When Kang Gary went sick, I was the one who annoyed him the most. I asked him to go to the doctor at least three times a day. And yet he still wouldn't listen to me. I brought him chicken soup and hot chocolate in the late evenings (it was late because I have drama filming until 10 pm). I sent Gill oppa, Haha oppa, and Jongkook oppa, and everyone I knew who were available to come check on Kang Gary once in three hours.

Albeit, I'm only annoying to those whom I love. You must be glad when I bring you a cup of fresh Caramel Macchiato this morning. Now, I'm the one who's getting annoyed because of the fact that a cup of coffee and heal you whereas all of my actions did nothing but annoyed you. I'm glad you're okay now.

2

She entered the cafe in one breezy night. It was pretty late, so she thought there wouldn’t be a single person there. However, there was a young man, hunched over in his seat in front of his steaming coffee. She frowned at the sight for a moment, it looked as though she was walking into a horror movie, but she didn’t feel scared at all. She was just curious. And thus, she went back to her need. She went over to the counter and asked for a steaming mug of Americano.

“You should try Caramel Macchiato.” She heard the young man talked as soon as she voiced out her order. She was surprised at how sad he sounded (or maybe it was just because of the effect of the weather). She turned her head around to face him. The young man smiled at her and continued, “It’s soothingly sweet; perfect for this kind of weather. I think a girl who’s wasting out on her precious time just to go out to buy a cup of coffee in this weather would like it.”

After seeing him smile, the girl couldn’t help but got a similar feeling to the situation she was in. She felt her stomach tingled a little, but she decided that it must just be because of the strong smell of Americano which was being made behind the counter. At that moment, she wondered at the sight in front of her. It was a deja vu that she felt. It was weird because she had never have a deja vu before, and now she knew what deja vu was like. Turned out, deja vu wasn’t as scary as it sounded. It made her curious, instead. More and more curious by the second.

She smiled back and ended up saying, “Maybe next time. I’ve been craving for a glass of Ice Americano for weeks, but because it was kind of cold today, I’ve decided on taking them hot with me.”

Her hand almost hit her own forehead because it was such a stupid thing to tell a stranger what she had desired for weeks. What if he turned out to be a creep? As soon as she finished talking, the lady behind the counter gave her the coffee she ordered. She turned her head back around and thanked the lady for the service. After paying for her coffee, she took the mug and walked towards the young man who suggested her a cup of Caramel Macchiato out of the blue.

“No one’s really here and I have a feeling that you might need a company, can I be her?” she asked the young man for the empty seat in front of him. She decided to go with the plot that the young man was just in a breakup. She was sure a heartbroken guy would likely take any girl who’s proposing to sit with him. She was kind of shocked at how brave she could be. She was not that type of person who would go out and go wild. She was not open for any public, and yet she was opening up to him. A stranger in a coffee shop of all people.  I’m getting weirder and weirder. What’s wrong with me?

The man nodded without any trace of emotion. She was taken aback at the lack of reaction from him, but she took the seat any way.

Both of them said nothing while she blew her coffee away. It was somehow awkward but comforting. It felt like as though they needed that awkward silent for a while. She knew nothing about him and yet she wasn’t shy to talk to him at all. Wait, scratch that, she wasn’t shy to barge in and sit in front of him. She sighed heavily as she thought of hitting herself with a pan in her forehead. She felt really embarrassed.

“So you approached me, blowing your coffee away in front of me and you’re not going to introduce yourself?” the young man said out of the blue. His eyes staring at her, sharp and yet delicate. She felt her cheeks burning as her eyes made a contact with his, even for only a slight second.

She smiled a little, sensing a familiar comfort around her. “Sorry to interrupt your party, then.”

The young man snorted. “I was having such a blast before you came ruining it.”

She laughed along her sarcastic comment. “I’m Sungim.”

The young man’s smile turned into a frown. In a tone of disbelieve, he said, “Sungim? Chun Sungim? The same Chun Sungim who wore a pony tail in a hot summer day in Ilsan to buy a pack of chocolate flavored ice cream?”

She was taken aback by his sudden remarks. If she thought about it he did look somehow familiar. Then again, his face was kind of a trade of how a Korean man should look like. So, she wasn’t that sure. But now, she wondered why she hadn’t noticed him earlier. “Are you a stalker?”

“You don’t remember?” he frowned. His wondering gaze was exactly the same as the one he wore on the first day they met twelve years ago. It reminded her on how silly it was for him to think that she wasn’t going to buy her pack because he was ‘ugly’.

Sungim shook her head and laughed. “You looked like a billion other men in Korea so it was a bit hard to recognize you.”

Heegun laughed along and smiled at her. He took the time to scan her face before saying, “I can’t believe we’re meeting again. It’s been, what, about ten years?”

“Yes, I think it has.” Sung Im nodded. “How have you been, Heegun-ssi?”

Heegun smiled at the honorific title they used now. He remembered the last time they talked she addressed him as ‘Heegun-ah’ because they never revealed his age. “I’m surprised you’re not using banmal because as I recall, you called me Heegun-ah the first time we met. What has happened to that innocent little girl?”

Sungim blushed and giggled. She had to stop herself from giggling too much because it’s getting ridiculous.

“It’s been a hard ten years, Sungim-ah. I was wondering when we’ll meet again,” he said in banmal, testing out their comfort zone. It shocked both of them how comfortable it sounds, and she was alright with him calling her without the title.

“Really?”

“Not really,” Heegun said, joking lightly. That day was my best day ever; of course I’d wished to see you again. “It’s nice to see you though. You’ve gone prettier since then.”

Sungim could feel her cheeks got hotter for the fifth time that evening and smiled at him while trying to compose herself. “You’re not so bad, yourself.”

Heegun snorted. “You should say the truth, Sungim-ah, I don’t mind. What are you doing in Jamshil? Last time we met, I mean, the first time we met, you were living in Ilsan.”

“I still live there. I’ve been craving for this store’s Americano though—this cafe has the best Americano in South Korea, and it was driving me mad. I’ve just gotten my driver’s license so I could drive here on my own. I decided to fetch my need because I doubted my parents would go to Jamshil with me soon,” she said as she sipped her coffee.

“Ah, I went to this store everyday and I wondered how people keep buying their coffee,” he chuckled. “Congrats on your driver’s license, by the way.”

Heegun raised his mug and asked for a toast. Sungim grinned and raised her own mug. “It’s pretty cool, huh? I didn’t know I was going to get my driver’s license in only one try. My friends were all complaining at how hard the test was and they ended up giving up on their license.”

“Whoa, you got your license in one try? That’s really cool.”

Sungim blushed, again. She’s getting tired of how sloppy she acted right now. She should stop being a teenage girl with lots of hormone right now. “Thanks.”

As both of them stopped talking, silent was evoking them. It wasn’t awkward, though, somehow that silent was needed because they had been bickering for a while and they were pretty sure the owner of the place would go out and usher them out if they did not shut up. It was comforting, yet again.

“Well, it was my story on how I got to Jamshil. What’s yours?” Sungim started a new conversation again.

“Uhm, I live here, actually,” Heegun said. His coffee is almost empty now.

Sungim nodded her head. “You moved in here? When?”

“I’ve lived here not long after I met you.” He gave her a bitter smile.

 She frowned and felt bad immidiately. We just met, you fool, ugh now he’s going to hate me. “Sorry, it must be a personal story. You don’t have to tell me,” she said. “Let’s just, um, let’s just talk about something else—“

Heegun chuckled slightly and cut her off with, “That’s alright, Sungim-ah. No need to overreact. I moved in here because something happened with my family. That day wasn’t so great for everybody.”

Sungim hesitantly smiled at him.

“But, anyway... Let’s just not get upset. On the brighter note, today, I’ve been given the opportunity to meet my long lost best friend from the past and she has just gotten her driver’s license. That’s a whole bucket of celebrating, don’t you think?” Heegun said, smiling so sweetly at Sungim.

“Well, my Americano is my celebration,” Sungim said as she took another sip. It was almost empty. As soon as she realized that the cup is almost empty, she looked outside the window of the cafe to check its surroundings. It was darker than when she was just arrived. And rain was also falling down, not heavily though. Sungim sighed because she was stuck in Jamshil. There was no way to get back to Ilsan in that kind of weather. It was only the fifth time she had driven and she hadn’t driven in a rain before.

Heegun, who had been watching her face expressions, noticed her worried look. “Is there something wrong?”

For the next 10 seconds, Sungim didn’t reply nor did she take notice of Heegun’s question for her. And yet the inevitable, Heegun thought it was cute.

“Oy! Mong-im!” Heegun jokingly shouted.

Sungim snapped her head and stared at him with her wide eyes. When she realized that she had just been staring into space, she felt like the need to go to the kitchen to borrow the cafe’s pan to smack her head right at this second. She felt her cheeks went red. She covered her face with her hands and laughed. “Sorry!”

Heegun laughed at her behavior. He wished his brain could record this moment. He didn’t know this girl much, but she made him happy. It was precious.

“Sorry, I got it from my dad,” Sungim said. “I hate it too, Heegun-ah, I’ve been trying to stop the filthy habit for years now.”

Heegun smirked. “You just called me Heegun-ah.”

Sungim went speechless. Her eyes went wider and she could feel her cheeks were being seared some kind of alcohol and they were ready to be burnt. “It wasn’t on purpose! Omona! Stupid Sungim. I’m so sorry, Heegun-ssi.”

“I guess we just have to call each other as if we’re same-aged, then,” Heegun said.

The girl smiled a little. She’s lucky the young man wasn’t taking it seriously. It was weird too because she never call anyone without their titles before they reveal their ages. Maybe because it was already comfortable between them. Too comfy.

Sungim cleared . “How about this,” she began. “I have a feeling we wouldn’t be meeting each other very often as you and I live so far away from each other, but after being in today’s event, it was curious as to why we could be too comfortable towards each other even though it’s our first meeting after 10 years—you do feel comfortable around me, don’t you?” she cut herself off before she could embarrass herself more. She was done being stupid today.

Heegun grinned and nodded. He had fun listening to her.

“Well, because of that... Let’s never reveal our age,” she purposed. “Let’s keep them as secrets. Let’s drop all the honorific titles, but let’s use another name for each other.”

The young man stared at the girl’s eyes. They were sparkling, it made his stomach did a somersault right there. He nodded, not really getting her point.

“So, let’s made up another name for each other and use them. That way, I won’t be humiliated when I know your age because I’ll call you Heegun oppa or Heegun-ah then, but right now, I can call you by the names we made up for each other,” she said grinning. Her heart shook a bit. She was nervous. She was daring, but this proposal she just made? Even an A-list stars won’t make such proposals to any guys. It seemed so stupid. “Or we can just go the normal way, if you think that it’s just a weird proposal of mine...”

Heegun chuckled. “Sure, let’s just do your way. It seemed fun,” he said. “What should we name you?”

Sungim sighed in relive. He was just too kind, honestly. She thought about any names that she knew from her parents’ name book. “I like the name ‘Seo’.”

“’Seo’? I like Hyo, but I don’t think Seohyo suits you,” Heegun said.

“It doesn’t suit me?” Sungim laughed a little. “What do you like to do then, in your life, right now?”

Almost immediately, Heegun said, “Listening to music.”

The girl’s eyes beamed suddenly. “I like the last name, ‘Song’!”

Heegun nodded, but his expression nevertheless the same. “Then how about we thought about our last name on our own, but we could make each other’s name? I like Jihyo. I think it suits you. And it fits rather well with Song, see? Song Jihyo.”

When the words were spoken out of his tongue, he felt shivers down his spine. He smiled. He picked the right name. It was pretty, just like Sungim.

Sungim beamed. “It sounds so pretty! I love it!” She grinned. “Now I have to make one for you. Hmm...”

The clouds cleared off from the sky. It seemed like they just skipped a whole rain. The two of them talked and talked until the clock screamed eight o’clock in the evening. When the young man noticed the time, he felt slightly worried because it was dark outside and it just rained. He wasn’t sure whether Jihyo would go home safely or not. He offered to drive her home, but she rejected because she said they weren’t supposed to know each other’s house.

She wanted to keep their relationship saint and she didn’t want them to know each other’s personal information. She said they would know if they meet again one time in the future. Heegun thought it was ridiculous because he was worried and he wanted her to get home safely. They decided to exchange their numbers, then.

Jihyo-ah, be safe. Text me when you get home.

By the way, my friends call me Gae. It was too ridiculous to say it out loud face-to-face. Be creative^^

I’m home, Gary-ah. Is it creative? It's pretty, just like your face^^

Hehe, areumdawoyo*. Are you looking at the mirror right now?

You’re too good with words. Take care, Gary-ah. See you soon^^

Sleep well, I’m sure we’ll meet again soon.

*areumdawoyo means to say something is beautiful.

Thank you guys for being patient! Thank you for supporting! I'm open to any suggestions you have. Please send me your thoughts through comments below❤

I'll update the next chapter as soon as I'm done with it. As for now, please enjoy the second chapter!❤

I'm looking forward to this week's episode! I hope it'll be worth the watch! What are your thought about the preview?

NEXT: 3. Seoul, South Korea, 2010