November 1, 2019
"You never told me what you do for work." Jake said, trying to find out more about Bella.
Bella looked up from her plate. "I'm just an ordinary employee. Nothing exciting or anything like that."
Jake closed his eyes. "Right. An ordinary employee on a soul-searching trip in Taiwan."
Bella looked at him. Just what is he getting at, she thought to herself but decided not to engage.
"Have you traveled anywhere else before?" He continued to ask. Bella nodded.
"Was it by yourself?"
Bella nodded again. "Once."
"And the other times?"
"With a friend."
"A boyfriend?"
"An ex-boyfriend."
"Sorry."
Bella wiped her mouth with a napkin. "It's cool. I can talk about it now. I'd like to think it's his loss."
Jake clapped his hands. "Yes, it is! That's the right attitude."
"I get to throw you the same question, though. Have you traveled with a girlfriend before?"
"No, I've never had a girlfriend. Work... Work comes first." He stammered.
"Really?" Bella asked, surprised. "How old are you, if you don't mind?"
"I'm twenty-six." He replied. "No wait. In Korean age, I'm 26. International age, I'm 25."
Bella raised an eyebrow. "You're Korean?"
"You couldn't tell?"
Bella shook her head. "No, sorry. But then again, with a family name like Park I should have guessed. Even if you don't pronounce it Pak as most Koreans do."
"It's alright."
"You speak near Native English. It probably threw me off. I mean no offense but have you lived outside of Asia?"
"None taken and for a few months, I was sent to the US to learn da.. to learn techniques to improve my craft. Because we traveled a lot, learning English was essential."
"Was it so you could write English songs too?"
"Something like that." He nodded.
"Your industry must be really cutthroat then."
"It can be. If you want to stay relevant, you need to evolve and adapt."
"This inspiration thing is starting to make so much sense now."
"Spotlight on you now, okay?" Jake suddenly said.
"Sure."
"I mean, I know you're Asian but I can't really place it."
"Are you trying to ask me my ethnicity?" Bella laughed.
Jake nodded. "Without meaning any disrespect."
"I'm Filipino." Bella answered. "I'm from the Philippines."
"Oh cool! I never would have guessed. You speak near Native English as well. American English from what I'm hearing. Have you been?"
Bella shook her head. "I've lived my whole life in the Philippines. I'm just weird like that I guess." She joked. "But seriously though, where I'm from you'll never go twenty steps without finding somebody who can communicate with you."
"That sounds like an amazing place to travel to. Imagine having virtually no language barrier as long as the traveler knows English."
"You wouldn't get lost if you traveled to Cebu."
