Taming the Crazy Horse, Epilogue (Final)
Previously:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16, Pt. 1
Chapter 16, Pt. 2
Disclaimer: The SKKS-verse belongs to the creators of Sungkyunkwan Scandal.
Author's Notes: Well, here we are at the end of this fic :( It's sad, but at the same time I'm glad that I'm actually finishing stories these days. I'm also excited to move on to more SKKS projects, the main one of which is (as I've told a number of people) a story for Yong-ha.
Thanks to min7girl, knweaye, Dorothy, Anonymous 1 and 2, naddyamal, blacknoraxe and Robelyn for the reviews! I hope you had as much fun reading this story as I did writing and sharing it with everyone.
Epilogue
"Ouuuuch! Appaaaaaa!"
The piping cry of pain roused both Jae-shin and the infant napping in the sling across his chest. Instantly on the alert, he sat bolt upright as a boy of about six ran up with a cut finger and an aggrieved expression on his little face. The kitchen boy Sang-hun, now a strapping lad in his teens, came up behind him.
"What happened?" Jae-shin demanded of the pair.
"He cut himself on the tip of an arrow, my lord," Sang-hun reported. "Even when you already told him not to touch them." The child shot him a mutinous glare, but the older boy had no qualms about returning it. The young lord had tasked him to watch over the heir, and Sang-hun's loyalty was to Jae-shin first and foremost.
Jae-shin ordered him to go and fetch Ka-hai, then turned his attention back to the injured party. "Moon Jin-young," he said, his authoritative tone a stark contrast to the gentleness in his touch as he turned his son's face to look at him. "Archery is serious business. If you're going to disobey my instructions, I might just stop your lessons. Do you understand?"
Cowed by the prospect, Jin-young nodded, his lower lip trembling.
"And another thing," Jae-shin continued. "No son of mine is going to get into the habit of crying over a mere scratch. I know that it hurts and you're scared, but you're going to be all right. I've been hurt much worse than that and I never made a sound. Now show me your cold face."
"Yes, my lord." Nodding again, the child managed to blink back the tears that had threatened and bring his lip under control. Jae-shin couldn't help marveling as Jin-young set his small jaw. Looking at his son's face was like facing a mirror to the past; apart from the pronounced cheekbones that could only have come from his Cha forebears, the boy was his spitting image.
"That's better."
Just then, the baby gurgled and a reached out tiny hand for Jin-young's injured finger. She inspected it gravely, like a doctor examining a patient, before tugging it towards her mouth.
"Ugh, Chae-young, no!" her brother exclaimed, pulling the digit out of her grasp. Moon Chae-young began to howl.
A female voice cut into the commotion. "I guess it's a good thing that I left you with only two of the children for a minute, or else all of them would be crying."
Father and son turned to the woman striding up to them, with Sang-hun and a toddler trailing behind her. "I wasn't crying, Eomma," Jin-young protested.
"And you left me with them for much longer than a minute," Jae-shin added, raising his voice over the infant's shrill cries.
Ka-hai looked at the pair for a moment before sighing and producing the small medical kit that years of being a mother to two very active little boys (and wife to a man who still got his fair share of cuts and scrapes) had taught her to carry at all times. "Come here, Jin-young, and let me look at that cut," she ordered briskly. "Hak-young, go to your father. Jae-shin, keep an eye on him and the baby, will you?"
Obediently, three-year-old Moon Hak-young toddled over to his father. Unlike his hyung, the sturdy little boy resembled his Grandfather Moon, which made him a favorite with the old man. "Appa, look!" he said, displaying a dimpled smile and a fat puppy clutched very carefully in his hands.
"Very nice," Jae-shin replied, but raised a hand to prevent him from bringing the animal closer to his sister.
"But the puppy will make her happy," Hak-young protested.
"Maybe when she's older. Right now, she's too little to play with it. Why don't you sit here by me and play with the puppy by yourself?"
The boy thought it over for a moment. Having no objections to keeping his pet all to himself, he shrugged his shoulders and plunked himself down next to his father. "All right."
With Hak-young busy romping with his puppy and Jin-young in his mother's care, Jae-shin was free to turn his attention to his daughter. Speaking in a low, quiet voice, he began to soothe her, the way he had his sons when they had been infants - by reciting the Analects of Confucius.
Ka-hai maintained that it was a strange way to soothe a baby, but he responded loftily that Moon Jae-shin did not croon like a woman, or babble nonsense like an idiot. ("At least not in public," his wife laughed, irreverent as always.) Besides, one couldn't argue with the results: just like her brothers before her, Chae-young quieted partway into his recitation, then gave her father one of the increasingly frequent smiles that never failed to make his heart turn over.
"It's going to be my horse, won't it, Eomma?" he heard Jin-young ask when Chae-young was happy again. Mother and son had clearly been discussing the new foal that had been born on the Cha estate.
"It's supposed to be," she told him, "but if disobeying your father is going to become a habit, then it just might go to someone else."
Jin-young looked at his father with accusing eyes. "Did you make Eomma say that, Appa?"
"How could I have done that?" Jae-shin protested, reaching over just in time to keep Hak-young from tumbling backwards when the puppy pounced on him a bit too energetically. "I've been sitting over here all this time." He arched an amused eyebrow at the woman in question. "Maybe we just think alike."
He and Ka-hai exchanged grins and their firstborn threw up his hands (one with a half-bandaged finger) in defeat. It was always nice to get some support from his wife, he thought as she took the boy's hand again to finish her ministrations; especially when it was unexpected.
"There." Ka-hai knotted the bandage closed and gave her son a penetrating look. "Is this going to happen ever again?"
Jin-young shook his head, looking abashed. "No, my lady."
"Good. Now, we should probably all go back in the house," she announced, looking up at the sky. "It looks like it's going to rain. Sang-hun, please go to the kitchen and ask Master Jeung to prepare something for the children to eat. Get yourself a snack, too."
"Yes, my lady." The kitchen boy sketched a bow and went off to do her bidding.
"Hak-young, find your socks and shoes; it's time to go back in the house. He was wearing them just a while ago," she muttered, shaking her head and walking over to help her husband to his feet. Chae-young gurgled happily at the sight of her mother and held out her arms to be carried.
"I guess I'm only good for sleeping on," Jae-shin said dryly as he prepared to transfer the baby, sling and all, to his wife.
"Of course not," Ka-hai assured him. "You know that Chae-young adores you." She snickered. "But no matter how tall you might stand in her eyes, she knows where her food is coming from."
"Good point," he admitted. He fastened the sling around her and, taking advantage of his position, leaned over for a kiss.
They broke apart when they heard gagging noises, and looked down to see Jin-young screwing up his face with a small boy's disgust at public displays of affection. Naturally, his younger brother followed his lead; only the puppy, preoccupied with gnawing on one of its master's shoes, didn't seem to mind.
Jae-shin chuckled and laid a hand on each boy's head to ruffle their hair. "You may be making those faces about this now...." he began.
"... but you'll be hiccuping when you're older?" Ka-hai finished for him, grinning unrepentantly.
He made a face at his wife. "Something like that."
She laughed and then it was her turn to kiss him. "Come, let's go inside."
Jae-shin bent down to scoop up Hak-young's shoes and socks and, herding the boys and the puppy in front of them, husband and wife started towards the house.
THE END
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16, Pt. 1
Chapter 16, Pt. 2
Disclaimer: The SKKS-verse belongs to the creators of Sungkyunkwan Scandal.
Author's Notes: Well, here we are at the end of this fic :( It's sad, but at the same time I'm glad that I'm actually finishing stories these days. I'm also excited to move on to more SKKS projects, the main one of which is (as I've told a number of people) a story for Yong-ha.
Thanks to min7girl, knweaye, Dorothy, Anonymous 1 and 2, naddyamal, blacknoraxe and Robelyn for the reviews! I hope you had as much fun reading this story as I did writing and sharing it with everyone.
Epilogue
"Ouuuuch! Appaaaaaa!"
The piping cry of pain roused both Jae-shin and the infant napping in the sling across his chest. Instantly on the alert, he sat bolt upright as a boy of about six ran up with a cut finger and an aggrieved expression on his little face. The kitchen boy Sang-hun, now a strapping lad in his teens, came up behind him.
"What happened?" Jae-shin demanded of the pair.
"He cut himself on the tip of an arrow, my lord," Sang-hun reported. "Even when you already told him not to touch them." The child shot him a mutinous glare, but the older boy had no qualms about returning it. The young lord had tasked him to watch over the heir, and Sang-hun's loyalty was to Jae-shin first and foremost.
Jae-shin ordered him to go and fetch Ka-hai, then turned his attention back to the injured party. "Moon Jin-young," he said, his authoritative tone a stark contrast to the gentleness in his touch as he turned his son's face to look at him. "Archery is serious business. If you're going to disobey my instructions, I might just stop your lessons. Do you understand?"
Cowed by the prospect, Jin-young nodded, his lower lip trembling.
"And another thing," Jae-shin continued. "No son of mine is going to get into the habit of crying over a mere scratch. I know that it hurts and you're scared, but you're going to be all right. I've been hurt much worse than that and I never made a sound. Now show me your cold face."
"Yes, my lord." Nodding again, the child managed to blink back the tears that had threatened and bring his lip under control. Jae-shin couldn't help marveling as Jin-young set his small jaw. Looking at his son's face was like facing a mirror to the past; apart from the pronounced cheekbones that could only have come from his Cha forebears, the boy was his spitting image.
"That's better."
Just then, the baby gurgled and a reached out tiny hand for Jin-young's injured finger. She inspected it gravely, like a doctor examining a patient, before tugging it towards her mouth.
"Ugh, Chae-young, no!" her brother exclaimed, pulling the digit out of her grasp. Moon Chae-young began to howl.
A female voice cut into the commotion. "I guess it's a good thing that I left you with only two of the children for a minute, or else all of them would be crying."
Father and son turned to the woman striding up to them, with Sang-hun and a toddler trailing behind her. "I wasn't crying, Eomma," Jin-young protested.
"And you left me with them for much longer than a minute," Jae-shin added, raising his voice over the infant's shrill cries.
Ka-hai looked at the pair for a moment before sighing and producing the small medical kit that years of being a mother to two very active little boys (and wife to a man who still got his fair share of cuts and scrapes) had taught her to carry at all times. "Come here, Jin-young, and let me look at that cut," she ordered briskly. "Hak-young, go to your father. Jae-shin, keep an eye on him and the baby, will you?"
Obediently, three-year-old Moon Hak-young toddled over to his father. Unlike his hyung, the sturdy little boy resembled his Grandfather Moon, which made him a favorite with the old man. "Appa, look!" he said, displaying a dimpled smile and a fat puppy clutched very carefully in his hands.
"Very nice," Jae-shin replied, but raised a hand to prevent him from bringing the animal closer to his sister.
"But the puppy will make her happy," Hak-young protested.
"Maybe when she's older. Right now, she's too little to play with it. Why don't you sit here by me and play with the puppy by yourself?"
The boy thought it over for a moment. Having no objections to keeping his pet all to himself, he shrugged his shoulders and plunked himself down next to his father. "All right."
With Hak-young busy romping with his puppy and Jin-young in his mother's care, Jae-shin was free to turn his attention to his daughter. Speaking in a low, quiet voice, he began to soothe her, the way he had his sons when they had been infants - by reciting the Analects of Confucius.
Ka-hai maintained that it was a strange way to soothe a baby, but he responded loftily that Moon Jae-shin did not croon like a woman, or babble nonsense like an idiot. ("At least not in public," his wife laughed, irreverent as always.) Besides, one couldn't argue with the results: just like her brothers before her, Chae-young quieted partway into his recitation, then gave her father one of the increasingly frequent smiles that never failed to make his heart turn over.
"It's going to be my horse, won't it, Eomma?" he heard Jin-young ask when Chae-young was happy again. Mother and son had clearly been discussing the new foal that had been born on the Cha estate.
"It's supposed to be," she told him, "but if disobeying your father is going to become a habit, then it just might go to someone else."
Jin-young looked at his father with accusing eyes. "Did you make Eomma say that, Appa?"
"How could I have done that?" Jae-shin protested, reaching over just in time to keep Hak-young from tumbling backwards when the puppy pounced on him a bit too energetically. "I've been sitting over here all this time." He arched an amused eyebrow at the woman in question. "Maybe we just think alike."
He and Ka-hai exchanged grins and their firstborn threw up his hands (one with a half-bandaged finger) in defeat. It was always nice to get some support from his wife, he thought as she took the boy's hand again to finish her ministrations; especially when it was unexpected.
"There." Ka-hai knotted the bandage closed and gave her son a penetrating look. "Is this going to happen ever again?"
Jin-young shook his head, looking abashed. "No, my lady."
"Good. Now, we should probably all go back in the house," she announced, looking up at the sky. "It looks like it's going to rain. Sang-hun, please go to the kitchen and ask Master Jeung to prepare something for the children to eat. Get yourself a snack, too."
"Yes, my lady." The kitchen boy sketched a bow and went off to do her bidding.
"Hak-young, find your socks and shoes; it's time to go back in the house. He was wearing them just a while ago," she muttered, shaking her head and walking over to help her husband to his feet. Chae-young gurgled happily at the sight of her mother and held out her arms to be carried.
"I guess I'm only good for sleeping on," Jae-shin said dryly as he prepared to transfer the baby, sling and all, to his wife.
"Of course not," Ka-hai assured him. "You know that Chae-young adores you." She snickered. "But no matter how tall you might stand in her eyes, she knows where her food is coming from."
"Good point," he admitted. He fastened the sling around her and, taking advantage of his position, leaned over for a kiss.
They broke apart when they heard gagging noises, and looked down to see Jin-young screwing up his face with a small boy's disgust at public displays of affection. Naturally, his younger brother followed his lead; only the puppy, preoccupied with gnawing on one of its master's shoes, didn't seem to mind.
Jae-shin chuckled and laid a hand on each boy's head to ruffle their hair. "You may be making those faces about this now...." he began.
"... but you'll be hiccuping when you're older?" Ka-hai finished for him, grinning unrepentantly.
He made a face at his wife. "Something like that."
She laughed and then it was her turn to kiss him. "Come, let's go inside."
Jae-shin bent down to scoop up Hak-young's shoes and socks and, herding the boys and the puppy in front of them, husband and wife started towards the house.
THE END