Page 62 of Gumiho Kiss
“I’ll be back soon.”Chin Sun darted off.Hyun Soo’s warmth was comforting, reminding her the body she carried still had life pulsing within it.But for how much longer?
She vaulted over the wall into the family courtyard and deposited him on his bed mat before any of the servants noticed her.She tucked him under the blanket and stepped back.
From this vantage point, he looked like he was in the midst of a peaceful sleep.That grim reaper better have been right, or she’d make sure he regretted his mistake.
A gasp sounded behind her.“Lady Lee!”
Chin Sun whirled around to a startled Pyung Ho.“Mr.Park is ill.Watch after him for me until the nurse arrives.”
The servant nodded his assent, so she stepped around him and hurried back down the servants’ corridor.She retrieved Hae Rim and brought her home, this time entering through the front gate.
“Agasshi?”Ye Seul approached from the back of the house with a tub of water, eyebrows drawn together in concern.
“Mr.Park has fallen ill.I’ve brought Hae Rim to treat him.”
“A damo?Shouldn’t he be treated by a male physician?”
“She is the only one I trust.”Chin Sun’s voice left no room for argument.She turned to Hae Rim.“Let her know what you’ll need.”
Once the damo had rattled off a few items, the servant bustled away to prepare them, water sloshing from her basin.
Chin Sun brought Hae Rim to Hyun Soo’s room, where Pyung Ho waited anxiously.She thanked the young man for his diligence before dismissing him so he could return to his duties.Ye Seul appeared not long after with the tea, setting it down on a tray before excusing herself.
“Let me see if I can get him to drink this,” Hae Rim said once they were alone, voice uncharacteristically gentle.She placed one hand under the bodyguard’s head, and with the other, she grasped a cup of tea.“Mr.Park, I need you to drink this.”
The man’s eyelids fluttered but did not open.Hae Rim pressed the cup to his mouth and got Hyun Soo to swallow a sip of the warm liquid before he fell unconscious again.The nurse lowered his head and checked his pulse again.A beat later, she turned, her features mirroring the relief spreading through Chin Sun’s chest.
“His heart is still weak, but the fact that I was able to get some tea into him is encouraging,” Hae Rim said.“I’ll remain here and see if I can get him to drink the rest.You don’t have to stay.”
“I want to,” Chin Sun insisted.“He’s ...”She watched the slight rise and fall of Hyun Soo’s hanbok, heart clenching painfully in her chest.“He’s important to me.”
“Important enough to expose your true identity?”
Chin Sun’s pulse leaped, but she forced her body to relax.She let out a fake laugh.“True identity?Hmm?Whatever are you talking about?”
Hae Rim rolled her eyes.She glanced at the door, as if to make sure no one was listening, then leaned close.“No woman could do what you just did.No human woman, that is.”
Chin Sun sucked her cheeks in, debating how to respond.Her fingers itched for the knife she only then remembered she’d left behind in the clearing.“What is it you want?”
Hae Rim held up empty hands.“Nothing, except that you don’t treat me like a fool.”
Chin Sun examined the damo carefully.“You’re not curious what I am?”
Hae Rim met her eye with a blank expression.“Your secrets are your own, mistress.I have no right to demand you share them.”
What a strange answer.She showed neither interest nor fear in the face of Chin Sun’s otherness.Chin Sun had often wondered what it would be like if others found out she was gumiho, but she’d never imagined a reaction like this.Or rather, the lack of one.
Shouldn’t Hae Rim be terrified right now, begging Chin Sun to spare her life?Or perhaps fleeing to alert the police bureau?She’d been prepared to threaten or bribe the girl into silence, but this ...this was disconcerting.
It couldn’t be that Hae Rim already knew what she was, right?
“Lady Lee,” Hyun Soo whispered.
The women broke off from staring each other down and turned to the bodyguard, whose eyes opened wide with alarm.He glanced from Hae Rim to Chin Sun, then around the room.
“What happened?”He directed the question to Chin Sun.“The last thing I remember ...”His cheeks filled with color.
“You passed out,” she explained.“I called Hae Rim to help you.”
