After Somin finally gets into a prestigious Art university, everything in her life turns upside down. What was once a secure plan to get closer to her boyfriend is now a mess. Her future is unknown, though already stained with heartache.
Will she p...
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Lee Somin
The morning was perfectly long. Solitude, yes.
The weather stayed sunny and Somin kept looking from her window, sipping strong black tea.
This tastes a bit like chocolate with caramel.
A flower-shaped tea cup held a ruby beverage.
What a gorgeous color.
A small gift from Junu. He randomly gave a small light blue square of vacuumed tea leaves to her bag with a tagged message, "Give a chance to this one."
Knowing Somin wasn't much of a tea enthusiast, the boy attached a drawn tutorial.
How sweet of him.
Who knew tea could have this distinctive taste?
So far Somin only ever drank earl gray tea if offered, preferably extremely sweetened with honey and lemon at times overflowing with milk. More often it looked more like only tea-scented milk.
"I'm such a barbarian," Somin said to Junu as she drank it.
"Hey Somin-ssi, don't sweat it, as long as it makes you happy and the tea is tasty, it's alright," Junu replied while carefully holding his precious antique teacup.
Somin spent the last two years as a coffee shop part-timer to earn the ever-so-needed money so she knew how to make the beverage a thousand ways. Loving the roasted heavy smell of it always made her choose coffee instead of tea. Somehow, she started to add sugar even though she knew it was better to have quality beans and learn to love their natural taste. Life got harder and energy scarce so sugar had to suffice.
***
"Somin-ah why on earth did you start to work there, it's so humiliating," Cholsu said.
When she giddily confined with him, proud as ever, knowing their dates had become more expensive as the well-paid sculptor wanted to live the culturally demanding life. They walked to the very anticipated exhibition of Cholsu's teacher.
"I love coffee and I thought maybe it'll help with my introversion." She really made an effort to step up from her comfort zone.
Taking orders and talking to people was demanding and foremost exhausting. But the fixed shifts gave her a sense of schedule and she wanted to try to work at least once a week.
Dr. Jansen was very proud of her striving for progress in her deteriorating mental health.
"Ms. Lee, don't worry, try to see yourself there differently..." her calm and comforting therapist advised, "...the customers don't know you, so you can be whoever you want to be, there are no preconceived notions about you, grab the opportunity and take it as a game."
