CH 157

“Arrived at Frankfurt. I feel like I’m going to die,” the text message read.

Muyeol chuckled as he replied, “How’s the guide?”

“He’s a professional. Looks like a boy next door, but he’s very friendly. I told him I have a panic disorder, and he’s been checking on me ever since.”

Muyeol already missed her. He only texted back after trying to calm down. “If it’s too difficult, come back. I’ll send someone to get you.”

“I’m a strong Korean woman, that won’t happen.”

“Send me pictures.”

“Okay.”

After she returned to her hotel, Yiyoung sent him a picture with the caption, “Oh my gosh! It’s snowing so much here.”

Muyeol was shocked upon seeing the picture. The snow on the ground already came up to her ankle, and it still had been snowing. He worried if she would get into an accident because of all the snow.

“The guide told me that the bus is safer than any other transportation. So don’t worry. I’ll be going to Karlovy Vary tomorrow. I’ll text you once I get there,” Yiyoung added.

There was a seven hour time difference between Muyeol and Yiyoung. So when she sent him pictures at night, he received them early in the morning. But as long as she kept sending him pictures, the time difference didn’t matter.

On the next day, Muyeol received endless calls and texts. One in particular read, “Yuck! Why does the water here taste as if there’s iron powder mixed in it?”

Yiyoung sent a picture of her in a corridor, looking as beautiful as an angel amidst the snowy Karlovy Vary. She continuously texted Muyeol as she visited different locations according to the tour package’s schedule: Pilsen, then Prague…

The picture she took at Prague was a bit different. She was standing in front of the Church of Our Lady before Týn at the Old Town Square, posing as if someone was supposed to be next to her. When Muyeol saw the picture, he spontaneously became emotional. He didn’t even need to ask, he already knew who was supposed to be next to her.

Then, Yiyoung went to Budapest. She seemed to be impressed by the Fisherman’s Bastion, and St. Stephen’s Basilica.

“I’m so disappointed by the goulash! I’d heard it’s tasty, but it wasn’t tasty at all. I even hate potatoes because of it, now,” Yiyoung texted.

Muyeol laughed loudly as he read her text, sitting in his study. Yiyoung never disliked food, she could even relish any bland meal as if it was a dish at a five star hotel; she must have really hated the goulash.

“Come back. I’ll look for good restaurants here,” Muyeol replied. He thought that if he used food to tempt her, she might give him a positive answer.

He could no longer bear hugging a pillow laced with Yiyoung’s scent to lull himself to sleep. The day of the stockholders’ meeting was approaching, and the entire company was working with urgency. It wore him out, but Muyeol still couldn’t sleep well at night because Yiyoung wasn’t by his side.

“We can go to those restaurants once I come back. But it’s not yet time for me to come back.”

Muyeol’s lips turned down in a frown as he read her reply. She didn’t fall for the bait.

“I’ll be traveling to Vienna tomorrow,” she then added.

“Be careful. And even if the food’s not good, you should eat well.”

“Okay,” she replied.

Muyeol then looked at each picture she’d sent him so far. She was beaming, her aura making it seem like she ruled the world.

He focused particularly on certain pictures. She’d done the same thing at Fisherman’s Bastion that she’d done in Prague: posing as if someone was supposed to be standing next to her. But in the picture, she was smiling as she faced the invisible person beside her.

Muyeol breathed out deeply, rubbing his chin with his hand, knowing that the empty space was meant to be him. “I told you we should go together later…”