Jieun slowly opened her eyes and fluttered her long lashes. She has been sleeping since the plane lifted off from Korea.  The trip from her home town to Venice wasn’t exactly a breeze. Raising both her arms sluggishly, she flexed a little. ‘Ouch!’ she grunted. ‘How long had it been? 8 hours? 3? No, it’s more than that I’m sure.’ She pondered.

She shifted to her right, now staring out the window.  She could see the tops of buildings below. The sea was especially blue, smooth like silk. ‘Wow’ She was in awe. For the first time in a very long time, she felt excited. She was relieved. Maybe this was not a big mistake after all. She lifted her lips into a small smile as she felt the plane lowering itself down ready to land.

Later. . .

“All right file up ladies and gentlemen, we don’t have much time. Let us enter the bus fast and orderly.” The tour guide kept waving her hand leading us in the enormous bus. Something about her irritated her. She tightened together her cardigan and walked towards her. ‘It’s the brows,’ she chuckled to herself. It was her turn now and the tour guide noticed her smiling and made a face. ‘Definitely the brows,’ she thought again.

“Hurry up people!” She clapped her hands, too loud.

The tourists, along with Jieun are now seated. The guide stood in front. She can now clearly see her features.  Her hair was raised in a tight bun and no single wrinkle can be seen in her tight fitting uniform. She was not wearing heels and her slender legs were evident.

She continued talking as her brows continue to rise for every word, as well. It was kind of funny for Jieun. A snicker escaped her lips. Everyone snapped their heads towards her and gave her questioning eyes. She slumped down slowly, obviously embarrassed.

Minerva, the Korean-Italian tour guide, about 30 plus, continued her speech. If you were there, you could have seen the constant splashes of spit escaping from . Jieun felt sorry for the people sitting in front.

“And that is our plan for today! Exciting isn’t it?” She continued, faking a smile. She hated this job of hers.

“We are going to the hotel first and have a buffet lunch and then you can have the rest of the day off,” she repeated.

The ride to the hotel was filled with historical facts as they passed through some of Venice’s famous spots. The sights were beautiful, magical actually, at least for Jieun. She felt like she was in an actual fairy tale. She took out her phone from her pocket and took pictures.

They finally arrived in the hotel. It was a modest hotel, not too lavish not too stuffy.

She was now in her assigned room still holding her luggage as she stared at the place. “Perfect,” she said.

At 1 PM, after she finished lunch, she decided to go out. She knew she was not familiar of the place at all but she wanted some fresh air. After all, the rest of the day was free and she had it all to herself.

“ Great! This is actually going quite well. Better than I expected”. She patted her head. Crazy but true. If someone would’ve seen her talking to herself, they’d never even come close to her.

Her red purse which contained her wallet, her phone and some other stuff she forgot about was in the bed. She grabbed them went downstairs.

Coffee. She wanted to have some. Looking around the vintage streets near the hotel, she looked for a café.

There it was. Peach Café.

 “Peach,” she read it once again. She smiled.

The café smelled nice.A bit smaller but cozy compared to others on the same street. It smelled like home.

Jieun slowly closed the door as the wind chimes above it sounded.

“One café Americano, please,” she said in broken English. “And make that to go, please,” she added.

 With a coffee in her hand, she walked out of the café.

 She tripped a little when she noticed her shoelace was untied. She placed the plastic cup in the ground. She then expertly tied her shoelace.

When she got up with coffee in her hand a sudden rush of pain was felt in her left side from a sudden contact. Next thing she knew, her was on the ground and the hot coffee was burning in her chest, staining her white dress.

“Crap!” she cussed.

The man looked back quickly, showing slightly apologetic eyes. He was wearing a blue plaid shirt and jeans. She cannot examine his face clearly though. It all went too fast. To Jieun’s eyes, she was pretty sure he was Asian. He continued to run. She brushed it off and looked at her now brown dress.

“What a jerk!” she hissed under her breath. With that, she rushed back to the hotel. She could not be seen in public with that face on. She wanted to renew herself and this is not the start she wanted.