Julieta simply stared at him. She was speechless. She found that she suddenly lacked the strength to argue. He felt her going limp in his arms. He pulled her up against him before bending down to swing her up in his arms. He looked sternly down at her.
“Have you had anything to eat today?”
She shook her head.
“Julieta. I don’t care what you say. I am never leaving you again. You don’t take good enough care of your own self. I guess the responsibility is falling on my shoulders now.”
He walked around the kitchen island and set her down on the counter. She sat, looking up at him.
He reached into a bag. “Open your mouth.”
She looked questioningly at him.
“Trust me. Close your eyes. Now open your mouth.”
He broke a piece off the chocolate bar he’d bought at the store and slipped it into her mouth. She smiled as the chocolate melted on her tongue.
“Mmm…Jin, no one could convince me that you’re not sweet.”
He grinned as he began to make the dulce de leche for the chocotorta. He poured the sweetened condensed milk into a pan and set it in the oven to bake for forty-five minutes. Then he began making the arroz con pollo. Julieta watched him as he diced the vegetables and chopped the herbs. Then he sautéed the chicken before adding the veggies and liquid. Finally, he added the rice. While their main dish cooked on the stovetop, he wandered over to her.
He glanced down at her. “I wanted it to be a surprise, but, well, I have an audience right now.” He smiled. “Which is even better.” Then he bent his head and kissed her again.
Julieta was becoming accustomed to the sweet heat that erupted in the pit of her stomach every time his lips found hers. It seemed to ascend into her heart and flow along her bloodstream to every cell in her body. A girl could get addicted to that.
“So…” Jin murmured against her lips. “We have twenty minutes till lunch will be ready. What should we do?”
She drew away and looked up at him. He was smirking at her. “Jin…” There was a warning note in her tone.
He laughed and leaned towards her, his words whispering over her ear as he bent towards her cheek. “I can think of an interesting thing or two.”
She turned sharply to look at him and caught him quirking his dark eyebrows at her. He looked anything but innocent now. Why was she blushing?
She cleared her throat. “Why don’t we watch a little TV?”
Why was her heart thundering right now? And where exactly was her guard dog when she needed her protection?
Clearly disappointed, Jin pulled back. “All right,” he sighed. “But it is my birthday. I was hoping I could choose the activity.”
“Hey! It’s my birthday too!” she exclaimed, fire in her voice.
He raised an eyebrow. “Is it now?”
She looked sheepish once again. “Yes,” she whispered.
Jin dipped his head towards hers again and breathed into her ear, “Then your wish is my command, princess,” and he picked her up with a flourish of his arms and carried her over to deposit her on the couch in front of the television set. He sat down next to her, grabbed the remote, and flipped through channels until he found a good Korean drama to watch.
As Hwan faced Byeong-ho and confronted him for leaving her sickbed, Jin glanced sideways at the beautiful girl sitting next to him. Was she really his? Or was he simply dreaming? Would he wake up tomorrow in Chicago or LA or London to discover that he’d been so exhausted by his latest performance that he had slept the clock around and dreamed this entire scenario? That seemed more likely than that all of this was actually real.
He had fallen in love. With a girl who reciprocated his feelings. But not because he was a member of BTS and she was an ARMY. But because she truly liked him for the real Seokjin that he was deep down where no one bothered to look. Under all the glitz and glamour and golden garments. Past the worldwide handsome face and the sweet smile. Beyond the puppy dog eyes and dark fringe. To the true man of his heart.
Julieta could feel his eyes on her face. But she was afraid to look at him. Anticipation was building in her stomach. It was rising higher and higher like a tide coming in to wash away all her inhibitions. She was half-afraid she’d lose herself if she gazed for too long into those chocolate eyes of his. So she kept her eyes trained on the TV, but it was a good thing there would be no test covering the show’s plot because not one word had entered her head. She was too aware of the handsome man sitting next to her.
He had absorbed all her attention. She could feel every inhalation of his breath. And every time he exhaled too. She heard every sigh. She could sense his gaze devouring her face. She could feel the heat emanating from his thigh, the one that was brushing her own because they were sitting so close to each other. Her pulse had begun to speed up, and it continued to climb. A colony of butterflies had found itself trapped within her rib cage, and it was begging for release. When she didn’t think she could tolerate the tension for a single moment more, the air was suddenly rent by the kitchen timer.
Jin jumped up and checked the pan on the stove. The chicken rice was finished. Jin returned to the living room and bent to pick Julieta up in his arms again. He wandered over to the kitchen table and set her gently into a chair.
She protested while laughing, “Jin, I can walk, you know?”
He looked at her sternly. “Are you sure?” He quirked one dark eyebrow at her as Tia entered the kitchen.
“What smells so delicious?”
“Arroz con pollo,” Jin responded as he pulled the pan from the stovetop and began to fill three plates with the food that was releasing the amazing aroma.
He set the first before Julieta with an intense stare and a curt command, “Eat it all. If you’re a good girl, you’ll get dessert.”
She laughed up at him, feeling better than she had in a long time. Just the smell of her favorite dish was raising her spirits. Gingerly, she put a bite into her mouth. Instantly, her senses were assaulted on all sides by Heaven itself. This was the best arroz con pollo she’d ever had! How had Jin done this?
“Jin! This is fabulous! How did you make this?”
He managed to look very mysterious. “It’s my secret…but if you eat every bite, I’ll tell you the most important ingredient…”
Tia glanced at him. “I know what it is.”
Julieta looked at her. “What?”
Tia smiled secretly. “Oh, no. Jin gets to tell you himself.” Her eyes met Jin’s, and he wondered if he was that transparent.
Julieta’s eyes traveled from one to the other. Finally, she shrugged her shoulders and began to savor bite after bite. Privately, she was hoping Jin was madly in love with her and would cook like this for her every day for the rest of her life. When she had consumed it all, doing everything except for licking her plate clean (which she was mightily tempted to do), she looked expectantly towards Jin.
“So, what was the secret ingredient?”
He lifted the corners of his mouth in the sweetest smile she had ever seen. “Love.”
