4AM °HOSHI

oo

2018 edition.
dedicated to
my friend taehyunghtml
one of the best person
in the world

•••

'what should i pick...' yooji stood in front of the display rack with a variety of colourfully packaged cup noodles in the convenience store.

soonyoung looked up and found a girl examining a cup of japanese noodles, with a look of confusion.

ah, so she cannot read japanese...

she put it down and picked up another one, which was glossy red. she nodded to herself and walked over to the counter.

soonyoung snickered and went to the other side of the rack. the boy picked up a white normal one and paid after her.

yooji was waiting for the noodles to cook in the steaming water when a boy sat next to her in front of the bar table. she merely glanced at him, uninterested and stared at the dark, soulless streets through the glass panel of the store.

she had lost count of how many times she spend her 4am at this same spot, looking at the same view, but slowly this became the most soothing image to calm her mind.

she looked at the unfamiliar cup noodles in front of her. the only difference that night, was her favourite noodles was out of stock, and the blondie next to her.

she realized that the boy, who was also waiting for his noodles to cook, had three cups of water and a carton of milk next to his noodles.

thirsty much? she chuckled at her own thought and the pun directed to her horny mother.

the boy peeled off the lid of the cup noodles and stirred the contents. 'it's going to be overcooked,' he smiled.

only a few seconds later, yooji realized that she was still staring at him and her noodles were also done.

she peeled off her own lid and blinked at the soup. it was red, and some yellowish noodles floating. she stirred the steaming noodles and convinced herself that she had picked up a tomato soup-based one.

she gulped before slurping a mouthful.

soonyoung peeked sideways in amusement while slurping his own serving of milk soup-based noodles.

just one more mouthful...

but yooji didnt eat it. she stabbed her disposal chopsticks into the cup and fanned herself. she opened her mouth and panted like a dog to release the hotness.

soonyoung swallowed the contents in his mouth and passed her the cup of water he knew she would need.

yooji grabbed the paper cup on the table and drained it down, not even have the strength to say thank you.

it was still hot.

soonyoung gave her another cup of water and watched her drink it. her face was red and sweat was coming down her cheek.

'now drink this milk. it helps,' he opened the carton and gave it to her. he left his stool and went over to the counter for some paper napkins.

'thanks,' she panted before wiping away her sweat.

soonyoung laughed at her loudly and clapped his hands like a seal. 'you can't eat spicy food right?'

so that's why he prepared the stuff. yooji glared at him while gulping down the milk from the carton.

yooji, in his opinion, looked cute.

he smiled and switched their noodles. 'that's milk based too,' he beamed and his eyes turned into unique slits.

yooji watched in awe as he wolfed down her noodles without difficulty. 'i ate that... and it's spicy.'

soonyoung waved his hand nonchalantly. 'aren't you hungry?'

yooji stared at his milk soup-based noodles and decided to take it down. sharing food with a stranger sounded not bad when you're hungry. what's more, the milk soothed down the spiciness in her mouth as she ate.

'anyway, aren't you leaving?' soonyoung asked after they finished their food. the two of them just sat and watched the streets.

yooji shook her head. 'nope. i don't want to go home.'

soonyoung nodded absentmindedly. this girl didn't seem to be the rebel type to stay outside until this late. he glanced at his phone and it's 4:30.

'what are you doing here?' he asked. 'not going home at this hour?'

'my mom kicked me out at 4am in the morning because she had her boyfriend over and wanted to have peaceful sex without me barging in complaining so now i'm in a convenience store picking up this japanese instant cup noodles and you laugh at me because you can read japanese and i can't and it actually says very spicy in the front.'

'you can judge me all you want,' yooji studied his blank face. in comparison, she was glad that she could finally tell someone about this.

he was a stranger anyway.

he scowled and currently the air screams dot dot dot.

'are you a rapper?'

•••

so finally i've decided to
edit this book which was
one of the most interesting
books to write :)