a cup of coffee • kim doyoung

five

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Kim Seyeon

I was sitting on the couch when my sister barged through the front door, dragging her body-sized duffle bag behind her.

"Yah Kim Seha! Your neighbours are going to complain again!" My mom screamed from the kitchen. Talking about a pot calling a kettle black.

"Then you attend to them! My neighbours are your neighbours too," Seha retorted and went straight to her room. She didn't even bother acknowledging my presence.

Ever since the competition season started, both my mom and my sister have been at each other's throats almost every day. Seha's swim team allows its members to stay back every day for extra intense training, resulting in her coming home after dinner. My mom, of course, isn't happy with that. She says girls at this age shouldn't be training so hard and so late into the night, adding on irrelevant points like I don't want to cook extra food for someone who isn't going to be home most of the time.

Meanwhile, my sister doesn't care and just finds my mom's nagging irritating. I'm on Seha's side on this one. My mom's just afraid she'll lose another daughter to the holistic path, you know, the one that involves sports and arts. The only difference between my sister and I is that I quietly earned my grades and my mom's trust, before dropping the bomb on her. Sure, my grades can get me into medical school but that's not what I want.

I noticed the trail of water leading from the front door all the way to Seha's room.

"Yah, clean up after yourself! I don't want my workspace to smell like chlorine," I leaned over the couch and shouted.

"Then just go to your room!" She screamed back from inside the toilet, "Can't I have some peace and quiet to myself?"

"Kim Seha, that's not the right attitude!" My mom finally came out of the kitchen, wielding a spatula this time. I could literally see fumes emitting from her head. She caught sight of the wet puddles on the floor and got even more furious.

"You better clean up these puddles right away," she demanded in a rather sharp but calm tone, which scares me. I did not like where this was going.

Before either of them could say anything, I picked up my laptop and notebook and head towards the door.

"Alright, I'm heading to the cafe, y'all handle this by yourselves," I quickly slipped on my sliders and raced away in case my mom comes for me instead.

I head down towards the street before school. The sky was turning dark as the street lamps start flickering on. I had left my house so hastily that it never occurred to me – where the hell am I supposed to go at this timing?

I could easily make my way to school, but I've just been there 2 hours ago; I don't wanna return so soon.

I continued down the row of shops that were still bustling with life. The stores here don't close until 11 pm, which is good for us university students since most of us stay in school until around the same timing. That would give us plenty of time to take away some food. Or the other way round.

I was almost at the end of the road and could make out the rectangular figures of the university. I guess school it is. I trudged a little further when I caught a glimpse of a shop beside me.

Johnny's Cafe.

What a major Deja Vu moment.

Without a second thought, I entered the cafe.

The atmosphere was much more peaceful compared to in the morning. A handful of customers were sitting around, while barely anyone was waiting in line. I walked up to the counter.

The guy at the cashier greeted me politely as I looked at the menu above.

"Oh? You came in the morning."

My attention was immediately diverted to him. His statement completely threw me off guard.

"What?" I subconsciously said as I stared at him in confusion. It took me a while to gather my words back onto my tongue, "Ah yes, I did... It's amazing how you remember that."

That last part came out a little more weird and unexpected. Now it was his turn to be stumped. Gosh Seyeon, what kind of reply was that?

"I mean..." Words started tumbling out of my mouth before I could even stop them, "You're a waiter, so it's normal to remember customers right?"

I noticed his even more confused face and felt a need to clarify, "Not like I know anything though, I'm just assuming. Sorry if that sounded offensive."

I had to bite my tongue to prevent myself from blabbering any more nonsense. This whole situation is even more stressful than the one at home. Thankfully the guy behind the counter didn't seem the least offended, and I sighed internally.

"It's okay, I'm sorry if my words shocked you," he laughed sheepishly, "I just tend to notice people more often than others."

There was this short but uncomfortable silence between us before he spoke again.

"So.. your order?" He glanced down at the cash register and back up again. Right, that's what I came here for.

"Oh right, a cup of coffee, please," I mumbled. He paused for a second, like he wanted to say something, but shook it off and keyed into the cash register.

"Alright, please take a seat and your order will ready soon," He smiled as I handed my card to him.

I took a seat in the corner next to the glass window. Somehow I felt super exhausted from just standing there. Or was it the talking part?

I shook off any other thoughts off my mind and took out my laptop. I came here to study, not the get distracted.

I took a second glance towards the counter before starting on my drawing.

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