“I really gotta use the bathroom…” you whispered to your close friend, Hana.

“Can’t you hold it? We’re boarding in five minutes!”

“I’ll be really quick, I promise!” you squeaked. You felt like your bladder couldn’t take it anymore. You needed to get to the bathroom. Now.

“I’ll be timing you!” Hana called after you. You clutched your purse to your side, holding your breath as if it would help you hold the contents of your bladder. You ran up the escalator and ran past several restaurants, and finally, the restrooms came into view.

After you finished your business, you washed your hands in one of the sinks. You knew you needed to get back to your gate asap or else Hana would kill you, so you dashed out of the bathroom. In your hurry to get back, you failed to see someone coming in your direction, and collided, landing square on your . The contents of your purse went flying everywhere and the things he was holding in his hands were also scattered on the floor. You got to your knees and started shoving your stuff back into your purse.

“Gate 23, now boarding. Now boarding, Gate 23.”

“,” you mumbled to yourself. You grabbed your phone and stood up. “I’m so sorry,” you apologized, bowing quickly before making a beeline to your gate.

“Pabo, what took you so long!” Hana scolded.

“There’s a long line anyway,” you giggled, grabbing her hand and falling in line. You were excited to finally get away from all the stress you endured. Your parents’ graduation present to you was a trip to Japan.

On the plane, you made sure you had all your stuff.

Passport, check.

Wallet, check.

Cell phone, ch—wait. Your cell phone case was missing. You pressed the home button on the little white Iphone. The lock screen was a picture of a sleeping panda cartoon. You slid your finger across the “slide to unlock” arrow and was very dismayed to find that you needed a passcode, something that you never put on your phone.

“Dammit.”

“What? Hana asked.

“This isn’t my phone.”

~

“Dammit Kris, she could be anywhere in the entire world.” Tao was pacing around the hotel room in China.

“Maybe this chick took it on purpose. She could be one of those sasaengs,” Kris said, flipping a page in his magazine.

“Well, even if she is, what should I do?”

“You could look through all her stuff,” Kris suggested, taking a look at the screen. Your wall paper was a picture of you posing with your cat. “She’s kind of cute.”

“You’re no help at all, gege. I’m just going to call her on my cell. Hopefully she’ll pick up.” Tao went into the hallway and dialed his phone number.

~

Hana was downstairs in the lobby asking around for good restaurants. Meanwhile, you were unpacking when you heard your phone ring- or that guy’s phone, whatever.

You recognized your cell phone number on the screen and answered right away.

“Hello?” you answered.

“Er- hello,” a male voice answered.

“I thi—“

“Are you one of those sasaeng fans? Let me just tell you that it’s impolite to steal other people’s things and that—“

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up. What are you saying? Who is this?” you asked. When there was no answer you continued. “Look. I was trying to say, I think, no, I’m pretty damn sure I picked up the wrong phone at the airport.”

“Gee, really?” the voice on the other line said, dripping with sarcasm.

“”Yah! What’s with the attitude?” You could practically hear him rolling his eyes at you.

“Where are you?” he asked.

“Me?”

“No, the Queen of Sheba. Who else?”

“Geez, cool it, will ya? I’m in Japan. I’ll be back in Korea on Monday. What about you?” you replied.

“I’m in China. I’ll be back in Korea Monday morning.” That was in four days.

“Well we should meet up and exchange then.” There was a pause.

“Fine,” he agreed.

“One more thing,” you said.

“What?”

“I need the pass code to your phone. I’ll have to communicate with you somehow.” He hesitated.

“It’s 4912. You better not look through my phone. I’ll be keeping tabs on you just so you kn-,” he said.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” you replied, before quickly hanging up.

~

“So did you figure out who mystery man is, yet?” Hana asked you.

“No. Everything on his phone is in Chinese,” you said, chomping on an onigiri.

“Really? But didn’t he speak Korean with you over the phone?” You nodded. Hana just shrugged. You felt the phone vibrate in your pocket. You had a text message from your own phone number.

You haven’t looked through my phone, right?

 “Oh, speak of the devil,” you said.

No, I haven’t. Everything’s in Chinese anyway.

Your phone vibrated again.

So you did look! Aish, this cat lady.

Chill out, will you? I’m not going to do anything. And my name is not cat lady!

Then what is it?

__________. What did you say yours was?

I didn’t. Call me Z.

 “Z?” You raised your eyebrow at the name.

Ok then, Z. I’m going sight seeing now.

You put the phone in sleep mode and plopped it into your purse. You were ready for a day of sight seeing in Tokyo. Your first stop: Meiji Shrine.

You and Hana had booked a full tour of the shrine, and when you were done, Hana hit the gift shop. You bought a small magnet for the refrigerator back home, but that was all you needed. Hana was still browsing, so you took out the phone. There were a few text messages from the mysterious Z.

Hey! Cat lady! I’m still talking to you!

Why aren’t you replying

Thief, start answering my messages

You chuckled to yourself. You took a picture of yourself and sent it to him.

I told you I was sight seeing. I’m at the Meiji Shrine!

Picture Attached

 “You ready to go, _______?” Hana was done in the gift shop. You nooded.

“Let’s go get something to eat.” You dropped the phone back into your purse.

~

Later that night, Hana decided she wanted to hang out in the lobby. You told her you just wanted to nap, so you stayed in the room. Your eyes were beginning to get heavy, ready to drift into dreamland…..when you feel vibrations coming from your pocket. Your number flashes on the phone.

“Yah! Some people need to sleep, you know,” you scold into the phone.

“Well you should’ve answered your messages.” His voice sounded a little strained, tired even.

“Whatever. What do you want?” There was no answer. “Listen X—“

“It’s Z.”

“X, Y, Z, whatever letter you are. I’m losing sleep and it sounds like you need some too. Get to the point.”

“Uh...never mind. Good night,” he said quickly. Then he hung up.

~

It was day two of your trip. Today you were headed to Shibuya to get some hardcore shopping done. On the train, Z called you.

“Yah, why do you keep calling me?” you asked him.

“To make sure my phone is still safe. I have a lot of important stuff on there you know,” he replied, matter-of-factly.

“There’s not much on your phone, so there must not be much going on in your life,” you said. He chuckled to himself. “What’s so funny?”

“You don’t even know the half of it. Anyway, just keep my baby safe.”

“_______, cmon, this is our stop,” Hana told you, tugging on your sleeve.

“Whatever. Talk to you later.” You hung up.

You hit several stores and your hands were full of bags by the end of the day. Hana wanted to go into a jewelry store real quick so you followed her in. You looked at the different bracelets and necklaces. You stopped at a set of earrings that had a letters of the alphabet. You saw a pair of “Z” earrings and took a picture of them and sent them to Z. A few minutes later, you felt the phone vibrate in your pocket.

Cute.

 

What’s your actual name?

 

That’s a secret.

 

Are you a serial killer?

 

No! I’ll tell you when you give me my phone back.

 

Whatever. I don’t even know how you look like.

 

Tall, handsome, muscular.

 

Yeah, right.

“____, let’s go! We have to catch the train back!” You nodded and put the phone away.

“Did you find anything?” you asked. She giggled. “What?”

“The clerk asked me out on a date!”

“Hana, we’re leaving in two days!”

“Aw, cmon, one date wouldn’t hurt. It’s time to put all those Japanese lessons to work!” she giggled.

“What about me? Tomorrow is our last full day here,” you pouted.
“You’ll be fine without me for a day! Please, ______, please please pleaseeeee?” She looked at you with puppy eyes.

“Ugh fine, just stop looking at me like that.” Hana hugged you tight. “Get off me, pabo!” you giggled.

 

Hana woke up early the next day obsessing about her date. You stared at her groggily as she dug through her suitcase for something to wear.

“Aish, _____, why didn’t I pack anything with more appeal?” she said, frustrated.

“Because you aren’t trying to seduce me,” you replied with a yawn.

“Oh, right.” She seemed to finally pick something and she went to the bathroom to shower.

You checked your phone

7:02 am. You groaned.

~

You sat down alone at a café near your hotel. The waiter served you your order of pancakes showered in fruit, whipped cream, and syrup. You your lips and took a picture, sending it to Z.

I want some…

 

Too bad. >:D It’s all mine

 

What do you want from me?

 

My friend bailed on me today. :-(

 

So? Can’t talk much today. I’ll call youlater about meeting arrangements.

 

Ok.

~

After you ate, you wandered around Tokyo, stopping at arcades and eating the local cuisine. You went to see a play by yourself and concluded it was a dumb idea since you didn’t know any Japanese. You even rented a bike and just rode around aimlessly for a while. You were beginning to get lost and confused and it was getting darker. You stopped at a park. You tried calling Hana, but she wasn’t answering her phone. So you called the only other person you could think of.

“Hello?”

“Z, I think I’m lost…”

“What do you want me to do about it?”

“I don’t know,” you shrugged, even though you knew he couldn’t see you.

You looked around you for any familiar landmarks.

“Whoa!” you said loudly into the phone. The Tokyo Tower was hovering above the trees and you were amazed by its height.

“_____? Are you ok? What is-“ You hung up on him and started to make your way towards it. They’d surely have maps of the city. You rode the elevator to the top and looked over the city lights beginning to turn on. You sat by the window at a café at the top of the tower. You felt your phone buzzing in your pocket.

Two missed calls.

Three text messages.

ARE YOU OK?

WHY AREN’T YOU ANSWERING?

..are you dead?

You giggled to yourself.

No, I’m alive. Were you worried?

 

Uh…just making sure my phone is ok

You rolled your eyes.

Yeah, it’s fine.

 

Good. Where are you?

You took a picture of yourself with the gorgeous view in the background.

Tokyo Tower. Isn’t it pretty?
Picture Attached

 

Very.

You stopped replying to eat your food and look over the maps. Then your phone vibrated again.

Incoming call: xx-xxx-6795

“Hello?”

“Why didn’t you reply?” he asked.

“I’m eating.”

“Anyway, we should, uh, figure out where to meet up.”

“Right. Your voice sounds a little echo-ey. Are…are you talking to me in a bathroom?”

“N-none of your business.”

“Ewww you took my phone into the boys bathroom?”

“It’s not important. Anyway, tomorrow, I’ll meet you in Hongdae. I’ll text you the address.”

“Ok then. You gunna tell me what you look like now?”

“I already told you. I’ll be the most handsome guy there. It won’t be hard to find me.” You could practically hear him smirking. You giggled.

“No seriously. Send me a picture. You’ve seen how I look,” you whined. He was silent for a few moments.

“Ok, but don’t say I didn’t warn you when you have a heart attack.” You giggled.

“Don’t you worry about me.” Your phone buzzed and you opened up the picture. Sure enough, you recognized your cheetah-print cell phone case in his hand. But that wasn’t really what you were paying attention to. Wow, he really wasn’t kidding when he said he was gorgeous. His dark hair was perfectly groomed and fell past his eyebrows and his black eyes were neatly rimmed with eyeliner. He had a strong chin and such soft looking lips and—

“Hello? You still there?” You were snapped out of your thoughts.

“Y-yeah.”

“Speechless at my good looks?”

“Keep talking like that and you’re head will get bigger.”

“So you admit I am,” he mused.

“I didn’t say anything! Now that I look at you, you look awfully familiar….” He did. Maybe he was a distant relative? Or maybe you saw him on TV? “Have we met before?”

“A-at the airport, duh.”

“No, somewhere else….” A waiter approached you and told you that the tower would be closing soon. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then, I guess. Don’t forget to text me the address.”

“Okay. See you.”

That night, you looked at the picture, trying to figure out where you recognized him from. You gave up after Hana returned and began ranting about her date. Your mind lingered on his good looks, his voice. Was tomorrow going to be the last time you were to ever hear his voice? You certainly hoped not.

~

Tomorrow came quicker than you would have liked and the whole routine at the airport was much to early for your liking. The hour ride on the plane was short, but you slept the whole way.

“Hana, I have to go somewhere. You just head home, kay?”

Z had texted you the address at some point while you were on the plane. It was a small café tucked away behind a popular shopping mall.

You sat in the window, browsing through his playlist. Most of the songs were Chinese and unfamiliar to you, but the occasional indie songs that you enjoyed popped up.

“I thought I told you not to look through my phone.” You looked up. You recognized Z from his photo. He was even more handsome in person and his Chinese accent was more prominent. He no longer had eyeliner on but her looked just as stunning.

“I wasn’t! Ok just a little but—“ He held out his hand and you placed his phone in his palm. He gave you your phone back as well and you examined it. “Um..thanks.”

“No problem.”

“I think I deserve to know your real name now…” you said quietly.

“Huang Zitao. Nice to meet you. You can stop staring anytime you know,” he chuckled.

“Man…you look really familiar….” you said, ignoring his words and examining him. You abandoned your thought when you remembered something else. “Wait a second.” You dug through your purse and pulled out the pair of “Z” earrings. “Something to remember me by,” you smiled, “good thing your ears are pierced. “ He accepted it with a smile. Then it began to get awkward.

“Well then…uh…I guess I’ll be going. Sorry about your phone.” You smiled and picked up your luggage and was about to walk away when he grabbed your wrist.

“Yah…cat lady. You wanna get coffee sometime?” He scratched the nape of his neck. You smiled.

“Ok.”