Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth

Chapter 11

Ah Ro watches as Sun-woo tumbles from his horse and lies on the ground, unconscious. She tries to revive him, crying that she never got to tell him how she really feels, and that she's glad he's not really her brother. Sun-woo suddenly sits up, cups the back of Ah Ro's head, and kisses her.

He ends the kiss, and they look at each other for a long moment, Ah Ro stammering half-words in her nervousness. Sun-woo leans in to kiss her again and she closes her eyes, but instead, he passes out.

Yeo-wool finds them when Sun-woo's horse comes back alone, and they take Sun-woo back to the infirmary, where his friends stand around him worriedly. Ban-ryu wonders why he's here, and Su-ho fusses at him that he should be worried when his roommate is ill. Su-ho grumbles that he feels bad for the woman who marries Ban-ryu, and Ban-ryu can't look him in the eye, hee.

Ah Ro is in a bit of a shock as well, but that night, she sits by Sun-woo's bedside to keep watch over him. She wonders why he's not waking yet, then worries that he'll forget their kiss when he does wake up. She realizes that Sun-woo is freezing and covers him with the blanket, then warms her hands to put them on his face. It's not enough, so she thinks for just a minute before climbing in bed with him, telling herself that it's what any good doctor would do to help a patient.

Sun-woo turns in his sleep to face Ah Ro, and she smiles to find his face so close to hers. She wishes he'd wake up and see her there with him, thinking that they'd have a lot to talk about.

However, Sun-woo wakes the next morning to find himself being snuggled by both Yeo-wool and Su-ho. He sits up in stark horror, and realizes that Ji-dwi and Ban-ryu are there too, watching them all sleep. Ji-dwi explains that he sent Ah Ro to get some sleep, since she's been watching over Sun-woo for four days. Okay, that's worrying.

Sun-woo dresses and finds Ah Ro sleeping soundly in her own bed. He reaches out to touch her face, but thinks better of it. When Ah Ro finally wakes, she finds herself alone.

Worried, she goes looking for Sun-woo, and finds him in sword practice with the rest of the Hwarang. She waves when she catches his eye, but he pretends not to see her, so she moves to a doorway and waves even harder. Sun-woo doesn't acknowledge her, and she wonders if he's breaking up with her before they even start.

She waits at the mess hall to ask how he's feeling, and Sun-woo gives her a short, curt answer. He leaves her confused after a brief thanks for saving his life (which she has to ask for), and Ji-dwi notices how Sun-woo's behavior upsets her.

The rest of the boys see it too, and Su-ho takes Sun-woo to task for being rude to her when she took such good care of him. Yeo-wool comments cheekily that they don't seem much like brother and sister.

Over the wall, Ah Ro asks her friend Soo-yeon if a man can forget kissing a woman. She remembers that Su-ho forgot what happened between Soo-yeon and Ban-ryu, but Soo-yeon argues that kissing is a on a whole different level. Soo-yeon guesses that the guy could be regretting the kiss or may just have changed his mind, the way her brother does ten times a day.

Ji-dwi stops Sun-woo on his way back out to the archery range and suggests a match. Sun-woo declines, and Ji-dwi grabs his wrist and asks why he's being so dismissive of Ah Ro. Sun-woo angrily yanks his arm away, which sends the dragon-head bracelet flying off his wrist.

Sun-woo tells Ji-dwi to mind his own business, but Ji-dwi says that he has too much interest in Ah Ro to do that. Frustrated, Sun-woo agrees to the archery match, and they head out together. Behind them, troublemaker Kang Sung finds the dragon-head bracelet and gets a nasty gleam in his eye.

Ji-dwi and Sun-woo send arrow after arrow at flying straw discs, and they're pretty evenly matched. Ji-dwi even compliments Sun-woo on his skill after just a short time. He notices that Sun-woo's hand is getting badly blistered, and warns Sun-woo not to overdo it.