Moonflower

Chapter 71: In Deep Water

Jimin approached Insuk quietly from behind. She was sitting in her wheelchair in the courtyard. She seemed preoccupied. She was staring at the flowing stream that passed through this section of the yard.

Jimin bent over her from behind and inhaled deeply as he closed his eyes. Honeysuckle. Insuk always smelled of honeysuckle. Her scent drove him mad. He wanted to taste her skin. Kiss her lips. Hold her in his arms.

Nearly all of his close friends were already married; he longed to be too. To this woman here. But she was oblivious to him as anything more than a friend. She was still breaking her heart over that handsome guard, Jungkook, who had recently married.

Jimin sighed. When would Insuk wake up and realize what a gem he was? And that he loved her enough to make up for all the men who never bothered to glance down long enough to notice her quiet presence in that chair?

Insuk heard that sigh. Startled, she jumped, and her head swung around. "Jimin! You scared me!" she exclaimed, throwing her hand up over her heart. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"How else am I to inhale your enticing fragrance if I don't?" he suddenly asked boldly.

Confused, she furrowed her brow. "What? What are you talking about?"

He bent over her and sniffed her neck, his breath stirring the hairs near her ear. And making her shiver.

"What is that scent?" he asked, though he well knew that fragrance.

Insuk closed her eyes. Jimin's breath was sliding over her skin. For some reason today, she was riveted to those puffs of air. She wanted to concentrate on them. They seemed to contain comfort and...something deeper. She wanted to turn around and bury her face over his heart.

She was weary of being alone. Of investing herself emotionally in men who never even acknowledged her presence. Let alone returned her affection. Jungkook was just one of a long line of boys she'd been attracted to who had never even spoken to her.

Would anyone ever love her? Not the girl stuck in this chair. But the one who lived in her heart. The one who danced in the garden hidden in her soul. In that colorful place, she danced with complete freedom, unimpeded by two lame legs.

She lifted her face to the kind sun and basked in its rays while she danced away the days. In perfect bliss. With her own true love. Whoever he was.

He didn't seem to be coming for her, though. She'd been waiting patiently for several years. Praying for a knight in shining armor. Somebody who could see past the confines of this stupid chair. Someone who would look beyond her two broken legs and see her heart. And decide it was worth loving.

But alas! No knight had appeared. No prince of love had graced her life with his affection. No king of kindness had come to bathe her in his attentive presence.

"My sweet friend, what are you doing out here?" Jimin breathed into her ear.

Her eyes flew open as an entirely new sensation sailed along her nerves, causing her stomach to tighten.

What was this?

She turned back to look at him. As her head swiveled towards him, her lips nearly collided with his. Her eyes widened.

Jimin noticed. How could he not? Those eyes were so beautiful. A deep rich mahogany, he wanted to sip from their fine waters.

Her heart began to race as her eyes met Jimin's glorious, dark chocolate orbs. Glorious? She had never before found them so.

Ah, but that wasn't true.

She'd once had a crush on Jimin. Back when he was a gorgeous boy of fourteen and she a shy and awkward almost-teen. She'd been painfully in love with him. So much so that she had spent many nights crying herself to sleep after days spent joking and laughing in his presence. Because she could tell that he had no special affection for her.