The Call from Honolulu

Both of Baek Yeo-eun’s hands held plates heaped high with every sort of dish imaginable. Exotic tropical fruits, unidentifiable fusion creations, even those garishly colorful American desserts that killed the appetite at a single glance.

“…….”

It would not have been an exaggeration to say she had scooped a little of everything the buffet offered. While Kang-hyun was still searching for words, the woman sat down across from him and asked,

“Is that all you’re eating?”

“You’re planning to finish all of that?”

Kang-hyun shot back in a voice thick with disbelief. She only shrugged, as if she could not see the problem.

“I’m curious what they taste like.”

Interest sparkled in the two eyes that caught the morning sun and glittered.

Even in her teens, when she should have been eating the most, she had skipped breakfast at the drop of a hat. The notion that she had somehow grown into someone who could handle that volume never crossed his mind.

Yet instead of arguing, Kang-hyun simply finished the last of his omelet in silence.

“Thanks for the meal.”

The woman who had solemnly lifted her fork began to eat as well. At first she busied herself popping one curious bite after another into her mouth, chewing with open fascination; then, at some point, the pace of her forking slowed dramatically.

Kang-hyun, who had long since emptied his plate, made no move to refill it. He merely sipped what remained of his coffee and watched her in quiet stillness.

“Ugh.”

Baek Yeo-eun, who had been pecking away at the meal with dwindling resolve, suddenly frowned. It was the instant after she had just tasted a cake drowned in pink syrup and rainbow glaze.

“…It’s not quite what I expected.”

She muttered the words like an excuse, staring blankly down at the remaining food. Kang-hyun did not bother to hide his exasperation.

“Just leave it.”

“But still…”

Baek Yeo-eun glanced around and let the sentence trail off. The amount of leftovers clearly bothered her. Given the quantity, it was understandable.

Kang-hyun exhaled a shallow sigh and picked up the fork he had set down earlier. He reached across, took a generous scoop of the cake she had abandoned, and put it in his mouth.

At once a tongue-numbing, aggressive sweetness and an artificial perfume flooded his palate. Exactly as expected—it was dreadful.

Still, Kang-hyun finished the rest of the cake without a word.

After clearing the plate he rinsed his mouth with the cold coffee, only to feel a sharp gaze fixed on him from across the table.

“What? Were you going to eat more of it?”

“No. Not at all.”

Baek Yeo-eun waved both hands in rapid denial.

Kang-hyun gave a light nod and wiped his mouth with a napkin. Then, by laying the fork neatly on the table, he brought the meal to a close.

A new topic rose to the surface of the table immediately afterward.

“What’s the plan for today?”

The woman who had been asked out of nowhere blinked, then murmured in a small voice,

“I don’t know… I haven’t really thought of anything…”

After yesterday’s snorkeling suggestion had been cut down without mercy, she seemed not to have considered any alternatives.

Kang-hyun studied her for a moment, then spoke in an offhand tone.

“If we’ve got nowhere else to go, how about the aquarium?”

“The aquarium?”

He answered with a simple nod.

An alternative to snorkeling, therefore the aquarium. A simple, clear second choice.

Yet Baek Yeo-eun showed almost no reaction. Her eyes, as though sunk in some private thought, remained only deep and still.

“If you don’t want to, never mind.”

Just as Kang-hyun was about to withdraw, wondering whether the idea had been too one-dimensional,

“No. I want to go. Let’s go.”

He watched in silence for a while as the woman reversed her stance as easily as turning over a hand, then gave a light nod of his own.

“Then we’ll leave in the afternoon.”

“Okay.”

The two left the restaurant and headed for the hotel lobby to reserve a limousine. A staff member happened to mention a promotion linked to the aquarium, so they bought tickets on the spot before returning to their suite.

Baek Yeo-eun claimed both bathroom and bedroom, declaring she needed to get ready. Kang-hyun smoked a cigarette on the veranda, then spent the remaining time clearing overdue emails.

For a long while the only sound in the living room was the steady click of keys. At last Kang-hyun closed the laptop and checked the clock. The reservation time was already close.

“I’m ready.”

As if on cue the bedroom door opened and Baek Yeo-eun appeared. She wore a deep-blue dress that fell to her knees and a thin yellow cardigan; her long hair was twisted up and pinned in place.

Kang-hyun’s gaze lingered for a moment on the slender nape where fine strands of hair had escaped, then he rose.

“Shall we go, then.”

In the lobby a hotel employee courteously guided them to the waiting limousine.

Baek Yeo-eun gave a silent nod of thanks to the driver who held the door and climbed into the back seat. Kang-hyun was just about to fold himself in after her when the phone in his hand suddenly began to vibrate.

He glanced down at the screen without thinking and his brow furrowed at once. William.

While he hesitated over whether to answer, the call ended. A message appeared on the screen immediately afterward.

It was a threat that promised nothing more than future annoyance, even if real consequences held no fear for him.

Kang-hyun let out a small sigh, shot the woman a glance that asked for a moment’s patience, and pressed the call button.

Kang-hyun froze like a wind-up toy whose spring had suddenly run down.

He pulled the phone away from his ear and put it back, half convinced he had misheard. But the faint airport announcements leaking through the line made it clear the moment was real.

The call that had delivered its heavy threat cut off with a sharp click. Kang-hyun dialed again at once, but only the automated message that the number could not be reached answered him.

“Ha…”

Faced with a situation beyond absurd, Kang-hyun twisted his face into a grimace and roughly raked his bangs back.

William Harrington was a man who kept every word he uttered, no matter how useless or half-joking the remark might be.

Which choice to make was obvious. Kang-hyun braced one hand on the car’s doorframe and bent at the waist. The woman in the back seat looked up at him with a face full of unanswered questions.

“Sorry—something urgent came up. I have to go.”

“What?”

“I’ll tell the driver. You go on alone.”

“Wait—”

The moment the words left his mouth, Kang-hyun shut the car door in her face. With a dull thud Baek Yeo-eun’s stunned expression vanished from view.

He left a brief explanation with the equally bewildered driver, then climbed into a taxi waiting in front of the hotel.

The resort already sat in a remote spot; traffic only made it worse. Nearly an hour passed before he reached the airport.

The instant he stepped out, Kang-hyun called William again. The line still would not connect. He was forcing a breath past the tight frustration in his chest when a text arrived.

Kang-hyun took the escalator two steps at a time. Following the drifting scent of coffee, he quickened his pace.

The café was crowded, yet finding an old friend was never difficult.

A man sat with his legs crossed in a corner seat by the window—dark chocolate hair combed neatly back, a tall frame that stood out even while seated. Unmistakably William Harrington.

Kang-hyun strode toward him, still catching his breath. William turned as if he had felt the sharp edge of the approach. The moment his light-brown eyes, full of sunlight, settled on Kang-hyun, they curved into a waiting smile.

“You made it?”

The tone was as casual as if he were scolding a friend who had simply run late. Kang-hyun answered by yanking out the opposite chair and dropping into it.

“Why are you alone? You said it was a honeymoon. Where’d you leave the wife?”

William spoke with the serene face of a man who had never believed a word of the story to begin with.

Kang-hyun stared at the friend who could pull a stunt worthy of their college days—skipping class, renting a car on impulse, racing down the highway—and still talk as if nothing were wrong.

“Why the hell did you come here?”

“Why? You seriously don’t know?”

William shot back as though the question itself were an insult, anger threading through his voice.

“One day you suddenly announce you’re going back to Korea and never explain a thing. Then out of nowhere you start spouting some ridiculous excuse from some random place and hang up. After that—radio silence. If you were in my shoes, what would you think?”

“…….”

“You’d think, ‘Ah, that bastard finally got himself into real trouble,’ wouldn’t you? Whether he got mixed up in a crime or actually committed one, I couldn’t tell.”