Moonflower

Chapter 74: A Family at Long Last

Jin, his family, and a couple of his friends from the village were present with Eunbyeol and the priest later that afternoon when they all assembled in a field of wildflowers for the ceremony. It had been her only request. That they marry out in the open near the blossoms whose bounty provided such healing for her patients. Eunbyeol felt free in that meadow. It was the one place in her life where she was unrestrained.

No bloom had ever ostracized her. No blade of grass had rejected her tender heart. In this lea, with God's bright cerulean sky stretching forever in all directions over her head and the fragrances of Heaven surrounding her at her feet, encompassed by all its colors in the vibrant blooms and verdant grasses she could find only in nature, Eunbyeol found the most peace in a life that had been far too lonely. Except for the moments when Jin had suddenly appeared on her doorstep.

But now he was about to pledge his entire life to her. In front of a priest and witnesses. Eunbyeol was blinking hard in an effort not to weep. She had never truly dared to dream of this moment. Not with any real faith in its possibility. It had been to dear to her heart. Too heartrending to consider it never happening.

How Jin didn't already know how much she adored him was a mystery to her. Surely, she wore her feelings for him on her face. And in her eyes. She suspected her voice gave her away too. But he had never noticed. So preoccupied had he been with his own affairs. Too tied up in his own feelings for several village lasses to ever really see the woman who had loved him her whole life long.

It wasn't surprising. She knew she was no grand beauty. A lass of average looks, Eunbyeol could not compete with half the girls in the village for comeliness; though, she possessed a superior intellect. She could outwit them all.

And her heart was as wide as that dome glowing above their heads today. Over fifteen years ago, she had given her precious heart, in all its beauty and scope, to Jin in this exact spot on a bright summer's day much like the one they were experiencing today. That was the real reason she wanted to marry him here. For this field of wildflowers was where, as a six-year-old, she had lost her heart to Jin while he spun her around under a cheerful sun. His face had been upturned to that radiant grace, his eyes closed in ecstasy, his mouth echoing with laughter as he'd picked up his tiny friend and twirled her around. Eunbyeol had kept her own eyes open so she could see the incandescent face of her best friend. Her eyes had slid over the curves of that beloved countenance, and she had known that she possessed a special love for this boy. No one else would ever touch her heart as he had.

Now she stood clothed in her grandmother's hanbok, the one article of clothing she'd brought with her from her parents' house that meant something special to her. She was standing in her meadow with Jin. In their meadow. Preparing to marry the object of her greatest affection. And she was wondering if he remembered that day under the sun so many years ago.

He turned his head suddenly and smiled at her, and the light of that grace lit up her whole heart along with his entire face. She returned his joy with the curve of her own lips. But it was the radiance spilling from her eyes of which Jin took note. Eunbyeol looked happy to be marrying him. He hoped she was.

He was reliving a moment right now. One he had forgotten until a few minutes ago when he'd stepped into this field of wildflowers. He and Eunbyeol used to play here as children. He'd suddenly forcefully recalled a day when they'd both been quite tiny. They had come here to chase butterflies under a burning August sun. Their mothers had been occupied making kimchi and had shooed them both out of the kitchen that hot afternoon.

Jin grinned as he remembered that both he and Eunbyeol had initially been helping their eommas with the preparation of the spicy dish. But they had grown weary and bored after a while. Jin had begun to whine. And Eunbyeol's mother had turned to her and asked her to take Jin outside to enjoy the summer air. Little boys needed to run, her eomma had informed her. They required freedom. Apparently, Eunbyeol had too, for she had left that home once and for all a few years ago. To pursue her calling as a medicine woman.