The Right Choice - Alegerea potrivită [+18] (eng/ro)

Chapter 3 (eng)

Sabine raises her brow demanding explanations, but I tell her I have nothing to say, and we get out of the hotel.

"He was a very good-looking guy," she tells me and I don't fake it at all when talking to her, so I firmly agree with her.

I switch the topic, telling her about my talk with the girls at the reception and about how we had to make up our mind whether we would adventure ourselves alone in that area full of bars and clubs. We figure out that we wouldn't be doing it that evening whatsoever and that the best way was to wait a bit, since Sabine was hoping to find somebody on that group, who would recommend something more specific to us, a place where we wouldn't be the only strange ones. I don't know if it was only our impression, but, besides looking different from them, we also had another kind of fashion style.

Today, we were both wearing some slinky straight dresses, which were sporty and short, and sneakers, but, looking around, the classic outfit of the girls was made up of shorts and a very baggy shirt, or schoolgirl-like skirts, maybe some overalls with a light-colored shirt, buttoned up to the neck or even oversized. Their outfits were very... innocent, and that brought about a very long talk between us on that topic.

"Their makeup is nowhere near exaggerated," I notice while heading to Namdaemun Gate. "A little bit of mascara and pink or red lipstick. That's all."

"I see that some of them are using foundation, but, wanting to light up their skin even more, they don't really use the same shade as their skin tone."

"I don't think they really need foundation," I remark while being charmed by the doll-like face of a local girl waiting at a traffic light close to us. "Their skin is so perfect!"

Sabine smiles and agrees.

"We must get some of their famous face creams."

"We'll stack up, don't worry," I say cunningly.

Time goes by while we visit that old gate and read its history in some flyer we got at the entrance, and then we head to a nearby market, where we feel quite like in our traditional markets, full of stalls with cheap stuff or fake brands that amuse us with their names. We find some more interesting stands with traditional products, from where we decide that we would buy souvenirs before the end of our vacation.

We keep on going on foot to a park nearby and, without even noticing, we walk for miles, but we don't feel the tiredness anymore when we discover some temple or a place we had read about and which was on our list of tourist attractions. After a long walk, we reach N Seoul Tower, where we discover with delight millions of locks of different colors and forms, full of love messages – we assume, based on the little hearts drawn upon them. This habit is one of the favorite ones of South Korean couples: to put a lock in this place at certain anniversaries, thus signifying the bond between them and their eternal love.

Melancholic, we remain there for some time, mostly quiet, looking at couples leaving their locks there and taking selfies, kissing each other shyly because of all the people around them.

We look at each other and begin laughing because each of us is here without a date, but we mustn't feel weird, because there are other tourists or families that haven't come here for the ritual of this place. We get up at the same time and we go further, with a feeling of emptiness in our souls.

The best moment of the day occurs in a traditional village at the base of this mountain, where we rent traditional costumes and, for more than an hour, we feel like two authentic local girls. We've even had our hair done by the staff there, with cute braids and little flowers scattered all around our hair. The traditional costumes, by the name of Hanbok, give us a feeling of closeness towards this place. At least this is what I feel like. It's so beautiful and even the lady making my hair eventually tells me that I'm very beautiful and that the South Korean tradition looks good on me.