“I take you with me. Everywhere.”
She couldn’t resist the curiosity that floated up in response to his words. She turned back towards him, her earlier plan to flee forgotten now.
“What? What do you mean?”
Tae reached into his pocket and drew out his wallet. She watched as he opened it and pulled out a picture. He held it out towards her.
She glanced down at it. And her heart stopped. It was looking a little tattered, the corners bent, the sides a little the worse for wear. But the center of the photograph remained untouched. Unlike her heart. And apparently, his too.
In the picture, Tia was gazing up at Tae, obviously stunned by his gorgeous eyes, and he was looking down at her with a similar expression on his face. It was the photograph that always made her cry. The one in which she had been able to trust the tenderness she’d seen in his eyes. She stared at it for a moment, unmoving except for the steady drum of her heart which had just begun to thunder in her ears.
Then she sneaked a glance up at his face. And the aching yearning she saw reflected in his eyes took her breath away.
“Tia, I love you. I’m so sorry if I hurt you. That is the last thing I ever wanted.”
No! She could feel the wall around her heart giving way. In one mighty shaking, its boulders simply separated from one another and came crashing down to the ground in a glorious loss of security. Her heart lay open and exposed. She stood, terrified. He had just spoken the words she’d longed to hear. The words she had also dreaded. For now, she had to make a decision. Was she going to take a leap of faith and trust Tae, or was she going to rebuild that wall that she had so painstakingly erected in the first place?
She stood, uncertain, wavering before a wobbling world of wonder and the certain safety found in rebuilding her ice castle. Which should she choose? Tae and the very real possibility that she would be hurt again? Devastated even. Or the calm, cold world of her own closed-off heart? A place where she was safe from the slings and arrows of the world and of unrequited love.
She didn’t know if she had the courage to choose the road less traveled. It would certainly be easier to retreat to the refuge she’d created in her own soul. Wouldn’t it?
But then, Tae opened his mouth again, and this time his words came out as a song that wrapped itself around her being, its melody flowing through the holes in her heart, its lyrics falling like seeds to plant themselves deep down near her very core. More of his words came to water the first ones. And she felt a glorious garden erupting within her, overtaking her soul with beauty, as Tae serenaded her in his tender, deep tones.
“You’ve got eyes of fire
Lit with a lovely desire.
You’ve got those eyes of fire.
Just one look takes me higher.
“I can’t forget
How you looked at me.
I can’t regret
What was meant to be.
“Look at me again.
Lock eyes with me.
Come on, my darling,
And set me free.
“Will you be mine?
Will you give me those flames?
Can I be yours?
Just wanna be face-to-face.
“Look at me again.
Your eyes of fire
Now light within me
A burning desire.
“Will you be mine?
Will you give me those flames?
Can I be yours?
Just wanna live face-to-face.
“Watching your eyes glowing
Fills me with such a knowing.
You’ve got those eyes of fire
Filling my heart with desire.
“I just wanna
Gaze into those flames.
I just want your
Passion all my days.
“Look at me again.
Lock eyes with me.
Come on, my darling,
And set me free.
“Will you be mine?
Will you give me those flames?
Can I be yours?
Just wanna be face-to-face.
“Look at me again.
Your eyes of fire
Now light within me
A burning desire.
“Will you be mine?
Will you give me those flames?
Can I be yours?
Just wanna live face-to-face.”
Then he ceased singing, and his quiet voice washed over her again in dulcet tones. “I have longed for hours, days, weeks even, to stare into your eyes of fire again. The picture isn’t doing it for me anymore. I want YOU. I want the real thing, not the image. Can I…” he stopped speaking for a moment and drew a deep breath. “Can I have YOU?”
She simply stared up at him, her heart still pounding away. She was feeling lightheaded. She shook her head to make it go away, but she only became more off-balance. She stumbled forward, and as her arms flew out to steady herself, Tae caught her, and she was enveloped in two strong arms. Those arms felt more secure than any walls she’d ever built around her heart.
