✧･ﾟ: * six *:･ﾟ✧

Taehyung watches Maddie take his earphone out once they reach the top. She hands him his phone back and he shoves it into his back pocket, making sure to keep one hand in hers. He doesn't want her to get lost in this big crowd. Someone might bump into her and she could get disoriented.

He gently maneuvers them through the crowd towards the railing for a better view. The elevator ride seemingly took years. He can't believe how high up they are. He marvels at the view himself when he breaks through the cluster of people. It's absolutely breathtaking. He wishes Maddie could see it with her own eyes. There's no way he'll be able to give it any justice by describing it with his bad English.

"Based on how you said 'wow' four times, I'm going to assume it's incredible," Maddie says. He only gathers a few words from it, but enough to know what she means.

"It's beautiful," he tells her.

Come on, Taehyung, she deserves to understand just how beautiful it is.

He licks his lips while concentrating hard on the words to say. He wants to make sure she can really picture it. "There are many bilding—" He cuts himself off with a frustrated sigh. Sometimes Korean slips out accidentally.

"Buildings?" Maddie offers kindly.

"Yeah," he says, feeling deflated since he's already gotten it wrong. She'll never understand if he keeps this up.

"Tae," she says quietly, her hand leaving his, sliding up his arm to his shoulder where she squeezes. "It's okay."

"It's so beautiful," he reiterates instead, unable to describe it in words. "I wish you could see it."

"Me too," she admits, biting her bottom lip.

Why is he staring at her more than the view from the tower?

"I bet there's a sea of buildings," she says while he watches her talk. "The sky is probably the perfect blue right now too, isn't it? I don't have to see to know how big the world is. Thank you for trying, Tae."

"I'm sorry," he tells her.

"It's okay, I promise."

"Promise?"

"Yeah, promise. It means you're honest."

He knows what a promise is. He just wanted to make sure she really wasn't upset.

He starts thinking of things he can take Maddie to do that she can actually enjoy. He has tickets for an art museum later, but he has the whole day to fill. He's glad she didn't leave earlier. It's nice to have someone else around. Someone who isn't rude when he gets an English phrase wrong or tells him to go back to his own country if he can't speak properly. That hasn't happened a lot, but it hurt the couple of times it did.

Mostly everyone is nice, but it's relieving to have Maddie with him particularly. She's patient and good at explaining things to him. He could never really grasp what others were trying to tell him, but for some reason it's different with her. Easier. More comfortable.

He looks back at her, her eyes closed. He wonders what it feels like to be able to hear but not see anything. It makes his shoulders slouch to think about, knowing that's how Maddie feels every day.

He takes a picture of the view with his phone, then softly puts a hand on her shoulder. "Maddie?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you like, eh... ice-ice cream?"

"Yeah, I like ice cream. Why?"

"I take you for ice cream, okay?"

"Tae—"

"It will be fun. And you do... don't need to see."

He hopes she understands what he's trying to do. He knows she isn't supposed to be in Paris, but he doesn't want her sad that she can't experience it. She said there was no point in her being here since she can't see, but he wants to prove that she can enjoy it without seeing it. He wants her to feel like she's really traveling.

He starts leading her back to the elevator. "And later I have, uh, tickets for art... moo...?"

"Museum," she says.

"Yes. Tickets for art moo-museum."

After all, that's why he's in Paris to begin with; for the art. His father knew Taehyung's passion for art and anything out of the ordinary. It's why his father set up this adventure for Taehyung before he passed away, so that his son could get inspired and find his dream to pursue. Taehyung has never had a dream, not really. He doesn't know what he wants to do with his life quite yet.

"That is a complicated word," Tae adds, proud of himself for using his new vocabulary word.

He looks to Maddie hopefully, and smiles when he notices she's grinning. "It is, but you're a quick learner."

He appreciates how she's always praising him.

He doesn't know where an ice cream shop is around here, but first they have to get through the maze of leaving the tower. It takes quite a while to get through the crowd, but leaving is much quicker than it had been getting up.

Once back outside on the sidewalk, he pulls out his phone and searches for ice cream places near him. He's not sure traveling would be possible for him without his phone. It's how he translates everything and finds his way when the tourist maps are too confusing. He's impressed that Maddie has made it this far without sight. He can't imagine not being able to see his surroundings.

He's relieved when there's an ice cream parlor about a fifteen minute walk away. He wants to ask Maddie a lot of things, but he's not sure any of his questions would come out properly because of the language barrier. He wants to be able to hold a full conversation with her, not making small sentences that she usually ends up finishing for him.

He tries to describe the sky to her as they walk. It's a beautiful mix of dark and light blue with those perfectly fluffy clouds. It looks like a picture, which makes him fight the urge to actually take one. A phone could never do it justice anyways.

He notices she's smiling while he talks. He takes that as a good sign, albeit he's a little insecure that she may be mocking him. She hasn't been the type so far to tease him, but he can't ever be too sure. He decides not to ask about it and falls quiet instead, suddenly feeling indescribably self-conscious. Have her smiles every time he's spoken to her been out of amusement?

The parlor is cool inside which pleases Taehyung due to the sun glaring down outside. There's actually quite a crowd in the small shop, so he leads Maddie over to an empty table by a window. She slides her backpack off and hangs it over the chair.

"What, uh, ice cream?" he asks quietly, still feeling that newfound anxiousness.

"Surprise me," she says with a smile, folding her hands on top of the table.

"Surprise..." Taehyung racks his brain, knowing the word is tucked in there somewhere.

"Pick for me," she reiterates. "I trust you."

He blinks at this, a grin breaking out across his face. "You trust me?"

"With ice cream," she says, almost warily.

"Okay, okay. I will be back."

He goes to the back of the line, looking at the menu hanging above. They have all sorts of ice cream here; he's not sure how to choose. The menu is in English and French, so he can read bits and pieces. He decides that he'll tell the cashier to surprise him, too.

***

Madeline adjusts her sunglasses on her face while she waits for Tae. She usually doesn't bother with sunglasses, but she can hear the crowd shuffling in the parlor and she grew incredibly self-conscious. She knows wearing sunglasses indoors is considered strange, but at least she appears to be looking at something with glasses on.

She has her back to the entrance, she can tell as much, and there's a window on her right. She can feel the sunlight beaming in. She lays her head on top of her folded arms, letting out a small sigh. She's not quite sure she isn't dreaming, if she's being truthful. It doesn't feel like she was actually stupid enough to fly across the world blind.

Alas, she's stupid enough.

She hears footsteps approaching. She assumes it's Tae until there's no enthusiastic voice following his approach. She frowns, sitting up straighter as the footsteps seem to be coming to her directly. She grabs her phone on the table out of instinct. The times she went on walks as a teenager around her neighborhood, she would always pull up the phone app out of paranoia if someone happened to be lurking around the streets.

The footsteps suddenly stop. Just as soon as Madeline is about to confront whoever it is to speak up or leave, the breath leaves her lungs as she feels the weight of her backpack being removed from her chair.

"No!" she shouts, standing abruptly but it's too late. She hears the footsteps running away, drawing a silence from the crowd. "He's stealing my bag!"

She thinks she hears a few more pairs of footsteps running out the door, but she can't be sure with the noise gradually picking up again in the parlor. She plops back down in her seat, useless to do anything else. Chasing after him is clearly out of the question, and filing a police report is useless since she didn't get to see what the man looked like. She could ask around if anyone saw, but she'd rather not rely on witnesses who could say anything to get her to leave them alone.

Her chest feels immensely tight as she clutches her phone. Literally everything she brought is in that backpack; her few clothes, her money, her passport, for Christ's sake! She runs her hands through her hair, tugging it lightly. This is honestly the worst scenario she could've come up with. At least if she was kidnapped, it wouldn't be her fault for being in another country illegally.

Someone comes up and asks if there's anything they can do. It's one of the workers, suggesting to call the police though she didn't get a good look at the man. Hopeless to call the police, then. Not to mention they could probably care less about a tourist's things getting stolen since it undoubtedly happens all the time.

She's not sure how much time goes by before there's a hand on her shoulder. She jumps so hard, she hits her knee on the table.

"Ah, sorry, sorry."

She sighs in relief at Tae's voice.

She hears him sit across from her, then slide something across the table. "I, uh, got these. But not your bag. I'm sorry, Maddie."

She feels the items, one of which being her passport and the other the keys to her damn house. She must've left the small pocket unzipped, which is why these were the only two items to be retrieved. She assumes they fell out in the man's hurry to get away. At least she has her passport, though. That settles her nerves a bit.

But now she has no money, no clothes at all, no nothing.

"Oh, this is bad," she mumbles, burying her face in her hands. She feels like screaming a string of profanities but stifles the urge.

"I'm sorry, Maddie," Tae repeats in a soft voice, as if he's scared she's mad at him.

"It's not your fault, Tae. Thank you for going after him."

It's silent for a minute before he whispers hesitantly, "Do you... still want ice cream?"

She laughs. She can't help it. The horrible situation she's just been thrown into, and this pure man sitting in front of her is offering her ice cream. She almost feels like crying, but she blinks back the tears, calms her laughter, and gives a small nod. "Yeah," she replies, still giggling. "Yeah, let's still get ice cream."