CHAPTER 11:LOVE, LIKE, ADMIRE AND HATE

Days had already passed, training both in the morning and night was getting quite exhausting, he was barely at home now, he no longer studied , ate more and slept less, Eun Chen increased his dosage of food giving him more of meat unlike his usual diet of made up of vegetables and snacks, anytime Eun Chen brought his meal from the kitchen, the servants and Maidservant Park stared in confusion for they knew their master as a picky eater who didn't enjoy meat often , what suddenly changed, was it because of the duel?.

Back in Lee kwons room

Lee Kwon was eating while Eun Chen was explaining to him some basics in martial arts, " you have explained enough , why don't you eat with me", asked Lee Kwon gesturing for her to sit, Eun Chen looked at him as if he was crazy, " what will Maidservant Park think when she sees me eating from your palette, she will think we are a couple", said Eun Chen frankly, Lee Kwon relaxed his body looking at Eun Chen quizzically, " but..., we have been spending so much time together lately, she doesn't say anything", said Lee Kwon cluelessly, " for someone who knows a lot, you are pretty much dense, don't you know what they call rumors, they are probably gossiping right now", said Eun Chen , Lee Kwon stood up and walked to where Eun Chen was, " should we ask her?", he said as he opened his door wide, looked at Eun Chen with this teasing smile , then yelled, " MAIDSERVANT PARK, ARE YOU....", before he could finish his sentence, Eun Chen pulled him inside immediately slamming the door , and kicking him hard on the shin which made him to howl in pain, " are you crazy", said Eun Chen annoyed. " Right now , I am your master and you are my servant...., so anything I say you have to obey, so now sit down", he said putting his hand on her shoulder and pulling her down to sit down, shocking her as she looked at him walking over to the side of his table, then she grinned, " if I were you, I won't be too free with your master, as you know I am a top notch assasin and anyone who...", she was cut short when Lee Kwon put a big chunk of food inside her mouth, then he smiled, " don't talk while you eat", he said trying not to laugh at her reaction and the way she glared at him was just hilarious.

" You are really getting guys these days , maybe because I have been too lenient with you", said Eun Chen, " then go harder on me during training", said Lee Kwon picking up a piece of crab meat , then he smiled, " now ....., open your mouth my dear Master", said Lee Kwon teasingly not giving her a chance he shoved it into her mouth, Eun Chen glared at him, while he smiled , " imagine if we met at a different time, different place and we were in a different situation, what will we be?", he asked quizzically looking at Eun Chen , Eun Chen took a chopstick, taking a chunk of rice from the bowl, and putting it into her mouth, taking her time to eat before finally looking at Lee Kwon, " we will just be strangers", said Eun Chen non challantly, Lee Kwon looked at her shocked at her straight answer, " you didn't give it a thought before even answering me", he said , " I was thinking while chewing and in conclusion we will be nothing more than strangers", said Eun Chen frankly, " how so...., how do you know that if everything will be different, you should expect something totally different, we could be acquaintances, friends or maybe even....lovers", as soon as he said that without warning and out of shock Eun Chen spat on his face, Lee Kwon sat there unmoving , as the slightly chewed up bits of rice fell down bit by bit from his face , Eun Chen was shocked but not as shocked as Lee Kwon whose eyes were still closed, " you ....you should have stopped saying nonsense , it made me uncomfortable", she said , taking something like a handkerchief, and using it to wipe Lee Kwon face .

" Why isn't it true ,...we could be lovers", said Lee Kwon again shamelessly, Eun Chen paused for a moment ,this time she threw the handkerchief on his face , " what has suddenly gotten into you, you keep saying nonsense, love is for the fickle minded", she said frankly and sternly as she bit into her food, " then if I can't love you, I can like you", said Lee Kwon looking at her as if he wanted to say more, " to like someone is being platonic, I don't get involved with that, it is complicated", said Eun Chen as if she was trying to prove a point, " I want something that will classify me as a role model, a word like that, a word like....admire is preferable ", said Eun Chen, Lee Kwon looked at her almost speechless, " but sadly that word can never be said to someone like me", she scoffed shrugging it off as if it was nothing, there was a long silence as Eun Chen silently ate, when she noticed that Lee Kwon had been silent and not eating, she looked up at him and saw he was looking at her, she looked at him quizzically, " what....,why are you looking at me like that", she asked, Lee Kwon tilted his head a little, " the brightest star in the night sky is Sirius, twenty five times brighter than the sun, but yet not much people know about Sirius", said Lee Kwon, " what are you getting at?", asked Eun Chen confused at the science mumbo jumbo he just blurted out, " you are siurus, you are extremely bright, but not much people know about you, the only ones who knows about you are the ones who think better of you, out of all the stars, I admire siurus, it's bright energy brings that of positivity and luck,..., I admire you a lot Eun Chen, thanks to you, I am more daring, I was always afraid that I will end up as a coward like my father, but just like siurus you came at the time I needed someone the most", he said with a warm smile, Eun Chen was surprised with everything that he just said, it was pure and sincere, anyone could tell that he meant everything he said, she wanted to smile but she stopped herself as she cleared her throat looking away from him, why did he have to say such words , now she was touched and for some odd reason her heart was beating too fast, what was wrong with her?, suddenly she felt his hand on hers , she froze , his hand was warm and smooth, unlike the other hands she had touched , cold lifeless hands , decapitated bloodied hands, hard coarse palm, but his was warm and comforting giving her that sense of security, " I promise you Eun Chen , I will win the duel no matter what, and I will safely get you out of here, I promise", he said assuringly, there was silence for sometime before she finally spoke, " on the day of the duel, make sure you remember the isolation and pain you faced, use that and fight that duel and under no circumstance must you loose", she said Lee Kwon nodded in response to what she said, then she looked at him, she realized that they were so close to each other, she always felt this sense of peace when she was with him, a feeling she had only experienced once in her life , that was the familiar warm feeling that came from her mother, it was familiar, their warm gazes, warm smiles, and warm touches all spoke of familiarity, but she didn't want to get used to this because she knew something was bound to happen at the end, at the end he will be the official son of the King, he will no longer be a bastard, after she gets out of here she will continue her assassination spree, they will still be enemies , they will eventually forget about each other, and she may even end up killing his family, that realization made her ungrasp from his warm hold as she looked away, " even if we meet at a different time , even if we were in a different situation I choose to remain strangers, so also do the same", she said looking at Lee Kwon , " even if we meet in a different timeline, let's be strangers", she said, Lee Kwon who had been patiently listening to her after a while reluctantly nodded, " we will be strangers then", he said quite hesitantly, you could tell that he didn't want that, but looking at her right now, she was being sincere, so he should consider this a passing emotion, he was never sure of it in the first place , so it will be better if it just died.

************************************************

It was an aggressive combat of sticks , Eun Chen stood at the corner watching Lee Kwon and Min yu, over the past week, Lee Kwon had been getting better in his defense mechanism, stamina, flexibility, agility and predicting of movement, he had greatly improved in a short span of time, she was impressed, but ever since their dinner together things between them were not as it seemed before , it felt akward, after training he enters his room and study for sometime, even when she brings his food to his room he just plainly said thank you, or she can drop it there and leave , normally he would be teasing her, or they will talk, but these days they barely spoke to each other, he just trained with her in silence which was not like him.

" Wow,........, you have gotten a lot better, it's just recently i started training you and you have gotten a lot better, do you have another master I don't know about?", asked Min yu curiously, but he was really impressed at his skills , " where will I get another master, you are all I got, I have just been practicing the skills you taught me and I find a way to improve myself", said Lee Kwon with a brief smile , after a brief conversation Min yu left, Eun Chen walked over to Lee Kwon holding a towel in her hand as she began drying the sweat on his face , " you did well today young master", she said encouragingly, Lee Kwon took hold of her hand , surprising her, " thank you but I can dry myself", he said with a tight smile , taking the towel from her hand as he walked back inside , now it was obvious that he was just giving her the silent treatment, " how immature ", she muttered silently.

************************************************

Lee Kwon was enjoying a steamy bath in his bath, he let his hair fall as it was soaked in water, the warmth and oil was soothing to the skin, he could relax, he had been training with Eun Chen, during that night time of training he chose not to see her because it felt akward, after the conversation they had that night , he had felt foolish for putting her in an akward situation, speaking of Eun Chen he had not seen her since this morning that she handed him the towel, was she mad at him for missing out on his lessons, why won't she mad , he was the one being petty, he finished taking his bath and dressed up, he heaved, yes he should be mature, why was he letting this shield him against his real task, he got out from his house and walked to the garden , there was silence but the silence was not comfortable, it was more ominous, it was eeriely silent. Lee Kwon clenched the stick on his hand , something was wrong , really wrong , then suddenly he began hearing sounds, it sounded like two people were fighting aggressively, he rushed over to the scene , he was worried , his heart was beating at an abnormal rate, all he could think about right now was Eun Chen.

What he saw before him was Eun Chen fighting a masked man, they both were in a fierce battle against each other, none of them refusing to back down, the man was holding a sword , while Eun Chen held a stick, they were both fast, but she was more vulnerable with the stick, with a swing of his sword, Eun Chen expertly dodged but at the same time got knocked down, her stick had been sliced through by the sword , she was heaving almost out of breath, she didn't know what was happening to her, her elemental powers were gone, now it felt like her strength was draining out of her, her head felt heavy, she felt dizzy, seeing this opportunity of her weakness, the man raised his sword ready to kill Eun Chen, all of a sudden and without warning, there was a sharp kick on his back, making the attacker fall heavily to the ground as he groaned in pain, looking over at his weak master, he hurriedly went over to her, holding her by her shoulders, eventhough she was awake her body was limp and her body was very hot, " so ra!", he called her out but she did not answer, all of a sudden she pushed him away as a sword was swung towards them, missing Eun Chen by inches , before he could get to Eun Chen again, Lee Kwon tackled the man to the ground and in the midst of the moment he stripped off the black linen cloth from his face in a bit of a struggle, his face twisted in confusion, he knew this man, he was trying to remember where he had seen his face.

While Lee Kwon was still processing, the man pushed Lee Kwon off him, while he stood up, then he smirked , he looked at Lee Kwon then Eun Chen, " you are already an embarrassment to the palace , what will happen to you if the country finds out you are hiding the notorious masked assasin".