I allowed Chaeyoung to drag me all the way into the parking lot before I spoke up.

"Um, where exactly are you taking me? We didn't even get to eat any of the cake."

Chaeyoung finally stopped and turned to look at me. I had been staring at the back of her head for the past 5 minutes, I almost forgot how good-looking she was. Under the dim white lights of the parking lot, the shadows casted on her face brought out the curvature of her nose and her sharp jawline. My breath caught at how stupidly attractive she looked.

opened slightly as if she was about to say something but stopped when something else caught her eye.

Almost in sync, we both glanced down at our entwined fingers. Chaeyoung quickly released her tight grip on my hand and looked up at me, flustered.

"Sorry," She apologized. I shook my head saying that it was fine.

She exhaled. "I love my friends to death, but they can get to be a bit too much sometimes, you know? I just... needed to get out of there."

I racked my brain trying to figure out what she meant. Her friends were nothing but friendly to me all night. Perhaps there was something else that was going on that I wasn't aware of.

"I get that," I said, nodding slowly. "But why did you have to drag me out with you-" I was interupted by a loud disturbing growl from my very own stomach.

My hand shot to my abdomen, face growing warm in embarassment. Man, one would think that I haven't eaten in days from the dying whale sound that just came from it.

Chaeyoung looked at me, the shock evident on her face. "Have you not eaten yet?"

"No? I was stuck at the cafe all day, how was I supposed to?" I asked her, furrowing my eyebrows.

Chaeyoung sighed, palmed her face with a hand, and closed her eyes. I stared at her for a minute, trying to figure out what she was thinking. "You know what?" She said finally.

"What?" I asked dumbly. I was still trying to recover from the mortifying sound my stomach had made.

"Forget the party," She was suddenly grinning from ear to ear, "I'm going to bring you to my favorite place in the world. You're going to love the food there, trust me. My treat."

"Huh?" Before I could protest, she grabbed my hand again and dragged me over to her car.

It was almost 11, when we arrived at this cozy looking restaurant thirty minutes away. As I entered the store, I could tell that Chaeyoung wasn't exaggerating about the food. Even though it was clearly far from the typical state of the art 5-star restaurants, one would have to be delusional to even think that this place wasn't popular. Even this late into the night, the tables were packed. Maybe it was the hunger talking but the dishes on the tables were looking like something fit for royalty. And the smell that came from them. Mmm... it was mouth-watering. 

"Wow," the word slipped out without me realizing.

"I know right?" Chaeyoung was smiling, satisfied at my reaction. 

"CHAEYOUNGIE." A plump middle-aged woman holding an empty tray called from across the shop. I looked at the younger girl in confusion. Was she familiar with the people who worked here?

The woman rushed over and crushed Chaeyoung into a hug, squishing the small girl's face into her well-endowed bosom.

After a few seconds of Chaeyoung trying to speak, her index finger waving comically in the air, the woman finally pulled away allowing the poor girl to breathe. She squealed, "Oh my gosh, we haven't seen you in so long. But you look exactly the same!"

Chaeyoung pouted and touched her head self-consciously, "Okay we get it, I'm still short as ."

"Language!" The woman scolded.

She looked over noticing me. Her eyes twinkled with friendliness as she asked, "And who's this beautiful young lady?"

I blushed at the compliment.

"This is Mina. She's a friend of mine," Chaeyoung introduced.

The woman let go of Chaeyoung and pulled my hands into hers. "Any friend of Chaeyoung's is welcome here. It must be troublesome having Chaeyoungie as a friend. Thank you for tolerating her," the woman gave me a wink.

"Hello? I'm literally right here," Chaeyoung protested.

I smiled. I'm already liking this place.

"YOBO," the lady suddenly bellowed. I jumped a little at the volume of her voice. Nobody in the restaurant seemed to mind, as if it was a normal occurance. A skinny looking man poked his head out from what I assumed to be the kitchen.

"Omo, is that Chaeyoungie?" The man stepped out to get a closer look. He was wearing a hot pink "kiss the chef" apron. 

"Nice apron, uncle," Chaeyoung laughed loudly.

"Thank you," the man didn't seem to be offended. "It's about time you come back to visit us. Tell me, what do you want to eat today? Uncle will cook you anything you like, on the house."

Chaeyoung turned pink at the generous offer, "Anni, that's too much. I just wanted to brin