Bangchan - Gardener

The palace looked different in the daylight.

Less like a dream—more like a stage.

Servants moved in neat lines across polished floors, florists carried bundles of white roses through the halls, and tailors rushed past with fabrics meant for a wedding that felt more like a transaction than a promise.

By tomorrow, the princess would belong to John.

Rich. Powerful. Impeccably dressed. And completely, painfully unbearable.

She hadn’t chosen him. No one had asked her to.

The weight of it all pressed against her chest as she stepped out onto her balcony, the sun warm against her skin. It should’ve felt comforting—but it didn’t.

Not at first.

Then she looked down.

In the gardens below, someone was working.

A young man, dressed simply, kneeling in the dirt with careful hands as he planted tulips into the soil. Unlike the rushed movements of the palace staff, his were steady… intentional. Like each flower mattered.

Like this moment mattered.

The princess found herself leaning slightly against the railing, watching.

He brushed dirt from his hands, pausing for just a second—as if sensing something.

Then he looked up.

Their eyes met.

Time didn’t stop.

But it… shifted.

The noise of the palace faded into something distant, something unimportant. For a brief, fragile moment, it was just the two of them—separated by height, by status, by entire worlds… and yet somehow caught in the same quiet pause.

He didn’t bow.

Didn’t panic.

Didn’t look away immediately like everyone else always did.

He just… looked at her.

There was something soft in his expression. Not awe, not fear—just curiosity. Like he was trying to understand her, not her title.

A strand of sunlight caught in his hair as he stood a little straighter, dirt still clinging to his hands.

The princess felt her breath hitch, just slightly.

She didn’t smile. She didn’t speak.

But she didn’t look away either.

From somewhere behind her, inside the palace, her name was called—sharp, expectant, pulling her back toward reality. Toward John. Toward the life already decided for her.

Still, she lingered.

Just for a second longer.

Because down in the garden, surrounded by tulips and sunlight, stood something she hadn’t felt in a long time—

Something quiet.

Something real.

And even without a single word spoken… it felt like the beginning of something she wasn’t supposed to have.