Jin whistled to himself as he made an inventory of the supplies in Julieta’s kitchen. He was getting ready to prepare a delicious meal for her. She had all the ingredients to make arroz con pollo. It was one of the few Argentine dishes that he was familiar with. He hoped that she liked it. He’d wanted to do something amazing for her birthday, but so far, all his plans had fallen through. Would he get a second chance to make today special for her?
His mind replayed all their encounters. He didn’t think that she was still mad at him. She had let him kiss her today. He was hoping she’d let him do that again. He was also hoping she would soften enough to celebrate his birthday with him. Hers too.
He wanted to make her a chocotorta for her birthday. But he needed chocolate cookies, cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, and a milk chocolate bar. He was going to have to make a quick trip to the grocery store.
He went to check on the girls. They were both sitting on the bed, their backs propped up against the wall. They had their eyes closed.
“You two OK?” he asked as he popped his head through the doorway.
Tia opened her eyes. “Mmhmm.”
“I need to run to the grocery store. I’ll be back soon.”
“OK,” Julieta replied, her eyes flying open as she gave him a shy smile.
Now he wanted to stay and wrap his arms around her again. He’d like to practice tasting her lips once more too. But her guard dog was still in the room. He sighed. He needed to get to the store anyway.
—
“So… What are you going to do, Juju?”
Julieta sighed. “I don’t know. Jin said he’d help me, but what can he do? I mean, Mr. Gonzalez only needs to gain two percent more, and he will control the entire company. How on earth can we stop him?” She sighed. “I’m so tired, Tia. I’ve worked so hard to make Papá proud of me, and for what? I’ve already lost. Maybe we should just sell our stock to him and rid ourselves of this whole problem. Maybe I could even convince him to give me a good reference so I can find another job somewhere else. We could move back to Argentina. You’d be around your friends again.”
“No!” Tia’s eyes widened in shock. Her response came out more forcefully than she’d intended. She wasn’t about to leave Tae now!
Julieta stared at her, wide-eyed.
Tia rushed to deflect her attention from herself. “You can’t possibly want to leave Jin now, can you? You looked pretty enraptured when you were kissing him.”
Julieta blushed. “I can’t imagine that he is all that serious about me, Tia. He must have millions of girls chasing after him. What could he possibly want with me? I’m probably just a fun pastime. As soon as his work picks up again, he’ll be off flying around the world. Just like you said. I don’t know what got into me today. I know better than to just fall into a guy’s arms.”
“Yes, you do. That’s why I think your heart is already involved. And I…I don’t want to see you get hurt. So I think you should probably be very clear with him about where you stand. How you feel. How do you feel, Juju?” Tia watched in horror as Julieta’s eyes filled with tears.
“I think it’s too late for me, Tia. I think no matter what happens I can’t avoid getting hurt.”
Tia stared at her sister, concern for her evident in her eyes. “You love him already, don’t you?”
It had been obvious. The look she’d seen in Julieta’s eyes when she’d looked at Jin had given her away. Completely. She was clearly head over heels in love with the worldwide handsome man.
The thing was…Tia was fairly certain that Jin was in love with Julieta too. But how serious could he possibly be? He still had over six years remaining before he would complete his contract with BTS. He didn’t have time for a girlfriend. Tia really hoped that Jin wouldn’t break Julieta’s heart.
Tia was a little nervous about her own heart too.
