Jisoo woke up as she heard a knock on her door. A maid peeked her head in and asked for her permission to come in as she saw her awake. Jisoo let her in while she was lazying under the blanket.

"Did you have a good sleep, Miss?" the maid formally asked her to be polite.

"Yes, I did. Thank you for asking." Jisoo replied her in her hoarse voice.

She sat up as soon as the maid opened the window curtains one by one, she gulped down the warm water that was poured by the maid when she heard her clearing her dry throat. She was amazed to see the girl's dexterity in interpreting her every move, as if she could read what was in her head. But maybe she was indeed trained for that. And as soon as the maid excused herself and came out of her room, Jisoo got out of bed and put on her thick sleeping robe before opening the balcony door. She suddenly wanted to enjoy her hot tea outside, so she took the tray brought by the maid and put it on the balcony table while she enjoyed the freezing morning.

It hadn't been snowing since yesterday, the sun was bright in the clear sky. Seemed like it'd been a while since she saw no clouds in the blue sky like today. While sitting on the stone balustrade, Jisoo sipped her hot tea. A puff of steam blew out from as she sighed, she really liked the view that was presented before her eyes right now. They were even magical in the morning.

"Good morning!"

Jisoo turned around when she heard Yifei chirped in greeting, the girl pressed her sleeping coat over her chest and gritted her teeth when she stepped out on the balcony.

"Ugh, how can you stand this, Jisoo? It's minus 17 here." Yifei clicked her tongue, her head shook in disbelief.

"Hey, I was born in January, that makes me a winter girl." She said, "The sky is very bright today, it's just a shame if we just stay inside. Anyway, tea?" Jisoo raised her cup to offer her the tea.

"I'm fine." Yifei waved her hand, "Yixing's mother wants me to tell you that our dresses for the gala have arrived in Beijing. After breakfast we're going to the hotel for the fitting, then maybe we will go shopping afterwards. What do you think?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine with that." Jisoo nodded with a smile on her lips.

"Okay," Yifei chirped happily, "See you at the dining room, the family would have breakfast together. Please be there in thirty."

"Yes, Ma'am."

She didn't waste much time after Yifei left. With a simple jeans and sweater she went out of the room to find Yixing emerged from his room at the same time. They walked together to the diningroom to join the other family. Xiaotong gaped as she saw her walked in following Yixing, and she had her muttered under her breath saying 'I hate her, she even look good without her make up on' to her twin, which Jisoo only smiled ghostly upon hearing it. She got all eyes directed at her when Yixing pulled a chair for her, it was a small gesture but made most of them smile. Yifei's mother even tempted her husband to do such a thing for her too, and they praised Yixing how gentleman he was in treating his woman. Yixing only smiled, saying that he thanked his father for that because he learnt it from him. And his father said that he thanked his father in law instead to tease grandfather, which in grandfather's defense, he never did things like that because his late wife hated it when he pampered her with such gesture.

The atmosphere this morning was far more lively than last night, everyone joined in the conversation. The women talked about the dress they were going to wear at the gala tonight, because it turned out that all the members of Zhang's family would attend the charity event, except for grandfather.

Jisoo didn't participate much in the conversation, she was more to silent while listening to the houte couture dresses from world class designers that they specifically ordered for the gala. The twin's mother insinuated Jisoo who didn't prepare anything until Yixing's mother flew her dress last minute from Paris, which was bothersome, because this was a waste of money. But Yixing denied this by saying that he was the one who told Jisoo not to prepare anything because he didn't want to bother packing such dresses from Korea, and the preparation of the last minute dress was actually a mistake on the part of the designer staff. Jisoo placed her hand on Yixing's thigh so as not to get too carried away in emotion while defending her, no words to say, but she was quite relieved that Yixing could catch the signal and not speak again afterwards. The debate on breakfast was a waste of energy, Jisoo thought, especially if Yixing was exerting effort to respond to some irrelevant accusations, even though she was actually a little offended too.

They had talked about this before flying to Beijing. Jisoo wanted to prepare her own dress, but Yixing didn't want Jisoo spending money to buy a new dress because she went with him at his invitation. After compromising, they agreed to do this, provided Yixing would not waste money to spoil her too much. But of course, they still had a different view of what was called wasting money as soon as Jisoo saw the dress Yixing had prepared.

They flew to Beijing after breakfast, with the heli-parade as usual. Jisoo with Yixing and Yifei flew the last that morning, because this was her last morning at the palace and Yixing planned to stay in Beijing until they returned to Korea tomorrow night, so they were packing and carrying their suitcases to leave.

As they said their goodbye to grandfather, he told her that he called her grandfather last night and that they had a good talk since it'd been quite a long time since they last conversed. He told her that he planned to go to Korea to visit his grandfather, and hoped they would meet again if he was in town. And they chatted for a while until their ride took them to the capital.

They checked in on Four Seasons, and Jisoo got a suite room for herself. Apparently the room was connected to Yixings, so she deliberately left the connecting door open so Yixing could visit her freely. Her dress came shortly while she was enjoying the refreshment that had been prepared in her room. Yifei and Yixing's mother visited her with several people carrying he dress with a mannequin, and Jisoo could barely close watching the staff prepare it.

She admitted that she immediately fell in love when she saw the dress for the first time. It was a floor-sweeping train night gown in red-wine color, The embroideries on the tulle fabric was exceedingly lavish with the abstract floras, it had a cheongsam style high neck, and cape sleeves that were hung down to the same length of the dress. She loved the mixed East Asian's feel that was styled to the dress, especially with the Japanese obi on its golden metal plate. The staffs helped her to try the dress and she couldn't be more happier to see how fit it was in her body.

"I don't want to praise, but I say Yixing really has good eyes on woman's fashion," Yifei commented, which his mother confirmed it with an approval nod.

"Where did he get this dress?" Jisoo then asked while the staff doing some adjustment on her hips and some other places.

"It's one of Ellie Saab's collections for his winter haute couture this year, Jisoo." Yifei replied her, and her jaw dropped. 

Ellie Saab? She could only see his dresses on TV before, and again, she couldn't just believe she was wearing one of his exclusive dresses right now. She felt dizzy suddenly, this was too unrealistic. She once tried to check on the internet, and she found that someone at least had to spend around 300,000 dollars to have their hands on his masterpiece. It's crazy. Moreover, Yixing promised her not to waste his money on this. 300,000 dollars for a dress that might only be worn once in her life was really too much.

And Jisoo made sure to discuss this once Yixing emerged from behind connecting the door of his room.

"You definitely enjoy this, don't you? Rubbing it all in my face when I keep saying not to waste your money on me?" Jisoo said while pointing at the dress which had now been reattached to the mannequin in the corner of the room. She didn't mean to be mad, but Yixing always had a way to get on her nerves just to . And it's annoying.

But really, actually she was kind of in dillema facing with this kind of situation. She liked the dress, like, a lot, but Yixing spoiled her too much with his lavish lifestyle; from dinner at expensive and luxurious restaurant, the diamond, then now with the Ellie Saab dress. She loved them all, but at the same time she felt guilty for enjoying it. She didn't want to be labeled as a golddigger who dated him just to enjoy his wealth, when she actually could afford them all herself.

Yixing laughed as she sulked, he walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Hey, am I wrong if I want my woman to be the most beautiful one in the room?" he asked. His voice was soft and endearing, and damn, it's just too hard to keep being mad at him.

Oh... Jisoo didn't expect that to be honest, because she was ready to hear his typical Confucius philosophical reasoning about manner, being a gentleman and blah blah blah. Her eyes searched for his to ensure that Yixing wasn't just sweet-talking her to avoid her nagging. But when his eyes stayed on hers, and she could see sincerity in there, she started to blush.

"But," she tilted her head, "I understand if you want me to look pretty and stuff, but you know, it's Ellie Saab, wouldn't I be overdressed?" she asked tentatively.

"Absolutely not. You must have never heard about this gala, haven't you?" Jisoo shook her head in his question, "Well, this gala is one of the most long-awaited event every year for a reson, Baobei. This is an event where you'll come and try your hardest to show off your wealth in exclusive circles. They added the intention of charity so that the public won't revile them for being too ostentatious. It's basically an haute couture there, you'll know what I mean when you see it."

She sighed loudly, now that he said it, she was speechless. And Yixing took the moment to divert their conversation.

"Meanwhile," he said as he soun her body to the livingroom, "There's a more urgent thing that we need to discuss." 

"What now?" 

Yixing pushed her shoulder lightly to have her seat on the sofa then he seated himself next to her. "My father's secretary came to see me a moment ago. He said the media had requested for a press conference. I originally planned not to say anything, or take any question, but father said that it would be best if we meet them ourselves and introduce you to the public. I didn't give them anything yet, because it will be your choice. If you still want to keep us private, I'll ignore the request, but if you're ready to tell people about us, then we'll take the invitation." he explained. She could see that Yixing was being very careful in choosing the words to convey this to her so that she wouldn't misinterpret his words. Jisoo herself actually didn't mind to disclose their relationship to the public, but one thing that she didn't understand was why Yixing acted like it was a big deal.

"Is the press conference necessary? Can we just, like, say hi to them and I can tell them who I am. You know, casually. Don't you think press conference sounds a bit, standoffish? It's not like we're celebrities or something, right?"

"Well, we're not, but, that's exactly why we need to do the press conference." Yixing titled his head again and clicked his tounge, like he was thinking of how to say it to her.

"Why, Yixing?" she asked now curiously.

"You know, we don't really talk about this and it's kind of awkward to say it with my mouth, but it is known by the public that our Zhang family still holds the bond of the Chinese aristocracy, and we're actually the remaining aristocrats from the Zhou Dinasty family tree. This is why I said that my family is a big deal." Yixing paused a couple seconds to see her reaction, and when Jisoo didn't say anything, he moved on explaining, "And there are a number of protocols that we must obey, most of which are related to society, and one of them is updating people what is happening in the family. And that's you for now. People are expecting this for years, Baobei, they are waiting for this specific woman I'm going to marry in the future. And once they see the signs, it will be chaotic. This press conference is important, because this means the family has accepted you among us officially. And this is also to avoid unnecessary rumors and speculations, because these people will do anything to dig into your personal life if we don't give them what they ask. You understand what I'm saying, right?"

Jisoo remained silent while trying to digest the information Yixing had told her. The aristocracy. Now that Yixing said this, it seemed to answer all the unanswered questions that were still lied in her mind. This answered Yixing family's tradition of coming to her family to propose to her through the head of