss all the good places around here if you settle for carts." He said.

Urgh! She groaned out of terrible frustration. "Why are you so annoying?" She asked. He's getting annoying.

"I'm not. You're just so hard-headed."

Her irritation towards him rose up. Who's hard-headed in this matter? She can't help but lash out at him. She looked up at him. "Which of what I said did you not understand?! I can't ride big animals! Okay?! I don't―"

"You'll be fine. You're with me." Seungcheol cut her off.

She shook her head. "Still not riding."

Seungcheol stopped for how many minutes as if measuring her out, and then he sighed. She saw his shoulder slumped and she smiled deep within. Finally, she made him give up.