Julieta grabbed her purse. On her way out, she informed Martina that she would not return until tomorrow morning. She needed some fresh air!
Tae was out, enjoying the frigid atmosphere of the park. What a lie! He wasn’t enjoying anything! He had come out here in the hope that the cold air would freeze his heart until nothing hurt anymore. It wasn’t working. He was strolling aimlessly down a path, pondering returning to his warm room to hibernate like a winter bear, when he heard a sound that reminded him of someone crying. He glanced across the path at a bench. A young woman sat there, her head in her hands. She was sobbing.
Concerned, he wandered over to her.
“Miss, are you all right?”
Julieta glanced up at him. Instantly, she recognized him. She had been poring over his pictures just this morning. Taehyung of BTS. Had Jin sent his friend to check up on her?
“You can tell Jin that I’m just fine,” she responded heatedly before another sob escaped her lips.
“Clearly,” Tae replied. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her. “So…” he theorized as he gazed down at her. “Jin did this to you, huh?”
What was wrong with that guy? It was one thing to go after Tae’s girl. It was another to break the heart of this gorgeous woman. As Tae gazed down at her, he realized that she looked remarkably like Tia. Except that she lacked Tia’s eyes of fire. This woman had eyes like two jade stones. Clear and beautiful in their own way. But lacking the power to move Tae’s heart.
Those jade eyes blinked. “How did you know Jin did this to me? Did he send you to check up on me? You can tell him that I’ll be just fine without him.” Another sob broke loose.
Tae nodded sagely. “Oh, yes, I can tell that you’re just fine without him.” He gazed down at her, a crazy thought going through his mind, which he spoke a moment later. “Hey, maybe you and I should go out. That would show him.”
She stopped crying, shocked into silence. She gazed up at the exquisitely beautiful, young man standing over her. Had he just asked her out on a date?
“What do you say? Would you go out to dinner with me? Tonight?” What had gotten into Tae? Some perverse sense of justice? And who was this woman? It couldn’t be a coincidence that she looked just like Woong or that she knew Jin. Or that Jin had been at dinner with Woong the other night.
“Are you Woong’s sister?”
She stared up at him, baffled. “Who?”
Oh, man. That’s right. He didn’t even know her name. He gazed down at the lovely lady seated on the bench. Then the solution struck him. He pulled his phone from his pocket, unlocked it with his thumbprint, clicked on Photos, and pulled up Woong’s picture. His favorite one. Where she was gazing up at him in wonder. He showed it to the woman seated before him.
“Are you her sister?”
Julieta stared in amazement down at Tia. Then she glanced up at Tae. Then back down at the picture. This boy was clearly besotted with her sister.
She nodded her head. “But why did you call her Woong? And how do you know her? Where was this picture taken?”
“Paris. Seven weeks ago. She never told me her name. I called her Woong. It means ‘hero’ in Korean. She rescued me from a mob,” he spoke tersely.
But Julieta smiled. That was her adventurous, strong-willed sister, all right! Always barreling into trouble without giving it enough thought.
“Tia.”
“What?” Perplexed, Tae stared down at the woman.
“My sister’s name is Tia. And I’m Julieta.”
Revelation suddenly dawning, Tae grinned at her, revealing the face that had wooed millions of girls around the world. “Ahhh. Her name is Tia,” he spoke it with reverence. “And you are Julieta. The one with the snack cake company?”
She nodded.
“Hmm. Did Jin break your heart when he told you he loved Tia?”
Her head snapped up. “What?! No! He told me I had stolen his heart!”
Now Tae was just mad. What was Jin up to? Stringing two girls along? That didn’t sound like him!
“But he was at dinner with Tia the other night. I saw them at his favorite restaurant. They were alone and clearly having a good time.”
“Apparently, they were planning my birthday party,” she commented drily.
“Your birthday party?” Tae furrowed his brow in confusion.
“Tomorrow is my birthday. Jin was trying to force me to celebrate.”
“I’m sorry – force you to celebrate?”
She nodded.
“Why would you have to be forced?”
When she remained silent, Tae sat down on the bench next to her. He suddenly detected a subtle sorrow wrapping itself around her. He reached out and touched her hand. “Hey,” he whispered. “What’s wrong?”
Tears flooding her eyes again at the gentle note in his voice, she replied, “My parents died on my birthday ten years ago. Jin thinks I need to let go and celebrate. But I just can’t!” The tears were coursing down her cheeks now.
Tae’s compassionate heart flooded with her pain, and he reached out to slide his arm around her shoulders, pulling her towards him until her head fell against his shoulder.
“I don’t blame you one bit for not wanting to celebrate. Of course, that day is full of pain for you.”
The tenderness in his tone wrapped around her scalded heart, pouring cooling water into its holes. No wonder Tia had fallen in love with this man! If her heart hadn’t already been brutally assaulted by Jin, Julieta would have fallen into the pit that was Tae’s soulful beauty.
—
Tia was riding her bike down the path that circled the park. That’s how she saw her sister gazing up adoringly into Tae’s eyes, his arm wrapped tightly around her. Her heart ripping in two, Tia felt tears flooding her eyes.
Three weeks! She had spent three weeks searching under every rock for Tae. To no avail. Until today. She had found him. Just in time to discover that he was…in love with her sister? How was that even possible?
Had Julieta lied to her? Apparently, she had. But why? She didn’t know Tia was in love with Tae. Julieta didn’t even know they had met. Why would Julieta have told her that Jin and Jungkook were the only band members she had met? Clearly, she had met Tae. And judging by the little scene before her, they had spent enough time together to get cozy with each other.
Tia’s heart fracturing, she didn’t notice the pebble until it was too late. The tire of her bike struck it at a weird angle, jarring her. Distracted by the horrifying tableau displayed on the park bench, Tia’s hold on the handlebars had loosened. The sudden jerking movement of the bike caused her to lose her balance. The next thing she knew, she was lying on the ground, her bike under her left leg and crushing her right one.
“Are you all right?”
Tia looked up at the familiar voice.
Jin! Oh, no! He would see what was going on too! And he had made it very clear the other day that he was wild about her sister! She glanced up at him, her wide, flaming eyes very sad in her tan face.
“I’m ok,” she whispered, trying very hard not to look at the park bench. She didn’t want to give them away.
She needn’t have bothered to be so vigilant. Jin chose that precise moment to glance across the park. He went perfectly still, Tia lying forgotten in the road. He had eyes only for Julieta, who was sitting with her head on Tae’s shoulder, his arm still protectively cradling her against his side. They both had their eyes closed.
Shocked, Jin stood, his heart hanging over some bottomless chasm. One of his best friends…and the love of his life. The woman who had just made it very clear to him that she wanted nothing to do with him. Apparently, she had wasted no time finding another protector, he thought bitterly. Then he felt the string upholding his heart break, and a moment later, he was free falling into that cavern.
A sound on the ground drew his attention. It was Tia. She had just hissed, drawing air over her teeth in an expression of pain.
“Are you all right?” He tore his eyes from the couple as he bent over Tia.
“Please,” she gazed up at him with tears in her eyes, “can you just get me out of here?” She glanced back over her shoulder toward her sister and Tae, a pained expression in her eye.
What was this? Why was she upset?
“You’re hurt really bad?” he asked, referring to her leg.
“I think my leg is fine,” she responded as he pulled her to her feet. “My heart, on the other hand…” she whispered so quietly that Jin couldn’t be sure he had heard her right.
Surely not? How would she even know Tae?
“I’ll get your bike for you,” Jin offered as Tia began to limp towards home. They slipped away unseen by the cozy couple on the bench.
