화랑 - a tale of curiosity [ON HOLD]

🌸chapter twenty-two🌸

After arriving back from the stream, Ji-ae was on her way to hang up her washing when she walked past Sun Woo and Sam cleaning out the stables.  She saw Sam poking his head out the window, gasping for air as he sweeped up the stable floor. She chuckled to herself as she continued walking past, only catching his attention as she did.

"Yah!" Sam shouted. "Ji-ae." He called, motioning her over, but she shook her head. "Ji-ae."

"If you can't stomach it, then you have no chance of me coming any nearer." She reasoned, beginning to walk away.

Sam sighed, rolling his eyes. "For one second, please." He pleaded. "Help me." He whined.

"No." She said. "I'm going to leave now, my washing will have a very pungent odour if I stay any longer." She quipped, now hapoily walking away, leaving a whining Sam tackling the chore once again.

Ji-ae reaches the washing line, and begins throwing her garments over the washing line, one by one.

As she tugged on the sheets and hanboks - straightening them out on the line - she heard someone humming a tune from the other side of the material. She tilted her head, trying to figure out who it was.

Ji-ae looked down to the floor, seeing a pair of shoes that only a Hwarang would wear, so she presumed it was one of the many boys here. She shrugged her shoulders, proceeding in flattening out the sheet, but the line got pulled down by the person on the other side.

"Did my humming not get your attention?" Hansung pouted, resting his arms on top of the line, only for Ji-ae to push him off. "Ow."

"You got my attention." Ji-ae replied, now looking down to see Hansung peering from under the hanging material. "What are you doing?"

"I want to see my girlfriend." He resoned, crawling under the line to stand infront of her. He stood proudly, his long eyelashes fluttering as his big eyes were glued to Ji-ae's.

"You'll get caught." Ji-ae warned. "Women shouldn't even be in the Hwarang House."

"Really?" Hansung asked, blinking a couple of times. "Then why are you here?"

"I'm the artist." Ji-ae said.

"So?" He asked.

"I need to be here."

"Why?"

"To see you."

"To see me?" Hansung asked.

"Yes." Ji-ae asked, but then shook her head. "No."

"No?" He asked, a hurt expression on his face. "You're so mean."

Ji-ae sighed. "I need to be able to see everyone." She gestured with her hands. "That's including you."

Hansung smiled once again. "Well, I'm content with that."

"Good." Ji-ae said, smiling and then resuming to hanging up her things.

Hansung watched subtly as Ji-ae hung on her next piece of clothing on the line. He watched as she ruffled it's edges and then tugged it at the corners to make it a neat fold over the line. Ji-ae caught his gaze as chuckled shyly. "What?"

He shook his head. "Nothing." Ji-ae nodded, moving further along the line.

Hansung saw the basket by her feet, a few items still remaining inside. He looked between Ji-ae, the clothes and the the empty space on the line. He nodded to himself before picking up one item out of the basket, and chucked it over the line. He ruffled the material, making sure he did it exactly like Ji-ae did.