After seeing Minseok, I’m reminded of one more thing. My brother. I look at the clock, and it’s past 10 PM. I gasp, and stand up after snatching my phone from the table. How long did I sleep? I have my phone in silent mode, and Minhyung left two missed calls. I frantically call back, and anxiously listen to the dialing tone.

          “Noona—”

          “Minhyung. Where are you? Why aren’t you arriving yet?” my voice wakes Minseok up, and he blinks repeatedly, collecting his soul.

          “Yeah, so we had exited the highway gate… But there was a pileup collision of three cars in front of us and the roads are blocked. We’ve been stuck for half an hour. The snow and wind suddenly started to get brutal too.”

          “What? Oh my God.” I put a hand on my nape, and Minseok straightens his back, looking worried.

          “What were you doing? Why didn’t you answer my call?”

          “I… fell asleep.” I say slowly.

          “What? You and Professor?”

          “Yeah.” I mutter, embarrassed. “Anyway, so what now? What’s happening on the scene?”

          “We’re still waiting for evacuation… So far there are only ambulances because it’s difficult to reach here. I don’t know how much longer this would be finished.”

          I exhale audibly with a hand on a side of my face. “Oh my God. I’ll see what I can do…” Minseok is still looking at me anxiously.

          “It’ll be futile to try to pick us up, Noona, the other road is packed too. It’s best to just wait, okay? Tell Professor he can go, it’d be too late when we come home.”

          I sigh. “Alright.”

          “What happened?”

          I tell Minseok, and his big eyes shake. I walk around the living room, quietly trying to calm myself. “Minseok, you should go home. The kids will be here very late.”

          “No, I should wait here with you.”

          “What? No, you don’t have to.” I keep going around as I fidget nervously.

          “It’s fine, I have no morning classes tomorrow.” Minseok says and stands up. “Take some deep breaths. The kids are going to be fine.”

          I try, but it doesn’t get better. I stomp a foot repeatedly to the carpet, and Minseok walks closer to me without a word. He puts a hand on my shoulder lightly and bends down a little, trying to to meet my eyes.

          “Yuna. Relax. They’ll be okay.”

          I look at him, and Minseok gives me a small reassuring nod. I blink. I realize I’ve been very tensed up, and I loosen my muscles. Minseok turns around and pats the sofa, and I slowly sit down. I put the phone on my lap, and he sits beside me. We stay silent for a few seconds.

          “I’ll get you more tea.” Minseok gets up again, and heads to the kitchen.

          “Wait—”

          “I watched you earlier, I know how to do it.” Minseok grins. I end up staying on the sofa, and Minseok skillfully turns on the stove and puts the water kettle above.

          He comes back with two cups of tea, and gives me one. “Thank you.” I say almost soundlessly.

          Minseok puts away his tea, and reaches for his phone. “I have my phone in silent too.” he shrugs. “I’ll call the kids now.”

          Minseok is calling Minhyung, and I sip my tea uneasily. After a short conversation, Minseok hangs up and looks at me. “It’s still on progress.”

          I nod slowly once, and glance at the clock. It may not be that late, but the weather is worrying. I’m not sure if I could ask Minseok to go later, the bus and subway must have stopped operating. Maybe a taxi? I’ll think about it later—

          “Yuna.” Minseok calls me just on time. “Let’s look at my friends’ food blog together.”

          “Huh?” I see him showing his phone screen. “Oh—sure, sure.”

          Minseok moves closer to me, and holds the phone between us so I can see. He first shows the Instagram page, and slips a few stories of them. The bloggers are friends of him during post-graduate study, and the couple started dating because of their mutual love of food.

          “…they love sweet things, so I think they’d love to visit the bakery.” Minseok concludes, his head turns at me occasionally as he speaks. “Maybe you can make the unicorn conchas from last time? It’s so cute, I think people will love it.”

          “Ah… Yes, it sold well.” I laugh slowly. “Kids especially loved it.”

          continues to talk, and I mostly listen but he encourages me to speak too with asking some trivial things to make time flow quicker. I call Minhyung every half an hour, and finally five minutes before midnight Minhyung said the road is finally cleared.

          Later we hear the sound of car door being closed, and the front gate being opened after. I run to the entrance, and opens the door. Minhyung is right behind it, startled. “I was about to—”

          I audibly breathe out, and hold the door. “Get inside. Where’s Yukhei?”

          “We dropped him off at the dorms.” Minhyung looks understandably exhausted. He shakes off the bits of snow from his coat before entering, and has his head down as he brushes his sleeves with his hands. “Noona, can you give me some—Professor?!”

          Minseok stands in front of Minhyung, and my brother turns his head to see me. “Why are you—why is Professor still here?”

          “I just waited together with Yuna. Now I can go home in peace.” Minseok laughs.

          “You could’ve gotten a ride from my friends from before…” Minhyung’s shoulders drop.

          “It’s okay. I’ll call a taxi.” Minseok says. “You should rest.”

          “So it’s only the two of you since a few hours ago?” Minhyung furrows his brows, suspicious.

          “Yes.” I answer quickly, and push his back to move. “Go wash up, I’ll prepare something warm for you.” I add.

          “Thank you—I’ll go first.” Minhyung excuses himself to go to his room. Minseok nods, and I step closer to him.

          “Thank you so much for waiting. You should go home, it’s very late.”

          “Yeah.” Minseok smiles, and picks up his bag. “The taxi is on the way.”

          A few minutes later the taxi honks from outside, and I take Minseok to the gate. He hurries me to come back inside. “It’s cold. See you later.”

          “Yeah, thank you. See you later.” I smile. Minseok waves from inside, and the taxi drives off. Vapor comes out from my mouth, and I look at the icy street. What a long night.

*

          Minseok’s friends, the food bloggers, came to visit a few days after I contacted them and on the weekend after they posted their review, the visitors significantly jumped. This definitely pleases my parents who came back from their vacation two days ago, and they excitedly greet every customer.

          “You should thank that friend who introduced you to the food blogger, buy him food or something.” Mom says as we make a few beverage orders together. “And did you say he’s Minhyung’s tutor too?”

          “Yeah.”

          “He seems like a catch.” Dad suddenly pops out from the kitchen direction. I throw him a look.

          “He’s your high school friend, too! It must be fate.”

          “Mom.” I groan.

          “Alright, alright. Go have some break, you haven’t stopped moving since dawn.”

          I walk to the office in the back, and take out my phone. I texted with Minseok after his friends came before, and mentioned I’d treat him to a meal but Minseok hasn’t decided on a schedule. It’s a Saturday, should I call him? I tap the call button, and my heart races as I put the phone on my ears.

          “Hello?”

          “Hi, Minseok.”

          “What’s up, Yuna?” he sounds cheery as usual.

          “About what I told you before… Just tell me if you have the time. My parents are back, and I have more free time.”

          “That’s great! What about now?”

          “Er—now?”

          “Look outside.”

          My eyes widen. I half-run to the front, and my mouth parts a bit seeing Minseok walking along the glass windows of the café with a small smile on his face, phone still stuck to the side of his face. He spots me inside, and I freeze on my spot.

          He enters, and grins. “It was supposed to be a surprise.”

          “What—why?”

          “I just came back from a bookstore near here and decided I’d visit. Then your call came. You must be sensing it.”

          “I—well…” I laugh slowly.

          “Oh, who is this?” Mom’s voice is heard from my back. I swallow.

          I introduce Minseok to her, and Mom’s eyes light up with expectation. After a shower of thank yous, Mom urges us to sit on one of the tiny tables next to the window with the excuse of making space to other customers. I sit clumsily facing Minseok as he looks at the menu board on the counter. “The hot chocolate was superb from last time, I’ll have that again. And I’m going to pay this time.”

          “Not gonna happen this time as well.” I go to the counter for awhile to inform my employee about his drink, and when I come back to my seat Minseok has this amused smile on his face. “What?”

          “Your mother is a very energetic lady.”

          “Oh, she’s happy with all these people. A certain someone made this possible.” I nod to him. Minseok laughs, and shakes his head.

          “I’m glad.”

          “It’s lunch time soon. What do you want to eat?”

          “I’ll eat everything—whoa, what is this?” my employee serves his hot chocolate along with a red and green candy cane swirl bread.

          “It’s the newest concept. You can try it.” I say.

          Minseok picks up the bread and takes a bite. “Wow, it’s flavored?”

          “Of course.” I smile.

          “Wow, it’s fascinating. It’s bread, why does it taste like a drink? Strawberry and mint?”

          I nod, and Minseok looks at the bread curiously. “Amazing.” he adds.

          I’m offering Minseok a variety of choices for lunch in this area, and as I speak, I notice seemingly two familiar figures walking towards this place. I get silent, and Minseok notices this.

          “What’s wrong?”

          “I think it’s—oh my, it’s Hyeyoung!”

          Minseok looks through the window too, and Hyeyoung spots me. I notice that it’s Han Jangmi beside her, and I go to the door to welcome them.

          “Yuna! We’re here!” Hyeyoung throws herself at me, and I laugh. I look at Jangmi behind her, and look at them both.

          “You two—why?”

          “You said to come here everytime!” Jangmi pulls me into a hug, and I put my arms around her awkwardly. She’s wearing stylish pale pink long coat, and a thought flashes that this was the color she used to use in the past. My face is buried on her thick wool scarf, and I carefully break the hug. “I saw you with someone, who was that?” Hyeyoung asks.

          “It’s me.” Minseok appears behind me, and I shudder. Hyeyoung and Jangmi’s eyes widen.

          “What? Kim Minseok?” Hyeyoung’s tone goes up a pitch. “What is this? Are you two dating?”

          “No.” I answer quickly. “We—let’s have a seat first.”

          I notice Jangmi looks at Minseok in somehow an uncomfortable way, and I steal a glance at Minseok who returns her sight with a silent, flat look. Why is she like that to him?