Deal Breaker - Chapter 110
The ship that departed from Venice on Italy’s northeastern coast circled around the boot-shaped peninsula and finished its journey on the western side, at the port of Civitavecchia.
After riding for nearly an hour in the private limousine sent by the hotel they would be staying at from today onward, they arrived at the next destination of their honeymoon, Rome.
As they drove through the city, Hyeji’s first impression of Rome was immediately this.
“It’s Gyeongju in Italy.”
It wasn’t because massive ruins like the Colosseum kept catching her eye along the way. Ancient style columns and walls stood on every corner, and excavation sites were dug up everywhere. It felt exactly like Gyeongju.
“If you dig the ground here to put up a building and pottery comes out, the developer would probably cry tears of blood.”
One of Kanghyeon’s pleasures was answering Hyeji’s questions whenever she grew curious while traveling, but even he had no way of knowing the answer to that.
As soon as they checked into the hotel, they headed out for sightseeing. The first place they visited was the Fontana di Trevi, which Hyeji had been most eager to see.
“Wow, pickpocket hotspot.”
There were so many people packed together. Neither Hyeji nor Kanghyeon liked crowded places. They also weren’t the type to obsess over photos, so in situations like this they would usually say things like, “We’ve seen it in person, that’s enough. Let’s go,” and turn away without hesitation.
But only in front of the Trevi Fountain did they willingly throw themselves into the risk of getting pickpocketed, pushing through the crowd until they stood right in front of the fountain.
Because there was a relationship bucket list they had to fulfill.
Hanging a love lock at Namsan
There wasn’t actually a place to hang love locks at the Trevi Fountain. Kanghyeon had searched beforehand for famous places in Italy where people hung love locks like at Namsan, and there were quite a few.
However, because of their unsightly appearance and weight, most cities were struggling with them, and in many places it was treated as a minor offense punishable by a fine. For a man with a strong sense of lawfulness, breaking the law without a justifiable reason was unthinkable.
So instead, they decided to toss coins into the Trevi Fountain and make wishes.
Following what he had read online, Kanghyeon stood with his back to the fountain first. While Hyeji watched closely with her eyes wide open in case pickpockets approached, he held a coin in his right hand, made a wish in his heart, and tossed it over his left shoulder.
Plop.
The coin entered the fountain cleanly and settled atop the countless other coins lining the bottom. It was supposed to replace a love lock, so she should have been thinking only romantic thoughts, but.
‘Wow, Rome must be making a killing off the Trevi Fountain.’
Her money obsessed capitalist brain kept popping out at the worst times, which was a problem.
“Now it’s your turn.”
Hyeji snapped out of it and stood where Kanghyeon had been. Feeling guilty about her impure thoughts, she wanted to show that she was genuinely serious about romance. She took out the most expensive coin, the two euro coin, which was a whopping three thousand won, and made a wish.
‘Just…’
She had actually agonized for days because there was nothing she particularly wanted to wish for. The man staring intently at her would be disappointed if he peeked at her wish, so Hyeji deliberately shut her eyes tight so he wouldn’t read her thoughts.
‘Just like this.’
As soon as her extremely simple wish ended, she tossed the coin over her left shoulder.
Plop.
“What did you wish for?”
Just as expected, Kanghyeon asked the moment she opened her eyes. Hyeji avoided his gaze and lied.
“I wished to escape being forever single.”
She thought he would laugh or be dumbfounded, but.
“Oh? You too?”
“……”
“Wow, looks like we really are one body and one mind. Guess we really are a married couple.”
No, wait. Was my forever single power really that serious.
“It was serious.”
“……”
“But our Hyeji escaped being forever single quite a bit. Like… up to the knees?”
So it wasn’t knee-deep yet, only up to the calves. It was obvious he was teasing her out of spite for lying about her wish.
Hyeji narrowed her eyes and glared at Kanghyeon, but she couldn’t keep the strength in her gaze.
Because the fox-like man pulled out a selfie stick.
Click.
Taking selfies together
This was actually something they had been doing at least three times a day, every day, ever since getting off the plane.
On the subway ride to their next destination, Hyeji leaned near the train doors and tried to change her chat profile picture to the one they took together at the Trevi Fountain.
