Julieta couldn’t get Jin’s face out of her consciousness. Every time she blinked, his poster perfect image appeared on the inside of her eyelids. All day long his smile had seemed to be always before her. Now as she tried to sleep, his image seemed to play on a screen in her mind as she lay in the darkness of her hotel room.
She was catching a plane at five in the morning to head back to Argentina and finish packing up her stuff. She and Tia were moving to South Korea in four days. They had so much to get ready before then. Julieta really needed to rest tonight, but sleep just kept evading her. She hoped Tia was getting lots of packing done in her absence.
This business trip had been a last-minute addition to her schedule. It wasn’t easy to get a meeting with any of the men from BTS, let alone two of them. But she sensed that it had gone well. Jungkook was interested, for sure! As long as there were cakes involved. Jin had also seemed willing to work with her.
She relived the last few moments of their meeting. He had stood up. All the way up to his impressive height. He towered over her. She had drawn herself up to her full 161 centimeters. It hadn’t helped. She was still at least eighteen centimeters shorter than he was!
He had reached out to shake her hand, his warm palm sliding over hers. Jungkook had mimicked his action a moment later, and she had felt nothing. But when her hand encountered Jin’s, a spark had been struck between their fingers. It had sailed along the nerves of her hand to deposit itself into her bloodstream, setting it on fire. She had almost pulled her hand away, involuntarily. Only an ironclad self-control had prevented her from doing so.
She sighed. The last thing she needed was to be attracted to a K-pop idol. Especially one she would be working with. That would break every professional rule not written in the books. But she really wasn’t making the wisest choices if she wanted to forget him. She’d spent the afternoon studying his portfolio, including all the magnificent, airbrushed photos of him. Although, having met him in person, she wasn’t sure there’d been much airbrushing.
Finally, she dozed off around two in the morning. Just in time to dream of the eldest member of BTS.
—
Jin had seen a lot of cute girls. He was a member of the biggest band in the world, after all. They had flown from continent to continent, traveled from country to country, visited city after city. And every venue was overwhelmingly filled with young women who had memorized his name, his face, his melodies, and his lyrics. He stared out at the masses of them, screaming in their excitement at seeing him. They were beautiful, his ARMY. Every single one of them. He loved them all.
But in truth, he had no girl to really love. To have an intimate friendship with. To share his heart with. To hold her hand and enjoy her beaming smile as she gazed up at him every day. A girl who was always by his side supporting him, encouraging him when he began to falter, loving him when he was unlovable, strengthening him when he was weak, and speaking life to him when he fell into a dark pit. He was alone.
And he had begun to feel it while he’d been on break in early September. He’d gone out to eat, and his eyes had inevitably been drawn to the smiling faces of couples involved in intimate conversation over a candlelit dinner. He’d walked down the busy sidewalk and noticed the linked hands of couples taking a leisurely stroll in the cooler, evening air. He’d stopped at shops only to discover men buying their girlfriends and wives a little token of their affection. He’d seen so many happy women in those stores. He’d realized the lack in his own life. No woman looked at him like that.
He was beginning to be thankful for the times he had to work all day long and got little sleep. On those days he was so exhausted that he fell asleep with no sorrow. No wistfulness in his heart. On those nights he could wait another ten years to fall in love. But tonight didn’t seem to be one of those nights.
A cute girl was on his mind. She had been all afternoon, all evening, and, well – he looked at the clock – all morning too. It was now two o’clock in the morning, and here he was ineffectively counting sheep. A thousand lambs had been unable to woo him to sleep. He sighed and wiped his palm across his face, stopping to rub his weary eyes.
Julieta. She even had the name of a romantic heroine. He wondered why Disney had never named a princess after her. Jin had always been fascinated with princesses. His secret dream was to marry one. He’d met a corporate queen today. And her name kept whispering in his ear.
Julieta. Such a beautiful name.
But he couldn’t really be her Romeo. He was committed to BTS. To ARMY. That left no time for girlfriends. Another deep sigh.
His birthday was three weeks away. Twenty-seven. Twenty-eight in Korean years. He was fast approaching thirty. He had become a success. Most of the time, he considered it an accident of grace. He believed it was mostly due to his face, which the world considered handsome. But Jin was more than surface deep. He wanted to be appreciated for the treasure he held in his heart. Not just for the features of his face. He wanted people to see what shone out of his eyes, not just their color and shape.
Briefly, he wondered if Julieta could see what no one else had. Could she see his heart? There was something different about her. He’d felt it when their hands touched. He’d never reacted to anyone the way he’d responded to her touch. Something akin to joy had sailed along his nerves. He had felt like he was waking up from a deep slumber. Rather like Sleeping Beauty must have felt when the prince kissed her. Perhaps that’s why he couldn’t seem to fall asleep now.
He’d found himself dreaming today. Dreaming of a future that for so long he had considered to be far off in a distant time to come. He’d been pondering what it would feel like to have a wife. To have a woman who loved him for the heart he held within. Perhaps if he closed his eyes long enough, he would dream of her tonight.
