chapter soundtrack:
agape - nicholas britell

🌸

His gaze.

Those dark orbs were never leaving hers.

And she couldn't get her sight anywhere else but at him. At some point, she felt like she was day dreaming. She couldn't believe that what was happening then was true.

A royal engagement. And she was the bride to be. She was engaged with the Crown Prince. The man who was standing right in front of her.

She would believe everything was a dream until finally, the Crown Prince brought her back to reality.

As his fingers reached out to touch her left hand, Youngro left out a silent gasp. Her eyes darted to her hand that was now being held by the Crown Prince tenderly.

Sooho was holding her hand in such a gentle way as he let himself caressing her hand for a while. It would appear unnoticeable for the people inside the main palace hall. But Youngro, the girl whose hand was taken by the Crown Prince, could feel his thumb her left hand tenderly. 

When Youngro moved her sight back to his face, she could see him gazing at their hands. He looked calm and composed, but somehow Youngro could notice the unreadable expression on his face.

Youngro couldn't guess what it was, but the next thing she saw was the Crown Prince gazing right back at her with a fond smile on his face.

The smile she adored. The smile she had been longing for everyday for the past few weeks.

Sooho's other hand was holding the yellow sapphire ring that he took previously from the box that was held by Hong Aera, the older woman who was standing next to Youngro, a couple steps away from them. He then moved his hand that was holding Youngro's left hand closer to him as he slowly slid the ring on Youngro's ring finger.

Her royal engagement ring.

The yellow sapphire ring was shining brightly as she slightly moved her slender fingers on Sooho's hands. It looked beautiful.

To her surprise, the Crown Prince hadn't released her left hand yet. She thought it was her turn to put on his engagement ring, yet there he was pulling her hand so softly closer to him, before finally brushing his lips to her knuckles. His eyes were never leaving hers. And that gesture was enough to drive her crazy as the butterflies inside her stomach went wild.

However, Youngro reacted gracefully with a sweet smile plastered on her face.

When Sooho finally let go of her hand, Youngro proceeded to take the engagement ring inside the box on the Queen's hand. She was standing next to Sooho, only a couple steps away from him. She made sure she curtsy before taking the ring, receiving a thin smile on the Queen's face.

"Sooho-ssi," Youngro whispered as she reached out for his hand, and the man lifted up his left hand to meet hers.

Slowly, Youngro slipped the yellow sapphire ring to his ring finger. The stone looked familiar with hers, however Sooho's ring was much more simple and minimalist since it was made for the man. Youngro moved her gaze from the ring on his hand to his face again, giving him a smile.

Yellow sapphire stone unites lovers who are separated.

As they both had worn the engagement ring, the Queen Dowager then took her time to share her blessings for the younger couple inside the room. She was saying to them that they were both destiny that were separated from each other, and the rings united them. And in the future, whenever they were separated, or anywhere they would go, the rings would keep uniting them as one and bring them together.

While listening intently to the older woman, Youngro linked her arms with Sooho. For once, she tried to peek at him from his side, just to see him already gazing down at her.

When their eyes met, both exchanged a soft smile. And that was when Youngro tightened her grip on his arm, as Sooho placed his hand on top of hers tenderly.

And she felt safe and sound with him.

❄️

"Congratulations on your engagement!"

"We're so happy for your engagement, Your Highness, Miss Youngro."

"We can't wait for the wedding day to come!"

Youngro couldn't count how many guests they had greeted and how many times they had received wishes from them. One thing for sure, Youngro couldn't wait until the end of the day when she could finally lay her back on her comfortable bed. Sooho beside her would ask her once or twice if she would like some time to rest for a while, but Youngro would prefer to continue greeting each one of the guests.

They were at the royal palace main hall, where all of the invited guests were gathered inside. The guest list was quite similar with the one they had for Christmas eve party. However, the older monarchs decided to cut down some names so they could make the party more intimate.

"Sooho-ssi, can we see my mother for a moment? I want to check on her." Youngro said as she tapped on the man's shoulder. And Sooho gladly followed her.

Hong Aera and Eun Youngu were standing at one of the corner of the main hall, both were enjoying some refreshments that were served. Youngro could see how happy Aera was as she caught the newly engaged couple were approaching her.

"My daughter!" Aera exclaimed as she threw her hands around Youngro, giving her a motherly hug. "How's everything going? Have you greeted all the guests?"

"I think we still have some guests we haven't met yet, right, Sooho-ssi?"

"That's right." Sooho replied after he gave Aera a polite bow. "We almost reach the end of the party but we still have enough time, though." Sooho placed his hand on Youngro's back, supporting her.

That small gresture from Sooho could still drive Youngro crazy. Sooho couldn't see it but she was pursing her lips together, trying hard not to expose her shyness.

"Youngu, could you please get me some sweets?" Aera tapped on her son's shoulder, and her oldest son happily obliged. "Thank you! Oh, I think the tiramisu is good! Get one for me, okay?" She added.

As Youngu left three of them together, Hong Aera threw a glance at the young couple in front of her. They both looked beautiful. She always knew her youngest daughter was pretty, but that day, Eun Youngro looked magnificent. She looked almost like a perfect princess. And Im Sooho? He looked dashing as always. Never in her life she would imagine having the Crown Prince as her son-in-law. At the thought of this, Aera happily giggled.

"You two look amazing today. I really can't wait for the wedding day." She exclaimed, followed by a hearty laugh.

"Ah, Mother..." Youngro furrowed her eyebrows and waved her hands. A slight blush was visible on her cheeks.

"We will do our best to prepare the wedding, Mrs. Hong." Sooho said. "I hope you're enjoying the engagement party today. Youngro had done a lot of things preparing the party. She even curated the scores that were played by the orchestra today."

"She did?" Aera's eyes rounded. "Oh, I'm so happy today. This party is perfect. And you both have outdone yourselves!"

"Sooho-ssi did way more than me, Mother. I couldn't have done it without him."

The three of them chatted for a while. Once or twice, Hong Aera would left out a hearty laugh as she was showing her happiness that evening. Youngro never saw her being that happy. She looked glowing.

Youngro was lost in her thoughts as she were watching her mother. She didn't realize that in her peripheral view, the Crown Prince's right hand man was approaching them. He gave the three of them a polite bow, before pulling the Crown Prince away slightly with him.

"Your Highness."

"Yes, Hyung?" Sooho said, raising an eyebrow as he caught the worried look on the older man'a face. He saw him tapping on his earpiece and heard the faint noise coming from it. "Is there something wrong?" He asked.

"The Queen Dowager just asked the event organizer for a dance between you and Youngro." He whispered. "Trust me, we had removed that from the run down. Everyone knew it. But Her Majesty was asking for it."

Sooho held his breath for a second, then silently sighed. "Did she just request this to the team?"

"Yes." Kangmoo replied, "Look, she's waiting for you." He nodded his head to the Queen Dowager who was sitting on her seat, her eyes looking everywhere around the room to look for her grandchildren.

When the Queen Dowager finally found the Crown Prince in the middle of the crowd, she smiled brightly and waved her hands. She then lifted up both her hands, and swayed her upper body part, gesturing a dance.

She was expecting a couple dance.

That was something Sooho and Youngro removed from the run down.

Sooho politely smiled and waved back to her grandmother, then shifted his focus back to the man in front of him. He furrowed his eyebrows and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Hyung, but we haven't prepared it yet... honestly." He said. "But Her Majesty asked for it, anyway..."

"So. Will you do it? Or not?"

"We can't say no to the request, can we?"

Kangmoo shrugged, "You're not the King yet, Your Highness. I guess we should follow her request."

"Right." Sooho groaned as he saw Kangmoo grinning at him. It looked as if the man was teaming up with the Queen Dowager to set these things up.

"I'll tell the orchestra to get ready with the classic scores for the waltz."

"Hyung, wait." Sooho called, "Play the scores that I requested."

"Oh. That one. Got it." Kangmoo raised his thumbs up, then patted the Crown Prince on his back. "Be ready in 5 minutes, and get to the middle of the hall with Miss Youngro. Good luck."

The man gave Sooho a playful wink before strolling away to the area where the orchestra team were seated.

This thing, the dance, was not the part of the plan...

It was.

But then, Sooho and Youngro agreed to remove it.

And it was back on the run down, then. As requested by Her Majesty the Queen Dowager.

Sooho left out a long exhale as he walked back to where Youngro was standing with her small family. The girl saw him approaching her with a questioning look, so she asked, "What is it, Sooho-ssi? Any news from Kangmoo?"

"Well..." Sooho pursed his lips together. "The Queen Dowager asked us to dance."

❄️

Youngro had danced before. As in waltz.

She had waltzed at her high school prom and some wedding events where she was invited to. She would jokingly waltz with her father or brother at some events. Her father would teach her some moves though, but they would end up laughing to themselves as Youngro would initiate weird moves, and her father or brother would follow her happily.

As for the high school prom dance... well, Youngro wouldn't want to remember that night when she accidentally stepped on Minho, the most famous guy of her high school that time. It was bad. She stepped on him with her heels until he shouted and got everyone in the room staring at him. It turned out, the man was annoyed because she stepped on him... so he was separated from her for the rest of the night that time. 

It was his fault asking Youngro to be his partner, though. She barely knew him but she accepted anyway, since she didn't know who else to bring to the prom. If only he knew that she would get clumsy when it comes to dances. Especially