|| Awake || On Hold

|| Prologue ||

Song Areum

"Areum, Come down and open the store." My grandmother's voice drifted up from downstairs.

"In two minutes!" I shouted back and run into the washroom to wash my face before quickly changing into something comfortable. I run down to see my grandmother sitting in her favorite spot near the store window.

Her eyes light up when she sees me ready to open our small cafe. I kiss her on the cheek and run to set up the kitchen before switching the card on our door to 'open'.

"Soojin is not coming today." My grandmother grumbled under her breath, hands fidgeting with glassware she was wiping clean.

Soojin Unnie is the only help we have around our small cafe. We could not really afford her as a permanent staff so she joined as a part-timer but she barely shows up and somehow we are okay with it. It's not like we have a lot of customers as it is.

Five years ago a very fateful event led me to meet my grandmother. She is not my real family but she cares for me more than my family ever did. Some may hear our story and say it came out from a K-drama but she was exactly the character that played the roll of kind old ladies who took in stray animals.

I was two years old when my mother had left me on the steps of a orphanage in Seoul and went missing. In the orphanage, the one thing I always desired for was a family but was never lucky enough. Growing up,I never for once wondered who my parents were and why they abandoned me. I figured they might have had some strong reason that they could not take care of me. Neither was I angry at them nor did I miss them. All children were well fed and clothed and minimum education was provided to us at the orphanage so I considered myself privileged. 

 At seventeen years of age, the owner of the orphanage passed away and in place his daughter took up the management. I never got to see her but the caretakers often called her childish, careless and irresponsible. It was probably because of those traits that the orphanage had soon gone bankrupt and ended up loosing all their big funding. 

Under the threat of complete closedown, all kids were either transferred to another orphanage or some lucky ones were moved to foster homes. I was the eldest of all the kids and assuming that no parent will adopt a seventeen year old child, they made changes in my documents and soon declared me emancipated. 

Legally one year older and nowhere to go with nothing in my stomach for the past two days,  like an angel's blessing one day I met an old lady who fed me food and gave me fresh clothes to sleep in for the night. After hearing my story she offered me a job in her cafe and a shelter for me till I find my own accommodation. That night my grandmother gave me that one thing that was always denied to me. An opportunity to make choices for myself.

When a child turned eighteen and hadn't been taken into foster care, they were emancipated to live their life on their own terms as the orphanage could no longer support them. During my faux emancipation process, I cannot not say that I had miss anything because I owned absolutely nothing apart from my meager possessions like clothes and money I had managed to earn.

Grandmother's cafe was an small establishment tucked in a sweet corner between skyscrapers. Her husband had started the cafe when they were young and newly married and from what I heard it was once very famous. Everyone in the nearby area would gather in the small shop to while their mornings away listening to grandfather's jokes sipping on his famous coffee.

After his death, Grandmother struggled to find a barista to keep the place going as it was grandfathers most prized possession. She found Mr. Kim, a fifty years old man who had basic knowledge in making coffee. Apparently he was the only man who agreed to take up the job despite it's minimum salary. When she reopened the café the customers started decreasing because their favorite coffee did not taste the same anymore.

When I had first joined, Mr. Kim welcomed me warmly and taught me everything he knew. The coffee he served was one of the best I had ever tasted. Slowly as time went on I started a part-time job in nearby children's daycare to start saving money for my night college.

Five years later, I managed to make my life a lot better. I work in the store for four hours in the morning before I leave the café in Mr. Kim's hands for the afternoon to do my part-time in the day-care. I came back in evening to help around the café for a while before leaving for my night college which were only during weekends.

The routine I have created for myself was something I religiously followed. Although me and my grandmother were not legally or blood related, she took care of me more than anyone did and for me she was my first and only family.

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Hello!

This prologue is just an introduction to the the main characters and not an intro to the story. So kindly do look forward to the main plot in the upcoming chapter!

This story is based near the Fake Love Era (mid 2018) so Hobi is 24 and Areum is 23.

Thank you for reading and have a nice day ahead!