While Jong Kook and Ji Hyo had walked along the beach the night before, Kaimana had changed his bed sheets as she did each week, replacing them with a clean white set. And as he woke up now, conscious but with eyes still closed, he breathed in the fresh laundry scent and wondered if he was really awake. He thought of reaching over to Jennifer’s side of the bed to see if she was still gone. He needed to know if it was reality he was waking up to or just another dream. And so he slowly turned over and opened his eyes and, almost at once jumped out of bed and ran to the bedroom door, swinging it open so hard that it slammed against the wall. He stopped, pressed his hands against the wall, and squeezed his eyes closed, trying to get himself together. It was not her there just now, he thought. It couldn’t have been. He shook his head, telling himself over and over again that it wasn’t real. But that image of her had been etched into his mind. He breathed deeply in and then out, mustering up his courage. And then he turned back to the look at the bed. Nothing. There was nothing there.

“Are you okay?” Ji Hyo asked. She was standing in the hall, looking in on him as he stood in the bedroom doorway. “I thought I heard a loud bang,” she said. She tried not to look down at his bare chest, glistening with sweat.

He stared at Ji Hyo, her soft puffy face, her tousled hair. And he realized that he must’ve wakened her. “I’m sorry,” he said.

“Your face is white as a ghost,” she said.

He could feel his heartbeat nearly stop at her words. He was suddenly dizzy.

“Jong Kook-ah, you need to get out of this house,” she said, resting her hands on his shoulders. “You’ve been cooped up in here too long.”

He nodded and she gently led him down the hall and into the bathroom. She opened the glass shower door and the water, adjusting the cold and hot water knobs until the temperature was just right. When she turned back to him, she saw him leaning against the bathroom wall, his head tilted back and his eyes closed. “Come on,” she said. “You just need a nice shower. And then we’ll go out today. Get some fresh air.” She put her hands on his shoulders again, trying to steady him.

He looked down at her, their faces inches apart. And he then reached around her waist, quickly pulling her body toward his, his muscular arms wrapped tight around her as he rested his head on her shoulder. She was taken aback by his hug, so tight and forceful, but she accepted him, her arms then, too, reaching around his , holding him close as the spray of the shower began steaming up the room. They stayed like that for a moment and Ji Hyo wondered what he was thinking. When he slowly let her go and they faced each other again, she thought that, if this scene was part of a story, the setting and mood was just right for him to kiss her – a long and passionate kiss that would end with one of them apologizing to the other for that sudden transgression. But this was not a story. This was their life. And Jong Kook was too much of a gentleman to take her in that way, especially when she was engaged to someone else – a close friend of his, no less.

“I feel like I’m losing my mind,” he said.

She sighed and slowly nodded. “You’ll feel better when you take a shower,” she said, trying to stay positive for him. “Just wash up and think of somewhere we can go for the day.” Ji Hyo smiled and then walked out of the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

Jong Kook rubbed his eyes, trying to forget the image he had seen. The water was hot, the bathroom swirling with steam, like a fog around him. He slipped out of his pants and opened the shower door, the touch of the hot water against his skin awakening every cell in his body. He tilted his head back, letting the water drench his hair as he thought of where they could spend the day. Maybe they could hike up Diamond Head, he thought, or go to a luau. Every time the thought of Jennifer would creep back in his mind, he tried to replace it with other thoughts, ideas for where he, Ji Hyo, and little Sun Marie could spend the day… but it was hard not to think of Jennifer. They had always showered together. As he grabbed the soap now and spread the lather across his chest and abs, he remembered how she would wash his back and how he would then wash hers. He’d had the same thoughts when he showered yesterday. He would have to get used to showering alone.

As he ran the lather down his arms, he stared at his biceps. They looked smaller, he thought. He hadn’t worked out all week. He examined his other muscles, looking down at his thighs and calves, vowing to resume his exerci