a cup of coffee • kim doyoung

twenty nine

---

Kim Dongyoung

I stared at the clock impatiently, subconsciously tapping my right foot on the ground as I leaned against the wall.

"Cut it out!" Ten snapped, "You've been doing that for the past 10 minutes." I halted my tapping and sighed. Can you blame me? Mark said they would be coming here after their presentation, but it has already been an hour since we've closed the shop. If you can't tell, I hate waiting.

"Why aren't they here yet though?" Johnny looked at his watch, pacing around the cafe and dragging his finger over every single thing he passes. At that moment, three figures trotted towards the glass door, entering in delight.

"Tada! We're here!" Mark chimed cheerfully as he spread his arms out like how Elsa did in Frozen.

"Yah! Why did you take so long?" I complained. He shrugged his shoulders shamelessly and laughed, "A king can be as late as he wants."

A black-haired girl beside him scoffed, "He's just happy our professor liked his project." She rolled her eyes as Mark smiled proudly. What was her name again... oh right, Hyejoo. Meanwhile, Seyeon was behind both of them, also beaming with happiness.

"Well, I guess it's time for a celebration then!" Johnny pulled out a cake from the refrigerator, garnering massive attention from everyone. Since when did he put that in there?

Ten rushed to him in excitement, which was replaced by disappointment almost immediately.

"What the- it's a fruit cake," he muttered in utter disgust, backing away from it slowly.

"That's because it's not for you," Johnny blatantly said as he walked past Ten, setting the cake down carefully onto a table. Mark gleamed in ecstasy and bounced right to the table, admiring the round cake that was donned with a variety of fruits. Seyeon and Hyejoo joined him a second later.

Johnny clapped his hands together and took in a deep breath. Here we go again.

"We have come together today to celebrate the success of these three students from the Degree in Animation and Digital Design," he announced grandly, "They have persevered through three months of hard work, and have dreadfully given their final presentation today."

I glanced at Jaehyun, who let out a deep sigh. I swear, he does this with every little obstacle passed, whether it was his or someone else's. But his extravagating optimism really lifts up the atmosphere in here, and I couldn't imagine living without it.

Especially when it helps bring a smile to her face.

"And to that, I shall dedicate a congratulatory dessert to celebrate the end of this milestone, made by yours truly." He bowed, and the three students applauded excitedly, probably amazed by his wonderful speech. I mean, Mark had more or less seen this many times before, but Seyeon and Hyejoo's reactions were the genuine ones.

"Let's cut the cake!" Mark cheered as he grabbed the plastic knife, ready to stab it in.

"Wait!! We have to take a picture of this moment!" Johnny whipped out his phone and crouched down, adjusting the angle together with his body.

"Aigoo, you're such a dad," I muttered, but he pretended not to hear me. The three of them posed for the camera as Johnny took multiple shots, moving around swiftly like those professional photographers. When he was done, everyone heaved a sigh of relief.

"So... let's cut the cake!" Mark chucked the knife right in the middle of the cake, slicing it down to the side. Seyeon took over and cut out a slice, before grabbing it and smashing it onto Mark's face.

There was a small silence in between as he froze on the spot. The disbelief on his face was indescribable as Seyeon licked her fingers in satisfaction, slowly backing away and laughing. In a split second, Mark swiped a chunk of cream off the cake and attempted to paste it on his friend, but she had already escaped to the other side of the room.

And with this, a wild goose chase ensued.

"Hey, hey! The cake is for eating!" Johnny hollered, but his voice didn't get through to them. I chuckled as he looked at me in incredulity.

Seyeon hid behind Hyejoo as the latter laughed away, but was accidentally attacked on the face by the armed boy, who immediately regretted his actions. Hyejoo counter-attacked with another chunk of cake, smashing it onto his head this time. Suddenly, it was two against one.

"They know they have to clean this up, right?" Ten whispered into my ear, worried that he might be chucked with the much-loathed job.

"Just let them have some fun," I shot him down as I admired the scene in front of us. It reminded me of a few years ago, where we threw cake around in Johnny's house during his birthday, although we did have to clean it up afterwards. Those were fun times.

Plop.

A slab of cream fell a few feet in front of me as I flinched a little, afraid that it would land on my shoe. But that wasn't the main problem.

In the next few seconds, a whole disaster struck.

Seyeon ran in my direction, fully unaware of the hazard right below her. Before I could warn her, her foot landed on the caked debris and she skidded right at me, her whole body crashing onto me. I stumbled back upon impact, my arms wrapped around her for support. Luckily, the counter was there to prevent us from falling over.

I looked down at her in shock, before exchanging equivalent glances with the rest of them. Mark and Hyejoo also stopped in their tracks, astounded by what had happened.

Seyeon peeled her face off my chest and looked up, our eyes meeting eventually. She stood rooted to the ground, her cake-smashed face flushed with both shock and embarrassment. My eyes instantly went down to the dab of cream at the side of her mouth, inevitably moving to her lips.

Why do I have this strange urge to-

---