“I should take you home,” he murmured after a moment.
“No! Not yet!” she responded, alarmed.
She was afraid that if they entered her bedroom, the same force that had brought him to her would whisk him away without warning.
Nani pulled her phone from her pocket as they walked through the open field. She glanced his way. “Jimin, since this is a dream, would you mind if I take some pictures of you? I love to take pictures. I would really love to have some natural photographs of you. Even if they disappear overnight. I’ll remember them. When I take a picture, it gets stuck in my head.”
He smiled at her. “Sure. And I want you to take some selfies with me too.”
Nani spent several minutes snapping pictures of Jimin. Staring off into space. Glancing at the camera with a brooding expression. Smiling with the corners of his eyes crinkling. Grinning so hard his eyes completely disappeared. And so did Nani for the second his eyes shut.
Then he reached out and grabbed her forearm and tugged her close to him. He slid his arm around her – like they were old friends – and pulled her close. She took several selfies of them. At one point, he leaned his cheek against hers as he stared soulfully into her phone’s camera. She snapped several pictures at once then. Between the first and the last, his gaze shifted to her face. A tender expression lit up his eyes as he looked at her. She caught a glimpse of it in the photograph as she examined it a moment later.
And her stomach flipped upside down. Jimin was giving her butterflies. If she was honest, she’d have to admit that he’d been causing those flimsy creatures to spin around in her belly for the last couple of hours. She’d never dreamed she’d ever be this close to Jimin. Not even for a few seconds. Let alone several hours. This wasn’t even a dream come true. This was a fantasy beyond her imagining.
As her eyes captured his once more, her heart yearned for the friendship that seemed to be developing between them. As though they had known each other for a long time. She lost herself in those chocolate orbs again. For several long moments. Jimin didn’t seem to have any desire to look away from her either. Perhaps it was the rare opportunity to bask in the presence of someone who accepted him just the way he was. With no expectation of anything else.
Whatever it was, Jimin seemed perfectly at his ease around her. If this was a dream, she prayed it lasted forever. If it was real, she hoped the dynamic between them never shifted.
His arm was still threaded around her waist. He leaned towards her and whispered into her ear, “Now what?”
She turned her head to gaze up at him. Their lips nearly grazed each other. “What?” she asked breathlessly.
“What do you want to do? Should I take you home?”
She shook her head. She had no desire to go home. No wish to risk losing him.
As she fell silent, he suddenly murmured, “I know what I want.”
She glanced up at him. “What?” she queried, a tiny bit startled that Jimin seemed to want something from her. What was he going to ask her?
“Nani, I would like you to make me a gift.”
Puzzled, she wrinkled her brow. “A gift?” A smile quirked her lips. “Is it your birthday too then?” She was teasing him. She knew exactly when his birthday was.
“No,” he chuckled. Then his face sobered. “I want you to sketch me.”
Astounded, she gasped. “You want me to sketch your portrait?”
He nodded as a sweet smile blanketed his features.
“But I’m not that good.”
“I doubt that, but I really don’t care. All that matters is that it’s from you. That your fingers sketch it. The gift is in your fingers. It’s the action. Even more than the final product….” He paused a moment before asking, “Do you have a sketch pad and a pencil at your house?”
Her head bobbed up and down. “Of course.”
“Excellent! Let’s go get them.” He moved in the direction of her house.
But she didn’t budge.
He stopped and glanced back at her. “Come on, Nani. I sang you a song when you asked.”
A smile tugged at her lips. “All right. Sing me another song, and we’ve got a deal.”
He tilted his head to the side and gave her a mysterious grin. “How about I sing you a new song?”
“A new song?”
“Yeah. I wanted to put it on BE, but there wasn’t room.”
Now excitement was filling her. Making her giddy with anticipation. She nodded her head enthusiastically.
He reached out and grabbed her hand again as they began to head towards her home. After a few seconds, he began to hum. Then beautiful words poured from his lips.
“Light, be in me.
Light, shine for all to see
That there is a love that sets us free.
“Light, lead me.
Light, shine so brilliantly.
For there is a joy that beckons me.
“Light, be in me.
Light, shine, embracing me.
For there is a peace that surrounds me.
“Light, hold me.
Light, shine in this beauty.
For there is goodness pursuing me.”
When he finished singing the first verse, he began to hum a little interlude as he smiled down at her before opening his mouth in a clear, sweet tone to sing the chorus. He played with the last word of every other line, elongating one syllable into five.
“Just be-ee-ee-ee-ee.
Beautiful.
So free-ee-ee-ee-ee.
Wonderful.
Baby, be-ee-ee-ee-ee.
Beautiful.
You with me-ee-ee-ee-ee.
Wonderful.
“Just bree-ee-ee-ee-eathe.
Beautiful.
Carefree-ee-ee-ee-ee.
Wonderful.
Baby, bree-ee-ee-ee-eathe.
Beautiful.
You with me-ee-ee-ee-ee.
Wonderful.”
This time as he sang the second verse, he shifted the focus from himself to her.
“Light, be in you.
Light shines in all you do.
For there is a love that’s always true.
“Light, be true.
Light, glow, shining on through.
For there is a joy that makes all new.
“Light, be in you.
Light, shine, embracing truth.
For there is a peace that pulls you through.
“Light holds you.
Light shines in your beauty.
For there is goodness pursuing you.”
As he sang the chorus through once more, he continued to elongate the last word of every other line.
“Just be.
Beautiful.
So free.
Wonderful.
Baby, be.
Beautiful.
You with me.
Wonderful.
“Just breathe.
Beautiful.
Carefree.
Wonderful.
Baby, breathe.
Beautiful.
You with me.
Wonderful.
“Be light.
Shine bright.
Walk in the light.
Live out what’s right.”
“Just be
Beautiful
And free.”
Nani simply stared at him.
Breathless.
That’s what she was. Absolutely unable to draw a breath. For several silent moments.
Jimin had stolen that breath. With his beautiful voice. And his beautiful words. And his beautiful heart.
How on earth could she ever reciprocate? He had just given her a gift that was so absolutely perfect. Nothing she could do would ever match it in beauty.
But she supposed she must try. For he had requested a gift. A very specific gift. A gift of which she was unsure. A talent whose surface she was just beginning to scratch. An interest in which she lacked confidence.
Oh, she had shown him some of her sketches. But only the best ones. The easiest ones. Not the ones that challenged her. Certainly not the ones that frustrated her.
And sketching a man’s portrait…was no easy task. It required skill. And a keen eye. And a sensitive heart…if one was going to capture the essence of the sketch’s subject.
And this subject was someone so very important. Jimin himself.
But how could she refuse him?
She could not.
So she squeezed his hand and led him to her home.
But only after she finally breathed in, so she could breathe out, “Jimin! That was…beautiful.”
She still didn’t have words. Not the ones she wanted. Jimin didn’t seem to lack for them, though. But she did.
She would have to send all her thoughts and all her words into her fingers and let her pencil sketch them into his face. Perhaps the love she felt for him would communicate itself each time her pencil caressed his cheek or the curve of his hair. As it shaded in the pupils of his eyes or captured the divot above his lips. Maybe she could communicate adoration through the strokes of her pencil, through the shading on the page.
She certainly hoped so. Otherwise, she had no idea how she was going to convey her love to him.
Jimin was feeling a little sheepish right now. It was one thing to sing with his friends on a stage to thousands of screaming girls. It was a completely different challenge to pour his heart out to one particular girl. To make himself vulnerable to her. Face to face.
This song was one he hadn’t shared with anyone. It had been very close to his heart. For he had written it during a very dark time in his life when some light had suddenly broken through his dreary soul and brought him hope. For a while, he had played around with the idea of sharing it with Tae or Namjoon or Jungkook.
But Jimin had watched as Yoongi packed away several songs he’d hoped to put on the album, so Jimin had sacrificed his song too. For the sake of the others. They had all had something they wanted to communicate to ARMY. Jimin hadn’t had the heart to insist that this song be included. Not at the expense of one of his friends’ songs.
But deep down, he’d been disappointed. Because this song was special to him. Which was why he had found the courage to share it with Nani. Because she was also special to him.
Still, he felt exposed now. Vulnerable. A little raw. She had said it was beautiful. But that was all she had said.
So it was that they both walked in silence back to her house. Their eyes never colliding. Their fingers still clinging to each other.
