Ivory (Sequel to Porcelain)

Chapter 14: Brighter than Stars

After a long walk in the park, a varied lunch from many different street food stalls, a bit of shopping (somehow Kwang convinced me to agree to buying matching snapbacks), exploring the multitude of discreet and quiet alleys leading deeper into the city, seeing the zombie film Train to Busan (Kwangmin, surprisingly, didn't get terrified), and then dinner at a well-known restaurant where many celebrities had been to (my sister would've fainted at the autographed picture of Exo's Chanyeol displayed on the wall by our table), there were mainly two things on my mind. Number one, I had never expected it, but somehow the day with Kwangmin had ended up being one of the greatest and most fun days of my life. Number two, it was nearing six, and the warm summer evening was screaming for something sweet and refreshing. Like bingsu.

"I'm craving bingsu," I announced to Kwangmin.

We were sitting on a bench outside of the restaurant to just hang out for a few minutes. We had been discussing the movie, so when I suddenly brought up the shaved ice dessert, Kwangmin was a little taken aback.

"Um..." he began. "What does bingsu have to do with Gong Yoo's zombie transformation?"

"Absolutely nothing," I admitted, making him laugh. "I just was remembering how good bingsu is during the summer."

"Yeah I bet it is. I've only ever had it in autumn."

I nodded. "And it was great wasn't it? See here's the thing about bingsu. It's like ice cream-it's yummy year-round. It's extra special in the summer though-particularly mango peach flavor. Now that stuff is amazing."

"Okay, you've done it. I officially want bingsu. Where should we go to get some?"

It was at that moment that we were approached by small gray-haired wearing a floral t-shirt and white Capri pants. She moved towards us slowly, saying, "Excuse me."

"Yes, ma'am?" I answered.

She gave us a warm smile. "I couldn't help but overhear you two discussing where to get good bingsu. I just happen to run a teahouse a little ways down the street. According to the locals around here, our bingsu is the best in the city. I'd love it if you stopped by and tried it for yourself. And for being such a lovely couple, I'd be more than happy to give you a discount as well."

I blushed and looked at Kwangmin, who was beaming up at the lady. "Discounted food? Count me in!"

The old lady and I both chuckled at Kwangmin.

"What a funny young man," she remarked. "No wonder you like him so much."

I blinked. "I...did I say...?"

"Oh, dear," she said, smirking at me with a look that seemed far too sly for an old lady. "You didn't have to say anything. It's written all over your face, how you feel about him. It reminds me of my own first love. When I was your age... well never mind. If I go and tell you everything now, there won't be anything for us to talk about over bingsu, now will there? Come on, loves."

She grabbed both of our arms and, with a firm grip, pulled us to our feet and then along beside her as she started off down the sidewalk. I looked at Kwangmin. His face held an expression of slight bewilderment mixed with amusement. But neither of us made any protestations against the old lady. Mostly because we wanted to be polite, but also because she was sweet, cute, a little feisty, and she'd promised us delicious and discounted bingsu. Why wouldn't we follow her?

We made it to her teahouse in less than five minutes, surprising because, truth be told, the lady walked kind of slow. It wasn't hard at all to figure out what kind of place it was-outside of the building stood a huge statue of a red and white polka-dotted teacup.