12, Wednesday, September, 2018. 10:00AM.

               She was waiting for the taxi with her friends at an international airport. The girl looked a bit annoyed since she was responsible for calling the taxi, and yet, the taxi didn’t show up on time, and that caused her friends to complain to her. Nayeon looked at her phone again, wondering why her Uber driver wasn’t here. Later she received the message that her driver was waiting at the wrong gate.

               After getting on the taxi, sitting in the car for almost one hour, they finally arrived at their hotel. Having no eaten lunch, they threw their stuffs in the room, and hurried to get lunch. Nayeon was walking behind them, she was not excited as her friends be. She was supposed to be happy or hyped, because she now was on the trip with her close friends. What annoyed, irritated her the most, was that she had to be responsible for everything, like talking to the waiters, ordering food, buying stuffs, and calling for a taxi etc. Why? Because she was the only one person who could talk this country’s language. She hated it, she felt like they took her for granted, or they didn’t appreciate her effort, without her, the hotel, transportation, or food would cost higher because they were foreigners. Nayeon was not a native speaker, she just happened to know the language since she lived near the country when she was young, so it was likely her second language after her mother-tongue language.

               Enough about the upset thought, Nayeon followed her friends to a shopping mall nearby the hotel they stayed. This lighted up her mood a little bit, since she wanted to see something in the mall too. There was a big aquarium under the mall, which was what she was looking forward to. Unfortunately, none of her friends wanted to see it. Having enough, she just went there alone, and felt resentful to her friends. She swore to herself, that tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, the rest of the trip, she would go off alone without her friends, let them suffer…

               What was the reason behind her grumpy feeling? Why did she feel annoyed, irritated so easily? She actually ran away from the reality. She had a fight with her boyfriend. They had not talked for a month now. They had known each other for a long time, but had just started dating for a few months. Despite of knowing each other clearly, they still had different thought, personality, and lifestyle. The fight that they had, was not serious or strong or hard. It was just a silent fight. They just ignored each other. It was surprising that her boyfriend was the one who ignored her first this time. He was a quiet and shy person, always smiled. He was always tolerant, no matter what she did, he loved her for a great deal. She knew it was partly her fault, but she didn’t anything wrong, maybe he wanted to have a break. However, the longer of her boyfriend’s absence was, the more she got hurt.

13, Thursday, September, 2018

               The second day, she did it, she went to somewhere else alone. In the morning, she woke up earlier than her friends, had a nice shower, said goodbye to her sleepy friends, and called an Uber driver. It was her day, maybe. She met a handsome Uber driver, he was tall, charming, and kind. The driver asked her where she was from, and they had a nice conversation. The driver took her to the zoo ticket counter, and helped guiding her. After saying goodbye, Nayeon couldn’t stop smiling, as she was walking into the zoo zone. She thought to herself that she would brag her friends that she met a handsome driver, and tell them how cool he was, when she got back to the hotel tonight.

               As now she was watching the show that was performed by animals, she laughed, captured them in photos or videos. She had fun. She forgot about her sly friends, and her timid boyfriend for the moment. While moving to the next show, she noticed a figure which was struggle behind her. There was a tall woman, who was now struggle with her map in her hands, maybe she didn’t understand it. Nayeon took a glance and admired for her beauty for a moment, then continued walking to the next show. After walking for a while, she again noticed the struggle girl was following her, and when Nayeon looked back, the girl stopped walking and pretended to look at the trees or animals in cages. At first Nayeon felt a bit weird, since a stranger was following her around but later she found it cute. The struggle girl followed her because she just didn’t know the way to the next show.

             Arriving the next hall, Nayeon set in the middle row of the seat while the girl set in the lower seat. Nayeon got a clear view to see the girl from behind. The girl appeared as a short-brown-haired girl, dressed in skinny jeans with comfortable hoodie. She looked young, her face was so small, so that the short hair suited her very well. Her body was as almost perfect as model. Maybe she stared at the girl too long, now the short hair girl turned her head back a little, made Nayeon turn her face to somewhere else quickly.

          The third show was dolphins show, Nayeon was very excited. Out of the animals show, she looked forward to the dolphin show the most. And the girl still followed Nayeon, but she didn’t care anymore. After getting into the seat, Nayeon got a message. She unlocked her phone, and her boyfriend’s name appeared on the screen. She was curious… so after a month, he finally chatted to her? Not to mention, today was their three-month-anniversary. Maybe he wanted to say congratulation or what. But what she read from the text, got her heart drop on the ground.

‘Do you still want to continue this relationship?’ –Babe

         She didn’t reply immediately, she locked her phone and put it back into her purse. Nayeon watched the show silently, more like she just stared at the background. After the dolphins show, it was lunch time, so every visitor just went to the restaurants in the zoo and had their lunch. Meanwhile, Nayeon walked like a zombie to a bench near the restaurant. She looked at her phone again, thinking about what she should reply to the text. The short hair girl noticed the different facial expression on the bunny girl. She set on a bench which was just opposite Nayeon’s bench. She pretended to look at her camera, checking out what she captured, but she secretly took a glance at Nayeon every 1 minute.

            The rest of the day at the zoo was wasted. Nayeon didn’t really watch those shows. Now it’s time for the safari park, riding a bus into the wild to see animals. It was around 4 or 5pm, so there weren’t many people left. The whole bus contained only five to six people. Nayeon got on the bus and set on the right side of the bus, then put on her airpods. Maybe today was not her day, it was a bad trip after all, she thought to herself.

           The short hair girl hopped on the bus, quickly took a seat on the left side, but in the same row as Nayeon. The bus went into the wild. Nayeon looked outside the window to observe wildlife, then she turned to left to see different side of the view. There, she noticed the short hair girl was with her too. The short hair girl turned to right side, as she wanted to see different view too, had an eye-contact with Nayeon. They were awkward at first, but soon exchanged smiles. The wildlife tour ended at 5:30pm. Nayeon looked at her phone, thinking where she should go next. Maybe China Town was a good idea. She called the taxi.

           The China town was great, at least for her. She got to eat many kinds of food. She had beers, cocktails, some sort of alcohols, as she was old enough to drink them. The street was full of food stalls, small pubs, cafes, and people walking back and forth. It looked beautiful, amazing that made her want to capture this moment and bring it back to her homeland. Nayeon took her phone out then remembered her boyfriend’s message. She stood still for 2 minutes and decided to reply the message.

‘Let’s talk about it when I’m back. You know I’m on my trip right?’ –Nayeon

‘Right. Enjoy your trip’ –Babe

        He replied immediately after receiving her message. Nayeon sighed and captured the view. She checked the photo, and was surprised by something. It was not that surprising if it wasn’t the short hair girl whom she met in the zoo, standing there, looking straight to her camera in this photo. She looked up to the street again, she found the short hair girl looking at her now. They shared awkward smiles again. They didn’t know what to do, just stood there looking at each other, wanting to say hi but too shy to talk. Suddenly a big group of young kids ran across them, so they couldn’t see each other well, and busy to make way for the kids. There, they lost each other in sight.

14, Friday, September, 2018

        The third day was here. Nayeon slept soundly last night, she was tired of walking for the whole day in the zoo, and got herself some alcohol at the China Town. She still remembered the face of the girl. She was so beautiful, and well, they met twice, as they went to the same places coincidentally. Today, Nayeon was going to the amusement park. Yes, she would go alone again. Her friends already decided where to go, and they didn’t care where Nayeon went either. Nayeon didn’t care much either, she got used to being used by people, since last night, they all bugged her to teach them the basic speaking of the language already.

        The amusement park was written as huge letters in her bucket list. She always wanted to come here, with her friends, her family and her beloved one. But now, she came here alone. It’s 10 in the morning, it seemed a bit early, but she was recommended by her best friend, who wasn’t able to join the trip, to go to the amusement park early so that she could play all the stuffs it offered there. Finishing purchasing the ticket, she felt excited and ran into the park. After playing with the rides for an hour, it was time for lunch again. This amusement park offered a free buffet lunch. She went to check the food out, and picked some of them.

        There was her favorite dish, steam chicken thigh. It was the last one left. She was going to pick it but someone touched the chicken thigh at the same time. Nayeon raised her head to see that person, felt a little angry in her mind since it was her favorite. She opened a bit wide, because that person was no one other than the short hair girl from yesterday. The girl looked shocked, she immediately dropped the chicken thigh so that Nayeon could have it. Nayeon felt a bit guilty, then she smiled and picked the chicken thigh and put it on the short hair girl’s plate. The girl looked surprised, Nayeon just smiled again, and was going to leave.

“H-Hello…” the short hair girl finally said something to her. Nayeon turned back by surprise.

“Do you mind if we have lunch together?” the short hair girl said again with a smile on her face. Nayeon said nothing, just nodded and smiled back.

Having lunch together, they got to know each other’s names. Nayeon learned that Jeongyeon was her name.

“So you’re here alone too?” Nayeon asked

“Yeah… even though I live here, no one really has time to accompany me to here.” Jeongyeon said with an annoyed face.

“So let’s me guess, you’re an introvert, you have no friends, and your family is busy, then you have to gather your courage to go out alone, right?” Nayeon leaned toward to Jeongyeon who faced down to her plate, eating some vegies.

“H-hey! I do have friends but they just…. Don’t mind my business much.” Jeongyeon acted if Nayeon caught her weakness.

“Friends who don’t mind your business? Lol, by the word ‘friend’ I meant a close friend or a best friend, who you can trust, share everything, and willing to help you back.”

“Shisss, alright I have no friends.” Joengyeon pouted

“How about your family?”

“My parents often work oversea. They don’t stay home much. I don’t have any siblings. I mostly spend time with my nanny.” Jeongyeon seemed a little sad, and pouted again. Her pout was really cute and got Nayeon smiled her bunny teeth out.

“Hmm a spoiled child, you are.” She teased

“No, I’m not!” Jeongyeon protested. “How about you? Where are your friends? You’re from another country, then I guess, you didn’t come here alone, did you?”

“Yeah, I didn’t come here alone. My friends are visiting somewhere else.” Nayeon answered carelessly

“Eh? Why? Aren’t you guys supposed to enjoy the trip together? Why do you go different path?” Jeongyeon said in a surprised tone.

“Well, no one wants to go where I want to, they don’t really care about me. I got invited to join the trip, just because I could speak the language. I’m here just to be their guide.” Nayeon shrugged.

“Haha, I guess, you’re not different from me. They’re not your friends, friends are supposed to care about you, and help you right? You told me that.” Jeongyeon laughed a bit.

“Nah, they are my friends. They are not that bad, but sometimes people have to be selfish to satisfy their desires. There are places that they want to go, and I have places that I want to go. And it would be nice if there’s someone who can speak for you when you don’t know the language. I guess, I can’t blame them much.” Nayeon talked while she played her leftover food on her plate. Jeongyeon nodded, like she learned something new today.

“And for your information, I do have best friends, friends that are better than them. They just couldn’t make it here. ;)” Nayeon winked at her, made Jeongyeon blushed a bit. “and… a boyfriend.” She continued. Jeongyeon stared at her, after the word boyfriend, Nayeon’s playful expression was gone.

“Let’s go play together!” Nayeon stood up and grabbed Jeongyeon’s hand and dragged her out of the restaurant.

           They started off with Viking. Both of them screamed their lungs out. Then they went to Jurassic Park, Hunting house, went on and on. After got frighten by those jump-scares, they went back to play with the rides. They took roller coaster twice, because they couldn’t get enough of it. Riding the boat, they got splashed and got their clothes wet a little, yet, they still laughed about it. As the weather was quite hot, they bought ice cream to cool down. There were so many things to play, Nayeon and Jeongyeon were a little exhausted so they decided to go with the soft rides. Now they’re in front of the carousal.

“I want to save it for the last ride. Because it will be beautiful when the sky gets dark.” Jeongyeon pouted again, while taking pictures of the carousel that had no light right now.

“silly, this park closes at 5pm, you won’t see it light even you save it for the last. How could you not know about this, when you are a citizen here? Right, just like when we were in the zoo, you followed me around because you didn’t know the way, didn’t you?” Nayeon .

“Wh-what!?” Jeongyeon was shocked that Nayeon noticed the thing she did back there, and she could tell that her face was so red right now.

“Hahaha, you’re funny. Don’t worry, if you want to see the carousel when the sky gets dark, there is place you can see it.” Nayeon said

“Really?? Where???” Jeongyeon was happy to hear that

“Umm… I heard it was near the river… I’m not sure since I only saw it on the internet.” Nayeon poked her head trying to remember.

“On a tourist website? Then it must be that place, it is well-known to tourists, the place near the river.” Jeongyeon spoke in excitement. Nayeon couldn’t help but laughed at how excited Jeongyeon was. Jeongyeon saw Nayeon laughing and she knew immediately why. She was embarrassed, showed her weak smile and looked down.

“Alright, alright, I guess, I’ll be your guide for today. I’ll take you there.” Nayeon patted her head. Jeongyeon didn’t know what to do, and let the older girl pat her.

           After done playing with all the equipments, Nayeon and Jeongyeon went to a night market which located at the river side. They checked out the stuffs there, foods, and souvenirs. After walking for a while, Nayeon grabbed Jeongyeon’s hand to a place. There, Jeongyeon opened wide and took out her camera immediately. They were in front of a carousel. It was beautiful at night, just like Jeongyeon said. Nayeon looked the young girl taking photos happily and admired how beautiful the carousel was. Then she noticed a small garden nearby the carousel. It was a small fenced garden, that had a woman statue in the middle. Maybe she represented the Love, because the fence was full of locks, the love locks, that couples wrote their names on them and locked them with the fences. Jeongyeon stopped taking pictures and tried to find Nayeon. She saw Nayeon looking at the couple locks, and a weak smile on her face.

“What are you doing?” Jeongyeon walked toward to her and asked

“Look at these locks, aren