Dongwoo, Hoya, and I walk into the light pink and purple room that holds all the photo booths and frame creation stations for people who want to take pictures together, walking in just in time to see Woohyun send a group of teenage girls away from the counter with a wink. How typical.

“Yo!” Dongwoo calls out to him, “Hey, what’s Soo Min going to think of you interacting with your lady customers like that?” he scolds Woohyun.

“She would understand, I have nothing to hide.” Woohyun leans his arms on the counter casually, a cheeky grin on his face.

“Man, she is too nice to you. She deserves better.” Hoya scoffs at him.

“That’s why my girlfriend is awesome and you can’t have her.” He taunts, sticking his tongue out momentarily as a childish retort.

“For real though, she IS way too nice on you.” Dongwoo laughs, “I would have expected different from someone who’s always surrounded by serious business people. No one will ever know why such a high class girl decided to go out with a sleazeball like you.” He jokes.

“Are you jealous?” he rises his eyebrows challengingly, “That I found a girl who’s as open minded as can be while you have yet to find someone who’s allured by your sweat that smells like chicken?”

“Shut up man!” Dongwoo laughs, pushing Woohyun’s shoulders playfully, “My chicken-drenched sweat is attractive enough to get any lady coming for dinner.”

“If you say so man.” Woohyun stands up straight again, straightening out his t-shirt.

“What are you doing?” I ask Hoya, who’s taken out his phone and called someone, putting the phone in front of him to indicate he’s put it on speaker.

Before he can answer me, a voice comes on, “Hello?”

“Hey Min-ah!” Hoya greets Soo Min cheerfully, “I came to rat out Woohyun for sending almost every lady customer that’s come in today the eye.”

“What the hell man!” Woohyun yells at Hoya, while Dongwoo starts dropping his mouth to laugh louder, holding his hands to his chest to emphasize his amusement.

“Hoya, I’m at work. Can you scold him for me instead? I’ll talk to you later. Bye!” she yells in a hushed tone of voice, still letting humor crawl out.

“Aww…. No fun.” Hoya hangs up, “She’s too busy feeding rich people to come beat the out of you.” He pouts.

“Ha! Don’t be jealous.” Woohyun taunts again, moving the mouse around on the computer behind a curtain behind the counter, probably signing out. “Let’s go fellas.” He jumps over the counter when he spots the worker coming in for the next shift appear, pulling me and Hoya by the shoulders out of the photo booth shop.

“Whoa, I didn’t realize how much those girly colors obscured my vision at first.” I start rubbing my eyes when we’re met with the bright white walls of the Lotte World mall again.

“Feel for me, man.” Woohyun sighs, patting me on the back.

“I feel for you.” I laugh, patting him on the back as well.

“Time to meet Myungsoo!” Dongwoo announces, looking up from his phone where he’s probably just received Myungsoo’s text. “Last one there pays for ice cream!” Dongwoo shouts, shooting down the crowded walkways of the mall. Hoya flies forward as well, catching up with Dongwoo in seconds. I scramble forward after Woohyun who’s already let go of my shoulders to chase after the guys towards the food court.

Obviously, I was last. I wouldn’t really have expected less because I wasted a lot of my energy just screaming after them and probably scaring all the bystanders I rushed past. It was a good laugh though. By the time I got there, Hoya was already ordering a medium chocolate vanilla swirl in a cup. After him, Dongwoo got a strawberry ice cream cone, Woohyun vanilla in a cup. I ordered myself the same thing as Hoya, but in a small cup. Myungsoo was nice enough to put the pour a spoonful of the Oreo cookie crumbs that I like over the top.

I hand him my punch card and he punches four holes in the card, getting down to the tenth one that indicates a free purchase for that last punch. “Looks like you got a free one.” Myungsoo laughs, tossing my punch card under the counter, “I’ll let you off the hook today.”

“Really?! Aw, thanks man, you’re the best.” I reach my arms around the cash register to hug him awkwardly in our position across the counter.

“Yeah, sure. But only today. No more freebies later on.” He warns, pulling back.

“Woo! You should thank us, no?” Dongwoo claps me on the back, his ice cream cone, “Aw, I probably should have ordered a bigger cone then!” he whines.

“Ah! Me too!” I exclaim, looking at my small ice cream cup.

Myungsoo rolls his eyes before turning away to head back into the freezer/employee room. We sit down at a table, happily at our free ice cream as we wait for Myungsoo to get out of uniform.

“Hey guys!” a cheery voice greets.

“Rina! What’s up girl!” Woohyun greets her first, giving her a one-armed hug.

“Hey,” I greet her as well, “Picking up Myung for a date?” I chuckle.

“Yeah.” She chuckles shyly, “Did you guys come to support him by buying ice cream today?”

“No, he was kind enough to give it to us this time.” Dongwoo states proudly. Then he takes hold of Rina’s arm, pulling her closer, “Make sure you keep him happy so this can go on a little longer.” He winks.

“Dongwoo oppa!” she sighs exasperatedly, used to his sleazy requests.

“Hey babe.” We hear Myungsoo’s voice brighten up just a little when he spots his girlfriend standing before us as he exits the employee closet freezer. Well, you can’t really hear it unless you know him as well as we do, but the smile on his face is most definitely visible enough.

“I thought I was going to pick you up?” he greets her with a small hug before pulling on his jacket.

“I got off a little early so I decided to come here instead.” She shrugs, “I figured at least some of the guys would’ve been here too.” She glances back at us.

“Well you weren’t wrong.” Myungsoo smirks as I offer a V-sign and eye-smile in return.

“Come on guys, we’re going to Yeol’s place to eat ramen.” Myungsoo announces, nodding his head towards the escalator at the end of the food court.

“We’re what?” I look up from my chocolate-vanilla mix to Myungsoo’s expectant eyes.

“Rina said it’s been a while since we hung out at your little ramen shop, so we’re going to have our date there. Let’s go.” He orders.

“But I don’t start until…” I check my watch, “MY SHIFT STARTS IN TWELVE MINUTES.” I shout frantically, jumping from my seat. I quickly stuff my face with as many spoonfuls of ice cream as I can fit before dumping the spoon and cup into the garbage and dashing across the hoards of people to run down the escalator and across the mall halls to the exit.

I don’t think any of the guys are rushing after me but I’m running down the streets towards the bus stop as hurriedly as I can. I’m just a block away from the bus stop but I can already see the green bus waiting for the last passengers to board.

As I get closer to the bus, I start shouting, “Ahjhussi! Ahjhussi! Wait! Wait! Please don’t leave yet!!!”

Making my way through the last strings of people holding me back from the large green vehicle, I’m met by the bus driver’s impatient frown by kind eyes. I bow ninety degrees in front of the door, thanking him before I step on and scan my card.

The bus is only semi full, so I don’t have to struggle to stand up, but still have to stand because all the seats are taken. Taking hold of the bar above me, I hold my other hand in front of my mouth as I let out a soft belch and breathe out my sweet chocolate/vanilla-scented breath.

When I step into the convenience store, I miraculously still have a minute to spare so I walk to the bathroom to wash my hands and dab my face a little with a wet paper towel. I step outside behind the small bar in the back corner of the convenience store and start boiling the water in the pot on the stove.

This isn’t really a ramen shop. It’s just a regular convenience market that has shelves of every day supplies and foods, freezers lining the back and side walls filled with the chilled foods and ice creams that need the cold. I have my own spacious corner near the back left corner of the store. It’s a small bar space but instead of alcohol stocked in the shelves, it’s just varieties of noodles, most of them ramen. There are stools that sit right in front of my stove-bar and a couple of small, white, circular tables and chairs that surround the bar.

It’s kind of like a small coffee bar corner, because it has an end where the cash register sits for people to order. But I push all the finished orders of noodles onto the long countertop that sits above the table space for those who eat at the bar. Heeya would come here and sit at the front bar, trying every single dish offered on the shelves, and asking me to concoct something new for her each time she came here. She really was kind of a dare devil…

I grab a pack of the udon noodles that I know Myungsoo likes and drop them into the boiling water on one side of the stove, then I grab another packet of vermicelli noodles that I know Rina likes and pour those into the pot on the other stovetop. By the time the two have come into the store with all the other guys that they seemed to have gathered on the way here, I’ve just finished garnishing their bowls with some bean sprouts and vegetables and placed it on the bar countertop for them.

The other guys, knowing that they have yet to choose what they want to eat, dash to the cash register for first dibs on ordering. Again, Hoya makes it first, Sunggyu and Dongwoo just behind him while Sungjong and Woohyun stay back to decide which flavor they want this time around. Myungsoo’s already grabbed the two bowls while Rina took a couple pairs of chopsticks to one of the tables.

I reset the cash register and look up at Hoya who’s totally eager to order, “What’ll it be?”