One Year

Make Up

Siri's crying face broke him.  Ryu falls to his knees in front of her and hold her tightly to his body as her quivering body calms herself down.  

"Don't cry."  Ryu pleads with her as he buries his head in her chest.  Just seeing her this way made him want to give into her request.  But he knew it was for her good.  It was for their own good.  "My men will search for the flower.  But once they find it, they'll send word to us and we'll go together to the location of this flower.  Together we'll dig up this flower and cure you."  

Ryu's hands cups Siri's teary eyed face and lightly pecks her lips.  

"I don't want to lose you now that I've just found you."  Ryu confessed.  "The end of you, is the end of me.  So please, do not talk so frivolously about your death.  No matter how far or how long the search for this flower is, we will search to the end of the world for it.  And once we find it, you and I will go together and cure you, I promise you." 

Siri's limp arms that were by her side came up and held his head to her chest.  She knew she was being unreasonable, but the moment she found out that there was a cure for her out there, she wanted to leave and find it as soon as possible so she could grow old with Ryu.  

His argument of not knowing how long it would take to find it or where it would be did not register inside her mind.  All she cared about was the fact that, no matter how long it took her or where it took her, she would come back to him in the end.  

However, now listening to her husband, she knew that was the better choice.  Then that way they wouldn't waste time being apart.  

"I'm scared."  Siri admitted.  "What if there is no Taiyo flower?  What if it's just a myth and I really do have only less than 8 years to live?"  

"Shhhhhhhh."  Ryu said as he stood up and pushed back her hair away from her face.  "Shhhhh.  We'll find a way to cure you.  I promise.  I'll do everything in my powers to find you that flower." 

"I'm scared of dying."  Siri told him. 

"You're not going to die."  Ryu comforted her.  "You're not dying without a fight, you hear me?"  

Ryu sweeps her off her feet and brings her to their bed.  He undresses her and reminds her body, with his hands, his mouth, his words and his body that she is alive.  

After a long time, their long and heated lovemaking settles Siri's nerves and her heart as she listens to Ryu's heartbeat under her ear.  

"I'm sorry."  Siri said as she draws circles around his nipple, hardening it to a stiff peak.  "For arguing with you, for being mad at you, for accusing you, for locking the door between us, for making you worry.  I'm sorry, Ryu." 

Ryu's hands comes down on her naughty finger and holds on tightly to her hand against his chest.  

"I'm sorry too."  He says to her.  "I should be more patient and explain to you my thoughts and ideas to you so you would understand me. I'm sorry for shouting at you and scaring you if you were scared."  

"I wasn't scared."  Siri quickly told him.  She lifts her head up to look at him.  "I was never scared of you for a moment." 

"Em."  Ryu said as he rolls them over so he could pin her hands above her head.  "Because Wife has always had too much courage for her own good."  

Siri smile brightly at him as she nodded in agreement.  

"Husband loves it when Wife is courageous." Ryu said as he nipped at her earlobes.  

Siri opens her leg wider as his the top of his penis rubs her clitoris.  

"Do you dare?"  Siri whispered breathlessly as she moves her hips.  

Ryu grins wickedly before pulling one of her legs up and hooks it over his shoulder.  "This Husband dares very much ." 

-------------------------

Every day or a week after their fight and makeup, Ryu would send her flowers as a way to say he was sorry and that he was thinking about her.  Siri smiled every time and placed the flower all over their bedroom.  

Ryu would come home to her every night, no matter how late it was, he would crawl into bed and make sweet, tooth aching love to her to remind her how alive she is.  Her cries of passion would echo through the house, which her crying out his name over and over again.  And in the morning, he would be gone, working to secure the support he needed to steal the throne away from his nephews and his brother.  

On one of these occasions, after their lovemaking, Siri couldn't go back to sleep, she was wide awake, yet she knew he couldn't go to sleep, unless she was asleep.  

"Can I ask you something."  Siri whispered as she adjusts herself so she could look at him when they talk.  

"Em."  He said sleepily.  

"Why do you want to be King?" Siri asked.  

"Because you've been in your courtyard your whole life, you don't know what kind of life others live out there.  Our people are suffering, Siri."  Ryu told her.  "The country ministers and magistrates are corrupted.  There's no harsh punishment for those who steals and lies from the crown.  The villagers and farmers are struggling to put food on their table to feed their families and pay their taxes...and the King, believes whatever he wants to believe."  

"And what's that?"  Siri asked.  

"That his people and kingdom isn't suffering because he isn't suffering."  Ryu told her.  "The ministers and magistrates in the city, they have the constant King to watch over them, so stealing from the crown is near impossible, but those that need the crown's support the most, they get cheated from and lied to.  And in the end, they suffer the most and their pleas and cries are unheard and unanswered. His sons, my own nephews are the same.  Without the experience of a soldier, they haven't taken a step outside of the city walls to learn what the truth is, what life is really like for those who are poor and those who work their hands down to the bone to barely feed their family."  

Ryu sighed heavily before he spoke again.  "I want to fix this.  I want to make sure that everyone is being well fed like the people who live in the city.  Like I am being well fed at home."  

"Like the tofu and vegetables I give you?" Siri teased.  

Ryu smiled at her teasing before nodding his head yes.  "Em.  I want them to have  the option not to eat their least favorite foods, like tofu and vegetables."  

Ryu was silent for a long time before continuing.  "I want this Kingdom to be strong, with military power, but also have diplomatic power as well.  I want this Kingdom to thrive and our people to learn and grow.  I want this Kingdom to be better than what it is now, so our children and their children could be more than what we could ever dream to be."