Tell Me That You Like It

“How can you drink Americano with ice?”

 

“For Koreans, it’s iced Americano. Even if it’s so cold in the middle of winter that you might freeze to death, Americano should be as cold as ice.”

 

“Are you adding ice to an already bland Americano?”

 

It was a response that he could not understand at all.

 

“Yes. Sometimes I drink it hot, but most Koreans like iced Americano.”

 

“Mamma mia!”

 

Lucino shook his head left and right as if he couldn’t understand. He was surprised by Korea’s coffee culture, which he had never heard of before.

 

In Italy, where there is no culture of drinking Americano cold, it was strange to put ice in coffee.

 

A little later, a male employee brought Lucino an espresso and Anna a cup of warm coffee in a teacup and a glass full of ice.

 

As Anna poured coffee into a glass full of ice, Lucino could not keep his mouth shut.

 

A cold Americano… It was something he couldn’t even imagine. It wasn’t that he was ignoring Anna’s tastes. He was just a little surprised because he was witnessing for the first time something he had never imagined before in his life.

 

“It’s still delicious when you drink it like this.”

 

There was a lot of ice so the warm Americano got cold quickly. Anna muttered while drinking Americano with melted ice floating in it.

 

“Do Koreans really like that?”

 

He looked at Anna in disbelief as she enjoyed her iced Americano.

 

“Yes!”

 

“How can you drink like that? How amazing.”

 

“Do you drink hot coffee in Italy even in the summer? Do you think summers in Italy are cool?”

 

Anna tilted her head and asked questions one after another. Savoring her iced Americano.

 

“I rarely drink Americano itself. Because Italians love espresso. Well, when it comes to cold coffee, there is something called shakerato.”

 

“Sikhye… Latte?”

 

To Anna’s ears, Lucino’s pronunciation sounded like Sikhye Latte.

 

“Caffè shakerato.

It is made by adding ice to espresso and shaking it. In English, we use the same word as shake, but in Italian pronunciation it is called

Caffè

shakerato. In addition to ice, we sometimes add sugar or syrup.”

 

“Sounds similar to an iced Americano?”

 

“It’s not bland like Americano. Because you drink it after shaking it several times, there is a lot of foam at the top.”

 

“I see. I’d like to try it.”

 

For Anna, who had never been to Italy, none of the stories Lucino told were boring and just interesting.

 

In Korea, there are few people who enjoy drinking espresso, and it was her first time hearing about shakerato, so she was surprised.

 

It was fun and enjoyable to have this kind of conversation even over coffee, which was nothing special.

 

Anna was excited about having conversations in a foreign country that could only be had by going to another country in person or meeting people from that country.

 

It was a feeling that could not be felt in the established routine of daily life, but could be enjoyed because it was her first time traveling abroad.

 

“It’s not difficult to make. I will do it when I get the chance.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Sure.”

 

“Next time, Lucino, try an iced Americano.”

 

Lucino rolled his eyes at those words. Looking at her shaking pupils, it was funny and cute.

 

“Hmm. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to try it.”

 

But the wrinkles of distrust were deep in Lucino’s smooth eyebrows.

 

“It’s surprisingly delicious.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yes!”

 

“Then I will trust Anna and give it a try.”

 

He nodded, but his eyes remained suspicious until the end.

After finishing their meal, Lucino and Anna left the restaurant and stopped in front of a huge Roman aqueduct made of granite with more than a hundred arches.

 

“The size is amazing. It’s much bigger than I thought.”

 

Anna raised her head and looked up at the huge aqueduct. The size was incomparable to what was seen in the photo.

 

“Anna, there are stairs over there. Would you like to go up there and have a look?”

 

Lucino pointed to the stairs in the opposite direction from the restaurant where they had lunch.

 

“Great.”

 

The stairs were low but there were quite a few.

 

“Oh!”

 

“Oh!”

 

While climbing diligently, Anna lost her footing about halfway up.

 

As her body stumbled, Lucino, who had been slowly keeping up with Anna’s pace as she climbed the stairs, stood by her side and held her body strong.

 

Lucino, who saw that her right ankle was momentarily bent to the side, helped Anna stay upright.

 

Despite wearing thick winter clothing, his strong and muscular arms were wrapped around her waist. His other hand tightly held onto hers.

 

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

 

“It’s okay, it’s okay. I wasn’t hurt.”

 

If he hadn’t stopped her, she would have fallen down the stone steps.

 

“Whew, you have to be careful. You almost got into big trouble.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

Only after making sure she was standing upright did the man’s strong forearm and hand slowly move away from her waist.

 

The strength and feel of the forearm and hand wrapped around her waist were so vivid that even after he withdrew his arm, she felt like his arm and hand were wrapped around her waist for quite a long time.

 

‘Ha, I guess I’m really unlucky.’

 

“Anna should feel lucky to have me by her side.”

 

Lucino spoke as if he had read her thoughts.

 

“Yes?”

 

“Thanks to me, you didn’t get hurt. So Anna is a lucky person.”

 

He moved his eyebrows up and down and spoke a little arrogantly. Without letting go of Anna’s hand he held.

 

She wasn’t sure if her heart was pounding because she almost fell down the stairs or because she was holding his hand.

 

She liked Lucino’s hands because they were so big and warm. A grown man’s hand was much larger and thicker than hers, as it should be.

 

Maybe, as he said, she is lucky. Because she can climb the stairs holding hands that are so warm.

 

Whatever the reason, the opportunity to join hands with Lucino wasn’t a bad one.

 

“Yes. I think so.”

 

Anna, sullen for a moment, smiled and followed Lucino’s escort up all the way up the stairs.

 

When they reached the highest point, Lucino released her hand.

 

Like a polite gentleman, he held her hand only to help her climb the stairs.

 

As the warm and comforting heat radiated away, a sense of longing filled her, causing a tingling sensation at her fingertips and around her heart.

 

Ever since meeting Lucino, her heart had been making its presence known, distinctly and incessantly, residing in the left side of her chest.

 

As she climbed to the highest point, she had a panoramic view of the aqueduct.

 

“Wow!”

 

The exclamation came out of nowhere.

 

It was nice to look up at the aqueduct from below, but looking down from the highest point, at almost the same eye level as the aqueduct, it was open and refreshing.

 

The aqueduct made of stones of certain sizes was a beautiful work of art.

 

“It’s pretty.”

 

“Yes.”

 

Lucino looked at Anna, whose eyes were fixed on the aqueduct, and agreed.

 

Lucino, who often passed by and looked at historical sites in Rome every day without thinking, was not particularly impressed by the aqueduct said to have been built by the Romans.

 

To him, Anna, who looked at the aqueduct with sparkling black pearl-like eyes, was much prettier and more interesting.

 

“It’s really pretty.”

 

As he spoke, Anna smiled brightly like a sunflower and looked at Lucino.

 

Her breathtakingly beautiful smile was brighter and more brilliant than the sun in the sky. Like the sun, which naturally shines, she also shone.

 

Seeing the truly happy face, Lucino’s mood also rose endlessly.

 

Strangely enough, he felt his heart sink when he saw her smile. It was similar to the feeling of going up to the highest point on a roller coaster and then suddenly falling down.

 

But he never hated this.

 

Even though Anna wasn’t the type to enjoy rides, it felt good to see Anna smiling. He wanted to see her face more.

 

Just meeting her was worth coming to Spain.

 

“It’s a good thing you came to Spain.”

 

“Yes. Me too.”

 

“Anna, would you like me to take a picture for you?”

 

He thought it would be a very beautiful shot to capture her with the aqueduct in the background.

 

“Yes!”

 

Connected to the stairs, there was a space that jutted out like a balcony where people could take pictures of the aqueduct.

 

Lucino took Anna’s cell phone and took a picture.

 

Anna smiled sweetly and can’t hide her happiness.

 

“What do you think? Do you like it?”

 

Lucino returned the phone to Anna and showed her the photo he had taken. Anna put her head forward and looked at the photo.

 

“Woah. It was a really good shot.”

 

He took a picture of Anna, the subject, at the center of the picture, so that the long water bridge to one side could be seen at a glance.

 

“Shall we take a picture together? I have a selfie stick.”

 

When Anna took out a long stick from her bag, Lucino naturally stood next to her and put his arm around her shoulder.

 

Anna felt like her heart was going to explode because of the hand on one of her shoulders and the man coming closer to her side.

 

The two took a photo with the aqueduct behind them.

 

Anna and Lucino put their heads together and checked the photos. The two people in the photo were smiling.

 

“It came out well. Send it to me later.”

 

“Would Lucino like to take a picture too?”

 

“No. It’s okay because I have this.”

 

He pointed to a photo he had taken with Anna.

 

“Shall we go down now?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Give me your hand. I don’t want you to fall again.”

 

He spread out his large palm and held it out in front of Anna, as if to catch her.

 

“Yes.”

 

The end of Anna’s voice trembled slightly as she answered.

 

The two enjoyed Segovia by going down the stairs and walking carefully up the low uphill road on the other side of the aqueduct.

 

Thanks to renting a car, she was able to comfortably get to the Segovia Alcázar

, which is said to be the motif of the castle in Disney’s Snow White.

 

The two took pictures and played around at a place where they could look up at the castle from below.

 

The blue roof of the Alcázar was shining even bluer in the bright sunlight.

 

Only after seeing the Segovia Cathedral did the two depart for Toledo. It was four o’clock in the afternoon, but since the sun sets quickly in winter, it was already dark.

 

The distance from Segovia to Toledo was nearly a two-hour journey. In response to Lucino’s request to choose the accommodation, Anna made a reservation for an affordable dormitory along the way to Toledo.

 

Because it was winter, it wasn’t difficult to make a hostel reservation.

 

It seemed like she might end up sharing a hostel alone, but Anna wasn’t worried.

 

Since it was a hostel, it seemed like nothing bad would happen, and even if something bad happened, since the other person was Lucino, he would respect her if she didn’t want to.

 

Anna was new to all this and wasn’t exactly sure whether she was ready to spend the night with him or not.

 

“They say there’s a little train in Toledo. There is also a city tour bus. I think we can go around the whole thing if we ride it.”

 

Anna said as she finished reserving the hostel and was looking through what she had found about Toledo.

 

Toledo, the former capital of the Kingdom of Castile, is currently designated as a UNESCO World Heritage city.

 

“We have a car, so I don’t think we need to take the bus. How about taking the little train?”

 

“Great.”

 

“Is there anything else?”

 

“They say it’s nice to drink coffee while watching the sunset at the Parador Hotel cafe. The night view is also pretty. It is famous as a viewpoint where you can see the entire city of Toledo at a glance.”

 

“The sunset is late now. Would you like to eat at the Parador and watch the night view?”

 

“Yes. I’ll make a reservation now.”

 

Perhaps because it was winter, she was able to make a reservation easily.

 

After arriving in Toledo, the two went up to the Parador Hotel on high ground.

 

As they drove along the dimly lit road, the elevation was higher than expected. If there hadn’t been any signs indicating the way to the Parador Hotel, one might have questioned whether going up to such a high place would indeed lead to a hotel. Doubt would have crept in.

 

They parked their car in the parking lot in front of the main entrance of the Parador Hotel and headed towards the main entrance.

 

In the hotel lobby, whose roof was supported by maroon wooden rafters, portraits of Jesus and his twelve disciples hung on the red walls.

 

Following the staff’s guidance, Anna entered the restaurant inside the hotel and said she had made a reservation, saying her name.

 

“Come this way.”

 

On one side of the restaurant, performers were performing and singing live.

 

The night view of Toledo was sparkling beyond the large glass window. The staff led the two people to a table by the wooden glass door among the numerous tables covered with pure white tablecloths.