A/N: The opening of this is supposed to be a tad ironic, especially after reading the last line of Chapter 39. Taken in good humor, of course. ;)

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EPILOGUE

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He had been Hana's boyfriend for only a few months and already he was unhappy—not because she proved a bad girlfriend, but because she would be leaving. Again. Regardless of them getting together at the start of the new school year in April, she was still going to take her summer holiday in Paris with her father and another Tokyo University professor. It had been, apparently, something in the works since February. The tickets had already been bought. They were nonrefundable. Non-returnable. Their first summer as a couple would be, in reality, not Tai and Hana kicking back at the beach, or Tai and Hana going to a soccer game, but this:

Tai—alone—in Japan.

Hana—thousands of miles away—in France.

As much as he wanted to think that their separate summers posed an omen foretelling the failure of their relationship, Tai endeavored to remain optimistic.

One month away from her isn't going to kill you, Taichi, he reminded himself.

And so it was with a mix of dread and anxiousness that Tai walked toward Hana's apartment complex one afternoon during their first week of summer vacation. She had called him earlier that morning about stopping by "to talk," and without saying it explicitly, Tai knew that what they had to discuss was of immediate importance.

Her flight to Paris was in two days.

Whatever suspicions he had about his meeting with Hana were quickly revealing themselves as truths the instant he stepped through the threshold of her apartment. She had greeted him with a smile instead of the kiss he had grown accustomed to. The hand that held his and guided him into her dining room was cold and its grasp was limp. And, for the first five minutes of their "talk," nothing was said. Hana merely sat in the chair adjacent to his, thumbs twiddling on her lap, and he sat leaning back in his seat, fingers tapping the tabletop in steady, three-second intervals—all of this while sweat pooled around the edges of his scalp.

"So…?"

The prompt was useless. Hana continued to keep her mouth shut, even if he did notice that she mercilessly chewed on her bottom lip.

The hand that had been resting on the tabletop balled into a fist.

"Hana," he began, "if you're going to break—"

"Tai," she cut off, reaching out and seizing his hand.

He stared at her dumbly, the perspiration that had collected around his hairline dripping cold down the sides of his face as he waited for her to continue.

Her green eyes locked on his, her prolonged silence making his head reel from the anticipation. He was on the verge of spitting out, "What? What!" when the small mouth parted, and her grasp on his hand tightened.

"Tai," she said, her voice ethereally calm. "Do you want to go to Paris with me?"

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A/N: FIN!

But, oh my! Paris?

Oui!

Now, here is a factoid that I've been holding back on sharing. Hana isn't half-French arbitrarily. She's French because I've always had plans for Tai to return to Paris, which means, yes, yes, you guessed it! He will most definitely reacquaint himself with Catherine. ;)

*gasp*

Also-also, my 'extension' of this story, A Boy and Girl Affair, will be up shortly. Possibly tomorrow, possibly not. Depends on how I feel about it. So keep your eyes peeled!

Oh, and I also posted a silly one-shot featuring Tai and Hana called "Curve and Cavil." It's on the mature-ish end of things, but nothing explicitly naughty. Just good ol' fashioned mischief.

Okay, I'm done teasing you.

Thank you all so much for giving this story the light of day. I honestly expected negative reception since it features an unpopular pairing (Taiora fans probably want to gut me with pitchforks), but your reviews and your readership have really helped me (and this story!) along.

So, thank you. In fact, I can't thank you all enough. Thank you for your support, for your kind words, for putting up with a female OC, and for your attention, most of all. I hope you'll continue to follow the adventures I have queued up for both Hana and Tai because their story is far from finished.

Cheers!

Aveza