Our Story

Chapter 24

Jinyoung was currently inside the Pantheon and perhaps because it was still early, he did not find many tourists here. It was needless to say that he was awed by the former temple. He gave mental applause to whoever had built this.

There were rows of benches inside and they were, obviously, for mass, as the Pantheon was now used as a church. There was an oculus above and since it was still early, no sunlight was yet coming in through it.

After walking around and admiring the inside of the building, Jinyoung occupied a bench, just because he wanted to sit down, and looked up at the oculus above, finding it fantastic. He wanted to imprint all of these in his mind.

He felt someone sit down beside him and turned to look at them. It was a man of his age, Jinyoung assumed, and he had that look of a European and looked strangely calm and indifferent, unlike most of the tourists Jinyoung had seen.

Jinyoung gave him a smile and the man returned it. Then he said something in the language Jinyoung did not understand.

"Sorry, I'm a Korean," Jinyoung said and the man seemed to understand it, thus switching to English.

"Oh, Korean? I thought you were a local. Are you here for the church service?"

Jinyoung wanted to laugh at the thought that the man had assumed he had been a local; he did not at all look like an Italian. Maybe, because he looked like he was here for the church service, like other locals?

"No. I heard it would be at 10:30. But I'm going to leave before that. I'm just a tourist here."

"Nice to meet you, anyway. I'm Roberto and live near here. I hope you'll have great time here. You chose the right time, I think. It's not crowded here now," the man named Roberto said, amicably.

Honestly, Jinyoung was a little surprised by Roberto's sudden introduction of himself but he guessed it was a friendly manner of an Italian.

"It's cool here. My name's Jinyoung, by the way. I really like Rome. How should I say, there's just so much to see? It's really cool," Jinyoung said, "But I think it'll be better if I know how to speak Italian."

Roberto nodded, understandingly. "The next places you're going?"

"Um... there's Trevi Fountain nearby, right? I'm going there after this."

"Oh, yes. You can just walk there. It won't take long. You know the way?" Roberto asked and Jinyoung showed him his map, which Roberto said, would be a great help.

Later, to Jinyoung's surprise, Roberto offered to show him around the inside of the Pantheon. And although Jinyoung had already seen it, he accepted it anyway. It turned out to be the right decision as Roberto gave him a detailed account of the founding of the Pantheon and the tombs of the kings, inside.

When more local people came and there was not much time left before the church service began, Jinyoung had to say his goodbye. "Thank you so much for this," Jinyoung said heartily and yet he felt it was not enough. "Grazie," he thanked in Italian as well. "You were so kind. I won't ever forget it."

"You're welcome. A pity you'll have to leave now. Nice meeting you, Jinyoung."

They bid each other goodbye in a friendly hug and Jinyoung left the place. A nice, warm feeling settled in him as he set off for Trevi Fountain.

On the way, he found a wooden toy shop and entered it right away. Everything he saw there was cute: cute little wooden figures and big ones too. He had just intended to look around but ended up buying two Pinocchio toys, one for himself and one for Jackson. Of course, Jackson would complain if Jinyoung brought back only a small wooden toy for him. He really needed to go shopping for souvenirs, not just for Jackson but also for his parents and Wendy.

Then Jinyoung stopped by a small restaurant for lunch; it was still too early for lunch but his stomach was ignorant of that. He took nearly an hour in the restaurant.

When he finally got to Trevi Fountain, there was a crowd around it, making it impossible to get close to the fountain. Jinyoung was disappointed but the beautiful sight of the fountain compensated for it.

The water of the fountain seemed cool and he felt a desperate desire to touch it. But had to satisfy himself with just staring at it.

He ended the day's trip at Spanish Steps. There was a fountain which was called Fontana della Barcaccia, at the bottom and a church, at the top of the stairs. There were more than a hundred steps and Jinyoung was not sure if he should walk up the stairs. But of course, he rejected the idea of skipping it and managed to make it to the half of the stairs, at least, before going back down.

There was a shopping area nearby and he spent another hour there. Just window-shopping as most of the shops there, were luxury clothing and accessory ones.

When he was back on the way to the hotel, the city was already lit with the night lights. When he got back to the hotel, he was already starving. But he needed to clean himself before coming down here again for dinner.

He was just passing by the reception counter when one of the hotel staff called his name.

"Mr. Park. Could you spare us a minute?" The voice came from behind the counter and Jinyoung went there, wondering if something had gone wrong in his room.

"Yes?"

The female staff who had called him, took a flower bouquet from the shelf behind and handed it to him. Jinyoung looked at the bouquet and then at her, confused.

"Someone gave it to you. Their name was not mentioned."

"But it's impossible. I think you've mistaken me for someone else. Or that person who left this," Jinyoung said, ready to hand the bouquet back to her.

"Currently, we only have you named Park Jinyoung on our client list. There's a note card as well. I think it's written in Korean," she informed.

As she had said, Jinyoung found a note card attached to the bouquet. It read: 'If there is parallel universe out there, I want to meet you there too and be with you. Yes, I want to meet you, Jinyoung'.

Parallel universe. Why did that person mention it here? There were only two people who knew Jinyoung was fascinated by the idea of parallel universe. Jackson and ... Jinyoung shook his head. This must be just a coincidence.

Was that a prank? Who would send him a flower bouquet somewhere here in Rome, with a note written in Korean?

Jinyoung left the counter, with the bouquet in his hands and with his mind more than confused.