Taming the Crazy Horse, Ch. 3
Previously:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Disclaimer: The SKKS-verse belongs to the creators of Sungkyunkwan Scandal.
Technical Notes: I am neither Korean nor an expert on Korean history and culture, so please pardon any inaccuracies in the wedding rituals described in this chapter. I cobbled it together based on the results of a Google search, a re-watching of Goong, and a little bit of my own interpretation. Historical accuracy is infinitely desirable, but I don't want to stress about every little detail. This is supposed to be fun, dudes!
11/12/2011 - Since writing this fic, I have learned that married couples tend to not call each other by their first name, even in modern-day Korea, but... see the preceding paragraph ;)
Author's Notes: Thank you so, so much to takenoko, kensnonno and Anonymous for the kind reviews :) I'm glad that technology makes it so much easier to meet interesting new people. Your support means a heck of a lot to me!
I would also like to extend a special muchas gracias (although I am not Spanish) to Miss Tofu for linking to this fic on her SKKS fanfic archive! I am all verklempt (although I'm not Jewish, either)! Please check out Lunar Annals; there is a lot of really good stuff there!
Chapter Three
Dusk was falling as the groom's party, composed of Jae-shin, his father and some friends and servants, made its way to the Cha estate for the wedding. Lanterns lit the road like fireflies as far as the eye could see, their warm glow illuminating the awed faces in the crowd that lined the streets.
Everyone had a right to watch a wedding procession, Jae-shin told himself as he rode past a clutch of whispering gawkers, but did everyone in the kingdom really have to turn out to watch his?
He tried for the fifth time to loosen his collar, only to have his knuckles rapped smartly by one of Yong-ha's ubiquitous fans. "Stop fiddling with that," his friend admonished, his bright yellow overcoat glowing in the growing darkness.
"It's choking me," Jae-shin complained.
"It's fine. Do you want to go to your bride looking like you just rolled out of bed?"
"I'm not wearing my sleeping clothes, am I?" he retorted. Actually, he was wearing his dress uniform, a round-necked violet robe signifying that he was a junior government official, with the insignia of the Ministry of War on the chest. A samo, or winged black hat, crowned his head.
Sun-joon looked sympathetic. "Sa-hyung is just nervous. On my wedding day, I thought I was going to strangle to death."
"Really, now?" his wife asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Only because I was so impatient to be married to you, my love," he soothed.
"You're not going to be as insufferable as those two when you're married, are you, old man?" In-soo wanted to know. "It's bad enough that those two are trying to make the rest of us jealous. I don't think I'll be able to take it if you started acting like that, too."
"I'm not jealous," Yong-ha told the other man loftily. "By the way, that's a very fine horse you've got there, Geol-oh. Nothing but the best for Sungkyunkwan's crazy horse, right?"
"It's a present from... my father-in-law," Jae-shin said, the word still sticking in his throat a bit.
"Really! If the rest of his stock is that good, then I just might trade in this one and get myself a newer model. I wonder if he has a black horse for sale. Black goes with everything."
"I thought you hated wearing black clothes, sa-hyung," Yoon-hee remarked.
"Yes, but it's the best color for accessories, my dear."
All the talk about horses led Jae-shin to remember his first conversation with Ka-hai, and how it had deteriorated into a discussion about horse breeding. Later on, he had felt ashamed at leading the conversation to such an indelicate topic, but at least Ka-hai hadn't been scandalized. They probably talked about things like that all the time in her family.
More than that, though, he hadn't liked her implication that if he wouldn't have her, then she would just go and marry someone else. She was selling herself short if she thought that all she was good for was to keep house and have children. Women had more worth in the new Joseon.
Besides, he had just become accustomed to the idea that Ka-hai was going to be his wife. She really didn't have to go upsetting the apple cart like that.
Upon arriving at the gates of the Cha estate, the small party paused so that the young men in the group could don garish costumes and paint their faces with squid ink. "I'm only doing this because we've been friends for so long, Geol-oh," Yong-ha told him, grimacing as he tried to smear the black stuff on his cheeks without getting any on his clothes.
"And I'm only doing this because you don't have many friends," In-soo teased. "Why are you doing this, Sun-joon?"
The third man, who had dressed and painted his face with quiet efficiency, looked at them blankly. "I'm doing this because although we live in a new Joseon, we should still uphold old traditions," he said, as though it was something that everyone should know. "And also because Geol-oh sa-hyung is my friend and he did this for me when I got married."
"If you were really his friend," Yong-ha suggested, "then you would carry the hahm." The hahm, a bulky wooden chest filled with gifts for the bride and wrapped in red silk, was strapped to his back.
Sun-joon grinned, his teeth white against his blackened face. "Oh, but I wouldn't dream of taking that honor away from his oldest friend, sa-hyung."
Jae-shin couldn't help smiling, too. Part of him still wanted to bolt, but his friends were helping ease his nervousness somewhat. He was sure that, had he been alive, Young-shin would have been right here, too, painting his face and joking around. "Well, I appreciate all your help, gentlemen."
Having finished his toilette, Yong-ha wiped his hands fastidiously on a towel offered by a waiting servant. He smiled at his partners in crime. "Shall we proceed?"
When the others indicated that they were ready, Jae-shin's friends led the party to the house on foot, hollering, "Hahm for sale! Buy a hahm!"
Some distance away from the house, Lord Cha, accompanied by his sons and a coterie of laughing servants, came out to greet the guests and begin the negotiations over Jae-shin's right to present himself to his bride. Yong-ha, as bearer of the hahm, argued on his friend's behalf opposite Ka-sar, who was negotiating for his sister.
The negotiations were long and loud, due to the fact that both participants were wily businessmen and loved being the center of attention. Yong-ha demanded a high price to entice the bridegroom to enter the house, but Ka-sar didn't take that lying down and stated that Jae-shin must pay dearly for the honor of marrying his only sister. To plead his case, Yong-ha extolled Jae-shin's numerous virtues - including one that had Sun-joon ordering his giggling wife to cover her ears - while his counterpart praised Ka-hai to the highest heavens, comparing her to precious jewels, goddesses and delicate flowers that had Ka-chun snorting with laughter and their father looking skeptical.
There was loud applause when a settlement was reached. After the negotiators had taken their bows, the bridegroom's party was admitted into the house so that his friends could make themselves presentable again and rejoin the party for the formal ceremonies.
Before entering the room where his incipient parents-in-law waited, Jae-shin accepted from In-soo a live wild goose, wrapped in a brightly colored cloth with its beak and feet tied together to keep it from getting away. For once, his partner didn't have a snide comment for the occasion.
Jae-shin could feel everyone's eyes on him as he and his father joined Ka-hai's parents in front of the Cha family's ancestral shrine. It was his first time to see Lady Cha again after her fainting episode, and she smiled at him kindly.
Her smile wavered and her eyes grew misty when she heard a light step behind her, and the bride made her appearance, resplendent in ornate wedding clothes of red, gold and green. A red circle was painted in the middle of her forehead and on each cheek, and the small jeweled coronet on her head made her was easily as tall as he.
Minister Moon prodded him discreetly, reminding Jae-shin to come forward and lay the wild goose he carried on a small table in the center of the room. Wild geese, which mated for life, were a symbol of fidelity.
Fortunately, the goose behaved during its part of the ritual, and they were able to move smoothly to the formal unification ceremony, which would make Jae-shin and Ka-hai man and wife. After bowing low to each other, the bridal couple seated themselves at a low table and accepted cups of special wine.
Jae-shin's hiccups were threatening again and he was tempted to down all of his wine, but he managed to keep himself under control and take only a sip. He stole a glance at Ka-hai as he handed his cup back to her mother, but she kept her eyes cast down. It was hard to equate this silent, remote doll with the hoyden who had burst into the house dressed like a man and talked to him frankly of brood mares.
The remainder of their wine was mixed together and poured back into their cups for them to finish, then the bridal couple concluded the ceremony by making their bows to the ancestral shrine, Ka-hai's parents and finally the wedding guests. A loud cheer went up as Jae-shin presented Ka-hai to her new father-in-law.
He took a deep breath as a beaming Minister Moon took his new daughter by the hand and welcomed her into the family. At last, it was over.
Or so he thought.
Jae-shin found out soon enough that the evening was just beginning. He had been so preoccupied with getting through the formal ceremonies that he didn't realize that he was going to spend his wedding night locked in a bedroom with his bride until most of the menfolk, most of them already happily inebriated from the bountiful wedding feast, hoisted him to his feet and began hustling him towards the bridal chamber.
"Don't worry, we made sure the servants put lots of food and drink in there for you," Ka-sar assured him. "It takes a lot of strength to break a filly!"
Laughing, Ka-chun reached up to snatch off Jae-shin's hat and, with the help of others in the party, stripped him of his court robe. "You're not going to need these tonight!"
Even his friends wouldn't leave him alone. "She's not quite the type I would have chosen for you," Yong-ha remarked, "but I see a lot of potential!"
"I hope you don't fail this exam, old man," In-soo murmured to him. "They didn't cover the material in Sungkyunkwan."
Sun-joon, however, came to the rescue. Just before their friends opened the door, he slipped a small, red-covered book in Jae-shin's hand. "Just in case you need ideas, sa-hyung," he whispered.
He had just managed to conceal the book in his jeogori when his escorts knocked on Ka-hai's door and, without bothering to wait for an answer, opened the door and shoved him into the room.
The ladies inside put up an indignant front for a while, but they all knew that it was time for them to leave and they soon withdrew, giggling and casting speculative looks at the newlyweds. Before he knew what he was doing, Jae-shin closed the door on them and his boisterous friends, leaving him and his bride alone.
She was sitting at a low table laden, as Ka-sar had promised, with choice tidbits from the wedding feast. Like him, she had been divested of her wedding finery and was largely ready to go to bed.
Ka-hai forced herself to look up at him. "Well, I'm glad to see that I'm not underdressed," she said, smiling feebly.
He hiccuped.
"Why don't you sit down and eat something?" she suggested, staring fixedly at a point somewhere above his eyebrows. "I don't know about you, but I've barely had anything to eat all day. It took forever to put on those wedding things and Omoni didn't want me to spill anything on them." With great effort, she managed to stop her babbling. "Anyway, you should sit down."
Jae-shin dropped down by the table and Ka-hai watched him take a drink of wine straight from the jug, grasping the neck of the vessel with strong brown fingers. If his father was an ox, she thought, her new husband was a stallion, as tall and rangy as Ka-sar, but broader in the shoulders and with bigger hands. The observation made her remember what she had once overheard the laundress saying, about men with big hands....
Blushing, she looked down and pretended to be busy choosing what to eat next. Don't think about that!
"What was that?" he asked her.
Ka-hai looked up. "What was what?"
"You said something."
"Me?" Her face went up in flames when she realized that she must have said something aloud. "Oh, it's nothing!" she babbled. "Nothing! I was just... talking to myself."
Jae-shin looked suspicious, but she managed to look him in the eye. It was the truth, she thought; what she had said definitely hadn't been intended for his ears. Finally, he grunted and helped himself to a sticky rice cake speckled with sesame seeds. "Don't be afraid," he said after the cake was gone, washed down with another gulp of wine. "Nothing has to happen if you don't wish it."
"I'm not afraid," Ka-hai told him. Growing up on a farm meant that she knew how animals mated. She was innocent, but not so naive that she had no idea how the whole business worked.
"Nervous, then," he amended.
"Oh. All right." Dropping her gaze, she took something from one of the dishes on the table and popped it into her mouth without even knowing what it was. Well, she couldn't deny that she was nervous. Although she knew what was expected of them that night, she wasn't sure if she was completely prepared to actually do it.
She supposed that this made Jae-shin a considerate husband, even if he was drinking the wine straight out of the jug and apparently not intending to leave any for her.
"You can go on and sleep if you're tired," he added some time later. "You don't need to wait for me."
"I think I'll do that," she agreed. "It's been a very tiring day. Good night, my lord."
"Jae-shin," he said as she was making her way to the bed.
Ka-hai looked over her shoulder at him. "What?"
"My name is Jae-shin. You should probably call me that, since we're married."
"All right, then... Jae-shin." She gave him a polite smile. "Then I suppose you must call me Ka-hai."
He nodded briefly. "Good night, Ka-hai."
She inclined her head in acknowledgement of the greeting and then turned her attention back to getting ready for bed. Ka-hai pulled out the hairpin that had held her chignon in place (did Jae-shin just hiccup again?) and rubbed the back of her neck to try and dispel the prickling sensation that she felt there. Tension, she told herself. That was all it was.
She lay down on her side, facing away from her husband. It was hard to go to sleep knowing there was a man in the room, even if he had every right to be there. He had said that they didn't have to do anything that night, but what was going to stop him from pouncing on her anyway, if he felt like it?
Ka-hai waited, barely breathing, but all she heard were the clink and clatter of dishes. Soon, the rigors of the day overtook her and she fell asleep.
The next morning, Jae-shin awoke and felt himself curled up against something warm. For a moment, he thought he was lying too close to one of his roommates again, but then remembered that he wasn't at Sungkyunkwan anymore, and that last night had been his wedding night.
He opened his eyes. Although he had lain down a decorous distance away from Ka-hai when he went to bed, they gravitated towards each other during the night and now huddled together like a couple of sleeping puppies. She lay with her cheek snuggled against his shoulder, so close that her breath wafted warmly over his skin, with one hand curved around his arm and a knee resting on his thigh.
He hiccuped and edged away from her. Ka-hai rolled away from him, too, and onto her back. Her eyes remained closed.
A wise man would have risen and run. Jae-shin, on the other hand, stayed put and leaned over her, wanting to get a closer look at the woman who was now his wife while she was asleep and unaware that he was doing so.
With her high, broad cheekbones and lightly tanned skin, most would probably disregard her at first glance as looking too masculine. Few would notice her wide, feminine mouth and the faint scattering of golden freckles dusting her nose; and perhaps only her husband would be able to see that her eyelashes were so long that they brushed her cheeks when she slept.
Said eyelashes fluttered, and in the next moment, a number of things happened at once: his arm slid out from under him, Ka-hai woke up and her bedroom door opened. Jae-shin fell on his face on top of her, lips mashing against her cheek, and she squealed, startled.
"Omo!" Yong-ha exclaimed while the couple on the bed froze in shock. "I do beg your pardon! We'll come back later."
The door closed again and he rolled off her. "Sorry," he hiccuped. "It was an accident."
She sat up and edged away quickly, looking at him in a way that made him believe that he had made her angry, or even scared her. His face burned with shame. Although he wasn't as well-mannered as Yong-ha or Sun-joon, he wasn't a monster. "I told you I'm not going to force you to do anything you don't want to do," he reminded her. "I swear to you that still stands."
Finally, Ka-hai dropped her gaze and nodded, her cheeks as red as poppies. Outside, they could hear the babble of excited voices; Yong-ha was clearly not wasting any time spreading the news of what he had seen. "We... we should probably get dressed," she said stiffly as she got to her feet. "It sounds as though everyone knows we're awake."
Ka-hai was still recovering from the incident when the wedding party made its way to Jae-shin's home later that day for the p'ye-baek. She was traveling there in a palanquin borne by four of her father's strongest servants. Fortunately, her new husband wasn't riding the litter with her, so she had the trip to pull herself together and be able to face not just him, but everyone who thought that they had been... well, doing what newlyweds were supposed to do.
It had been a shock to wake up and find Jae-shin sprawled on top of her. He had taken down his hair last night, which had made him look like a wild man, and for a while Ka-hai had truly thought that he meant to break his promise from the night before. His embarrassment seemed genuine, though, and she believed him when he said it was an accident. However, she thought, blushing, maybe... someday... it might be nice to wake up to a husband who was doing that on purpose.
It was only when the bearers had stopped in front of her new home that she realized that she had left her father's house for good. The reality of that overwhelmed her and for a brief moment, Ka-hai was tempted to jump out of the palanquin and run all the way back to the Cha estate, but Jae-shin arrived to help her out of the conveyance while she was still debating on whether to make a run for it. She blinked back the prickle of tears and reminded herself that she was married now, and even if she did run home, her father would just send her back again.
As the servants looked on, the bridal couple entered the house and proceeded to a room where Jae-shin's father waited. Minister Moon smiled benignly as his new daughter-in-law offered him dates and chestnuts. They symbolized children, and while some may have been contented with a dish of them, her mother had packed her off with a whole basketful.
He then offered her tea, which she accepted meekly, taking onto her shoulders the burden of bearing children to continue his line. Then, as the onlookers laughed and clapped, he tossed the dates and chestnuts at her, obliging her to catch them in her overskirt.
Ka-hai's mind was a blank as she went after the treats, running and even sliding to her knees to catch them, unaware of Kwan-sook's shrill reminders to have a care for her clothes. She couldn't quite remember whether this part of the ritual was supposed to mean anything, but even if she did, she didn't care to think about it anymore.
It took her a while to realize that Minister Moon had run out of dates and chestnuts, and she looked up as he rose, laughing, to embrace her. "You did well, my dear."
She managed a smile for him. Even though she had embarrassed herself and her family terribly the first time they met, he had been nothing but nice to her. "Thank you, A-Abeonim."
"I've never had a daughter before, so you'll have to teach me how to treat one properly."
"I think you're doing quite well so far."
He patted her cheek fondly, then turned to his son, who had stood silently in the background throughout the proceedings. "Your wife must have caught half the basket, Jae-shin," he called with a grin. "That means I'm going to have lots and lots of grandchildren!"
Jae-shin smiled crookedly, even though he still avoided her eyes. "We'll do our best to oblige you, Abeoji."
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Disclaimer: The SKKS-verse belongs to the creators of Sungkyunkwan Scandal.
Technical Notes: I am neither Korean nor an expert on Korean history and culture, so please pardon any inaccuracies in the wedding rituals described in this chapter. I cobbled it together based on the results of a Google search, a re-watching of Goong, and a little bit of my own interpretation. Historical accuracy is infinitely desirable, but I don't want to stress about every little detail. This is supposed to be fun, dudes!
11/12/2011 - Since writing this fic, I have learned that married couples tend to not call each other by their first name, even in modern-day Korea, but... see the preceding paragraph ;)
Author's Notes: Thank you so, so much to takenoko, kensnonno and Anonymous for the kind reviews :) I'm glad that technology makes it so much easier to meet interesting new people. Your support means a heck of a lot to me!
I would also like to extend a special muchas gracias (although I am not Spanish) to Miss Tofu for linking to this fic on her SKKS fanfic archive! I am all verklempt (although I'm not Jewish, either)! Please check out Lunar Annals; there is a lot of really good stuff there!
Chapter Three
Dusk was falling as the groom's party, composed of Jae-shin, his father and some friends and servants, made its way to the Cha estate for the wedding. Lanterns lit the road like fireflies as far as the eye could see, their warm glow illuminating the awed faces in the crowd that lined the streets.
Everyone had a right to watch a wedding procession, Jae-shin told himself as he rode past a clutch of whispering gawkers, but did everyone in the kingdom really have to turn out to watch his?
He tried for the fifth time to loosen his collar, only to have his knuckles rapped smartly by one of Yong-ha's ubiquitous fans. "Stop fiddling with that," his friend admonished, his bright yellow overcoat glowing in the growing darkness.
"It's choking me," Jae-shin complained.
"It's fine. Do you want to go to your bride looking like you just rolled out of bed?"
"I'm not wearing my sleeping clothes, am I?" he retorted. Actually, he was wearing his dress uniform, a round-necked violet robe signifying that he was a junior government official, with the insignia of the Ministry of War on the chest. A samo, or winged black hat, crowned his head.
Sun-joon looked sympathetic. "Sa-hyung is just nervous. On my wedding day, I thought I was going to strangle to death."
"Really, now?" his wife asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Only because I was so impatient to be married to you, my love," he soothed.
"You're not going to be as insufferable as those two when you're married, are you, old man?" In-soo wanted to know. "It's bad enough that those two are trying to make the rest of us jealous. I don't think I'll be able to take it if you started acting like that, too."
"I'm not jealous," Yong-ha told the other man loftily. "By the way, that's a very fine horse you've got there, Geol-oh. Nothing but the best for Sungkyunkwan's crazy horse, right?"
"It's a present from... my father-in-law," Jae-shin said, the word still sticking in his throat a bit.
"Really! If the rest of his stock is that good, then I just might trade in this one and get myself a newer model. I wonder if he has a black horse for sale. Black goes with everything."
"I thought you hated wearing black clothes, sa-hyung," Yoon-hee remarked.
"Yes, but it's the best color for accessories, my dear."
All the talk about horses led Jae-shin to remember his first conversation with Ka-hai, and how it had deteriorated into a discussion about horse breeding. Later on, he had felt ashamed at leading the conversation to such an indelicate topic, but at least Ka-hai hadn't been scandalized. They probably talked about things like that all the time in her family.
More than that, though, he hadn't liked her implication that if he wouldn't have her, then she would just go and marry someone else. She was selling herself short if she thought that all she was good for was to keep house and have children. Women had more worth in the new Joseon.
Besides, he had just become accustomed to the idea that Ka-hai was going to be his wife. She really didn't have to go upsetting the apple cart like that.
Upon arriving at the gates of the Cha estate, the small party paused so that the young men in the group could don garish costumes and paint their faces with squid ink. "I'm only doing this because we've been friends for so long, Geol-oh," Yong-ha told him, grimacing as he tried to smear the black stuff on his cheeks without getting any on his clothes.
"And I'm only doing this because you don't have many friends," In-soo teased. "Why are you doing this, Sun-joon?"
The third man, who had dressed and painted his face with quiet efficiency, looked at them blankly. "I'm doing this because although we live in a new Joseon, we should still uphold old traditions," he said, as though it was something that everyone should know. "And also because Geol-oh sa-hyung is my friend and he did this for me when I got married."
"If you were really his friend," Yong-ha suggested, "then you would carry the hahm." The hahm, a bulky wooden chest filled with gifts for the bride and wrapped in red silk, was strapped to his back.
Sun-joon grinned, his teeth white against his blackened face. "Oh, but I wouldn't dream of taking that honor away from his oldest friend, sa-hyung."
Jae-shin couldn't help smiling, too. Part of him still wanted to bolt, but his friends were helping ease his nervousness somewhat. He was sure that, had he been alive, Young-shin would have been right here, too, painting his face and joking around. "Well, I appreciate all your help, gentlemen."
Having finished his toilette, Yong-ha wiped his hands fastidiously on a towel offered by a waiting servant. He smiled at his partners in crime. "Shall we proceed?"
When the others indicated that they were ready, Jae-shin's friends led the party to the house on foot, hollering, "Hahm for sale! Buy a hahm!"
Some distance away from the house, Lord Cha, accompanied by his sons and a coterie of laughing servants, came out to greet the guests and begin the negotiations over Jae-shin's right to present himself to his bride. Yong-ha, as bearer of the hahm, argued on his friend's behalf opposite Ka-sar, who was negotiating for his sister.
The negotiations were long and loud, due to the fact that both participants were wily businessmen and loved being the center of attention. Yong-ha demanded a high price to entice the bridegroom to enter the house, but Ka-sar didn't take that lying down and stated that Jae-shin must pay dearly for the honor of marrying his only sister. To plead his case, Yong-ha extolled Jae-shin's numerous virtues - including one that had Sun-joon ordering his giggling wife to cover her ears - while his counterpart praised Ka-hai to the highest heavens, comparing her to precious jewels, goddesses and delicate flowers that had Ka-chun snorting with laughter and their father looking skeptical.
There was loud applause when a settlement was reached. After the negotiators had taken their bows, the bridegroom's party was admitted into the house so that his friends could make themselves presentable again and rejoin the party for the formal ceremonies.
Before entering the room where his incipient parents-in-law waited, Jae-shin accepted from In-soo a live wild goose, wrapped in a brightly colored cloth with its beak and feet tied together to keep it from getting away. For once, his partner didn't have a snide comment for the occasion.
Jae-shin could feel everyone's eyes on him as he and his father joined Ka-hai's parents in front of the Cha family's ancestral shrine. It was his first time to see Lady Cha again after her fainting episode, and she smiled at him kindly.
Her smile wavered and her eyes grew misty when she heard a light step behind her, and the bride made her appearance, resplendent in ornate wedding clothes of red, gold and green. A red circle was painted in the middle of her forehead and on each cheek, and the small jeweled coronet on her head made her was easily as tall as he.
Minister Moon prodded him discreetly, reminding Jae-shin to come forward and lay the wild goose he carried on a small table in the center of the room. Wild geese, which mated for life, were a symbol of fidelity.
Fortunately, the goose behaved during its part of the ritual, and they were able to move smoothly to the formal unification ceremony, which would make Jae-shin and Ka-hai man and wife. After bowing low to each other, the bridal couple seated themselves at a low table and accepted cups of special wine.
Jae-shin's hiccups were threatening again and he was tempted to down all of his wine, but he managed to keep himself under control and take only a sip. He stole a glance at Ka-hai as he handed his cup back to her mother, but she kept her eyes cast down. It was hard to equate this silent, remote doll with the hoyden who had burst into the house dressed like a man and talked to him frankly of brood mares.
The remainder of their wine was mixed together and poured back into their cups for them to finish, then the bridal couple concluded the ceremony by making their bows to the ancestral shrine, Ka-hai's parents and finally the wedding guests. A loud cheer went up as Jae-shin presented Ka-hai to her new father-in-law.
He took a deep breath as a beaming Minister Moon took his new daughter by the hand and welcomed her into the family. At last, it was over.
Or so he thought.
Jae-shin found out soon enough that the evening was just beginning. He had been so preoccupied with getting through the formal ceremonies that he didn't realize that he was going to spend his wedding night locked in a bedroom with his bride until most of the menfolk, most of them already happily inebriated from the bountiful wedding feast, hoisted him to his feet and began hustling him towards the bridal chamber.
"Don't worry, we made sure the servants put lots of food and drink in there for you," Ka-sar assured him. "It takes a lot of strength to break a filly!"
Laughing, Ka-chun reached up to snatch off Jae-shin's hat and, with the help of others in the party, stripped him of his court robe. "You're not going to need these tonight!"
Even his friends wouldn't leave him alone. "She's not quite the type I would have chosen for you," Yong-ha remarked, "but I see a lot of potential!"
"I hope you don't fail this exam, old man," In-soo murmured to him. "They didn't cover the material in Sungkyunkwan."
Sun-joon, however, came to the rescue. Just before their friends opened the door, he slipped a small, red-covered book in Jae-shin's hand. "Just in case you need ideas, sa-hyung," he whispered.
He had just managed to conceal the book in his jeogori when his escorts knocked on Ka-hai's door and, without bothering to wait for an answer, opened the door and shoved him into the room.
The ladies inside put up an indignant front for a while, but they all knew that it was time for them to leave and they soon withdrew, giggling and casting speculative looks at the newlyweds. Before he knew what he was doing, Jae-shin closed the door on them and his boisterous friends, leaving him and his bride alone.
She was sitting at a low table laden, as Ka-sar had promised, with choice tidbits from the wedding feast. Like him, she had been divested of her wedding finery and was largely ready to go to bed.
Ka-hai forced herself to look up at him. "Well, I'm glad to see that I'm not underdressed," she said, smiling feebly.
He hiccuped.
"Why don't you sit down and eat something?" she suggested, staring fixedly at a point somewhere above his eyebrows. "I don't know about you, but I've barely had anything to eat all day. It took forever to put on those wedding things and Omoni didn't want me to spill anything on them." With great effort, she managed to stop her babbling. "Anyway, you should sit down."
Jae-shin dropped down by the table and Ka-hai watched him take a drink of wine straight from the jug, grasping the neck of the vessel with strong brown fingers. If his father was an ox, she thought, her new husband was a stallion, as tall and rangy as Ka-sar, but broader in the shoulders and with bigger hands. The observation made her remember what she had once overheard the laundress saying, about men with big hands....
Blushing, she looked down and pretended to be busy choosing what to eat next. Don't think about that!
"What was that?" he asked her.
Ka-hai looked up. "What was what?"
"You said something."
"Me?" Her face went up in flames when she realized that she must have said something aloud. "Oh, it's nothing!" she babbled. "Nothing! I was just... talking to myself."
Jae-shin looked suspicious, but she managed to look him in the eye. It was the truth, she thought; what she had said definitely hadn't been intended for his ears. Finally, he grunted and helped himself to a sticky rice cake speckled with sesame seeds. "Don't be afraid," he said after the cake was gone, washed down with another gulp of wine. "Nothing has to happen if you don't wish it."
"I'm not afraid," Ka-hai told him. Growing up on a farm meant that she knew how animals mated. She was innocent, but not so naive that she had no idea how the whole business worked.
"Nervous, then," he amended.
"Oh. All right." Dropping her gaze, she took something from one of the dishes on the table and popped it into her mouth without even knowing what it was. Well, she couldn't deny that she was nervous. Although she knew what was expected of them that night, she wasn't sure if she was completely prepared to actually do it.
She supposed that this made Jae-shin a considerate husband, even if he was drinking the wine straight out of the jug and apparently not intending to leave any for her.
"You can go on and sleep if you're tired," he added some time later. "You don't need to wait for me."
"I think I'll do that," she agreed. "It's been a very tiring day. Good night, my lord."
"Jae-shin," he said as she was making her way to the bed.
Ka-hai looked over her shoulder at him. "What?"
"My name is Jae-shin. You should probably call me that, since we're married."
"All right, then... Jae-shin." She gave him a polite smile. "Then I suppose you must call me Ka-hai."
He nodded briefly. "Good night, Ka-hai."
She inclined her head in acknowledgement of the greeting and then turned her attention back to getting ready for bed. Ka-hai pulled out the hairpin that had held her chignon in place (did Jae-shin just hiccup again?) and rubbed the back of her neck to try and dispel the prickling sensation that she felt there. Tension, she told herself. That was all it was.
She lay down on her side, facing away from her husband. It was hard to go to sleep knowing there was a man in the room, even if he had every right to be there. He had said that they didn't have to do anything that night, but what was going to stop him from pouncing on her anyway, if he felt like it?
Ka-hai waited, barely breathing, but all she heard were the clink and clatter of dishes. Soon, the rigors of the day overtook her and she fell asleep.
The next morning, Jae-shin awoke and felt himself curled up against something warm. For a moment, he thought he was lying too close to one of his roommates again, but then remembered that he wasn't at Sungkyunkwan anymore, and that last night had been his wedding night.
He opened his eyes. Although he had lain down a decorous distance away from Ka-hai when he went to bed, they gravitated towards each other during the night and now huddled together like a couple of sleeping puppies. She lay with her cheek snuggled against his shoulder, so close that her breath wafted warmly over his skin, with one hand curved around his arm and a knee resting on his thigh.
He hiccuped and edged away from her. Ka-hai rolled away from him, too, and onto her back. Her eyes remained closed.
A wise man would have risen and run. Jae-shin, on the other hand, stayed put and leaned over her, wanting to get a closer look at the woman who was now his wife while she was asleep and unaware that he was doing so.
With her high, broad cheekbones and lightly tanned skin, most would probably disregard her at first glance as looking too masculine. Few would notice her wide, feminine mouth and the faint scattering of golden freckles dusting her nose; and perhaps only her husband would be able to see that her eyelashes were so long that they brushed her cheeks when she slept.
Said eyelashes fluttered, and in the next moment, a number of things happened at once: his arm slid out from under him, Ka-hai woke up and her bedroom door opened. Jae-shin fell on his face on top of her, lips mashing against her cheek, and she squealed, startled.
"Omo!" Yong-ha exclaimed while the couple on the bed froze in shock. "I do beg your pardon! We'll come back later."
The door closed again and he rolled off her. "Sorry," he hiccuped. "It was an accident."
She sat up and edged away quickly, looking at him in a way that made him believe that he had made her angry, or even scared her. His face burned with shame. Although he wasn't as well-mannered as Yong-ha or Sun-joon, he wasn't a monster. "I told you I'm not going to force you to do anything you don't want to do," he reminded her. "I swear to you that still stands."
Finally, Ka-hai dropped her gaze and nodded, her cheeks as red as poppies. Outside, they could hear the babble of excited voices; Yong-ha was clearly not wasting any time spreading the news of what he had seen. "We... we should probably get dressed," she said stiffly as she got to her feet. "It sounds as though everyone knows we're awake."
Ka-hai was still recovering from the incident when the wedding party made its way to Jae-shin's home later that day for the p'ye-baek. She was traveling there in a palanquin borne by four of her father's strongest servants. Fortunately, her new husband wasn't riding the litter with her, so she had the trip to pull herself together and be able to face not just him, but everyone who thought that they had been... well, doing what newlyweds were supposed to do.
It had been a shock to wake up and find Jae-shin sprawled on top of her. He had taken down his hair last night, which had made him look like a wild man, and for a while Ka-hai had truly thought that he meant to break his promise from the night before. His embarrassment seemed genuine, though, and she believed him when he said it was an accident. However, she thought, blushing, maybe... someday... it might be nice to wake up to a husband who was doing that on purpose.
It was only when the bearers had stopped in front of her new home that she realized that she had left her father's house for good. The reality of that overwhelmed her and for a brief moment, Ka-hai was tempted to jump out of the palanquin and run all the way back to the Cha estate, but Jae-shin arrived to help her out of the conveyance while she was still debating on whether to make a run for it. She blinked back the prickle of tears and reminded herself that she was married now, and even if she did run home, her father would just send her back again.
As the servants looked on, the bridal couple entered the house and proceeded to a room where Jae-shin's father waited. Minister Moon smiled benignly as his new daughter-in-law offered him dates and chestnuts. They symbolized children, and while some may have been contented with a dish of them, her mother had packed her off with a whole basketful.
He then offered her tea, which she accepted meekly, taking onto her shoulders the burden of bearing children to continue his line. Then, as the onlookers laughed and clapped, he tossed the dates and chestnuts at her, obliging her to catch them in her overskirt.
Ka-hai's mind was a blank as she went after the treats, running and even sliding to her knees to catch them, unaware of Kwan-sook's shrill reminders to have a care for her clothes. She couldn't quite remember whether this part of the ritual was supposed to mean anything, but even if she did, she didn't care to think about it anymore.
It took her a while to realize that Minister Moon had run out of dates and chestnuts, and she looked up as he rose, laughing, to embrace her. "You did well, my dear."
She managed a smile for him. Even though she had embarrassed herself and her family terribly the first time they met, he had been nothing but nice to her. "Thank you, A-Abeonim."
"I've never had a daughter before, so you'll have to teach me how to treat one properly."
"I think you're doing quite well so far."
He patted her cheek fondly, then turned to his son, who had stood silently in the background throughout the proceedings. "Your wife must have caught half the basket, Jae-shin," he called with a grin. "That means I'm going to have lots and lots of grandchildren!"
Jae-shin smiled crookedly, even though he still avoided her eyes. "We'll do our best to oblige you, Abeoji."