Sightseeing and unexpected development

"I can't believe you really did that, Yun..." Dahl softly said as we left the store, her eyes glued to the new ring on her finger and a warm smile on her face.

"I do what I want. And what I want is to make you happy~" I replied, kissing her again. "You deserve it~"

She smiled more shyly. "I never expected things to end up like this when me and Lia turned you... I had hoped we could become friends, but I would never have imagined we'd get this far..."

"Life is full of surprises, isn't it?"

She giggled. "Indeed..."

We walked to the car rental office Dahl rented a car from and got our key. It would make things far easier to do some sightseeing, and it was exactly what we had planned to do for the rest of the day. Dahl told me about some places that were definitely worth visiting, in addition to the classic tourist spots like Buckingham Palace and Big Ben.

She first led me to a Japanese-inspired garden called the Kyoto Garden. It was surprising to see something like this in London, but it was quite a beautiful sight.

"I often went there with Cecile before. We loved to wander around and relax at the different parks in the city." She said with a melancholic smile. "It's her who made me interested in flowers and other plants. I didn't know much before I met her."

I could see why she loved going there, as it was very charming and relaxing. And a park like this was quite literally a breath of fresh air in the middle of a busy capital like London.

"May I ask how the two of you met?"

"Hmm... If you want." She replied more shyly.

"I do want to learn more about you, Dahl."

"Well... While I was in high-school, there was an exchange program with a school from Belgium. We welcomed a few students from there, including Cecile. She was a very bubbly girl, who always managed to cheer everyone up just with her presence. I was one of the few students in my class who studied French back then, as most preferred Spanish, and we ended up hanging out together often."

She smiled weakly. "Her English wasn't very good, so I had to help her quite a few times. During the time she stayed here, and afterwards when it was my turn to study in Belgium, we became quite close, and stayed in touch afterwards. We often visited each other, and when I started my Master degree, she came to live with me. We got Marion soon after I got my diploma, and married a year later."

Dahl seemed more at ease mentioning her former wife. She was still melancholic, obviously, but she was clearly trying to get over it and be more open with me.

"That's quite the romantic story." I commented.

She sighed. "Yeah... Unfortunately it didn't have a happy ending..."

I held her hand to reassure her. "You can have your happy ending now. I'll make sure of it."

"Thank you."

I looked around, observing the vegetation. "This park truly is beautiful."

"Almost as beautiful as you." She replied, relaxing. "Maybe I could take some pictures of you for your followers?"

"Hmm, good idea. It'd make for a great decor."

We wandered around until we found the perfect spot. Dahl borrowed my phone and took about a dozen pictures while I struck various poses. The experience from my old self helped me find the perfect poses fairly easily, my body almost acted on its own. Satisfied with the photos, I uploaded them on my Instagram, advertising at the same time this park and the gothic store I bought my clothes from, recommending them to my followers if they had the opportunity to visit London.

"Mind taking a few of me too?" Dahl asked, handing me her phone. "I want to show them to Laura and Lia's... my family." She added, correcting herself after a short pause.

"Of course." I smiled and got in position, snapping a few pictures of her as she observed some flowers and a pond.

She was a bit shy, but visibly happy to be here.

Once we were done with visiting this garden, we searched for a place to eat. We settled for an Italian restaurant nearby. There were tons of restaurants with various specialties in London, apparently. From the classic Chinese, Italian, and Indian restaurants to more obscure ones like Polish, Chilean, or Maghreb ones. Since she travelled a lot, Dahl told me about some of her favourite dishes as we ate. She was very fond of Russian and Japanese food especially, but the latter was most likely due to her prolonged stay in Japan.

After lunch, we went to a more classic tourist spot, the British Museum. A massive source of memes on the Internet, but still an important place to visit in London. Seeing all these artefacts from all around the world made me want to go on a world tour someday. My skinwalker nature would make it far easier, as Dahl's past taught me. We could travel together, visiting some countries I always was intrigued by. Korea would most likely be my first destination, since I had the nationality already.

I haven't even finished my job here, it's too early to think about this...

Afterwards, we went back to another park nearby to relax.

"Say... Do you have anything planned for the summer break?" Dahl asked a bit shyly.

"Not yet, no. It's still far away. Anything in mind?"

"I was wondering if you'd like to meet... our family, Lia's and mine. Now that we're engaged, it'd be a good time, I think."

I smiled, kissing her. "I'd love to meet them. I remember you mentioning your brother a few times, but I don't know much about them."

"They're all very nice. Our father is the director of a medium-sized company specialising in management consulting, and our mother is a secretary working for a doctor in our hometown. Despite their upbringing, they've been very supportive when they discovered that I was into women. And our brother is very open-minded, so he also took it well."

"That's good. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to do the same with my family. They'll definitely disown me once they learn that I'm dating you. Not that I really care, though."

She rested her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes. "They're idiots. They don't deserve a wonderful daughter like you."

"You're right."

We stayed like this for a moment, just relaxing on the bench and appreciating the atmosphere of the park. Dahl even fell asleep for a moment, so I tried my best not to move to let her rest. I looked at my Instagram in the meantime. The pictures I posted this morning already got a good amount of likes, people were enjoying seeing me in this style.

I was looking at my private messages. I received on a daily basis quite a few messages of bad taste, written by stupid men, but also some messages of girls asking for advice or complimenting me. One specific message caught my attention, though.

"Dear Seo-Yun, me and my friends are big fans of you. I hope this message won't seem weird, but did you perhaps visit the Mertens Flower Shop in Watford yesterday? If not, you can ignore this message. But if you were, would it be possible for me to meet the woman that was with you?"

It was written by a certain Marion Mertens... Dahl's daughter...

Damn it... I forgot how popular I was...

I glanced at Dahl, who was still sleeping, wondering if I should tell her about this. I wasn't sure what her daughter wanted, even if I had the feeling it was related to what happened yesterday, but maybe it'd be the opportunity for Dahl to get closer to her...