Koon Chai Cafe

Chapter Twenty - A New Home

Park

I sat and stared at the vast wall of books in front of me. I searched for one I hadn't read yet that wouldn't make me want to gauge my eyes out.

I picked up a pale green book on modern history and scanned the blurb on the back. After I deemed it worthy of a distraction, I walked over to one of the sagging beanbags in a shadowed corner of the library and sat down.

I struggled valiantly through the first few pages, before I gave up completely and stared absentmindedly up at the ceiling. As much as I tried to keep myself occupied, I couldn't help but let one reoccurring thought pop back in and out of my mind. This process felt like I was playing a never-ending mental game of whack-a-mole with myself. Originally I tried to banish this thought and filled my mind with studies, college choices, and tests, but it always came back.

The fact that I missed him. A lot.

It was like I'd been transported back in time. Back to the time where I'd hated every minute of the school day and desperately counted down the seconds to the final bell.

Avoiding Kopter had been harder than I'd anticipated. The day after our talk, I'd made a beeline for Kopter and his friends. I let them know I'd be isolating myself from them in order to 'study' and wouldn't be seeing them much over the next few weeks. I don't know how convincing I was, but they seemed to buy it. I don't normally like lying, but this allowed Kopter to still have his friends to lean on even if I couldn't be there, so it was a lie worth telling.

Now that I'm two weeks into a Kopter-less existence, my separation has really begun to take its toll. I spend almost every day here in the library, whenever I wasn't pretending to be alert in classes. Rearranging the Cafe's schedule was an absolute nightmare. Doing so meant that I had to work most of my shifts alone now, which was not an easy feat by any means. But at least it meant Kopter had someone to work with, even if that person was Brad. Kopter gets lonely when he has to work alone.

The ringing bell signified the end of lunch. I slowly, with a complete absence of elegance, hoisted myself out of the beanbag and stumbled to my feet. I had just one lesson to go then I was free. Well, not entirely free. I had my weekly shift at the Korean market my Mom's church friend ran, but that was hardly work at all. It mainly involved sweeping and gossiping with my aunties about anyone and everyone we knew.

As I pushed open the heavy oak library doors, I was greeted with the bright lights of the hallway beyond and the sight of a group of people that made my stomach lurch. Standing a few meters away was Dior, Krishna, and Kopter. As my eyes swept across him, a hot flush rose up my neck and settled in my cheeks. I longed so desperately to be near him again, sometimes just glancing at him was unbearable. I was pathetic. I lowered my eyes and walked forwards, avoiding eye contact with any of them.

"Park?"

I looked up to see Dior standing in front of me. She'd broken away from the group, stepped into my path, and blocked me.

"Uhh, hey," I mumbled as I hitched my bag further up onto my shoulder.

"I've been wanting to talk to you. Are you-" she began, then faltered. She paused, then glanced over her shoulder. Curious, I followed suit. Kopter and Krishna were in the middle of a conversation, but I noticed Kopter's eyes flitted back and forth from Krishna to where we stood. Based on their close proximity, he was clearly in earshot.

Dior managed to catch Krishna's gaze and raised her eyebrows pointedly at her. Unless I was mistaken, Krishna gave Dior the tiniest of nods, then excitedly linked arms with Kopter. She spoke avidly to him and led him down the hall and out of sight.