Part 28

The Mosquitoes

After Yongha and Jaeshin come in, interrupting Sunjoon and Yoonhee, the king visits Sunjoon. He is foremost looking to see that Sunjoon is alright, but he's also there to try and recruit Sunjoon, Jaeshin, and Yongha to work (all three are from pretty important backgrounds and were already expected to do great things--the King has actually been trying to get Sunjoon to start working for him since the beginning of the novel, but Sunjoon refused, saying that he still has a lot to learn.)

The King tells Sunjoon that he would allow him a wish, and Sunjoon asks for access to the books in the Gae Yoo Wah, which is a part of the GyuJangGak, which is the king's library (it's also where the Jalgeum four will work in the second series), and the King tells Sunjoon that he can get access to any books there if he agrees to work at GyuJangGak. The king tells him to think about it and leaves.

The three (Sunjoon, Jaeshin, Yongha) contemplate on the prospect of working at GyuJangGak, thinking that it might be the right thing to do, and Yoonhee is saddened by the idea that she will probably be left at Sungkyunkwan all alone. ]

"Aagh! Lets go inside before the mosquitoes eat us up."

Yongha and Jaeshin both get up to go back (the four and the king were conversing outside), but Sunjoon stays put.

"Go ahead in. I have some things to think about."

"Then, me too..." Yoonhee moves to sit next to Sunjoon.

Yongha grins and says teasingly, "Didn't you say you were tired? You guys are going to stay here at this hour? Alone?"

"You two can stay as well..."

Jaeshin spits, "are you crazy? And be bitten to death by these mosquitoes? I'm gonna go in and sleep."

As Jaeshin starts heading back, Yongha follows Jaeshin, obviously disappointed that he can't stay to tease the two more. He tries to convince Jaeshin to stay, but Jaeshin won't have it, and all Yongha can do is yell back at Sunjoon and Yoonhee, "Come back fast! If you don't, I'll spread the rumor that the two of you are doing it! And when I spread a rumor, it doesn't stay within Sungkyunkwan, it'll be the talk of the country!"

Yongha's laughs disappear as the two get farther away. Sunjoon and Yoonhee are left alone in the calm night air. Even though they are alone, Sunjoon's eyes are looking at the stars in the sky. Yoonhee glances at his hands and thinks back to how hurriedly they were trying to undo her clothes earlier that night. She can't help hate the king a little for interrupting her night. She looks up at the stars, too, a little miffed.

She asks,

"Are the stars that beautiful?"

"Do you think only the stars are beautiful?"

Yoonhee waits expectantly for his follow-up, but all she gets is:

"The moon is beautiful as well."

Sigh.

"Since your eyes are busy with the stars and the moon, I might as well just turn in..."

Yoonhee turns her head away from him.

Sunjoon smiles.

"I couldn't see them in the prison."

"And you could see me in prison?"

Sunjoon laughs. Yoonhee softens at the sound of his laughter, and asks him if he will indeed take the exam to star working at the king's library. She says hesitantly,

"Do you have to take it so soon? You could stay here a little longer..."

She can't get the words she wants out of her mouth. Couldn't you stay a little longer here, with me? She can only mutter, "even though you'll start your career, I won't be able to, and I would like to stay here a longer, so when initiation comes, I could do to the new students what was done to me, and...Ah!"

Yoonhee slaps her arm. She's bitten by a mosquito.

"What's wrong?"

"I got attacked by a mosquito."

"Where?"

Yoonhee points at where she was bitten, and Sunjoon, without warning, puts his mouth there, and licks the spot. He pulls away.

"Were you bitten anywhere else?"

Yoonhee reddens and points her finger at her lips. Sunjoon smiles, and his eyes seem like they're calling Yoonhee a liar, so she becomes embarrassed. "I mean, I wasn't bitten there, but, ah, the moonlight, and, uh, Arang's eyes..."

Sunjoon lightly bites her lower lip. "Now you're not lying."

And he does the same to her lips as he did to her arm.

Yoonhee says to Sunjoon, "the one that bit me on the lips is so much bigger than the one that bit my arm--shouldn't you be putting your mouth on it that much more? When are you planning on using the math we learn here?"

Sunjoon laughs loudly. He puts his arm around her waist and pulls her to him. He whispers, "you want me to be satisfied spending the rest of the night kissing you?"

"It's better than spending the rest of the night looking at the stars!"

Sunjoon gets up and dusts himself. "I wonder if anyone's at Bibokcheon right now..."

Yoonhee gets up, too, knowing what he means. Her face brightens and the two head down, hand in hand.

They arrive at Bibokcheon, and Sunjoon jumps the wall first. As Yoonhee is about to do the same, she hears Sunjoon's voice.

"What are you two doing here?"

Yoonhee freezes. She hears Yongha's voice.

"Can't you see by the way we're dressed? We're trying to wash ourselves."

Yoonhee hears another voice that she recognizes as Jaeshin's.

"Why are you here?"

Sunjoon stammers, "A-Ah, well, I thought I should wash as well..."

"Didn't you wash after you got out of the prison?"

"Ah, well, I thought I could use another wash..."

"And Daemul?"

"He went back already."

Darn it! Yoonhee swallows up her frustration and tries to get away as silently as possible, when she hears Yongha.

"Hmm! I hear some noises there behind the wall."

Startled, Yoonhee gets down low and runs as fast as she can back to their room. Sunjoon hides his disappointment as he goes to the well to wash himself alongside Jaeshin and Yongha.

Jaeshin complains, "Yeo-rim suddenly dragged me here, telling me that we should wash, out of nowhere. He's always making me do whatever he wants to do..."

Yongha grins as he looks at Sunjoon. This night, all Sunjoon can do between the two men is wash his sexual frustration away with each pour of water on his back.

(Typical Yongha mischief-making!)