Hwarang: A Different Kind Of Halfbreed.

23.

Mei sat in her room wondering what she'd do for the day. Jinheung had refused to let her be his personal guard and she'd left the palace in a rage. "You know, you can't really blame him for refusing, what you're asking for is ridiculous.  When I said don't give up I meant show him how much you love him and what he means to you not turn yourself into a female eunuch" Bai said seeming to appear out of nowhere.
  Mei glared at him "For goodness sake Bai-"  "Knock I know I know but aren't you getting tired of asking me to knock, it's been years"

"There's no such thing as a female eunuch Bai" Mei said.

  "The point is you are a princess of qing you can't be his personal guard"

"Well then what am I supposed to do?"Mei asked.  Bai sighed and leaned against the wall. "You know that I can't tell you what to do when it comes to things like this you have to figure it out for yourself"

"I'm going to visit my friends you are no help at all" Mei said and left. Bai shook his head, things weren't going well and he was worried that Mei would end up hurt.

Mei went to joo ki's tea shop and there she found Ah ro and Soo Yeon.
  She joined them at their table and poured herself a cup of tea gulping the whole thing down in one go.
  She sighed and poured herself another cup.  "Are you alright?" Soo Yeon asked. Mei shook her head and put her hand under her chin but didn't say anything. 

Ah ro raised an eyebrow at her, "aren't you going to tell us what's wrong?"  "He said no to me. Me! I swear he makes me so angry sometimes I wonder why I love him so much" Mei burst out and poured herself another cup of tea.
  "Who are you talking about?" Soo Yeon asked.
   "What did you ask him for?" Ah ro asked.   "I want to be his personal guard and he said no"
  "Who are we talking about?" Soo Yeon asked again.

"Well you can't blame him, you're a princess you can't be a personal guard its unheard of" Ah ro said.
Mei frowned "Eonnie not you too, it's not like I don't know what I'm getting myself into"

"Could I please know who we're talking about here?" Soo Yeon said and banged her fist on the table.
   "The king" Ah ro said.
Soo Yeon choked on her tea and started hitting her chest. Mei and Ah ro watched her with bored expressions.  "Why are you so surprised?" Mei asked.

"I'm sorry it's just that when I found you were actually a girl I thought you'd be in love with Han Sung since you were always together" Soo Yeon said.

"Perhaps if I'd met Han Sung first but that isn't the case"

"How did you meet his majesty?" Soo Yeon asked curiously.  Mei gladly told her how she'd met Jinheung and had fallen in love with him.
   "You've loved him for such a long time! How can you keep loving someone who doesn't return your feelings for so long" soo yeon said.

Ah ro hit her friends shoulder "don't ask such an insensitive question" Ah ro scolded.  Mei smiled "It's fine really, it's a good question and I'd be lying if I said I didn't ask myself that everyday but I don't have the answer, all I know is that I can't love anyone else but him" Mei said