Chapter Nine #7
‘Hello, hello. I mean, yeobuseyo !’ she speaks breathlessly holding the phone, on loudspeaker mode, so close to her mouth that it nearly kisses the screen.
‘Timira-ssi, where are you? And why is your local number switched off? We’ve been trying to reach you for nearly an hour now.
Everybody is here … well, most of us are.
We looked for you and were told you’d stepped out almost as soon as you checked in.
Are you safe? Is Hanee-ssi with you?’ The concern in the familiar nasal voice is unmistakable.
Hanee peeps from behind Timira and waves at the screen.
‘Honey, darling, it’s a voice call. He cannot see you.’
‘Yes. I can!’ Haneul replies, his worry partially replaced by adoration and amusement.
What? How? Panic-stricken Timira freezes. I can’t see him!
‘Because my video is turned off. Yours is not. Look at the bottom left corner of your screen.’
Haneul is now almost laughing. Timira groans.
Is he really even worried about me? Or he just wants to make fun of me?
Bringing his concerned voice back, Haneul asks again, ‘Are you sure you are all right, Timira?’
Familiar butterflies are back inside her stomach for an evening dance.
‘Yes, of course. Hanee and I were out on a recce and—’
‘And you lost all track of time? Got seduced by Jeju’s charm? Switched your Korean number off? Do you have any idea what time it is?’ This time, he uses his big-boy voice.
Ah, there it is. Nope, no concern for me. Boss just being the boss and showing who the boss is. Oh, well. Serves me right for crushing over him like a first-rate idiot and misreading all his signals.
‘I’m very sorry. We aren’t too far away. Be back in a flash!’
‘Hajima! Please don’t be back in a flash! Take your time, drive safe. Are you familiar with driving on Korean roads?’
‘Er, well, I can’t drive anywhere. What I mean to say is, I don’t know how to.’
Wow, as if he doesn’t think I’m enough of an idiot already …
‘ Geogjeong maseyo , Daepyonim [Don’t worry, CEO sir]! I’ll drive and bring us back in one piece,’ Hanee saves the day by chiming in with her cheerful assurance.
‘ Geurae, gomapta , Hanee-ssi. You might want to come back and explain why calls to your number have been going unanswered as well. Ildan, joshimae dolawayo [For now, just come back safely]!’
Hanee grimaces upon realizing she must have left her phone behind at the hotel. That’s why it didn’t ring for so long, shit! Shamefaced, she leaps off the hood and stretches her legs with grave intention. Haneul catches Timira looking embarrassed and trying not to meet his eye.
‘Timira-ssi, would you look at me, please?’
‘Ah, yes, Daepyonim!’
‘Stop with the “daepyo”, already! Just call me by my name, jaebal !’
Timira stays silent.
Hanee honks loudly enough to startle a pair of skylarks lurking at the curb, soaking in the silence. Flapping their wings about, they quickly hit the air and soon melt into the darkness.
Why does it get so dark so early here in the Far East?! It’s still afternoon in Bombay …
‘Seonbae, Seonbae! Come on, we’re set.’
Timira, who has been leaning back against the bonnet all this while, has to get up in instalments.
‘Careful when you jump off. Please don’t hurt yourself. There’s nobody around to carry you!’
Carry me? What is he even talking about? When has anybody carried me? Nobody can carry the weight of my awesomeness, okay? Maine hi uthaya hai, iss poorey dharti ka bojh. All the bloody baggage over all these years …
Cussing silently, she alights with caution and gingerly places her feet on the ground.
Dahengida … Haneul thinks to himself.
‘I’ll hang up now. Guess we’ll see you in a bit!’
‘Be safe. And please switch your phone on! Do you have any clue how worried I was?!’
Haneul’s eyebrows are in a frown but he has the warmest smile stretching his pouty, pink mouth. His eyes are like a loved-up puppy’s , Timira observes giddily.
‘Bye!’ is all she can mumble into the phone without even looking at it. Clutching her belly, inside which butterflies seem to have set up camp and are currently practising cartwheels, she hurries inside the car where Hanee is staring at her wide-eyed and curious.
‘Don’t. Don’t say a thing. Just drive!’
‘Yes, Ma’am,’ Hanee replies with a smart salute and steps on it.
Reaching out for her travel duffel bag which has been sprawled across the backseat like a queen and grabbing it like a pickpocket by the scruff of his neck, Timira fishes out her phone and switches it on.
The cartwheels have now reached her heart and it is pounding harder than the massage gun her trapezius has been in a relationship with since she turned thirty.
Fifteen missed calls and sixteen unread texts from Haneul. Each message is more desperate than the previous.
‘Are you safe?’
‘Why can’t I reach you?’
‘Where are you?’ x 5
‘I’ll come and get you.’
‘Why is your phone switched off?’
‘Please call back.’
‘Please tell me you’re okay.’
‘I’m worried.’ x 5
Here we go again … she muses and smiles ruefully.
I told myself that I’d never fall,
But here we go again, ooh.
As if on cue, The Weeknd offers his reaffirmation.