Earlier today they had sat down on a certain bench and shared a particular bag of goodies. Jimin had done his best to recreate their first date. If one could call it that. They had revisited the same little shop to buy their treats. But Jimin had foregone the champagne this time. He knew they wouldn’t need it. He’d purchased some fine bottled water instead. Eileen was all the intoxication he needed today. He wished to remain sober around her. He wanted to remember every single moment of his time with her.
They’d found their bench. They’d shared a meal as Jimin told her stories about his friends. She’d laughed. She’d commented. She’d felt herself being drawn closer inside his circle.
The sun had been shining down on them; though the air had been chill, the brightness of the cerulean sky had warmed their hearts that day. As had the smiles they had bent upon one another. And the glances from their eyes had kept invading the hearts of the other. They had both been recording these moments in their memories to revisit them countless times later on.
—
Now, hours after they had spread a blanket out in a green field and lain down next to each other to close their eyes and listen to birdsong while their fingers found each other and tangled together, Jimin faced a truth.
Eileen made him want things that he had pushed off for years.
The winter sun weak on his face, he had lain on that blanket this afternoon. Next to the woman of his dreams. He had reached for her and found her warm hand. His fingers had sought out hers, intertwining with them. It was a physical show of his heart’s desire. That their lives would be interwoven. That Eileen would one day come home to him and never leave his side again. That together, they would overcome whatever obstacles they found in their path. That their paths would intersect and become one.
That they would love and support one another no matter what. That their faith in each other would never waver. That their patience with each other would never wane. That the gentleness with which they now touched the other would become the anthem of their lives. That Eileen would become, once and for all, his safe place. A surer sanctuary than even the Bangtan Boys had become for him. That he would grow closer to her heart than he was to that of Tae, his constant best friend for nearly a decade now. That he would find something rare and precious with Eileen. Something few people ever found. But that was always there waiting in the wings for those who would seek it out.
He was so absorbed in her that he had completely forgotten that they still stood in a public place. High off the ground, yes, yet surrounded by strangers. Oblivious to them all, he pulled her into his arms as he bent his head and kissed her forehead. His lips whispering over her skin, he breathed, “Eireen. You make me yearn for things that I’m not sure are even real.”
He felt her chest convulse as a sob broke loose from her mouth. She had felt those words all the way down to the very depths of her soul. For that was exactly how she felt about Jimin. An answering echo rose from deep within her as she gasped, “I know! I feel the same way about you, Jiminie.”
He smiled against her head. She had just called him Jiminie. Why did that make his heart so happy? People called him that all the time, but this term of endearment, a unique rendering of his given name, had never before made him feel the way he felt when that word rolled off of Eileen’s tongue.
