Alienation 2

It was a local restaurant with a bright sign in bold golden Chinese characters.

As I stepped inside with him, several people were finishing late meals at tables lined along a narrow corridor to the right. Contrary to the grandeur of the sign, the interior décor was simple and welcoming. It was the kind of casual Hong Kong eatery where one could fill up without feeling out of place.

Deeper inside, Yuni nuna and Juhan were seated at a corner table placed at a diamond angle — an attempt, it seemed, at a bit of style. Unconsciously, my face brightened. It wasn't as though I had been wandering alone in an unfamiliar place, but even just reuniting after a few hours apart in a strange city brought an immediate warmth to seeing their familiar faces.

"Oh? What's this? Why are you two coming in together?"

Juhan hyung, who had been sitting facing the corridor, was the first to raise his hand and acknowledge us. Both of them looked more energized than usual, as one would expect from people who had been gearing up for a Hong Kong Friday night.

"He said his condition had improved, so I stopped by the hotel and brought him along."

He answered, perching on a worn wooden chair without a backrest. Since nuna and Juhan were sitting across from each other at the square table, he and I took seats opposite one another as well.

"Right, you were really looking forward to seeing Soho. Can't miss Soho on a Friday night."

I smiled back at Juhan hyung, who playfully tapped my back and grinned. I felt a little self-conscious hearing that I had been looking forward to Soho in front of him, but it was true.

"It was so cute — watching someone who doesn't really express what he wants doing all this research on his phone."

Yuni nuna joined in, pinching my cheek gently and giggling. This time I was even more conscious of him. I really didn't want him to know just how excitedly I had been looking forward to it, like a child.

Pretending not to notice his gaze from across the table — his expression seemed to ask, Is that so? — I rubbed the spot nuna had pinched with my palm, even though it didn't hurt.

"Let's order something too. I haven't had dinner yet either."

Before I could respond, he called over a staff member and, quite naturally, conversed in fluent Cantonese. It seemed to be a familiar restaurant, as he ordered without even looking at the menu.

It was strange seeing him speak Cantonese; he seemed like a slightly different person. I had heard him use several languages on the phone at Phantom, but watching him converse with a local right in front of me was an entirely different experience.

"The wontons are soft — easy to eat."

Suddenly his gaze shifted toward me. I had been staring blankly at him and startled, I looked over at Yuni nuna sitting beside me for no reason.

I still had no appetite to speak of, but thinking he might have been considerate because I hadn't eaten anything at the hotel, I belatedly nodded.

"Director, please order one more bowl of wonton noodles for me."

Juhan hyung called out urgently as he lifted the last remaining mouthful of noodles.

"I'll have milk tea."

This time, it was Yuni nuna's request. He looked back and forth between the two, then glanced down at the stack of empty bowls on the table, and let out a quiet sigh.

"Of course — we must treat our staff who work so hard day and night."

After the server took the empty bowls and left the table, he adjusted his posture, crossing his legs, and suddenly looked at nuna with narrowed eyes.

"Why. Why are you looking at me with that ominous smile again?"

Nuna was smiling with a playful expression, the straw from her nearly-finished milk tea between her lips.

"Honestly, I like Hong Kong so much I could live here — but I don't find the Cantonese language all that appealing as a language."

"……"

"But when the Director speaks Cantonese, it's kind of sexy. Maybe it's because it's a side of him I don't usually see."

A few old Hong Kong movies were the entirety of my impressions of Cantonese and Hong Kong, but if I recalled correctly, the characters in those films exchanged boisterous conversations with rather strong accents. His Cantonese, however, was calm and relaxed. I wanted to hear more of this unfamiliar language as spoken in his slightly husky, low voice. Perhaps that truly was… sexiness. Many people would probably think so.

"The content is a compliment, but why does your smile feel so ominous?"

"It's just funny to me that I'm finding the Director sexy all of a sudden."

Still gnawing on the end of her straw, nuna kept grinning. There was no sexual connotation in her use of the word "sexy." It was that sensation of suddenly discovering objective attractiveness in someone one usually perceives like family. He accepted the compliment without attaching any weight to it. Perhaps because it was so familiar a compliment to receive.

Shaking his head as if he couldn't help it, he lifted the camera hanging around his neck and snapped a picture of nuna's mischievous smile. Just as in his garden, nuna showed not the slightest awkwardness at having a camera suddenly pointed at her.

"Why did you buy so much again?"

He looked down to check the photo on the screen, then noticed something under the table and spoke in surprise.

"Old Future new arrivals. We cleared them out again."

Though I had glimpsed them when I sat down, looking properly now, there were easily over ten shopping bags hidden beneath the gaudy floral tablecloth. It seemed that during their precious, rare free time, the two of them had been diligently moving around for Old Future rather than eating, drinking, or spending time on themselves.

"Seriously, you two are incredible. Where on earth does that energy come from? Are you taking some kind of tonic?"

At his genuinely surprised expression, Yuni nuna and Juhan burst out laughing.

Under the bright fluorescent lights, surrounded by familiar faces, their conversation, and the rich smell of food, my hazy senses slowly began to regain a sense of reality.

"We came fully prepared today to properly set up our Seo Yeehyeon…"

Nuna set down her milk tea and dug into one of the shopping bags under the table, pulling out a T-shirt. It was a striped knit tee. She held it up under my chin to see if it suited me, but I grabbed her hand.

"Nuna, I… I really can't accept this."

"Hey, who said it's free? You can pay for it when it gets updated on Old Future."

That was Juhan hyung, who had just drained the last of his wonton noodle soup.

"Yeah, we're forcing a sale here. So don't refuse, Yeehyeon."

Nuna pulled my hand away. I knew they were saying this on purpose to make me feel more comfortable. Setting aside whether I paid or not, I was simply grateful that they had thought of me even while so tired and busy.

"The moment I saw it, I knew it was yours. I couldn't not buy it."

This time, I couldn't refuse as nuna held the top up to my chest again.

The loosely woven knit was oversized, with a relaxed neckline and a generally drooping silhouette. While someone like Juhan hyung might naturally pull it off, it felt a bit too fashionable for me — but I trusted nuna's taste implicitly.

"It's pretty… but won't it be a little hot?"

He raised the camera to eye level and spoke. I subtly turned my head toward nuna, worried the lens might be pointing my way.

"It's fine everywhere because the AC is always blasting. And it's thinner than you think, and the weave is loose, so air flows right through. Look."

Nuna threaded her fingers between the knots. It wasn't sheer enough to see straight through, but the weave was loose enough to glimpse the inside if you looked closely.

"Hmm… isn't it a little revealing?"

"……"

Unconsciously my gaze shifted toward him, and click — the shutter snapped in that instant. Whether it was from shyness at being unfamiliar with cameras, or perhaps because of his remark about it being revealing, my ears instantly grew hot.

Juhan hyung, who had finished his entire bowl of noodles, tossed the last fish ball into his mouth as if completely uninterested in the situation, while nuna stared at him in pointed silence.

"Why are you like that again?"

"You think things like that while looking at Yeehyeon? What an animal."

While criticizing him with an aggrieved expression, nuna spread out the knit top and covered my face with it. I resented my own immaturity for getting flustered so easily over such a light, meaningless tease. I wanted to handle myself and the situation with more skill and composure, but all I could manage as my best defense was to shut my mouth.

The newly ordered food arrived and spread across the table, and the topic shifted with it.

"Director, you brought the driver, right? After we finish eating, could you call the car for a moment when we leave? We need to load this into the vehicle before we head out."

Slicing through his newly served wonton noodles with his teeth, Juhan hyung looked up at him. In Seoul, he always seemed to drive himself, but here in Hong Kong, riding in a car driven by someone else appeared to be common.

"Yes, understood. Kwon Juhan."

He tapped Juhan hyung's forehead lightly with the blunt end of a wooden chopstick, then picked up a piece of dim sum from the center of the table and casually placed it on my plate, his eyes and mouth still fixed on Juhan.

"The condition is that you're back at the hotel by midnight, no exceptions. There are still two days left for the fair."

"Ah, of course. Why are you acting like a rookie? We don't have time, so we need to get drunk first. Starting with tequila for the first round."