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Jimin put on a happy face and walked into the restaurant a half hour late, apologies flowing from his mouth.

“Jimin, where have you been?  We’ve been worried sick about you!” Hobi exclaimed.

Jimin glanced at Tae.  As their eyes collided, Jimin immediately realized that Tae had told no one about his escapades or Eileen.

“I’m sorry!  I was with a friend and neither of us had a phone!”

“What?  Where’s your phone?” Namjoon asked him.

“When the mob was chasing me, I ran into a girl, and we fell down.  It must have fallen out of my pocket.”

“Oh-ho!  You ran into a girl, huh?” It was Jin who was giving him the teasing smile.

“Literally.”

“Were you with this girl all night?”  Yoongi interrogated him.

Jimin looked around, but they were in a private room.  There were no prying eyes or eavesdropping ears.  “Yes.  She dropped me at the hotel fifteen minutes ago,” he responded quietly.

Everyone could see the sorrow on Jimin’s face.  The festive mood evaporated.

“I’m sorry, Jimin,” Jungkook offered, his romantic heart breaking for Jimin.  Having fallen for Hyejin the first day he met her, he understood Jimin’s heartbreak.  He couldn’t imagine the pain of having to leave her in a foreign country.

Jimin put on a brave face.  “I’ll be all right.”  He got a faraway look in his eyes.  “It’s just that Eireen is special.”  He released a deep sigh before he smiled and said, “So, what’s for dinner?  Who’s ready to celebrate my birthday?”

Tae glanced at him, their eyes colliding.  What Jimin didn’t know was that Tae understood far better than he could imagine.

—

Later that night after everyone else had gone to bed, Tae knocked on Jimin’s door.  Jimin answered it a moment later.  He’d been lying in bed staring out the window at the Eiffel Tower, which was currently lit up, a beacon of light in the midnight sky.  Jimin had been reliving every moment with Eileen.   Attempting to brand them into his memory.  Holding her hand.  Kissing her soft lips.  Sharing baguettes, cheese, and fruit, croissants, and crepes with her.  Posing for their joint portrait together.  Recalling her smile, the emerald green of her eyes, the soft red of her long tresses.  Missing her scent – roses wrapping around his head.  Longing to hear her sweet voice again.  He was already missing her.  

“I know it’s no longer your birthday, but I wanted to give you your present.”  Tae smiled at him.

Jimin had wondered why his best friend had not given him anything when the other guys had.  It wasn’t like Tae.  Jimin opened the door all the way and let Tae into his room.  They both sat down on the bed, leaning back against its headboard.

“I know today – yesterday? – had to have been a really hard day for you, but I’m hoping this will make it better.”  Tae handed him a rectangular box, blanketed in shiny blue paper and wrapped with a silver bow.  “Open it.”

Jimin stopped to look Tae in the eye before he smiled and unwrapped the gift.  As he lifted the lid on the box, he unearthed a scrapbook.  Surprised, he opened it, expecting to find pictures of the Bangtan Boys and all their recent adventures.  What met his eyes shocked him to his toes.

Eileen was laughing back up at him.  She was riding the carousel horse down as he was being lifted up on his, and she was gazing up at him, a look of pure joy on her face.  Jimin looked over at Tae with an expression of awe blanketing his features.

“What?  Tae, how did you get these pictures?”  

Jimin glanced back down at the book and turned the page.  The next photo was beautiful too.  Eileen stood at the easel painting Jimin’s portrait.  There was a series of pictures of them posing for their couple’s portrait and then a group of photos of Eileen concentrating as she brought Jimin to life on a canvas.  There was even a picture of the finished portrait.  Now he had a copy too.  Another page revealed them climbing the steps to Montmartre, their backs towards the camera, as they held hands.  Yet another photo captured them standing in front of the impressive basilica at the top of the hill.  Then he found more of them walking hand in hand down the streets of the art district.  There were even a few of them standing at the top of the hill, facing both the wind and the city, their eyes searching Paris for all its architectural gems.  Eileen looked stunning, her auburn hair flying out behind her head, sunglasses covering her eyes, a sad smile gracing her lips.

“They’re not in chronological order because I wanted to put the most beautiful picture first,” Tae explained.

Jimin turned back to look at the two of them riding the carousel, laughing like two little kids.

“I think,” Tae commented as he smiled at Jimin, “you met your soulmate, didn’t you?”

As Jimin stared down at Eileen’s laughing face, he had to admit that over the past twenty-four hours, a lovely girl from Ireland had stolen his heart.