They had lunch in silent, deep in their own thoughts. She finished hers first, he was eating every spoonful slowly. She stared at him, he was a devoted man, she could see it on his face. No matter what, they had limited time together. She pulled herself together, they were going to enjoy their remaining time. She was going to make sure of it.

She met his eyes and smiled at him, he was dazed by her smile. “Where you want to go?” she asked.

“Here? I don’t know. Mm, how about the palace? Is it still around?” he asked.

“Which palace? Gyeongbokgung?” she guessed.

“Yes, it still around?” he sound happy. “I haven’t been there during my time.”

“I think so. It was still around at my time. But I didn’t know whether is it the original one. Let’s go take a look.” She said.

He nodded his head. They were about to leave the restaurant when a family caught their eyes. The mother was busy feeding her young son, and the father was busy feeding his wife. The mother was alternating between looking at her young son tenderly and her husband lovingly. It was a very sweet sight.  She elbowed him, and whispered, “You can find love you least expected it.” He agreed. Yeah, love came when you least expected it.

They left the restaurant and went to Gyeongbokgung. They were in time to see the guards change over ceremony, he was captured by solemnity of ceremony. They entered the palace, he was in awe over how magnificent the buildings were, he could enter the main halls and look at where the king lived. Although, the king was no longer living there, he could imagine how he had conducted his morning meetings and where he stayed to resolve the country issues.

“Some of these building are not around when King Sejong lived here” she explained, “They are built by kings after. So you are fortunate to see the full scale of it.” He agreed. They slowly strolled around the premises.

“I wished I could at least come here to meet the King at least once, it will be such a great honour to do that.” He wished.

“If you become a general, you sure can.” She said.

“Well, I have a long way to go then”

“You can make it” she encouraged him.

They sat down near the pavilion.  They saw some couples strolled by. They seem to be in love and yet not deeply in love. Maybe these couples just enjoyed been together. She sighed and turned to Jong Kook. “How about we go and dress like King and Queen?”

“No, that will be so rude,” he shook his head.

“Come on, it’s not for real. Your king won’t know it.” She dragged him to the shop and pay for the costume rental. The person-in-charge pass him the king clothes while dolling up her as the queen, they even put on the hairdo and makeup for her. His long hair was bun up and hide under the king hat. They looked at each other in amazement, they did look their part. The person-in-charge thought they were one of the better looking couples and asked for their permission to display their photos. They sat down on the throne and they took a few photos of them. They chose a few of them, the better looking ones and the cute ones. The photos were developed and they kept them as their souvenir.

“We do look like king and queen right?” she giggled, still looking at the photos, while they having their dinner.

“I admitted you look pretty, but I just look silly.” He replied.

“Come on, you look so handsome. Look at this” She found him developed a red blush, he was so cute.

“You keep one, and I keep one. Let me keep for you first, I pass back to you when we reached the hostel.” He nodded in agreement.

“Let’s stroll back to the hostel, I am too full and the night too young.” Suggested Ji Hyo.  They stroll along the road, hand in hand. It was turning a bit chilly so she decided to hug his hand for more warmth. He was shocked initially, but he enjoyed been so closed to her so he let her be.

The walked along the road, watching other couples walking past by. They saw a drunken woman been piggy-back by a man. The drunken woman was obviously hitting the man with her might, shouting at him, calling him names, but the man smiled at his silly woman, and made sure that she didn’t fall from her back. They followed the pair, the drunken woman suddenly stopped the man, and climbed down from his back. She took a good look at him, gently called his name and gave him a kiss, a passionate kiss. The man responded, the man whispering “I love you” to the woman. The woman smiled and climbed back on his back. He piggy back the woman once again and disappeared into one of the apartment.

He felt his face blushing again. People this age were so bold. He looked at Ji Hyo, Ji Hyo apparently found her subject, “Don’t you think it sweet?”

“No, woman shouldn’t be drunk in public places.” He said sternly.

“Don’t be a spoil sport. They are just been sweet and who decided woman couldn’t drink in public places, should I go for a drink as well?” her eyes met his, she can see that he totally disagreed with the idea, she better don’t try. “I am just joking, don’t take it so seriously. But I am tired from all this walking. Turn you back” she asked.

He turned his back and felt her jumped on him. “Now, take us home” she commanded. He sighed and slowly took them back to the hostel.