A Magical Christmas Collection 2022

The Coffee

The snow fell heavily against her windshield. Her foot generously stepped on the gas petal, 10 miles per hour. Even with her glasses on, the road blurred. She glanced at her rearview mirror and exhaled a breath of frustration, a breath of relief, no one was behind. Her phone vibrated against the navigation holder. She steered the wheel right and pressed her emergency light.

"How dare you leave without me?" Minho's voice roared. Her face crinkled. Damn the speaker. Minho was an earful, but he wasn't hard to tame. Bring him along next time and he'd forget everything she'd done wrong.

"I headed out early. Didn't think you could wake up that early."

"Jang Seungah, what do you think of me? I ne...ver miss out on an adventure. No matter how...."

"Minho? Minho?" Seungah panicked, unsure if something happened to him or if signal was lost.

"What's the place you're going?"

Seungah breathed. "Nostalgia Farm."

"What? I thought you said you're going for coffee?"

"There is a café at the farm," Seungah elaborated.

"There's nothing. I can't find anything called Nostalgia farm. Are you joking with me?" Minho snorted. "Come on Seungah, you already left me. I'm not going to get in the car and follow you."

"What are you talking about?" Seungah sighed. Minho was being the extraordinary him. She screenshotted the name and address and messaged him. "Happy?"

"Happy about what?"

"I sent you the name and address on my GPS."

"I told you to quit it Seungah," Minho pleaded. "You sent me a blank image."

Seungah double checked the image. She lacked sleep, but it wasn't blank. She removed her glasses and rubbed her eyes. The location was still there. "Minho, I got to go. I still got a long drive."

"You don't believe me? I even search the farm on the internet and noth—"

Seungah ended the call. She opened her browser and searched the post "The Perfect Christmas Coffee". She hissed under her breath at the bolded title on her screen. Minho must be taking revenge.

She returned her phone to the navigation holder and pulled onto the road. Her mind wondered. The post claimed the perfect Christmas coffee was at Nostalgia Café. The taste, ingredients, and everything else remained a mystery. There was a pen sketch of the author, but Seungah couldn't visualize with its faded ink. The mysteries intrigued her, but what captured her was the last paragraph. It wrote: you can only arrive at the farm if you drive out on Christmas Day, alone.

"You will soon enter a place without signal. Please continue to follow the physical signs to arrive at your destination."

Seungah swallowed a hard lump in her throat. She slowed the car, just a few extra seconds with signal sounded pleasant. She definitely took technology for granted. Her GPS disconnected, no more bar. Her eyes returned to the street with a pair of eagle eyes. She approached the first sign. It directed her to turn left. The next one pointed right. And right. Then left. Then she lost count.

The road was deprived of lights. She was thankful there wasn't a blizzard. She approached a narrow road on the cliff and cold sweats dotted her forehead. Was the cup of coffee and the mystery really worth her life? Her hand clenched onto the steering wheel, please let the café be just on the other side. If not, at least Minho knew where she went.

She circled the mountain twice and the road finally expanded. Her anxiety ended. The road continued with red carpet, a new world. In the near distance, Christmas lights wrapped around trees. A large wooden sign stood in between, Welcome To Nostalgia Farm.