a cup of coffee • kim doyoung

eighteen

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Kim Dongyoung

"Guys! Over here!" Mark waved from the gantry as we headed over to him and Johnny.

"Is everybody here?" Johnny asked as he did a headcount of us, which was totally unnecessary.

"Yah, we're not children," Ten snapped.

"Right, the only child here is you," Mark teased as Ten chased him all the way to the exit of the subway station. I exchanged glances with Jaehyun as we both shook our heads.

The moment we exited the station, the cold wind blew at us fiercely as I wrapped my coat tighter around my body, my eyes hardly open due to the strength of the wind. It was only the middle of autumn, yet the temperature was comparable to that of winter.

"Ah, why is it suddenly so windy?" Jaehyun complained through chattered teeth. We walked further up until we reached the traffic light, but it was probably still quite a walk from here.

"How far is it?" I asked, sliding my hands into my pockets as Johnny searched for directions with his phone.

"Not too far, it should be in a building next to a Starbucks." He answered, still looking at his phone.

"Wah~ It's been so long since we went out together," Mark suddenly chimed as he spread his arms out, nearly hitting another pedestrian. "I can't remember when was the last time we did."

"I think it was during your summer break," Jaehyun replied shortly after.

Oh right. We went to a beach in Busan during the weekend and stayed overnight at an Air B&B; to think that was only a few months ago yet still felt like a long time. Time really likes to drag when you're working.

We turned a corner and the Starbucks Johnny pointed out was finally in sight. I guess it really wasn't a walk after all.

"The exhibition is in the basement, let's hurry in case there's a line," Johnny said and suddenly, we're all brisk walking into the building and down the escalator, right up to a big entrance that had a cartoon moon rabbit statue displayed right beside it. Luckily, there was only a short queue.

As we joined the line, Mark suddenly whipped out his phone.

"Let's take a selfie before we go in!" He exclaimed as he switched his camera to selfie mode.

"Aish, do we have to?" Ten sighed, but Mark was already holding up the camera and adjusting it so everyone's face fitted in. As we all smiled for the camera, it somehow felt like we're a bunch of teenage girls on a field trip taking pictures for keepsake.

"Okay! I'm gonna send this to my friends," Mark announced as he tapped around on his phone, my heart skipping a beat as he said that.

After scanning our tickets, we entered what seemed like a dark but broad corridor, it's walls plastered with large pictures and tiny words from the top all the way to the bottom. I glanced through some of them and they were depictions of the history of the moon rabbit and Chuseok, just like what was written on the ticket.

"Look!" Mark ran forth to a miniature statue of a moon rabbit and teased, "It's Dongyoung!"

"I look cute." I joined him in front of the rabbit as he gave me a disgusted look. This is going to be a long day.

Strolling further in, we were met with giant display panels equipped with interactive screens, the majority of them hogged by little kids and their parents. We decided to skip those and instead, went up to an octagonal table with a fitted screen on the top. Looking closer at it, it was actually a multiplayer cloud jumping game, but the clouds were replaced with rice cakes.

"Hey! Let's all play this!" Ten squealed, "We can win food coupons!"

"Really?" Johnny replied ecstatically and rushed to one of the play areas, the rest of us aimlessly following. He rolled up his sleeves and hollered, "Let's do this!"

And a competitive game of rice cake jumping ensued, mixed together with lots of shouting and commentating. I could sense the other visitors looking at us, but this wasn't a time for embarrassment, it was a do or die situation.

"Ugh no!" Mark screamed as he grabbed his hair frustration, followed by Ten who collapsed to the ground. I wasn't able to make it much further either as I watched my blue rabbit fall pass the other rice cakes. I glanced over to Jaehyun on the right, who's moving his character around with gritted teeth.

"Woah, you're almost in outer space already!" I exclaimed in shock as I was joined by Mark and Ten. I never guessed he would be good at this game. Johnny came over a while later after winning 2 coupons of mung bean pancakes.

"A bit more... No!" Jaehyun groaned as we all let out exasperated sighs, but our dejection didn't last long.

"Wow! 50% from gift shop purchases!" Johnny yelled delightedly, high fiving Jaehyun as he collected his redemption code.

After the excitement, we finally moved on to the last room - the rice cake exhibit. So actually, one of the reasons we came here was because Johnny wanted new recipes regarding flavoured rice cakes for the cafe, in the form of desserts and snacks.

"Yo~ Look at this!" He went over to one of the showcases. "Rice cakes in strawberry puree!"

"Wait really?" Mark skipped over to him and they both indulged in a conversation filled with recipe ideas.

"Ah these two, can't they take a break from the cafe?" Jaehyun exhaled.

"Well, I admire their dedication," I replied, watching the two of them tour around the different eras of rice cakes. "Let's get us some snacks."

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We managed to drag both Johnny and Mark out of the gift shop after purchasing loads of packed local delicacies, while barely convincing Ten not to buy a 30-inch moon rabbit stuffed toy because how do we carry that back?

"Yo guys," Mark suddenly started, a little emotional, "This has been the best day ever." He wiped his fake tears away as Johnny back hugged him.

"No worries man, we only get this once in a blue moon."

We slowly strolled back the way we came, blabbering on about the stories that unfolded back in the exhibition. Just as we reached the station, a familiar figure caught my eye. I looked at the guys, then looked back, but the figure wasn't there anymore. I couldn't be mistaken, or could I?

I strained my neck out, hoping to get a clearer view from another angle, but I couldn't see anything. Maybe I was mistaken.

"What are you doing?" Mark questioned and I turned around immediately, coming face to face with four pairs of curious eyes. Should I bring it up? But what if they misunderstand me?

"Oh, I just thought I saw your friend over there." I pointed to a tall pillar right beside the entrance of the station.

"Who? Seyeon?"

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