It’s been a while since Eun has gathered with his siblings. Things haven’t been the same since their father died years ago and Eun always wishes things could just go back to when days were more simple and there was less tension in the air. Whenever he wants to gather them all up for some games or whatnot, everyone is always too busy dealing with politics and with Eun being Eun, he’s always left out because even if they include him, he wouldn’t know what they’re talking about anyways. Eun was returning from a stroll when he notices Yeonhwa enjoying some tea by the lotus pond. Out of all his sisters, Yeonhwa always treated him the best.

“Nuna!”

Yeonhwa turns at the sound of his voice and smiles as she waves him over to join her at the gazebo.

“What a delightful surprise,” Yeonhwa grins. “What brings you all the way here?”

Eun smiles at the trays of treats she immediately pushes towards him. “I was feeling a bit stuffy at my residence so I came here to take a stroll.”

“That’s ironic,” Yeonhwa chuckles. “Most people find the palace suffocating but you find it as an escape.”

He giggles and grabs a cookie off a tray. “The paths here are prettier,” he argues. “Also, I was able to see my dear sister after so long.”

Yeonhwa shoots him a warm smile after taking another sip of her tea. “Ah, I ran into Bu-in (Soondeok) the other day.” Eun looks up from his cookie with innocent eyes at the mention of his wife. “How is it that I never see her with an incense pouch? Does she not like them? A noble woman should at least have one, especially if she’s the wife of a prince.”

Eun gulps. “S-she, you know. She’s used to the battlefield so she prefers not to carry one…” Eun lies. “S-she says the scents are too strong and give her headaches.”

Yeonhwa eyes him doubtfully with her lips pressing down into a thin line. “Are you treating her well? You’re always nagging at her.”

He clears his throat nervously. “Of course! I take her everywhere I go. I do everything she says even though I hate it. She makes me read all these books and tests me afterwards and I hate it but I still do it!”

“Well,” Yeonhwa gives him a gentle mother-like smile. “I think she’s an awfully good woman so for your sister’s sake, be a bit nicer to her.”

With a pout on his puppy like face, Eun places his half eaten cookie down on the tray and fights back a groan. “Okay.”

Somedays after the run in with Yeonhwa at the palace, Eun was strolling through the shops in the village with Soondeok and a few of their court ladies when he notices something gleaming in the sunlight. Eun steps up to the table that’s calling his name and his eyes land on a teal and gold incense tassel laying on the table. His fingers brush against the intricate designs of the tassel and smiles. He glances around for his wife and spots her at a tea booth before turning to the shop owner.

“I’d like to buy this please.”

The shop owner’s gaze follows the length of Eun’s finger to the teal and gold tassel on the table and nods.

\\\

London is everything Hera had envisioned and more. Her apartment is only a few blocks away from the agency and there’s more than enough local coffee shops for her to hang out at although, she does think nothing will ever truly be as great as the infamous bubble tea shop by SM. Everyday on her way back from the agency, she walks through a small park that reminds her of New York’s infamous Central Park. She’s noticed that she spends most of her free time there just people watching by the small pond. It’s a bit lonely since she hasn’t had much time to meet people outside of work and school but Hera’s gotten used to the initial loneliness because she’s done this so many times before already.

It was nearing midnight in London but Hera was still hunched over a design she was working on when she notices the sound of light raindrops hitting her window. She looks up from her drawing pad for the first time in a while and silently watches the night storm roll in. The sound of the rain is so nostalgic, bringing back memories of falling asleep in his arms for the first time and reminding her of how alone she is in this big city. Hera sets her pencil down and turns to pick of her phone on the corner of her desk. She opens up the folder containing the voice message Baekhyun had left her and like all the previous hundred times that she was tempted to listen to the message, Hera wants to play it because she misses his voice, his face, his laughter, everything that has to do with him. But like all the other times, she locks her phone and places it upside down to stop herself again. They haven’t spoken since Hera landed in London and it’s not because they both didn’t want to but more so because he was so adamant on letting her go. No matter what Hera said, Baekhyun kept telling her that she needed to to figure it out on her own. Some days when she has too much free time, she thinks about those words and naturally it gets her angry. What is so important that she has to remember?

It’s been three months since Hera’s been gone and Baekhyun’s been keeping himself busy with producing and what not. Sometimes when it’s late at night and he’s still stuck in the studio, he can still hear her voice nagging for him to go home. He misses her the most when it rains and he’s constantly wondering if she thinks about him as much as he thinks about her and each time he hopes she doesn’t because the pain of missing someone is just plain brutal. If he could chose, he’d rather do the missing for the both of them.

The company is empty as Baekhyun is calling it a day at ten past midnight. When he passes by the lobby, his steps come to a slow stop before he turns towards a particular table that Hera use to sit at. There are traces of her all over this big company, at every single building and shooting site and never did Baekhyun ever think it would ever feel this lonely without one person.

After a morning filled with meetings, Baekhyun was returning from a quick lunch break when an ad on a bus stop catches his eyes or, more like a certain word: Goryeo. With his coffee in hand, he turns to the ad and takes a note of the exhibition location, date and time. Seems like it’s time for the little prince to take another visit back home.

He arrives at the Goryeo exhibition held at the palace he and Hera had once visited on a slow Thursday morning. There are posters everywhere advertising the special Goryeo exhibition and even a stand of Goryeo inspired cosmetics right by the entrance. Taking his sweet time, Baekhyun walks through all the new things that were under construction when he was last there and much like the previous time, he can feel the palace welcoming him back home. He glances around at all the visitors and chuckles at a funny thought, if only they knew that he was one a prince of this palace.

One thing he notices that is now opened to the public is the water tower that he and his brothers use to hang out at with Jimong. The winding staircase is still as exhausting as it was a thousand years ago which just shows how little things have changed between him, Eun and this place. When he reaches the top, he notices all the little crafts Jimong had dangling from the ceiling are gone and frowns at how clean the place is. Of course you can’t expect history from a thousand years ago to remain in top notch shape but he was hoping that even at least one of Jimong’s wild sketches would still remain. Due to his timing it’s a bit empty which allows Baekhyun to do a little bit more reminiscing. He steps out to the balcony and the palace transforms to the way he remembers. All the tourists are gone and the only person in the courtyard is Soondeok who is facing the pond. Baekhyun smiles as she swivels around to face him with her childlike eyes. Whether it’s Hera or Soondeok, he misses them both so much right now.

After visiting the water tower with some slight disappointment, he was headed towards the newly reconstructed Damiwon bathhouse when a weird chill went down his spine. Baekhyun freezes and takes a second to ponder what he just saw or more like who before slowly turning around to face the familiar face. The not-so-stranger looks at him with eyes of recognition and Baekhyun gently shakes his head in disbelief.

“It’s been a long time,” Baekhyun begins slowly because it suddenly feels like all the air in his lungs has been out at once. “I never thought I’d see you again. But you’d probably disagree.”

The man across from Baekhyun smiles a wrinkly smile with his wise eyes turning tender as if he’s been waiting for this day for so long. “I’ve waited a long time, dear Prince.”

Baekhyun chuckles and the welding tears in his eyes finally pour down his cheeks. It’s such a relief to see a familiar face again.

\\\

It’s raining again in the city of London and Hera has fallen asleep on her couch with her current favorite book in her lap. The sound of the rain beating against her window rocks her deeper and deeper into another world and Hera recognizes where this is headed already.

Although the night is deep and the entire bathhouse is silent, the lanterns illuminating the building gives Eun and Soondeok a small sense of security from all the danger outside that is directed straight at them. There’s a light fog hovering over the milky bathwater when the two enter and Soondeok immediately sits herself down at the ledge, next to the wildflowers. She senses Eun taking a seat down beside her but doesn’t give him much attention as she begins to pick the petals and throw them into the water. It’s not until she feels him leaning towards her with his hands aiming at the strings tying her robes together that Soondeok realizes what he’s trying to do. Her heart skips and her stomach flops but she doesn’t face and him tries her best to ignore him yet block his advancements which, seems to work as she can see him tying his robe back up in her peripheral view.

They kill time by making animals out of towels and although it may seem childish to others, Soondeok found it very impressive. Not just anybody can turn a simple white towel into a cute bunny rabbit. Although previous nights have felt so long and unsecure, this night, this moment seems to be going by too fast and Soondeok just wishes it would slow down so she can continue to be with him. They haven’t spent this much time together in days since Soondeok has been busy removing the boulders in the underground cave with Jung. Although they spent a lot of their days together, tonight was different. Was it because they were fugitives and their promised time of an eternity together was suddenly on the line? Soondeok isn’t sure but she doesn’t want to linger too much on it because she just simply wants to be present with him.

She’s lost count of how many rounds they’ve played and each time, she’s perfectly pretended to lose because Eun honestly just at games. She doesn’t get how he can still lose with the bigger fan but then again, maybe if he wasn’t so concentrated on her boat, he’d noticed that half of the time he’s not even fanning his boat. Once again, Soondeok loses the match (no surprise) and Eun rejoices over another victory. His smile is so big it turns his already tiny eyes into slits and her heart shakes at how happy he is. Eun is so excited over his win that he nearly skips over to Soondeok and takes her by the wrist to lead her back to the center steps that lead down into the bathtub. With her robes pulled back to reveal her inner arm, Soondeok was more than ready to receive another punishment when a sudden warmth wraps around her arm instead of another sharp smack from two fingers. When she opens her eyes, Eun is gently rubbing her skin and looking regretfully down at the water.

“I’ve been hitting it all day,” he purses his lips. “My hand hurts.”

In all the years that she’s lived with Eun, Soondeok could only dream of having such a heart to heart with Eun. She never knew he had such dreams of opening a shop and living a somewhat normal life. She thinks it’s admirable. Once they get to Tamra, Soondeok wants to make sure he can accomplish that dream of his.

“I also managed to bring one thing too.”

Soondeok looks up slightly when she senses something dangling closely to her face. It’s a beautiful incense pouch and her heart skips but she knows better than to have any expectations because why would he ever buy it for her? He only cares about Haesoo anyways.

“Yes,” Soondeok groans. Why else would he show it to her if he wasn’t asking for her opinion on the gift. “Haesoo will like it.”

“—It’s yours though!”

Her head snaps in his direction and Eun immediately turns away with a shade of red rushing into his cheeks and ears. Even as he’s trying to stutter an excuse about Yeonhwa scolding him about Soondeok not owning an incense pouch, she can’t believe that he had bought something for her. Soondeok looks down on her hands when he shoves the pouch into her hand but frowns when she lightly scolds her for embarrassing him. She didn’t mean to, she was just oblivious.

“D-do you not like it?” Eun peers down at her nervously. “That’s strange. They say all pretty girls like it.”

The words hit Soondeok like a thrashing wave and her heart reacts faster than her head. She thinks back to the day she first met him as a young child and how those same exact words are the words that made her fall for him. While he’s making lame excuses about how he didn’t mean to call her pretty although she is pretty but he may be wrong because he has small eyes, Soondeok lets her heart take the lead and before she knows it, her hands are cupping his face and lips are pressed on his. Although he’s taken by surprise, his lips move faster than his head and he finds himself kissing her back although he’s in complete shock still.

“I understand everything you’re saying,” she says as she pulls away with her warm hands still cupping his cheeks. “Even flowers from a pumpkin, are still flowers.”

He’s completely mesmerized by her beauty. He’s so mesmerized that he doesn’t know what to say so he says the first thing that eventually comes to his mind.

“I-I want two sons and two daughters,” he declares awkwardly. His heart is pounding louder than ever and Eun doesn’t know what to do. “I won’t have it any other way!”

Soondeok’s expression changes from excitement to confusion within seconds. She was confused as to why he was suddenly speaking of kids when all they’ve done is touch lips. Unless…

“When lips touch, does that make me pregnant?” Her eyes widen and Soondeok can’t seem to wrap her head around it. How do babies form when lips touch? How is that possible? Does that mean she’s already pregnant? She’s so baffled by the idea that Soondeok is completely oblivious to the way Eun is gazing at her with so much love, honey is literally pouring out of his eyes. He’s completely enamoured by her and her only.

“I would have been nice if we lived like this from the beginning,” he mumbles with a sweet smile.

Soondeok is still trying to figure out how babies can be formed so easily when Eun suddenly stands up with his slingshot in hand.

“Let’s go in,” he says with a shy smile. “You’ll freeze to death before the king catches us.”

“Wait!” Soondeok quickly gathers her long sleeping robes and dashes after him. If lips touching does result in pregnancy, what does that mean for her right now? “Am I with a child right now?”

She’s so innocent that Eun’s heart is bursting from how cute she is. He fights back a big smile and extends his hand out for her. “Here.”

Her gaze lands on his awaiting hand then travels up to catch an enchanting smile he’s flashing for her.