Hwayoung #3

Hwayoung stared at the voice mail sitting in her inbox for what seemed like the hundredth time this week. It was from someone, a person she wanted to avoid and had no desires to talk. She had thought he was done with her and that her leaving should have been a gift to him. Yet here was a voice mail from that very person. What could he possibly have to say to her anyway?

Regardless, she chose to ignore it, like she had been doing and walked around town in search for the damn ramen shop she heard so much about. Youngjae had told her it was some hole in the wall restaurant so it was gonna be hard to find but the meal would be well worth it. She had sure hope so, Hwayoung was completely famished. “He said it would be around the surf shack...” She grumbled to herself while looking across the street at the straw hut. “It shouldn't be that hard to find.”

The place she moved into was a small coastal town, consisting of 400 citizens at the highest, and most of the shops were at the center of the town. There were some that laid along the coast and she heard they were easy to find...unless they were the hole in the wall restaurants. “Ugh, I'm so not in the mood for this.” Hwayoung just wanted to eat. It was a long day for her and she just needed a lot of food for herself and the baby. She was craving ramen but the difficulty in finding it was pissing her off.

“It was no use.” She said to herself after finding that she had been walking around in circles. “I'll just ask for directions.” She ran over to the surf shack, being mindful of her steps of the rather hazardous pathway, and walked into the shop, the doors jingling to indicate her entrance. No one came to greet her, which was fine because she took that moment to observe the place and eyed all the shell jewelry, colorful umbrellas, and flowered leis that decorated the store. It was everything you'd think a surf shop would be. Beachy, she'd describe. It was nice though. Refreshing even.

“We're closed for the day!” A deep voice hollered from somewhere, she didn't know. “Come back tomorrow!” A muscular silhouette emerged from behind a beaded curtain, which she assumed lead to the backroom, and Hwayoung had to step back from the intimidating arrival. “Uh, hi.” She awkwardly greeted, meekly smiling at the stoic man. “Sorry to bother you but I was just looking for a place.”

“Alright.” He stared at her, cold and unapproachable, waiting for her to continue. His attitude came off as impatience, rather being anywhere then here, talking to her.
“Um, there's a ramen shop around here and uh....King something or another....” She rambled off.
“Across the street, behind the blue gate.” He directed while pointing in that direction. “Just open it. It's never locked.”
“Thanks...” He didn't stay any longer, not wanting to hear anymore as he turned around and walked back to the room. Hwayoung was taken back by his curt behavior but didn't think much of it and turned to leave as well.

Remembering the man's words, she followed his directions, running across the street carefully until she reached the blue gate. She tried peeking through the mental gates but saw nothing, not even a soul and started to question if this place was really a restaurant but went through anyway, pushing the metal barrier aside. Much to her delight, as soon as she stepped behind the gates, she could see tables and chairs set up in the yard, denoting that yes, this was an eatery, and no, she wasn't lost. Hwayoung eagerly skipped through the transparent curtains that lead to the ordering station and stood with the line, awaiting for her turn to order a scrumptious meal to eat.

“Do you think she's a competitive eater?” Daehyun, the busboy, leaned in and whispered to Himchan, the master chef.

“I don't know...” Himchan muttered in awe, eyes glued to the dark hair girl gobbling down his noodles like no other. Sure he was a good chef and yeah his restaurant was fa