"Can you ask for a few days off?" Jinyoung suddenly asked when he was at your place.
"Why?" you asked as you were afraid that he would ask you to go to his hometown to meet his parents. You've been dating him for two years now, so it was about time to meet them but you always said you were not ready yet and he didn't force you.
"Well, we're going on a world tour and I want you to join me. Maybe pick a city that you want to visit so we can go around together?" You felt relieved that he wasn't going to bring you to his hometown.
"Oh, okay. What's your schedule? How many countries will you go this time?" he started listing all the cities and countries and you listened carefully. The only one that caught your attention was Japan. You've been there once, but it was only in Tokyo. You loved the food, you loved the scenery so you wanted to go back but to different city. Jinyoung caught you daydreaming and pulled you from your reverie.
"You already have a destination in your head," of course he could read you easily.
"Umm.. Can we go to Kyoto? I know it's not in your itinerary, but is it possible?"
"I think so. Let me check with my manager and get back to you."
The next day, he told you that he could get a 3 days off. He waited for your schedule to buy the ticket but you informed him that you would buy the plane ticket yourself, as well as made the hotel reservation. You didn't want him to pay for everything since you had a job yourself. He didn't like it but gave up at the end. As long as you joined him.
You arrived at the airport and then bought the train ticket to Kyoto. You knew half the drill since you've been in Japan before. You had a local number and texted Jinyoung to inform him that you've arrived. He himself would travel from Tokyo to meet you in Kyoto. You picked a hotel above the Kyoto Station so it would be easier to commute. You were surprised to see that the Kyoto Station was big. You checked the information and found out that it has malls and restaurants as well as supermarket at the basement. There were restaurants on the top floors as well. You could see the Kyoto Tower from the station. It was afternoon when you arrived so you waited for Jinyoung to arrive before going up to eat dinner at some restaurants. You actually wanted to try the sukiyaki, but the restaurant was packed so you had to pick somewhere else. You decided to eat tonkatsu for dinner and made a mental note to list what kind of food you wanted to eat the next day.
"So, where do you want to do tomorrow?" Jinyoung asked as he lay beside you on the bed. You decided to rest early as both of you were tired.
"Can we rent a kimono?" you turned to face him and gave him your best pleading look. He sighed. You had this imagination that he would look good in Japanese traditional clothes. Well, Jinyoung would look good in anything anyway. He didn't have the heart to refuse your request so he agreed.
"Where do you want to go in kimono anyway?"
"Arashiyama? I heard there's a kimono forrest nearby. Or we can rent around Kiyomizu-dera. Which one do you like better?"
"We can go to both if you want," he kindly offered.
"But the place is far from each other," you gasped.
"We can get a taxi."
"But I heard it's expensive," and you immediately shut your mouth once you saw his expression changed.
"I can pay, don't worry," he sounded offended. You tried to explain that you didn't mean that he couldn't pay, but you thought you would go to one place and visit other places nearby in the area to be more efficient and his expression softened afterward. He assured you that he got the time to visit all those places, so you agreed.
"Well then, let's go to Arashiyama first then if we still have time, we can go to Kiyomizu-dera."
You let each other pick the kimono for the other and you were right. Jinyoung looked gorgeous in his dark navy blue kimono while he assured you that you looked lovely in the pink kimono that he picked. The store even styled your hair in a bun to suit the kimono. You looked like a Japanese girl in the mirror. However, you had to practice walking with the wooden sandal. Then you went to the Kimono Forrest first and took lots of pictures before going to Arashiyama. You were lucky it wasn't summer anymore so the weather was not as hot as before and the bamboo forrest was quite thick so it felt a bit cool under the shadow. Jinyoung offered to take some pictures for you and you asked some passerby to help taking picture of you both. You walked along the path with other people, hands linking with Jinyoung's. You enjoyed the quiet walk.
Halfway, he told you that you could enter Tenryuji temple on the left and you agreed. He said there would be garden aside from the temple. The garden was beautiful. It wasn't fully into autumn yet, so the leaves were still green. But you could imagine it turned into yellow/orange shade once it was autumn. You walked around the garden slowly before taking the same path back to Arashiyama and went back to the store to return the kimono. You decided to just head to Nishiki Market and left the temple hopping for tomorrow. The market was still full of people but not that crowded. You enjoyed eating lots of interesting snacks. Your personal favorite was the quail head octopus but Jinyoung didn't like it. You went back to Kyoto Station to eat dinner at the sukiyaki place and you managed to score a seat this time. You enjoyed the dinner as it was delicious and called it a day.
The next day you were hesitating between Kiyomizu and Fushimi Inari. Both were famous temples but you knew you would be exhausted trying to cramp both into the same day, so you chose Fushimi Inari for this time. You didn't expect that the famous red gate shrine had lots of stairs. Jinyoung laughed at you when you were out of breath halfway. You were lucky you didn't wear kimono this time as it would be torturous to wear one to climb all those stairs. You could see the view of Kyoto city when you almost reached the top. Jinyoung then guided you to a small path leading to Tofukuji temple and you just followed him. Apparently he read some walking guide that you could go to other temple adjacent to Fushimi Inari. You thought you were lost when you arrived at some residential area but after checking the map, Jinyoung managed to find the entrance of the temple. The temple was okay, but the garden was something else. It looked like exactly the picture in the website. The only difference was the leaves colors. It hasn't turned into orange fully. It'd be more beautiful with the orange-red leaves, you thought. You were glad that there were some benches in the garden so you could rest your tired legs.
"Tired?" Jinyoung asked as he offered you a water bottle.
"A bit. I need to exercise more after this," you accepted the water gratefully.
"But then you'd forget again once you go back to work," he teased you as you often said the same thing and never executed your plan to exercise regularly. He offered you a hand to stand up and you received it.
"Come on, let's go back to the station and find another good food. You haven't tried the ramen, so let's find one for tonight. I checked the website last night and there were lots of ramen from all districts in Japan on the ninth floor."
Tonight is your last night in Kyoto. Tomorrow you would go back to Seoul and Jinyoung would go back to his members. You were grateful for this peaceful holiday. It was just like you expected. You weren't adventurous like Jackson's girlfriend, nor a foodie like Jaebeom's girlfriend, so you relieved that Jinyoung didn't find you boring. You enjoyed the comfortable silence between you as you enjoyed the view and the temples. He didn't mind with your request to wear traditional clothes either. You surely right about spending time with Jinyoung in Kyoto. It was a relaxing getaway that you needed from your hectic work.
