Dark Embrace [Hoseok FF] [SOF Prequel 0.2] ✔

Chapter 11

It had been 10 days since Hoseok had placed the letter in her room and Aaya still found herself in a daze whenever she recalled its content.

The tone of the letter was not the Hoseok she knew in the days she spent with him.

When he had said that it was now time to get to know him, he truly did let go of any pretence. He was honestly letting her see him, know him.

Generally, she could take it in a romantic direction and think him to be so romantic and loving, that he could not bear to keep any side of his hidden from her. That he found happiness in letting his lover know all of him.

But Aaya knew, with Hoseok, that was not the case.

For him, revealing everything meant that he would never let her escape, so letting her know who exactly he was, was inconsequential.

Really? Weaving stories of him being obsessively possessive about me and thinking he meant the thought he wrote about never letting me go while he simply left her in her village and coolly went back home?

These days, Aaya oscillated between elation and dread. She was confused over whether she was nervous for his arrival again or angry at the way he left.

A letter, and broken arms of another man, was NOT the way to be parted from a lady!

"Aaya!! Why are you simply standing there?? Go serve the guests!!" her foster mother screamed at her.

Grimacing, Aaya quickly finished preparing the juice and then loaded the tray with fruits and rice wine, then prepared to let it be passed to another servant to be taken out to the group of men being entertained in the outer reception area of the house.

"Those are the men from the family of your sister's future husband!! How dare you delegate and not attend to them yourself??"

Aaya did not look at her, being habituated to her greed and insensitivity, "The men are drunk. It is risky for me to go."

Her mother grunted and then let it be, walking out of the kitchen, "I will be entertaining the Ladies, make sure you send the food there too. Once you have done your job, you may go back to your room. Do NOT come out till the morning!"

Just like blank noise, Aaya did not pay attention to it and kept on making the food. The heat from the fire made her sweat freely, but she still did not remove her veil.

Few hours later, she instructed the servants to send the dishes to the rooms, inquired about her Nana and Tang. After receiving a reply that they had both retired, she bid the servants goodnight and crossed the courtyard.

In between reaching for the quarter of the wings having her rooms adjacent to Nana's, Aaya stopped to look at the full moon. The moonlit night draping the world in its silvery light made the evening softer. The sounds of laughter coming from the house, the streets lit with lantern and still occupied with people returning home, inexplicably made her feel peaceful.

She wanted to sit in the courtyard for a while, but the exhaustion in her body would soon make her fall in a deep sleep, the second she allowed herself to relax. It would be better to be in her room than being defenceless at a time her house was filled with strangers.

As Aaya leisurely walked forward, humming a little tune to herself, she pondered over why the groom's family had suddenly changed their minds.

Previously the family had come to bear gifts and have a ritual before the date of the marriage ceremony was fixed, but they had decided to stay in an inn and would only come at an auspicious time, which was four days later.

Suddenly in the morning, they had sent a letter informing the change of their mind to visiting tonight.

As such, Aaya was pulled from her duties in the Physician's hospital and had to hastily go to the market place with the servants to buy the ingredients and to cook a feast.