My Platinum-Blond Childhood Friend Is So Pretty

69 – 25. Sweden Trip with Eli -3

Sigutuna, Sweden, felt like a town from a fairy tale.

As the aunt said, it was bustling due to the Christmas market, but that didn’t hide the town’s beauty.

Moreover, the people passing by didn’t give Eli obvious looks, which was great. They did glance at me a few times, but not many.

Thanks to that, I could walk around with a more comfortable heart than ever before.

“There are so many Santa souvenirs.”

“It’s Christmas, so the market is open.”

“But it’s similar to and different from Stockholm. It was like that there too, but this place feels more old-fashioned. Is it because it’s a small town?”

“It’s just old. Sigutuna is Sweden’s first city, after all.”

“Ah, really? So that’s how it is.”

“This atmosphere itself has become a tourist product.”

I occasionally heard stories about Sweden and Sigurd from Eli.

In fact, Eli had lived in Korea since she was five, and even though she hadn’t been to Sweden more than ten times, it was amusing how she explained it as if she were a Swedish person.

Now, her actions and speech were those of a perfect Korean high school girl, but it seemed like her affection for her birth country was unavoidable.

I felt a certain sense of nostalgia.

I didn’t care about the beautiful things, but just the fact that Eli was born in Sweden made me have a lot of goodwill towards the country.

“Eli, hey.”

I playfully spoke to my platinum-haired childhood friend, who was still beautiful even in a foreign street.

“Don’t you think it would be good to live in a place like this for a month or so?”

“A month? Why?”

“Just for healing, you know. Just the two of us. We can take leisurely strolls with our arms around each other every day… It would be nice to spend our days like that, don’t you think? Even if it’s just for a month.”

“…….”

90% of it was sincere, but not for now.

This is a story for when we’re both adults.

I thought that by then, we would be even more attached to each other than we are now, constantly kissing every day.

Of course, the cost of the plane tickets to get here was no joke, and I didn’t know how much it would cost to live together for a month, so I didn’t know if it would be possible.

But wasn’t it a slightly romantic thing to say? I looked at Eli.

However, as soon as Eli heard it, she furrowed her brow.

Hmm, what did I do wrong?

“Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

“Are you mad?”

“Sorry.”

I immediately apologized as I saw her face, which had been looking good, suddenly become distorted.

Luckily, Eli quickly told me the reason.

“Is that a proposal? Are you serious? You’re going to kill me.”

“Ah… Ah, no! I’ll prepare a separate, more enthusiastic proposal when I give you the ring.”

“Hmph.”

“It wasn’t a proposal, but rather, I was saying we could live together here before we get married…”

“If we lived together, that would mean we’re married, what’s the point of saying that before marriage? Do you want to die?”

“……That’s true! So, the feeling of us living together here as practice for our married life is… okay?”

“If that’s the case… well, it’s okay, I guess.”

It was a slightly unreasonable anger, but I was happy that she thought of living together or getting married as a matter of course.

I thought that maybe the fact that the word “marriage” was still embarrassing for Eli was why her anger was so easily triggered.

So, I found her even more adorable and lovable. The way she looked at me with a slightly flushed face, as if she wanted to kiss me right away.

But since there were so many tourists around, it was difficult to do so, so we focused on sightseeing again.

“Should we buy souvenirs here? How about that? The Santa hat with only the nose showing is cute, isn’t it?”

“It’s ugly.”

“Isn’t it cute…?”

“Are you going to give that to Seongminjae?”

“Maybe there’s no Santa Girl doll? Seongminjae would like that kind of thing.”

We quickly fell into a date-like atmosphere. Although the environment was different from when we were in Korea, it felt like nothing had changed since we were together.

Looking at this, it seemed like there was no need to come all the way to Sweden.

As long as we’re by each other’s side.

“Eli.”

“What.”

“I want to kiss you.”

“…….”

“But there are too many people… where can we go?”

“The building behind us doesn’t have many people.”

That was enough.

***

On the first day, after a long flight, we finished our sightseeing by taking a casual stroll around the town.

When we returned home, we all gathered around a large table for dinner.

We were amazed by the numerous dishes and utensils that were completely different from those in our country. As soon as we took a bite of the food made by Grandma and Auntie.

We were surprised from the moment it touched our tongues.

“…….”

“Is it salty?”

“A little…?”

“The food here is usually like that.”

The food was quite salty. We took one bite at a time, and most of it was like that.

Except for potatoes, pie, and cabbage, the salty flavor was strong. It wasn’t like we couldn’t eat it, but it was refreshing due to the unfamiliarity, although it would be difficult to eat frequently.

Eli also spoke casually, but it seemed like it would be hard for him to eat a lot since he was used to Korean food.

“It’s really salty. Oppa, is it much saltier than what we had in Itaewon before?”

“It’s at least ten times saltier than that. I heard Mark say that our food is a bit bland, so I guess that’s true.”

“We also eat quite salty food in our country, but this is too much.”

My parents were also very surprised by the salty flavor, but they enjoyed the foreign food, saying it was a new experience.

“Doyoon, what do you think of Swedish food?”

“It’s delicious. It’s different from Korean food, so it’s interesting.”

“Haha, eat a lot. Was it fun walking with Eli?”

“Yes. The town was so beautiful that just looking around was enjoyable.”

“I’m glad you liked Sigtyuna.”

During dinner, we also had a lot of conversations with William Grandpa and Vera Grandma. They seemed to like Eli a lot, and they showed even more interest when they found out he was Eli’s boyfriend.

Although the food was salty, it had its own flavor, and I found it amusing to converse in Swedish.

Sometimes I didn’t understand or only spoke in simple words, but even that was fun.

After finishing dinner, we gathered around the living room table again for tea time and conversation.

Even in the summer, the place was beautiful, and when it snowed, it would be even more beautiful, and this bustling atmosphere was nice, but in quiet times, the atmosphere was also great.

I really enjoyed this time, where we had a calm conversation, summarizing our day, without looking at TV or smartphones.

And that late evening…

In the underground room, which felt like a secret base, I was enjoying the consideration of William grandfather, who had even set up a simple bed for me.

-Dalkok

I welcomed Eli, who had sneaked into the underground room.

I didn’t say anything, but I thought they would definitely come since we didn’t have a goodnight kiss today.

I naturally hugged Eli, who had snuggled into my arms.

– Side

After giving a short peck on the lips, I opened my mouth.

“Your braided hair looks pretty. It suits you well.”

“Grandma did it for me.”

“I should learn how to do it before I go back. I’ll do it for you then.”

“If you don’t learn it properly, I won’t let you do it.”

“I’ll do my best to learn. You’re so cute and pretty, I want to see it again when I go back.”

“That’s a given…”

Eli’s hair, which was braided into one and hung down to the left, looked extremely cute.

Seeing them wear a slightly puffed up one-piece pajama, I felt like I was looking at a beautiful countryside girl living in a quaint village from a movie. My honest compliment also made Eli’s face turn bright red, which was too adorable.

So, I kept saying how cute they were, and we shared a kiss like usual, then lay down on the bed with Eli in my arms.

As we lay down side by side, looking at each other, we talked with our hands behind Eli’s back.

“I’ll come again tomorrow night, so wait for me.”

“Will you come again the night after tomorrow?”

“Yes, I will.”

“I’ll wait for you every day.”

“That’s a given. Wait more tomorrow.”

“……? Okay, I’ll wait eagerly.”

It was a strange conversation, but I agreed for now.

Tomorrow was Christmas Eve, and at this time tomorrow, it would be Christmas. So, I thought it would be nice to spend more time with just the two of us.

It seemed that Christmas Eve was a night when people around the world did many strange things.

I wasn’t planning to do anything like that, but I was still very excited.

Even if we just kissed all night, I would be extremely happy with Eli.

***

The next day.

On Christmas Eve, we went sightseeing in Stockholm with our families, including Eli’s family, William grandfather, and Vera grandmother.

While Sigutuna had a typical old countryside village atmosphere, Stockholm felt like a medieval city for some reason.

The basic building style was like that, and especially the Gamla Stan, which retained the old Swedish appearance, had an even stronger feeling.

Thanks to that, my parents and I couldn’t help but take pictures here and there, exclaiming in wonder whenever we crossed a section.

“Let’s take a family photo here. Doyun, come stand next to Mom!”

We took pictures with all eight of us together, and also took cozy photos with just the three of us under Mom’s guidance.

But in our family photo…

-Swook

“Eli, do you know you’re not part of our family yet? Why are you sneakily standing next to us?”

“…Hm.”

“Jieun-ah, our Eli is still a prospective daughter-in-law, isn’t she too formal?”

“Hey, we need to take a family photo with our daughter-in-law too.”

“Shh, quiet! She’s just a prospective one, not officially married yet!”

“I agree with Jieun. It’s still far off. Of course, Doyun is a prospective son-in-law, but since it’s just prospective…”

Even secretly trying to get Eli to join in and calling her “daughter-in-law” in front of our parents brought small smiles and happiness.

And Aunt Ye-rin countered.

“Let’s take a family photo with Doyun too, he’s family.”

“Yes!”

“Who do you think you are, putting our son in your family? No way!”

They bickered like that.

In the end, Eli joined our family photo, and I also joined Eli’s family photo. We took many pictures with our grandparents too.

Before the trip, Eli and I had explored various tourist attractions like the cathedral, palace, and museum, taking numerous photos.

Just doing that made the day feel like it was already over. In Sweden, the sun sets at 3 pm in the winter, so we quickly returned to Sigtuna.

Initially, Dad had only planned to visit Stockholm and Sigtuna, so he wasn’t in a hurry. There were already too many things to see in those two places.

So, back at home, we started decorating the house with Christmas decorations we had bought on our trip.

Together with our family, we decorated the house with a Christmas atmosphere, and William Grandpa even brought a small Christmas tree from somewhere and set it up in the living room.

“Should we decorate the basement too, so we can see it when we wake up?”

“Yeah!”

William Grandpa and I decorated the basement room with various ornaments too.

“This is really great…”

As I looked around the house, I couldn’t help but say that.

We never decorated our house like this for Christmas, not since I was a kid.

It was a lot of work, and cleaning up afterwards was a hassle, so we never even thought about doing it. But now that we’re all doing it together, it’s really enjoyable.

Of course, the atmosphere of the town and house itself might be well-suited to Christmas decorations, but anyway…

And today, our mom even helped out, preparing a table with a mix of Swedish and Korean dishes.

-Ding!

The adults started having a drink, and in that joyful atmosphere, they lost track of time, chatting and laughing.

As the night grew late, and it was time to clean up, the lingering happiness left a sense of regret.

After washing up and returning to the basement room, a sense of emptiness settled in my heart.

Our family, Eli’s family, Eli’s grandparents…

The happy moment when we all smiled and enjoyed ourselves together still lingered in my mind.

But.

-Tap, tap…

As I heard the sound of footsteps coming from outside, I regained my energy.

Thinking of my lovely girlfriend, who had shared today’s happiness with me and would kiss me again like yesterday, made the emptiness fade a little.

-Ding!

And when the door opened…

The same adorable, puffy pajamas as yesterday appeared before me, making me smile.

……?

……Merry Christmas.

The most beautiful Santa in the world had come to find me.