Chapter Seventeen. Change

Even though Alicia had come back to the forest not expecting any less than this, she still couldn't find the energy in herself to accept the fact that Wo Ryung,her perfect gorgeous and kind care taker was the gumiho! God,why was this happening, and to her of all people? What had she done so wrong to offend the heavens that she had to end up meeting someone as gorgeous and equally dangerous as the gumiho in the dark forest mountains? Try as she did raking her brains, she found nothing that she could have done to offend the heavens that much! She looked at him. He looked so vulnerable and.. innocent? as he stared back at her like a prisoner waiting for the judge's sentence. She couldn't imagine this tender creature before her turning into something completely different and... killing everyone so savagely like that? No! her resolve remained in denial. she couldn't believe it, she won't ever believe it. Her hand slowly and cautiously reached out towards his face as though she was scared he might disappear but he didn't move an inch. He kept his calm and let her do all that she wanted to make sure she wasn't imagining things and ad she pinched his cheek, his eyes flew wide as his ears turned a bright red and she smiled weakly at him.

" You are blushing, you see? There is no way you could be the gumiho. You are different. You are... just like me" she tried to explain to him. " You are Wo Ryung. My Wo Ryung. You are not that merciless gumiho that everyone is scared of, you are just my Wo Ryung" she repeated and at this rate his mouth was hanging open gaping at all that she had said in shock and there was something like an emotion that she couldn't place that flickered in his eyes before it completely disappeared again behind the facade of his beautiful ocean blue eyes and she smiled...

.....

Wo Ryung gaped at Alicia, completely stupefied. He hadn't seen that coming at all! She had called him ' her Wo Ryung' and assured him that he wasn't the

' merciless ' gumiho. He hadn't expected that to come from her at all, and not at this moment of all times and he felt.... warmed and comforted just by her referring to him as ' her Wo Ryung ' and the feeling was so good filling the lonely empty hole in his heart just by her gentle words. But he knew that it was too early to rejoice as she was still in a trance and would recover later to make her final decision. He felt betrayed by the emptiness and loneliness his heart felt just at the mere thought of her turning her back at him too and never wanting to see him again.... he had to make this right. He had to explain everything to her and make her understand, and most of all, he had to keep her by his side to suppress the impending fear and emptiness that his heart felt at the thought of her leaving and not returning to him for...ever...

" Alicia," he started his explanation carefully. " It's...true. I...I am the gumiho.." he tried but trailed off when she cut him off

"Shhhh" She coaxed. "It's okay Wo Ryung. You don't have to explain anything" she continued she..... hugged him!! His eyes widened that they almost popped out at her sudden attack and he froze like an ice as he completely turned into an immovable statue. 'What is she doi...? ' he couldn't even complete his thoughts when her hand started gently caressing his back and hair.... and if at all it was possible,he could have turned a hundred times more into an ice frozen statue! She sat there hugging him like that for a long time before she loosened her grip on him as if realizing just then that she had been gripping him so hard it could as well have chocked him if only he hadn't completely turned into an immovable ice log a long while ago! She then looked into his eyes as both her hands cupped his cheeks and smiled! A gentle reassuring smile before she nodded at him and stood up. But the moment she let go of his cheeks,her hand gripped his in a tight hold so he followed suit when she stood up otherwise he could have remained frozen if she hadn't held his hand. His eyes never left her and he gingerly followed her lead as she walked towards the end of the forest to proceed on her way home. But Wo Ryung stepped on a tiny sharp piece of wood and the sharp pain brought him back to the present from his rivalry ad the damned thing pierced his ' bandaged ' heel that she had dressed earlier and she instantly looked at him with concern.

"What happened?" She asked but he didn't want to act weak anymore so he shook his head at her instead assuring her that it was nothing and swallowed the sharp pain in his heel that he was feeling coming out through his heart now! He was glad he didn't often get wounded, otherwise he couldn't imagine a life where he had to endure such pain on a regular basis! Alicia didn't look convinced at his great show of bravery and instead her gaze swept down to his foot and she gasped as she knelt down before him to hold his foot.

"This!" she said pointing at the piece of clothing she had used to dress his wound. " This is stopping them from coming to heal your wound! and that is slowing your healing down!" she said looking up at him and he nodded without realizing he was doing so! Goodness! what was this girl doing to him?

"It's okay Alicia. Am fine" he reassured her as she quickly gestured for him to lift his foot up and place it on her lap so she could unwrap the tiny piece of fabric from the wound and allow it to heal. She looked up at him...but firmly protested

" No. You are not!" She said and took the piece of fabric off his heel making the blue moths appear instantly and completely heel him. He looked down at her,unsure of what to say or even think at this point but she beat him to it as she once again stood and held his hand leading him towards the end of the forest and he obediently and quietly followed like an obedient little boy following his mother to the market...

...

Alicia quietly led Wo Ryung towards the forest end. She had to go back home now,it was already getting to evening time and she didn't want to cause another scandal as she didn't know whether her grandmother would believe in another 'trip ' or simply find out that she had been lying to her all along. She was not sure what she felt right now about all this, but one was clear to her, she wasn't angry at him. This man,he had taken care of her for not only a day but two,had treated her wounds and handled her gently even after she had turned her back on him and punched him instead of thanking him in the first place, he still had gone to the trouble of not only finding her something to eat but also something that she 'could' eat. Something that shouldn't have mattered to him after all the trouble he had gone to just to cure her wounds. And then again he had spared and kept her rabbit until she came back! And there she had been,accusing him falsely and lashing out at him but he still had remained composed and gentle towards her! There was no way that she could hate this man. She completely had no reason to! and as she held his hand and led him towards the end of the forest, something had changed about the way she thought about him. It was as though everyone judged him wrongly and it wasn't fair to her eyes. She would stand up and support him, from now on and she would not let him feel lonely and unwanted again. It must have been hard for him,but she decided she was going to change his story for him. From now on, she would become his strength and courage and she would remain by his side no matter what.

Once they reached the end of the forest, Alicia turned around and looked at Wo Ryung before she slowly let go of his hand and smiled at him.

"You are leaving now?" He asked and she nodded. He studied her for a moment longer before he nodded back at her but she didn't move an inch and neither did he, she stood there looking into his eyes and he did the same as he stared back into her own eyes before she cupped his face with her hands and told him...

" I will come back to see you again" she said and once again he nodded looking lost. Alicia just smiled at him and turned around and left. He remained there watching her back until she was completely gone and he turned around and left as well,but with a smile plastered subconsciously on his face as he looked lost in his own world. A world only he knew about...