Landing in Your Inbox

102 - flight plan

"Oh sure." Seri picked up his phone. Of course, finding their way and not getting lost in a strange land at night should be their priority. "It says here we should take the third exit..."

Jeong-hyeok nodded. "I got it."

Their conversation has been like that for the next few minutes, him asking her to verify and her feeding him what the app says, or what the route looks like, which was especially tricky in the dark.

Some turns and many mispronunciations later, they were on their last road and the last kilometer in their drive up the island's northern coast. Seri could only make out pine trees along the way, not quite the scenery she expected from an island infamously known for its club scene just from the look of the narrow, winding roads.

They drove in between two slabs of stone, the detached entrance of what Seri still assumed to be a boutique resort. The car went through a long parking lot and finally circled a roundabout of palm trees and stopped at the hotel entrance.

Seri wondered if they would still talk about Queens or if his silence was his unspoken way of saying he didn't want to talk about Seoul. After all, they took an 11-hour flight, transferred to another plane, and traveled by road to what appears to be the edge of the island. They were thousands of miles away from home. It was silly even to think of their problems back there.

Seri put her cap back on and had her jacket hanging on her wrist while Jeong-hyeok gave the car keys to the valet. She left her partner to check in at the front desk and busied herself looking around the clinically-white lobby, she missed the name of the hotel written on an old-fashioned signboard by the entrance.

There was a display about hiking tours every Saturday but the design and printing appeared plain and dated that Seri had to wonder if they were still ongoing. The place seemed to be decades old but the kind that undergoes refurbishments now and then. There was something hippie-shabby-chic about the long buddha heads, the grass potted plants, the tree trunk coffee tables, the gnarly bamboo wall dividers and the general collection of various objets d'art like the random vases and the odd flock of sheep sculptures scattered around the area. It reminded her of a Bali resort.

The end of their long travel was in sight at last when they took the elevator and went through the arched hallway to their room with walls lined by avian murals. Seri hazarded a glance at Jeong-hyeok beside her who stared ahead at the doors. If he doesn't crack by the time they enter the room, Seri will have to pester him.

But all such thoughts fled when she was in the room.

That it was still all blinding white was to be expected but she could already imagine the future sleeps with the king-size bed and it would be some of the best she would have. There was a daybed on one side topped with pebble-shaped throw pillows. She could already imagine the conversations that could be taken over champagne, which was provided for them on a glass table in front of the sofa. But nothing else made Seri run inside more than the indoor jacuzzi next to the curtained floor-to-ceiling sliding windows.

"This is so...luxurious!" Seri exclaimed as she embraced the bath, shocked to even speak the word at Jeong-hyeok— Lee Jeong-hyeok, her straight-laced boyfriend who abided by a spartan lifestyle and balked at anything she purchased. "An in-room tub? Where is this place? Where did you take me?" Her eyes were drawn to the bouquet of roses Jeong-hyeok picked up from the bed and then extended to her as he was wont to do, to the woman he was courting.

"They were going to scatter petals on the bed but we'll have to clean them up and we're tired. So they left the flowers intact."

Seri accepted the bouquet, suddenly finally the whole grand romantic gesture flustering. "Wait..." She froze on the spot, "You aren't propo—"

Jeong-hyeok shook his head immediately, "No, I wouldn't do that to you."

His firmness had Seri quirking her brows.

"Not right now, and not like this...when you are making many difficult decisions." He looked evenly at her, sighing. "Even marathoners need to breathe, and you can't do that while at home...So I thought of the best way I know how."

"Flying?" Seri guessed.

Jeong-hyeok nodded. "It doesn't solve your problems, but it helps clear your head a little."

Seri exhaled, letting her shoulders sag and the flowers hang low, "That's true...I even know how to paraglide, you know? But I couldn't even think of it."

Jeong-hyeok did remember her saying, "It's okay. I flew you over myself."

"Pshh." Seri grinned, "In Ibiza of all places."

Jeong-hyeok smirked. "You'll see what I mean in the morning."

Seri took in the room around her with a slow turn, it was small for someone used to grand suites but the large mirror that took up a whole chunk of the wall next to the bed gave the illusion of a more expansive quarters. "Still, this is unexpected...It's actually nice here..."

Jeong-hyeok's smile turned into a frown. "Did you really set your expectations low?"

"No," Seri laughed, setting the bouquet aside on the table so she could put both her hands on either side of his waist, "I told you, I don't need you to do much. Just us is enough."

He removed the cap that was shielding her eyes. "Then, can we move out then?"

Seri's dreamy eyes widened in horror, "No! You will not take me away from this tub. I'm already attached, it's mine to use!"

Jeong-hyeok chuckled to the floor and at Seri's tightened grip on his shirt. "It's already paid for."

"It is, right?" Seri bit her lip in excitement, stealing another moment to absorb the fact that she was living there even for a flash of a moment. She stood on tiptoe to kiss the corner of his lip, "Thank you, I love it here."

It was a load off Jeong-hyeok's shoulders, to have successfully sprung up that trip that had a slim to nil chance of even making it, but they did. She was there, close enough for Jeong-hyeok to inhale the vanilla scent of her hair, the citrus perfume she sprayed on at El Prat Airport.

Even after she opened her space for him to dwell anew, she always tended to slip away—to some meeting, to some call, to an appointment. Or even if she was there, and she was physically present, her mind would be distracted. Seri was fully booked until further notice, it seemed. The pilot had to do something to carve some time, or they'll never speak meaningfully.

If only he could, he would let time stop still so they could exist in a world of just the two of them for much longer. That he could pull her to him without worry of something else yanking her back and she could simply succumb to his arms and not be called away all the sudden.

Seri couldn't remember when the last time she could shut the rest of the world out and just think about the warmth of Jeong-hyeok's affection and accept that this was where she belonged and nothing could touch them.

They had a late pizza dinner before they nudged each other to take turns washing up. Jeong-hyeok was already inside the bathroom when Seri curiously pulled the blinds open above their bed, only to reveal a window that caught Jeong-hyeok in the act of taking his shirt off. His and Seri's eyes met by the transparent glass frame, drawing an embarrassed laughter between the two and Seri apologizing, pulling the cord to lower the blinds close.

The tub will have to wait along with the bottle of champagne. For that evening, they needed to recharge their weary traveler souls, and maybe shake Seoul off for a good couple of days.