:(( y'all are so cool and i love u all

—

  3RD PERSONS VIEW。

today was the big day. a day that jaeyoung would come to love and cherish her whole life. everyone was busy buzzing. people from different district have come to heflorescence to celebrate the grand three days of the efflorescence season.

the girl wore some black tights under the dark red checkered skirt she wore that stopped a few inches above her knee. they paired that skirt with a white turtle neck shirt and topped her off with a long back coat. her hair was styled down as usual.

"happy birthay~" doyoung greeted her as she was the last one to enter the last carriage.

"thank you, bunny." she smiled and sat next to him.

"my lady, i know you told us you didn't want a gift, but that really didn't stop us from getting our own gifts. we want you to cherish yesterday and today as it is your birthday!" lucas exclaimed and sent her a big smile that warmed her heart through this winter.

snowflakes were falling as the carriage passed through the old roads of heflorescence. jaemin, who sat beside her in the carriage, pulled out a small velvet box from his coat.

he opened it carefully, pulling out a bracelet which had something engraved on the pendant attached to it. she gawked at it as jaemin gently wore it on her with a proud smile.

"i asked a jeweler to customize you the same bracelet me and my brothers had when we were kids. the king gave us these bracelet and he was the one who decided i should also give you one." jaemin explained and showed her his own version of the jewelry.

jaeyoung gave him a smile and raised her right hand, seeing the piece of jewelry shine as the sun shone on it. grinning wide, "i love it!" she said and jaemin ruffled her hair, "i'm glad you do."

the ride to the town centre consisted of long chits chats about what they had decided to do when they arrive at the centre. from time to time, they would look out the windows of the carriage, waving at the townspeople who cheered for their names.

at the town centre, they all enjoyed the cute rides and events that the organizers all planned out.

miyeon wrapped her arm around her friend's shoulder, pointing towards the distance, "can you see him?"

"what do you mean?" jaeyoung blinked, a bit confused to what she was talking about.

miyeon smirked and waved her hand up in the air, "taeyong!" she called out and that made her friend more confused.

jaeyoung scrunched her nose, squinting her eyes to see what miyeon was talking about. soon, it cleared up and her heart stopped. jaw dropping, she could see kun and taeyong with hyuwon.

"haera!" hyuwon yelled out in happiness and ran towards her sister, engulfing the petite girl into a bear hug.

"w-wha— am i–"

hyuwon held her by her shoulders, grinning widely, "how are you feeling so far?"

jaeyoung chuckled, "i never felt so alive!"

jaeyoung watched as most of the younger ones were by the group of musicians, dancing to the music they played. jaeyoung joined in with the clapping as jisung and ten danced happily together.

renjun cleared his throat, gaining jaeyoung's attention easily. he shyly stretched out his hand towards her, the girl raised a brow before placing her hand above renjun's.

"let's dance!" renjun grinned and pulled to the centre, guiding her every step of the way.

"injae?" renjun called out as they danced, the people around them clapping the it hands.

"injun?" she replied with the same amount of enthusiasm.

renjun gave her a sly smirk, "you suck at dancing."

jaeyoung pouted and lightly squeezed his hand, "oh shut up."

"don't worry–" renjun pulled her close before twirling her, "we're here to teach you anyways."

sicheng waved at renjun and the two stopped dancing, facing sicheng who had a faint smile. "jaeyoung, we have a surprise for you." he said and gently pulled her towards the shrine.

the shrine was built for queen hera and princess haera. jaeyoung gaped at the massive monument that laid in front of her eyes. she stood in front of the eighteen boys, including miyeon who watched her as her eyes slowly trailed down.

heart beat quickening, tears started to dwell as her hands trembled. jungwoo pushed lucas towards her and the boy almost panicked.

lucas sucked in some air before extending out his hand to her, "happy birthday." he whispered.

"this is just a part one of the birthday present," he grinned and guided her forward.

"oh haera!"

that voice. it was the voice that she longed to hear. the tears trickled down her pinkish cheeks as she sniffed. arms circling around the woman's shoulder, the young girl cried. "mother!"

"haera, i missed you so much! i'm so sorry– i-"

"mom, it's okay. i'm here now." jaeyoung gulped, teeth clenched as she buried her face onto the crook of the queen's neck.

the king smiled greatly towards the boys before joining the little family hug. hyuwon laughed at lucas who was staring awkwardly at them before pulling him to join in.

after the cute hugging session they had. the king and queen of valfield thanked the princes heavily for being able to find princess haera, however, the boys thanked them as they were able to meet jaeyoung. the village girl who warmed up their hearts and change their perspective towards life.

"thank you, ru hyori, and mrs kang for taking her in." the queen said and embraced the baker who just smiled warmly.

"mrs kang," jaeyoung sobbed and faced the woman who practically raised her to become who she is right now. "i love you."

mrs kang chuckled and ran her fingers through jaeyoung's hair, "i love you too jaeyoung. i'm so glad you've finally found your home."

"thank you so much."

as dark covered the skies, millions of stars glimmered through the night. taeyong had his hands covering jaeyoung's vision as they waked to some unfamiliar pathway.

"where are we going again?" she hummed patiently.

"to your birthday present, jae!" chenle answered her.

"is it ready?" mark whispered lucas and latter furrowed his brows.

"what is?"

mark facepalmed, "the surprise!"

"surprise? oh– yeah right! surprise! of course it is." lucas sniggered, "i asked help from miyeon and the princes from the xiao family."

"we're here." taeyong took his hands off and jaeyoung gasped.

they were by the entrance of the palace, not much people were around this area but them. jaeyoung noticed that each boy was holding something that lit up beautiful, they were lanterns. they came in different sizes and each had distinctive styles.

some had a moon, some had a sun, while some had both. "hello, it's nice to see you again." yangyang chuckled and handed her a lantern.

"in the count of three, we're going set them free." youngho told them and they all replied differently.

one.

two.

three.

everyone let go of their lanterns as it flew up in the air. jaeyoung watched as the lanterns glowed up in the air with a thousand more others.

"this is so beautiful." she gaped.

"indeed." mark whispered, although he wasn't particularly looking at the floating lanterns, but the girl herself.

"again, tell me why i caught your interest?" she turned to taeyong and the boy let out a sweet sounding laugh.

he felt happy.

everyone felt so happy.

never did they think that they would be able to experience this again. the feeling of excitement and fun. the feeling of someone with them.

the feeling of acceptance.

taeyong was happy. seeing his brothers lively and free, even he felt so free. no longer were the princes trapped in the castle. no longer did they isolate themselves from everyone.

she was able to prove them wrong. that despite being a mere village girl, she would accept them as a person, not a prince. not a royal. but them.

"because you were a village girl, and somehow, you managed to accept us as who we are."

"i thank you for that. so much. for making us feel alive again."

"you saved me and my brothers."

—

i feel like crying ;-;

i forgot to add this in the past chapters but i imagined xzavis as nine alpha–

hskdsbsjsbejejejrrj yes. he is from darling in the franxx

anyways– get your tissues ready

nah jk

but seriously :((

-jibin