Seunghyun bit his lip, trying to concentrate on the document in front of him, but all he could think about was how much he wanted a cup of freshly made mochaccino from ANDhere café. It was hands down the best coffee in the city, but the problem was that it was at least a half an hour from the office and he was fighting a deadline. He had until midnight to submit his report and not a moment more, so an hour coffee run was out of the question. Still the longing gnawed at him.

He had often had coffee cravings, everyone knew that feeling first thing in the morning after a way too short restless night, where there just seemed like there would be no life without coffee first. Yet, that feeling was nothing compared to what he was going through now. He was in physical pain from longing. Every cell in his body screamed for coffee, and not that battery acid they called coffee at the cafeteria on the floor below. No. Real coffee. ANDhere coffee.

A drop of sweat fell on the page in front of him. He had read the same sentence about a thousand times, trying to will himself to concentrate, fueled by stubbornness and stubbornness only. Was it extremely hot in here? He wiped the sweat from his forehead with his handkerchief. His heart was doing a million beats per minute. What was going on? Was he having a panic attack? The report was important, but not important enough to warrant a full on nervous breakdown. He had done hundreds of reports just like it. True, he was cutting it a bit close this time, which was why he desperately needed to snap out of it and find his focus again, but still. This was not normal.

He entertained the idea that he was coming down with some nasty bug, checking the temperature of his sweaty forehead. It was cold, cold and clammy. His instinct told him that everything would get better once he had had a refreshing cup of ANDhere mochaccino. It made no sense, but even so he was convinced that it would work. He checked his watch. 9 PM. It could be done. If he took a cab and went over the supporting documents in the car, then he wouldn't even be wasting that much time. It was a crazy idea, but he was all out of sane ones. His stubbornness was no match for the gnawing craving for that sweet smelling warm cup of coffee.

He hailed a cab, balancing a stack of papers on his knee to free one of his hands in order to wave one over. “ANDhere café please.”. No further instructions were needed. ANDhere café had become an overnight success story. It had opened as a small one floor indie coffee shop downtown, but once word had gotten out how insanely delicious their coffee was they had expanded quickly. Now the entire building had been taken over by the coffee shop, featuring different themes on each floor to appeal to different age and interest groups. It was being used as an example in business classes throughout the country for how you needed both a good idea and a great execution of that idea to become successful.

Ah, even this late at night, the line reached out to the curb, along the building and over to the next one. At least he could see the end, sometimes it reached so far it appeared to go on forever. He didn't get why they hadn't opened more outlets, they could totally make it as a chain, but maybe that would affect the quality of the coffee. Usually when companies converted into chains their product quality dropped to the floor or below. But normally companies chose profit over quality, so he was impressed that they hadn't gone the same way as most other success stories.

He joined the line, using the time to continue his reading. It wasn't the ideal work environment though, there was someone tapping their shoe continuously, throwing his concentration right out the window. He looked up, his eyes scanning the line of legs in front of him, looking for the culprit. There. Four places in front of him. The tapper.

He was contemplating whether he should risk losing his place in the line to go over there and politely ask him to stop that incessant tapping, when he noticed that he had seen that guy before. Especially the back of his head. How he had tried to wipe that head from his memory, as well as the annoyed pretty face that went with it. That night in the rain had left a bad feeling in his gut that bothered him even now. He still couldn't make sense of what had happened, but he had stopped trying. He had decided to write it up as a coincidence or just one of those inexplicable moments life threw at you. Even so, it somehow felt unfinished. But he ignored it.

As he cursed fate for making him cross paths again with that intolerable guy, he heard a faint scream from above.

“Watch out!”.

He glanced up, as well as everyone else in the line, looking to see from where the voice had come. A woman on the balcony of the 6^th floor was looking down with fear in her eyes. He couldn't figure out why until he heard an uncomfortable thump and a yelp not so far in front of him and gasps all around him. The annoying guy, the tapper. He was lying on the ground, writhing. His eyes rolled back, he was having some kind of a seizure. Nobody was lending him a hand, they were all just staring at him.

Seunghyun didn't think. He threw the stack of papers he was holding on the ground and rushed through the gathering crowd, trying to dig up what he knew about seizures. One should put something between their teeth, he wasn't sure why, maybe so the teeth wouldn't break or wouldn't bite their tongue. Oh right, and make sure they didn't swallow their tongue or choke on saliva or something like that. Why wasn't there one single doctor in this long line of people? Maybe because doctors were too busy to spend their time standing in a line.

“Call an ambulance!” he instructed one of the bystanders as he reached the unfortunate stranger. He kneeled beside him, taking his handkerchief, waddling it up and with great effort prying his jaws far enough apart to place it between his teeth. He didn't look good, he didn't look good at all. Seunghyun swallowed, hoping against hope that the ambulance would come soon since it didn't look like an innocent seizure that would just go away on its own.

He put his hand under his head in order to try and turn him on his side, to make it unlikelier that he would swallow his tongue. The back of his head was soaking wet. But the ground wasn't wet, it hadn't rained and the rest of him was dry. His heart did a double take. His hand was getting more wet, and the liquid was warm. He looked at his fingers. They were red. He stared at them for a second without being able to connect the dots. The figure it would unfold was too terrifying, it was just better for them to remain dots.

Where was all the blood coming from? It was starting to form a thin river streaming down the sidewalk. A broken coffee cup on the ground not far off caught his eye. Had that small thing done all this damage? It was almost unbelievable. Or it would be if the guy wasn't dying in his arms to prove it. He felt so helpless.

He had located the source of the bleeding on his head, but he didn't dare press too hard because it felt like something was broken in there. Where was the ambulance? He wanted to cry out in frustration. There was a real life human being dying in his arms. A guy, albeit annoying, that had a mother and a father out there and perhaps a wife waiting for him to come home with a cup of delicious coffee to share.

“SEUNGRI-YAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!”

A middle aged woman ran to them, kneeling in front of the limp body in Seunghyun's arms. He had stopped writhing a while ago. Seunghyun was pretty sure it wasn't a good sign.

“Seungri-ya! Seungri-ya!! It's umma. Seungri-ya!!! Umma is here. It's okay. It's okay. Umma is here.”. The woman brushed the hair out of his peaceful closed eyes with a trembling hand. Tears started running down her cheeks. Her body starting to feel the loss before she could even realize it herself. Seunghyun's throat was so swollen it made it hard to breath. There was a circle of people around them, just looking at them, not doing anything. Yet there was silence. So many people and the only audible sound was the whimper from the poor lady in front of him.

Finally the ambulance arrived, screeching to a halt in front of the sidewalk, two paramedics jumping out. It was like the world was happening in slow motion, but yet everything happened faster than his brain could process. One second he could feel the weight of the motionless body in his arms, the next he was gone. Gone. Creating an unfillable void in his arms. A void that was threatening to swallow him whole. He didn't even know the guy. He watched as the paramedics worked. Trying to revive him, but Seunghyun knew in his gut that it was pointless. He was already gone.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!”

The old lady collapsed to the ground as the paramedics put a blanket over the guy, careful to cover his head as well. He was no more. Her scream was bone piercing, crushing the remainder of his mourning heart. How could he have such strong feelings for a stranger. The guy had been so young, so full of life. One moment he was alive, the next he was on his way to the morgue.

Life was unfair.