CHAPTER 4: The path I choose to go

About 2 hours ago, we arrived in Busan and went straight to the hotel. Chen has been laying on my bed going through the different channels on the TV since we arrived and I was flipping through a book I had brought with me. I looked over to Chen, who seemed so serene laying on the bed with his shirt slightly tucked in his jeans. He was only wearing socks and his hair laid over his face so it was almost impossible to spot his brown eyes. As if he could sense I was looking at him he turned towards me.

“What is it? The book is no good?” He asked and sat up before falling back onto the bed with the pillow behind his back. He raised his hand and ruffled through his hair before looking back to me.

“It’s good, I guess. I was just wondering if you’re tired already. Should we cancel eating out tonight?” I asked in a low voice and closed the book before walking over to the bed. His eyes followed every move I made and jumped up on the bed before laying down beside him.

“Of course not. I’ve been looking forward to eat at a restaurant for a long time. It’s a clear difference between eating korean bbq than instant ramen from the convenience store. You should know that.” He said and pushed me on the side.

“Great.” I said and pushed him back as a revenge. “When should we leave? 10 minutes?” I asked in a cheerful voice before putting my legs over the side of the bed.
 

“Why not now? I don’t really feel like changing my clothes.” Chen said somewhat disappointed.

“Well, I’m sorry ‘mister I’m so handsome and my best friend is an ugly duck’.” I said pouting my lips and taking out my makeup bag from my luggage. “We girls need to prepare for the night.” I said and went straight to the bathroom.

“You don’t need any makeup! You’re already beautiful!” Chen hollered from the bed when I went inside the cramped bathroom. There was only a sink, one shower and a toilet. Oh man, I would’ve been much happier if the hotel room had a tub as well. His comment still made me smile even though I was in the middle of putting on concealer under my eyes. But I wasn’t going to lose to him.

“Just because you say that doesn’t mean all the boys thinks like that!” I shouted. When I heard the footsteps I was in the middle of putting on my melted peony lipstick when Chen put his head inside the door opening and looked straight at me.
 

“I’m your best friend. I think you should put more in me. After all, all the guys I’ve told you wouldn’t suit you have turned out to be bad in different ways. But you never trusted me until you’ve dumped them for certain reasons. I think I deserve your at least now.”

“Chen, you’re being unfair.” I said making sure the lipstick didn’t smudge while going back and forth in the mirror from looking at Chen to my lips. “I trust you a lot. Just because I choose to put makeup on for tonight doesn’t mean that I don’t trust you. I don’t know if I’ll meet my prince charming tonight.”
 

“So this is about the boys.” Chen chuckled and put his hands in his pockets. “I thought you gave up already?” His husky voice was still clear in my ears. “After that guy puked on your red dress you said you will never go on a date with a guy in case someone else decided to destroy your clothes.”

“That happened one time! And it was because he drank too much.”

“Oh yeah. But you threw the dress away didn’t you? Even though you liked it.”

“Because it would only remember me of the smell, yeah.”

“I could pretend to be your boyfriend tonight if you want to.”
 

“What?!” I said, finishing of my makeup before turning to Chen who was staring intensely at me.

“It must be tough for girls to be single. I’ll be your boyfriend for tonight so everyone could see what a nice partner you’ve got.”

“No thanks.” I said running past him trying to hide my blushing cheeks. “I appreciate the thoughts but I rather go with my best friend than pretending to be something I’m not.”

“Then I guess it’s decided. Shall we go?” When I looked over to Chen he was already wearing his jacket. And shoes. I didn’t even see him putting them on. Chen held up my jacket and I put on my shoes and grabbed my camera. Maybe I could find a nice view to photograph and I wasn’t the one to miss that chance.

When we arrived at the restaurant we spent a long time looking at the menu, trying to decide what we wanted to eat tonight.

“I’m craving bulgogi.” I said a little too fast before turning towards Chen who was still looking at the menu.

“Okay, let’s eat that.” He said in a low voice. “Let’s order some side dishes as well. For now, let’s find a nice place where we could sit.” He dragged me inside the restaurant and I followed him. We got a nice place close to a window where you could look out to see the busy road with tons of people walking around. “Let’s order soju.” I said and put the camera on the table when one lady arrived with the meat and the side dishes. Chen raised his chopsticks and placed the meat onto the grill and the sound of the meat simmering made my mouth watering.

“I’m not sure guys like that side of yours.” Chen smirked and I closed my mouth and glanced over to him.

“What? Doesn’t all the guys like girls that likes to eat. That’s the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard.”

“There’s something called just craving food but you’re an exception. You look like you’re going to eat all the meat by yourself. And that’s not pretty.”

I started laughing just from hearing his comment. I placed my arms around my stomach and  looked over the Chen whom also started to laugh. He made it worse. People from the outside must’ve thought we’d already been drinking for a while but we hadn’t even had any soju at all. If there was something I loved about Chen, then it was his honesty. It compl