nights out [aespa]

food trip 🍱

The night market, equivalent of heaven for foodies. Karina was especially joyful :D

Everywhere they looked, there were shops and food stalls of every kind.

"I know we already ate at the café but... look at this!" Karina showed them enthusiastically.

"Woah," Ningning squealed while Giselle took pictures of the place and posted it to her profile.

There were a lot of people buying food and roaming the area.

Winter shifted with uneasiness upon seeing them. She didn't really like being in a very big crowd for a long time, she could tolerate it but all the noise would tire her out.

Karina saw Winter's uneasiness and tried to comfort her.

"Winter, you good?"

"Eh, not very. So many people," she muttered. She was breathing a little heavy, so Karina hugged her and told her it'd be fine.

"If you want, I'll show you somewhere you can wait while we get food for the four of us."

Winter hesitated, which was not normal for her. She would've usually accepted if in a flash, but it was a night to have fun and celebrate.

She wanted to make the best out of it, and what if there was a food she wanted but couldn't get because she wasn't there to get it?

Besides, the people here didn't look so bad; they just wanted to eat food and talk with their friends, which is what she was going to do.

Who knows if this night would ever come back again?

Winter inhaled, firmly shook her head, and declined Karina's offer, "Actually, I think I'll just go with you guys," she smiled.

Karina was all giddy and dragged her along to a bunch of food stalls.
"Yay!"

It turned out Ningning and Giselle had already gone ahead of the both of them.

They went from stall to stall, ordering food and trying their best to save it for later and not eat it all at once.

At one point, Winter didn't have enough money for some food, so Karina had to buy it for her.

"How did you already run out of money?"

"Uhm.. I may or may not have secretly bought a bunch of chocolates."

"Don't you still have some? You were practically drunk on chocolates in the karaoke room anyway," Karina joked.

"Are you kidding? They'd melt, I'm not gonna save them just to eat them melted!" she pouted.

---

After a while, they all met up in an outdoor dining area. There were a lot of people, but thankfully there was still a table for them to sit in.

Giselle got ttekbokki and spicy ramen, Ningning got blood sausage soup and bibimbap, Karina got tonkatsu, gimbap, and noodles, and Winter got lasagna and kimchi, and the chocolates.

They shared their foods with each other and gossiped about a lot of stuff.

Their old school life, their childhood, their dreams, their vision for their group, drama, they talked about everything they could.

"Did you guys know I almost got trapped in my school?"

.
..
...
..."And that's how they found out I was stuck there. For 2 days. My parents were worried dead."
....
.....
.......

9:54 p.m

"I'm so full," Winter said as she finally finished her second plate.

"Good, it means the food was great!" Karina said and stuffed another serving into her mouth. How Karina does it, no one knows but she can finish a family's portion by herself.

Ningning and Giselle weren't finished with theirs, but Ningning was ready to go for a third serving while Giselle was pretty satiated by what she had earlier.

Winter took out her phone and started scrolling through her gallery.

There was the picture of Giselle wearing the clown costume, the picture of them at the café, and the rest were mostly pictures of places. Some of them had people in it. She noticed one that was oddly familiar.

It was a picture of them hanging out when they first became trainees.

"This was 5 years ago.." she said wistfully.

"What was?" Karina said, still eating her food.

Winter showed her and immediately, Karina's eyes lit up. She wipes her mouth with a napkin and points toward the north. "I remember that place.. it's 20 minutes from here!"

Karina asked Winter to see the photo again. She took the phone and stared at it for a really long time.

None of them had noticed some tears formed in her eyes. "It's been so long.. when we were so young and didn't know anything," she recalled.

Ningning looked at the photo and she also felt this swirling, fluttery feeling. "Hey, I remember that day. We were trainees. That's also when I lost my bracelet trying to chase after Giselle," she said then glanced to Giselle.

Giselle simply chuckled and sipped from her bottle, "At least I made you a new one," she pointed at the bracelet Ningning had on.

It was a cute, handmade butterfly bracelet. "I can't lie," she smiled, "It is better than the one I had."

Karina finally finished and stood up. "Okay, let's go."

"Huh? Go where?"

"To that place," she once again pointed north. "To the place we first got to know each other."

      -------------------------------