CH 153

One picture showed Yiyoung mischievously posing as if she was drinking the water spouting from the Merlion’s mouth. Yiyoung laughed as she looked at the picture, her entire body trembling.

Muyeol leaned over. “What are you looking at?”

Yiyoung showed him the picture, still giggling. A faint smile bloomed on Muyeol’s face as soon as he saw the photo; she was thirty three years old, but she was acting like a child. Her behavior was naive, and her smile was so innocent.

She brought her face close to Muyeol, almost as if she was going to kiss him. “Aren’t I cute?”

“Yeah,” Muyeol agreed unconsciously, “You look cute.”

But he looked at Yiyoung as if he was expecting something from her: her vividly pink, sweetest lips to ever exist in the world.  Muyeol placed a quick kiss against her lips, and Yiyoung’s eyes widened.

Muyeol kissed her again. ‘She’s my woman. She’s is Cha Muyeol’s woman. She’s my soul. My everything.’

“I love you,” he confessed.

Yiyoung smiled bashfully. “How much?”

“More than you can even imagine.”

“Are you telling me the truth?”

Muyeol never imagined they would have such an embarrassing conversation, but it really was happening. “I mean it.”

Yiyoung let out a sigh of relief. “I’m relieved now. I hope you’ll never forget what you just told me.”

It was on a day in January when Muyeol finally understood what she meant.

* * *

Traveling was not as easy as everyone said. Yiyoung wanted to travel, but everytime she tried to make reservations, she kept coming up with excuses, which only made her question the trip. She didn’t even know where to go first. There were so many places to visit, and Yiyoung was having such a hard time making a decision that it almost made her scream out loud.

She asked the people at the culture cetner, asked Jaehee, even asked on the web portals. She searched everywhere, as if she was involved in a serious investigation. China, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Guam, Canada, Europe…

‘There are so many places to visit in this world that it’s shocking. Hopefully, I’ll be able to visit all of them before I die,’ thought Yiyoung.

Even after returning to work, Yiyoung planned on asking for days off once every year to travel around. Domestic, international, she could go anywhere.

‘Where should I go? Can anyone tell me?’ Yiyoung hummed as she asked herself these questions.

She looked up the traveling website she happened to discover while researching for the trip to Singapore, and clicked on Europe; it was a well known place that many people seemed to have visited.

The comments on the website read, “Everyone should travel when they are young.”

“Why? Was it too much for you to handle when you were there?”

“To start with, you should expect long walks. The time it takes to travel between places is long. But isn’t it worth it to visit at least five countries?”

Yiyoung was shocked to see that it was standard to visit five countries.

‘How can anyone travel to five different countries in just ten days? Are they expecting to move on to another country after just clicking pictures?’ thought Yiyoung.

As Yiyoung asked endless questions, the other users seemed to be laughing as they told her, “Just go and experience it. Then you’ll see what we told you.”

Muyeol was on his way to the study when he noticed Yiyoung on her laptop in the living room. “What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to decide on where to go,” Yiyoung explained.

Muyeol promptly turned to her. “What do you mean, where to go?”

“Oh, I was thinking of traveling alone before I go back to work.”

Muyeol’s heart dropped immediately.

“I’ve become courageous after following you for three business trips. I think I can manage on my own if it’s a tour package,” Yiyoung continued.

“You’re not completely fine yet. Think about it later,” Muyeol protested.