Cold Coffee | 𝐉. 𝐘𝐮𝐧𝐡𝐨 ✓

3

3

[Lee Saeyan]
9th Feb 2023

      Another two weeks had passed. Eagerly, I waited for you to show up again. It became a habit for me, waiting for you every day till I realised your pattern. Two weeks apart. Always. This day however, I was not alone in the cafe. I was accompanied by my coworker. Jung Wooyoung, is his name. He's a little puerile, perhaps a little inane for his age. Either way, he's kind, compassionate about little things in his life.

      He was talking to me, eating my ear off about something. I never paid attention to him, I did not think of him to be worth of my time. Sometimes, I would register a phrase from him.

      One day he came up to me and said, "I don't sleep. My mind has the scary capability of being dark and demented."

      I asked, "are you afraid of your dreams?"

      "Yes." He said quietly.

      It made sense to me; Wooyoung's harrowing past keeps him up at night because of the frequent nightmares he has. His lack of sleep would be always evident in the morning, when he'd come to work with dark circles under his eyes, and his cheeks hollowed.

      Wooyoung was talking to me about something. We were back by the kitchen counter, leaving the register deserted because it was almost time to close.

      Out of nowhere, he blurted, "do you think the people who smile all the time have been hurt the most?"

      "Why would you say that?" my mind raced to you, to your thoughts. You smiled all the time. I wondered why.

      "It takes one to be brave to put on a front which says they're fine." Wooyoung continued, "these people have been hurt so many times that they don't care anymore. They want to spend rest of their lives with big smiles on their face."

      It got me thinking. Wooyoung's notions have always been thought provoking. They force you to ruminate, contemplate and consider. I was amidst in my speculations, when the bell chimed. And there you were, striding in with a delicate smile on your face. You plodded up to the counter and followed me with your eyes. I took your order; it wasn't different from earlier. A cup of coffee, the usual strong one. You asked for it to be strong and bitter, and unlike the first encounters, you didn't have any sweet to pair it with.

      You paid with cash, and let your fingers brush my palm. Your touch singed itself on my skin, gave me butterflies in my stomach. It was me who shied away this time, pulling my hand unconsciously away as if you were actually burning me. You found it odd, I know you did. Regardless, I shrugged it off and offered you a smile of my own, a little graceless than yours.

      You waved it off as well, saying, "accidental touches like these are bound to happen."

      I retorted, "you don't want anything sweet with your coffee today?"

      You said, "I need something as dark as the night, today. Nothing sweet." You paused to grab the takeaway cup from Wooyoung and then you smiled at me, "if the moon can hide behind the darkness of the world, then so can I."

      I didn't understand it at first. And it was too late to even ask you, because the moment your sound resonated in my soul, you were long gone, out of the cafe. I shared a glance with Wooyoung, biting my tongue, and he only gave me a stern nod.

      I knew it then.

     Your smiles aren't genuine, are they?