.eleven.
Before they knew it, they had spent several hours down by the lake. Jung had only spent about an hour in the water and then sat on the boulder with Minji. He told her stories about their childhood, the very first being the one where they met for the first time. According to Jung, she and Soon Deok had another sister who was much older than them. She had gotten married off to a wealthy political family when Haksoon was only four years old, and the king threw a big party at the palace to celebrate in her honor because she was the daughter of one of his closest friends.
"You and your sister never liked playing with the other little girls." He explained with a smile as he recalled the memory. "You always really admired your dad and wanted to be a soldier like him."
Minji couldn't imagine herself wanting to be a soldier, or wanting to learn to fight. She liked the complete opposite. She liked making herself look pretty, and feminine. So much that she hadn't used her heavy metal armor since she had arrived in Goryeo. The only thing she seemed to have in common with the real Park Haksoon was their appearance.
"That day though, you two decided you wanted to play dolls with the other little girls at the party." He explained, scooting a bit closer on the boulder when he felt like he was slowly slipping off. Minji made some room for him to get closer. "They were really snobby and mean, and they didn't want to play with you because they said you looked like little boys instead of girls. They made fun of you and made you cry."
Minji frowned at that, thinking that sometimes little kids could be very cruel without even realizing. "So then what happened?" She asked, intrigued by the story.
"Your sister had taken off running to cry somewhere, while you just cried off to the side." Jung said with a sigh. "My hyung Eun spotted you first. We had been play fighting nearby. I remember he told me: Jung-ah, look. Someone's crying over there. Go tell her to be quiet." Minji found herself snorting when she heard his words. Typical Eun, only caring about himself. "I told him to keep playing with me, we could just ignore the noise. But he instead picked a flower off the ground and made a ring out of it. He walked over to you and then offered it. I followed behind him, and asked if you wanted to play with us. That day we quickly became friends after my hyung got bored of play fighting and went to find something else to do."
He had hoped that by telling her the stories, something would come back to her, but nothing did. As it became early afternoon, Jung pushed himself off the boulder to get back on his feet. Then he offered his hand to Minji to help her. She took it gratefully and he helped her get off the boulder. "Tonight's the yearly ceremony to chase away the bad spirits." He informed her. Then he added a question, "Will you be at the palace tonight, Haksoon-ah?" His words were hopeful. In a palace full of royals, and nobles, he wanted to see a familiar face that wasn't one of his brothers.
Minji gave a shake of her head. "I don't know. But I don't think so. My sister and mother haven't mentioned anything to me about going to a ceremony tonight."
He nodded in understanding. "Maybe right after the ceremony we can go into the village together and see the celebrations there. There's always fireworks, and food, and music. I've always wanted to go, but none of my hyungs ever want to go with me." He suggested, looking at her from the corner of his eye to see her reaction.
At this, she gave a nod. A smile spread across her lips. "Sure, oppa."
He took her back to her home on his horse, and as she entered the house, she ran into Wang Eun's younger brother. Wang Han was on his way out and he stopped when he saw her. "Where are you coming from?" He asked with a grin. He didn't see his brother Jung, since he had dropped her out at the front gates and she insisted that she could make it the rest of the way on her own. "Fighting with my hyung again?" He asked another question in a teasing tone.
