The Bracelet

Chapter Twenty Three.

Inside the King's Residence...

He stared at the meal, his Hye Jin sent to him through the General. Stew filled with meat and bread wrapped with white cloth, a humble yet satisfying sight it gave him.

He took his royal chopstick and picked a piece, loving the taste, he spooned the stew into his mouth admitting it was what he needed right now.

He gazed at the royal table afar decorated with every man's dreams, he lost his appetite for it feeling nothing was more savory than the love mixed in the meal he was devouring like a hungry child.

He has taken some time off today away from the ministers and the queen Dowager but it would have been complete with her by his side, warming his heart and his soul.

"That's it! I would go see her tomorrow. I can't bear the thought of her far away under another man's roof. I miss her and I want her in my arm, before the end of tomorrow. Just a couple more hours and she'll be in my arms." he joyed as he drank the last of the stew.

Deep in the mountains...

"Dong Yi took Min Soo to school today because you were very tired and weak to get up. and I didn't wake you 'cause I want you to rest." I answered him as I arranged his breakfast before him.

"Thank you, I didn't know I was that tired, have you eaten? " he rubbed his eyes as he sat down to eat.

"Yeah, I didn't cook this, Dong Yi did. Try it. " I sat in front of him smiling as I watched him put a spoon in his mouth,

"This is not bad for a girl her age.. " he complimented earning a playful hit on his hands,

"Hey?! " he complained but when he saw the

"..?" expression, he takes another spoon quietly and immediately,

"It's good. " he complimented with a thumbs up on my face and a childish grin,

"Better..." I laughed as the reason I asked Dong Yi to take Min Soo to school this morning came to mind,

"Yeong Su? " I called him as he picked the second piece of chicken like a hungry child,

"Nng..." he answered while chewing the piece of meat,

"I think I have met Yeong Suk before... " I dropped the bombshell and waited for an explosion.

He stopped chewing and looked at me hesitantly yet expectation filled his eyes.

"I am not sure but I think I might have.... " I started my journey of convincing him of the truth,

"How? Why do you think so? " He became eager yet unsure if he wanted to hear or even talk about it with me,

"Remember how I always asked if I had seen you before? That you look like someone I had met? " he nodded and I left to bring the portrait out from the place I hid it to the table.

"I described the face I saw to Dong Yi and she sketched it out for me. When she gave it to me, I recognized the face to be the same but she looks almost like you. So..." I gave it to him and he slowly received it.

He observed the portrait with a painful expression which made me sit by his side and snaked my hands around his waist.

"I want to hear it from you if this, is Yeong Suk?" I quietly asked with my face in his neck,

"Where did you meet her?" I felt his body vibration as he spoke with his eyes on the picture before he turned in my direction,

"I... met her at the realm I came from and she sent me to find you... " I told him still hiding my face in his neck,