Now and for the Last Time

20 장

A pause, but a short one. Whoever Phone Lady was always talking to, they never seemed to get much a word in.

"I never wanted a tenant anyway. We renovated that apartment for Mark, so he'd have a place for his machines. That's how good I was to him! And you know how that turned out."

Ahead of me, a woman in a black business suit, an ID badge of some sort clipped to her jacket, exhaled loudly. I wanted to tell her to save her breath. I'd heard people outright tell Phone Lady to hush and she barely batted an eye.

"I know my rights as a landlord," she continued. "And I'm not afraid to evict, so sir. But it's just so unfortunate. I thought having someone in that apartment would be a good thing. Just my luck. I don't get good things, I guess."

Hearing this, I craned my neck to see how many people were still ahead of me. I could handle Phone Lady's complaining, her detailed stories of the slights of co-workers and relatives, even the long-winded stories about her cats' health issues. But the sad thing wasn't worth an turkey sandwich to me. I had enough of that in my own head.

Luckily, the businesswoman and guy behind her had simple orders, so soon enough I was on my way. As I pushed out the door, holding it for a man carrying a baby, Phone Lady was saying something about joining a dating website. Better him than me, I thought. The stories just went on and on, whether or not anyone was there to listen.

I'd planned to bring my food back to the office to eat. On my way, though, I saw Vivi, tied up by a bench in a shady spot next to the stationary store, a blue bandana around his neck. Clearly, Sehun had discovered that the couple that owned the store,  Taeyang and Hyorin, were huge animal lovers. I was actually surprised he wasn't already just hanging out inside. When Vivi saw me, he sat up, wagging his tail.

"Hey buddy," I said. He responded by wiggling harder, his front end now joining in, going the opposite direction. "You thirsty?"

He wasn't. His water bowl, a custom-made with his name on it - something I just knew a girl had purchased for Sehun - was full. Still, when I took a seat and untwisted my own bottle, I poured a bit in, topping him off. Vivi drank the water. Then, after sniffing at my sandwich from a distance, his long whiskers twitching, he turned in a circle and lay at my feet, his head on my shoe. Again, I was not a dog person. Or an animal person. But it seemed rude to move, so I didn't.

A moment later, my phone rang. Even without the caller ID I would've known it was Gayeon, based only on the noise in the background - children's voices, engaged in some sort of argument, a baby crying. "Hello?" I said.

"Hang on," she replied. Then: "Everyone HUSH I am on the PHONE or NO ICE CREAM for ANYONE."

The noise volum dropped, although I could still hear Yuri, sputtering.

"Hey," Gayeon said to me. "What are you doing?"

When I heard from Gayeon while she was in the role of taking care of the children and I was doing something alone, peacefully, I was always self-conscious about it. "Working," I said. "And eating lunch. What's up?"

The phone was pierced by a scream, which she ignored, saying, "Oh, the regular. Moving between food trucks and lessons, play dates and diaper changes."

"You just passed the ice cream place," I heard Jae say in his flat monotone.

"Shoot," she said. The twins cried in protest, saying something about harsh words. "Oh, like you haven't heard it before. And there are other ice cream places."

"Not like that one," Jae again.

"Can you shut up for one second and let me talk to Suzy?" she snapped. Silence. Temporarily. "Okay, quickly. I left it with Seojoon and his friend tonight at Jin's Diner for dinner at 7:30."