Call or Not Call

Ryú glanced at his watch for what had to be the fifteenth time in the last hour.

“Damn,” he muttered to himself.

It was only eight in the morning.

She was probably still asleep.

That thought alone immediately derailed his entire nervous system.

His imagination instantly supplied the image of waking up beside her.

Silver hair spread across his pillow.

Sleep-heavy eyes blinking up at him.

That warm, drowsy voice saying his name—

Ryú groaned softly and dragged both hands down his face.

“Oh, this is bad. Get a grip, man. You’re acting like some randy teenager instead of the mature man that you are,” he chided himself.

He was absolutely going to need a cold shower if he didn’t get himself together soon.

With restless energy still crackling through him, Ryú paced barefoot between the kitchen and living room of his house.

What was a reasonable time to call someone you were trying very hard not to scare away with your overwhelming emotional intensity?

Nine?

Ten?

Would ten seem too eager?

Would waiting until afternoon make it seem like he wasn’t interested enough?

God.

Was this what dating normally felt like?

Because if so, humanity deserved financial compensation.

Finally forcing himself to sit down, Ryú dropped heavily into one of the chairs at his kitchen table and exhaled slowly.

“Focus. You’re a grown-ass businessman.”

He needed a distraction.

Anything.

His eyes landed on the stack of neglected mail that had accumulated over the last several days.

Mostly bills.

A few investment reports.

Something from legal.

One envelope from his mother that he had been strategically pretending didn’t exist.

Ryú made himself focus on the mail.

By the time he finished sorting everything, he had created three neat piles across the kitchen table.

Bills.

Invitations.

Business analyst requests.

He stared at them for a long moment like they had personally betrayed him.

Then gathered the stacks into his arms and padded barefoot down the hall toward his home office.

“Might as well pay bills,” he muttered to himself.

That should kill at least another—

Ryú glanced down at his watch and groaned dramatically.

8:20 AM.

Only twenty minutes had passed.

“How is that even possible?”

Time had apparently slowed to a crawl solely to torture him personally.

Dropping heavily into the leather chair behind his desk, Ryú flipped open the first envelope with the deep resignation of a man suffering through unbearable hardship.

Electric bill.

Fine.

Second envelope.

Property taxes.

Wonderful. Third envelope—

He blinked.

Then stared.

Then slowly looked back at the clock.

8:21 AM.

Ryú dropped his head directly onto the desk with a muffled groan.

“This cannot be my life.”

Because somehow…

somehow…

an entire emotional crisis had only consumed one additional minute.

He was actually going to lose his mind.

With a sigh, he sat back up and forced himself to continue sorting through paperwork.

At least numbers normally calmed him down.

Spreadsheets made sense.

Contracts made sense.

Financial projections made sense.

Women with silver hair and dangerous smiles apparently did not.

His phone sat just within reach on the corner of the desk.

Silent.

Tempting.

Mocking him.

Ryú eyed it suspiciously.

“No.”

The phone remained offensively silent.

“You are not calling her yet.” Still silent.

“…Stop looking emotionally available.” Then Ryú frowned at himself.

“Am I seriously talking to a phone right now?”

Which probably meant he was already too far gone to be saved.

Ryú called Arjun instead of dialing Nari.

Because if he didn’t talk to someone soon, he was fairly certain he was going to spontaneously combust from nervous energy alone.

The phone rang twice before Arjun answered with a sleep-heavy grunt.

Ryú immediately pounced.

“Why are you still asleep?”

“Why,” Arjun asked slowly, “are you calling me this early on a Saturday?”

“Where is your sense of decency?”

From somewhere farther away, Ryú could hear Lakshmi’s muffled voice.

“Who is it?”

“A complete nut job,” Arjun answered immediately, “who apparently doesn’t understand that normal people enjoy sleeping in.”

Ryú actually had the decency to look sheepish.

“…Sorry.”

“Are you dying?”

“No.”

“Is the house on fire?”

“No.”

“Did someone embezzle company funds?”

“No.”

Another pause.

“…Is this about Nari?”

…

“No.”

“It’s absolutely about Nari!” Lakshmi yelled from the background.

“I just wanted to know if…” Ryú scrambled desperately. “You and Lakshmi wanted to meet up for breakfast?”

Dead silence greeted him.

“You called me,” Arjun said slowly, “at eight-thirty in the morning… about breakfast?”

“It sounded more reasonable in my head.” Lakshmi cackled loudly.

“Oh my God. He’s spiraling already.”

“I am NOT spiraling.”

“You’re calling married people at sunrise because you’re emotionally constipated over a woman,” Arjun informed him. “That is the definition of spiraling.”

“…Fair.”

“You know what?  You should —” Arjun muttered tiredly. “No. We’re getting breakfast now because I need to witness this disaster in person. We’ll see you in an hour.”

Ryú pulled into the parking lot of their favorite breakfast spot, Stone’s Throw Café.

The little hole-in-the-wall place sat tucked between a florist and an old bookstore downtown.

Four years ago, Arjun had dragged him there after a fourteen-hour workday and one disastrous investor meeting.

Three weeks later, after discovering the café was on the verge of going under due to catastrophic bookkeeping and two owners who possessed absolutely zero business instincts, Ryú and Arjun had quietly stepped in as silent investors.

Not because the business made financial sense.

It didn’t.

But because the food tasted like comfort, warmth, and childhood memories wrapped together on a plate.

And because Newport and Sherry were genuinely good people.

Warm smells of bacon, coffee, butter, cinnamon, and biscuits immediately wrapped around him.

Before he could even fully remove his coat, Sherry spotted him from behind the register and hurried over carrying a steaming mug of black coffee.

“Ryú!” she exclaimed warmly. “Sugar, what brings you here this early on a Saturday?”

“Morning, Sherry,” he greeted warmly. “Meeting Arjun and Lakshmi for breakfast.”

The café door opened just then, with Arjun ushering Lakshmi inside.

“SHERRY!” Arjun boomed dramatically. “How are you this morning, Beautiful?” The sound of Arjun’s voice caused Newport to poke his head out from the kitchen.

“My friends!” he called loudly.

Ignoring at least three active stove burners, Newport abandoned the kitchen entirely and came striding toward them.

“My friends, you should have called and told me you were coming!”

“I would have prepared something special for you!” Looking teasingly over at Ryú, Arjun injected:

“We are here as an intervention to prevent our friend here from chasing away a potential someone special by calling her at this ungodly hour on a Saturday morning.”

Impossible as it was, Newport’s grin spread even wider and Sherry just about squealed.

“Ryú, sugar! You got a girlfriend?!”

“She’s not my girlfriend…” Ryú corrected immediately.

“Yet!” Lakshmi chimed in.

“Oh ho! Tell us about this extraordinary woman—OH! Hold that thought!” Newport suddenly spun around toward the kitchen.

“I smell burning!”

A few moments later he returned balancing four massive plates loaded with pancakes that nearly covered each plate, topped with sunny-side-up eggs and enough bacon to alarm medical professionals everywhere.

The scent alone nearly made Ryú emotional.

Arjun’s stomach growled loudly enough for the entire table to hear.

“I want THAT.”

“You always want that,” Lakshmi informed him.

“Because Newport cooks like southern grandmothers are competing for my soul.” Newport looked deeply pleased after delivering the plates to two tables.

“Now,” Sherry said, sliding into the booth beside Newport with unconcealed excitement, “start talking.” Ryú sighed heavily.

“There’s not much to tell.”

All four of them stared at him.

“Sugar,” Sherry said gently, “you are glowing.” “He really is,” Lakshmi agreed immediately.

“It’s honestly disturbing,” Arjun added. “You already look handsome enough. Which makes it worse for us normal men.”

Ryú rolled his eyes and took another sip of coffee, trying—and failing—to suppress the helpless smile tugging at his mouth. And unfortunately for him…

that smile told everyone at the table absolutely everything they needed to know.