August 24, 1994

**Iolani POV**

By the time I awaken again several hours later the sun is low in the sky, my eyes are swollen and crusted over, and my stomach is growling. I guess it's back to reality...

I slowly fumble my way to the bathroom for a shower, before putting the coffee on and looking through the freezer to put together a quick dinner.

I finally manage to scrape together a few frozen veggies, some chicken strips, and a few spices for a quick stir fry and get to work.

As I'm throwing everything together, my eyes make contact with the beautiful ring adorning my left hand and emit a sorrowful sigh, eyes tearing up as I continue to scrape together my dinner. Please come back soon...I miss you...

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A few minutes later, I pull my makeshift dinner off the stove, and in a bid to distract myself my mind wanders back again to the mysterious voicemail from Aloha that was on my machine yesterday. I really should call her...

I take a moment to set my dinner on the table and grab a chair to bring over to the phone. Eying the cord suspiciously for a moment, I debate whether or not to try plugging it in again. I don't think I can deal with that Levi guy calling again...

Eyes tearing at the thought, I hesitantly plug the phone in and hope for the best...and for the moment, the line is blessedly silent so I pick it up and plug in digits I remember like the back of my hand.

Moments later, the line begins to ring. On the fourth ring, I thought for sure I'd missed her. Come on, girl...pick up!

Finally I hear a familiar sounding male voice on the other end of the line. "Hello?"

I recognize the voice immediately, and do everything in my power to avoid talking to him. "Aloha please." What the hell is he doing there?!?

"Iolani?! I have to admit I'm surprised to hear from you...." the voice replies in a taunting manner. "I'm glad you called though...we need to talk."

"I don't think so, Alika. Just put Aloha on the line, please." I retort with a sigh. I can't even deal with your bullshit right now...

"I don't think so. Not until you talk to me." He returns petulantly. God help me...

"Not happening, Kaka. Now put Aloha on the line or I'm hanging up." That ought to get his attention...

"How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me Kaka?!" he retorts, irritated. Clearly the old childhood barb hit home..yes!

Following his outburst, the line remains silent for several moments, and if it weren't for the sound of his heavy breathing I'd think for sure he'd hung up. Eventually he emits a giant sigh, and I hear his voice in the background shouting, "Aloha! It's for you!"

Eventually Aloha comes on the line and utters a breathless, "Hello?"

"Hey Haha! How's it going, girl?" I reply, putting on my best peppy voice. I need to figure out what's going on with her. For starters, what the fuck is Alika doing there?!

"Lani?" she utters softly in response, surprise lacing her voice. "I didn't think I'd hear from you before I flew out there. Is something wrong?" she asks with concern. If you only knew...

"Everything's okay." I reply evasively. "I could ask the same about you...."

"What do you mean?" she replies, confusion lacing her voice. You know exactly what I mean...

"Come on, Aloha. You know exactly what I'm talking about. What the fuck is Alika doing hanging at your place?" I begin, taking an interrogative stance. "After our last discussion, I thought he was 'getting what he deserved'. Whatever happened to that?" I finish grimly.

The line goes quiet for a few seconds before I hear her softly reply with a hesitant, "Uhhhhh..." followed by a rush of words I wasn't expecting. "He kind of lives here." Now that I wasn't expecting...

"What do you mean he lives there?" This whole conversation is throwing me for a loop.

"Please Iolani. We were all friends once. Can't we try to go back to that?" she begins softly, seemingly pleading for understanding. Of course we can...when hell freezes over. If she thinks I'm gonna play buddy buddy with Alika after everything he's pulled, she'd better think again!

My silence apparently was telling, as not long after I hear her emit a resigned sounding sigh. "Okay, Lan Lan. I get it...you don't like Alika. But please try...for me..." she begins sadly.

"I think this can all be cleared up once I come to America to see you. I have a surprise that I think may change your mind," she finishes, her voice suddenly turning all sunny and cheery again. Fat chance, but we'll see...

"Okay Haha...I'll let it go for now." I reply, getting a large sigh of relief as response. But once you're here it's a whole other ballgame sister...

In an obvious attempt to change the tone of the conversation, I continue with, "I can't want to see you again, girl. I've missed you! From what I understand, your flight comes into Minneapolis on September 3rd at 9:29 p.m., and you're on United Airlines flight UA902." I continue questioningly, reading off the pad I leave by the phone for messages. Please tell me Alika isn't flying in with you...

"Alika's not flying in with you is he?" I ask pointedly. I might as well prepare myself now just in case...

"No, he's staying home this time. I wanted to be alone to tell you our news," she replies, exuberantly. So it's their news...something tells me this isn't going to be good...

While I wanted to confront her about her little slip of the tongue, I figured it was probably best to let it go for now. After all...I'll find out soon enough...

"Just a heads up that I have a shift at the hospital that night until 10, but I'll head over to the airport as soon as I get out of there to come pick you up," is eventually what I left her with.

"That's fine. It'll take a bit for me to get my bags and deal with customs anyway. I'm so happy about this trip, Lan Lan! I'm excited to see you...and for my first visit to America...." she squeaks out, her excitement evident.

"Me too, girl. See you in a couple of weeks," I reply eagerly. Seems her excitement is infectious....

After exchanging our quick goodbyes I hang up the phone and glance at my watch, realizing I need to get a move on it to get to work on time.

As I quickly clean up from dinner, my mind continues to wander. To think, I thought the situation with my missing e ipo was bad...but despite Aloha's reassurances to the contrary, something tells me this is even worse.

That said...in terms of looking for a distraction from my own woes, I have to say mission accomplished.

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Once I got the apartment back into tidy shape, including making up the bed in my e ipo's room with tears lightly clouding my vision as I did so, it didn't take me long to get everything ready for the long night ahead.

A few minutes later, I double checked to make sure I had everything I'd need for the 16 hour shift ahead of me before slowly making my way out the door.

Suffice to say that when the phone started ringing as I was on my way out, I found myself shaking my head. I decided that whoever it was could wait, letting it roll over to voicemail, barely making out a voice saying...Hello? Hello? Artist...if you're there, please pick up! It's Levi....as the door clicked shut.