City ​​of Witches 454

Chapter 454 – #96_Travel(3)

#453

1.
Amelia had booked a hotel in Jeju Island, so there was no way they could get there at this hour.
Therefore, Siwoo quietly canceled Amelia’s reservation and booked a new hotel nearby.

The only saving grace was that it wasn’t difficult to book a place to stay despite the late hour.
If today were Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, or even the last day of December before the New Year or the first day of the New Year, these many hotels would be packed with people.

It just so happened to be an awkward December 27th.
He barely managed to secure a five-star hotel within a 10-minute walk.

Since the financial support from the Jeminai family had been completely cut off, it was quite a burden.
Still, he had some money left over from what Takasho had forced on him during his host job and the bounty money he had shared with Sharon, so he didn’t think he would have to worry too much about money during the trip.

The cold night air of the city brushed past the Han River.
People with their coat collars turned up hurried along, catching taxis.
The streets, still decorated for Christmas, were filled with cheerful carols.

“……”

And Amelia was following Siwoo like a puppy on its first outing.
She didn’t seem to realize it, but her mouth had been agape for quite some time.
She would watch the cars driving on the road, and Siwoo had to grab her when she tried to cross the street without understanding the traffic lights.

“We’ll be there soon.”
“Okay.”

Amelia, who had been staring at a giant electronic billboard playing an advertisement as if she had encountered a world wonder, closed her mouth and nodded at Siwoo’s words after 30 minutes.

She desperately tried to act like she wasn’t surprised, like she was nonchalant, and that made her seem a little cute.
Thanks to that, he was able to put aside his worries about how to deal with Amelia for a while.

After many twists and turns, they checked in late at night in the fancy hotel lobby.
As an aside, Siwoo had brought Park Young’s charm with him, knowing that a beauty like Amelia, especially a foreigner, would attract attention if she wandered the streets.

But even that had its limits. A small incident occurred.
The female employee who checked them in stared at Amelia’s face for a long time, as if she were mesmerized.
Well, even when Siwoo and Amelia’s relationship was at its worst, he had cursed her inwardly but couldn’t bring himself to say anything bad about her appearance, so it was only natural.

Soon, he swiped the card key in the elevator and pressed the floor button.
He had booked the best room available through the app, a high-floor suite with a Han River view, and now that he had checked in, he felt a strange mix of emotions.

Amelia. Hotel.
These words, when separate, didn’t seem strange at all.
But when combined as ‘Amelia and hotel,’ they caused a great cognitive dissonance.

It was similar to how he felt when he stayed at Sophia’s villa in Border Town before.
There was a strange sense of tension, unfamiliarity, and awkwardness.

Amelia hunched her shoulders as she felt the sensation of the floor rising and gripped the handle of her travel bag tightly.
If Odile and Odette had accepted everything as ‘amazing and fun things!’ when they first appeared in the mortal realm, Amelia seemed to accept every event as ‘What is this!’

She was also standing unusually close to him than before.
It would be okay to put a hand on her shoulder to reassure her, he thought.
Just as Siwoo was about to gently pat Amelia, who was looking down with her head bowed,

-Ding!

The elevator arrived, and a hallway with mirrors on both sides came into view.

“I’ll guide you.”
“Yes.”

Amelia’s voice was noticeably quieter than before.
Now, it was obvious that she was completely intimidated.

That was because Amelia was basically a country bumpkin.
Moreover, thanks to her master’s teachings and experiences, she perceived the mortal realm as a ‘very unpleasant place.’
It wasn’t strange that she was overstimulated and hunched her shoulders at the sight of unfamiliar scenery.

She was amazed and shocked, but she calmed her rapidly beating heart and followed Siwoo.
Once they had checked in, it was very easy to get into the room. All they had to do was open the door with the card key.

“Here it is.”

Amelia, who had been carefully observing Siwoo’s actions as he opened the door, looking for any magical effects, unpacked her luggage and glanced around the room, unable to hide her bewilderment.
The room itself was very clean.

The bedding smelled faintly of disinfectant, as if it had just been boiled, and the sofa, which somehow felt like something a nouveau riche would own, was well-maintained without a single piece of lint.
A spacious suite twin room with a separate living room and bedroom, and a five-star high-floor room with a Han River view.

“……”

However, Amelia’s face was filled with dismay.
She realized that something was wrong.

When she witnessed the majesty of the enormous hotel with more than 60 floors, which did not exist in Gehenna, and the lounge decorated with Christmas trees, Amelia naturally assumed that her reservation had been successful.
She even felt a sense of pride amidst the panic brought on by the new civilization.

However, when she opened the lid, her hard work had been in vain.
But who would have thought that such a matchbox-like room would exist inside that huge hotel?

The ceiling was low, and now that she looked at it, the red carpet was cheap.
It was too dry because the humidity wasn’t properly maintained, and it was too small for two people to stay in.
Even if you included the second floor, it was smaller than a cabin.

She had messed things up like this because she had gone out without knowing anything.
At this rate, she was no different from her old self, who only caused him trouble.

“……”

But Siwoo, who had been busy looking around the room, had no way of knowing Amelia’s inner thoughts.

“Amelia.”
“Yes.”

Siwoo, who had been wandering near the window that was entirely made of glass, called out to Amelia.
Amelia, who was feeling timid and dejected, answered hesitantly.

“Would you like to see this?”

At Siwoo’s gesture, Amelia walked to the window with small steps.
In the meantime, Siwoo went somewhere for a moment.
As soon as he turned off the lights that had come on when he inserted the card key…

“It’s the night view. In our country, people pay a lot more for a house just to see this.”

The huge buildings, the even bigger steel bridge, and the lights shining brightly everywhere filled Amelia’s vision.
Amelia’s eyes, which had been filled with self-blame and disappointment, widened.
The scene before her was something she could never see in Gehenna, a truly dazzling sight like a city that never sleeps.

“…It’s beautiful.”

Amelia, whose true feelings had spilled out, touched the glass window and scanned everything from the ground far below to the lights on the other side of the river.

“This is Siwoo’s hometown…”

Strictly speaking, the apartment where Siwoo had lived as a child had been demolished for redevelopment, but it was true that he was a native of Seoul, so it wasn’t wrong.
And because Amelia’s expression of admiration, with her mouth agape again, was quite cute, he quietly watched her.

2.
Although it was a suite twin, the two of them were sharing a room in a hotel.
It was only natural that they would sing love songs while sipping wine from the mini-bar with the romantic night view as their appetizer.

A glimpse of flushed cheeks, eye contact, and a couple naturally drawing closer for a kiss.
After that, they would go straight to the bed next door… that was the standard.

But what happened between Amelia and Siwoo?

“Good night.”
“Siwoo too… sleep well.”

Surprisingly, nothing happened.

It wasn’t that strange for Siwoo, who had a fairly regular sleep schedule, to go to bed, but even Amelia, who rarely slept, ended up lying down on her pillow in a separate bed.

Both of them had chosen to retreat into dreamland amidst suffocating awkwardness and tension.

“Haa… yawn.”

Siwoo mumbled a sigh that came from deep within him like a yawn.

He still couldn’t figure out how to gauge their distance.

When he learned about Amelia’s past and that she had suffered for him.
If he could go back to that time when his emotions were overflowing, things would have been different.

They might have done a wall slam and a wine kiss while clinking their wine glasses together without saying much.

But now, he didn’t know where to start.
Like when he had lost his memories and was happy with Amelia?
Like when Amelia was an associate professor and Siwoo was a caretaker?

When he poured cold water on the fire that was about to blaze, all that replaced his impulsiveness and drive was a sense of confusion.
The fact that Amelia had come out into the mortal realm again instead of staying in the cabin, and that she had said she wanted to see Siwoo’s hometown, was an undeniable green light, but it was also a very bewildering situation.

Perhaps even Gyeon-woo and Jik-nyeo would have spent a day lamenting on the Ojak Bridge if they had met in this situation…
While he was thinking about this and that, an hour or two had passed, and Siwoo had fallen asleep.

As his breathing slowed, Amelia quietly turned her body.
She glanced at Siwoo and then quietly got up.

After confirming that he was asleep, Amelia got up and sat on his bed.

“Siwoo…”

It was still too difficult.
Love, that is.
Especially having to love while carrying a sense of indebtedness was very difficult for Amelia.

When Amelia wandered the mortal realm, hoping to be forgiven by Siwoo, she dreamed of falling asleep in his arms.
She dreamed of the moments when she was happy with him.
And she knew that dream was closer than ever.

He had understood and forgiven Amelia’s shortcomings.
He was the first person who had given Amelia, who had always taken a step back out of fear of losing something someday and fear of getting hurt, the courage to take a step forward.

And yet.
Even though she was so close, she couldn’t do anything like a fool.

She took Siwoo’s hand.
The left hand that Amelia had injured.
He said that he still had no sensation because the nerves weren’t properly connected.

When she held his hand, which was so thick and large compared to her own, her heart ached with a dull pain.
And that wasn’t all.

She had made excuses with the words ‘I wasn’t honest back then,’ and she had done so many terrible things to him that it was impossible for her to justify them to herself.

Amelia, who was holding his hand dearly, pressed the back of his hand against her cheek.

“…I’m scared.”

The worries that Siwoo had were not just his own.

That is, the worry of ‘What if that kiss was just because of the heightened emotions of a long-awaited reunion, and now it’s gone cold?’

Siwoo had clearly forgiven Amelia.
Amelia had clearly forgiven the parts that he had said he was wrong about.

However, just as conflict and fighting don’t necessarily mean a breakup, forgiveness and reconciliation don’t necessarily mean love.
A relationship that might just be that they had forgiven each other.
Moreover, Siwoo already had a lover.

“Siwoo is a kind person, so…”

He had sympathized with Amelia’s pain and forgiven her, and he had agreed to the trip that she had asked for with courage, but that might be all there was to it.
That was what made Amelia unable to move rashly.

In fact, she wanted to ask for many things.

“Please brush my hair back.”
“……”
“Please hold my hand, look at me, and smile.”
“……”
“Please hug me like you’ll never let me go again.”
“……”

Amelia, who was leaning over Siwoo’s face as he lay still.
She stopped just before her lips touched his.

“Please kiss me.”
“……”

As expected, there was no answer.
Amelia held Siwoo’s hand tightly and rubbed it against her cheek.

But she would never run away alone again.
Even if it took a hundred years, even if it took a thousand years, she would try and wait until he looked back at her again.
Amelia shared the warmth that lingered on his fingertips for a long time.

And so, the first night of exploration came to an end.