Ground Coffee

The first time Miyeon had a cup of coffee was when she was still in her early teens and didn’t experience all that much of the world yet. The spark of childish curiosity in her eyes, filled with dreams and imaginations so innocent that it would make even the most jaded people would look at her with fond adoration, gleamed in the early morning against the sunlight. The fresh dew on the grass hadn’t dissipated yet and the birds were only just starting to chirp their sweet tunes of melody to indicate the start of the day.

Perhaps it was an accident or maybe it was curiosity gone astray, but Miyeon remembers herself looking through the wooden shelves of her parents’ kitchen that morning and coming across a bag of ground coffee.

Of course she had seen her parents drink cups of coffee, but she never paid too much attention to it. The only thing she knew about it was how they scooped up about a spoonful of the dark ground coffee and let them settle into the hot water. So, as she was a child, eager to discover more about the world of adults, she had poured a mug of water and shoveled some ground coffee inside.

She watched as wisps of auburn brown started to disperse from the tiny black granules. Slowly, the clear water was colored into a deep dark brown with the grounds of coffee settled at the bottom of the cup. Hastily, she had put her hand on the mug to pick it up, but quickly retracted it immediately as the steaming drink momentarily reminded her of its scorching heat. After waiting for a few minutes for it to cool, she picked up the mug by its handle and tilted it slightly towards her so. She then took a little time observing the unfamiliar drink in careful detail, taking notes of the color, scent, and other characteristics it had. Definitively, what stood out to her the most, was probably the scent of chocolatey nuttiness it gave off.

“Coffee is bitter, a child like you wouldn’t—shouldn’t like it.”

Those were the words that her mother and the other adults told her that echoed in her head as she brought the mug of coffee to her lips. But the sweetness of the smell made her wonder if it would taste like chocolate milk—if she would like it despite their words. And so she tipped the cup and took a small sip

Her eyebrows quickly furrowed as she almost spit the substance out of because of the absolute repulsiveness of its taste. She remembered how it was reminiscent of burnt toast, an repugnantly bitter flavor. Yet, Miyeon kept drinking the hot cup of coffee, taking gulps of it down , despite the acrid taste it left behind.

She figured that she would eventually have to get used to it, the bitterness of it all.

And, as much she wished that she was wrong, Miyeon grew up and she really did become accustomed to bitter things. She remembers it clearly, the days that she quit school, she left her first entertainment company, and had her first heartbreak. To have thought she had direction in life, a constant that she thought would last forever, and then to have it taken away was a feeling that she knew well.

The only true constant in her life then seemed to be the bitter taste of coffee that helped her get out of bed every morning, although just barely.

But Miyeon smiles at the cup of coffee in her hands now, it was so different from her first memory of it. The most immediate change one would probably notice was that there wasn't a trace of ground coffee in her drink, she had learned from her mistakes from when she was young. The second thing people would notice was probably her beautiful smile after she took a sip of the morning pick-me-up drink and the way she reveled in the taste of it, she was no longer her past and now used it as pillar of strength. However, what most people wouldn’t notice was that it was the first time Miyeon didn’t make the warm homebrewed drink by herself, she was no longer alone.

“So, how does it taste,” Minnie nervously asks her, taking a seat across from the other girl.

Miyeon smiles and takes another sip, she savors the almond-like taste and the lingering hint bitterness that follows after. Soon afterwards she felt her whole body warm up, she couldn’t exactly tell whether it was from the coffee or the kindness of the gesture, but she reckons it’s the latter. As Miyeon feels the happiness in her heart as she thinks of the effort and love her lover put into making the cup of coffee despite her distaste of the beverage.

“It’s great,” Miyeon compliments the other girl, “I can’t even tell that you don't drink coffee yourself.”

Minnie turns away but Miyeon can see the tips of her ears turn pink.

“Flattery won’t get you anywhere Cho Miyeon.”

Miyeon smirks and sets down her mug of coffee and leans deeper onto the table, getting closer to the girl who was trying so hard to terribly hide her feelings.

“Look at me then,” Miyeon playfully challenges her, “I dare you.”

Knowing that her face is probably flushed pink, Minnie doesn’t dare to face her. But, when she feels the other girl’s hand touch her face and she is forced to look her way, at that stupidly pretty face of her girlfriend, as she turns her head towards her. She thinks it’s unfair, how beautiful Miyeon is and how much she makes her heart swoon. Minnie swears that even though she hates the taste of it, she feels like she’s the one that just downed a whole cup of coffee because of how quickly she can feel her heart beating.

“See,” Miyeon smirks at her with that lovely face of hers, “that wasn’t so hard now, was it?”

Averting her eyes, Minnie still refuses to admit defeat.

“So you’re going to be stubborn now,” her beloved continues to , “okay, that’s fine with me, I like you no matter what you’re like.”

“I’m not being stubborn,” the Minnie mutters, “I just don’t want to look at you.”

“Sure,” Miyeon chuckles before she continues to drink her warm beverage.

“Stop trying to flatter yourself,” Minnie huffs out, crossing her arms and pouting—pretending to sulk.

The coffee drinker lets out a laugh and finishes the last of her drink before she continues teasing the other girl, she wouldn’t want to get her coffee or the fun in their relationship to grow lukewarm after all.

“I thought I was trying to flatter you,” Miyeon points out after, setting the mug down as she finished its contents.

The slightly taller girl groans upon hearing this comment, grumbling something inaudible under her breath. The other girl only giggles again and lightly ruffles the hair on top of her head. She always found Minnie to be cute especially when she sulked, it was a little secret that Miyeon liked to keep to herself for the time being.

“Darling, don’t be upset,” Miyeon tried to comfort her, fingers running through the other girl's hair, gently playing with it.

“Hmph,” the pouting girl sits up straight and crosses her arms, shaking off Miyeon’s hand in the process.

As the other girl continues to try and avoid her touch, Miyeon simply smiles and gets closer and closer to her. She finds her way to Minnie’s side of the table eventually, poking at her arm to get her attention. And when she finally tries to get up, to escape, Miyeon doesn’t let her have a chance to as she wraps her arms around her waist. Pulling her down into an embrace, she traps her squirming girlfriend with her strong firm arms on her lap.

“Miyeon,” her girlfriend whines, as she feels the other girl lean against her back and hug her tighter, “Let me go.”

With the evident redness on the tip of ears and weak slaps at her arms in attempt to ‘escape’ her grasp, her beloved only laughs and leaves soft kisses on the back of her neck. Minnie could only blush as the softness of her lips left behind traces of gentle warmth that she couldn’t shake off from her heart. As Miyeon’s love made her so weak that she could only melt into her lap, giving in to her touch. Minnie felt the curve of her lips slowly pull upwards into a shy smile as she closed her eyes and rested her hands on her girlfriend’s arms, letting herself completely fall into embrace. Her beloved smiles against her back and then moves so that her head is resting on her shoulder. She turns to her ear and leaves another fleeting kiss that leaves another imprint of her love on Minnie’s heart.

“You’re so much more addicting than coffee,” Miyeon murmurs into her ear, “I don’t know how it’s possible but I love you more and more everyday.”

As streaks of light slip in between the gap between the curtains, slivers of light escape into the room and shine onto them. The dust subdued in the midst of air even seemed to glimmer in the morning light as the two lovers were lost in each other’s comfort. She may not have the same innocent gleam she did as a child, but when Miyeon looked at Minnie, her eyes sparkled with wondrous dreams and imagination once more. And, it’s during moments like this, where it felt like they were living in an old photograph, that Miyeon recalls her earlier memories with Minnie and she smiles.

For so much of her life, Miyeon had only focused on the bitterness of coffee that she had ignored it’s warmth.

She would wake up every morning only to try and get through the day, living life as it flowed, without stopping to think or feel what she was really going through. But she remembers that one day she woke up late and there was a little sticky note left on the kitchen table of the dorm they all used to share. It wasn’t much, but the packet of instant coffee and bowl of food made her feel that she was still someone that people cared about. It made her stop and think; it made her feel all that she had gone through.

Even if the instant packet was cheap and nothing out of the ordinary, it was one of the warmest cups of coffee she had ever drank.

But that wasn’t the only time that Miyeon remembered how gradually she began to notice the warmth of coffee more than it’s bitterness. Because after she started talking to the girl that left her the note, they started hanging out more and became friendly with each other. One of her most treasured collections of her memories was how Minnie would start accompanying her to the coffee shop every morning even though she would never order anything. Miyeon had found it strange at first, but when she found out the other girl didn’t like the taste of coffee and only went everyday to be with her, a foolish grin spread across her face.

There was this other time too, when Miyeon had mentioned she wanted an iced Americano after a long day of training but all the cafes had closed. She remembered how Minnie bickered with her, that she shouldn’t be drinking coffee so late at night. Yet, the other girl had left earlier and then later came back with a full cup of coffee for her. When Miyeon had asked her where she got the beverage from as she was sure all the stores around them had long closed, Minnie just shrugged her shoulders and handed her the drink. She later found out though, that the Thai girl had picked out all the individual coffee granules for her from an instant coffee packet that also contained sugar just to give her the cup of coffee that night. She loved how even though it was a cold drink, that cup of coffee still brought a great warmth to her heart to this very day.

Coffee may be infamously bitter, but Minnie made her memories of it all too sweet.

“Babe,” she hears Minnie’s alluring voice calling for attention, “you’ve been staring off for too long, what are you thinking about?”

“Nothing much,” Miyeon replies with a goofy grin on her face.

“You aren’t lying to me are you,” Minnie turns her body to face her, now straddling her.

The grinning girl giggles, “Maybe just a bit.”

“Then what were you thinking of,” Minnie asks her.

Miyeon looks at her softly and moves her hands over hers, guiding Minnie’s hand up to her face. She peppers small kisses on her slender fingers, her palms, and finally on her wrist before she lets go of Minnie’s hand and looks up. And what Miyeon finds as she faces her beloved is her lover’s confused and flustered expression. Cute, she thinks to herself and smirks before leaning forward, bringing her so dangerously close to the other girl’s face.

“I was thinking about how much you love me,” Miyeon puts her hand on the side of Minnie’s face and tells her, “how your fingers smell like ground coffee even though you hate the taste of coffee.”

“The things I do,” Minnie mutters under her breath, “All because of you.”

“I know,” her lover smiles and nods, “thank you.”

Miyeon then presses their foreheads together and closes the gap between their yearning lips. And, even though Miyeon’s mouth had remnants of the bitter taste of coffee, Minnie could care less because she always felt like her kisses were as sweet as honey.