Tell Me You Like It [R19]

Chapter 5.2: Interest and Taste

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 ᴛʀᴀɴꜱʟᴀᴛᴇᴅ ʙʏ ᴅʀᴇᴀᴍ ᴛᴇᴀᴍ: ᴅɪᴠɪɴᴇ

For Anna, who had never been to Italy, all of Luciano’s stories were interesting. In Korea, few people enjoyed drinking espresso, so it was amazing to hear about shakerato for the first time.

It was a fun and enjoyable conversation about coffee, though nothing special. Anna was excited to come to a foreign country and have a conversation with a person from elsewhere. It was an emotion she could enjoy since it was her first time traveling abroad, breaking her set routine.

“It’s not hard to make. I’ll make one for you if we have the chance.”

“Really?”

“Of course.”

“Next time, Luciano should try an iced americano.”

Luciano rolled his eyes at her words. It was funny to see his cute expression.

“Well, it wouldn’t be bad to give it a try.”

A crease of disbelief dug under Luciano’s brow.

“It’s unexpectedly good.”

“Really?”

“Yes!”

“Then I’ll trust Anna and drink it.”

With a questionable look, he nodded.

After finishing their meal, Luciano and Anna came out of the restaurant and stopped in front of the huge Roman bridge, stacked granite in the shape of more than a hundred arches.

“It’s so tall. A lot bigger than I thought.”

Anna looked up at the bridge of great height. It was incomparable to what she saw in pictures.

“Anna, there’s a staircase over there. Want to go up and see?”

Luciano pointed to some stairs opposite of the restaurant they were just in.

“Sure!”

The stairs weren’t tall but there were a lot.

“Oh!”

“Ah!”

While climbing diligently, Anna twisted her foot. As her body reeled, Luciano who was slowly keeping pace with her held her strongly from the side.

Seeing that her right ankle was momentarily bent sideways, Luciano set Anna upright. She was wearing thick winter clothes, but his thick, strong arm wrapped around her waist. His other hand held her hand tightly.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“I-It’s fine. I’m not hurt.”

If he hadn’t caught her, she would’ve ended up rolling down the steps.

“Phew, you have to be careful. You could have been in big trouble.”

“Thank you.”

It was only after confirming that she was standing upright did the man’s strong arm slowly unwrap around her waist. The strength and touch of his arm was so vivid that she felt a lingering feeling long after it was gone.

‘Sigh, I guess I’m unlucky.’

“Anna should be fortunate that I was standing next to you,” Luciano said, as if reading her thoughts.

“What?”

“You didn’t get hurt thanks to me, so Anna is a lucky woman.”

He spoke with a little swagger, jiggling his eyebrows up and down. The hand that caught hers didn’t let go.

She didn’t know whether her heart was pounding because she almost fell down the stairs or because they were holding hands.

Luciano’s hands were big and warm. The adult man’s hands were much bigger and thicker than  hers, as if that was right.

Whatever the reason, the chance to hold hands with Luciano was nice. Maybe she was lucky, being able to go up the stairs hand-in-hand like this.

“Yes, I think so too.”

Anna was only momentarily depressed before smiling and being escorted up by Luciano.

When they reached the top, Luciano let go. Like a polite gentleman, he only held out his hand to help her up the stairs.

As the large and warm hand left, her fingers itched with regret and her chest felt stuffy. Since they met, he had made his existence clear to her heart pounding in her chest.

At the highest point, she could clearly see the bridge with a glance.

“Wow!”

An exclamation came out. It was towering looking up from the bottom, but it was equally as majestic from eye-level. The arches made of stone spaced evenly, forming a beautiful work of art.

“It’s pretty.”

“That’s right.”

Luciano looked at Anna, whose eyes were focused on the Aqueduct, and agreed. This landmark bridge that the Romans built held little inspiration for Luciano, who often looked at historical Roman sites.

But Anna, who was gazing at the bridge with shining black pearl eyes, was much more beautiful and interesting to him.

“It’s really pretty.”

Whilst saying that, Anna looked at Luciano with a huge smile like that of a sunflower.

The breathtaking, gorgeous smile shone brighter than the sun in the sky. She was like a mini sun that glowed on its own.

Seeing her genuinely delighted face, Luciano’s mood rose endlessly too.

Strangely, seeing her smile made his heart fall, like riding to the top of a roller coaster and suddenly accelerating down.

But he didn’t dislike it. Though Anna didn’t seem the type to enjoy such rides, she looked good when she smiled. He wanted to see more of this face.

It was worth coming to Spain just to meet her.

“I’m glad I came to Spain.”

“Yes. Me too.”

“Anna, do you want me to take a picture?”

It would be a beautiful picture with the Aqueduct in the background.

“Yes!”

Connecting to the stairs was a protruding space like a balcony where people could take pictures with the water bridge.

Luciano took Anna’s phone and snapped a picture. She smiled sweetly, unable to hide her happiness.

“What do you think? Do you like it?”

Luciano returned her phone and showed her the photo. Anna leaned forward and looked.

“Wow, you did a great job.”

He took a picture with Anna at the center so that the long bridge could be seen to the side at a glance.

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

When Anna pulled out the long stick, Luciano naturally placed a hand over her shoulder. Anna’s heart felt like it was about to burst from the heat coming from the man leaning close to her.

The two took a picture with the bridge behind them.

They put their heads together to check it. The two were both smiling in the picture.

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

“Do you want me to take a picture of you, Luciano?”

“No, it’s fine because I have this.”

He pointed to the photo with Anna.

“Shall we go down now?”

“Sure.”

“Give me your hand. You can’t fall again.”

He extended a large palm and held it in front of her.

“Okay…”

Anna’s voice shook slightly.

The two enjoyed the view as they walked down the stairs, moving on to the small uphill path on the other side of the bridge.

Since they rented a car, they were able to comfortably drive to the Alcázar of Segovia, the one Snow White’s castle was modeled after. The two took pictures from below where they could see the whole castle and played around.

The blue roof of the Alcazar gleamed in the bright sunlight.

After seeing the Catedral de Segovia (Segovia Cathedral), the two set off for Toledo. It was four in the afternoon, but the sun set early in the winter so it was already dark.

(TN: I must interrupt and say I don’t believe the sunset time is factual. Should be around 5:30-6:30 PM sunset time for winter. Heck, people eat dinner at 9 due to the late sunset period, and that’s early to them! Everything else is pretty accurate though; the author might’ve really been to Spain before.)

It took almost two hours to go from Segovia to Toledo. At Luciano’s request, Anna booked an affordable dormitory in Toledo on the way. It wasn’t difficult to make a reservation since the hostel was practically empty since it was winter.

There weren’t other people, so they would be the only two sharing the dorm, but Anna wasn’t worried.

Everything should be fine since it was a hostel, and even if something did happen, the other was Luciano, who respected her and her boundaries.

Anna wasn’t sure if she was ready to spend the night with him or not as this was her first time.

“There’s a little train in Toledo and a city tour bus. It’ll take you around the whole city in one trip.”

Anna said after booking the hostel and looking at tour guides in Toledo. Toledo, once the Kingdom of Toledo or Crown of Castile, was now designated as a UNESCO World Heritage City.

“Since we have a car, I don’t think we need to take the bus, so how about the little train?”

“Sure.”

“Anything else?”

“I heard it’s best to drink coffee while watching the sunset at Parador de Toledo. The night view is pretty and it’s famous for its view point that can see the whole of Toledo at a glance.”

“The sunset’s a bit late now, so why don’t we have a meal at Parador and watch the night view?”

“Okay, I’ll make a reservation now.”

Maybe because it was winter, she could make a reservation easily.

Arriving in Toledo, the two went up to the Parador de Toledo on high ground. It was a lot higher up than they thought, so as the car ran along the dark road without milestones, they wondered if this was really the right path.

They finally pulled up to the parking lot in front of the hotel and headed to the main gate. Portraits of Jesus and his twelve disciples hung on a red wall in the lobby. The roof was supported by light-colored wood rafts.

Following the employee, Anna entered the restaurant inside the hotel and told them she had a reservation.

“This way please.”

On one side of the restaurant, performers were singing live. The night view of Toledo shone through the large windows, and the waiter navigated through the white tablecloth tables with ease, bringing them to a table by the wooden glass door.

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There were less words in English than expected but I don’t want to combine another chapter again. Athanasia’s chapters are next (and I heard she has the “good” parts 👀)