chapter soundtrack:
gymnopédie no. 1 - erik satie

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The sound of the wind outside the mansion woke Youngro up. Slowly, her eyes fluttered opened as the noises outside kept on getting louder. It looked like there was a hurricane outside. That was unusual, as strong winds and hurricanes usually occurred between June to September in South Korea. It seemed like the weather was a bit unfriendly that night.

Still, it successfully woke the girl up from her sleep… and when she tried to close her eyes and drifted back to her dreams… the wind just got louder.

“Tsk.” Youngro clicked her tongue as she kicked the thick blanket away from her petite body.

Her visions were somehow blurry at first since she was forcefully woke up from her deep sleep. She was slightly surprised as she found herself inside an unfamiliar room…

Ah.

She was at the Crown Prince’s mansion. She was staying for the night there.

Youngro gradually gathered her consciousness, then she rubbed her eyes to get a clearer vision of her surroundings.

It was around 2 AM in the morning and the lights inside the room were turned off except for the bedside lamp, shining dimly in warm white colors. That was the only source of light, however it was enough to help Youngro found her slippers that were given by Sooho placed on the floor by the left side of the bed.

The girl stood up on her feet, trying to steady herself for a second.

“I need to get some water.” She uttered with a hoarse voice.

Boonok had prepared 2 liters of mineral water in Youngro’s room, but Youngro had drained all of the water since she was feeling less dehydrated earlier that day. Due to the packed schedules, she felt like she didn’t get the chance to have enough water during the day.

Youngro gripped the door handle and slowly pushed it open. She let her head peeked out to the hallway to see the situation outside her room for a second. There was no one there, but the lights were brighter although dimmed, compared to her dark bedroom.

“The kitchen… over here…” she mumbled as she stepped out of her room and let her feet walked their way to where the kitchen was. It wasn’t that far. She just had to walk to the other hallway across her room.

The lights in every room inside the mansion was still , however it was set to be rather dimmed at night and so was the kitchen. It took her a while, but she finally found the fridge where they stored the water.

A bottle of water would be enough for the night, she thought.

CLINK.

"Eung?"

Like a surprised bunny, Youngro's eyes instantly widened, and her ears were fully alert. What was that sound? She was pretty sure there was no one in the hallway through her way to the kitchen, and there was nobody else but her in the kitchen. What was that noise?

CLINK.

There it was again.

By the time she heard the noise for the second time, she was at last fully awake. Although she was a bit frightened, her curiosity pushed her to try finding the source of noise. It was from the corner of the kitchen.

"Who... who's there?" She shouted.

There was no one answering.

"Hello?"

Although scared, Youngro walked her way closer to the corner of the kitchen where she found some stairs to go down to the basement. She forgot Sooho told her that there was a basement in the Crown Prince's mansion for wine cellars, but they didn't get the chance to go downstairs that day. Now that she found the way there, she really hoped she wouldn't have to go there late at night like this... not alone, at least.

The girl gulped, her shoulders stiffened as she mentally encouraged herself when she proceed to walk down the stairs.

A thief inside the Crown Prince's mansion? That wouldn't be possible, right? There were plenty of guards outside securing the building... there wouldn't be anyone with bad intention coming inside the mansion, right?

If there's anyone down there, that would be someone Youngro knew. Most probably-

"Youngro?"

She swore she could hear her own heart thumping wildly, then followed by the sound of relieved sigh coming out of her small mouth. As soon as she caught the familiar figure on her peripheral vision, the girl finally felt more relaxed.

It was Im Sooho.

The tall man was in a white shirt and white trousers, they looked neat and comfortable for bed time. But what was he doing here late at night? Did he get trouble sleeping because of the crazy wind outside?

Sooho, on the other hand, was almost as surprised as Youngro when she heard the girl's voice upstairs. He was picking a bottle of wine from the cellars when he heard her trembled voice. He realized, maybe she thought there was someone else inside the house at the basement. But it was him. So, he quickly picked one of the wines and brought with him upstairs, where he finally found her at the stairs.

"Youngro?" He called.

The girl was standing there with a surprised look on her face, then expression of relieved came next. Her long hair was kind of messy, her face fully showed that she just woke up from her sleep, and she was wearing a loose white silk nightgowns. The nightgowns looked like it was slightly bigger than her own size though, making the collar area faintly dropped loose on her shoulder and it gave him a clear look of her collarbones.

For a while, Sooho let his eyes lingered there... before he moved his gaze elsewhere and cleared his throat. "Did you wake up from your sleep?"

Youngro who finally realized that the nightgown she was wearing was exposing her shoulder and almost chest area too much, quickly pulled her nightgowns up. When she caught the Crown Prince's gaze came down to her shoulder, she could feel her cheeks warmed up, making them blushed in faint peach colors.

The nightgowns was actually prepared by Boonok when she was about to sleep. She brought her own pajamas, however when the maid gave her the nightgowns, she couldn't refuse it.

Silk nightgowns would help giving you good night sleeps, that was what Boonok said, anyway.

"Ah," Youngro wrapped her arm around the big bottle of water. "Yes, Sooho-ssi. The wind outside was so loud, it woke me up." She gestured her arms that were holding the bottle upwards to let him see what she was holding. "I came to the kitchen to get some water."

"Did the maid not prepare you water?"

"No, no, I drank all of the water before I slept." She quickly replied, not wanting to blame on Boonok. The maid had helped her a lot that day. "So I'm getting another bottle here at the kitchen."

The Crown Prince continued walking upstairs to approach the place where the girl stood. She didn't move, watching him walked up towards her.

"Did you wake up from your sleep as well? Because of the wind?" The girl carefully asked.

Sooho shook his head.

When the girl got the chance to get a closer look on his face, she finally saw how fresh he was. It looked like he didn't wake up because of the wind... was he not asleep yet?

"I haven't slept yet." Sooho said. "More like... I can't sleep, yet. So I tried to finish some of my works. And celebrate it with tiny bit of wine for tonight. It's still Christmas anyway, right?" He added, with a thin smile on his face.

"It's... isn't it almost 3 AM in the morning? What time do you usually go to sleep?" She concernedly asked him. Was it just tonight, or it was his habit to sleep late? Whatever the reason was, everyone should get enough sleep at night. And so did Sooho. Youngro would lecture Youngu if she caught him staying up late pass midnight, and she was about to do the same to the man in front of her right now.

"I sort of... have trouble sleeping lately?" The man answered, raising his eyebrows when he saw the girl showed him a concerned face. She looked adorable with those furrowed eyebrows and pouted lips. What had he done wrong? 

"Have you tried to sleep?"

"I had." Sooho nodded. "I even took my medicine a couple of hours ago, but it didn't work."

His answer made her realized, that he actually had a severe problem with his sleeps. He even took medicine?

"So... what usually makes you get to sleep, Sooho-ssi?"

The man shrugged. "I just sleep when I feel like it."

It seemed like the answer didn't satisfy her, she still got the concerned look on her face. That's when Sooho chuckled and touched one of her arms. "Do you want to join me for tonight? Now that you're awake, and the wind outside is so loud. Maybe you want to join me enjoy this wine before you go back to sleep?"

Youngro barely had wine as long as she lived. She had some with her friends sometimes when they asked her to go out for dinner with them at fancy restaurants. She couldn't drink much, though. But the wind outside was getting louder as well, she probably couldn't go back to sleep yet, and she wouldn't want to refuse his invitation. Maybe this would be the chance to get to know him as a person better.

So, she nodded.

Youngro slowly lifted the corners of her lips up, forming a sweet smile. "Okay."

Youngro silently watched Sooho filling her glass with red wine. He looked so peaceful and dreamy with his hair down with his bangs covering some part of his forehead, almost covering his eyebrows.

"Oh, that's enough. I don't drink much." Youngro blurted out, and the man finally handed the glass of wine to her. "Thank you."

When Sooho was filling his own glass with wine, Youngro took a while to study her surroundings. They were back at the living room of the Crown Prince's mansion. When she was back here again, she finally got the chance to look around more. She just realized there were pictures of the royal family on the wall, some framed pictures of the Crown Prince when he was young on top of the fireplace, a collection of vinyl records by the corner of the room with its record player, and also how beautiful the interior inside the room was.

They didn't turn on the lights inside the living room, Sooho took a while to light up the fireplace at first, and let the source of light came from some standing lamps inside the room.

The lights were dim, but it's enough