"by the way, what's your name?"

the guy squints his eyes shut as they step outside the train station, the sun shining bright in the clear blue sky. "i'm heeseung." he sticks his hand out for ella to shake. "and you?"

"i'm ella." she says, grabbing his hand and jerking it slightly. "you've such an interesting name."

"thanks... you too!" he hastily adds & offers her a huge smile. "it's pretty."

"thanks." she coos, and though she's been told that countless times, it hits different now. the two start walking side by side after maneuvering their way out of the crowded front of the station, their shoes thumping against the dirty sidewalk as cars of all colors & brands zoom past them on the busy street. "it's short for eleanor."

heeseung's naturally pouty lips form a tiny 'o' as he lets out a dragged sound of admiration, hands busy fixing the sleeves of his sweatshirt around his waist. "so a nickname of some sort."

"yeah!" she excitedly agrees, dodging a fire hydrant. she starts balancing on the edge of the sidewalk on her tippy toes, her brown hair sliding down her shoulders as she looks down. "do you have a nickname?"

heeseung watches her feet expertly dance on the narrow surface, a small smile building on his face. "my friend calls me hee. does that count?"

she shrugs. "i guess so?" her left foot steps on a slippery spot & she almost trips. heeseung is quick to grab her arm and help her up, not letting go until she's standing straight. "thanks." she sheepishly mumbles, continuing on with her walk. heeseung grins and takes a huge step to catch up with her smaller ones.

"y' know anything about vienna?" he asks, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans while his gaze flies from one tall building to another, reading words on signs in a language he's not familiar with ─ & he's most probably butchered the pronunciation of in his head. he's very thankful his linguistic companion isn't able to read minds.

ella shakes her head. "nope." she says. "but we can always ask." she looks at him as she steps down the sidewalk's edge, seeing as they're about to cross the road. "it'll be a great opportunity for me to practice my german." she tells him while waiting for the light to go green, her hand clutching tightly on the cardigan in her hands.

"say, why german?" heeseung asks as the little red man switches to green & they start moving down the striped part of the road with the crowd. "why learn it, i mean."

ella gives it some thought, only to end up shrugging. "honestly? i don't know. i remember watching a movie when i was 6 and the language left an impact on me. mom was afraid that learning both english and german at the same time would be overwhelming for me, but if anything, it was fun. i was so excited to be able to speak even one foreign language, and that gave me the motive to keep studying harder."

"where did you learn how to speak english so well though?" she asks as they pass a flower shop, hundreds of strong & intoxicating scents tickling their nostrils. his hand reaches out to poke on a small cactus' thorn, pulling his hand away with a jerk & a wince ─ he didn't quite expect it to hurt this much.

"i attended an english school back in korea. i always knew that i wanted to study abroad, so my parents thought that it'd be best for me to pick up the language from a young age." he then purses his lips with a nod of his head. "you know, most koreans don't speak or even learn english. they find the language to be useless when you're going to spend the rest of your life in your country, where you'll just need your language."

ella husks in awe. "i see." she trails, picking up her pace to pass a small group of loud people. "i was always wondering why's that ─ you know, i went there for a week-long school trip back in eleventh grade and we had a difficult time ordering food in small restaurants ran by elderly people. we would either use google translate ─ my biggest enemy ─ or prayed that our body language got the messages through. fun times." she adds with a small laugh.

"must've been chaotic."

the two walk up a couple stairs and find themselves at the top of a bridge. ella mimics heeseung and wraps her cardigan's thick sleeves around her waist, tying them tightly on her lap. she shoves a hand in her tote bag & pushes through the small notebooks, the candy wraps and the journals for her hair clip. her fingertips graze its plastic claws at the bottom of the bag. she fishes it out & gathers some stray strands of her hair behind, securing them together with the clip.

the sweat trickles in rivers down the nape of her neck, making her whine in sheer annoyance while wiping the thick droplets with a napkin.

"hey!" she calls upon spotting a bus stop with a bench underneath. "let's sit there for a while." she suggests & quickens her steps, sprinting to the empty spot. she immediately plops her body down, draping her arms over the backrest and spreading her legs out with a long sigh of relief.

"i guess we could use a rest ─ though we've been walking for a total of..." he pulls his phone out of his pocket and presses the button on the side. "...five minutes." he scoffs, taking a seat next to her and leaning back on the bench. "it's very hot indeed."

"much for it being mid october." she huffs, waving her hands in front of her face to create gusts of air. the two bask in the silence and the refreshing shadow, staring off at the view across from them. small boats cut through the river's deep blue surface like scissors on a paper, creating ripples and white foam on the water. there's a weak breeze that blows every other minute, bringing relief to the couple that puffs and pants from the heat.

"so what we doing?" ella asks after a few moments of silence, rolling her head around to look at heeseung. the guy shrugs, throwing his head back with a sigh and turning it around to look at her ─ a small smile creeps up on his face when he finds her already looking at him.

"all i need right now is a cold bottle of beer." he says with an innocent smile, chuckling at ella's expression of slight confusion.

"beer at five? with an empty stomach? you are wild." she exclaims, bemused by his absurdity.

"all that traveling and the changes in time line got my head spinning." he shakes his hands in an exaggerated manner to further express his point.

"let's go get something to eat from a convenience store then ─ and a beer." she adds & stands up, yet gets pulled back down by heeseung.

"take it easy, we've the whole day to ourselves." he grins and leans further back on the bench, bringing his hands behind his head. ella shakes her head and rolls her eyes, crossing her legs & staring off at the distance.

yes, she thinks, the whole day.

꒰🌷꒱

"kaiser is the best."

"no, fix is. the greeks just do it better." heeseung argues back as he grabs two white and blue cans of beer from the freezer in the corner, letting the door close with a thud. the glass & metallic cans clink in protest, making the guy throw a quick glance at where the unbothered cashier sits dozing off at the register.

"whatever." ella grumbles, opening the door again and grabbing a black and gold can. "why buy two anyway?"

"one beer's not enough." he says and closes the door for her.

"i wonder why you have no money to get a room." she jokes, walking to the snacks alley. heeseung snickers as he follows her, switching moods once he has to decide on a snack. humming in thought, he starts tapping his fingers on the colorful packages of the many different products he comes across.

"beer is best paired with chips."

"spoken like a true expert." she says and grabs a bag of bbq ruffles. "what about these?"

"absolutely not." he deadpans. "tastes like crap." he then grabs a bag of salt ruffles and shows it to her. "this, this is the best pairing in the world."

"i'll take your word for that, ramsay." she hugs the bag close to her & grabs another bag some feet away, elbowing his side to get his attention. "these?"

heeseung's expression twists in that of absolute horror. "seriously? ketchup?"

she wordlessly places the bag back on its respective spot, turning around to look through the beer nuts section.

"let's buy some of these too." she then takes a moment to think. "nevermind. they make my stomach swell." a look over her shoulder. "unless you want some?"

"nope, let's save money for dinner." he suggests, taking the stuff from her hands and placing them on his lap.

she purses her lips and tilts her head. "i can carry them, you know?"

"that wouldn't be very gentleman-ish of mine." he protests, making his way to the cashier with her tagging along. he reaches into the hip pocket of his jeans & pulls out folded paper money, whining when ella sticks a hand out to stop him from placing a 5€ one on the expecting woman's hand. "shush, i'll pay."

"awe, you guys are cute." the woman exclaims in a thick english accent as she scans the products. she proceeds to let out a dreamy sigh. "early stages of dating are so innocent."

"we're not dating." ella points out and grabs a plastic bag to put their stuff in. "matter of fact, we just met."

"really?" the woman's brows pinch in a frown, confusion painting over her strong characteristics. she leans closer to ella ─ her curious gaze never once leaving heeseung's slouching figure ─ and whispers: "is he holding you hostage, sweetheart?"

"what?! no!" his expression twists in fright, as ella lets out a hearty laugh. "ella, tell her!"

"we're good. he's got a flight to catch tomorrow morning and i'm keeping him company." she looks at him, her smile growing wider by the second. "Mach dir keine Sorgen, ist ein guter Kerl."

the woman seems momentarily taken aback by the change of languages, yet lets out a deep sigh and nods, looking at ella. "Wenn du es sagst." she coos, leaning even closer to her. concern & worry swims in her eyes as she says: "Aber Vorsicht, bitte."

ella nods and grabs her hand, giving it a light squeeze. "thank you so much! have a nice day!" she cheerfully coos & steps out of the convenience store, leaving a much perplexed heeseung standing frozen on his spot for a few seconds, before he greets the cashier and picks up his pace to catch up with her.

"what were go guys talking about?" he asks, taking the plastic bag from her hands.

ella shrugs. "just... women stuff." she says, giving him a smile. heeseung, on the other hand, doesn't seem satisfied with her reply.

"uhh, you guys were obviously talking about me." he says with a chuckle, but he is clearly worried about what the two women were conversing about.

"she just told me to be careful, that's all." she clasps her hands behind her back. "you don't hear anything good nowadays." she adds, hoping that the message goes through.

heeseung knows very well what she's referring to, hence why he can't bring himself to feel offended ─ he instead nods without saying anything. the two walk side by side, footsteps matching, until they reach a red light. cars speed past them, their drivers rushing to get back to the comfort of their home or start their boring afternoon shift, yet the two youngsters stay still, thinking of how the world has a cruel side that doesn't allow them to fully enjoy their little journey. ella can't let her guard down at his presence, while heeseung knows that, for the remainder of their time together, there'll be a part of her that thinks of him as a potential threat.

so he takes it upon himself to soothe her worries away, even though there is a ninety nine percent chance that his words will fall into deaf ears.

"you don't have to be scared of me." he says as the two stop outside a small music shop, the melancholic tunes of a forgotten 80's song echoing off its walls and reaching the passersby's ears. "and─and i know that this alone won't make your suspicions magically vanish, but... i hope that... you can let yourself enjoy this trip freely with me."

"i mean no harm."

the song has long come to a stop and has now given place to an electrified silence that the people's steps & their chattering breaks. ella sucks in a long breath, staring right into his eyes for what feels like a minute. she can see the genuine worry in them, the need to not be perceived as yet another sick-minded male who wants to take advantage of every woman he meets.

for some reason, ella feels like she can trust him. her mind tells her to still be wary of her companion, but her heart screams in protest, begging her to let herself just be in his presence.

"i know."