Giggling, Mirae nudges Baekhyun to wake up from her bed and she hops on the plush sheets and softly knitted pillows with glee. It had already been almost a week since the prince had been at his home in the confinements of his chambers and parents' suffocating rules, the feeling of being with Mirae as liberating as running away could ever be. He doesn't regret running in the pouring rain, nor does he regret how emotionally invested he quickly became in the smallest of things the woman before him did. She was beautiful in every way, from how she slept, to how her eyes would shyly look down onto the ground with a sheepish smile on her lips after receiving a compliment, and how she would constantly talk about her grandmother and the things she taught her as a young child. Baekhyun, on the other hand, listened intently in wonder, amused at how passionately pure she could be as a woman his age. It was refreshing, and he cherished every small moment he had with her, from the night he found her standing in the rain, to this very one of her waking him up. Nothing was better than waking up next to her smiling face, and nothing else was better than Mirae herself. 

"Wake up already!" She chirps, nudging him once more as she stares at her bronzed time piece within the palm of her hand. "It's already past the eighth hour, why do you always wake up so late?" Mirae teases, lying next to the prince in bed and ruffling his hair with the pillows he was hugging close to his chest. Baekhyun laughs with glee, playing along with her nagging and poking at her sides to make her stop. His heart swelled every second he heard her laugh, and Baekhyun only hoped the rapid beating in his chest wasn't too obvious in his trembling eyes. 

"Eighth hour is not late!" Baekhyun whines, taking the pillow from her hands and bringing it back into his chest with his lips jaunted cutely. "How do you always manage to wake up so early...?" He groans, wanting to shut the light out from his eyes that the windows filtered through the lightly dusted curtains. Laughing, Mirae shakes her head and rests her elbows on the mattress, staring over at the male before her in amusement. 

"You must be so spoiled back at your estate." She jests, clicking her tongue and her remark immediately wake him up as he snaps his eyes open. 

"Nu-uh! My parents are just too willing to risk my happiness in order to keep their kingdo-" 

"King-what?" Mirae asks, cocking her head in confusion. She has never heard of such a word, or perhaps it seems quite familiar when her grandmother had mentioned it once whilst narrating her favorite childhood fairytale, Cinderella. What could Baekhyun possibly mean by his words...? She thought to herself, awaiting his reply, obviously eager to learn with the giddiness in her eyes. "What is that? What you were about to say..?" She murmurs quietly, unsure if it was okay to ask telling by the panic spreading across the prince's features. 

"A-Ah," Baekhyun laughs, attempting to play it off as if it were the slip of his tongue that made him speak. "I didn't mean to say that." He laughs sheepishly, scratching the nape of his neck with an embarrassed blush spreading across the flesh of his cheeks. Mirae thinks the color looks cute on him, and immediately giggles. "What I meant to say was that they have responsibilities that they prioritize over my happiness." 

Upon hearing this, Mirae frowns slightly and wonders why his parents would do that to their own child. Wouldn't they want their children to be happy? Or was it because she never really had parents around that she didn't understand his? 

"Do they not want you to be happy..?" She asks, sitting up on her bed and crossing her legs over the other, her hands in her lap. Baekhyun also sits up against the wall the bed had been pushed against, the pillow still close to his torso. "I would want my children to be happy..." Mirae murmurs to herself, fiddling with her fingers and feeling her heart fall slightly at the constant reminder that her parents simply weren't in her life, and that the only guardian she's ever had was now gone as well. Taken away and never to be seen again.

Knowing Mirae's emotions and the looks of her expressions to an extent, Baekhyun was quick to notice the somber look on her face. His heart aches at the sight, knowing very well that she too had no parents; just as he felt his parents weren't really being his parents. 

"You would make an excellent mother." Baekhyun says warmly, sending a smile her way and immediately the bright, glistening sparkle  in her eyes rekindles again at his words.

Wanting to compliment him as well and knowing that her words were to be true as well, Mirae moves over and pokes the pillow against his torso to . "And you," She pokes, making him laugh. "Would make an excellent father." The girl giggles. 

"You think so?" 

"I mean, you seem like someone who would also want their children to be happy." Mirae agrees, laughing along with the prince as they poke fun at each other and teasingly smirk. It's only when the giggles die down that Mirae notices the boyish look on Baekhyun's face, and she immediately backs away with an accusing expression that makes him grin. 

Leaning closer to her and entrapping her against the wall the bed was against, Baekhyun smoothly smiles, making her insides melt at how beautiful he could be, especially when he would make her shy beneath his gaze. "Would you like to be the excellent mother of my children?"

The girl squirms and feels her heart sputter at his words, taken aback by his proposal but immediately hits him across the chest playfully as he laughs at her blushing complexion. "Byun Baekhyun..! You're such a mean person..." She pouts, moving away from his attempts to apologize with a hug and laughs at how he begins to jaunt his lip out in a plead. "You think I'm going to forgive you when I complimented you and made me all shy?" Mirae playfully fights back, giggling at how Baekhyun puts on the face of a puppy, his sappy eyes gleaming with need for her to give into his act. 

"Oh come on, you should see how pink you look right now!" Baekhyun laughs, caressing and pointing her cheeks as she squeals and carefully gets off of the bed they lay nights together, careful to her ankle as the dull pain is still evident. "Hwang Mirae..." He pouts, cocking his head to the side and smiling at how bashfully she tries to put on an angry face but breaks into another laugh.

Finally giving into his pleading eyes, Mirae shakes her head and smiles amusingly at how he grins boyishly in victory. 

"You're unbelievable." She says with a laugh, still shaking her head and slowly walking over to the counter of her kitchen and placing the extra porridge she had made the night before on the stove. Unknowingly and soundlessly, Baekhyun creeps up from behind and snakes his arms around her waist. "Baekhyun.." Mirae whispers under her breath sheepishly following a surprised yelp that left her lips. His head rests on her shoulder, taking in her sweet scent and humming in content. 

Over the course of a few days, Mirae has learned how touchy and needy Baekhyun can get for affection. She remembers how he would do the same thing as he was doing now whilst she was pouring tea, and nearly burnt herself in the process. Though scolding him, she gave into more of his pouts and silly acts to make her laugh, and ultimately flustered again at his sweet tongue. He was such a sweet-talker, and definitely knew how to make a woman writhe from within at how extremely well-worded his sentences would come out, and followed by the mischievous grin, he was the complete epitome of her own weakness. 

Baekhyun would compliment her when it came to everything, sometimes playfully criticizing her cooking but later admitting that he himself could never cook up a meal like how she learned from her grandmother. Occasionally, he would "accidentally" brush his hands against hers whilst walking around in the forest in search of berries and mint leaves, and tease about how she would deny her initiating the move when he knows all too well he started it first. He was of playful character, and definitely came to knew every small and fine detail about Mirae whilst being with her over the course of nearly a week. Mirae, too, has learned much about Baekhyun, and learned importantly how he loved seeing her smile, and how he valued every little thing about her that made him happy. The mere thought of being one of the reasons why he was trying to be happy for himself was heart-fluttering, and he never failed to remind her every day of that capability. 

In his eyes, Mirae was of utmost worth and considered her to be his greatest find, whilst Mirae saw Baekhyun as someone she knew she could lean on in times of loneliness—just as he would lean on her for support as well. 

"Where are we headed off to today? I saw you preparing clothes early morning." Baekhyun asks, still engulfing her from behind with his arms and shuffling his feet to follow her every move as she stirs the pot of now sweet-smelling porridge. 

"To the river, we need to wash up our clothes and ourselves as well." She says casually, taking the wooden ladle up to and humming in content in its taste. "Let's eat breakfast first and I'll explain when we get there." 

"Yes madame!" He teasingly calls out, their laughs filling the tiny home whilst their silence encompasses the peace of nature, slight rustling of leaves through the wind and the creek running nearby to fill in as music. It was definitely here that Baekhyun felt at home, and even more so with Mirae in his arms. 

"Here?" Baekhyun asks, staring out at the river that stretches on for meters out before cutting off to the shore of another forest. The water doesn't move too fast, its steady tread safe enough to the eye and endlessly spacious enough for the two of them as it continues down for as far as the horizon touches the sky. He marvels in the stepping stones that line the path between the two shores, the greenery of the bushes and blossoming flora bright and colorful in its own spring hues. Where they lay their clothes over a blanket was on a perfectly placed, and flattened rock to which he assumed was made by the strong tidal forces of erosion, making a perfect and naturally sculpted place to sit on and to dry their clothes and selves up without getting t