Chapter 134: Fate's Tricks (Unmyeong-ui Sog-imsu)

At that moment I truly felt like fate was playing a joke on me; when he didn't want me anywhere near him I still had to be since I was living with him. Now that I not only needed time and space, I had left his life so he can pursue the woman that he really loved, he was now showing up around me all the time…whenever I needed someone…as if he was my long lost soulmate…

It was too late to run and hide, as the minute I turned around to do so, he shouted my name out so loudly he may as well have screamed it. All the usual hustle and bustle that normally kept this place busy had now come to a stop as everyone around us started staring at me as if I had another one of my fits. And on top of that I was blushing really hard and I had no idea why, but all I could do was wait for him to catch up to me before I greeted him like s stranger and pray that he would leave me alone. But of course, I never got my way when it came to him as he actually had the nerve to touch me in pubic for the first time, encouraging even more pointed stares and whispers that I really didn't need right now. He was the one who told me that he felt uncomfortable when I stopped him from tripping over himself when he was drunk but now here he was touching me as he pleased as if he owned me. I got so irritated at this that I tried to pull away from him with all of my might but he was too strong for me. I tried to give him a pointed look but all he did was smirk at me…but his eyes were different from those that I had remembered. They were still broken somewhat but…but I couldn't read the way he was looking at me but he was, as intensely as I had ever seen. It was making me…feel thing deep inside me that I never thought that I could feel at all, so much so that my knees were beginning to get weak on their own, as if they could no longer support my body. And even though he was in front of me, I couldn't stop staring at his lips and his very wide chest for some reason. And whenever his big hands held onto me…

Our thoughts were interrupted when my middle aged employer had come out of his home to see what was going on, and he wasn't best pleased at all with what he saw. He has his beady overnight little eyes on me from the moment that I had been introduced to him by a friend who was already working here. Even the male servants had to start keeping their distance from me from my first day here. Time and time again he 'favoured' me and tried to get me alone all the time but there was only so any tricks and reasons that I could pull. All I could say that it was desperation that swayed me in the moment, so as I saw him approaching us with a hardened look…I was the one who held Seon-Ho's hand first much to his very big surprise. I didn't have to look at him to know that he was blushing just as badly as I was, I could feel it from my end as he just…stared at me. "Yeon! I hope you are well-versed in Confucius laws when it comes to members of the opposite sex touching…" "Is that so My Lord? Well I wonder why it is that you have been touching me from the moment I started working here." I replied to him with a sickly sweet smile before turning to Seon-Ho "it's just that…my fiancé has arrived to work on the flooding in the area, and he thought that he would make a trip to come and check up on me. You know he's very close to the King as well and he had to make oral reports to him. So I was wondering…would you allow his team to rest in your home until they have completed their task My Lord? And of course, he will sing your praises in front of the entire royal family. They may even throw a banquet in your honour and employ you if they see fit."

I could just feel everyone stare at me even more than they were before, especially him which was not helping at all. As for my employer, he looked torn between fury and temptation, but in this moment I couldn't be more thankful that his wife had stepped out before he could even utter a word. "Is that so? Well well, you certainly never mentioned that you were engaged, Seo Yeon. And of course, who are we to deny this opportunity from the royal family themselves? And of course…well, I understand that there are certain rules that must be applied between the engaged parties…they may not be enough room to hold this young man's team. So I guess…we will allow you both to share a room together. Until they leave of course." She flashed me an evil smile and I did so in return, already aware that smearing my reputation by letting me sleep in the same room as my 'fiancé' before my 'marriage' was better than any scandal pertaining to her husband courting me under her nose was her best option.

I then turned to Seon-Ho who looked like he was still processing everything I was saying and in the end I had to lead him back to his campsite that had been making a complete racket in the entire village, unaware that I was still holding his hand until I realised how quiet he was being. He was still looking at our hands together as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. I already had a feeling that I knew what he was going to say or do, so I sort of distracted him by making fuss on his condition; he still had his big build clearly, but I could tell he wasn't eating properly, wasn't sleeping properly was he was covered in bruises from his work.

I was planning on leaving him alone but fate clearly had other plans for me as I literally went into a rant about how he wasn't taking care of himself while he just stood there with hie eyes getting bigger and wider with every word I said as if he had never heard them before in his life. I could tell that what I had said in the heat of the moment I had really affected him, so I did the only thing I could think of; which was to drag him to the nearest inn and stuff him with food.

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At first I was shocked when I saw her in the river…then she called me her fiancé in front of everyone, which was the first time I had ever been publicly claimed by anyone instead of the usual ridicule and shame of my existence. Then she actually wanted me to stay with her in the same place as her instead of running away from me like I had the plague or doing everything in her power to put me down and sending me away. And now she was getting close enough to me in broad daylight to not only tend to me, but to make sure I was eating well at all. She didn't even let me pay for the food and she kept on putting the best hot pieces of meat onto my plate until I couldn't take it anymore. I had a really hard time holding my tears back so I just hung my head and I covered my face with my hair as I could not control myself anymore. Even when she was angry at me she could not hide her concern and and her affection, and it just made me appreciate her more and feel more overwhelming guilt as the same time that I even dared to look elsewhere and that I had to push her away and essentially abandon her emotionally.

Yeon didn't prod, pry or shame me for being less of a man than I was in this moment, instead she came over to me as soon as she saw the state I was in and started petting my head and wiping the tears she couldn't see so flawlessly that nobody would have guessed what she was doing. And even she was doing that so tenderly that I wished that she never stopped, and she didn't, until it was time for me to return to the camp as I had been gone far too long already. She didn't leave me alone until she knew that I was ok and even came back with me until I replayed the message to the rest of the team. I could see them staring at Yeon as if they hadn't seen a woman in years and already I was getting more angry that I had been in a few years. I took her by the hand and I introduced her as my fiancé before anyone could say anything as she led us back to the home she worked in. I tried to ask her questions about what she was doing now and why she was working there but she wouldn't answer any of my questions. So we just walked in blissful silence side by side, still holding hands as if we were two wanted people in love….just touching her for this longs already filling me with a new kind of happiness that I had never experienced before. And I was so desperate for more that I believe I would have done anything in my power to keep her feelings towards me for the rest of my life, even if it meant ripping my heart out of my chest and presenting it to her with flowers. If I could marry her right now I swear to god that I would and keep her locked up just for me. Instantly, I started looking over at everyone who's eyes were popping out at the sight of a man and a woman hold hands in public and I puller in close to me as much as I could to protect her from the malicious gossip that was most likely going on.

The master of the home had his eyes on me from the moment Yeon held my hand, and from the way his wife interacted with us and the conversation that I overheard, I could already tell what was going on and I was pissed off. My team were so thankful for the situation than they quickly got through their meals and they went straight to bed whilst I hung back with Yeon who was on cleaning duty. I didn't dare leave her alone with that pervert hanging around and he wasn't happy about it at all. He kept hovering around her as well but whoever he thought the coast was clear I just made my way to her and I actually dared to wrap my arms around her waist as if we were a young couple in love. She almost quite literally jumped into the air and had to really hold her until it snack in for the both of us that we hadn't really touched any like this before…but as…surreal as the situation was as I NEVER thought that I would even have the chance to touch a woman like was right now…I didn't want to let go.

I could feel the tension in Yeon's very breathe as she looked like she was going to pass out from the shock of what we were doing right now. She tried to wrestle me off but it was't happening, she wouldn't turn around to face me but I wasn't having any of that either. I could sense the woman of the home and the servants watching us in total awe and jealousy which was a completely new feeling for the both of us. We had barely reunited for a day and there were already so many overwhelming feelings between us that we couldn't keep our hands off of each other no matter the current situation that we were in right now. In the end I had to personally request the madame who was watching us to get another servant to take Yeon's place as I dragged her to 'our bedroom' before I could even give her the chance to reply.

The moment that I took her hand and I literally ran out of the room as if I was still a teenager in the moment and I forced her into our room…until a member of the team took me aside for a last minute team meeting. I couldn't even begin to describe my anger and frustration when Yeon finally parted from me and told me that she would handle our room arrangements quietly whilst everyone in the room tried to get a good look at her. "Goodness gracious, isn't she a little too young for you?" "Well he's the youngest man on our team so it's not at all surprising, is it?" "Women in our generation certainly did not look like that." "My family chose an older woman for me before I had the chance to sow my oats." "She looks like a virginal goddess." I was completely surrounded my these morons and their idiotic comments, but I also had an advantage over them that I was not going to waste at all. I called for Yeon to serve us tea and snacks and soon as she had made her appearance, she had all eyes on her every single time. And with this I started taking lead of the meeting and I made sure that my voice was heard for once, and when Yeon even put in her own suggestions on how to deal with the flood and villagers alike by volunteering her services and those of the entire household it was already a done deal.