Body & Soul 🇰🇷 Part 1

Chapter 194: The Twins

I swear the time had flown by so fast, we both felt like there was a lot we wanted to still do at the village before he had to return home. This time I made sure that my sister didn't stray so far away from me and she even made friends with the girl I had been writing to since my last visit which was a huge relief. We were usually over-protective of each other and didn't allow anyone to enter our circle so easily but the fact that they got along so well as she had started to join us in our daily adventures out in the open. In fact we were pretty much outside all day and only came inside for meals that we didn't even notice how stressed out the adults looked until it was our last day here and we were ready to go home. It was our uncle Jeong-Beom who sat us down and updated us of the investigation that was happening back in our home just as our cousins walked in. We thought my father would have sorted out the situation by now...anger had overcome me like nothing before as I ran out to chief park's training centre and took out all of my frustrations until my fingers bled. I didn't even realise I was in such a state until my sister had come to calm me down after what seemed like hours. She held onto me as I collapsed onto my knees and screamed with every pent up emotion I had since this whole ordeal started years ago. We all knew that with Nam-Kyu in the home she would plot against my mother when she was in her most vulnerable state. I couldn't believe there were riots going on at this moment! Clearly it was all a plot to try to hurt my mother and my brother who wasn't even born yet! How dare they try to corner my father like that, had everyone forgotten who he was? How dare they continue to try to split my parents up! The happiest most romantic couple that I knew! Hana held onto me until I had nothing else to scream and shout anymore and rocked me in her chest for a while before she told me that she was going to go back home regardless of the...guests we had staying over.

All I could do was close my eyes in frustration; no matter how close I had kept her to me all this time we both knew that at least one of us had to stay behind for my mother's sake and to keep my father from loosing his mind...no matter how much of a role model he was, but without my mother's constant presence, he would lose his bearings rather quickly. As for myself, I had another plan in mind as I had informed her of my decision to stay behind with our uncle Hwi and continue to attend our lessons in the palace as well as to up my military training myself with chief park and other things I wanted to take care of by myself if we were going to patch our family up by ourselves. I told her that we had to discuss it with our uncles first, but I didn't want to send her home alone. Yeon only a year or two younger than us but he was bright and I would need his help a lot more. Chul on the other hand was almost as tall as me and was a year older than us...I knew that this would be hard on my aunt but I wanted Hana to go home with someone she could rely on physically at least, our weaponry skills matched and I was a lot closer to him than anyone else. We had more in common, just like Hana and Geon did with their creativity and reading habits.
We had a very long talk about it with everyone who was totally against the idea at first, even our uncle. But it was our aunt Hui-Jee who eventually agreed with us; out of everyone else she knew how clever my mother was and how alike she and Hana was. She also knew that we would carry out or decision anyways, and my cousins weren't backing off either. They adored my parents and wanted to help out no matter how their parents argued against it. We told them that we would all meet up in the Palace for our lessons as much as we could and send letters to each other...and with that all of my uncles escorted Chul and Hana back to our home as they knew that they would find a way to leave together either way. I hugged my sister goodbye as I had no idea when I would see her again before Chul took her by the hand and off they went. He gave Geon a knowing look and he returned it with a sad smile, it was the first time we would all be apart for god knows how long. We all stayed behind and watched the other half of our hearts gallop away into the unknown as I went back to train until I had a full formed plan in mind...just like mother taught me.

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I already missed my brother so much, and it looked like I wasn't the only one as I looked over at Chul who looked as lost as I felt. The four of us hadn't been without each other since we were practically born, so I guess we couldn't help but to rely on each other even more than usual. We took a look at one another before we huddled up close to each other and leaned on each other the whole ride home. It was a strange feeling, it was usually Geon who was trailing behind me whilst Hyuk and Chul ran far away in front of us. My cousins were not close to each other like myself and Hyuk but they were close enough that they had a tight brotherly bond that no prince or princess could try to tear apart, and believe me they did it to us all the time. They tried to take us out separately so they could gain their own allies and we were sick of it. In the end we had to tell my father about it and I will probably never forget the look on his face as he pulled me into his embrace like he did every single day and promised me he would take care of it. That was what I loved the most about my father; when he made promises he stuck by it every single time as if it was a priority to him. And he was as good as his word as he came to our lessons the next day in the palace and picked us all up for our lunch break and declared loudly that he would start collecting us from now on now that mother had started working in the palace again. He reached out for his nephews as well and told us that he would take us home to eat from now on when he really treated all of us to food in the market. That was one of my happier memories with my father...now god only knows what battle he was fighting without us. I couldn't even imagine how he would look never mind act if he had to distance himself from her and my newborn brother.

We had began to discuss the plan again until we both heard the riot going on outside! We took a look through the curtains of the carriage and we saw our father's men fighting to control the streets again...and my father amongst him. My mother was right; my father was a really bad liar, and from the look on his face I could only guess what was going on. We told our uncles to go ahead and help my father, but we need our uncle Moon-Bok to come with us as we thought that my mother might be giving birth right now. He went to find his wife whilst we managed to find a small corner to wait for him in his pharmacy that hadn't been damaged yet. And while he scrambled around to find his equipment as his wife and daughter, I managed to snatch a little bottle I recognised all too well and grab Chul by the hand. He recognised it as well as he widened his eyes, but the game we would be playing in my home was up to me and he had to trust my judgement. We both took swigs of it at the same time as I put the bottle in his pocket before we were all ready to go home...and just in time to it turns out.