relationships

하나

"i'm so nervous for my results... what if i don't get into the university that i want?" yeri, my best friend, sighed as we walked towards the school gate.

"what's there to worry about? your grades have also been within the top 3 of our class. i'm sure you can enter seoul university, study in a fashion design course and become a world-famous designer that you've always dreamt of!" i assured her as i patted her shoulder.

today was the day whereby we would be getting our results for our final examination in high school. more than anyone, i was extremely worried about my grades. they always fluctuated during normal school terms - sometimes i could get straight as, sometimes i could fail almost every single subject. my dream, or rather ambition, was to be a psychologist. i had always seen people who have suicidal thoughts or teens who commit self-harm. every time i came across one such person, my passion for becoming a psychologist became even stronger. i wanted to be able to heal every single person, if possible, who was struggling and suffering mentally.

everyone gathered in the school hall, ready to receive their results. the principal came in and gave an extremely looooooooooooong speech on how proud she was to see us grow up so much and finally graduating from this school. (seriously, which student doesn't hate principal speeches?) after what seemed like eternity, it was finally time to announce the results for those who scored 250 and above over 300. i knew that if i wanted to get into the psychology course i wanted, my name had to be called no matter what. my heart was thumping like crazy, i almost thought it was going to pop out. taking a deep, slow breath, i started listening to the names carefully.

"i will now be announcing the names and their respective scores. first off, we have... lee sookyung, 252! park seungchul, 255! kim jiyeon, 256!"

the list seemed to go on forever and ever.

"...ahn soohyun, 272! last but not least, we have kim yerim with a whopping score of 280!"

claps thundered and resonated throughout the whole hall. of course, i was happy for my best friend for achieving such high scores and being the top in the level. yet at the same time, i was extremely disappointed with myself. i studied so, so, so hard for this examination. i even went to the extent of requesting my mother to keep my phone away for me so that i would not be distracted from my revision. i often stayed in school till about 9pm and when i reached home, i continued burning the midnight oil after a quick bath and dinner. however, despite my continuous efforts and hard work, i was not able to get the results i desired. the minimum marks students were required to attain in order to get into the psychology course was 265, and my marks were way too far from that to even appeal. sigh, what am i going to do now? it's not like i can survive without a job...

few years later.

"a caramel macchiato coming right up!"

it was a saturday, and the cafe was brimming with people. we were all super duper busy, having to serve almost 50 people every 5 minutes. well, that's right. i am currently working as a barista at a cafe in the heart of hongdae. ever since few years ago when i realised that my marks could not make the cut for the psychology course that i had been eyeing for, i fell into depression for quite a period of time. perhaps it was because i was too obsessed with trying to become a psychologist that i didn't even think about what would happen otherwise. during one of these days, i visited a cafe near my house. upon entering the cafe, i was welcomed by the aromatic scent of coffee beans. usually, i was annoyed by the sounds of the machines making the coffee, but this time, it was different. i was surprisingly enchanted by those sounds. i ordered a cup of hot latte and gulped it down at the speed of lightning. it was then, that i realised that i fell in love with coffee. hence, i set the next goal of my life - to become a barista. i took up lessons and training courses so that i could successfully become a barista. indeed, passion was the drive to everything. thankfully, i was accepted for the job position at my very first interview. due to the fact that it was situated near the subway station and was in the heart of hongdae, a favourite hangout place for youngsters, business was extremely good.

having worked at this cafe for a few years already, i was considered a 'senior' here. whenever newbies joined, i would always be the one guiding them and showing them the way around, like how to operate the espresso machine or what ingredients needed to be added into certain pastries. never did i expect that there would be this particular newbie that would turn my life upside down.