Right after Go Jun Pyo and Geum Jan Di’s wedding, Yoon Ji Hoo, the so-called third party of the annoying-yet-funny relationship of the two, decided to leave their country for good. Of course, he was happy for his friends, but it didn’t change the fact that he was hurt. Hurt deeply that he wasn’t the one that Jan Di chose to be with.

What hurts him more is recalling that his relationship with his first love, Min Seo Hyun didn’t work nicely either. Although they remained being friends, it was still painful failing for your first attempt in love. And the failure on the second attempt just hurts as much.

He was now leaving everything behind to start a new life ahead of him. This exodus was his way of putting all away aside. When he comes back, he would be different from who he was before. A stronger and more determined person, to be exact. He made sure that he was ready to move on and close his heart to anyone. His sorrow was more than enough for him to quit being in love.

But by any chance…

…could anyone tell what really fate is up to?

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JI HOO

It’s been a week after Jun Pyo and Jan Di’s wedding took place. I’m really happy for them. I know they’d be a wonderful couple. Although I hate to say this, but I’m still hurting. That’s why I’m going out of here. I want to forget every pain, every sadness, every tear, and every grief that this place has caused me. Call me a coward that wants to escape from all the hardships, but trust me, if you were on my position, you wouldn’t want to bear with all of those.

Yes, I’m a successful doctor now. But I think my profession is the only thing I’ve triumphed with. I’m a big failure when it comes to love.

Failure? Yeah right. I think the best word to describe me is none other than a LOSER. A very immense frustrated LOSER, in particular. Aish! Forget it. I want to go on with my life now, right? So let’s not talk about the past anymore.

It’s unusual for someone like me not to ride on a plane when going out of the country. But I’m not really going out for long. I have to come back. But first, I want to feel the good aura of this new path that I’m taking, so I chose to experience being on a cruise ship again. I’ve been so busy that I haven’t thought of doing this for a while. This one is big. Not as big as Titanic, but big enough to capacitate over a thousand people. Well, I don’t really care as long as I’m comfortable with it.

What my grandfather and my friends know is that I’m going to the United States to study more about being a doctor and come back after. What they do not know is that it’s not the place where I’m going. Studying could just bring back the memories I had with Jan Di and the rest.

It’s funny that they even thought that I was going to take a plane and even volunteered to send me to the airport. I must have a very good convincing power to make them believe that I would be fine alone and I just didn’t want to bother them. After all, this is a secret trip of mine and I won’t let anyone ruin it as I’ve already made the decision to pursue it. There’s no turning back for me.

This is actually a Mediterranean cruise that I’m boarding. You know what that means? Well, in case you don’t, we’re going around some places that surround the Mediterranean Sea: Italy - Barcelona –Gibraltar – Capri, Italy – Sorrento, Italy – Athens. There would be a lot of Italy for me. But that’s perfectly fine as long as I’ll be away from the real world that I have to face. I just want to refresh my mind from all those bullsh** back home.

Anyway, getting away from all those and while waiting for the boarding time, I killed my time by observing the surroundings as what I always do. There are a lot of passengers, who I assume are just like me – people who belong to the first class. I don’t want to emphasize it, but it was obvious by the way they dress and interact with others.

I took another glance around me and my sight landed on a certain person, a beautiful young woman, actually. I narrowed my eyes as I took a good glance at her. She’s sitting on a bench, not that far from me. I couldn’t take a better look at her face as her hair was down to her shoulders, slightly blocking my sight. She was listening to her iPod while tapping her foot on the ground. I looked around her and realized that just like me, she’s going with no one else aside from herself. How could someone so young be alone on a cruise? Well, maybe she’s also escaping from something. It’s just an assumption, but who knows?

Even if I’m not that close to where she is, I could tell that there was something bothering her. It’s funny how she caught my attention among all the people around me. Maybe there was just something within her that captured my sight.

Few minutes later, a staff announced that we could now board the ship, making me get away from my thoughts of the lady. Finally! My most awaited moment is here!

I happily directed to the room assigned to me and plopped down to the bed. At last! I’m on the ship and no one could just barge in here and drag me back home. I went to the bathroom to take a good shower. I want to wash away all the dreadful memories and just remember joyous ones.

When I was done, it was almost lunch time so I headed to the dining area downstairs. As I reached the place, I was fully amazed by how dazzling this ship could be. First was the room that makes you feel like you’re not on a ship at all. Then the bathroom that has a complete set in it that you’d think you’re in a hotel room instead of a ship. And lastly, this dining area in front of me. It’s not like I’ve never been to a cruise before. Just that I want to shift my attention to something else aside from---

Aish! I’m talking about it again when I said I want to forget all of it!

“AWW!” I heard someone scream out in pain.

I quickly snapped out of my thoughts and looked around me. Who was it? Was I imagining things? I’m sure I heard someone scream. I felt a pair of eyes looking at me coming from below. And when I shifted my gaze to where I felt the weight of the stare, I saw her. Her as in the beautiful young lady I saw earlier before the boarding time. Okay, what happened just now? Did I bump myself to her? She looked a little hurt.

I extended my hand for her. She took it and helped herself to stand on her feet.

“Sorry,” I told her as soon as she stood up in front of me.

“That’s okay,” she replied.

I was about to ask something but she began walking away. I wanted to stop her, but I couldn’t. I just watched her retreating figure disappear in front of me. Okay, first encounter. I guess, I would just ask her on our second encounter, assuming there would be one.

Those annoying thoughts were the reason why she fell on the floor. Those thoughts, really. I shook my head in disbelief. How many times have I said that I wanted to FORGET EVERYTHING, but I kept on thinking about it that I accidentally banged to that lady and made her fall.

Okay, so this is it. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes as I tried to erase every single thing in my brain. I’m talking to myself on my mind.

“Are you praying?” the same sweet voice that I heard earlier, I heard it again. Have I fallen asleep while meditating? Am I in dream land now?

I slowly opened my eyes and found those same cute eyes staring at me. So this is real?

“Not really,” I replied getting shy of being caught during meditation.

“I’m so sorry to interrupt, but can I join you? All the tables are full,” she requested.

I looked around us and found out that she was telling the truth. There was not a single table available for us except for the table I have sat on.

“Sure,” I reassured her and stood up to pull out a chair for her.

She smiled at me and took the seat just opposite mine on the round table. She was smiling but I can tell that she’s not happy. That made my curiosity rise to its maximum level. Why was she on this ship? I mean, what made her decide to be here?

I examined her once more so that I could have a better guess. I think she’s from a wealthy family, no doubt with that. Her face is really pretty but her expression is unexplainable. I’m not usually into talking to strangers but something inside me urged me to do so. Well, just for her.

“Why?” I tried to start the conversation.

“Why what?” she asked me back completely confused of what I was talking about.

“Why did you leave the country?” I continued the question.

I sensed the hesitation on her nerves in answering the question. But she answered it anyway.

“I honestly don’t know— Let’s just say that— That I’m… uhm— Getting away from something,” she answered avoiding eye contact.

Maybe she’s telling the truth about getting away from something, but that’s exactly what I wanted to know.

“What was it?” I asked again ignoring her uncertainty.

She looked at me straight on my eyes as if questioning something as well.

“Why would you want to know that?” she asked making me ask the question to myself.

What really made me want to know that anyway?

I shrugged not really knowing what to say until an unimpressive excuse came to my mind.

“I think I just wanted to find out if someone boarded this ship with the same reason that I have.”

“And what was your reason?” Now, it’s time for her to reverse the situation to me. She’s now the host and I’m the guest who was on the hot seat.

“Just the same reason that you have,” I replied not wanting to elaborate more about it. God, how could I elaborate when I just swore that I would friggin’ forget about it?

She smiled again and nodded. Good. Now, she’s not in for some questions, but not me. I want to ask more questions, but I’m afraid she would just throw back everything to me that would make me reveal myself to her. Smart lady I’ve got here.

She called a waiter and began ordering. Okay, I totally forgot about food. The waiter stood beside me and waited for my orders. I told him what I want and he bowed saying that our food would be served right away.

When it arrived, we ate our lunch together. We shared some laughter while eating. She got some sense of humor. But something told me that I was just like her - full of sorrows behind those smiles. She was just as lonely as I am. And I could tell that she’s taking this trip to avoid whatever it is that makes her depress. We’re so much alike with that.

We even forgot to tell each other’s name. I don’t know what it was with her that made me comfortable to talk to her. I was happy to find someone to chat with in this boring trip alone.

When we were done eating, she said that she wanted to go back to her room and get some rest. I stopped her because like what I’ve said, we still haven’t known each other’s name. Weird? I know right.

“Wait!” I yelled as I stood up from my chair.

She turned around to face me once more.

“ I’m Ji Hoo by the way. Yoon Ji Hoo.”
 

She looked at me for a second and tried to guess why I was telling her my name. Perhaps, she realized that we have exchanged some words and fun but still didn’t have any idea of what to call each other.

After some time, she smiled and said, “Hong Mo Nae.”
 

Then she quickly disappeared from my sight.
 

“Hong Mo Nae,” I repeated and smiled at the sound of it.

Bratty, but nice.

Silent, but humorous.

Sorrowful, but smiling.

Mysterious, but honest.

Simple, but stunning.

These were my descriptions as the name Hong Mo Nae came into my mind. These were my first impression of her. And not just that, the great Yoon Ji Hoo just got intrigued and still wants to know more. This is really atypical of me, but it was my curiosity that's driving me nuts.

It might sound funny when I actually said that I would close my heart to anyone. I was talking about intimate love when I said that. And for all we know, friendship has a different meaning.

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