My boyfriend is Lee Min-ho

Chapter Twenty three - Saying goodbye

We had booked our tickets to Rome, Italy for the thirty-first of May. Four of us would be traveling together; Maine, me, Bernard and Shin - two guys and two girls. Fiona had backed out last minute to join another group of friends to Scandinavia, another wonderful destination. I didn't know them as well as Maine since she had travelled with them before. Bernard was a tall well-built guy with a set of beautiful dimples when he smiled. He had a great sense of humour and seemed to be a gentlemanly sort of guy. Shin, on the other hand, was much smaller sized and looked very reserved. He rarely talked much, not as much as Bernard but I knew him as a very smart person. He was one of the top scorers in german class. He could speak fluent german. Well, if only I was in the korean language class... I probably would have done well... I hadn't expected myself to be learning korean. German had been an interest since day one.

Once we had planned out our itinerary, we realised that three weeks just wasn't enough for a good Europe tour. There were so many places to visit and so many things to see. In the end, we decided that we would be spending a week in Italy - Rome, Venice, Florence and Milan, followed by five days in Switzerland - Lucerne, Bern and Zermatt, followed by a stopover in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, and finally ending in France. However, we had agreed that if required, we might skip a few places to stay longer at another. I predicted that we might overstay in Germany since they had friends there. I was looking forward to skiing in Switzerland. I only hoped I hadn't gotten rusty in my skill. After all, Min-ho had been a good instructor.

We couldn't extend our stay because both Shin and Bernard had to be back by July. Bernard would be starting his job as a lab analyst come first of July and Shin would be leaving for California where he would further his studies. So Maine decided to join me for a trip in Korea for a week. I would be our guide. Min-ho could probably meet us for only a day or maybe just a few hours.

I was still busy packing on the night before we were to fly. Since it was summer, we didn't have to pack too many warm clothes. But I did packed up quite a load of food. Mom was worried that I might not have enough to eat or I might get sick of eating bread all day long.

I had just locked up my luggage, gave a final check on my checklist and pushed the luggage to sit in the living room waiting for departure when I received a video call from Min-ho. I went back into my room, closed the room, to pick up the phone. I didn't want anybody at home to hear the conversation. Not that they could understand Korean anyway...

"Hi there!" I smiled as his handsome face came on the screen. Today, he didn't had on his usual smile. He seemed to be smiling forcefully. He looked pretty worn out. It must be the movie, I thought.

"Hi...," he said in return. "All packed up and ready to go?"

I nodded. "I've just finished packing," I chuckled. "Still have this nagging feeling that I'm forgetting something."

"Always happened. What time is your flight tomorrow?"

"Two a.m. Actually I'm leaving in a few hours' time," I looked at the clock and saw that it was almost seven. I had to be at the airport by half past eleven. Not that much time left anyway. My heart began to palpate with excitement. "I'm not sure if I will be able to receive any signal in Europe. And plus the time zone... but I'll definitely try to text!"