Lost ↹ Yang Jungwon

.Sixteen.

A LOUD LAUGH rumbled from the kitchen. It was so loud until it reached the hallways, despite the wooden door tightly shut. Haeyul crouched beside the kitchen counter as her ears were red from all of the laughing. The dark-haired prince stood frozen in front of her, his apron fully covered in baking flour and his face displayed surprise. 

"Y-your face-" Haeyul broke into another fit of laughter before she was able to finish her sentence. Jay sighed deeply, "Be quiet, can you?" He said as he dusted the flour from his apron, cleaning his face next. 

"Oh my god," Haeyul calmed down, "If only my phone is with me, I could've recorded that."
You are probably wondering what happened. A few minutes earlier, after Jay had agreed to bake with Haeyul, they prepared the ingredients they will be needing. While taking the ingredients, Haeyul had trouble reaching the heavy bag of flour which was placed on top of a sturdy cupboard. Upon Jay noticing her struggles, he decided to give a hand, but who knew that would end in a catastrophe. 

When Jay grabbed the bag of flour, it tilted down and since the bag was already open, the inevitable happened. The flour fell on Jay, looking a lot like the first fall of snow in the winter.

"What do you mean by recorded?" Jay asked as he took the broom and swept the flour into the trash can. 

"Oh," Haeyul didn't realize she had talked about her phone until Jay pointed it out. "It's like a device which you can capture memories in it," She explained, "and you can look back on those memories you've captured anywhere and time you want." 

Jay's brows furrowed slightly, "So, it's the same thing with a loune?"
Haeyul stopped. "A loune?"
"What's that?" She asked full of curiosity. 
The prince pondered over his answer as he tried to find the correct words to explain the object. "It's an object shaped like a gem filled with stars because the person who invented it, used stars as a reference to our memories. One loune can only be for a person's memory. It can't be shared. The loune captures memories and once the memory is stored into the loune, it'll form into a beautiful star."

"So, the gem is the place to store the memories, and the stars are what will be stored inside the gem?" Haeyul inquired, partially understanding the concept of loune. 

Jay nodded, "Exactly."
"We should start baking, the cooks are going to be here in another hour." He told as he washed his hands. Haeyul agreed and showed him the steps to how to make an apple pie. "To be honest, your pie was almost perfect, surprisingly. The only problem was you had burnt both the apples and the pie."

"Here," She showed him how to properly caramelize the apples without burning it. "You need to control the heat as it can burn quickly." Haeyul heard Jay snickered beside her and she turned to look at him. "What?"

A grin stretched on his face from ear to ear. "Excuse me, but I find it rather funny that you're advising me about fire control." He deadpanned, stifling a laugh. The girl eyes blinked in confusion. "Don't you remember?" He asked, "You had forgotten about the apple pie in the oven. You were lucky I had found it before it burns."

Haeyul's ears tinged with the slightest shade of pink. She was embarrassed there was no doubt in that. She turned away from him and focused on the apple jam, clearing her throat, her mouth opened to speak. "Anyway, back to where we were."

"I suggest you set a timer for one hour since this oven cooks faster than usual. Other than that, you should be alright." Haeyul's head bopped to her own statement as if she's agreeing with herself. "Any questions?"
"None for now."
"Well then, if you are done do call for me. I will be my chamber." Haeyul excused herself.

"What," Jay paused, hesitating to say the next words of his question.
"What?" Haeyul repeated.
He huffed, "What if I burn my pie again? What should I do then?" He scratched the back of his neck bashfully. Haeyul held back a laugh as she watched his movements, "If that happens, then we can keep trying another time." She assured him.

"Alright." Jay simply replied, giving his undivided attention to the dough mix. Just from his back, Haeyul could see the burning passion this prince has for cooking. She was genuinely surprised when she saw his pie, not because it was burnt, but the kitchen had smelt exactly the same with hers. That only meant one thing. Jay had figured out her recipe by just merely seeing and tasting the pie. 

Her thoughts were put into a halt when she saw none other than Prince Jungwon and Princess Aene. Again. Her shoulders tensed as her feet moved faster, wishing to avoid any interactions with the royal pair. Just per usual, luck was surely not on her side. 

"Excuse me, miss!" The princess's honeyed voice bounced against the castle's wall.

Haeyul bit her lower lip and slowly turned around, facing the princess. "Yes, may I help you, your majesty?" She faintly asked, her voice coming off rather hoarse. Princess Aene stared at her in dismay. "Speak louder, it's disrespectful towards us, royalties." She scolded.

Haeyul apologized, bowing to her even though she was furious inside. Who does she think she is? Just because she is a princess doesn't mean she has to speak some type of way. She wasn't even her mom. If it were her parents speaking, Haeyul would have listened with more understanding.

Princess Aene cleared her throat, fixing her previous frowning face into a forced smile. "Help me prepare my dress for tonight. Me and the prince will have dinner together." She ordered. 

Jungwon, who had been quiet the entire conversation, finally spoke. "Don't you have your own assigned maids to do it for you?" He said, "Miss. Seo must be busy with another assignment." He created an excuse, knowing very well Haeyul is not a trained 'servant' nether a maid. 

"But I want her to do it." Princess Aene said. "She was roaming around freely anyway, I doubt she has anything to do."
Her comment had angered the human as she clenched her hands into a fist. Princess Aene's face was very punch-able at that moment. Besides, Haeyul has something to do! She has to go into her chamber and get some sleep! Or else the bags under her eyes will worsen.

"We'll find someone else to prepare your dress, Aene. Miss. Seo is already busy so we shouldn't busy her even more, she is still new after all." Maybe Haeyul was hallucinating because of her lack of sleep, but she swore she saw Jungwon clenched his jaw in annoyance as he coaxed the princess to leave Haeyul alone.

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