Aloha means HELLO
AND good-bye, Part TWO

“Minari, be serious. We can’t go to Hawaii. That's freakin' far.” 

“Chaeng why not? I got us two plane tickets. I even booked us a hotel.” I pouted.

And now we’re sitting in Chaeyoung’s car in the driveway. She puts the key into the ignition, but doesn’t turn on the engine yet.

“What Mina?! Are you kidding me?” she asks, scrutinizing my face for evidence that I’m kidding. She doesn’t find any and begins shaking her head slowly.

“Minari, do you know that Hawaii is three thousand miles away?”

“Hence the airplane.” I replied speedily.

She ignores my attempt at levity and shakes her head.

“Are you serious Minari? When did you do this? Like how? Why?” She asking without a breath.

“One more question and you’ll have a Fast Five Chaeng,” I say.

She leans forward, presses her forehead into the steering wheel. Never in her life thinking of doing something crazy like this. She used to be naughty typical high school student, but not in this case.

“Okay calm down Chaeng. I ordered last night using a credit card because yeah I want to see the world. I wanna go out so bad.”

“So, you even got credit card?”

“Yes! I got my own a few weeks ago. There are perks to hanging out with an older woman.” I smirk, feels like I'm winning.

She pulls her forehead off the wheel, but still stares straight ahead avoid meeting my eyes.

“No Minari, the thing right now is what if something happens to you? I'm afraid, to lose you.” 

“Nothing will Chaeng. Nothing can stop me now.”

“But what if it does?” 

“Chaeng please, I got the pills. They’re going to work okay? Stop worrying about me. You see I'm all fine now.”

She squeezes her eyes shut and puts her hand on the key.  

“You know Minari, we have plenty of seas, beaches right here in Jeju Island.” 

“But no humuhumunukunukuapua’a." I pouted again.

A small half smile forms at the corner of her lips. I need to make it spread across her entire face. Yeah Mina! Persuade her more!

She turns to face me.

“What are you talking about Minari?” Her face are full of puzzled.

“The humuhumunukunukuapua’a.”

“What is a humu-whatever it sounds like?”

“The state fish of Hawaii Chaeng.”

Her smile broadens. “Oh yeah of course it is.”

Finally, she turns the key in the ignition. Her eyes linger on her house and her smile fades, just slightly.

“Urm Minari, how long it would be?”

“Two nights Chaeng. Jut for two nights.” I smile weakly, thinking of how wasted I was. I wanna conquer this world, even for a while.

“OK Minari. Let's do that, princess.” She grabs my right hand and gives it a quick kiss. I can't even hide my gummy-smiles. She's really special.

“Let’s go and see the fishes as much as you want.”

Chaeyoung’s mood gets better, lighter somehow as we got farther away from her house. This trip gives her the perfect excuse to let go of the burden of her family for a little while, at least.

It's just a beautiful coincidence that Chaeyoung actually has an old friend from Korea, Somi, who lives in Hawaii for several years after her Dad got transferred job.

“You’ll love her Minari,” she tells me while smiling widely. Ah, that dimples again..

“No worries Chaeng, I’ll love everything,” I respond.

A TRY.

Our flight’s not until 7 a.m. and I have a detour I want to make. 

Being in her car is like being in a very loud, very fast moving bubble. She refuses to open the windows. Instead, she presses a button on the dashboard that prevents air circulation. The sound of the tires on asphalt is like someone hissing low and constant into my ears. I fight the urge to cover them.

Chaeyoung says we’re not going very fast, but to me we’re hurtling through space. I’ve read that passengers on high-speed trains say that the world outside the train blurs from the speed. I know we’re not going anywhere near that fast. But still, the landscape moves too quickly for my slow eyes to hold on to. I barely catch glimpses of houses in the brown hills in the distance.

Overhead signs with cryptic symbols and writing come and go before I can decipher them. Bumper stickers and license plates appear and disappear in a blink. Why it's moving so fast?

Even though I understand the physics of it, I find it strange that my body could be moving though I am sitting still. Well, not exactly still. I pushed backward into my seat whenever Chaeyoung accelerates and I lurch forward whenever she brakes.

Every minutes we oftenly slow down enough and I can see other people in their cars. 

We pass a woman shaking her head and slapping at the steering wheel with her hands. Only after we’ve passed her do I figure out that she was probably dancing to music. Two kids in the back of another car stick their tongues out at me and laugh. I don’t do anything because I’m not sure what kind of etiquette for that.

Gradually we slow down to a more human speed and leave the highway. 

“Chaeng, where are we heading to?” I ask.

“Koreatown.” She smile, taking a glance at me by her side with one hand at steering wheel, and her elbows relaxing on the doorhandle, biting her nails. Damn, she looks hot.

My head buzzes from trying to look everywhere at once. There are brightly lit signs and billboards written only in Korean. The signs seem like art pieces with beautiful, mysterious forms. Of course, they probably just say things as mundane as Restaurant or Pharmacy or Open 24 Hours.

It’s still early, but still there are so many people doing so many things, starthing a day—walking or talk