The Right Choice - Alegerea potrivită [+18] (eng/ro)

Chapter 2 (eng)

When I told Thomas that I was leaving to Seoul with Sabine during the time when he was to receive the visits from his foreign clients, he was quite relieved at the news, knowing that he would have been too busy for me during that period and that my trip would get him rid of the feeling of guilt about him ignoring me even more than usual. Or at least this is the impression he gave me, because, immediately after I got my plane ticket, I felt that he was more relaxed about the busy weeks that would come and I've even heard him say that my trip came at the right time, because he would have a lot of work to do during that period.

I could not help but feel like an accessory that he could get rid of whenever he didn't need it anymore, just to get it out of his hair, but this was just my opinion and I preferred to ignore that feeling and to think that I'm the winner in this story, since, after all, I was the one going on vacation, and not going to work, like he was about to spend his time.

So now I was on the plane, a little bit guilty that I was going on vacation without him for the first time since we've been together, sensing a timid feeling of longing, which I actually wished for, but at the same time experiencing a feeling of hope for something new. A change. This is what I wanted the most and I had the feeling again that I was to find something in South Korea that would change things for the best, and this was giving me hope that everything would turn out ok.

I smile and I'm happy. Happy that I'm exactly where I want to be, on the plane, with my best friend, on an once-in-a-lifetime adventure, as we liked to call it, since it was our first trip together to a faraway land. I take the mask off my eyes to see what she's doing, but I notice that she's already fallen asleep, so I put it back on and I try to sleep.

We often wake up, always checking the time to see how much longer we have until we arrive, but fortunately, time goes by faster than expected and, without noticing it, all the weariness disappears when we land on the Incheon airport.

The first thing that we do is buy a pre-paid local card, knowing that the roaming is going to leave us penniless, and then I send Thomas a message on WhatsApp to let him know that we're fine and that we've arrived. It's pretty early back home, so I know that his answer will come later.

We take a cab to the hotel and it starts raining heavily on the way, making the sky get dark like in a movie about the end of the world. We look at each other and start laughing:

"It's raining sooo nice!"

We were so happy that life was all rosy for us at the time.

"It's the shower the city takes before our arrival, to make itself pretty for us!" Sabine jokes and I nod.

"I'm looking forward to getting to the hotel and having a shower myself" and I lay on the back seat of the car, looking at people and shops with an open heart, waiting to start exploring the city as soon as possible.

We get to the hotel after lunch and, just as expected, everything is so luxurious that we can't believe that we had managed to get this offer with such a big discount on the room, so now we're checking in at the Four Seasons in downtown Seoul, with light luggage, knowing that it's going to be a lot heavier on our way back home.

"We don't have to sleep," Sabine decides in a determined voice while unpacking her clothes. "We have to try to get used to the time zone here."

"I'm going to have a shower, a cold one, because a hot one would get me into bed. We'll be busy with the luggage and such things for some time, and then we'll wait a while and we'll go eat something and explore the area a bit afterwards."

"Ok, ok," she nods. "We're close to some places on our list anyway."

"We'll find something to do to stay awake until a decent hour to go to sleep."