Mina woke up with a jolt, the damp towel that was on her forehead falling to her lap. Jeongyeon, who had been sitting next to her the whole time she was unconscious, leaned over the bed and placed her hand on the princess’ forehead. She released a sigh of relief. “You scared me,” Jeongyeon said.

“What happened?” Mina asked, still in a daze. 

“You tell me. One of the guards found you passed out on the other side of the river bank. You weren’t about to head to the forest, were you? What the hell were you thinking?”

“The forest...” Mina paused, then as if everything came back to her, she quickly sat up straight. “The forest! How long have I been out?”

“It’s only been a few hours. But you really had me worried there.” Jeongyeon took the used towel and dipped it in the basin of water next to her. “What happened anyways?”

Mina looked down and processed what had happened. She was certain the event happened, that she really did venture into the darkness and met the isolated girl, but she still couldn’t remember how she managed to get out. She concentrated hard on trying to remember. She remembered trying to walk back, tracing back her footsteps by following the light. And then, she was overcome with great fatigue, like her body had lost all its energy. She sat down by a tree to rest, and then that was it. 

Jeongyeon wrung the towel over the basin and gently pushed Mina to lie down again. She placed the wet towel on her forehead.

“Truthfully, I went into the forest,” Mina said.

“Eh?”

“I walked in and met a girl. But I don’t remember how I got back.”

“Wait… You went in?!” 

The princess gave a slight nod. “It’s not that big of a deal, but I’m curious on how I got back.”

“Not that big of a deal you say?! You’re lucky you got back! What if something happened to you? Huh? How am I supposed to explain that to your father? To start off, didn’t I tell you multiple times not to go in there? Dangerous things lurk in the dark; you could’ve been totally lost, or worse, murdered!”

“Y-yah! Stop talking about me getting killed off. I’m back, aren’t I?”

Jeongyeon’s face was flushed with frustration. How did she manage to put up with her disobedience all these years? she thought. She sighed, feeling resigned. “And then? What happened there?”

“There was this girl. She said she was trapped. I wanted to help her, but she told me I had to leave right away. It was so dark and cold, I felt sorry for her.”

“Hmm. Are you sure it wasn’t your imagination? There’s no way someone could be living there.”

“I know. But...” Mina looked up and out the window. Of course, it was still bright out with minimal clouds. The image of the girl emerged in her head. “There’s no way my mind could’ve made all that up.”

“Yah, you better not think of going back.” Jeongyeon told her, but Mina didn’t seem to be listening. “Mina! Don’t even think about it. I’m warning you. If you go back, who knows if you’ll even make it out. You just got lucky this time.”

“I get it, I get it. I was probably dreaming it, anyways.” Then, Mina’s expression became grim, like she just remembered something unpleasant. “By any chance, is the plan of convergence a dream as well?”

“You’re really in denial, aren’t you?”

“So, it wasn’t… Maybe, I should just run away.”

“Everything I just said totally went past you, didn’t it? Why don’t you discuss it further with the king? It can’t hurt to try. Perhaps, he’ll rethink his decisions.”

“That’s impossible. You and I both know no convincing will work. Once he’s set his mind on something, he goes through with it. My happiness is only second to the wellbeing of this kingdom.” That’s right, she thought. I can’t be selfish. I’m a princess, the only princess of this kingdom. I can’t just think about myself. Isn’t that right, Mother…

~

“Eh? You brought it…?” Chaeyoung stared down at the mini whiteboard and two novels Tzuyu had brought with her, still unable to process that the scientist actually fulfilled her request. 

“Sorry it took a while. I had to wait until everyone else left before I could bring it. I’ll be in huge trouble otherwise. Ah, you don’t have to worry about the camera. The surveillance team are all good friends of mine. They should be able to keep it a secret. After all, I’m the only one who comes into this room, so you should be fine.”

Chaeyoung was still frozen, feeling the weight of the book in her hands. “You actually got it… for me...”

“D-don’t make such a big deal out of it. You’re making me embarrassed.”

“I don’t know what came over you, but I’m actually really happy that I could just kiss you right now.”

“Don’t.”

Chaeyoung beamed a smile. She sat down on the floor and opened the newly bought book, a newly released work from Murakami Haruki. She stared down at the words on the pages and felt it with her hands, treasuring each inscripted word and taking in its smell. The happy look on her face made Tzuyu smile. She had hesitated in bringing it, but seeing that expression made it all the more worth it. 

Hunched over the whiteboard, the younger one got busy for a while. She moved her hands without hesitation, the feelings of art flowing back inside her. No matter how long it had been since she last held a pen, her heart still remembered. Tzuyu watched her dotingly, like a parent observing her child’s work. 

When she was done, she held it up in front of her to inspect her work. Then she smiled proudly and turned it around to show Tzuyu. It was an abstract drawing of two people between a budding flower. “It’s me and you,” Chaeyoung said. “It’s futile wishing, but I hope one day we can meet in a different world… And look at flowers together, or something.” She slightly blushed at the childish thought, scratching her head with embarrassment and turning the whiteboard back to her to erase it.

As Tzuyu watched the drawing disappear little by little, a part of her cried with sadness. That sounds so nice, she thought. I wish for something like that too. But both of us can’t be free together…

Two days had passed since then. Twice had the bell rung from a distant place; at exactly 6 p.m. Tzuyu had visited her and formed mindless chatter; and for two days Chaeyoung sat in front of the empty wall, staring out into the forest in the hopes of seeing another miracle. But for two days, the stranger didn’t come, and the forest remained as barren as always. Chaeyoung sighed with disappointment. Her hands were getting weary from keeping it on the wall, but she struggled through it, afraid that if she let go for even a moment, she would miss the grand change. 

“I figured she wouldn’t come again,” she mumbled to herself. “Only an idiot would come to such a scary place where she didn’t belong.... Gaaaaah! What the hell am I doing! I can’t be getting my hopes up for someone I don’t even know. Chaeyoung, get a hold of yourself.” She slapped both her cheeks two times before getting up and started doing aerobic exercises to distract herself. 

On the other side of the surveillance camera, Tzuyu watched her with great interest. “What is she doing…?”

~

“Hey, explain to me how the moon works,” Mina asked Taehyung, completely ignoring his rant about the past emperors and the differences in their ruling. It was quite obvious that Mina wasn’t listening and Taehyung knew that girl’s mind was always wandering. To be frank, he’s given up.

He sighed and closed the book. Well, at least she’s eager to learn something, he thought. Taehyung folded his arms and looked up, in deep thought. Then he turned to the bookshelves around them and started scanning for any books regarding astronomy. “It’s a bit hard to explain. Let’s see… ah,” he got up and took out a book about the sun. 

Flipping to the designated page, he showed it to Mina who leaned forward on the table with great interest, far more interest than when he was spewing about the history of kingdoms. “The sun, the Earth, and the moon all work together. They don’t function individually because they can’t,” he started. “The moon orbits Earth and Earth orbits the sun. The sun gives light to approximately half of Earth, which is why in some places it’s nighttime while in some, it’s daytime. The moon has four phases, all of which is determined on its positioning between Earth and the sun. Sometimes we see some of the moon, other times all of it, and other times none of it.”

“But we don’t see the moon. How can we have sunlight all year long? Where is the moon right now?”

“We don’t see it, but it’s there. Otherwise, this world would be in chaos. The moon keeps this world under control. It’s gravitational pull is what’s keeping it from going haywire.”

“But why don’t we see it? Like you said, the four phases of the moon should allow us to see it. Why isn’t it up there? And why is it always daytime here?”

Taehyung froze, unable to answer. It was like something got caught up in his throat. It was an answer that even years of studying couldn’t determine. “T-the scholars are currently researching that matter as we speak. O-o-oddities happen in the world all the time. I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation to it...” Not having an answer caused him to stutter, like his pride as a scholar was being targeted.

Mina narrowed her eyes at him and then blew a strand of her bangs away from her eyes. Her curious mind had been running nonstop since her little adventure outside the boundary. She had too many questions that no one had answers to. Her mind kept going back to the girl in the forest. Her confident aura, her ponytail, the sparkle in her eyes– there was something about her that made Mina want to see her again. More than being scared, she couldn’t contain her excitement. Something out there was calling for her; something was motivating her to finally step out of her comfort zone. 

Every minute would pass and Mina would still be in a daze. She had forgotten about her marriage arrangement and could no longer think about anything other than stepping foot into that forest again. But Jeongyeon knew her. Her best friend knew she had these thoughts, which was why Jeongyeon was keeping an eye on her far more intently than usual. Even as she sat in the library with her tutor, Jeongyeon was outside the door standing by. 

“Mina-ssi,” Taehyung said, causing Mina to snap out of it even for a moment. “If your heart wants something, take it. You’ll never be able to find what you want if you don’t look for it. You’re curious, with an intense desire to learn, and I think that’s powerful and lacking in many citizens in this kingdom. Take it from my experience, if I’d stayed in this place without venturing out, I would’ve never known that so many great people exists outside of here. Don’t let the norm limit you from going further.”

“Easy for you to say. You didn’t have a whole kingdom on your shoulders. I have to carry these people someday; I can’t leave them behind. My father wouldn’t let me.”

Taehyung smiled. Like an older brother trying to console his sister, he only spoke with warmth. “Before I traveled, I was a part of the king’s army. In fact, I lead it. Your father was extremely stubborn, and when I voiced that I no longer wanted to be a soldier, but instead be a scholar, he went off in a tantrum. He sent me to do pointless scouting just to keep me here. But I pushed through and didn’t waver. I told him I’d leave without option. And then what do you know, he let me go. Despite his rough ways, your father is a sensitive man.”

Mina kept silent, the plans of the convergence coming back to her train of thoughts. She couldn’t tell her father to stop it. She had to find a different solution to the kingdom’s problems before she attempted on convincing him. The king mentioned the problem lies in their finances. Perhaps, there wasn’t enough to last them through the year. She sat up straight and got up to browse through the shelves of books.

“What are you doing?” Taehyung asked.

“Trying to free this kingdom. Can you help me and find the map of trade routes in the kingdom’s vicinity?”

They spent a whole day in the study, burrowing themselves in books, reports, and maps, trying to find a way that could help their kingdom’s financial status. Trade was barely an option. They had none that could strike the interest of other kingdoms and the crops they had were barely enough for the citizens. The Park Kingdom had no enemies whatsoever, but quite the same it didn’t have what one might call an ally. The kingdom lived in isolation from wars and disputes. It didn’t need the help of other kingdoms; frankly, it was fine that way. It prospered on its own when previous kings ruled it. Mina later found that it was when her father took the throne did the harvest start to wane. The reports of harvest rapidly increased in the year when she was born. A few years later, her father became king and the harvest started to decline. It was also the same year the queen passed away of illness. Harvest hasn’t been good since then. 

Looking at the events lined up one after another, Mina couldn’t help but wonder if it was all a coincidence. As she was young then, she didn’t comprehend the death of her mother well and the status that was all of a sudden placed upon her shoulders. But did that mean the kingdom’s situation at the moment is due to my father’s ruling? Mina thought. She furrowed her eyebrows at the papers in front of her. 

”Lifting the kingdom out of this financial crisis might be harder than we anticipated,” Taehyung said. “There’s a reason the king found no other choice but to combine his kingdom with another’s. Such a decision couldn’t have been easy to make. I’m sure he himself have tried looking for other options, along with his counsel.”

”Trade might be the only option we have. But we have nothing that we can give. Our land only creates for the benefit of its people, not for others. Which is why we’ve prospered for so long without aid.”

“Technology...”

Mina looked up at him. “Technology?”

“It’s been a growing fad in far away countries,” he started to explain. “There have been a group of people who are trying to advance our current technology. Rulers are paying high prices for any slightest advancement. If we can get our hands on technology that they’ve never seen before, they would surely give their support.”

“Technology...” Mina pondered on it. The forest came into her mind — amidst the greenery and the darkness was that sole building. She didn’t know anything about it, but she could tell that what lay inside was something foreign. The walls were like magic. She could see what was inside and then the wall would go back to normal again. There was the fact that the stranger could hear her, but Mina couldn’t hear her from her side. She was certain that some underlying technology had something to do with it. It was all something very new and advanced. And she got the feeling that no other kingdom was aware of its existence. “I might have an idea. But I’d need you to distract Jeongyeon.”

“Now, wait a minute. Whatever it is your plotting, I don’t want any part of it.”

“You were the one who gave me all that advice about pursuing my heart.”

Taehyung shrugged, “I’m all words, but no action. And besides, I don’t really want to deal with your babysitter.”

Mina rolled her eyes. “Just do it!” 

Jeongyeon walked towards the back quarters of the castle quickly, half annoyed that she was being asked to move away from her post, even more so that she had to leave Mina unsupervised in the study. Taehyung had asked her for some materials for crafting with the purpose of “visualization” for Mina’s studies. 

Taehyung had to walk briskly to follow her rushed steps. They reached the servants’ quarters and went into a storage room filled with various wooden planks, cloths, a sewing machine, and other possible crafting materials. With the intention of buying time, Taehyung slowly browsed through the area. He didn’t know what he was supposed to be taking nor did he know how long he was supposed to stall her for. He didn’t even know why he agreed to Mina’s plans in the first place. All he knew was that, with Jeongyeon tapping her foot every now and then in impatience and her arms folded in front of her with her eyebrows furrowed together, he didn’t want to anger the sitter. 

“Find anything you need?” Jeongyeon asked, a somewhat unfriendly tone in her voice. 

The man bent down in front of a shelf, looking at particularly nothing. “I seem to get the sense that you hate me.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Am I wrong?”

Jeongyeon released an impatient breath. “I don’t hate you. I just think that you’re putting crazy ideas into the princess’ head. I overhear your conversations in there sometimes and she often tells me ridiculous theories from your sessions. I think you’re telling her too much of the outside world.”

Looking up at her, Taehyung got up. “So you have some knowledge of the world outside of this kingdom. But you have no plans in disclosing any of that to the princess. Is that it?”

“The princess should stick to her duties. And it’s my job to properly guide her. I don’t need some stranger messing up all my hard work in keeping her safe.”

“Safe from what exactly?” he asked. Jeongyeon kept quiet. “I’m getting the feeling that you know something I don’t. And that somewhat bothers me. What are you hiding?”

“Nothing that you should concern yourself of.” Jeongyeon’s tone was abrupt and concise. Taehyung felt that he wouldn’t be able to get anything out of her with mere questioning.

“The princess feels suffocated in this kingdom. Do you think it’s right that she be married to an older man she doesn’t love? To be forced to carry a kingdom too big for her small shoulders?”

Anger slowly started to emerge in Jeongyeon. Her patience disappeared and she clenched her fists in an attempt to hold back her violent nature. “Who are you to tell me what’s right for her? I’ve been with her since she was a baby. Her mother entrusted me to take care of her. If she leaves this kingdom...” Her voice trailed off at the last words. She looked down, her eyes growing melancholy. “If she leaves this kingdom, I cannot keep my promise to her mother.”

Without any more words, the two walked back to the main castle with Taehyung carrying a box of crafts that he most likely didn’t need. Jeongyeon opened the door to the study only to find it empty. A book was laid out on the table, a presence that someone had been there, but Mina was nowhere in sight.

Jeongyeon turned to Taehyung with an irritated expression. “Whose plan was this?”

“T-the princess.”

“And where did she go?”

“The forest.”

“Motherf-”

~

The world of 1Q84 is a mirrored world of 1984. This was the universe Murakami Haruki created in his novel. It’s a story of a man and a woman separated and long to find each other even at the cost of death. The woman is an assassin who kills for justice and the man is a math teacher with internal struggles of his childhood. They never spoke to each other, but they love each other more than anything in the world. The 928-paged book felt heavy in her hands, but Chaeyoung held it with care. She read each and every word as if they were precious gems, absorbing every little detail with joy. This was the book Tzuyu got her and just the thought of it made her happy.

She had read the entirety of the novel twice. A three-volumed story of two worlds blending. She wondered then if there was someone in her lost memories that she wanted to see. 

Sitting down with her side leaned against the wall, she closed the book once more at page one, on her third expedition of the story. A killer and a teacher… What an odd pair, she thought. 

If she could be transported to a different world, she wouldn’t mind living a routined life. Waking up to a job, dealing with people’s views and theories, then coming home to a warm cup of hot chocolate. Though she did admit the life of the teacher in the story seemed sad and lonely. He had nobody to come home to, no family to see, not even a pet that would greet him by the door. It’s no wonder she longed for the woman. Presently, Chaeyoung longed for someone as well. But she, too, had nobody to go home to, nobody to see. She, too, was sad and alone. 

Much to her surprise, the stranger emerged in her thoughts. The angelic figure of the girl about her age strolling through the dark, empty forest replayed in her mind. The non-filtered way she spoke, the glimmer in her eyes, and the innocence of her smile. It was odd. Chaeyoung couldn’t help but think of her every now and then. To be fair, her appearance itself was out of the ordinary. It was only natural that she became curious of her. What kind of life she could be leading or what stories she had to tell, Chaeyoung started to wonder. More than the curiosity of where that girl came from or how she got into her world, Chaeyoung wanted to know her as a person. Did she like to read like her? Or did she prefer playing in the outdoors? Such thoughts came into her mind. 

For absolutely no reason but to replay the events of their meeting in her head, Chaeyoung placed a palm on the wall and performed her magic. Like a window to the outside world, she peeked to the other side of the wall, into the forest. And like the wheels of fate turning in their favor, Mina emerged on the other side with that angelic smile on her face. 

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A/N: I’m so sorry this came out so late! I’m currently in the process of moving so it’s been hectic around here. I haven’t finished packing and at one point I misplaced my laptop in the chaos. The new house also doesn’t have wifi yet so that’s been a struggle. I hope you guys are still around to read >< I haven’t given up on the story. It’s just taking a lot longer than expected. Nonetheless, I hope you like this chapter and continue to be patient with me. Thank you so much for reading!