Lady of Dreams Read online

  There was Ae-jung, crying somewhere behind my chaise longue—in her room, no doubt, but with all three Dreams working against one another I couldn’t see the room, only Ae-jung—and there was Yong-hwa, walking through my fireplace. He had put on a shirt by now, but no waistcoat, and his hair was still slightly damp. Se-ri and Hyun-jun were sitting together in the breakfast room, the table and sideboards faintly visible where my bed should have been.

  Ah. Just Se-ri and Hyun-jun in the breakfast room. Was that why Se-ri was up, her makeup flawlessly finished this early in the morning? She hadn’t just been waiting for Ae-jung, she had been waiting to tell Hyun-jun about it all. Goodness. She and Yong-hwa were both quite far ahead in their planning.

  “The question is,” I said, watching the distracted Hyun-jun, who was obviously still musing over the unaccountable behaviour that Ae-jung had displayed last night, “whether or not he’ll hear you.”

  Hyun-jun didn’t look any more pleased with his musings than he had earlier. He must have been intending to confess his love to Ae-jung last night, and I could only imagine his feelings if she had, even blinder in her misery than she had been in her happiness, run away from him before he had the chance to do so. He ate his breakfast with a fiercer scowl than usual, heedless of Se-ri’s smiling greeting and swiftly crystallizing eyes.

  At last Se-ri said, too loudly to be ignored, “I hope you’re not planning on working today, Oppa.”

  Hyun-jun looked up, impatient surprise in every line of his face. “Of course I’m planning on working. Why wouldn’t I? I’m not here for a rest cure.”

  “Ah.” Se-ri nodded sorrowfully. “That’s a shame. If I’d known that, I wouldn’t have accepted Ae-jung-ssi’s service this morning. I’m afraid it’s too late to do anything about it now. I’m sure Eun-hee can provide you with another little typist, however.”

  Hyun-jun stared at her. “What are you talking about, Se-ri-ssi?”

  “That typist of yours,” said Se-ri, blinking innocently at him over her coffee cup. “Her name is Ae-jung, isn’t it? She wanted to work for me. I know how hard you are to please, Oppa, so I thought it would be nicer for her to work for me anyway.”

  “What are you talking about?” said Hyun-jun again. He was on his feet, though I wasn’t sure he realised it. The Dream-copy of Ae-jung was on the move again, too: she had washed her tears away, and now I watched her cross in front of the Dream Hyun-jun to look out her window. They passed so close to each other that they could have reached out and touched if only they could see as I could see. “What did you say to her? What did you do to her? You can’t have her!”

  Se-ri pouted in a reproachfully dewy-eyed fashion. “I did nothing to her. She came to me, Oppa; I’m sure you must have been awfully rude to her. She doesn’t want to work for you any—Oppa! Where are you going? Oppa!”

  But he left her there, openmouthed, and shoved through the door into the hall. He took the stairs three at a time and went unerringly to Ae-jung’s room, where he pounded on her door loudly enough to startle the maid who was just coming out from cleaning one of the other rooms.

  “Ae-jung! Come out! There’s work to be done!”

  Ae-jung, starting as much as the maid, knocked one of the cushions from her window seat to the floor. I saw the moment it occurred to her to pretend she wasn’t in, as the two Dreams merged around me and pulled me into her room with her. My own room and the Dream-copy of Se-ri, still sitting numbly at the breakfast table, vanished. Ae-jung, her hands pressed to her chest, hunched her shoulders and looked away from the door, but it was no use. Hyun-jun wasn’t to be silenced, nor was he to be ignored. Ae-jung crossed to the door, her hand outstretched to the doorknob, then drew it back into herself.

  She shouted, above the noise that Hyun-jun was making, “Go away!”

  There was dead silence for a moment, then Hyun-jun’s voice said, “Mwoh?”

  Ae-jung’s pleasant face crumpled and tried to straighten itself out. “Please go away, Hyun-jun-ssi. I’m working for Se-ri-ssi now.”

  “You can’t be,” said Hyun-jun. “I refuse. Come out so we can talk about it.”

  “I’m not coming out,” said Ae-jung, wiping away fresh tears. “I’m working for Se-ri-ssi now.”

  “Stop saying that! You can’t. You can’t be working for her, because I need you.”

  There was another silence while Ae-jung crouched against the door, desperately trying to stop tears that wouldn’t be stopped. I slipped through the wall to find that Hyun-jun was also crouched against the door, his back to Ae-jung’s back, his arms resting on his knees in baffled helplessness.

  “Ae-jung-a!” he said. “Ae-jung-a, you have to come out. You have to come out because—because I think—I think I might love you.”

  On the other side of the door, Ae-jung smiled once, a pure, beautiful thing that was crumpled in a moment beneath the weight of her secret. She took a moment to compose her voice, then called out, “I can’t work for you any more, Hyun-jun-ssi. I don’t want to be burdened to love you. Please go away.”

  “Ah,” I said. “That should do the trick. What a shame.”

  There were no more knocks on the door, no more shouts. In the silence, Ae-jung crouched on her side of the door, tears streaming down her face, and Hyun-jun crouched on his side with his head leaning back against the panels, eyes closed. I, as caught as either of them, bore them witness, blind to everything but the Dream.

  When at last Hyun-jun rose to leave, an hour or so later, I said aloud, “Carlin, do we still have some of Abeoji’s stationery?”

  “Yes, miss,” said Carlin’s voice, very faintly. “We still have about five or six sheets left from last year. Only three envelopes, though. Our messages haven’t been as long, but we’ve sent more on average.”

  “That’s all right,” I said. “I’ll only need one sheet this time, and we can restock when we get back this year.”

  “Yes, miss,” Carlin said. “You will be more careful with Sohn Sajangnim’s signature and stamp this time, won’t you? Last time I was nearly jailed.”

  “I would have bailed you out eventually.”

  “Thank you. miss. But if you’re thinking of Ae-jung-ssi, she—”

  “Will be very familiar with Abeoji’s stamp and signature. Yes. I’ll be very careful.”

  “I’ll fetch the stationery,” said Carlin.

  “Arrange for the Contraption chair as well,” I told him. “I’ll go out into the garden after lunch.”

  I didn’t hear his Yes, miss, but I wasn’t surprised. The Dream of Ae-jung and Hyun-jun had split again, trying to draw me in two different directions, and each of them vied with brief patches of Se-ri and Yong-hwa, making a patchwork of Dreams that was both sickening and headachy.

  “It’s a merry game of tail chasing today,” I said wearily. I couldn’t feel my legs again, which was mildly annoying; I’d hoped to go out into the garden under my own power. Taking Eun-hee’s Contraption chair instead wasn’t nearly as satisfying. Not that an outing in the garden would do me much good in any case, since I couldn’t see anything but flashes and patches of Dreams, but it would be nice to feel the sun on my face a little and see if I could smell the blooming flowers.

  When lunch was finished and there came the rattle of my door opening, I turned my face blindly toward it and said, “Is that the Contraption chair ready, Carlin?”

  “What do you want that thing for, Nuna?” scoffed Jessamy’s voice. “You’ve got me and the Carlin-automaton. We’re much nicer than that nasty old puffer.”

  There was a whisper of sound that must have been Carlin bowing, then he said, “The young master is here to take you out, miss.”

  “I thought he might be,” I said. “Did you even send down for the Contraption chair, Carlin?”

  “Of course he didn’t,” said Jessamy. “He sent down for me like the good little Carlin-automaton that he is. Put out your arms, Nuna; I’ll carry you down.”

  “Schemers,” I said, reaching out to find Jessam
y’s shoulders there in front of me. There was a warmth to one side that was Carlin, then Jessamy said, “Hup!” and I was on his back with Carlin’s hands steadying me there until we rose.

  “We won’t be gone long—”

  “Yes, we will,” said Jessamy cheerfully, carting me away from my chaise and my apartments without further ado. I felt him twist and call over his shoulder, “We’ll be gone all afternoon and probably after dinner, too.”

  “Oh, will we?” I said, rapping my knuckles against the side of his head.

  “Ow! Nuna! You’ll make us fall down the stairs.”

  “We’re not on the stairs yet.”

  Jessamy must have turned his head to look at me, because spikes of hair brushed against my face. He said accusingly, “I thought you couldn’t see, Nuna?”

  “I don’t have to see to know that,” I said chidingly. “Your walking changes when you’re going down stairs. Why am I being kidnapped, Jessamy-a?”

  “Ah, that,” said Jessamy cheerfully, hefting me up a little. “The Dreams are being difficult today, aren’t they?”

  “Dae,” I sighed. “There are too many of them and they all want attention. I can’t even focus on one of them at a time.”

  “That’s why I’m here,” Jessamy said. “I’ll fight them all away for you, Nuna. When we go back tonight you’ll be able to walk by yourself. You’ll see.”

  He took me down to the stream that runs through Eun-hee’s gardens. It’s a wild little thing that doesn’t match the formal gardens around it, but it leads to all the nicest, wildest parts of the garden that no one but Jessamy and I ever visits.

  “You and water!” I said, when I heard the sound of it trickling away through the sound of breeze on leaves. I was set down in the soft grass with a tree at my back and knew, when I could feel the sharpness of the bark through my dress, that Jessamy was already having an effect. I stroked the grass beneath me, and it seemed as though my fingers had more feeling than usual, too. “Jessamy-a, why do you always turn for the water like a homing pigeon to the roost? Was almost drowning once not enough for you?”

  “I like the way it never stops moving,” said Jessamy. I could see the faint outline of him now, kicking off his shoes and peeling away his stockings. “And how it’s cool in summer. And sometimes when your face is cold I come here and sit down because when I’m here I’m always sure about how much you love me.”

  “Jessamy-a—”

  Jessamy’s smile was the big puppylike one from my first memory of him. “It’s all right, Nuna. At first it was hard, and I couldn’t understand; but then I almost drowned and all I remember is your face when I woke up, and the water and everything, and now I like being by the water more than anywhere.”

  He rolled over on his back in the grass to escape the subject, giggling when the grass tickled his ears, and waved his legs at me. “There’s something odd going on today, Nuna. Have you Dreamed anything to do with Ae-jung nuna?”

  “A little,” I said. Jessamy knew that I Dreamed of him more often than of other people, but not the full extent of my sight. “She’s having a difficult time at the moment, Jessamy-a. You should be kind to her.”

  “I will,” said Jessamy, smiling happily at the leaves above him. “I’m going to be very kind to her. Ya. Do you know that Ae-jung nuna is working for Se-ri-ssi now?”

  “Mmm. I do.”

  “I don’t think Se-ri-ssi is very nice. Can’t you do something about it?”

  I saw the toes of my left foot twitch, and with a great effort I managed to flex the foot. “Possibly. I don’t think I’ll need to do it, though; someone is already working on it.”

  “Nuna! Your foot moved!”

  “Mmm,” I murmured again. The flashes of Dream had stopped being so very overwhelming now that I was with Jessamy, and most of them were fading. One, however, was still lingering: Yong-hwa, following the sound of piano playing toward the conservatory. Was Se-ri willing to be found today, then? “I’m feeling a little heavier. Well done, Jessamy-a.”

  Jessamy smiled at me lazily in the sunshine. “Are the Dreams all gone, Nuna? Did I do a good job?”

  “All but one,” I said. “Your friend is being even more stubborn than you, Jessamy-a.”

  “What, Yong-hwa hyung?” Jessamy sat up in interest, leaves caught in the spikes of his hair. “Are you Dreaming of him, Nuna? Why?”

  “I don’t have the slightest idea,” I sighed. “It’s not just him, though. It’s you and Ae-jung and Hyun-jun as well.”

  “Mwoh?” Jessamy’s face scrunched up in puzzlement. “That’s more than usual, isn’t it?”

  Yong-hwa was opening the door to the conservatory now, and its rich wooden surroundings began to take over the greenery around us. “It is,” I agreed, giving up my efforts to resist. “Jessamy-a, I have to go now. Ae-jung is getting some help. I’ll be back soon.”

  Jessamy muttered, but the strident sound of Se-ri’s playing drowned him out. Yong-hwa winced as he entered the conservatory, a slight sign of professional discomfort that vanished as soon as he laid eyes on Se-ri. Now his face was simply a beautiful mask, his eyes bored and hard.

  “Ah, so you’ve found me at last,” she said, without ceasing to play. “I thought you might. What do you want, Ma Yong-hwa? Why are you bothering my maid?”

  “Don’t you already know that, too?” inquired Yong-hwa, leaning his shoulders against the wall and crossing one ankle over the other. “I want you to stop bothering Ae-jung-ssi. Fight out your battles between yourself and Hyun-jun, and leave her out of it.”

  “Can’t,” said Se-ri, shrugging. “She put herself in the middle. It’s her own fault if she gets hurt in the cross fire.”

  Yong-hwa sighed, an arrogant, dismissive thing. “You don’t want to make an enemy of me, Se-ri-ssi.”

  “It’s no good,” said Se-ri. “You have nothing I want, you see.”

  Yong-hwa said, “I do see.”

  “On the other hand,” Se-ri added, “I think I have something that you want.”

  “I see that, too,” said Yong-hwa, and his eyes weren’t quite so bored as before, though they were still hard. It couldn’t have failed to occur to him that an Ae-jung kept away from Hyun-jun was an Ae-jung easier to win.

  “I want that girl away from my fiancé. You want Hyun-jun away from Ae-jung. Why shouldn’t we work together? Let me keep her away from Hyun-jun for you.”

  Yong-hwa’s head turned thoughtfully to one side. “Shall I? I don’t like you, Se-ri-ssi.”

  “I don’t like you, either,” said Se-ri, with a friendly smile. “And I don’t like you searching my rooms, if it comes to that. Don’t do it again. It’s no use anyway; the book isn’t there.”

  “It’s no use keeping Ae-jung away from Hyun-jun when they’re still in the same house,” said Yong-hwa.

  “Of course it isn’t,” said Se-ri. “Do you think I’m a fool? I’ll take her away with me, naturally. Let’s look after each other, Yong-hwa-ssi.”

  “Shall I?” said Yong-hwa again, this time more to himself. “Perhaps I shall.”

  My mouth twitched sideways, a tiny, unfamiliar expression that was dissatisfying. “What a shame,” I said, and as I said it, I knew the expression for what it was: disappointment. I was disappointed in Yong-hwa. I said again, more slowly, and with a crease between my brows, “What a shame.”

  “You needn’t do much,” said Se-ri, scenting acquiescence. “In fact, what you need to do is exactly nothing. I’ll do everything that needs to be done; just don’t you interfere.”

  “I’ll think about it,” said Yong-hwa. That was as close to a yes as she would get from him, and she knew it. The smile she sent him was bright and satisfied, and within me grew an alien, irrational urge to slap her.

  I was still puzzling over that feeling, my thoughts prickly with discomfort, when Yong-hwa left the room. The door closed behind him and he stopped, gazing thoughtfully down at the ground. I was trying to tear myself away from the stickiness of his Dream, still bot
hersomely disappointed, when I saw him smile.

  “I’ve missed something again,” I said. A sense of relief spread coolly over me, as foreign as the feeling of disappointment had been. “What’s he planning? Why did he go to see Se-ri if—? And where is he going now?”

  “What, what, what?” said Jessamy’s voice. I could feel him bouncing with impatience beside me. “What’s happening, Nuna?”

  “Yong-hwa is going to see Hyun-jun,” I said slowly. “I think.”

  “Why? What does that have to do with Ae-jung?”

  “I think,” I said, even more slowly, “I think he’s trying to find a bargaining chip.”

  The Dream wasn’t done with me yet; it pulled at me to follow Yong-hwa on his way to Hyun-jun’s apartment—and it was Hyun-jun’s apartment he was heading for.

  “Jessamy-a,” I said, as the Dream swept me away again, “I’m not sure Se-ri fully appreciates the forces she’s set up against herself.”

  I could hear the grin in his voice as he said, “If she’s set herself up against Yong-hwa hyung, she’s got a few surprises coming her way. Serves her right. I don’t know why Abeoji is thinking about doing business with her.”

  “Probably because her father’s company is the biggest and best manufacturer of paper in Eppa,” I said, watching Yong-hwa knock firmly at Hyun-jun’s door. It was one of the things in which I was more akin to Father than Jessamy was. “Ah, Hyun-jun is going to answer his door. I thought he was going to make a hermit of himself.”

  “What do you want?” snarled Hyun-jun, over Jessamy’s reply. I fluttered one hand at my brother to warn him that I could no longer hear him and settled comfortably into the Dream. I had been caught in these Dreams for long enough to be interested in how they turned out, and I was even more interested to see how Yong-hwa intended to handle Se-ri. If he had been very little bored since he met Ae-jung, well, he had repaid the favour fully toward me. I had been very little bored since I began to Dream of Yong-hwa.

  “You’ve let that little cat get her claws into Ae-jung,” said Yong-hwa, without preamble. “Do you have any idea what she’s been through since yesterday?”