Setting: Episode 17.
Sometime after Gwangjong became King, long before his marriage to Queen Daemok.

The sun set, the moon rose, the stars shone. Hae Soo remains alone in her room.

She sighs from her position at the table, the food she had helped prepare so meticulously during the day now gone cold and stale. "Surely, he would be finished by now?"

For the umpteenth time, she glances at the door. She can see the silhouettes of the guards stationed right outside her room, unmoving, the hall completely still and silent. "Will he still come? He said he would..."

Disheartened, she puts out the lamps and opens the window.

The stars are bright tonight, with not a single cloud to hide them. As she watches, a meteoroid hits the Earth's atmosphere and slowly disintegrates into nothing, leaving behind a trail of brilliance. A falling star, people called it, even though it wasn't - just another beautiful thing called something it's not. A facade of brilliance, shining as brightly as a star, to mask the dying rock within.

She closes her eyes to make her wish.

A memory surfaces... of a different time, a different moment, when she was with a different man. If she had known then how they would end, she never would have wished so greedily on that falling star.

Another memory surfaces... of a song. A foreign song. An English song. Not for the first time, she finds she misses the sound and beat of modern music.

"Why is it so dark in here?"

She's so surprised, she inhales sharply and ends up choking on her own spit. Her King comes over to thump her helpfully on the back. She hadn't noticed him come in at all, what with her eyes closed and her mind full of melodies.

"You're late," she admonishes the moment she's able.

"I thought you would be asleep by now."

She sniffs. "You came anyway."

He wraps his arms around her from behind and rests his cheek against her temple. "I couldn't not see you." Such simple words are enough to placate her. Hae Soo feels slightly wrong-footed. "The sky is clear tonight," he adds pleasantly, trying to shift the conversation into something more neutral.

She recognizes the tactic and hums her agreement. "I can clearly see the Lonely Maiden constellation from here."

"The what?"

"You don't see her unless the sky is absolutely clear like it is tonight. That's one reason why she's so lonely," Hae Soo says smoothly, emphasizing her every word. "According to the stories, she was a woman who waited by her window day and night for her lover to come. After spending thirty days and thirty nights with no sign of him, she fell ill and eventually died of starvation. The gods took pity on her and immortalized her in the stars."

There's silence as he processes this bit of information.

"Are you making this up?" he asks at last with just a hint of suspicion in his voice.

She gasps halfheartedly. "Me? Lie to my King?" She turns in his arms to face him. "Maybe."

He growls his indignation. If this was her way of making him feel guilty, it was working. "I would have come sooner if I could. You know I would have."

"Because you promised. And you always keep your promises," she says. "But what do we do now? The food's gone cold, you won't want to eat it... and I spent so long making it, too," she grumbles that last bit, fingering the golden dragon emblazoned on his chest.

He knows. One of the eunuchs he'd assigned to look after her had informed him of her whereabouts and activities earlier.

"I know," he whispers, pulling her in to trail light kisses along the side of her face. "I'm sorry, Soo-yah."

She huffs, turning her face to indicate where she'd like to be kissed instead. "Aren't you hungry? The ladies have all gone to sleep, but I can cook for you again if you'd like."

"No. Let's have what you made earlier."

"It won't taste as good," she warns.

He grunts, lifting her chin up to face him properly. There's a mischievous, almost wolfish look on his face as he smiles down at her. She can feel her skin tingling from anticipation, warm blood rushing to her cheeks and neck. Before he can say anything, she tugs at the golden binyeo holding his sangtu in place, causing his hair to tumble over his back. She runs her fingers through his ponytail, the ends of which have curled from being kept in a knot all day.

"The night is dark and full of terrors?" she murmurs, matching his smile with one of her own.

His expression shifts to confusion. "What?"

"Nothing." She can't help but chuckle at what she'd just said. The only reason she'd watched Game of Thrones was because it sometimes showed in the bar she and her friends frequented.

She should have felt nostalgic, sad at the memory of the friends she'll probably never see again... but she isn't. Not when she has him in her arms. She feels no trace of emptiness or loneliness. He always made her feel that way - like she was the only one in the world; the only one who mattered.

She pecks his lips. "Let's eat."

Let your colors burn and brightly burst
Into a million sparks that all disperse
And illuminate a world that'll try to bring you down

"My wish..." she whispers to his sleeping form, marveling at the way the filtered moonlight illuminated the sharp lines of his face, highlighted the curves of his lips and cheeks. Her eyes land on the scar gleaming darkly against his pale skin. She traces a finger over it, barely touching, remembering how she had wiped it off earlier, remembering how it had felt beneath her adoring lips.

In those moments, she always felt infinitely special. No one else, living or dead, has touched his scar as frequently or as familiarly as she has... of that much, she is certain.

"If we could just stay this way for a long, long time... that would be perfect," her hushed voice is loud in the silent stillness of the room. A wish is not supposed to be spoken out loud, but she has never been one to believe in such superstition.

When the sun goes down and the lights burn out
Then it's time for you to shine
Brighter than a shooting star

"There is nothing else I would want."

The story just played itself in my head and I had to write it down.
I might reference this in my fic one of these days, so at least you'll know what it means lol

P.S. Song lyrics "Shooting Star" by Owl City