Some things don't begin the way you expect them to or have the same kinds of results. At one point, she worked in an apothecary, working for the same customers that she'd known pretty much her whole life, frequently the same people that used to go to her grandparents' bar in the evenings, ordering food or drink, or really there just to talk to those around them.
He didn't come from the working class background that she'd lived, known, and loved all of those years. Zen came from a more royal background, used to affluence and wealth, learning at a young age that there are few that you can trust that know your title. And she is the star in the sky that he never expected.
So, they meet. Working class and nobility, royalty and a commoner from a different country, and their memories that have shaped them, built them up, taught them so much, are the very kind that reaffirm that their differences don't ruin nor poison their chances at being together. They may not have the same upbringings, may not know even the same songs, or have the same types of dances, but there is something here.
Something can be said for when memory takes on a new life of it's own, or when love decides differences aren't make or break moments, but a chance to grow together. Life is a classroom, you learn from every experience, and meeting each other is an experience that alters the course of two lives in potentially the best way possible.
It's Zen who says that she can choose her own fate, that she can embark on her own path, that her red hair is not the curse that it's lived up to her whole life. Instead, Shirayuki's shade of red is a blessing right around the corner, a blessing just waiting to happen. And a new beginning is forged, a few bread crumbs are placed on a new path to walk, and Shirayuki doesn't feel the pace as too sudden or as too surprising, but let's life rush by, let's each experience unfold at the pace already decided upon.