"so, where to?"

ella's eyes light up at the question, a small grin forming on her face as she crosses her arms over her chest and leans further on the table, her fingers fiddling with themselves under her armpits.

"paris. my second year of college is starting in a week." she says, thanking the waiter that hands her the menu. "and you? where are you going?"

"vienna. i'll be taking the plane to the states from there." he coos, opening the booklet & skimming through the countless of mouthwatering options. "i got accepted into harvard."

"congrats!" ella muses with a smile, looking up from her menu. "must've been a tough journey. i'm glad your hard work paid off."

he offers her a grateful smile, sliding his index down the laminated paper and eventually tapping on a certain plate. "i'll have miso ramen. haven't had that one in ages."

she hums, not having decided on her order yet ─ truthfully, she wasn't that hungry, but how could she turn down this handsome gentleman's offer? "i'll have that too. i want to try it."

"trust me, it's really good." he says & raises a hand for the waiter to notice him. after ordering two bowls of hot miso ramen, he looks at ella & mirrors her stance. "so, are you french?"

"monegasque, but i grew up in france." she says, taking a short sip from her cold glass of water. "you? where are you from?"

"south korea." "oh!" she exclaims, a hint of a smile appearing on her face. "and what are you doing in europe?"

"well." he starts, threading his fingers together & looking outside the slightly dirty window, the scarce countryside houses & the trees mixing into a green blur. "i took the year off. i wanted to... let's just say, 'explore' before i get all busy with my studies again." his body quivers with a head-to-toe shiver that causes a small chuckle to escape ella. "high school was... an adventure."

"the south korean educational system is quite known for its... brutality." she sucks in a long breath through gritted teeth. "and europe was your subject of interest?"

he nods. "i was always fascinated by the history of all those countries and their cultures. my favorites have to be spain and greece. i, in fact, picked up a few words from my stay there!" he states excitedly and clenches his eyes shut, trying to remember the word he heard everyone around him use on the daily. "uhh... γειά σου μαλάκα!"

"i─" ella bites harshly on her bottom lip to prevent herself from laughing loudly. "know what? nevermind." she waves her hand in front of her face & ducks her head down, stifling another laugh. "did you at least have fun?"

"oh yeah, totally!" he says, going quiet for a moment as the waiter stops next to their table and places their orders in front of them. when he walks away, the guy grabs the wrapped chopsticks & rips the paper off, expertly placing them between his fingers. "it was one memorable year, that's for sure." he then brings his hands together before his chest and slightly bows his head, muttering something under his breath before diving straight into his food.

"that's... cool." she coos, watching the way he holds the chopsticks & trying to mimic him. "this is actually my first time traveling alone." she mutters as she finally figures out the placing of his fingers, tapping the wooden sticks together before she starts stirring the ingredients together the way he did. "i went to see my grandma in monaco & stayed for the summer & september."

"did you have a fun time?" he asks, mouth full of ramen. she nods a bit. "yup. it was perfect. i concluded that monaco's the prettiest at night."

"i've to agree." he muses, grabbing an egg yolk with the sticks and slowly bringing it to his mouth. he proceeds to say while munching: "but by god, it's expensive as shit." he adds with a chuckle.

"totally." she nods again, gaze fixated on her bowl. after a few seconds, she speaks up. "so uhh... how did you like europe? has this trip been good for you?"

"hmm? ah!" he gasps, as if she'd just dragged him out of a trance. he places his chopsticks down & holds the bottle of water up to pour some to both their empty glasses, avoiding her confused gaze. "it was... was okay. it uhm..." he places the bottle down, left hand flying up to rub harshly against his forehead. "it sucked."

"what?" ella exclaims with a choked laugh, eyes widening. "why?"

"i mean... i mean it was alright, it's been great hopping up on trains and planes and seeing the world outside the books and the documentaries. at times it got tiring, sure, but i had my fair share of fun too." he stumbles upon his words, slender fingers now fiddling with the saltshaker. "plus, i got to come up with the best ideas..." he trails for a second, as if he wants to further elaborate on his words but is hesitant. "yeah..."

"what kind of ideas?"

"just uhm... ideas, you know?" he says with a chuckle, giving her a lopsided grin. she shakes her head a bit, letting him know that no, she doesn't know. he clicks his tongue and sucks a deep breath through clenched teeth, gaze wandering around the restaurant for a few moments. "y' know what? let's just... forget about this. what are you studying?"

"oh, i'm a translator." ella says, fingers fiddling as her hands rest on the table, the ramen long forgotten. "i've always been interested in languages. i'd taken up english and german in elementary school, got my degrees in middle and then took up spanish. now, on my first year, i took greek and italian."

his face twists in shock, lips twitching in a grin of disbelief as he throws his hands up in surrender. "wow, just─ wow!" he exclaims, shaking his head while mumbling incoherent stuff to himself. "you're a legend."

"nah, that's nothing." she waves him off with a flick of her wrist, feeling waves of heat travel up her body & gathering on her cheekbones, surely enough painting them red.

"it is! not many people are willing or patient enough to sit down and learn a whole new language, nevermind... five!" he smiles widely, revealing a set of pearly white teeth. "you're so cool." he breathes out with a light shake of his head ─ and ella swears she feels her heart jump at the compliment.

"t─thanks." she coos, placing her now sweaty palms on her thighs & rubbing them harshly up and down her jeans. "and you? what's your major?"

"biomedical engineering." at the small confused sound that escapes her and the tilt of her head, he chuckles. "it's uhm... well, i'll learn how to design & develop medical innovations that are installed on patients... prosthetic body parts, if you will."

ella slams her hands against the table, the bowls & cutlery clinking from the impact. "that is so fucking cool?" she then lets out a gasp, clasping both her hands over her mouth. "please excuse my language!"

a moment of silence passes, in which they're left staring at each other, one's gaze holding shock & the other's pure embarrassment. him breaking out in a fit of loud laughter doesn't help her situation at all, making her bury her face in her hands and violently shake her shoulders, as if it'd help her get rid of the shame.

"oh my god." he gasps between quiet guffaws, using the back of his sleeve to wipe away the lone tear brimming in the corner of his right eye. "you're really something, huh?" he mumbles with a nod of his head, his laughter slowly dying down into a string of occasional, faint chuckles. "it's okay, don't worry." he somehow manages to utter after a few seconds, looking at her through glossy eyes and clamped eyelashes, courtesy of his tears. "you can express yourself freely with me."

there goes her heart jumping again.

"but seriously, it's so cool. i've such huge respect for all doctors around the world." she continues with her statement, a small smile creeping up her face as she witnesses the shyness take over him ever so slowly, the tips of his ears glowing a tinted red as his head drops to his chest.

"i, as a future doctor, appreciate that." he says, placing one hand right where his heart is located & bowing his head.

for the next few seconds, a calming silence takes over, in which both of them stare outside the window and think of the other as some sort of miracle that appeared out of the blue to make their miserable train ride all the more interesting.

ella casts him a brief glance, her heart leaping crazily underneath the layers of clothes, skin and bones. she's met a handful of guys, dated some too, but never has she met one of his kind; he is... charming, in his own bizarre way. he's really eager to know more about her, which has hardly been the case with most of the guys she's dated ─ they were all too busy ranting about themselves to get to know her. and she'd like to know more about him too, have the chance to explore the maze his mind might be and find out about all those fascinating ideas he came up with that he was too shy to share with her. she's never been this hyped to meet someone.

too bad she'll have to bid him goodbye in an hour and a half.