Jihyo couldn’t sleep the night before the festival, out of excitement. There was just a wide array of possibilities. She had only learned about festivals from the stories in court or the chatters among her ladies-in-waiting, but the revelries have always intrigued her. It was also going to be the first time for her to get a glimpse of the life of townspeople, without having to put on her lens as the princess of the kingdom and a member of the King’s court. She was looking forward to having a simple day out with Jongkook.

Jongkook - that was also another matter of thought. It had been days since she recovered from her sickness, and since then, he had been true to his word, sticking by her side except when he needed to tend to the duties he could not postpone. Their days had been filled with conversations, and the more Jihyo learned about him, the more she had grown fond of him. He was someone different and yet so similar at the same time. He loved the mornings, while she loved her sleep too much to be bothered to wake up too early (unless it meant being able to see him for his morning exercise; that was always a worthy exception). He had been educated by the Tang, had been taken away from his family at a very young age, and had seen a lot of the world, while the farthest she has been prior to their trip to Gaya was Lee Gyeonggyu’s village. He was quite temperamental and she found that he loved to tease the people that were close to him, while she was mostly calm and collected, a practiced behavior due to her stature.

Yet, despite all these differences, all these traits seemed to seamlessly blend together - like yin and yang, like the sun and moon, like the warm days of summer and the cool evenings of winter. They seemed to balance one another in terms of their personality and experience, the other always providing a perspective the other has not considered.

There was also an ever growing attraction - one that Jihyo couldn’t explain. At first, she attributed it to his looks and his physique, which she decided she would never tire of. But, as she knew more about him, he seemed like a bottomless well that endlessly cultivated her interest, drowning her in. He had shared the love she had for family. She had learned that on one midday meal in the pagoda of the back garden. She watched the way Jongkook tirelessly chattered about his family. 

He had a good grasp of everyone in his family, even the sons and daughters of his cousins who were noblemen and women from faraway districts. But there was a different sparkle in his eyes as he talked about his parents and his brother’s family. Unlike the typical nobleman, Jongkook’s regard for his parents surpassed the requirements of filial piety; he loved them dearly and knew them so well.

After she fainted, one of the ladies-in-waiting returned Jongkook’s durumagi, and he let her keep it. She loved the way the durumagi still carried his distinct scent, and she secretly clutched onto it, taking a whiff before sleep took her in. 

Jongkook told her that this durumagi had been personally stitched by his mother, a gift for when he was leaving for his training as a Hwarang. There was an embroidered white tiger on it, an appreciation for Jongkook’s power but also the manifestation for a mother’s wish for her son. “It is said that white tigers appear in times of peace and good virtue. My mother said she wishes that I could help bring that to the lives of people wherever I may go, and I’ve always tried to live up to her wish,” he’d told her that day.

“I’m sure she’s proud of you, Jongkook. You do bring peace,” she said, unwilling to continue to mention that he had brought her a kind of peace she’d never known. Her fingers grazed the garment, and she found two embroidered cranes - one black, and the other, white - on top of the tiger. She looked at him with a silent question.

Jongkook visibly blushed, and she nudged him, thrice as curious given his reaction. He cleared his throat, “Well, that one… These are cranes - tanchos, in particular. They symbolize love and fidelity. The black and white shows their balance.” He kept his description short, and Jihyo just nodded meekly, fully understanding what wish came with this embroidery — love, marriage, and a life of happiness with a wife.

She trained her eyes back on the cranes on the durumagi, loving how the birds looked so free as they flitted around the tiger. She felt more drawn to them than the tiger, but, knowing their situation, she couldn’t help but feel bad about that particular wish coming true for Jongkook. It would mean that he would be in the arms of another woman, and just the thought was something she didn’t wish to confront.

Jihyo gave up trying to sleep; the thought of Jongkook had caused her mind to be more active, and slumber was quickly becoming more unattainable. She took his durumagi and put it over her white hanbok, and moved to go out of her quarters. 

She went out to the garden, staring up at the night sky. It was the last phase before the moon goes back to its fullness, and given the lack of its bright light, the stars shone brightly in their stead. She squinted her eyes, checking whether her eyes were betraying her or the stars were really of different colors. The twinkling lights mesmerized her, and she realized that the palace never really afforded her the chance to see simple sights like these. She was mostly cooped up in the eastern palace, and, since their father’s death, her days were spent mostly on her responsibilities. But, at this moment, she had time to breathe and take things in stride. 

“What are you doing up so late?” she was startled by Jongkook’s voice and saw him approaching her.

“I could say the same for you, Jongkook,” she quickly recovered, and answered him with a smile. She shrugged, “What can I say? I can’t sleep.”

He smirked, asking, “And your preferred method of getting yourself to sleep is to wander around at night?”

She didn’t answer him. Instead, she looked back up at the sky and said, “Wow, this view looks incredibly beautiful.”

He snorted and ended up laughing, and she narrowed her eyes at him, inquiring what he found so funny. “Don’t you remember?” he said, as he tried to stifle his laughter. She tilted her head in wonder, and Jongkook chuckled again, “Gaya? Doesn’t ring a bell?”

Jihyo shrugged, prompting him to explain, “It was our last night in Gaya, and we came back from the dinner Insung-ssi hosted. I was escorting you back to your quarters. You were in the middle of saying something, but you got distracted by the sky. I think you said the exact same thing about the night sky.”

She tried to rack her memory for any recollection of this to no avail. Something caught her attention from his story, however. She asked, “What was I saying before I got distracted?”

Even in the dim light of the night, she could swear she saw his ears turn red, and her question seemed to have struck a chord with him, as his gaze faltered. Jongkook’s reaction thoroughly interested her, and she asked her question again.

Jongkook stuttered through his next words, “You… basically… held my face… and said you thought… I was handsome.”

It was Jihyo’s turn to flush a deep shade of red, and she tried to walk out on him. There was no recovery from that mortification, but Jongkook was quick. He held onto her wrist and called out her name, “Hey, Jihyo.” She still wouldn’t look at him, so he held her shoulder and turned her to face him. “It’s done. I already heard you say it before, and it’s alright. I promise I won’t tease you about it. Nothing to be embarrassed about what you said… unless you changed your mind?”

“No…” she said too quickly, and she bit her lip upon the realization. Jongkook gave her a boyish smile, pulling away his hands from her shoulders and reaching out for her hands. 

Then, he gazed at her lovingly, and said in a low voice, “For what it’s worth, if I wasn’t too dazed that night by your boldness, I would’ve told you that you are beautiful. It’s impossible to even put it into words.”

She looked up, searching for the truth in his eyes, and all she saw was his sincerity and, if she looked a bit more closely, his devotion. Her heart skipped a beat, and, while she had always received compliments about her beauty and charm, there was something special about the same words coming from Jongkook. The words carried a different weight, and Jihyo felt like she was floating on a cloud.<