In the Middle of the Night [BANG CHAN FF] ✔️

17. Autumn leaves

After the incident on the night of her birthday, the princess was back on her feet right after she woke up. She was happy, she had a good appetite, and she barely waited to go back to her regular duties. Two days after her birthday she asked Chan to accompany her as she wanted to visit her friends she used to spend nights in the pub with. They were all more than happy to see her, catching up to recent events. The princess even brought them pieces of the cake from her birthday party.

Yona read to the children in the library every day and they were ecstatic seeing Chan there, especially when he played the wolf and three children volunteered to play the piggies. The princess's corner as well as the whole library got more visitors each day; librarians got more work than ever but were extremely thankful to Yona for that.

It was the end of August when the king called in the princess for a serious talk. What the king said shocked both the princess and her knight who stood behind her.

"Are you serious?" Yona asked, too shocked to form a politer sentence.

"Yes. After giving it a deeper thought, I decided to accept your idea and work on opening the school you wanted. Some teachers also reached out to me saying that they want to continue what you've been doing in the library - read to the children, as well as teach them the basics," King Alexander said, looking through papers in his hands.

"Yes, that is exactly what I wanted!" Yona smiled, too happy to lower her tone.

"But this isn't charity work, princess," the king looked up at her, and Yona's smile faded away, "Those teachers need to get paid for their work and it would be impossible if you want free education."

Yona didn't have an answer to this problem. Days passed and she contacted many schools only for her college to reach out to her - old headmaster, Mrs. Faye, agreed to finance the teachers in the new school. Everything was ready for builders to start working on the future school building. Autumn started with warm weather and one happy princess.

"I still can't believe that father agreed to open the school..." Yona shook her head and took a bite of a freshly baked muffin. She sat on a wide blanket under the leafy oak on the small uphill of a big empty field. The warm wind rustled the already yellow and brown leaves.

Chan sat on the other side of the blanket, drinking tea and eating a sandwich, "Your plan has come true," he said with a smile and Yona nodded, smiling as well with her mouth full of delicious muffin.

"What is your next plan?" Chan asked, taking another bite of his sandwich.

"Nothing for now," Yona took a deep relaxing breath, falling on the blanket. Looking up at the leaves relaxed her more; her heart was full of happiness. "For now, I just want to enjoy life. And spending time with you is one of my favorite ways to enjoy it."

She smiled at Chan and he smiled back. The princess noticed a small blush forming on Chan's cheeks but didn't comment on it. And, for Bang Chan, the reason for that was that was Yona's first time "making a move" on him. It was subtle but still meaningful.