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It was a local restaurant with a gold sign written in confident-looking Chinese characters.
As I entered with him, a few people were having a late meal at tables lined up along a narrow corridor to the right. Unlike the flashy sign, the interior was simple and welcoming. It was a popular Hong Kong eatery, a good place to fill your stomach without any fuss.
Further inside, at a corner table arranged diagonally in a diamond shape as if for a touch of style, were Noona and Hyeong. My face brightened reflexively, without me even realizing it. It wasn’t as if I had been wandering around a strange place all by myself, but just reuniting after being apart for a mere few hours in an unfamiliar city had somehow made their faces a welcome sight.
“Huh? What’s this? Why are you two here together?”
Juhan-hyeong, who was sitting facing the corridor, was the first to raise his hand and acknowledge us. As befitting people who had been eagerly planning to enjoy a Friday night in Hong Kong, they were both dressed up even more than usual.
“He said he was feeling better, so I stopped by the hotel and brought him along.”
He answered, perching on an old, backless wooden stool. Since Noona and Hyung were sitting across from each other at the square table, he and I also took seats opposite one another.
“You little punk. Yeah, you were really looking forward to seeing Soho. You can’t miss out on Soho on a Friday night.”
I smiled back at Hyung as he clapped me on the back and grinned. The comment about how much I’d been looking forward to seeing Soho felt a little embarrassing in front of him, but it was true.
“It was so cute watching him look things up on his phone, since he’s not one to express what he wants to do.”
Yuni-noona chimed in, pinching my cheek gently as she chuckled. This time, I was even more conscious of him. I hadn’t wanted him to find out that I had been looking forward to it with such childish excitement.
Pretending not to notice his gaze on me, which seemed to ask if that was true, I needlessly rubbed the spot Noona had pinched with my palm, even though it didn’t hurt.
“Let’s get something to eat, too. I haven’t had dinner yet either.”
Before I could even answer, he called someone over and spoke to the staff in (what was, of course) fluent Cantonese. He seemed to be familiar with the restaurant, as he placed an order without even looking at the menu.
It was fascinating, he seemed like a slightly different person speaking Cantonese. I had seen him use several languages over the phone at Phantom, but watching him converse with a local in person was another thing entirely.
“The wontons are soft, so they should be easy to eat.”
His gaze suddenly turned to me. I had been staring at him blankly and, flustered, I glanced at Noona beside me for no reason.
I still had no appetite, but thinking that he might have been considerate of the fact that I hadn’t eaten anything at the hotel either, I belatedly nodded.
“Director, please order one more wonton noodle soup for me.”
Juhan-Hyung shouted urgently, lifting the last mouthful of his nearly finished noodles.
“A milk tea for me.”
That was Yuni-noona’s request. He looked back and forth between the two of them, then finally glanced down at the empty bowls piled on the table and let out a light sigh.
“Yes, of course. I should buy whatever our staff, who work so hard day and night, desire.”
After the employee who took the order left with the empty bowls, he crossed his legs and adjusted his posture, then suddenly looked at Noona with narrowed eyes.
“What. Why are you looking at me with that ominous smile again.”
Noona was smiling with a playful look on her face, the straw from her nearly empty milk tea between her lips.
“To be honest, I love Hong Kong enough that I think I could live here, but I don’t find Cantonese to be a particularly linguistically attractive language, you know?”
“……”
“But you’re kind of sexy when you speak Cantonese. Maybe because it’s a side of you I don’t usually see.”
A few old Hong Kong movies were the entirety of my impression of Cantonese and Hong Kong, but if I remembered correctly, the characters in those films had rather strong accents and engaged in boisterous conversations. But his Cantonese was calm and relaxed. I wanted to hear more of the unfamiliar language pronounced by his slightly husky, low voice. It probably was… sexy. Many people must think that of him.
“The content is a compliment, but why does your smile feel so ominous?”
“It’s just funny to find myself thinking you’re sexy all of a sudden.”
Noona kept smirking, nibbling on the end of the straw. There was no sexual meaning whatsoever in her use of the word sexy. It was the feeling of rediscovering, all of a sudden, his charm as an objective individual, someone she saw as family. He, too, accepted the words without assigning any weight to them. Perhaps it was a compliment he was all too used to.
Shaking his head as if she were hopeless, he lifted the camera hanging around his neck and pressed the shutter, aimed at Noona’s mischievous smile. Just like in his garden, Noona was not at all awkward with the camera suddenly pointed at her.
“What is all this stuff you bought?”
He said in a surprised voice, ducking his head to check the photo on the LCD screen and noticing something under the table.
“The new arrivals from Old Future. We cleaned them out again this time.”
I had caught a glimpse of them when we sat down, but now that I got a proper look, there were easily more than ten shopping bags hidden under the flamboyant, floral-patterned tablecloth. It seemed that during their precious, hard-won free time, the two of them had been working diligently for Old Future instead of eating, drinking, or spending time on their own.
“You two are really something else. Where on earth does that energy come from? Are you taking herbal tonics or something?”
Noona and Hyung laughed out loud at his genuinely amazed expression.
Under the bright fluorescent lights, amidst the familiar faces and their conversation and the smell of hearty food, my hazy senses slowly began to regain their grip on reality.
“We were going to get our Seo Yeehyeon properly styled today… we even came prepared.”
Putting down her milk tea, Noona rummaged through one of the shopping bags under the table and pulled out a t-shirt. It was a striped knit t-shirt. I grabbed Noona’s hand as she held the shirt up below my face to see if it would suit me.
“Noona, this… I can’t accept this. I can’t.”
“Hey, who said it’s for free? Pay for it later when it’s updated on Old Future.”
That was Juhan-hyeong, finishing the last of his wonton noodle soup.
“Yeah, we’re forcing you to buy it right now. So don’t refuse, Yeehyeon.”
Noona said, pushing my hand away. I knew they were saying it on purpose to make me feel more comfortable. Regardless of whether I paid for it or not, I was grateful that they had thought of me even while they were so tired and busy.
“The moment I saw it, it was just so you. I had to buy it.”
This time, I couldn’t refuse Noona’s hand as she once again held the shirt to my chest.
The knit, loosely woven with thin yarn, was oversized with a relaxed neckline and a draping silhouette. It felt a bit too fashionable for me, though maybe not for someone like Juhan-hyeong, but I had absolute faith in Noona’s taste.
“It’s pretty, but… won’t it be a little hot?”
He said, raising the camera to his eye level. Thinking the lens might turn this way, I subtly turned my head toward Noona.
“The AC is blasting everywhere we go, so it’s fine. And it’s thinner than you think, and the weave is loose, so the wind blows right through. Look.”
Noona poked her fingers through the space between the stitches. It wasn’t so sheer that you could see everything, but the weave was loose enough that you could see inside if you tried.
“Hmm… isn’t it a little revealing?”
“……”
My gaze turned to him without my realizing it, and click, the shutter went off in that instant. My ears grew hot in a flash, whether from the shyness of not being used to cameras, or from his comment about it being revealing.
Hyeong, having finished his bowl of noodles, tossed the last remaining fish ball into his mouth as if he had no interest in the situation, while Noona just stared at him silently.
“What is it this time?”
“You think that when you look at Yeehyeon? You’re a total beast.”
Scolding him as he wore an expression of being wronged, Noona unfolded the knit shirt and covered my face with it. I resented my own immaturity, getting so easily flustered by such a meaningless, lighthearted joke. I wanted to handle myself and the situation with more… skill and composure, but clamping my mouth shut was the best defense I could manage.
Just then, the newly ordered food was served on the table, and thanks to that, the topic of conversation naturally shifted.
“Director, you brought the driver, right? Give us a call for the car on our way out after we eat. We need to load this stuff in the car before we go.”
Juhan-Hyung looked up at him, biting off a strand of the new wonton noodles. In Seoul, he always seemed to drive himself, but in Hong Kong, it seemed to be a frequent occurrence for him to ride in a car driven by someone else.
“Yes, I understand, Mr. Kwon Juhan.”
He tapped Hyeong’s forehead with the back of his wooden chopsticks and then picked up a dim sum from the center, casually placing it on the plate in front of me. His eyes and mouth were still directed at Hyeong.
“The condition is that you’re back at the hotel by midnight, no matter what. We still have two days of the fair left.”
“Aw, of course. Why are you acting like such a rookie? Anyway, we’re short on time, so we need to get drunk fast. Round one is tequila.”
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