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Jiji stood in line at McDonald’s.  She was praying this long line would move faster.  When she’d arrived, it had been nearly to the door.  She knew school had just gotten out, but this was ridiculous!  She just wanted to treat herself to something special.  Today was her sixteenth birthday.  But she was feeling very alone.  Nobody to celebrate her life with.  

So she had decided she was going to drown her sorrows in a cheeseburger, fries, and orange juice.  In fact, she was going all out.  She was going to order three orange juices today.  That was how she would celebrate her sweet sixteen!  She grinned as she imagined herself downing all that juice.  

Finally, the line was moving forward, and she saw a register open up.  She stepped to the side to head for that clerk when suddenly someone pivoted into the same space.  Carrying a tray full of food.  Which ended up being dumped against the front of her shirt!  She looked down at the red ketchup now staining her white shirt as the young man in front of her pulled his tray close to his chest and righted all his food that had come flying at her shirt.  Two cheeseburgers, a large fry, three little wells of ketchup (most of which she was now wearing), and…her beautiful, dark eyes bugged out of her head…three cups of orange juice!!!

Her eyes flew to his face, and all the air left her lungs in a quick whoosh.  Was it really?  Could it be?  Yoongi?  She squinted at him, attempting to focus her vision.  Was she hallucinating?  Had she hit her head on one of those hamburgers?  Maybe a fry had gotten stuck in her brain?  She stared at him in wonder.

Yoongi glanced sheepishly at the beautiful girl he had just covered in ketchup.  “I am so sorry!  So sorry!”

He didn’t know what to do.  Should he try to wipe her off?  But the ketchup was mostly covering her chest.  He didn’t think he should go touching that part of her anatomy without permission.  But he had to do something…

“Uh, let me get you some napkins.”

Jiji watched him walked towards the napkin dispenser.  He was so beautiful, even more gorgeous in person than on TV or in the photo shoots.  His raven hair was the perfect complement to his pale skin and dark eyes.  And his face was every bit as sweet as she’d often imagined it to be.  God knew exactly what He was doing when He’d created Yoongi.  The man was a masterpiece of divine perfection. 

As he joined her again, he commented, “I don’t know how to make this up to you.  I apologize for plastering you with ketchup.”  He handed her the napkins as he smiled into her dark eyes, then he continued, “But red is a good color on you.”

Yoongi was privately enjoying the view.  This girl was super cute with big, dark eyes and curling, coffee-colored hair.  In fact, she reminded him of a steaming cup of coffee, his favorite, an americano.  He rather thought he’d enjoy drinking this girl’s presence in.

She laughed and eyed his tray hungrily.  “Actually, you can make it up to me.  Would you share your cheeseburgers, fries, and orange juice with me?  That’s what I was going to order.”  She began to wipe the ketchup off her shirt.

“Really?”  He raised his dark eyebrows as his sienna eyes searched her face.  “I ordered the same thing you were going to order?”

“Exactly.  Even down to the three orange juices.”

His eyes slid from her head to her toes and back up again.  “A tiny slip of a girl like you was going to order three orange juices?  Do you always drink that much?”

“No.  Just today.”

“What’s today?”

She hesitated for a moment not sure she should tell him.  She didn’t want to look pathetic.  She shrugged.  It was just the truth, after all.  No shame in having a birthday.  Everyone did.  She was just embarrassed that she had no one to celebrate it with her.

He leaned towards her before speaking confidentially in an undertone, his eyes sliding to the side as though looking for spies.  “It’s ok.  You can trust me.  I won’t tell anyone.”

She laughed again.  “It’s my birthday.”

Yoongi’s face broke into a wide smile.  “Happy Birthday!” he whispered, not wanting to embarrass her.  “Come.  Sit down with me.  This whole tray is yours now.”

She glanced down at it.  “Oh, no!  Yoongi, I don’t need it all!  One cheeseburger is enough, for sure.  Let’s share them, ok?  I don’t really need all three juices either.   Actually…”  She blushed as she stopped speaking.

Intrigued, Yoongi leaned towards her once more, his face a mere four inches from her own.  She was having trouble breathing again.  “Actually…what?”

She gulped as she breathed deeply in an effort to acquire enough oxygen to speak as well as to continue gazing into the deep, dark pools that were Yoongi’s beautiful eyes.  “Sharing a meal with you is much better than drinking three orange juices alone.”

He smiled his sweet smile, and for some reason she wanted to cry.  As they slid onto opposite benches across the table from each other, Yoongi asked, “So, how old are you today?”

“Sixteen.”

His eyes lit up.  “Oh?  Sweet sixteen, eh?”

It is now, she thought as she gazed at the guy she’d had a crush on for two long years.

So…” He looked around the restaurant.  “Where are your friends?  Who’s celebrating with you today?”

She looked down at the cheeseburger he’d just set in front of her.  Her appetite had fled.  She’d hoped he wouldn’t ask that question.  So much for not looking pathetic.  She sucked on the straw of her cup, allowing the sweetness of the orange juice to wash over her tongue as tears sprang to her eyes.  She was living her dream right now, wasn’t she?  Sitting across from sweet Yoongi, sharing her favorite meal with him.  Or rather, him sharing his with her.  She should be blissfully happy, right?

“Hey,” Yoongi’s soft voice interrupted her thoughts.  “What’s wrong?”

He watched the gorgeous girl across from him with concern.  She had the sweetest face.  Her dark eyebrows arched gracefully over her stunning, chocolate eyes.  His eyes slid down the straight bridge of her graceful nose before coming to land on her extremely full, crimson lips.  He suddenly wondered what it would be like to kiss those pretty lips.  He looked back up at her eyes.  Did she have any idea how lovely she was?

“I came here alone.”  She spoke it in the tiniest of voices, her eyes never leaving the lid of her cup.  

She’d drunk nearly the whole orange juice already.  Yoongi noticed.  He set another one down in front of her.  “Looks like today is a two-orange-juice kind of day.  You just be sure not to drink and drive, ok?  We wouldn’t want you getting a sugar high on the road!”

She looked up into his eyes as she giggled.  Yoongi was as funny as he was sweet.  

“I’m sorry your friends missed out.  But I’m also glad.”  He leaned towards her across the table as he whispered, “Because it means I get you all to myself.”  He grinned, revealing his white teeth and his pink gums.  

Jiji smiled in response.  Her birthday was already looking up.

He glanced down at her untouched cheeseburger.  “Aren’t you going to eat it?”

She picked it up and gingerly took a bite.  She didn’t want to be wearing ketchup on her face while she looked at Yoongi.  Although, it would match her shirt if she did!  She laughed at the silly thought.  

Yoongi raised his eyebrow.  “What’s so funny?”

She smiled as she chewed.  Then she swallowed and took a sip of her orange juice.  “Nothing much.”  She didn’t want to share that private thought with him.

“Are you laughing at me?”  He quirked his eyebrow at her a second time.

“What?  No!  I just…” Ugh, was he going to make her be painfully honest with him?  “I was thinking I didn’t want to get ketchup on my mouth.  So I wiped my face with the napkin.  But then I thought that if I did get ketchup on my mouth, at least it would match my shirt.”  She glanced down at her white shirt turned red.

He grinned again.  Then he took a big bite of his burger, leaving behind a smear of ketchup on his own chin.  She stared at him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Uh.  Now you have ketchup on your chin.”  

“Do I really?”  He got a mischievous look in his eye.  He wiped his left cheek with the napkin.

She shook her head.  “No.  It’s on your chin.”

Then he pulled the napkin across his right cheek, his eyes still on her face. 

“No,” she laughed.  “It’s on your CHIN.”

“I seem to have forgotten where my chin is.  Can you help me out?”  He handed her the napkin and leaned towards her across the tabletop.

Privately, Yoongi was grinning to himself.  He had figured out a way to get this beautiful creature to touch him.  He presented her with his chin. Jiji reached out and swiped the napkin across his chin, easily removing the lone dot of crimson ketchup.  Then she held the napkin out to him.  “There you go.  All gone!”

He reached for it and let his fingers brush hers.  He felt a lightning bolt of electricity flowing into his hand from that simple touch.  He stared into her eyes.  Their hands were still touching.  They were both frozen, linked by some invisible force.  That’s when he realized he had no name to assign to this precious girl.

“So…it seems that you know who I am, but I don’t know your name,” he whispered.

“Jiji,” she breathed, still gazing into Yoongi’s eyes.

“That’s a beautiful name,” Yoongi responded as he discovered he was breathless.  “Do you know that in Korean your name means ‘double wisdom’?  Ji-Ji.”

Why was her name so beautiful when Yoongi breathed it out?

She shook her head.

“Wise wisdom.  I bet you’re brilliant.”

She shrugged.  She didn’t think of herself that way, but she had mastered three languages before she’d turned sixteen, so maybe she was smarter than she gave herself credit for.

Yoongi took a deep breath and regretfully leaned back, withdrawing his hand from her own as he picked up his burger again and took another bite.  She followed suit, and they ate in silence for a few moments.  

She couldn’t stop looking at him.  This was so unbelievable.  She’d known that BTS was in France, but she’d never dreamed she’d actually meet Yoongi!  Let alone get to eat a meal with him!

She looked around.  “Where are your friends?”

He shrugged.  “Shopping or wandering around art galleries.”

“Do you mind being alone?”

He shook his head.  “No.  I like it.  I like time to myself.”

Stung, she responded, “I’m sorry that I invaded your alone time.”

He glanced up sharply.  “No!  I didn’t mean you!  I’m enjoying hanging out with you.  I just meant that sometimes I need a break from the guys.  I live with all six of them, you know?  We’re constantly in each other’s space.  Sometimes I just need to breathe my own air.”

She nodded.  She wished she had six close friends.  “I think you’re blessed to have each other.”

He smiled.  “You’re right.  We are.  Super blessed.  I’m also blessed to have met you today.  And on your special day.”  

Her eyes lit up with joy as she grinned at him, revealing her beautiful, white teeth.  “Thank you.”  

She glanced down at her mostly empty burger wrapper.  She’d eaten almost all her food.  Her second orange juice was almost all gone too.  Yoongi would be leaving soon.  Now she felt sad again.

“What’s wrong?”

Wow!  He was very sensitive to her moods.

“We’re going to have to say goodbye soon.”

“Yeah,” he sighed.  “But it was wonderful meeting you.”  

He was wracking his brain, trying to think of a birthday present he could leave with her.  Just then he was hit by a brilliant idea.  He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil.  He seldom left home without them.  He never knew when inspiration would strike.

Jiji studied Yoongi’s captivating countenance.  He had the most beautiful, almond-shaped eyes.  They were a mellow mahogany.  He had the cutest nose.  And his lips…well, they were so kissable!  A pale pink, the bottom lip fuller than the top, they looked so soft.  She imagined sinking into them.  She was sure kissing him would be blissful.  She sighed.  Yeah, like that was going to happen!

Her eyes traveled up his jawline. She loved the silver hoops in his ears and the raven hair flopping over his forehead.  She was attempting to get a peek at that forehead, but it was well hidden today behind that waterfall of midnight hair.  She couldn’t even see his dark eyebrows right now.  But it was all right because those sienna eyes were gazing into her own.  Just then he smiled at her, lighting up her whole world.

She grinned back as he lowered his eyes and bent over a piece of paper he had just pulled from his pocket.  He was writing something with a pencil that had simply materialized out of nowhere.  She watched him curiously, wondering what he was doing.

When Yoongi finished, he held the paper up and sang to her very quietly in his soft, gravelly voice.

“Jiji, my gorgeous girl,

My beautiful friend.

I’m sorry our acquaintance 

Must come to an untimely end.

“You are the sweetest ray

Of streaming sunshine,

I wish there were some way

That I could make you forever mine.

“But I’ll always treasure

Our sweet moments here.

Sharing a simple meal,

Three juices, and some thoughts quite dear.

“Thank you for your friendship.

Happy birthday, girl!

I’ll never forget your smile

Or the way you made my heart whirl.”

Jiji sat, stunned, as Yoongi sang to her.  He was so amazing.  His voice wrapped around her as his kind words invaded her heart.  This was the best birthday present she’d ever been given!  Yoongi had come along to comfort her on her hardest day.  She felt so loved right now.

As he finished singing, he smiled at her and handed her the piece of paper, allowing his fingers to brush hers one more time.  All the hair on the back of her neck stood up, and tingles invaded her scalp.  She sighed.  Yoongi had touched her again!  And she felt like it was deliberate.

“Happy Birthday, Jiji!  Do you ever watch our Vlives?”

She nodded.  

“Watch at ten o’clock tonight, ok?”

What was he going to do?  Suddenly, she felt very excited.  Something good was coming her way.  Today was turning out to be astounding!  Her best birthday ever!

Yoongi stood up and collected all their trash.  He piled it onto the tray.  Then he turned to her and held out his hand.  She gave him her hand and smiled as his fingers wrapped around hers.  

“It was wonderful to meet you, Jiji.  I hope the rest of your birthday is even better than our dinner was.  Goodbye, sweet friend.”

Then he bent and brushed his lips against her cheek.  And she nearly fainted.  He smelled amazing.  And his lips were every bit as soft as she’d imagined!  She stared in awe at his departing back, her fingers touching her face where Yoongi’s lips had just burned a hole all the way down into her heart.

—

A few hours later, she lay in bed watching Vlive on her phone.  Yoongi was seated at his keyboard.

“Hi,” he smiled as he looked at the camera.  “This is for my friend, Jiji.  Today is her sixteenth birthday, and I wanted to do something special to celebrate her life.  So I wrote her a little song.  Thanks for listening.”

Then he addressed her alone, “Jiji, Happy Birthday!  Happy Sweet Sixteen!”

He began to play the most beautiful music as he sang the song that he’d written to her in a McDonald’s in the middle of France.  Jiji watched in awe as her bias sang to her on her sixteenth birthday in front of the entire world.  This would be on YouTube in a few minutes.  Yoongi had given her a gift to last her the rest of her life.  Today had turned out to be a very sweet sixteen, after all.