14 - Home

By the time they arrived to the main dining room it was nearly midday, the sun glowing warmly down from above. Saera held Jin's hand as they walked, flushed with warmth from their morning activities. Eyes turned to them when they arrived, though Jin seemed not to notice, and Saera tried her best to ignore the extra attention.

After they took their seats Jin's mother joined them, a small and quiet woman. Though her face was beginning to show lines of age, her features remained pretty. She shared her high cheekbones with her second son, and the wide, dove like eyes that smiled. Of all the members of the Mina family, Saera had found Jin's mother to be one of the few that seemed happy that she was there, and they had developed a young but good relationship. The Mina mother spoke softly to her son throughout the meal, reminding him to eat, not to work too hard, and telling him she was proud of him on more than one occasion. Her affection for her son made Saera thing of her own mother, lost at sea years ago. She was therefore twice as touched when Jin's mother stopped by her side on her way out, readjusting a hairpin affectionately. "So beautiful," she said with a smile. And then she hurried off, her words warming Saera's heart.

"You seem close with your mother." A servant cleared the dishes away from the table, and Jin poured cups of cool barley tea.

"We both are. She is very supportive." He smiled. "She always talks about you, nowadays."

Saera raised her eyebrows. "She does?" Despite having been told otherwise, she had always assumed a small part of Akira's change of heart had something to do with her. Everyone in the Mina household had treated her politely since her arrival, but in a cold, reserved manner.

"She always said she wanted a daughter. I think she's just happy to finally have one. We all thought Akira would get married years ago, so she's been waiting a while…"

"Oh. I wasn't sure… I thought part of Akira's refusal had something to do with me. I still don't understand. I was worried the people here would dislike me."

"They wouldn't, because you did nothing wrong." Out of respect, Jin lowered his voice. "The people here are embarrassed, Saera. It was shameful for my parents to have to write that letter to your family. I don't know if my father will ever forgive Akira. You accepting to marry me was the only thing that allowed him to save face." He refilled her cup of tea before his own, as he always did.

Saera thought of the handsome but cold older brother and shivered, an odd sensation twisting in her gut. " I suppose I should thank you," Saera said quietly.

Jin smiled casually, as if they were discussing the weather. "No. Akira… well, things are better this way."

Another cryptic comment reminding Saera that there was much she didn't know. "I saw Akira yesterday. Is he unwell?"

Jin glanced at her, sensing where she was headed. "Akira has changed over the last year. He was different, before… always the perfect son, and a great role model. He's struggling with something, that's no secret. In terms of marriage, though, he… he didn't plan on doing what he did. He was put in a bad position, and he… he just waited under the very last minute to make a decision." Seeing Saera's look, he grimaced apologetically. "I'll make sure he explains himself soon. I promise."

Saera nodded.

"Right, that reminds me. I wanted to show you this."

From his pocket Jin took out the small notebook from that morning, a thin volume bound in leather. He flipped through the pages, looking for one bookmarked near the center. Every page he flipped through was covered in sketches and notes, done hastily in smudged ink. He stopped on a page filled with neatly written measurements, and took out a loose sheet of parchment, unfolding it carefully and handing it to her.

It was a sketch of a home, the lines rubbed out and re-drawn multiple times and the page stained with charcoal smudges. The building itself was low and long, all one level, built in the traditional square shape with an open space in the center. There was small notes in the margins, denoting things such as direction or measurements, or a material such as stone or wood.

"You sketch very well!"

"I only draw sometimes." Jin showed her a few other sketches from the notebook: a cat, the rice fields, a rudimentary sketch of a worker in the mines. "But here, look at this. I wrote it all down so as not to forget anything." The page he showed was covered in small, round writing: the overall land size, some measurements, the layout and number of rooms, the materials used for building. "If you like it, we can probably make some changes. I remember you said you liked gardens, so this center part would be perfect…"

Saera shook her head, utterly confused. "Who's house is this, Jin?"

"Yours, if you want it…"

Saera opened her eyes wide in pure shock.

"It's for sale right now. I know we haven't had a chance to talk about it much, but I went to see the land last week. It needs some repairs, but it's in good shape, and it's close to here. Of course, it's only if you want to move. We could choose to stay here, or maybe move to your family's home in the future, I'm not sure what you prefer. I always liked the idea of having a separate home, and with time, it could grow into an estate like this one…"

Saera felt her heart swell. Despite being busy with work, Jin had made time to visit the land, make notes on its features, and sketched it himself - all just so he could show her. When she had agreed to an arranged marriage, she'd been terrified of marrying a chauvinistic man, but Jin acted as if it was perfectly normal that her feelings be taken into account.

"I like it," she whispered, and his smile nearly took her breath away. "Is it close to my family?"

"It is." His grin was triumphant and pleased. "I wasn't sure what you'd think. But with the size of the land we could do whatever we wanted. You could have another garden, maybe build a separate guesthouse here." He added to the sketch, quickly lost in imagination.

"I want to see it."

"The wife is not traditionally supposed to…" seeing the smile slip from Saera's face, he corrected himself quickly. "But I'll take you myself. Maybe this week." He returned to his notes, making small changes here and there.

Saera watched him quietly for a moment. There was something she wanted to tell him: a dream of hers, that she'd nursed since childhood, but that had been repeatedly shut down by her grandparents and elders. Women weren't supposed to be ambitious, they'd told her, and it was bad enough that she already had a career.

[Jin isn't like them,] a voice whispered in the back of her mind. [He asked for your opinion and cares what you think. Tell him!]