We decided not to cross the line.

Episode 76. Luang

"Ah... actually..."

Rouen was on my schedule starting tomorrow.

I should check whether the hotel I’m staying at tomorrow

has a room available for tonight."




He asked me the name of the hotel,

then looked it up on an app on his phone.




"Luckily, there is one.

It’s not far from the hotel I’m staying at, so get in.

It’s not really far out of the way, so don’t worry about it.

We can just make the reservation on the way."





"I don’t want to owe you this much, though.

I’ll get there myself."




"If I tell my parents about this, I’ll get in huge trouble.

If I say I didn’t help a Korean person who came to France,

and left a woman alone while I went off by myself."




He stared at my face for a moment, then

went on.




"Hey!! In your head, you’re still thinking,

Can I trust this person?

Is he going to kidnap me somewhere?

aren’t you?"



I let out a laugh at his joke.


'Do they make this many pointless jokes in France...'






Thanks to him taking me all the way to the hotel

I was able to get there comfortably.





"Thank you...

Thanks to you, I had a good lunch and got here comfortably."





"Then...

how about we go around Rouen together tomorrow?"





"Together?"





"When you’re feeling down, being alone only makes you more depressed.

I’ll make you laugh.

Honestly...
 
if I tell you what’s on my mind,

I think it would be more fun than traveling alone..."




His frank attitude

had made a lot of my initial caution crumble,

but traveling like this with a stranger

still didn’t sit well with me.





"Well..."




But,

if I stayed behind alone,

I felt like I’d spend the whole day thinking only about Hunji.





"Okay.

Let’s meet here by 9 tomorrow.

I don’t have a phone, so there’s no way for me to contact you."





"SNS?"





"No. It’s complicated."





"Ah... so you broke up with your boyfriend and cut everything off."




When I looked at him in surprise,

he said with a smug expression,




"I told you earlier.

Your face says it all."




I could feel my face turning red with embarrassment.




'Even when Hunji caught me being choked,'

'my face had turned red like this...'





"Then let’s meet in the lobby by 9 tomorrow.

By the way, I can ask your name, right?"



"Ah.. yes..

Come to think of it, I didn’t even know your name.

My name is Yoo Jeong-a."





"I’m Julien.

See you tomorrow!!"




The next morning,

when I went down to the lobby around 9,

he was already there waiting.





"Did you rest well yesterday?"





"Yes... I didn’t really feel like going out yesterday,

so I stayed at the hotel.





"Was there anywhere you wanted to go today?"





"There were a few places I’d noted down."





I opened my phone’s memo screen and showed it to him.




"Then shall we start with Gros-Horloge

and go to Rouen Cathedral?"




"Yes."





"Did you have breakfast?"





"No. Not yet..."





"There are sandwiches and coffee in the car.

Let’s have a light breakfast with that."




Hearing that made me feel strange.

It was the kind of thing I always used to say while taking care of Hunji,

and this time, I was the one hearing it.





Thanks to Julien, I was able to spend the second day in Rouen

comfortably and enjoyably.




As a way to thank him,

I suggested dinner.




"I mean... I just thought I’d get bored if I went around alone,

so I suggested we go together,

but it feels like I’m getting way too lavish a treatment?"




"Not at all...

thanks to Julien... I really feel like I’m traveling for real now.

And today is our last night in Rouen."




"Ah... I see.

Today was the last night of our trip.

Then we should have dinner together."





We had dinner at the restaurant in the hotel I was staying at

and had a glass of wine with it.




Maybe because I’d walked all day and was tired,

the alcohol kicked in quickly.




After dinner,

I stepped out into the lobby to see him off.




"Thanks to Julien, it was a fun trip.

Thank you."




Just as I was turning around

to say goodbye to him, I lost my balance.




He, who had been following behind, caught me again.




"Ah... sorry..

I don’t think I drank that much..."




Holding me steady as I swayed,

he stopped walking for a moment.




He looked at my face without saying a word,

then gently kissed me.

For a moment, it felt like a dream,

and for a moment, like reality; I couldn’t tell the difference.





Julien said,


"How about dating me?

I’ll make you forget that person."




I stared at him blankly.




"You’re telling me to trust you right now?"