chapter soundtrack:
the first snow - ong sungeun

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"Oh, found you."

There he was, the Crown Prince standing tall in front of her. 

The man was wearing a set of charcoal gray blazer and trousers. His hair wasn't styled as much as the time when they had private meeting together, he looked the way he usually looks like at college. He still looked good and neat either way. I guess they styled him up more in formal and important events?

"Your... Highness?"

The girl zoned out for a moment, her heart shaped lips opened slightly. She didn't expect the Crown Prince would come meeting her that day. 

The Crown Prince removed his phone from his ear and disconnected the call, then put it back inside his pocket. That was the moment when Youngro realized, she was still holding hers close to her ear even after the man cut the line already.

"I..." Youngro was still lost, and when she was hit by realization, she immediately jumped from her seat and took a ninety degrees bow. "Good evening, Your Highness!" She greeted him in a high pitched voice. Knowing the Crown Prince wasn't seeing her face, Youngro furrowed her eyebrows and bit her lower lips. Gosh, what is he doing here?

Once the girl stood up straight and faced the Crown Prince again, the latter moved inside the room, approaching the reading desk where Youngro was seated. There were piles of books seen, and there was a book trolley next to the desk which contained more books.

Accross Youngro, there was an available seat, and the Crown Prince head tilted slightly, his eyes eyeing the empty seat. "May I sit here?"

Every single corner of this room is yours... Youngro answered immediately, trying to be calm. "Of course."

The desk was placed near a big window, Youngro oftenly stared outside that day at the Hyangwonjeong royal pavillion which was covered by snow, in the middle of the freezing pond. It was such a beautiful view, however she needed to focus on the books given by Miss Pi.

Once they were seated accross each other, the Crown Prince didn't say anything. He took a look outside for once, staring at the darkened skies.

The girl who was waiting, tried to opened up first. "How... how was your day, Your Highness?" She carefully asked.

When the Crown Prince heard her, his head turned towards her. "Sorry I got lost earlier." He apologized, before answering. "It was... great, today is my last day at college for this semester and now I'm already off for year end holiday. I have wrapped up my final project plan as well, hope we can finish it by the middle of next year."

Youngro who was listening to his explanation could only nodded in response. She didn't expect the Crown Prince would answer her question that much since the last time she met him, he had less chats with her.

"Ah..." Youngro left out a little laugh. "You'd do great, Your Highness. Your films are always amazing."

Her answer seemed to surprise the Crown Prince, since the man moved his head forward a bit towards her with a raised eyebrow. However, there was a thin smile on his cold face.

"Oh, you watched them?"

Youngro nodded, "Well... whenever they have movie screening at the campus, before you guys apply for movie festivals, I usually come to see it. Just curious. And they're all good." Awkwardly, the girl raised her two thumbs up and grinning widely.

"Thank you," said the Crown Prince in response. He looked calm, but his smile was growing bigger when he said this.

"No, there's no need to thank me, Your Highness..."

Suddenly, something popped up in Youngro's mind like an alert. 

"Um, Your Highness." She called him, and he hummed in response. The Crown Prince was staring at her, waiting for her. "I... I'd like to apologize, and thank you as well. I apologize for spilling my coffee on you. I swear to God, I didn't see you in front of me that day... so I—"

"It's fine, you don't have to mention it." He waved his hand. 

"I.. I hope you're not injured?" Youngro asked carefully as her eyes darted to the man's chest.

The Crown Prince patted his chest and stomach area, "It's fine, my skin was kind of reddish that day, but it's healed the next day."

Youngro frowned slightly, imagining the sight of the Crown Prince's burning skin because of her.

"So, how was the session?" Sooho asked once again. "I belelieve Miss Pi had explained everything about histories today? I hope you're fine with all the materials. It could be exhausting..." His eyes wandered around the piles of books surrounding them.

Youngro would like to complain, but of course she couldn't, could she? She had to appear like she's ready for this.

"It's alright," she said. "It's fine, I'll do my best to finish these books by this week."

"I see. Take your time, then."

The silence came back, and the atmosphere turned slightly awkward. Youngro bet the Crown Prince could feel it too. The man was staring outside again this time and accross him, Youngro couldn't help but gazing at him, learning his looks from closer.

The Crown Prince was indeed, a young and good looking man. Youngro always knew him as a calm, cool-headed, and wise man. This was based on the news and articles she always heard on the media since she was a kid. But knowing him in person for a while now, she could see all of it. It's true.

Youngro heard the man in front of hum clearing his throat. "Secretary Gong was called by Nam Taeil a couple of minutes ago before I came here. I believe he wouldn't be able to you for some times." The man explained. His eyes were still gazing outside the window.

Upon hearing this, Youngro could only nodded and said, "I see... okay then, I will wait for him.

"Are you curently free, Your Highness?" Youngro asked, out of the blue. She still wondered why this man came to meet her that day.

The man moved his eyes from the window, and turned to the girl in front of him. "Well, I'll be here for a while to check on you. In 30 minutes, I need to get to the airport." He answered. "I think I'll just wait here, if it's fine with you?"

Youngro quickly responded, "Yes, of course!" Oh, dear. She might answered him with a too loud voice. "Umm... may I know, where are you planning to go?" She asked, then.

"Tokyo."

Tokyo, as in Tokyo, Japan? 

"Oh?"

The Crown Prince explained further, "I will be flying to Tokyo tonight. I need to accompany my father tonight for a conference. I'll be back here by tomorrow afternoon. If there's no sudden additional schedules there." He added, "It's a discussion and further planning for an art and culture exhibition next year, it will be a collaboration between the countries. Next year, it will be held in South Korea."

Again, Youngro could only listen to him while nodding her head in response. Silently, she left out a small "Whoa".

The Crown Prince smiled thinly again at Youngro. "I might need to gain insights from you as well later, Youngro. We will exhibit music as well. I bet you have a lot of fresh ideas. After I come back from Tokyo, I will be sharing the plans with you." 

God it feels weird hearing him calling her name. And that smile on his face also, it felt new to Youngro. However, she responded politely, "I'll do my best to help, Your Highness."

"Are you going to visit the palace everyday until the engagement day?" This time, the Crown Prince was the one who threw another question.

"Yes, Your Highness." Youngro answered. "There will be daily learning sessions each day until the engagement day comes... even after that, Miss Pi had prepared another lessons for me as well." the girl peeked on the books aroun