My Master's Wife

Title: My Master's Wife

Pairing: ChangSoo

Genre:  angst

Rating: PG13

Length:  One-shot

 

               In an instant a pair of kohl lined brown eyes stared back at me. Tears were streaming down her painted face. Her rouged lips were quivering as if they wanted to speak, but no words came out. I swept aside the fringe of brown hair covering her eyes, revealing all the emotions kept inside. Her name was Sooyoung, my master's wife. Lord Ahn, the Great Ahn Chil Hyun, Kangta, meaning a big hit or explosion. He was my master. Son of a noble man, excellent in swordsmanship, literature, academics, music and any other field you can think of, the perfect personification of the renaissance man . Top that all off with looks that makes all the damsels in town swoon over him, the only thing sharper being his sword.

              Lady Sooyoung, as everyone calls her is a great mystery to every one of us. That includes me. Some say that she was married of to Lord Ahn by her father as payment to their debts. Others say that she was bought from a house of harlots when my master came to Kyoto. Still, a handful of gossipmongers argue that she was an enchantress who captured the handsome Lord Ahn with her dark powers, causing fear among townsfolk despite her meek appearance. As for me, I can not confirm nor deny any of these, for I know none of it. In fact, I knew nothing of her at all. But I knew her. I knew her well.

              She was most probably a year or two younger than me. I myself being younger than my master by nine years, made the master a decade or so older than her. I can still remember clearly the day she came. It was a rainy night of August when my Lord Ahn arrived in a black carriage from his regular trip to Kyoto. Do not ask me of Kyoto as I've seen none of it. All I know is that when he comes back, he brought home wonderful things. Things that I have never seen before. Things that were magical to a lowly servant's eyes. But that night no box of Kyoto's treasures came home with him. I was surprised when he called me, "Changminah, please get another parasol for the lady".

              As I held up the parasol in my hand, a pair of dainty feet stepped down the carriage. A small figure clad in red silk floated down, clumsily falling. But before the young lady's soles could even touch the muddy ground, I caught her in my sturdy arms, causing the parasol to fall, leaving us both soaked in the rain. My master rushed to the lady's side, took her from my arms to his, handed me the parasol and carried her to his abode. I held up the parasol for them, I myself soaking wet in the cold rain. As they both disappeared from my sight, her image and scent lingered in my being. Her dark brown hair falling gently down her delicate shoulders, her scent was that of freshly cut grass, and her sad brown eyes seemingly called out for me.

              During her first days here, my master would ask me to walk with her around the vineyards then accompany her downtown to see all the boring people go about their boring lives. She never spoke a word except when singing a sad song I didn't understand.

              I would hum along with her and she would smile back at me. Smiles and lullabies. This is where our friendship was built upon. I would always talk to her, hoping she somehow understood. She would only smile and look at me in awe. I told her stories. My stories. Told her my sorrows, my joy, and even of my dreams. She was the closest to a friend that I ever had. I told her everything. I even told her of my love―That strange feeling I didn’t know back then that I felt every time I saw her smile, knowing that she smiled for me. I do not know what it was exactly but something in her eyes told me that she understood and felt the same way too.

             As the days went by I found myself longing to see the lady more and more. But our days together were only upon chances since she was being prepared for the wedding. Although foreign to all of us, she clearly knew what it was all about. As the wedding day loomed closer, the lady grew thinner and paler with each and everyday. I would sometimes sneak to the master's house when he is gone at night for drinking. I would sing to Lady Sooyoung her sad sonata. Even though I didn't know the words she would whisper them to me as she laid her head on my chest. I hoped she could hear my heart beating silently for her. I hugged her tightly. Wrapped her in my arms, hoping to ease her worries for a while. As dawn broke, I left the master's house just like the blue moonlight disappearing with the first ray of sun.

              The day before the big feast, everyone was in frenzy. Everything must be set and fixed perfectly. The perfect wedding for the perfect gentleman. Every servant was employed with a chore. Mine was to keep watch of the lady. Once again I walked with her around the vineyards. I accompanied her downtown as boring people pried on us hoping to add a little excitement to their boring old lives. We ended up on the edge of a cliff where she just looked at the vast nothingness down below. I was afraid for a moment that she might jump but she quickly turned back and headed to where the ceremony was to be held. I didn't know if I should be happy. My heart raced and slowed alternately and erratically. Had my heart gone crazy knowing that she was to marry my master?

              The ceremony went on as a blur. All I could remember was she was looking at me with eyes full of tears as she walked down the isle.

          "Changmin..." I heard her call me for the first time as she passed by.

             I stood behind my master holding the ring that she was to wear. A crystal as clear as the teardrop rolling on her cheek was embedded in a golden band, for me a sign of her eternal bondage to the man I call my master. I handed the ring to him as flashes of sunrise and sunsets that she and I have watched together came rolling by like moving pictures.

            Without thinking for another second I took her by the hand and ran just as fast as my legs would carry me. She couldn't keep up. She was too frail to run. She fell behind so I picked her up and carried her on my back. We were running. We were flying. Off to where, I didn't know.

            Weariness found us at the foot of the mountain. Big trees branched out like lightning and silence was the rolling thunder. I looked around to see if they have found us but the deafening cry of the mountain drowned all sounds that human feet could make.

              I put her down afterwards, realizing that I have been running barefoot. Thorns and stones cut my feet. Bloody footprints leading to where we came from stare back at me. I looked at the lady as she stood beside an old tree in all her frailty. I hugged her once again and kissed her rouged lips. Her painted face and ceremonial clothes, reminding me of her supposed marriage, were all worn out like our breaths.

               Fear sank in deeper with every minute that passed by. Heaven and hell would have spit us out in fear of my master's wrath for this infidelity. Once again, I looked around. This time finding my master at the end of the bloody track that my feet have made.

              Wielding his sword, tears sprung down his eyes. Each teardrop breaking at the edge of the blade. I motioned Sooyoung to run as Lord Ahn Chil Hyun, master swordsman, lunged his sword to me at full speed. Reluctant to leave, she stood there so I turned around to push her away. Right at that very moment, my master's sword cut through me quick as lightning. I could see the tip of its honorable blade with my blood silently trickling down from it. I looked at Sooyoung and smiled. I felt nothing. It did not hurt, for nothing would have hurt more than this servant's heart which longed for a love that was way beyond its right.

              As the royal color of life flowed out from my inside, streams of tears and blood watered the ground. Sooyoung ran towards me, piercing herself with the same weapon ending my life now. Her rouge is now all smeared. The kohl lining her eyes bled to her cheeks. As we closed our eyes, we kissed for one last time, tasting our tears.

             With my eyes shut, I saw an image of a lady clad in red silk. With beautiful dark brown hair, her eyes sad no more. We both lay on the ground with the zest of freshly cut grass smeared by the scent of blood lingering in our being. And as life withered away I thought I heard her sing sad sonata.... 

My Master's Wife by firemoth_007 or Mayi is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.