Maki tapped on her calculator to see if she could afford three coffees from the local coffee shop in a week for a month, and through the whole year—and how much she could save if she didn’t acquire the habit of buying gourmet coffee.

Maki went on tapping. The calculator screen was being filled rapidly as her fingers mashed the keys, eager in contrast to the tragic sighs coming from her.

Well coffee is horrible.

But in truth, she thinks coffee is only necessary for the wake up in the mornings and for when everything has gone to hell— when she is mindlessly hacking words into the keyboard, without discovery, without thrill, knowing that only one other person would get to read through it with the same amount of enthusiasm for her work as she had doing it. This is what she has spent at least three years of her life doing and it makes her sad, because she has to keep doing it, even if she doesn’t like it.

So she feels that coffee is for the bitterness of existence, and the bitterness of existing without meaning.

She counts off pros again (good coffee, free internet, save off apartment electricity) and cons (distracting ambience music, noisy cafe goers, have to get changed to casual clothes to go out (sweaters and jeans because she can’t stand the cold) and decides that really, there should have been no fuss over this after all, it was better to have her own coffee maker anyways; and her roommate can make use of it as well.

The door opens and she looks up from her desk. Her roommate has just gone  through the door carrying two full paper bags of groceries in her arms.

She stands up and runs quickly over.

Hello, she says while hurriedly taking one of the bags, grinning at the Ruffles and pack of Crunch Bars she sees poking out at the top of the bag.

“Don’t even look at them, they’re mine,” the other girl says.

The other girl was Byul and they had met in high school and were now roommates. She first saw Park Byul when the girl was on stage for the school opening ceremony singing an Italian song (by Franco Battiato) when nobody at school spoke Italian, but everyone clapped anyway because it was Byul.

The next time they met was in the classroom, and two days later, Byul was correcting her over her bastardized pronunciation of Hermione Granger’s name, and suggested they go to her house to watch Harry Potter since it seems obvious that she hasn’t watched Sorcerer’s Stone yet.

 It wasn’t a week later that the pair of them had become inseparable.

Byul had long thighs, honeyed arms and Spanish eyes that winked. She wore multicolored hats and bonnets that trapped her thick, honey brown hair uncomfortably so that she always had to remove the hats afterwards. She had eyes that were compelling and humorous, and had lines by the eyes where little laughing birds had walked through when she wasn’t even twenty-three. She had the image of a vixen, if it wasn’t for that idiot grin usually plastered on her face.

Maki was very pretty in a sort of blurred way, the sort of she had wished to have glasses when she was younger so she could look smart--so she did everything to make her eyesight deteriorate, and now that she has gotten her wish, she found she regretted it after all (her eyesight is fine, and she still could make do without glasses, however, she squinted more now). She had pearls for teeth and her lips were light pink and full, making for a brilliant smile. When she smiled, her whole face lit up in a rather heart stirring way. However, there was something unresolved and melancholy in dark pools of her eyes, something that looked like it was there for permanent residency.

“So peanut, you owe me 10 bucks, I bought ourselves Ben and Jerry’s and popcorn for tonight! There’s a Ghibli marathon in 20 minutes,” Byul said, turning to Maki after she unpacked the groceries and shoved the ice cream into the freezer.

 She did a Princess Kiki pose, pretending she was on a broomstick and that she had to keep her skirt from being blown off and exposing her parts. She resembled a praying mantis in this very moment.

 “You never give me a choice, always already trapping me in a situation I can’t refuse. You’re a tyrant,” Maki said sulkily while continually munching on her Crunch bar and was on the process of unwrapping a candy cane.

“I was saving up for a coffee maker.”

“You hate coffee, peanut,” Byul said as she put the popcorn bag in the microwave and turned it on.

“You don’t. I was thinking of you-” Maki said as she rummaged the paper bag yet again and finding caramel syrup, she placed it on the counter. “Hey, I’m going to your school every Saturday to sell some siumai and noodles with the food vendors, it’s a requirement from our school.”

“Are you nervous peanut?” Byul says, sniffing and sitting down on the counter chair. “Don’t worry, you won’t offend or make anyone feel bad. That’s what you’re nervous about isn’t it? You’re so annoyingly polite to people who don’t know you, but you are so rude to me, and I’m your only friend. You should cherish me more-“

“I’m not worried about that!”, Maki said, mildly annoyed.

“When will you grow a back bone? Sometimes you can’t avoid hurting other’s feelings, don’t always put yourself last.”

“I don’t do that, Byul. It seems caring and concern for people are foreign to you since you can’t recognize it, when it should be the least denominator. I contribute to the human good, while you, you are a liability to this country. ” Maki shot back, grinning hugely.

“Oh really? Being nice should be the least common denominator? Well, remember back in high school, when it was Valentine’s day and a boy gave you a heart shaped letter and you tore it to pieces in front of him—“

Maki’s face which was smug before was now flushed from embarrassment as she struggled to cover Byul’s mouth with her hand.

“I was embarrassed okay! I didn’t know what to do! I wasn’t thinking! …Hey, stop my hand, eew!” she exclaimed as she quickly withdrew her hand and wiped it on Byul’s cheek.

 “I remembered your face when you broke down sobbing and snotting all over my shirt in the CR. And you were saying “that , why did he have to do it in front of everyone, he didn’t even give me a choice….hik…I was trying so hard for the letter to disappear and not be real…I didn’t realize I was tearing it off…..now everybody..hik..thinks I’m an ”

Byul was already on the floor racked up with laughter.

“And then you e-mailed him with I’m sorry, I hope we can be friends, right, he never did look at you again did he? And then even if he had no choice but to talk to you, he would only look at the wall behind you or on his shoes, that poor boy.”

Byul was wiping her tears from her eyes and was already struggling to stand up.

Maki’s head cradled by her arms, was slumped over the counter. She kicked Byul on the shin.

“You are the worst. That thing was traumatic for me.”

“No, I’m not. I’m sorry for making you remember that again. ”

Byul grinned lightly as she ruffled Maki’s hair. She kissed her ear. “Come on peanut, let’s drizzle that popcorn with your caramel, the show’s about to start.”

“Fine. But I hate you. I’m not sitting next to you.”

“Are you sure? It’s your favorite. It’s about this heartbreaker, who also happens to be such a pig.”

“Are you sure it’s not the one about that wizard who literally does not have a heart? It might necessitate some reflection for yourself.”

“Touche, peanut. Now eat some of this popcorn,” she said, laughing as she shoved a handful of caramel-covered popcorn to Maki’s mouth.

“You should work on your rudeness so people can try and like you,” Maki mumbled through full of popcorn.

The television was warm on their faces, as Byul snuggled up to Maki and covered her up with herself, soothed by her warmth and the steady beat of Maki's heart.

_____________________________________________________________

It was Maki’s first day and it was her favorite day and she was loving what she has seen of the place where she will work every Saturday of the next two months. She is loving the cold and the fog falling gently on everything here in this Saturday morning, loving the pale yellow that surrounds everything here in this Saturday morning, loving the library sidewalk she passes by with the grass festering on the wounds of the asphalt created by rain and everyday wear and tear and tedium.

She nears the store she is supposed to work in and see her fellow students in white shirts—some of them she knows and most of them she doesn’t. She hesitates greeting those she does know and instead send smiles to ahjussi sweeping the dead leaves in front of the store, and to the ahjumma sitting tired and still in one of the tables, when the sun has not smiled upon her yet.

The other students leave to go to the stores they were assigned with, and Maki, checking with the sitting ahjumma that this is in fact the store that she has been assigned with, and when confirmed, looked to see who was to be her partner.

The only students who remained were a girl who was fixing the zipper on her bag on one of the  store’s tables and a tall boy near the shadows to the back of the store who was crouched over fixing a shoelace. The girl sighed and abandoned her zipper leaving her bag open, and just hugged the thing to herself. She left.

Maki didn’t notice her, she was looking at the boy and then began looking at him as discreetly as she can.

Was he…smoking?

He was actually smoking! Smoking while pretending to be crouched over a shoelace, or was he actually fixing his shoelace? It didn’t matter, he was smoking! Smoking, when it was explicit in the brief emailed to them that smoking was not allowed in the area. Smoking when it was bad for his health and worse for the people around him! Smoking!

She scowled.

He stood up and discreetly blunted the cigarette’s embers on the wall, and looked for a trashcan. The trashcan was behind Maki.

He froze when he saw her. The cigarette was quickly hidden behind his back. A blush rose to his ears.

Maki caught her breath.

 She was the most gorgeous boy that she had ever seen, and the fact that she thought so made her uncomfortable. He grew his hair long, way past his nape. He had a sharp jawline and a prominent nose like that she saw of samurai and the J