Chapter 1: New Moon #1

As if you were

on fire

from within

the moon lives

in the lining

of your skin

-Neruda

It’s 4.42 in downtown Seoul when Chanwoo walks as fast as he can in his drenched coats, shivering to the bone. The sky is grey in autumn and he curses himself for being a know-it-all in the morning by taking such an  extreme measure of getting to work with subway without looking up at the weather report like he usually do—if he was smarter, he would drive his sedan and going home with completely dry suits.

He doesn’t know why he acted so recklessly this morning. He was reading his usual morning business reports online when he came across an article that said that today is a new moon, and he could see the waxing crescent appears as the sun sets. Something about moon made him giddy, so he went to work with subway, decided to take off early so he can walk his way home looking up at the sky and seeing the waxing crescent. Instead, fat rain droplets hit him as he slightly tilted his face.

Waxing crescent my .

He walks on the pavement where pretty shops and warm restaurants sides, still cursing his stupid decision. He stops in front of a rustic yet clean-themed cafe to leech from its big shelter that would protect him from the merciless raindrops. He stands there for a few minutes then glances inside and saw some people in an animated conversation over what  seems as warm coffees when he notices a mean looking guy currently looking at him with curious (yet still mean) expression from his seats inside.

There’s a squeak coming from the cafe’s door to his left, and he straighten up to see the mean looking guy peering at him. That guy locking his gaze to the spot where Chanwoo stands, raising one of his thick eyebrows. “Do you want to wait inside?”

Chanwoo drags his eyes from that guy’s raised brow, only to find a strong, intense gaze coming from such a sleepy, hooded eyes. He eventually drags his eyes away, and shakes his head. “I can’t—I drenched wet, thank you for the offer though.”

“That’s fine,” the simple response surprised Chanwoo because he could hear some sincerity on his voice. 

The creaking sound is back as the mean face open the door wider so Chanwoo joins him. That’s when Chanwoo realizes that the mean face is almost as tall as him, probably only shorter by once inch when they standing closer across each other inside of the warm rustic walls.

The cafe welcomes him with its comforting smells of sweet chocolate, happy yellow cupcakes, and dimmed neon light at one side of the wall. Maybe that’s why everyone inside of this cafe looks so serene except for this one guy, whose face he can’t fathom—he’s not sure if this tall guy is actually threatening him or if he got that scowl permanently tattoed onto his face.

“You can sit anywhere. My friend said he’s not gonna charge you for waiting inside,” he points at this one guy on the counter, currently serving one customer with a warm smile on his face.

Chanwoo nods, and the mean face walks away, probably going to get back to his seat. Chanwoo suddenly follows him, matching his footsteps so they stand next to each other and offering his hand. “Thank you. My name is Chanwoo.”

The mean expression is changed with somewhat uncomfortable expression as the mean face shakes his hand back, that Chanwoo realizes is caused by his cold, damp hands. “Junhoe.”

“So this cafe is owned by your friend?” he asks, quite unnecessarily, desperately trying to keep the conversation open.

“Yes.” His answer comes as short and abrupt but Junhoe swallows before he opened his mouth back. “Do you want to join me? I just realized that the empty seats are all reserved.”

Chanwoo looks around, noticing the reserved tags on a couple of empty tables, and nods. “Is it okay?”

“Sure.”

Junhoe awkwardly gestures Chanwoo to one of the seats on the corner, the small table is messy with one ancient Samsung laptop and a couple of different notebooks scattered around. He clears his throat, and point for Chanwoo to sits there.

“Thank you.”

Junhoe silently nod and that’s when someone—the friend—approach their table, all smiling. “Welcome,” he bows. “I see that you took my friend offer and join him rather than feeling threatened and run as fast as you can.”

Chanwoo lets out an incredulous laugh when he saw Junhoe glaring at his friend with furrowed brows and pursed lips. “Ah, thank you for inviting me to wait inside,” he bows back at him as soon as he composed himself to stop laughing.

“Sorry you have to sit with my friend,” the cafe owner still smiling, but this time, the smile feels rather apologetic than genuine. “I just want to let you know that my friend here has the worst resting face, so if you started feeling uncomfortable by his presence, just come hang out with me in the counter.”

“Can you please not make a big deal out of this, hyung? Like, for once in your life, can you be normal and not embarrass me?”

Chanwoo couldn’t help but lets out another laugh, realizing just how funny it is for him to see Junhoe whining with his mean, gangster-like face. “My name is Chanwoo,” he offers the cafe owner his hand, readily introducing himself.

“Yunhyeong,” he shook Chanwoo’s hand steadily without any trace of uneasiness that Junhoe shown before. “Do you want to order something warm?”

“Hmm... can you give me a cup of hot chocolate? Extra sugar, with some whipped creams on top?” Chanwoo recites his favorite hot chocolate recipe.

Yunhyeong nods. “Coming right up,” he beams at him. “Do you want me to throw some marshmallows too?”

“If you don’t mind,” Chanwoo instantly agreeing without any hesitation. He never try hot chocolate with marshmallows, so today is going to be the first. There has to be the first in anything, right?

“With pleasure,” Yunhyeong smiles cheerfully. “And a refill for you, it goes without saying,” he nudges at Junhoe’s shoulder, getting an even deeper scowl from the latter.

Chanwoo was watching Yunhyeong walks back to the counter when Junhoe opens up a conversation. “Do you usually shaking stranger’s hand and introducing your name like that?”

That question taken Chanwoo aback, but he immediately hmms in respond. “My job requires me to do that, so I guess it comes out of habits.”

Junhoe echoes his hmmm, but he doesn’t respond back. Instead, he fumbled in his bag, and sighs loudly when he didn’t find what he needs. He closes the notebook in front of him, frustration reeking from his face.

“Do you need a pen?” Chanwoo took out a pen from his shirt pocket, sliding it to Junhoe.

“Thank you,” Junhoe mutters, and opened up his notebook to scribble something fastly.

“Are you a regular here?” Chanwoo suddenly asks, interrupting Junhoe for a second. “I think you made this seats as your territory.”

Junhoe blinks for a few seconds as if he momentarily taken aback. He’s about to open his mouth when Yunhyeong groans, putting a teapot, one big mug of hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows and a plate full of chocolate chips cookies on the cluttered table. “Oh, saying him a regular is not exacly right—he’s leeching me, spending most of his time here.”

Chanwoo eyes flick up to meet Junhoe’s eyes for a split second before returning to Yunhyeong, smiling gratefuly for the service. Some girl yelling Yunhyeong’s name from the kitchen and he excused himself, leaving Chanwoo and Junhoe on the cluttered table.

“I assume it’s your first time here,” Junhoe says, his tone sets between asking a question and pointing a statement.

“Yeah. I never really come to this area. It’s really nice, though.”

“Why?”

His finger stop from taking out the marshmallow as he replies. “I usually take my car, so I’m never taking this street. I took the subway to work, so I walk here to take a subway home. But it’s raining, so I stopped for a while.”

Junhoe’s sleepy and hooded eyes piercing him to his seats, so Chanwoo continues. “Have you ever find that sometimes you make a plan and it is ruined by something you can’t control? It happened to me right now. I took a subway to work because I read that today’s going to be a new moon, and I could see the waxing crescent during sunset. That’s why I took the subway, hoping that I could catch the sunsets during my walk from the office to home. But it rained. It’s impossible to see the moon when it rains, right?”

“I guess,” Junhoe says in a pleasantly soft tone. “So you drenched to the bone because you want to see the moon?”

“Waxing crescent,” Chanwoo nods while correcting him. “New moon is impossible to be seen, the only possible thing to see is the waxing crescent.”

Junhoe echoes him. “New moon.”

Chanwoo looks out at the window. The loud chaos of the thunderstorm has faded, leaving behind a calm over the street outside. He can see the corner of the sun peeking out from behind the clouds.

Sun. Maybe he could see the waxing crescent, after all.

“I think I should—“

“—Yeah,” Junhoe nods. “I’ll see you around...”

The inflection at the end tells Chanwoo that it’s probably a question but something in Junhoe’s face makes him wonder if it’s a statement instead.

He stands up, bows at Junhoe, and running outside after he left some bills on the counter. He slowly walking down the street, tilting his head, hopeful to catch the waxing crescent. In the end, the sun sets without any sign of waxing crescent, leaving him with a dark Seoul sky instead. But somehow, Chanwoo could sense the actual purpose of the new moon: new beginnings, unlimited possibility, and new intentions.

That’s when he realized he left his pen in Junhoe’s hand.