Haeri stares into mid-air, her right hand holding a wooden stirrer, stirring the hot chai. Her mind wanders off to an unknown place and decided to come back when she heard the sound of a chair being pulled.

"You're thinking deep", the twenty-one year old boy squint his eyes and put his hand under his chin looking like he's figuring something.

"I always think, thank you", she replies changing her sight to the cup of chai. 
 

"Yes, but not this deep. You have something bothering you", Jongho puts down his hand on the table.

"You know, if she's giving you a hard time, you can just live with me. I'd take care of you", he looks right into her eyes and she tries to look away.

"She's my mom. And, it's not about her. It's just something else", she gives a small smile, feeling grateful someone actually giving attention to her.

When Haeri was seven, her mother was taken to jail for the possession of drug. And the social worker who assigned to her, treated her as nothing but a case. She's only a case and a problem someone need to provide solutions to.

For four years she lived at an orphanage but she never felt welcomed from the first day. Community thought being an orphan is the botton of the food chain. But, Haeri agree to disagree. Being a son or a daughter of a drug addict is the lowest. It's more when the drug addict is also a heavy smoker and now that her mom stopped rehab and released from prison, she decided to change her path from drugs to alcohol.

But still, she would rather stay with her mom then the orphanage. At least when it comes to her mom, it's only one person she needs to handle.

"Boys problem?", Jongho raise his eyebrows with a hidden smile, poking invisibly to the older woman.

She looks at him in disbelief. "You do know I don't believe in those things, right? And you do know that I'm not interested in relationships" she giggles.

"Noona..you should have laughed more like this in the future".

*************************************************************
Standing in the dark with only one streetlight flickering, lighting up a figure waiting.

His both hands in his pants pocket, keeping them away from the cold wind. His feet won't stop from kicking the hardened ice on the street.

Then, two figures walk towards him looking left and right but keep the pace towards the standing figure.

"You brought two, right?", the older guy gives a dirty smirk.

"Ani, Hongjoong said only one", the innocent twenty-three year old answer back.

The older guys look in disgust. "Mwoya, I told that prick I wanted two. One isn't enough for both of us" the older guy raise his voice.

"Mian, but Hongjoong said only one", he puts out his hand, waiting for the illegal exchange. 

The older guy lets out a deep sigh and take out an amount of cash and pass it to Seonghwa. He takes the money and gives a small packet filled with white powder.

He then bows to the older men as they walk away. He looks at the cash and split the amount. 

"Hongjoong said four for me", he takes four pieces of cash and puts it into his right pocket and the remaining into his left  pocket.

*************************************************************
"Is this all?", the cashier looks at Haeri as she stares at the items she placed on the counter in the convenience store. A cup ramen and a bottle of mineral water. Seems like something is missing.

She looks up and scans the shelf behind the cashier. "Do you have any painkillers?".

The cashier turns around and pull out a box and place it along with the ramen. "Anything else?", she asks again, chewing a chewing gum.

It's late and she's hungry. She's unsure of what to eat in the convenience store as she ate the food offered there so many times, she got tired of them.

"I think that should be all", the part-timer heard her and scanned all the items.

Cold sweats running down her cheeks. It's been hours since she holding the pain in her chest and she's having a hard time breathing but she wouldn't show it to anyone, especially Jongho. He would make a big fuss about it.

The convenience store door slide open at the same time she's walking out as someone walking in. A male in a dark jacket with his both hands in pockets. 

He walks towards the drinks displays and starts scanning the drink available. When he sees the drink he wanted, he opens the door to the cooler and takes out a bottle of apple juice. 
 

*********************************************
"Please come again", the part-timer wish him as he walks out, opening the bottle of apple juice. He stands outside of the convenience store and chug down his drink when he sees a figure lying face down a few feet away from him.

He stops drinking his juice and slowly walks towards the figure. His eyes widens, not knowing what to do.

"Excuse me" he lifts his hand slowly shaking the figure.

"Excuse me" he tries again with a louder voice.

He looks around, looking for anyone to help but no one in sight.

He puts away the juice and slowly turns the figure to see her face.

"Coffee shop noona?"