"My lady!  You must lift your arms up higher, or else we can't properly tie these ribbons!" One of my maids, Rina, whined for the nth time. 

I huffed, forcing myself to lift my poor, sore arms higher. "If you take any longer, you're going to have to use those ribbons to tie my arms back onto my body." I whined back. 

Rina shook her head, a proud glint in her eyes. "Just you wait, my lady. We'll make sure you're the most delightful birthday girl those bling-bling deep pocket nobles have ever laid eyes on." before strangling me with the ribbons again. 

Once I finally regained my breath, I smiled. Around me, maids used determined hands to tie balloons around my bed frame and place flowers along my room. 

Yes, it was my birthday. 

I had woken up with a delightful surprise- as in, I woke up to Jungwon already fully dressed, yet comfortably laying in bed, with his cheek propped up on his palm and his eyes staring straight into my soul. And we all know how big and sparkly Jungwon's eyes are, and how embarrassingly easy I get frightened. 

Yeah, it wasn't as romantic of a moment as tv shows made it appear. I guess you could say having a mini heart attack and startling your prince was a way to ensure you got a kickstart in the morning. 

However, the romantic moment soon began as Jungwon wrapped his arms around me, his bubbly laugh ringing in my ears. 

"Happy birthday, Min!" He squealed as he rolled us around the bed. I answered him with a laugh, my eyes crinkling with joy. I was showered with kisses peppered all across my face by Jungwon, only making my laughs increase in volume. 

"My darling," Jungwon chirped, placing a kiss on my cheek. "My love," a kiss on my other cheek. "My Yumin." He finished, placing one last but tender kiss on my lips. 

I felt my cheeks flare up, hiding my smile by wrapping my arms around his neck and stuffing my face into his shoulders. "You are so incredibly cringey, your highness." I muttered. 

He giggled, his shoulders shaking as he laughed. "Yet I'm so irresistible to you." 

"Precisely." I agreed. 

Jungwon gently untangled his arm from mine and reached over to his nightstand, pulling open a drawer and causing the bed to slightly dip to the side. I watched contently as he dug and moved things around until he finally found what he was looking for. He pulled it close to us, showing it to me. 

In his hand was a small photo album. The cover was simple, a blue fabric with a single red heart stitched onto it. "I've been meaning to show you this." Jungwon sheepishly said, opening the binder. My breath hitched the second my eyes recognized the contents. The first page adorned a photo, well kept and in perfect condition. I ran my fingers over the precious photo. 

In the photo, a four year old Jungwon with the same sparkling eyes he currently possessed beamed back at us, his little arm wrapped around the shoulders of a freshly-turned-four version of myself, my grin equally as bright. There was a paper birthday hat nestled into his brown locks, lacking compared to the sparkling tiara in my hair that was, without a doubt, commissioned by Jungwon. A cake sat in front of the two of us, the candles already blown out. There was just something so warm about the contents of this photo, the desire to treasure it bubbling up within me. My smile grew wider as I read the label written in four-year-old-Jungwon's handwriting.

"My Yumin's fourth birthday!!!!!!!"

Underneath that photo laid another photo, one that held an image of myself grasping a children's book in my chubby child talons with a frustrated look on my face. Next to little me, an equally as little Jungwon laughed at me. 

Nice to see our dynamic hasn't changed. 

The caption read, "Min learns that reading isn't as fun as it looks!!!!!"  I chuckled. 

Jungwon laughed when he recognized the photo, the sound clear and delightful. He pointed a finger at the photo. "I remember this day clearly! You complained so much before that you couldn't read like me, but you gave up within two hours of me taking precious time out of my day to teach you."

Beaming, I flipped through the rest of the photos. They were similar to the first two, capturing our birthdays throughout the years and valuable memories embedded in between. However, my hands slightly faltered when I flipped to a page that contained a photo greatly contrasting the others. 

Rather than people, the photo contained a singular birthday cake. There were bouquets of flowers around it, along with the familiar tiara resting on the flowers. There was something eerie and chilling about the photo, and I finally understood why when I read the caption. 

"Happy 7th birthday, Yumin. I hope you're celebrating it with joy."  The end of the sentence was blotchy, the paper lifting slightly as if the person who wrote that had been crying. 

The back of my throat burned as tears welled up in my eyes the more I flipped through the rest of the pages to see similar content. Photos of the smiling duo we were no longer appeared, and what filled their absence instead were photos identical to that of my seventh birthday. 

A cake. Flowers. Presents. Yet no smiling Jungwon and Yumin duo. Instead, there were only tears. 

"Jungwon," I croaked, tears falling down my face as I turned to him. He offered me a small smile, desperately trying to hide the tears shining in his eyes. I gently pushed hair out of his face with both of my hands, letting my hands stay on both sides of his face.

 "I'm so sorry. You must've- you must've been in so much pain. Oh god- I'm so sorry Jungwon." I sobbed.

My prince's lips slightly wobbled, still desperately trying to retain his smile but giving up on keeping his tears in, leaving wet trails on his cheeks. "I missed you a lot." He whimpered in a small voice, pulling me closer. 

Seeing Jungwon cry, witnessing him openly showing such raw emotion was a rare occurrence, but it never failed to make me turn into a bawling mess. I pulled him into a tight hug, letting both of us cry. 

After a moment of comforting each other, Jungwon sniffed and slightly pulled away. His nose was red, and his eyes were puffy. But boy did he look adorable, I mentally noted to myself. 

"Now we can continue our lost tradition of birthday photos. Right now." He chirped, holding up a camera (no clue where the guy got it from nor when he took it out). 

I blinked back at him. "Right now?" I echoed, pointing back and forth between our rather, uh, unpleasant visuals at the moment. 

"Right now." he confirmed. "It'll just be another moment for us to laugh about in the future." 

Jungwon held the camera up in front of the both of us, still sitting on his bed. "Smile." He happily chirped. My smile grew as he pressed his left cheek against my right cheek, adorning a bright gummy smile of his own. 

Click.

A/N: extra soft and emotional chapter for YuWon bc i've been missing for so long <3 sorry it took me so long to write this chapter, but i feel like a moment as important as this for the growth of their relationship isn't something that should be rushed bc quality > quantity :) anyways, i'm excited to start writing again !! lots of love to all of my readers~