Chapter Three.(continued)

   Duckhwan stooped and gently touched the unconscious girl. "I thought you said you're not afraid?" he scoffed. However, he still gently carried her in his arms and behold,it was the beautiful strange girl he took to the palace couple of months back."It's you!," he muttered "what are you doing here by this time?"he ask in his mind. Carrying her towards the palace, he kept nagging at no one in particular " how could a tiny human like you invade my forest alone?, aren't you scared something bad might happen to you?,you women are always reckless ..." as kept complaining, he felt a soft hand touch his cheek,he froze on his track and looked down at the woman he was carrying and saw that she was in a semiconscious state. She held his cheek and slowly muttered "thank you." before passing out completely.

    For five minutes, Duckhwan stood trying to process what happened, her touch was still fresh on his cheek. For some reason,he felt a slight tug in his heart and the thought of her gently touch latched to his mind. "Duckhwan, you must be going crazy." he said to himself. He pulled himself together and continued with his journey. When he got yo the palace, he skillfully jumped the fence and dropped the sleeping girl before jumping back out.

     Vida woke up and finds herself in the palace premises. She immediately stood up and ran to her quarter,luckily,no guards was on patrol then. She sat down to think and decipher what happened to her in the forest and how she got back. "Could it be the handsome young man that saved her?" she wondered who exactly that man was, if perhaps he was a spirit or maybe...,she gasped. Eun-sook had told her the rumor about a nine tailed fox that terrorizes people in the forest though people see it as just a rumor to help keep children out of the forest but she has always believed it.

    "Well tomorrow,I will figure it out. I will go find that gumiho myself." She resolved within herself but first she needs to find a way to ditch Eun-sook and Hae-won. That's won't be a big problem, she knows what to do and with that she eventually fell asleep.

         CHAPTER FOUR (Episode one)

               IT'S FATE

    The next morning, the monk came to Duckhwan's cave and saw him sitting and staring at nothing. He intentionally started to whistle but he didn't seem to hear him."hey kid, are you deaf? don't you know how to greet your elder?"the monk ask but Duckhwan didn't move an inch but rather answered him with an offhand certainty " I'm five hundred years old,who should greet the other?" "Oh so now you know,but you call me old man all the time" the monk tease him."Well,that's because you look old facially and I don't." The monk noticed that he lacked his usual playful behavior and concluded that something might have happened so he decided to leave him alone but after a while, curiosity got the better part of him."Okay what's wrong with you this morning?"Duckhwan simply tilted his head and looked at him "she was here" the monk looked at him,confused "who?" "the strange girl from months ago,she was almost eaten by a tiger demon." "What!!, what did she come to do? no wait, umm you saved her right?" Duckhwan nods his head,he then stood up and started to climb the peach tree." I knew it, you're always acting like you don't care about people but I know you care." Plucking a ripe peach, he lay on one of the tree branch and started eating it "I don't care, I just couldn't let the stupid demon hunt in my forest and as for humans I stopped caring about them the very day they tried to kill me." The monk stared at him sadly "maybe this is the reason why she came, to help you get over it. Who knows she might come again." Duckhwan scoffed"she better don't cause if she does I might just kill her myself." The monk suddenly smiled"well well well why don't we test that theory, look she is here already." Duckhwan almost choked on the peach he was eating. Following the monk's eye,he saw the girl that gave him sleepless night with a bag in her hand, she looked tired and was panting heavily. "Ajusshi, please do you happen to know any young man from around here,he is,well, tall and good looking?" Vida asked the monk. Before he could answer,Duckhwan jumped down from the tree and grabbed her neck " what do you think you're doing here?"he growl. Vida was scared at first but when she saw it was the young man she was looking for, she smiled "found you" she said. The monk looked at then thoughtfully before leaving. Duckhwan was surprised slowly releasing her neck "found me? do you even know me?"Vida after taking in air, replied immediately"you're a nine tailed fox" Duckhwan was shocked "ho..how did you know that?" again she smiled say " so I was right?I was just making a wild guess but seems like you're really the gumiho In Eun-sook's story. Wow you're really strong,you almost choked me to death."

     Duckhwan still couldn't believe his eyes,was this girl crazy or what?"why are you looking for me?"he queried. Vida handed the bag to him"I wanted to thank you for saving me,so I bought some fruits and lots of cow liver." The monk burst into laughter,turns out he didn't leave but was hiding in a corner somewhere. "why would you buy liver?" Duckhwan asked sitting down on a rock. Vida sat beside him which made Duckhwan uncomfortable, he's been trying to maintain some distance from her " I read in books that gumihos like liver so I bought them" she replied,her round eyes staring at him.

     Duckhwan felt that little tug again in his heart."it's not true,I don't like liver." Vida looked disappointed but the monk assured her that he will prepare liver soup for himself since he likes it. Duckhwan couldn't take his eyes off Vida. She is a very beautiful and had a beautiful dimple whenever she smiles,her eyes were sparkling as she laughs and surprisingly she has a deep almost seductive voice,no it is seductive. "So what's your name Mr gumiho?" she asked cutting off his stream of thought. Duckhwan finds himself answering before he could even think "Duckhwan" "Duckhwan? that's a nice name,what does it mean ?" Before he could answer the monk cute him off," it means return of virtue though I don't see any virtue that he is returning, he doesn't even have one." She laughed but said " oh I see a lot of virtue in him and I think his name suits him, its very unique just like him." The monk cleared hi throat and gave the two of them a meaningful look.

   Duckhwan still cannot understand what was happening to him. His entire being craves her and that was strange in all his five hundred years of living no woman has ever had such effect on him. So who is this girl? little did Duckhwan know that he was slowly falling in love with her and that their fate from that day onward is becoming more complicated.

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