Tia threw herself down on her bed. What was wrong with her? He’d told her that he had not forgotten her. Why didn’t it fix anything?
Because he had walked away from her. Treated her like she’d never existed. Like they had never met each other. He had abandoned her. She knew she was being ridiculous, but she couldn’t forget the sight of him with his arm around Julieta. Comforting her sister. Like he had never comforted her.
How much time had he spent with Julieta? To have grown close enough to her to find it necessary to wrap his arm around her when she was distressed. Tia was distressed, had been distressed when she’d been faced with him. He’d even recognized her upset; he’d wiped her tear off her face. Yet he hadn’t even been tempted to embrace her. He’d simply pulled out his phone to show her the picture.
The picture! He’d kept it all these weeks! It had to mean something. Didn’t it? So why did her heart still hurt so badly?
—
“Hello?” Tae hurriedly answered his phone, his heart thundering. Julieta had called him right back.
He tugged on Yeontan’s leash as he continued the long walk home.
“Tae. Did you need something?”
“Tia.” He needed Tia.
“She just came home and ran to her room without speaking to me. Do you know anything about that?”
“I ran into her at the park. I showed her the picture on my phone – the one I showed you. I told her I hadn’t meant to hurt her, that I was sorry. She told me it didn’t matter. Then she ran away.”
Julieta could hear the sorrow in his voice. And something else. Stupefaction. He didn’t understand.
“Tae, there’s something —”
Tae cut her off. “I’m sorry, Julieta. I need to let you go. Jimin is calling me.”
Suddenly, he was just gone. Julieta turned towards Jin. “He doesn’t know about my parents, does he?”
Jin shook his head. “I doubt it. I didn’t tell anyone.”
“Hmm. I think I need to tell him.”
—
The call had come. They wanted two of them in Paris for a photo shoot. Two weeks from next Monday. He was the first to volunteer. He knew exactly who he wanted to go with him too. And come the Saturday morning before, he knew exactly where he’d be.
