Knocking on the hotel suite Mia told me she was in, I hear the sound of feet shuffling on the other side and the moment I see her beautifully sad face, my bottom lip reflexively pokes out. Even with the disheveled hair, raw red-rimmed eyes from crying, and tear-stained cheeks, she was still absolutely stunning. Holding up the tub of ice cream I had quickly grabbed at the convenience store on the way here, she offers me a minuscule smile that doesn't reach her eyes and steps back to allow me to walk in.

"I wasn't really sure what flavor you prefer so I got us Neapolitan," I state as I watch her walk back over to the bed and plop down with a small bounce before taking it from my hands. "I hope that's okay."

"Yes, thank you." Sniffling, she does her best to try to hold back her tears, "And thank you for being here."

"You needed a friend and I couldn't let you be alone right now."

Still standing in an attempt to not be too intrusive, I watch her scoot back to the headboard. I just didn't want her to go through such a bad time in her life without anyone by her side... again. Walking over to the chair in front of the desk, I pull it out to take a seat but pause when I hear her call my name.

"What are you doing?" She knits her brow as a blend of strawberry and vanilla ice cream was scooped onto her spoon.

"Sitting?" I awkwardly touch the chair and then slip my hands into my pocket. "Did you want me to go or...?"

"No?" She tilts her head, "Why would you sit way over there?"

"Oh," I glance around the room before meeting her curious gaze. I don't need a mirror to know that my cheeks are bright red. "It's just... I wasn't sure if you'd want me to sit on the bed with you."

Rolling her eyes, she stuffs an oversized spoonful of ice cream into her mouth, "We're not thirteen and I don't have cooties."

Chuckling, I walk up to the bed and ease myself onto the mattress next to her. Handing me a spoon of my own, she forces a small smile before grabbing hold of the remote and turning on the television. Even though it was unintentional, I was glad that I was at least able to get her to smile even if it was only a little bit.

Mia is such a beautiful soul that it baffles me that she's even in this situation. Her mere presence seems to brighten everyone else's days and I don't even think she knows how much she illuminates the world around her. To be honest, I think that makes her even more gorgeous. It's beyond physical, her spirit is what makes her that much more captivating so it's really no wonder she's been on my mind since the day we met.

But seeing her light dulled right now and her struggling to keep herself together not only makes my heart feel like it's going to rip in two but makes me infuriated. I have to keep telling myself to not go over to her house and give that so-called husband of hers a piece of my mind. But alas, I have to remember my place. I am just a friend. Her marriage is beyond my jurisdiction. My place is to be here for her in her time of need.

Passing me the remote after skimming through the options for the second time, she scoops up another bite of the cold dessert. "You find something. I can't focus."

"Sure, no problem," I say as I begin to browse the channels myself, eventually stopping on The Wizard of Oz.

"Really?" She giggles and my stomach flips at the sound. "Didn't peg you for the Wizard of Oz type."

"Come on," I scoff as I lean over to scoop all three flavors onto my spoon. "Dorothy, Toto, the Wicked Witch of the West? It's a classic."

Quirking her brow, she nudges me with her shoulder. "You couldn't translate the other movie titles, huh?"

"Nope," I admit and smile down at her as she chuckles at my failure while licking her utensil.

"What do you do when you're at home?"

Shrugging, I swallow my bite. "I have my Netflix set in Korea so I don't have that problem. I stay away from local television for now."

Giving me a puffy-eyed grin, she sniffles and slightly scoots closer to me so that her head rests on my shoulder. At first, I tense at her closeness but quickly find myself relaxing next to her as I focus on the opening credits on the black and white screen before us.

For the next hour or so, we get lost in the vintage film without saying much to each other and resting in the comfortable silence between us. It takes everything in me not to sing along to the songs and be the secret dork I am when I'm alone. It's possible she may get to see that side of me one day as our friendship flourishes but not right now. I'd be way too embarrassed to mimic all of the characters as Dorothy enters Emerald City along with the rest of the gang.

"Why doesn't he love me, Jimin?" Mia quietly asks with a crack in her voice, snapping me out of my trance. Looking over at her, I spot the lone tear streaming down her cheek when it reflects off of the light. She peers up at me with big brown glistening eyes before finishing her thought, "Why am I not good enough to be loved?"

Twisting my body to face her, I wipe away the tear from her smooth cheek and the one that flows right after. "You are more than enough, Mia. Do you hear me?" She nods her head ever so slightly as our eyes stay locked onto one another. "Just because your husband is too stupid to realize what he has doesn't mean you're not worthy to be loved."

Looking up at the ceiling to try to stop another tear from falling, she thickly swallows down the lump in her throat before speaking again, "Maybe I did something wrong. Maybe I could have done something more. Maybe I did too much."

"Stop that, please," I beg as her lip trembles. Pulling her into my arms, I hold her tightly so that she can let out all the emotions she needs to; shielded and safe. "You can't blame yourself when from what you've told me, you've done so much for so long to make things work."

I absolutely hate that she's blaming herself. From what I gather, she has been the only one carrying her marriage and that's just not the way it works in any relationship. Both partners need to be present and willing to work through their issues. Otherwise, it's doomed for disaster.

As much as I would love for the opportunity to make Mia happy and I would cherish every moment she was with me, as I already do, I don't wish for her marriage to end. I hope that she could find happiness with her husband if that's where she wants to be. Cameron just needs to get his head out of his ass before it's too late.

She remains in my embrace as she cries until she's felt there's nothing left. I continued to soothingly rub her back just patiently waiting for her to want to talk or even try to distract herself again. This is exactly why I couldn't bear the thought of her being alone and just knowing that she has had many nights where she has cried herself to sleep because of the man she's married to breaks my heart for her.

"I'm sorry," Mia finally speaks as she sits up and wipes her face. "I'm unloading all of my personal problems onto you and you're my client. That's so unprofessional of me. I'm embarrassed, to be honest."

"Screw work," I firmly state causing her to look back at me. "We're more than colleagues now. We may have met through work but I think we're beyond a professional relationship now, don't you think?"

The edges of her mouth slightly curl, "Yeah, I guess so."

Lowering my head, I force her to lock eyes with me with a soft smile on my face, "Friends?"

Nodding, she holds out her hand to shake mine, "Friends."

"Okay," I grab her hand and hold it, slowly rubbing my thumb over her soft skin and trying to push aside the butterflies I feel. "As your friend, I say we get out of here and get your mind off of what has happened today."

"You're going to show me something in this city?" She quirks her eyebrow playfully. A glimmer of that adorable personality of hers beginning to show through.

"Nope but you're going to show me something. Where are we going for our next adventure?" I slide off of the bed and hold out my hands to help her stand up.

"But we already did our outing for this weekend," she argues, although she doesn't give me any hesitation about getting up and taking her purse when I offer it to her.

"Let's live a little." I wiggle my eyebrows making her grin. Watching her make her way to the bathroom to freshen up, I sigh out when the door closes behind her and run my hand through my hair. I don't know if I'll be able to make her happy but I definitely want to try.

"I thought you wanted to stay away from the cliché touristy sights for a while," I state as we walk down the long path.

Grabbing my hand, I look down to where Mia's fingers lace with mine and lick my lips nervously as she speaks, "I was but you made me come up with somewhere to go on such short notice and it was the only place I could think of. Have you been to the Eiffel Tower yet?"

Shaking my head, I stare straight ahead at the enormously famous landmark in front of us. "Not yet but I can bet money that you have."

"Once," she remarks as we step into the line for the elevator. Thankfully, it wasn't during one of the busiest times so the line to board the elevator wasn't super long.

"Just once?" I question as I pull out my wallet and pay for our tickets.

"Mhm," she leans in closer to me to thank me for buying her ticket. "I hadn't been since I first moved back to Paris but Cameron didn't want to go and I don't know, seeing a lot of couples and families together and being one of the few without anyone with you just seemed kind of lame so I never went again."

"Well, you've got me now." Smiling, I gesture for her to walk onto the elevator in front of me.

Truth be told, I'm terrified of heights and that's the reason why I haven't been yet. I have admired it from afar on multiple occasions and even watch it at night from my bedroom window but never thought I'd find myself riding an elevator up to the top.

But here I am, slowly making my way up to the extremely high observation deck and doing my best to not break into a nervous sweat. Glancing at Mia, she seems fine as she looks out of the window while I stay more towards the middle of the steel box. My heart thumps in my chest repeatedly and for a moment, I worry that it may stop altogether.

By the time we reach the top, I have to force my legs to move as my knees wobble and my mouth goes dry. Mia looks back as she searches for me in the small crowd and I quickly find the courage to pull myself together as I step up to her. For a moment, I feel better being on what gives off the illusion of sturdy ground but when she briskly walks towards the bars to look out over the city, my heart damn near drops into my stomach.

"Come look!" She excitedly calls out for me and I smile at how happy she sounds but can't find the ability to step up to the railing. Taking longer than expected, she turns around and sees me wide-eyed and posted up like a statue, "What's wrong?"

"Um," I gulp, knowing I'm about to sound so uncool right now, "I'm sort of, kind of... really fucking terrified of heights."

"What?!" Her eyes grow three times their normal size as she quickly walks to stand in front of me. Looking up at me, she studies my face before she lets out a burst of giggles that she's unable to contain.

Furrowing my brow and feeling my pride be hurt a little bit, I slump my shoulders. "It's not funny."

She slightly snorts and covers her mouth as she begins to wholeheartedly laugh at me and I roll my eyes at her. Turning to walk even further away from the edge, she grabs my arm to keep me from leaving. "I'm sorry," she chokes out through the last fit of giggles. "Why did you let me take you here if you're afraid of heights?"

Sighing out, I turn around and focus my attention on her beautiful face instead of the frightening view behind her, "Because why would I ever say no to you? And plus, today isn't about me. You smiled, didn't you? That's all I wanted."

Mia's eyes soften as I spoke... a bit more than I should have if I'm being honest with myself. If I don't watch it, I'm going to end up confessing my little crush on her before I even should.

"Why are you so sweet?" She grins before licking her lips and tucking them into her mouth. "You did that... for me?"

"Of course," I quietly respond, feeling the flutter in my heart increasing the longer she looks at me like that. Like I'm someone amazing.

"May I have a picture of the cute couple?" An elderly tourist asks, catching both of our attention. We look at him briefly before meeting each other's eyes again.

Looking back at the old man, I politely smile and shake my head, "Sorry, we're not-"

"Shh," Mia interrupts me with her index finger pressed to my lips. "Let's live a little, remember?"

Wrapping her arms around my waist, she leans her head on my chest and I shakily wrap my arms around her as well. Gently nuzzling my chin against the top of her head, I smile wider than I meant to as the camera flash goes off, indicating that this moment was just frozen in time.