I fluttered my eyes open and blinked a few times, taking a moment to stare at the white ceiling of the room. Adjusting my view a little, I saw the familiar silky mauve drapes of the window, which told me that I was in my hotel room, safe and sound.

I tried to sit up from the bed, but the heaviness in my head held against me. It was throbbing so crazily, like a sort of numbness that struck when you finally woke up after a night of sleep deprivation.

"She's alright, Gayoung. Why do you sound so worried?" A familiar sweet voice greeted my ears, making my senses completely awaken. "What? She can't drink? As in she can't handle alcohol?"

It was Haejong unnie, probably talking to Gayoung unnie. Were they talking about me? Alcohol? I couldn't understand their conversation because as far as I remembered, I didn't touch any alcoholic beverages last night, let alone drinking them. I forced myself to get up and hissed at the twirling pain in my head.

"Haejong unnie, Mia is up," A calm voice near me reported. I looked up and saw Micha let out a sigh of relief. She then placed the back of her hand on my forehead, checking my temperature.

"Hey, Mia. How are you feeling?" Haejong unnie approached me, her kind features slowly contoured with genuine concern as she observed the state I was in.

I looked at her and Micha in mild confusion as I tried to refresh the last memories that I could retain. Club. Loud music. Taehyung. Dancing. And... Fire.

I slowly shut my eyes and took in a deep breath when realization finally dawned upon me. I guessed I had lost conscious again at the sight of the past traumas.

"Gayoung, I will pass the line to Mia now." Haejong unnie passed the phone to me and mouthed 'she's worried sick about you' to me, so I nodded and thanked her before she left the room with Micha, giving me the privacy I needed.

"Hello? Unnie, I'm fine..." I said as I picked up. Because from Haejoong's expression, I could instantly know how distressed she was to receive endless calls from an anxious Gayoung.

"Mia! God, what are you thinking? Why did you drink so much when you know you can't-"

"I didn't," I cut her off before she could chastise me even further. I caught my head and let out a long sigh. Was it just me? Because Gayoung unnie sounded just like Jasper right now.

"What? Then why-"

"I fainted. Someone smoked in front of me, and you know..." I finally told Gayoung the information, and as though realization finally hit her, she became silent for a moment. She knew about my trauma too.

"So Taehyung thought that you fainted because you've had too much drinks." She chuckled, sounding a little amused.

My brows creased a little because clearly, Gayoung's assumption was wrong. Taehyung and I were both sober last night, we both knew that. We could verify that for each other.

"Thank God that kid was there to help you and even carry you into your hotel room, or else-"

"Taehyung did what?"

I was dumbstruck for a moment because only now I realized that I'd passed out in front of Taehyung without any warning while we were having fun. I pursed my lips in, wondering what his reactions were like at that moment. Did he call out my name in panic? What kind of thoughts that he had in his mind as he brought me back to my hotel room?

"Taehyung is a nice guy, Mia. I think he's kinda fond of you even from the first meeting," Gayoung uttered out quietly, I could even sense a smile in her voice.

I chuckled out nervously and shook my head. "Uh, no. You're not going there, unnie."

Because up to this point, I still wouldn't let the two comets to collide. It wouldn't be beautiful, instead, it'd only be one of those dreadful explosions. I was also aware that Gayoung thought the boys were clueless about my amnesia, when the fact was, they knew too much about me—probably even the causes of my amnesia.

"Unnie, can I call you back later? My head hurts." I attempted to brush off the topic of the said man before it gets any deeper.

And there was a slight pause, as though Gayoung could sense what I was trying to do. "Okay," she gladly conceded with a soft chuckle, "just give me a call anytime. And Mia..."

"I know..." I sighed knowingly upon hearing the hesitation in her voice. "Jasper won't hear anything about this. Don't worry, unnie. I love you."

A delicate exhale covered the line before she added warmly, "Promise me that you'll take care of yourself over there, alright?"

"Pinky promise," I assured her, and then we ended the call.

I clutched the phone against my chest as utter silence covered the room, the only sound that I was aware—was my own drumming pulse, the irregular heartbeats of mine. I could feel the heat mounted my cheeks as the thought of Taehyung carrying me in a bridal style flashed into my mind.

"Are you okay, unnie?" Micha had stepped into the room, and I stared back at her with a startled expression. For some strange reason, both of us froze like idiotic figurines, eyes looking back at each other in wonder. "Do you need Aspirin?"

She probably asked that question upon noticing the red color soaked on my cheeks.

"Thank you, Micha. But I'm fine." I waved her off with a grateful smile. "What time is it?"

"Almost evening."

"What?" My eyes widened in surprise. But just in case Micha thought it was fun to fool me, I checked the time on my iPhone's screen. "I slept in for that long?"

"That's why everyone's been worried about you, especially your boyfriend. He keeps asking me to check up on you." Micha went over to the vanity desk with wrinkled brows, probably searching for her favorite eye-shadow palette.

"I don't have a boyfriend," I replied her in a robotic tone as I removed the blanket and stepped out of the bed to take a fresh shower.

"You know who I meant, unnie." From the vanity mirror, I could see her rolling her eyes, then her hand stopped wandering around the desk, meaning she had finally found the missing item. She was about to walk past me, but her hurried steps halted when her phone suddenly buzzed.

"Here he goes again," Micha whined out almost frustratedly. I was taken aback when she suddenly grabbed my hand and put her phone in my palm. "Take the call, I really can't stand him anymore."

With a palm on her forehead, she finally walked out of the room while mumbling a string of frustrations under her breath.

I stared alternately at the phone and the disappeared figure of Micha in perplexity. Then I looked at the phone screen and finally saw the contact name.

BTS' Kim Taehyung.

I felt something tugging my chest, butterflies rippled in my stomach at seeing every stroke of his name. The only name that was responsible for this inexplicable stir in my heart. Taking a deep breath, I finally brought the phone near to my ear.

"Micha, hey. How's my princess doing? Has she woken up yet?"

His deep voice sounded a little huskier than usual, and instinctively, I found myself leaning against the wall, trying to hold my feelings in. He'd really stop calling me princess. I was afraid my heart couldn't take it any longer.

"Hello? Micha? Why can't I hear you? The fuck is wrong with this phone?"

I heard a sharp muffled sound on the other end that somehow made me wince a little, as though Taehyung was hitting the phone with his hand. This time, I tried to stifle back a smile at his usual impatient quirks.

"Taehyung, I'm fine..." I finally replied, a warm smile slowly eased onto my lips.

A silent beat covered the line before I heard him cleared his throat in an indistinct manner. I could almost imagine him covering half of his face and scratched his forehead in embarrassment.

"J-Jinhee. Hi..." he exhaled out a nervous sigh, and I grinned even wider at this.

"Hi Tae," I replied almost inaudibly.

"Uh... How do you feel? Do you need anything?"

For a minute, I didn't reply him as my train of thoughts continued to ponder, a knot formed on my forehead. There was something in his deep voice that I couldn't decipher out.

Nervous? Yes, Taehyung sounded nervous. And this was quite new to me.

"I'm okay, Taehyung. Don't worry—"

"How can I not worry when you suddenly passed out in front of me?" he cut me off before I could say anything more, and his steely voice somehow sent a shiver down my spine.

Taehyung's mad about something, and I was sure it had to do with what happened last night while I was unconscious. I was curious about it, yet, from the very bottom of my heart, I truly dreaded the inquiry that would come after if I ever initiated the very topic.

After a long silence, I finally mustered up the courage and said in a tender tone, "I'm sorry... I didn't mean to worry you..."

There was a pause before Taehyung slowly heaved out a long, regretful sigh. "No, I'm sorry for raising my voice, Jinhee..." he sounded like he'd calmed down, and to hear the seriousness in his voice slowly melted into a gentle one, I didn't know why I felt a surge of relief inside.

"Get a rest. I'm sure you still have a mild headache right now. Call me if you need anything, alright?"

Even though the caring side of him managed to make me feel squishy in my belly, I couldn't help pouted a little, hated that he's ending the phone call so soon when I needed to hear his soothing voice in this vulnerable state of mine.

"Hey Taehyung," I said, trying not to make myself sound desperate, "about yesterday..."

"We'll talk about it later."

"Later?" I furrowed my brows, confused. His obvious attempt to show that he didn't want to speak me at that moment somehow rendered me speechless.

"Take care, baby girl."

And without even waiting for my reply, he really ended the call. I could just stare at the phone with gaping mouth.

An hour later, I stepped out from the bathroom with a frown when Taehyung decided to hang up on me just like that. But then, the other part of me was starting to blame myself for being too clingy to Taehyung when he wasn't even my boyfriend to begin with. So the little version of Angel and Devil were messing with my head while I kept throwing bubbles to the floor in annoyance.

Which then explained why at this second, I suddenly slipped and fell in the bathroom.

"Ow." I slowly rubbed my back, decided to wait for the pain to ease and only then I'd help myself up.

But a knock on the door surprised me, and I instantly changed my mind to stay intact. Taehyung couldn't possibly mean this later, could he?

I quickly tightened the bathrobe belt around my waist and fixed my damp hair hopefully into something that would look decent (and probably sexy like those models in magazines). Satisfied with my look in the mirror, I turned the doorknob with nonchalance painted all over my face.

"Mrs. Kim? Here's a gift for you."

I was left dumbfounded when the hotel staff stood before me with a huge friendly smile on his face. In his hand was a square white package lining with silky violet ribbon.

"Mrs. Kim?" I questioned him with a puzzled look. "I'm not married yet."

The excitement slowly traced off from his face when he heard me, and he was suddenly the puzzled one. "T-that's weird. Mr. Kim said this is for his wife, Mrs. Kim Jinhee?" he sounded a little panic with a sweat sliding down his temple.

Mr. Kim? I chuckled in disbelief. Why did it sound like a mischievous prank that only Kim Taehyung was capable of doing?

"I guess I got the wrong room number–"

"Um, you're not. I'm Kim Jinhee." I tried my best to hold back a smile because it might creep the hell out of the confused staff. "I will just take the gift, thank you for your time."

"It's my pleasure, Mrs. Kim."

I closed the door with an amused smile finally lit up my face. I just couldn't believe Taehyung would create such a mess, and I could totally imagine how he was telling the poor hotel staff with a serious demeanor, all while the hotel staff believed Taehyung with all his heart.

I looked at the white box and quickly noticed a baby blue card placed on top of it. Deeply curious, I tucked it out and flipped the card open with a little anticipation.

Keep the frown away, Princess. A candlelight dinner with me tonight, what do you say?

I didn't realize how long I'd been smiling, but I believed the smile on my face stretched even wider upon reading his letter. Putting the card away on the coffee table, I removed the silky ribbon and opened the white box, revealing a neatly folded pale Daffodil-coloured dress that instantly made my heart flutter with joy.

"It's a beautiful dress." I couldn't contain my smile any longer as I held up the dress in the air, looking at it with absolute awe.

Before long, I stepped up in front of the vanity mirror with the pastel yellow dress accentuated every curve of my body in a flattering way. It looked classy and elegant as it gathered around my waist and it smoothed down into an embedded European-style agaric ruffles. I paced in front of the mirror with sparkled eyes, cheekbones rose from smiling as the dress definitely made me feel it billowed a little as I walked.

I grabbed my purse and ready to leave the room, but as I was about to grab the doorknob, a thought crossed my mind and made me stop in realization. Now, where do I meet my Prince Charming? Taehyung didn't even tell me the details. I chuckled at the thought of him. Even when we had our date back in New York, he forgot to mention the time in the letter and so I was anxious all day, thinking if he was already waiting for me.

But then, deep inside I'd always knew... that he'd wait for me.

It was Taehyung, after all.

I opened the hotel door, decided to just follow my gut feelings and asked around if they have seen any familiar sight of Taehyung, but I was taken aback when I saw a bold red-colored arrow showing to the direction of right pasted on the elaborated wall of the hotel hallway, with a polaroid picture attached just above the arrow.

My heart began to race as I reached for the picture. At first I was confused, but as I looked into it, I realized it was a picture of Taehyung's ears as it was studded with silver piercings. But the picture also managed to capture the edge of his lips, curving up into his signature smirk.

Clasping the picture in my chest, I bottled up a quivering breath and tried to calm down. Warmth began to radiate through my whole body, my thoughts scattered, and every step that I took bounced in high energy as I tried to search around for another arrow...

For another piece of Taehyung.

A minute later, I found another arrow, and it was angled to the direction of the elevator. I stepped closer, heartbeat drumming in my chest as I looked at another picture hung against the wall. It was a clear picture of Taehyung's hand, his slender fingers formed into a finger heart while holding onto a paper written '31st floor'. I bit down a smile at the secretive message and held another piece of him in my hand.

I quickly entered the elevator and pressed the 31st floor. At this point, the adrenaline rushed beyond me, my stomach tingled with elation as I kept looking at the pictures of Taehyung. At that moment, I couldn't think of anything, my mind was in complete disarray, I just knew that I wanted to see him, so bad.

The elevator's door slid opened when it had reached the 31st floor. With the crazy heartbeat of mine, I walked out briskly to continue searching for the sight of him. But what I didn't expect was to bump into someone in front of the elevator, causing me to tumble backward with a gasp.

"Woah, there." A pair of strong hands were fast enough to catch my shoulders after the collision. I was about to apologize for my clumsiness, but as if the upper power heard the overwhelming longing in my heart, when I looked up, I was left in utter surprise to see a familiar pair of intense brown eyes locked deeply onto mine.

"T-Taehyung..."

The said gorgeous man slowly flashed me a heart-melting smile, and this time, it wasn't a picture of him anymore.

It was the real-magnificent him.

A U T H O R ' S N O T E

Cliffhanger? 😝
The next chapter will be updated soon.
I swear my heart was beating so fast too while I write the last scene.

Tap the star and leave feedback.
Thank you for reading, lovelies
🌹

Much love,
ℓynie

~*~

T E A S E R

"And you don't have to hide the tattoo anymore," he said, kissing the butterfly tattoo gently on my shoulder.