"Your Highness, that's... really beautiful..." Chelsie says, admiring the fireworks exploding in the night sky.

"I'm glad you like it." She hears the prince mumble beside her, but she doesn't look at him because if she does, she might feel something weird in her stomach again.

"I didn't think there would be fireworks in a music camp," she continues to say, still looking up.

"I arranged it for you," Jeno says in a low voice.

She pauses, slowly craning her neck to look at him. He's staring back at her with his signature eye smile and in that moment, she feels butterflies crowding in her tummy. "Your Highness... I don't know what to say..."

"Just a thank you is enough," he answers her, moving a step closer to her. She doesn't move from her position and watches him reach for her hand. "Chelsie... will you be mine from now on?"

Her eyes widen in surprise. She doesn't know what to say. It's like her throat suddenly malfunctioned.

Jeno leans closer to her, his face tilting down to meet hers. And when he's only a few inches away, she screams out loud.

"CHELSIE! CHELSIE!"

When she opens her eyes, she sees her sister's face looking down at her in worry. "Are you alright? You were screaming in your dream. Were you being chased by a killer or something?" Traze asks her.

She shakes her head, trying to sit straight up in bed. She feels relieved that it was just a dream. All of it happened except for the last part. She suddenly feels her all warm and her head is a bit heavy, not because of her dream, but something else. "It's just that-"

"Chelsie, you're sweating," Traze cut her off, raising her hand to her sister's forehead. "Jesus, you're burning!" She panics, checking something in her bag.

"I'm alright, Traze," she tries to say, but she's really not.

"Here. Take this." Traze hands her a medication and a water bottle. "What happened? Did you get wet from the rain yesterday?"

She drinks her medication, remembering what happened yesterday. She went canoeing with Mark and they got drenched in the rain. She didn't think she would get sick though. "Sorry," is all she can respond to her sister.

Traze sighs. "Don't worry about it. Just don't go out today. I'll bring you something to eat. Get some rest, okay?"

She nods at her sister and goes back to sleep. She just hopes she won't dream of anything weird again.

****

Chelsie hears a soft plucking of a guitar, waking her up from her nap. The sound is really pleasant to her ears. Someone is playing it and after a few seconds, a voice starts to sing. The voice awfully sounds familiar to her. She knows it too well. It's the voice of her friend.

You're my missing puzzle piece

Finally I solved it

You filled every piece of my heart,

even the scarred part of it to the fullest

And somehow, you've become my everything

My missing puzzle piece

She slowly opens her eyes but doesn't move from her lying position. From her view, she can see Haechan singing while sitting on the bed across her, Jisung is holding the guitar and playing it. Chenle is also there singing with Haechan. They are probably trying to practice their song for the competition.

When the song ends, they discuss something in a low voice. They're obviously trying to keep their voices down to prevent her from waking up. She just watches them play the song again and hearing it for the second time, the song is even better. She can't believe they did that in a span of two days.

"So, what do you think Chelsie? Are we gonna win?" Haechan suddenly asks, startling her.

Chenle and Jisung look her way and see her already awake as well. "I told you Haechan. We should've just stayed outside," the latter says.

She groans. "It's not bad," she teases them.

"Not bad?" Haechan repeats in a rather annoyed tone. "It's the best song we ever did."

She laughs silently. "I'm kidding. It's a winning piece."

"Should we change the title to Winning Piece instead of Puzzle Piece?" Chenle suggests.

Jisung looks at him and squints his narrow eyes. "Let's not go that far, Chenle."

Haechan shakes his head at the two and stands up. "How are you feeling, Chelsie? We left you for a day and you get sick all of a sudden."

She slowly sits straight up in bed. "I'm fine now."

Just then, the door opens and Traze comes in with a bag of food. "Alright boys. I'm afraid visitation time is over." She places the food on the table nearby and turns to them. "Thank you for waking my sister up."

"We were singing her a lullaby," Haechan says defensively.

"Were you?" Chelsie teases. Seeing her friends now has actually made her feel better but she won't tell them that. Otherwise, Haechan will only keep on mocking her for being sappy.

When her friends finally step out of their cabin, she forces herself to eat the soup that Traze got for her even though she has really no appetite. While eating, she notices her sister staring at her phone. She also realizes that she's holding a different phone. "I didn't know you bought a new one," she comments, catching Traze's attention.

"Oh... this... I didn't buy it. Taeyong gave it to me." Traze frantically tosses her phone to her bed. "He uh... he broke my old phone so he gave his to me. Can you believe he has two phones?"

She notices that Traze is anxious while explaining this to her which is weird. "Is Taeyong hitting on you?"

"What? No! God, no! Why would he? I mean, I would never-"

"Then why did he pay for our snacks yesterday at the dining hall?" She questions again, looking at her sister intently.

"I don't know either. He's probably just showing off... wants to humiliate me for being broke," Traze says lying in her bed.

She just nods, eating her soup again. "Just so you know, I'm rooting for Prince Jaehyun for you."

"Can you just..." Traze rises from her bed again and sits straight up. "Just finish your soup so you can rest more."

She smiles at her sister, nodding and eating her soup again. Not long after that, someone knocks on the door, startling the both of them. She watches Traze as she opens the door, revealing a man in suit with a big basket of fruits in his hands. "Is this the cabin of Miss Chelsie Collins?"

Traze pauses, looking at her. She just answers her with the same stunned look on her face. Then, Traze answers the man, "Yes. Why?"

"This is from His Royal Highness, Jeno, miss," the man says, causing Chelsie to just blink on her seat. The man places the basket on their table after Traze gestured him to come in. Then, another man in suit comes in with a bouquet of flowers. After that, they bow to her and Traze before walking out of the door.

Traze walks over to the basket and the bouquet. Then, she takes something out from the bouquet and hands it to her.

She looks at the small envelope which Traze just gave her. She opens it and reads a note from the youngest prince:

I'm sorry I can't be there to give you that personally, Chelsie. I hope you'll feel better soon. I'll see you at the music night tomorrow.

-Jeno

"So when are you going to give him a response, Chelsie? You know... to his confession?" Traze teases her.

She just falls silent. She's still feeling a bit overwhelmed with everything that Jeno is doing for her and honestly, it's a dream come true for any girl to be receiving such attention from a prince. But she's still unsure of what she's feeling.

She just wants to go with the flow and not rush anything because she swore to herself to not date without graduating. She even turned down Haechan's confession before but thankfully, they remained friends after that. But with the prince, it's a different situation because they're not friends to begin with and if she rejects him, he might take it the wrong way and get offended. Or worse, she might get bullied by all of the prince's fangirls and she might never be able to have a normal life again.

Shaking her head, she turns to her sister again who is waiting for her to respond. "Well if he can wait until graduation, maybe I can give him an answer by then."

Traze nods, stifling a laugh. "I hope he can wait for it though."

****

The music night has started. Chelsie is already there sitting on the field with Traze and her friends. They're all waiting for her friends to perform their song. She has probably memorised the lyrics already with the amount of times she has heard them practice since yesterday. She's not complaining though because "Puzzle Piece" is now one of her favourites which they composed. If they don't win, then she'll just have to argue with the judges tonight.

When the emcee comes in after a performance, she announces that there will be a special guest performing. The crowd suddenly goes wild. She wonders if a famous artist is going to perform. The emcee tells the crowd to fall silent and finally calls out the guest. "Everyone, let's welcome the youngest prince, His Royal Highness, Jeno."

Her jaw drops upon seeing Jeno walking on the center of the stage. The crowd cheers for him as he speaks, "Thank you, everyone. I'm going to sing a song tonight for a special someone who is hopefully sitting somewhere out there. Chelsie, this is for you."

The crowd's cheer goes louder but she can't seem to hear anything right at that moment except for her heartbeat. It's beating so fast that she's scared it might burst any second. "Chelsie... Holy sh*t, that's you!" She hears Izzy swearing beside her, but she ignores it as Jeno starts to play the guitar.

I don't know you

But I want you

All the more for that

Words falls through me

Always fool me

And I can't react

And games that never amount

To more than they're meant

Will play themselves out

Take this sinking boat

And point it home

We've still got time

Raise your hopeful voice

You have the choice

You've made it now

She just allows the lyrics to sink in her mind. But she feels like she's floating at that moment. She can't really tell if it's real or not.

When Jeno finishes, she's still silent on her seat. She can hear her sister calling her name but she's still in trance. She stands up from her seat and decides to walk away from the crowd. It's too noisy out there and she's still trying to recover from what happened. She just wants to think and gather her thoughts.

As she passes by a cabin, she sees a familiar person sitting on the bench. Mark is just staring in space as if his life depended on it. She walks up to him, who doesn't seem to notice her presence at all. When she's finally behind him, she pokes on his shoulder, startling him. "Jesus, you scared me, Chels!"

She laughs at his scared look. "Sorry. I didn't mean to."

Mark finally laughs. "That's alright. So how are you feeling now? I heard from Jeno..." he pauses, turning serious. "I'm sorry, Chels. You got sick because of me."

"No, it's not your fault, Mark. It's the rain," she says, trying to lighten up the mood.

He lets out a chuckle. "But seriously, are you alright now?" She nods at him. "What are you doing here by the way? Aren't you supposed to be at the field?"

"I just came from there. It's the final night and you didn't even go there." She takes a seat beside him. "Still not speaking with your brother?"

He shrugs, sighing. "I don't really want to talk about it."

She nods. "I understand. But I'm just here, alright?"

He turns to her with a small smile. "I know and thank you for that."

She exhales a breath, contemplating on letting out the heavy feeling in her chest. "I do have a problem myself."

He squints his eyes at her in question. "What is it?"

"It's..." She starts, looking away. "It's rather embarrassing."

"Well I can't really help you if you don't tell me, Chels," he answers.

"Alright. But if I tell you, you'd have to tell me what's going on with you and your brother as well."

He doesn't answer back at once. Then, he turns to her. "I don't want to know then."

She sighs, looking away. "I'll tell you, but promise me you won't tell anyone."

He nods, raising his right hand up. "Promise."

She exhales a long breath, closing her eyes momentarily. "I think I'm starting to fall for Jeno."

A/N: 

Quick Disclaimer: I do not own the songs "Puzzle Piece" and "Falling Slowly," which are featured in this chapter. All rights go to the composers of the songs (performed by NCT Dream; and Hansard and Irglova, respectively).

Thank you!

~neozone