Woong had moved several feet away from Tae. She was staring up at the Eiffel Tower. Tae could see tears in her eyes. But why? What had he done wrong? He thought back to the whole episode. She’d been just fine until the ARMY in front of him had handed him the little square of paper that he had shoved into his pocket.
Exasperated, he walked up behind Woong.
“What’s wrong?”
She was so upset that she didn’t trust herself to speak. She didn’t look at him either because she knew she’d start crying if she did. This was ridiculous! She’d known him for fewer than three hours. Why was she so angry? If she were to tell the truth, she would have to admit that she was hurt. She had genuinely believed that he liked her. And she’d started to feel special. But that girl had swooped in and grabbed his attention. And now she felt like just her humdrum self again.
She sniffed and stared up at the lights of the tower. They were helping to illuminate the city. She needed to concentrate on taking pictures. That’s why she was in Paris after all. Not to gain this guy’s affection. She’d be leaving in two days anyway, and she’d never see him again. She was just being silly. It’s just that she’d been lonely for a long time and being with Tae had somehow highlighted just how alone she still felt.
As a defense mechanism, she lifted her camera, aimed at a couple walking by, and snapped a shot.
“Woong.”
She no longer liked him calling her by that name. Forgetting that the name game had been her idea, she thought that he probably came up with a different name for every girl he was with. Hero! That had been such a line! How had she not seen it? It was just that he’d seemed so sweet, but she should have known as soon as she got a good look at him. She should have known that such a gorgeous guy would, of course, be a player.
She whirled around and took a picture of him. The flash blinded him temporarily. He was used to being photographed, but she had caught him by surprise. Suddenly, she rounded on him.
“Hey, don’t feel like you have to babysit me tonight. I completely understand if you’d rather hang out with your new girlfriend.” She was trying to keep the tears out of her voice.
Girlfriend? What was she talking about? And why did she sound so upset? There was a rough edge to her voice, like she was holding back tears.
Tae thought quickly and easily pieced the puzzle together.
“You mean that girl?” he whispered as he threw his thumb back across his shoulder to point behind him. “She’s not my girlfriend.”
“Well, clearly she could be. I bet girls are throwing themselves at you constantly, aren’t they?”
Now how was he supposed to answer that? Yes, they were, but it didn’t mean he liked it or even expected it. Girls had been throwing themselves at him his whole life. And it was uncomfortably awkward! He never wanted to hurt any of those precious souls, so he’d been dragged into more relationships than he could count simply because he didn’t have it in him to break any girl’s heart. Sometimes he just wished he was invisible. Other times he knew he was. Because none of those girls knew the real him anyway. No one wanted to know him. They all wanted to know Taehyung of BTS.
He sighed. He’d been so happy to find a girl who didn’t know who he was. He had known the knowing would complicate things. And here they were. She’d known for what? All of twenty minutes? And already she was mad at him. Or hurt. Was she hurt?
He studied her expression. For just a moment, her eyes met his, and he was shocked at the sadness he saw in them. She was hurt. But why? Just because that girl had whispered in his ear and handed him a piece of paper? Ohhhhh. The lightbulb finally went on.
“It wasn’t her phone number,” he asserted softly.
“What?”
“The paper. It wasn’t her phone number. She took a picture of us and posted it for me. It was a link to that picture.”
He pulled his phone out and entered the link to find a beautiful photograph of them staring into each other’s eyes while their foreheads kissed. It melted Tae’s heart, and he felt tears spring to his eyes as he thought about losing this precious girl. He was so touched by the gift that ARMY had given him. She’d been so thoughtful to take a picture of him as he was falling in love. Wait. What?!
Falling in love? Wasn’t it a little early for him to be feeling that way? But then he looked at Woong, and his heart opened up like the wings of a butterfly taking flight. The last thing on earth that he wanted was to injure this sweet girl.
“This is why I didn’t tell you who I was. I was afraid you’d no longer see me. And I was right. Now you can see only Taehyung of BTS. I get it. I won’t bother you anymore.” His heart breaking, he smiled sadly at her, his boxy smile now in hiding. Hanging his head, he turned to leave.
She reached out and grabbed his phone from his hand and stared at the picture of the two of them, and her heart took a strange tumble in her chest. This picture was precious. She simply stared at it. Why did it feel like her heart was shattering? It was the look on his face. Had he really been looking at her like that? No guy had ever looked at her in that way before. It made her weak in the knees.
She finally found the courage to meet his gaze. What she saw there floored her. She could see a deep longing in his dark eyes illuminated by the lights of the most romantic tower in the world.
“Tae. I’m sorry. I jumped to the wrong conclusion. It’s just, well, you’re you, and I’m me.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“What do you think it means? You must know you’re beautiful. And I’m just average. If you were ever interested in me, that feeling would quickly fade, especially when you’re surrounded by all the beautiful girls that must chase you everywhere.”
He simply stared at her. She didn’t know that she was heart-stoppingly beautiful. She had to be the most gorgeous creature he’d ever seen. But she couldn’t see it. His heart hurt that she was so blind to her own merits. How could he convince her of the truth he could so easily see?
