Miss Woong continued to stare at her phone. All night long she had kept checking it. Hoping. Hoping Tae had texted her. Sent her the link. An emoji. Anything.
But instead she’d gotten nothing. Nothing. A big, fat zero. No text. No link. No emoji. Not even a purple heart. She scoffed at herself. Why would he send her a purple heart? He hadn’t given her his heart. And she’d always regarded purple as a color that represented a faithful, eternal love. So a purple heart was the height of expressing a true love’s passionate promise. She sighed. She was looking for that promise. But it seemed she had yet to find it.
—
Tae debated. He went back and forth. Should he text her the link? Or should he leave it? He’d never see her again. Would he be teasing her to send her a link to a picture that would just remind her that he had left her? With no promises. With no tomorrows.
But he had told her he’d send it to her. And he’d gotten her phone number. Her phone number! Oh, no! Given the earlier misunderstanding revolving around the kind ARMY, Woong probably put great store in the fact that he’d asked for her number. Did she think he liked her? Was she even now sitting by the phone waiting for him to call? He shook his head. He really hadn’t thought this through. He should have just given her the link. He would do so now! He needed to put an end to this whole situation before it got any more out of hand. He would text her the link, and that would be the end of that!
Without thinking, Tae touched a purple heart and inserted it at the end of the text. It was his way of expressing his love for ARMY. He did it automatically now. It wasn’t until after he hit SEND that he remembered that Woong wasn’t ARMY. She wouldn’t even know what a purple heart meant.
—
Her phone chimed. She dived across the room to grab it. She didn’t recognize the number, but it was a link. Her phone chimed again while she held it. Up popped a…purple heart!
—
Tae held his breath as he looked at the screen of his phone. How would she respond? A moment later, a purple heart appeared in his text conversation from Woong.
—
She clicked the link. And a beautiful page popped up. She felt her eyes flooding with tears as she looked at not one picture, but twelve! That darling girl had taken three pictures of them while they’d stood in line. And then she’d photographed them nine more times at the top of the Eiffel Tower!
Woong gazed at the first picture. Tae was leaning down towards her, his forehead pressed against her own, his eyes delving into hers, the sweetest expression on his face. This was the picture he’d showed her before. The tears were flowing freely down her face now.
She wanted him. She wanted the guy in this picture. The one who looked at her with such wonder in his eyes.
Her gaze shifted to the next photo. This time the young woman had captured him bending over to whisper in her ear. It was a profile shot of her, but it was lovely. Something about having that gorgeous guy an inch from her face was captivating.
The last picture in the set portrayed Tae looking down at her, his boxy smile lighting up his beautiful face, his eyes intent on hers. And she was looking up at him like the sun was rising in his countenance. There was a light of such joy in her eyes that it made her heart ache now as she recalled every sweet word which he’d said to her in those golden moments at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower.
Her eyes moved on to the first picture from the top of the tower. She was looking out at the horizon, but he seemed captivated by the expression on her face. His eyes were devouring her. She’d had no idea he’d been looking at her like that! She sat staring at that photo as more tears chased their forerunners down her cheeks.
In the second photo from this set, his eyes seemed to rest on her lips. He had turned to face her so that his body was perpendicular to her own. She was still looking out at the Parisian skyline. But he was gazing at her. The intent look in his eyes reminded her of his last words to her before they had ridden the elevator to the top.
“I don’t think I can comment on your lips…Because then I’d have to kiss them.”
She shivered as she remembered the feelings that had pierced her heart and body as he’d spoken those provocative words. She had wanted that kiss as badly as he had. It was a pity that he hadn’t acted on that impulse.
Her gaze traveled to the sixth photograph.
—
Tae wondered if the lone purple heart was all she was going to reply. She wasn’t going to text him any more? His phone lay silent on his bed.
He decided to click the link and study the picture once again. But he was met by an astounding surprise. The page now held not one beautiful memory, but twelve! He studied each one in depth, his heart recalling every single moment of that glorious evening.
The sixth picture showed her turning to face him as they’d stood at the top of the Eiffel Tower. The photographer had captured him sliding her hair back behind her ear.
—
A look of such tenderness had overcome Tae’s features as he pushed her errant locks back behind her ear. She sat, floored, as she examined that picture. She couldn’t breathe again. She remembered that look in his eyes, but she’d also been distracted by the touch of his fingers brushing her cheek. She was reliving that heat right now. It had escaped his fingers to sing along her skin before embedding itself in her nerves. But, oh, the look in his eyes! Oh, that he would look at her again like that!
But she had no plans to see him again.
The next picture caught her eye. It was of the same pose but was focused solely on her face. She had a dazed look in her eyes as Tae brushed her hair away from her forehead.
—
Tae studied the two pictures that captured the moment he’d dared to touch her hair. What a wonderful interlude that had been! He remembered the fire he’d seen burning in her eyes and the silky softness of her tresses beneath his fingers. He closed his eyes for a moment as he relived it all. He recalled how badly he’d wanted to kiss those plump lips. He could still see the sweet look on her face. The photographer had actually captured it in the eighth and ninth pictures. In the first one, Woong had simply been staring up into his eyes, a vulnerable expression lacing her features. But the second of the set had captured some humor in her expression as well as she teasingly reminded him that he owed her the link to what they both believed was only one picture.
He sighed as his eyes traveled back and forth between those two photographs. He remembered how bittersweet those moments had been. He had come to the realization that that night was all they would ever share, that it was fleeting, and she was fast disappearing from his life, fading into that dark night, taking the sunlight with her. He had found spring last night. But when she had vanished, winter had found him once more.
—
In the eighth picture, the photographer had caught a whiff of the vulnerability she’d been feeling. She had craved Tae’s touch. She had seen his glance at her lips. She had felt weak in her knees. And she had known yet again that her heart was in trouble. In that moment, she had been worried about how badly it would be hurting in the near future, knowing they had only that one evening together. She had desperately sought for a way to lighten the mood. Then she had struck on just the thing. The ninth photograph was next and had grasped the lighthearted moment. She was gazing sweetly up at him, a huge grin on her face. That’s when she’d told him he still owed her a picture.
The tenth picture showed him handing her his phone. The photographer had captured the instantaneous, ecstatic reaction that Woong could not conceal from her face. She’d been delighted that he’d wanted her phone number.
The eleventh photo captured his shock as she told him she was from Argentina. Disappointment was swirling into the surprise on his face. He clearly thought they were too far apart to make any kind of relationship work. As Woong looked at the pictures, she felt her heart sinking. He was right. It really was too far away.
The last picture broke her heart all over again. The girl had taken it right after Tae had left Woong. She had turned toward the city, her camera in her hand. She’d raised it as she gazed out at the brilliant skyline. She’d been intent on snapping pictures. But somehow the photographer had captured what the camera was meant to hide. The tears coursing down her cheeks.
And now Tae knew.
—
It was the last picture that got him. Tae stared at it for a long time that morning, mirroring tears flooding his own cheeks. They had spent fewer than four hours together. Yet somehow, he had still managed to break her heart.
