chapter soundtrack:
crystal flower - 2nd moon

❄️

"I'm home!"

Youngro shouted at the front door as she entered Eun family's house. Thanks to Secretary Gong, she had arrived safely. She was about to put her shoes back to the shelf when her peripheral view caught her brother standing in front of him, crossing his arms with a curious look on his face.

"Why?" Youngro blurted out. 

"We have opened all the gifts from the royal palace and we love all of it. The royal family really gave us thoughtful gifts." Youngu said, however he pursed his lips together as he continued, "But there's one gift that has not been opened yet. And it's yours. And it's special from the Crown Prince. When will you open it?"

"Oh now you are curious about my gift?" Youngro giggled as she playfully pushed Youngu away from her way into the house. "Let me open it up at the family room so you can watch me unwrap it."

There she was, at the family room, with the gift box on her lap. "I can't tell what's inside. The box is small, but it's quite heavy." She tilted her head as her fingers started to unwrap the wrappers. "Do you wanna make a bet, Oppa? If you're correct, I'll clean your room tomorrow morning."

As Youngu heard his sister's offer, he smudgly grinned. "I bet... it's either jewelry, accessories, or maybe an expensive and branded perfume, that's why it's heavy?"

Youngro hummed as she placed her hand on top of the box's lid. "Moment of truth, let us see what's inside. Three... two... one!"

The girl lift up the lid and opened the box. The first thing she saw inside was a white box. "Another box inside the box? Really, Sooho-ssi?" She chuckled while her fingers were busy pulling the white box out. 

Her hands stop midway as her eyes caught a familiar logo shown on the box. 

"It's a camera." She whispered. "A film camera—"

Youngro's eyes widened as she read the camera type written on the lower side of the box. "It's a film camera... and this one is not for sale yet." She gasped, covering . "How could he— of course he can get anything he wants. But this? How could he know I'm into film cameras?"

The older man who was watching her shrugged, "Maybe he stalked your Instagram? Most of your pictures were taken on your old film cameras."

As she heard the brother's hypothesis, she let herself lost in her own thoughts. That might be true, as the Crown Prince knew so much about her. Maybe one of his source was Youngro's personal Instagram, where some pictures posted there were taken with her film camera. And that's why he chose a film camera as her Christmas gift.

He's so thoughtful.

Slowly, a soft smile grew on Youngro's face, making her cheeks lifted up and showed the faintly visible dimples on her cheeks. "He always surprises me." She whispered.

The older brother who saw the younger sister in front of her smiling to herself could only left out a relieved sigh. Seeing her sister being happy like this was enough. He hoped the Crown Prince could hold onto his promise for the rest of his life, as he would be the luckiest man on earth for marrying Eun Youngro. Youngu swore if he ever found Youngro hurts because of the Crown Prince, he would give no damn if Im Sooho was the heir of Korean kingdom or not. He would probably give that man a lesson.

"I lost the bet. But I'm glad to see you happy." Youngu said.

Youngro left out another chuckle as she took out the film camera out of the box.

"Do you want me to take a picture of you? It will be your first ever picture taken with the camera."

Youngro shook her head as she loaded the film camera. "No, thank you Oppa. I have one person in mind. I'll make him the first one to be captured with this camera."

❄️  

26 December

"Sooho-ssi?"

"Yes?"

CLICK!

"Sorry, I just took a candid picture of you." Youngro grinned as she saw a flustered Crown Prince who was seated on one of the sofa inside the royal library. Sooho accompanied her during her learning sessions with Miss Pi that evening. And when the girl finished her lessons, she quickly took her chance to capture the Crown Prince with her new film camera.

"Oh, you bring the film camera." Sooho smiled as he saw Youngro came approaching his seat. "Do you like it?"

"I love it." Youngro answered. "Thank you so much, Sooho-ssi."

"I'm glad you love it."

Youngro left out a hearty laugh as her hands that were holding the film camera raised up once more to take another picture. She closed one of her eyes, and let the other one peeked from the viewfinder. When she saw the Crown Prince looked straight at the camera and smiled, she clicked the shutter once more.

"What are you checking right now, Crown Prince? I had sent my feedbacks on the venue setting this morning to Kangmoo. And I had also checked the guest list for the party." She said. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

Sooho flipped his iPad and passed it to Youngro. "I'm giving a final check for the decorations. They were currently giving final touches for the venue. I think I need your opinion on this. They gave us these options. Tell me your thoughts."

The girl took the iPad from the Crown Prince and took a seat on the sofa next to him. Her eyes were glued on the screen, and her eyebrows were furrowed as she was considering all the given options.

"I think this one would be better, Sooho-ssi." Youngro pointed at the presented decoration picture on the left. "It looks simple yet elegant. And it gives the sense of warmth. I think this one would compliment the final look of the overall decoration really well. It suits the grand ballroom interior too." Her finger ran through the screen, pointing the mock up of the decorations shown on the picture.

Sooho who sat next to her shifted closer and gave a considering look for a while. "I agree with you, I think this one would be suitable for our engagement day." He said. "I'll tell the team we prefer this one. Good choice, Youngro."

27 December

"The Nurse said that Father smiled today." Youngro happily shared the news to the Crown Prince across her. "Did you say something special to my Father when you visited him again this morning?"

"I told him the same thing that I said when I first visited him with you." Sooho answered. A soft smile grew on his face as he proceed the news. "I'm so happy to hear that. It means he's getting better too, right?"

The girl nodded, a wide smile plastered on her face. "He is!" She exclaimed, then she put away her phone as she caught the Crown Prince was actually busy with his iPad. "What are we checking now?"

"Oh. Here. I actually have sent you the run down of the event," Sooho handed Youngro his iPad. "You can re-look it here. Do you have any thoughts? I think we need to cut down some points from the schedule. I have marked the ones that I think we can exclude."

Youngro hummed as she studied the table shown on screen. "Sooho-ssi, I think I'm align with your suggestions." She said, her eyes never leaving the screen. "Umm but I think this one right here should be kept. The session would make the run down longer but I think it's quite important for us and it would entertain the guests."

"Got it." Sooho replied after having some times to think. "I will send this to the person in charge."

"Have you checked on the latest moodboard Maeng and Stylist Lee shared with us, Sooho-ssi?" Youngro asked while opening the shared document on Sooho's iPad, then passed it back to the owner. "I have shared my input on the comment box. I love it so much, but I think we need to remove the ribbons on my mother's dress. I think it would be better without one. And Youngu would look better with this silk tie. I prefer the option B from Maeng. As for our outfit, they're all good already."

"Nice." Sooho smiled as he checked the screen. "Thank you, Youngro."

28 December

"Sooho-ssi," Youngro knocked on the Crown Prince's mansion study room door and entered the room when the man gave her his permission.

"Youngro, you haven't gone home yet? I thought you went back home rightaway after Miss Pi finished her session today?" Sooho peeked at Youngro from the back of his desk. There were two macbooks opened in front of him.

Youngro shook her head and placed a cup of green tea on his desk. "I will stay at the palace for two nights until the day of engagement. Anyway, I asked the maid to prepare green tea and honey instead of coffee." She said. "It's much better. It helps you stay awake too."

The Crown Prince checked on the cup of green tea and gave Youngro a soft smile. "Thank you."

The girl replied with a wide smile, making her lips form a heart shape. "Pleasure." She whispered. "Is there anything I can help, Sooho-ssi?"

"I'm reviewing a proposal document from the European Union. It just came this evening and I need to respond latest by tonight. I think I will finish this first." He sipped the green tea with honey, and sighed. "Thank you, Youngro."

"I see... The person in charge of orchestra just sent us the final list of the scores that will be played during the engagement. I have checked it... but I think there's this one song that I'm not familiar with. It's not a title, more like... a code. And they don't attach the music sheet so I can't check it further." Youngro uttered as she checked the email on her phone. "I think I will ask them to remove it—"

"No— it's okay." Sooho said. "I requested that one, it's okay. Just keep it there."

"Oh, alright!" Youngro nodded as she put back her phone into her jeans pocket. "I'll get back to my room to continue the final check of the other files."

"You can join me here if you want."

"Really?"

"Sure."

"I'll get my laptop, then."

29 December

When it was one day before the engagement day, Sooho and