02 Better In Time

I’m gonna smile ‘cause I deserve to. It’ll all get better in time.

– Leona Lewis

••

It was a very long journey from Indonesia to Ireland. They had to go by car for over three hours from Dublin airport to get to the hotel. As soon as they arrived, Beatrice and Gerard wanted to do nothing but sleep in their three-bedroom suite despite it being eleven in the morning. On the other hand, Annaliese was so excited to see things around.

Right according to some reviews about this place, she loved the place in an instant. Everything was colorful yet simple. She took some pictures and posted them as a carousel on her I*******m, giving a heads-up about what her next vlog would be. In just a minute, her post was flooded with hundreds of likes and comments.

‘Look how powerful our voices are! They really accepted our idea!’

‘Annaliese, we wish you meet your true love there!’

‘Know that whatever happens Annaliestic will always support you. ♥’

Each of the positive comments she received always lit up her mood. They were the source of her joy. That was why she tried her best to show her appreciation by replying to some of their comments randomly, including those about her love life which she most likely tended to forget quickly.

Using G****e Maps as a guide, she continued exploring the place as if she had inexhaustible energy. She recorded every idea that came up and might be useful for vlog content.

When it was lunchtime, she dropped by a restaurant nearby. The first thing she found to be challenging was the Irish accent. Despite having English as her second language, she misheard many words and asked the waiter to repeat what he said.

As she was waiting for her order to come, she felt the urgency to answer nature’s call. She’d drank too much water. She looked around and saw the toilet signage. Since she didn’t know how safe it was there, she took all her belongings with her.

There were two doors she saw. One door sign was ‘fir’ and the other one was ‘mná’. She saw no male or female symbol that usually came along with the texts.

“Which one is for females?” She had to stop for a second to think. “Maybe fir means female.” As she couldn’t hold it anymore, she went inside.

As soon as she entered the restroom, she saw two men standing before the urinals doing their thing. Holding her scream inside, she swiftly entered the other door.

“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.” She massaged her both pimples. “What was that?”

At once she realized that ‘fir’ meant male, instead of female. She regretted the fact that she missed this super important information. Forgetting the view she wanted to erase from her memory, she relieved herself.

Not wanting to be noticed by the two men in the male restroom, Annaliese covered her head with her oversized hoodie. She headed to the table she first picked.

Unfortunately, the men from the bathroom sat next to that table. She swiftly maneuvered like a jetplane, avoiding bullets shot by the enemy.

“It’s alright. I made the same mistake when I first arrived here.” One man spoke up, stopping her from walking farther.

Annaliese turned to both of them and registered a guilty grin on her face. “I’m so sorry for what happened. But to make it less awkward, please let me sit somewhere far from you,” she half-begged without looking at their faces. She deliberately did that to easily forget them later.

A sound of laughter was heard. They understood and let her go.

She told the waiter to bring her order to another table. There she finished her lunch pretty quickly and left as soon as possible.

•••

The Matchmaker Bar was the meeting spot during the festival. People of various races, cultures, and languages gathered there. The event started at 9 PM and there was music and dancing inside.

Eudaimonia’s crew was ready with their equipment and to record everything Annaliese was doing. With the permission of the event’s owner, Annaliese was free to do whatever was necessary for her vlog content.

“And that was all for the first night. I’ll take you to see what else can take place here in the next video. So make sure, you’ve subscribed to my channel and be the first viewer!” Annaliese waved her hands at the camera. She blew her bangs once it was over. “Okay. So we’re finished. So let’s call it a day?”

Franklyn, the director nodded. “Yeah, sure. You did a great job. It’s absolutely the right thing to pick you as our ambassador,” he said.

Annaliese smiled. “You’re just being extra. I’m just used to making vlogs,” she replied.

“Alright then. Whatever you want to do now, have fun. ‘Cause I won’t miss this moment,” Franklyn left the table and made his way toward the dancing crowd.

The rest of the crew decided to stay. However, neither Beatrice and Gerard nor Annaliese had reason to do so. They left the bar and strolled along the street.

Looking at the awkwardly romantic behavior of Annaliese’s two friends was not something new to her. They were always able to keep her heart from being completely cold toward love. One thing she appreciated about them was how they could still show her affection even though they were dating.

•••

Only in two weeks, everything was finished, exactly as Annaliese had planned out. She was praised for her excellent job. All that was left to do was wait.

The Eudaimonia crew left, but Annaliese and her best friends decided to stay a little longer. They wanted to have a real vacation, a pure break from their never-ending work.

There were still two more weeks left before the matchmaking festival ended. However, she was not interested in it. Instead, she looked for a chance to make new friends from different countries. The reason? Of course, because she was a big fan of languages.

Annaliese had started learning languages ever since she was only seventeen. She had dreamed to travel the world and she was living it now. She spoke five languages fluently, English, Indonesian, Japanese, Spanish and French. At this time, she was learning Chinese.

Her fans admired her for being such a bright woman. They often asked her to talk in the languages she was fluent in when doing an I*******m live session.

“Gracias a todos. And yes, I’m currently learning a new language. Can you guess?”

Many of her viewers made their guesses, mentioning languages they knew.

“Some of you guessed it right. Yes, it’s Chinese!” she said cheerfully. “But you know, it’s very challenging. No, not only hanzi, its characters, but also the tones. Gosh, I’m overwhelmed. Nevertheless, it doesn’t mean that I’m going to give up easily.” She chuckled.

‘Say a few words in Chinese.’

‘Yes, please. Don’t worry to sound weird.’

‘Maybe you can try introducing yourself in Chinese.’

Annaliese smiled at their request. Being a confident girl, she felt like taking the challenge. “Alright. I learned how to do it, so let me try.” She cleared her throat before speaking in Chinese. “Nihao. Wo jiao Annaliese. Hen gaoxing renshi dajia. Holy moly, you who speak Chinese must think I sounded like a baby learning how to speak.” She laughed at herself again.

Her fans were always very supportive. They praised her for trying and encouraged her to keep learning.

“Well, guys. I guess it’s been almost an hour and I’m feeling a bit hungry. So thank you for staying with me. Till next live session!” Annaliese waved at the camera before she finally touched the ‘end’ button on the screen.

She took her phone off the holder that she later put back into its case. Being an influencer meant being ready with props everywhere she went. Even without her crew, she had to be able to do it herself.

It was dinner time and the sky looked beautiful. The sun was already on the west horizon and radiated golden rays everywhere. The temperature dropped from twenty to twelve degrees Celsius. To Annaliese, it was the perfect weather she would always want to have.

Not far from where she was, there was a good cafe. She entered the almost crowded place and sat somewhere in the corner. It had a good ambiance that she had expected to get after observing it beforehand.

While waiting for her order to come, Annaliese overheard someone behind her speaking Chinese over the phone. She felt pretty excited since she was able to understand a little. It only meant her new method of studying the language turned out useful. She leaned back against the chair to listen better.

“Are you done eavesdropping on my phone call?” The voice of a guy startled her from behind. She realized that he was referring to her.

Gosh! I’m so doomed.

Annaliese turned around to face the guy. She grinned nonchalantly and replied, “I didn’t mean to do so. I was just happy for understanding almost everything you said as I’m currently learning Chinese.”

“Oh, aren’t you the toilet girl?” As if ignoring her answer, a broad smile appeared on the guy’s face instead.

Being called that way, she dropped her smile and pouted. “Don’t call me that. I have a name. And it’s beautiful,” she protested.

The guy made an ‘O’ shape with his mouth. “Your name is Beautiful? Wow. What a name,” he commented.

“That’s not what I meant—ah. The point is, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. And I’d better move somewhere else so that I won’t eavesdrop on your conversation anymore.” Feeling quite peeved, Annaliese then got all her belongings before leaving.

“Hey, Beautiful. Uh-oh, that sounds like I’m flirting with you. But what can I say? What's your name.” He scratched his temple. “Well, I’m trying to say, I’m sorry too. To be frank, yes, I was annoyed that someone was eavesdropping, but then after hearing your explanation, I could see you were being honest. And I didn’t mean to make fun of your name. I hope we’re clear. So, you don’t need to move.” 

Standing there, Annaliese took a minute to think. She breathed in deeply and calmed herself down. “Okay. Cool,” she said and canceled her intention to move.

Nevertheless, before she had the chance to sit again, a waitress came. "Excuse me, ma'am, mister. More people are coming and we need more tables. If you don't mind, since you two are alone, can you please sit together? I saw you were talking, so I'm assuming that you know each other."

Annaliese didn't have any other option but to comply with the request. She was too hungry to protest. Then she eventually moved as she'd planned to do, but just to the next table, where the guy was sitting in.

There was this awkwardness that filled the air a moment later. If it were a movie, there would be the sound of crickets chirping between two strangers, sitting face to face. 

"Uh, it's awful." The guy finally broke the ice.

"Yeah, you're right." Annaliese agreed with a nod.

He stretched out his hand and said, "We didn't have a good first impression, so let's start over. I'm William Chen."

She took his hand and shook it while replying, "It's Annaliese Lee. Not Beautiful."

William burst into laughter hearing that. He let go of her hand and covered his mouth. "Pardon me. I wasn't laughing at your name but the fact that Beautiful isn't your name and yet you didn't correct me," he explained himself.

Annaliese scratched her left temple. "It was only because I didn't find the reason why I had to tell a stranger my name. Who knows if you were a pervert or a criminal?" she commented, speaking her mind out loud.

"Understandable." William raised OK-shaped fingers. "So you're learning Chinese." He maintained the conversation since they would be together for the next half an hour at least.

"Yep. It's very challenging but I know I can do it," she responded.

Another waitress came, bringing all their orders. She said nothing more and just left. Annalise and William exchanged glances and laughed.

"She might be very tired," said William, referring to the cold waitress.

"Probably." Annaliese agreed. "So, what are you doing here alone? Oh, no. The first time I saw you, you were with someone." She remembered the other guy she saw at that restaurant.

William nodded. "He is my best friend. He moved here after getting married. So I'm here to visit him," he answered.

"Ah, I see. That's—" Before she finished her words, her stomach growled. Unfortunately, that happened right when the crowd went silent for a moment.

He pursed his lips. "Oh, wow. I'm so hungry. This looks delicious. Let’s dig in!" he remarked politely, pretending that it was his stomach.

Annaliese chuckled. "Thanks. You don't have to do that," she uttered thankfully. "But, bon appetit."

“Bon appetit.” William simpered and his deep dimples appeared on both cheeks.

That was when she felt a sudden twinge in her chest and her hand automatically touched the area. ‘Come on, what’s wrong with me?’