You smiled, thinking about how fast he turned away. Standing up, you walked over to the window separating the two of you and knocked on it, one hand still in your pocket. He turned to you hesitantly and looked at you warily from the inside. You broke into a wider smile and as friendly as possible, gestured to him to come out. You raised two fingers to your mouth like chopsticks, surely he would understand what that meant? No. He didn’t. Now, was he just playing dumb…you thought, but shook that thought away upon entering the store. You had trudged, snow crumbling beneath your boots, from the window to the door and had opened the door to enter. As you walked to the counter, you suddenly realised how stupid you looked, flailing your arms, gesturing to the boy at the counter to come to eat with you – obviously he wouldn’t get what you were saying!

“…Do-Do you speak English?” you tried.

“…A-A little.” he replied, to your surprise.

Pointing at him, then to yourself, then back at him, “Eat? With me? Together?”

Smiling rather bashfully, he laughed and replied, “Oh! I see! But, I-I can’t,” he signalled an X with his arms, “…I am w-working, my boss, angry, if I go out…”

*T.T* “…But there’s no one here! Why not, just come out for a little while?” you pleaded, forgetting his limited English ability.

Shaking his head, he apologised twice and rubbed the back of his neck with his right hand. He shifted his cap nervously and looked at you apologetically.

After pausing to stare at him for a while, you exclaimed, “Don’t Mianhe me! I know you’re hungry! Okay, you know what, what about I come in here to eat. That’s fine, right?” You didn’t even wait for his answer and, remembering that you left your noodles outside and that they were probably freezing by now, rushed outside to get your cup Ramen and chopsticks. You ran into the store, shivering from the cold. The boy saw you shivering and reached down to turn the heater on higher.

“…Heater…on…”

“Thank you,” you smiled back gratefully.

You walked towards the counter and plonked your noodles on the countertop, careful not to spill any soup. “Do you have a chair?” you asked, and sat down as he rushed to give you a chair. You fell back into the chair, exhausted from that short little run you just did. He chuckled lightly as you closed your eyes for a little while. Opening one eye, you looked at him standing there awkwardly and now it was your turn to laugh.

“What are you doing? Oh, you don’t have food? Maybe I should choose one for you,” you said eagerly.

“A-Ani! Gwaenchanha!” he called back, but you were already making your way down the aisles.

Hmm, I’m not sure if he likes spicy stuff…not sure if he likes seafood either…but surely he can’t hate kimchi ramen right? That’s what all Koreans eat anyway, so, Kimchi Ramen it is then!

You smiled to yourself and reached out to grab the cup Ramen. As you made your way back to the counter, you saw him counting the money in the cash register and you placed the Ramen and the money in front of him. Looking up, he looked at you curiously and immediately pushed the cup Ramen away.

“No, No, I can’t!”

“No, take it! I’m buying it for you! So that we can eat together!” you pushed it back, determined to make him eat it.

Shaking his head, he took out his own wallet and said, “I-I have money.”

Oooh…you reached out, taking your coins back. Well, at least he’s agreeing to eat with me, you thought. “Kamsahapnida,” he said politely. You nodded back in acknowledgment.

You watched as he went over to fill his cup with hot water, now smiling lightly, probably at your stubborn insistence that he eat with you. Hey, this dude’s pretty young and good-looking. You thought, staring at his chocolate brown hair under his cap, made deliberately messy – but it looked good. He was quite skinny and pretty tall too, something that made you deflate a little since you stood at a meagre 150cm. His fringe tickled his eyes and his skin was so smooth you wished you had skin like that. Well, but you were thankful already that your skin wasn’t too bad, considering that you had had acne problems when you were younger. And he was pale. Typical Korean, you sniggered to yourself. His lips – augh, his lips, why am I even staring at his lips?? –. His uniform was casual but smart, shirt hanging over the side of his jeans, with the back tucked in. Boots. Hmm, maybe that’s what’s making his taller. You laughed to yourself. But wow, totally my kind of guy…you stared as he walked back to the counter.

“What’s your name?” you asked while staring.

“Minho. Choi Minho. And you?” he asked, uncharacteristically friendly, you felt. Maybe he was just warming up. You smiled.

“Well, I’m called Chloe, but you can call me Keuroi in Korean.” you winked. Gosh, can’t believe I just winked…you cringed.

Laughing, he sat down and set his chopsticks down.

“How old are you?” you continued, curiously…and secretly hoping that he wasn’t younger than you.

“Uh, 26.” He replied casually. You heart leapt. Stop it! You berated yourself half-heartedly.

“Oh, really? You look quite young,” you complimented. “I’m 20.” You smiled.

“You…are…young too.” He tried complimenting back. I laughed out laughed, “Hahaha, your English isn’t very good.” I commented. “Yeah, I know.” he replied. As our laughter died out, we both turned back to our noodles and began eating. Together. Him behind the counter, and me, in front, on my chair.