‘Mademoiselle, are you still going to the airport?’ the taxi driver barked as he stood in the silent street watching the two of them have their intense heart to heart argument.

As Min Ho began to rain light kisses tracing them over Shin Hye’s lips, her guard towards him began to dwindle inch by inch.  Her lips gently opened slightly for air and were ready to respond and match his slow tease.  The loud taxi driver’s voice yanked her out of the sweet trance.

‘Hajima, don’t…don’t use your body to change my heart’ she opened her eyes and pushed him off of her.

‘My body can’t force your body to respond unless you want it to.  The fact that you were about to respond to my kisses is a clear sign that you still love me and we’re not done.’  Min Ho harshly ran his hand through his hair frustrated that she was shutting him out.

‘Ani, it was just a physical reaction that my body has been programmed to react to for the past 6 months that we’ve been together.  After some more time apart from you, it will stop doing that.’  Shin Hye turned around and nodded at the taxi driver telling him that she was ready to go to the airport.

‘Like I said before, what’s been said is said, what’s been done is done.  I’ve woken up from our short lived dream, it’s time for you to as well.  Now, if you’ll excuse me I have a flight to catch.  Anneyong.’

‘Wait!’ Min Ho spread his arms wide in front of her again blocking her way towards the waiting taxi.

‘Love isn’t one-sided, you can’t be that selfish.  I should have a say in what goes on between us, too.  You can’t just say you want out and leave then expect me to agree without asking about how I feel about your decision.  Look, Shin Hye, I know I screwed up. I should have followed through with my promise to draw the line with Min Young.  I shouldn’t have lied.  And most importantly, I should have showed you that I meant every word about doing anything and everything for you.  I know I blew my two chances.  But, even criminals are given second chances to show the people around them that they have changed.’  Min Ho reached for her hands while softly looking into her eyes pleading.

‘Shin Hye ah, please I’m asking you to give this…us…one more try.  I promise you with everything I have, even my life, that I will fix everything and make it all right.  I just need you to trust in me…in us again.  Please Shin Hye, come back to Seoul with me.’

As Min Ho’s eyes began to moisten, Shin Hye’s glare softened.  The strong walls she built around her heart were beginning to crack and break.  She closed her eyes debating with heart and brain to give him another chance to make things right.  She would give anything to go back to the way they were, but is it really possible?

‘My appa told me that you can’t force happiness, it organically happens because of fate.’  Shin Hye slowly opened her eyes, her hands began to gently caress his.

‘If you want a second chance, I’ll give you one…’

‘Shin Hye ah’ he pulled her into a tight embrace ‘I knew you still loved me and we weren’t done.  We can go back to Seoul tonight if you want’ he whispered into her ear.

Shin Hye pressed her two hands against his chest to push him away.

‘Not so fast.  I didn’t agree to doing anything with you, I just agreed to give you a second chance on my terms.’

‘A second chance is better than no chance’ Min Ho smiled to lighten the mood between them.

‘Lets play a game.  Lets put our love up to fate.  Fate led you to find me.  So, now lets see if fate will lead us back together and love each other once again.  Lets let fate decide what we do next.  You know, God has a plan for all of us, everything is predetermined.  So lets see if God thinks were destined to be together.’  Shin Hye began to pull her hand away from Min Ho.  

‘Oppa, the key your holding, fastened the diamond ring you gave me to a lock somewhere on a bridge in Paris that you took me to.  It’s 10am…’ Shin Hye looks down at her watch and lets out a heavy sigh.

‘In games there’s always a winner and a loser, this game of fate will not be anything different.  Lets see if fate plays in our favor and let you find the ring.  I’ll wait for you at the Charles De Gaulle airport.  You have 8 hours to find the ring, if by 6pm you show up to the Korean Air check in counter with the ring I’ll go back to Seoul with you and we can go back to how things were, no more questions no more doubts.  If by 6pm you don’t appear with the ring, then fate has spoken and we go our separate ways and you leave me alone, forever.’  Shin Hye bit her lip analyzing each facial moment he made to guess how he would react to her challenge.

Min Ho, you have no other choice than to say yes.  If you question her silly game, everything you’re trying to do will backfire.  Just go along with it, it’s just a lock and ring, it shouldn’t be that hard to find.  Stop thinking so much, if you don’t say anything she might take it as you’re not going to accept the challenge.  Then, history will repeat itself and she’ll walk away like that afternoon at the Han River.  Say something!

‘Game!’ Min Ho’s eyes shined with determination to win.

‘Game?’

‘Yes game! Shin Hye I told you I would do anything for you, now I’m proving it to you.  I’m going to show you that we’re fated to be together forever, God put you in my plans and me in yours.  So I’m going to prove it to you once and for all.  Get ready to go home tonight!’

‘I look forward to having you bring me home.’ A smile escaped the corner of her lips.

Min Ho, did you see that?! She smiled! Yes, smiled! You have hope, just find that ring!

‘I’m Lee Min Ho, the most competitive guy out there.  I’ll prove to you once and for all that my love is real and that it’s here to stay forever by your side.  Just wait for me!’ 

Min Ho wrapped his arms around Shin Hye and held her tightly, messaging his cheeks against hers for comfort.  He lowered his face down to meet hers and gently laid his hand behind her nape and pulled her forward, landing his lips on hers for a sweet kiss to give him the encouragement he needed to complete her challenge.  As Min Ho pulled away, Shin Hye surprised him by pulling on his shirt to return his kiss.  For just a split second, it felt like the good old days, both of them teasing and enjoying each other’s touch and warm embrace.

Hajima Park Shin Hye! Don’t you remember your bet with me at the Han River? You said you would listen to me! This is your brain talking to you, why did you pull him into a kiss? You’re supposed to be over him, let go now!  Just one more minute please? My heart wants to feel his heart beating against mine.  Oppa, I hope you’ll live up to your promise and I’ll see you at the airport with a ring in tow.  My heart wants to go home with you and be happy again.  Oppa, I believe in you, fighting!

******************

Shin Hye’s taxi pulled up to the Charles De Gaulle, she hesitantly stepped out of the taxi not wanting to leave.  The driver placed the two suitcases onto the sidewalk, she gripped tightly to the handles and pulled them to the departure hall.  She walked up to the check in counter and handed the attendant her passport.

‘Miss Park, are you checking in for the 10pm flight to Seoul?’ the attendant politely asked her.

‘Yes, but can you do me a favor? I would also like to buy ticket from Paris to LA, I missed my flight this morning’ she gives the attendant a printed itinerary ‘I checked on my phone, there’s a flight at 7pm can you please book me a ticket on that flight?’

‘Let me check’ she began to tap away on her keyboard.  ‘The flight is fully sold out, but British Airways has seats avilable on their business class.  Would you like to buy a business class ticket?’

‘Yes, please’

‘Round trip or one way?’

‘One way, please’ Shin Hye closed her eyes and left out an audible exhale.

‘Here are your tickets, please remember to board 30 minutes before the departure time’ the attendant bowed and handed her the tickets.

‘Thank you.  I hate to ask, but can you please do me a favor?’

‘A favor?’

‘I’m playing a scavenger hunt with my boyfriend’ she shows her a picture of him on her phone.  The attendant gasps when she recognizes it as none other than Lee Min Ho.  The attendant does a double look and goes from her screen to Shin Hye’s face and covers her gaping mouth with her right hand.  She just realized the girl standing in front of her is Park Shin Hye and she said he was her boyfriend.

‘He’s suppose to come here and find me by 6pm today.  If he doesn’t find me standing in the departure hall, I’m sure he’ll run up to this check in counter.  If you’re still here or if it’s someone else working the counter, can you please hand him this box?’  Shin Hye calmly spoke not affected by the attendant’s reaction to finding out about her relationship with Min Ho.

Shin Hye gently placed a tiffany blue gift box securely fastened with a white bow to the attendant, bowed and walked away without waiting for her response.  She exited the departure hall and walked towards the taxi stand waiting patiently for her turn.  She glances at her watch and loudly sighs, 12 pm.

Min Ho stiffly stood there watching Shin Hye get into the taxi taking her to the airport.  He balled his hands together to calm his nerves and not run up to taxi and blocking it from going like a mad man.  When she released him from her kiss, she told him that she would meet him at the departure hall.  He promised her that he would find it and bring her home.  She smiled and nodded in acknowledgement telling him that her heart wasn’t ready to let go and wanted to go home with him.

Min Ho instructed his taxi driver to bring him to the bridge with the locks on the Siene River.  The taxi driver told him there were two and asked which one he wanted to go to.  Min Ho began to rack his brain to remember which one it was.  He glanced at his watch 10:30 am, he told the driver to take him to the closet one he had enough time to go to both if he was fast.  It shouldn’t take him four hours to find the ring. 

As the driver pulled up to the Pont de l'Archevêché facing the Notre Dame, Min Ho once again darted out of the car, key in hand in search of the lock.  The bridge only had another couple standing there taking selfies of them and their lock.  Min Ho began to search the millions of locks one by one on the mile long bridge desperately looking for the mint colored antique lock Shin Hye secured on the bridge.  It was now 1 pm, he spent the last 2 hours taking each mint colored lock in his hand to see if a diamond ring hung from it.  But to his luck, out of the hundred of locks he checked, none of them matched. 

As people began to fill the bridge, he let out a frustrated cry.  He swore it was a mint colored lock, Shin Hye even said it this morning to confirm the color, why can’t he find it? Was this God’s way of telling him it’s the end? No, it’s not, it’s not 6pm yet, he still had hope.  This was just Him testing Min Ho’s love for her,  he needed to prove that he was up for the challenge. 

Min Ho tightly clamped his eyelids down trying to remember that day and where Shin Hye secured the lock.  He needed to remember clues to where he can find it.  As his brain began to replay the day like a playback tape, he saw Shin Hye walk up to a lamppost and secure the lock with the ring there.  He immediately opened his eyes like he solved the mystery and turned around frivolously to see if there were any lampposts here to make sure he didn’t miss it as he didn’t see one the entire time he was there.  He was right, he went to the wrong bridge.

He ran to the street and got into the first empty taxi and asked the driver to driver quickly to the Pont des Arts, it was already 1:30 pm, he didn’t have much time left to look for the ring.  He needed to find it fast as the taxi ride to the airport was a 30 minute affair, the latest he could leave was 5:30 pm to catch Shin Hye at the airport and that was cutting it close t