Lucas and Estrella, in their disguises, were slowly walking on the street of the capital of this war ridden country. They were more relaxedly dressed compared to when they landed in the country.
Lucas had a short sleeve light blue shirt on top of dark blue shorts with white soled black sports shoes. As for Estrella, she wore light colored open-toed heeled sandals with a long skirt below a bell sleeve lace blouse of the same light color but with motif drawn on them.
Around them were passerby with others that also seemed to have the same objective as them. A less informed person would never imagine that there was war going on some distance in the east.
They walked forward hand in hand for a while, sometimes lingering before what they found interesting or putting into practice the age-old window-shopping. As they enjoyed the outing and the harmonious atmosphere, with Lucas cracking jokes from time to time and making his partner smile, it wasn't long before the latter asked:
"Where are we going?"
"Nowhere in particular. Isn't it good to just walk around?"
Estrella looked at him calmly and he almost felt like he became a telepath with the way he deciphered her gaze: 'Weren't you the one that proposed to become tourists? How can you not plan a tour?'
With a bit of cold sweat, he hurriedly looked around before he found a solution:
"Haha... It was just a joke. Look, we can rent electric scooters there before going to see different landmarks."
Lucas pointed behind Estrella as he talked. The latter looked at the place in question before asking again:
"Where will we go then since you have things planned?"
"Well, we can go see the golden door -if I didn't get the name wrong-, the museums -they have too many of them by the way: folk architecture and life museum, national museum of history, khanenko museum, some arsenal museum..."
"Alright, I get it, I get it. There are many of them. Apart from the museum, what else?"
Everytime he made her calm crack, Lucas couldn't help but smile. He continued:
"There are the expo center, some parks we can visit - by the way there is also a hydropark..."
Seeing Estrella's glare as if daring him to start listing the many different parks, he focused:
*Cough*" So, there are other places on my road map. Like their big statue of a woman. I wonder which came first between it and the one in New York? There is also a golden roofed monastery that is interesting..."
Lucas was forced to stop as Estrella ignored him and went to the electric scooters' renting place on the other side of the street. Instead of being offended, he had a big smile on his face.
'Even if we are pretending to be a couple with those fake laughs, having fun breaking her composure almost felt like we really had a thing.'
He remembered that day at sea that had been tacitly glossed over. He shook his head then went after her.
They followed his chaotic plan and went around like a normal couple. Nonetheless, he noticed that he was not the only one that enjoyed the tour of a few days. Estrella's smile became more restrained but natural, indicating that even if she might have been to this country or this particular city before, it was her first time taking in the sights and enjoying a relaxed period away from tensions.
By the end of the week, they had even gone to Chernobyl and seen the deserted buildings of Pripyat. Seeing how abandoned and neglected they became, the despair of that moment when the inhabitants' lives came crashing down could be imagined.
As they came back to their hotel, Lucas went to the door of their room before saying to Estrella in the corridor:
"Honey, I forgot something so I will go out for a while. I will be back soon."
Then, he closed the distance and placed a soft kiss on her cheek.
"Alright. Be safe."
She said with the smile of a good wife before he watched her close the door. Turning around and going back to the elevator, he captured the blinking light of the camera at the end of the corridor from the corner of his eye before ignoring it.
The next morning, while Lucas was enjoying a period of laziness in bed, the door to his room was opened before Estrella came in, as he looked at her with one eye. Even if he wanted to be surprised he could not because even without focusing, he was more alert than a special forces operative in a war zone. That was what having sharpened senses caused.
If everyone was like him, the world would have evolved into a form where nobody would have been bothered. But now he must endure the smells others would find normal or even good, the noises that others thought were whispers, and the tastes... Let's just say that he was more picky about food now.
Unless he couldn't help it.
So, as he waited, Estrella answered his questioning look:
"Seeing you like that, I take it that we are not going anywhere today?"
He groaned and closed his eye again.
"Not quite. We will be going out in the evening."
Estrella nodded even when he couldn't see it then turned around.
"I'm ordering my meal, do you want me to order for you?"
"Yes, please. A local specialty. Tell them I will know if they talk while cooking. I don't want to throw up again."
"Okay."
He unwillingly sat up and threw the sheet aside. He had wanted to laze around today because the bed was not bad and while being a superhuman full of energy was the dream of any Otaku, sometimes you just wanted to slow down.
He went out after making a stop in the bathroom to find Estrella on the balcony with a book in hand. Craning his neck to get a look, he retreated in defeat after seeing the characters.
"I don't know why I'm surprised that you can read or speak that language."
He was about to keep talking before he heard knockings on the door. Giving a generous tip to the employee, he went to the computer in the living room after eating and started surfing on the net.
When the sun became too generous with its rays, Estrella came back inside. Seeing what he was doing, she asked:
"Are you finally prepared to end the vacation?"
"Not vacation, honeymoon."
"Whatever you say. So?"
"Your deduction is spot on but don't mind that. You should rather prepare yourself, I have a surprise for you tonight."