French Cup: A Neighborhood Story

Chapter 75: -Kazuya- Kindness Comes in All Forms

It was late at night now. Nikki had gone to his apartment after Chirp's, having gotten way more drunk than he'd intended. Seo-Yoon's company had just been that good. Who'd have known she was so good at winning drinking games? Just who was she? As much as I didn't want to know, I couldn't help but be intrigued. Everything in me was saying I didn't want to know her, but was that selfish? She was Gyeong-Wan's best friend. He liked her. But, no, getting close to her... It felt wrong. Everyone else seemed to like her and I had to admit she was charming, but...

I swept up the front of French Cup, going around the chairs. Being careful, though deep in thought. We'd all parted in front of Chirp's. I wanted Gyeong-Wan to come with me, but he'd told me he wanted to see her back to her hotel. She pulled at his arm, grinning at everybody. It made me almost twitch. She was going home tomorrow. She was getting on a plane. It made sense that he'd want to see her back to her hotel. They hadn't seen each other in a long time. They were childhood best friends.

But seeing them go off into the distance together, arm in arm... I wanted to go off into the distance with him arm in arm...

Suddenly I was longing for him too much. My phone was bluetoothing to the speakers in here, my calming French music coming out. But, thinking about him. Hearing him speak Korean to both Kim-san and her. His soothing tones, much more confident in Korean than in Japanese. My hand went to my pocket and I found myself shuffling through my Spotify. I pressed the first Korean song I discovered on there. A pop song by some girl group. Immediately, the music switched to something unfamiliar, but the language was his. It was a fast song, something to dance to. I didn't feel like dancing, but the words were comforting. I worked to the pace of it, much faster than before. I had to admit, it was making me feel a little better. He'd said before that he didn't like this kind of music, that he thought it was something akin to soulless, but I kind of...I kind of liked it. Because of him...

I was too into it to notice the door open and close. The music was too loud for the chime over the door to be heard. The only thing that brought me out of it was a small hand tugging at my apron. I jumped hugely and my hand dove immediately into my pocket to turn off the music. My eyes fell on a young boy, dressed neatly in an expensive looking puffy jacket and khakis and holding a small paper bag with what looked like sparklers sticking out of it, and as I rose them an identically dressed boy but older was there. Standing next to them was a woman who was a bit portly in red designer clothes and perfect hair.

She bowed slightly. "I'm so sorry," she stammered. "I saw your closed sign. We knocked several times, but it is an emergency. My youngest boy, he says he needs to use the restroom and can't wait until we get back to our hotel. Can he use yours?"

Oh, of course he could. I nodded rapidly before I even said anything. "Yes, absolutely. It's that door to the right." I pointed. The boy immediately started going for it and his older brother yanked the paper bag out of his hand before he disappeared into it. The door slammed and in the quiet the lock reverberated throughout the space. 

The woman made a deep sigh, plopping down into a mint green curly-cued chair. She looked exhausted. The older boy sat across from her, laying the bag on the table. I wanted to do something for her. Two boys, by herself? Where had she come from? That bag...

"Did you go shopping for fireworks?" I asked, dropping my broom against the wall. 

"Yes," she admitted, sweeping her hair back and messing it up. "It was farther than I thought. My boys want to celebrate New Year's how we always do, and that's with fireworks. Their father is working through it this year, so I wanted them to have comforts of home."

"Oh. Where's home?" I settled in near them, standing next to their table like they were customers. But, they were customers. It didn't matter if we were closed. It looked like she could use something nice. We did still have leftover items. I'd intended to give some to Yuko, but maybe they'd enjoy them?