Namjoon was guiding her carefully along the path. With her eyes closed, her other senses were heightened. She breathed in the fresh air of an Indian summer. She could feel the warmth of the sun on her face as it shone brightly overhead. A sweet breeze flowed over her face as she raised her chin a little to soak in those happy rays from that glowing star smiling down upon them. Off in the distance, she could hear children laughing, and as she and Joonie walked down the path, she was assailed by the sound of leaves crunching under their feet. She inhaled the smell of summer blending into autumn.
Then she felt Joonie turning her off the beaten path. They walked a few more feet before she found herself standing still. His hand still on her arm, Namjoon spoke quietly, “Open your eyes.”
Her eyes fluttered open to take in the swing she’d spoken of a few moments before. There was something resting on the seat. Actually, it appeared to be fluttering there, its blue wings shining in the sunlight. As she inhaled sharply in awe of its beauty, she approached the tiny butterfly in wonder. She bent to retrieve it and, as her fingers wrapped around the smooth blown glass, she drew it upwards to study it. It was a bright cornflower blue reminiscent of Cinderella’s ballgown. Two tiny, black antennae crowned its minuscule head. Four transparent, azure wings stretched out below the butterfly’s face. Breeze glanced up at Namjoon who had been enjoying the childlike expression of her countenance.
Finally, he spoke, “I saw it in the window of a shop I was walking by on Monday, and its beauty reminded me of you, flying towards the sky on the swing last weekend, your bright blue eyes filling my memory.”
She smiled up at him. “Joonie, it’s wonderful. Thank you.” She stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek, landing squarely on one cute dimple this time. Namjoon took advantage of the moment to snake his arm around her waist and draw her close.
Tae and Jungkook both captured the moment from different angles, each hidden in his own spot. Jungkook had squatted down to snap the picture from an upwards angle; Tae stood directly opposite them, his camera gazing straight at them. After a moment they both watched as Namjoon reached for her hand, and the couple continued walking along the path. Tae and Jungkook followed them at a strategic distance once again.
Breeze was so happy. Joonie was such a romantic. What was he up to now? He steered her towards the rose garden. They walked the path to a bench.
Namjoon, using his best British accent again, bowed to her and declared, “Ladies, first!” Breeze privately laughed at how cute he was. His British accent still needed work, but she found it adorable anyway.
She sat down on the bench. He seated himself next to her. She closed her eyes and inhaled. The entire garden was replete with the pungent perfume of roses. Their sweet, rich fragrance surrounded her and made her heart sing. It was as though all those roses were directly beneath her nose, waiting to be smelled. When she opened her eyes, Namjoon was holding a bouquet of red roses out to her. An even dozen. Her eyes grew wide as she looked down at them. No wonder the aroma had been so strong! She bent to inhale their lovely scent before smiling up at Joonie in the sweetest way possible.
Tae and Jungkook, once again from different vantage points, secretly caught the moment on film. They grinned at each other while remaining hidden from the lovers’ view.
“Oh, Joonie! They are beautiful!”
“They’re for you. I told you already, but I want to tell you every day for the rest of our lives: you are my rose. My beautiful, passionate rose. You fill my life with the sweetest fragrance. I just want to drink you in forever.”
This right here was why she wanted to date a rap artist. The man was a poet!
She didn’t know it, but she was gazing up at him in the most endearing way, and he just couldn’t resist bending to give her a quick peck on the lips. Once again, twin photographs were born.
She smiled at him, but then her joy fled as she looked down at the roses. “Oh, no, Joonie, they’re going to wilt while we walk around the park.”
“No, they won’t.” He reached for the picnic basket and set it on the bench next to him. He opened it.
“Wait! What? Where did the hotteok go?” He looked up at Breeze. “Did you—?” But he knew she hadn’t eaten it. She’d been with him every moment since they’d packed up their leftovers.
Tae caught Jungkook’s eye. They both looked a little alarmed and melted further into the forest. But they were still within hearing range.
Breeze looked down into the basket. “The hotteok is gone!” She looked up in shock at Namjoon. “What on earth happened to it? It couldn’t just walk off the plate!”
She thought back to earlier. They’d had the basket with them every moment, except…when they’d walked along the lake. Had someone stolen the hotteok from their picnic basket? Then she noticed something else.
“Joonie! Two bags of Turtle chips are missing too!”
“What?” Namjoon looked down at the basket and counted, “One, two, three, four, five, six. You’re right!” He dug through the basket, unearthing the vase he’d stored in the bottom and a bottle of water before exclaiming, “There’s a bottle of water missing too!”
They looked at each other quizzically while Tae and Jungkook stifled their laughter. Then Namjoon, his eyes suddenly narrowing, said, “You know, this reminds me of times the guys have pranked me.” He looked around suspiciously. “It appears to me that two of them have followed us.”
“What?” Wide-eyed, Breeze looked around, her eyes searching under every rose bush and tree near them. “We haven’t been alone?”
Why was she disappointed? What did it matter if someone else had witnessed their sweet, private moments together? “Who do you think it is?”
“Hmm. Not Yoongi. Probably not Hobi or Jimin. If I had to guess…” His eyes narrowed further, all but disappearing from view. “Considering that hotteok is missing, I’d say Jungkook and Tae. But a better question is, why?”
He couldn’t figure it out. How did they even know he was here? He’d told only Yoongi. And it’s not like they would have known he was bringing hotteok. He decided to test them. “Jungkook! Tae! You’ve been found out! The prank is over! You might as well show your faces!”
Breeze stared at him. He was yelling in Korean. She understood some of it. She watched him look around as though expecting the boys to suddenly appear. They didn’t.
Tae and Jungkook stood stock-still, hidden behind dozens of trees. They were safe, yet they still refused to breathe for several moments. It was imperative that they stay hidden, or they’d never complete their mission. This felt like an episode of Run BTS. And Jungkook especially was highly competitive. Once he’d taken on a challenge, he didn’t like to be beat. Besides, they had a scrapbook to create!
“Maybe they came to check up on us, stole their snack, and then left.”
Namjoon shrugged. “You’re probably right. We’ll ask them about it when we see them later. Right now, I have a drink for your roses, my fair lady.”
He poured some of the water from the bottle into the vase before taking her roses and sliding them into the refreshing water. Within a minute, they perked up, and so did Breeze’s countenance.
She lifted adoring eyes to his face. “You thought of everything, Joonie!”
He beamed at her bliss.
“Come!” He stood up.
She gazed up at him, surprise in her eyes. “There’s more?”
“There’s more.” He was looking down at her with such affection etched into his every feature that she felt her heart flip over in her chest.
She stood up, carrying her flowers in her right hand and the tiny, glass butterfly in her other. He bent to retrieve the blanket and the basket.
“Would you like to put the butterfly in the basket?”
She nodded. “But only if we don’t let the basket out of our sight. I wouldn’t want my pretty, little butterfly to disappear!”