Chapter Six

Chances

Yeonhwa was standing on the bridge in the gardens, staring at the Japanese carps swimming happily in the pond beneath her. Her thoughts then wandered to the previous night, where she had easily given in to Yifan and his warm embrace. She wanted to hit herself for being so weak against his advances and forgetting who really owned her heart.

Even worse, she felt horrible for not even feeling guilty for forgetting about Joonmyeon. In fact, she actually enjoyed Yifan’s embrace so much that she wanted him to hold her, closer and closer.

She sighed and let out a grunt as she buried her face in her hands. Just then, a cough interrupted her musings. She lifted her head to see the Emperor, looking concerned, next to her and she let out a gasp. When did he even get here?

“Is something bothering you?” his deep voice sounded soft and tender and for some reason, it made Yeonhwa shy.

“N-nothing’s wrong, Your Majesty. I’m just thinking of a few things.”

Specifically about the man standing before her, but he did not have to know that.

Yifan frowned slightly at the way she addressed him, but did not push it. He stepped closer to her, causing the girl to be flustered. Yifan stared at her face, which was gradually turning redder by the moment, and bit back a smile. He adored her. She was absolutely lovely to him and he wanted to tell the whole world that she belonged to him.

“Are you sure? You don’t look so well. Is it another beetle?” he teased, earning a glare from her.

From behind Yifan’s broad shoulders, Luhan snickered. No one has ever glared at the Emperor like that and gotten away with it. But this was Yeonhwa, and the Emperor is head over heels in love with this girl.

Yeonhwa stood up straight and composed herself.

“No, Your Majesty. Everything is fine.” she replied.

Yifan frowned again.

“I told you to call me Yifan.” he said, his voice barely a whisper.

Yeonhwa was about to reply when he interrupted her.

“Would you like to join me for some tea? I would really like to talk to you about certain matters… about us…” he trailed off, looking at her hesitantly.

His hesitation made her hesitate. What if he ended up yelling at her again? Their relationship was just about to turn over a new leaf, what if all that progress last night got destroyed because he could not control his temper? Yeonhwa wanted to say no, but the look on Luhan’s face over Yifan’s shoulders reassured her that the Emperor meant well.

So when the Emperor offered his hand, Yeonhwa took it as he proceeded to lead her through the gardens.

-

They both sat across each other, a table of sweets and such in front of them. Neither one of them said anything, and Luhan was beginning to sense the awkwardness between the couple. He gave Yifan eye-signals and though it took Yifan a while, eventually he understood and started a conversation with his wife.

“Um… Go ahead at taste these. They are very delicious, haha...” he started, his laugh so stiff he