He sat silent, staring at her darkened face, wishing he could see her countenance.
Lovely.
She’d called him lovely.
“You’re lovely too.” The words were released and surprised him as much as they did her. He hadn’t meant to say that. Not that he didn’t think it. But he didn’t want to scare her again. He didn’t want her running away again.
He didn’t know why, but he felt a strange connection to her. He’d felt it the first time their eyes had collided. And then in the car on the way up here. While they were seated on the bench eating French bread and gazing at the sunset. It was an easy companionship. Like she’d been his best friend his whole life. Then when they’d lain down next to each other and gazed at the awakening stars, he’d felt it smooth out and elongate like a scroll being rolled out before him. It had turned into something deeper, promising something more lasting. Like that scroll was a path they would walk for the rest of their lives, each footprint already inked in. They had only to match their feet to the ordered steps.
It was a strange feeling, yet not unknown. He’d felt it the day he’d met Tae for the first time. And the day he’d decided to sign with Bjg Hit, Tae’s company. Like he was stepping into a destiny bigger than any he’d ever imagined existed. Like there was a purpose behind his friendship with Tae, something so much larger than either of them could grasp the scope of. Something far beyond their own self-centered need for a true friend. But that mystery evaded him still despite their success. He felt like there was a higher purpose, a greater calling they were flying straight into. But what could it be?
And as he listened to her quiet breathing, he was feeling it again. So, what did it all mean? Who was this girl? Was he supposed to stay in touch with her? He’d love to touch her, every square inch of her lovely self.
Whoa, Jimin. Dude! Control those thoughts! They are dangerous. You’re leaving in two days. You’re returning home. Back to work. And more work. And then some more work. You don’t have time for a girlfriend, not even a secret one.
GIRLFRIEND?! What was he thinking? He cleared his throat and sat up straighter.
“You think I’m pretty?” she whispered the words into the darkness, and they wrapped themselves around his heart. They contained the same awestruck tone his own had.
“Surely you’ve had guys tell you that before?”
She shook her head. “Only players. And they didn’t put it as nicely as you did. From your lips it sounded like a blessing. From theirs, a curse.”
Were those tears he heard in her voice?
“I’m sorry,” he whispered again. “Guys can be really cruel.” Now he was thinking of her pain as well as his own. “Did any of those guys ever hurt you?” It would explain why she was so standoffish.
Men can indeed be cruel.
But the ones her age hadn’t been a threat to her.
“Not physically. I kept them at arm’s length. I never let any of them get close to me. I just knew what they were thinking. I don’t know how. But there was this still, small voice that warned me that they weren’t safe. I felt this tightness in the center of my being whenever they spoke to me.”
A well-known tightness. Echoes of another deeper danger.
“Do you feel it now?”
His question traveled across the short space between them and hit the bullseye of her heart, piercing her. She didn’t. She didn’t feel threatened by Jimin. And somehow that was even scarier because it meant her guard was down. And she didn’t want to do something stupid.
She whispered breathlessly, “No.”
“Would you come back to the blanket with me? I promise I won’t touch you.” Though I’d like to. “I miss the stars.” And I miss lying next to you. If I get only one night with you for my entire life, I want to spend it near you.
She turned towards him, intensity pouring from her being. “You swear you’ll stay on your side of the blanket?”
He put his hand up. What was the word? “On my grory.”
What? On his grory? On his glory? What was he trying to say? Oh!
“On your honor. You meant to say, ‘On my honor.’”
“On my honor, I won’t touch you.”
Famous, last words.