Over Words and Coffee

The coffee is warm in Myungsoo’s hands as he sits in the corner of the store, smiling in content as he stares at the window.

It’s early in the morning and he needs his morning coffee— black, as usual. He stares at the bubbles above the black liquid as he sips. It’s a beautiful winter day, and Christmas is just around the corner. He thinks of coming home for the holidays, and the idea of his mother’s cookies with warm fresh milk makes him smile against the coffee mug.

He also thinks about his best friend, Sungyeol, whom he hasn’t seen for months since the guy moved to China. Sighing, he realizes he does miss the goofy smiles and the child-like antics of his best friend.

Setting the mug back down on the table, he proceeds with his morning habit of observing his surroundings. There are a lot of people today— at least, more than he’s used to. There’s this guy with the bushy eyebrows and buff arms, sitting to his left with another man who laughs a little too much and too loudly. He watches as they interact, teasing each other with playful smiles and joking insults.

On another table, right across his, sits a short man, whom he knows as Woohyun from his classes at university. He’s heard this guy sing before and he admits he’s quite jealous of his voice. Maybe that’s why, he guesses, Woohyun is sitting with a popular singer in their college, Sunggyu, with the tiny eyes and chubby cheeks.

He’s always liked observing people in the mornings. He observes Sungyeol’s face during mornings when he wakes up with the older man beside him, who’s watched too many horror movies for his own good. He observes as people hustle and bustle on the streets, moving past him. He observes as little kids with their parents go shopping for Christmas presents and munch on candy. He observes everything… just ‘cause he can.

 As he watches, though, he can’t help but feel a little insignificant. Here he was, sitting all alone in his table for two, while everyone around him is either with their sweethearts or in larger groups. He sighs, feeling pathetic. Oh well.

He brings his mug to his lips, not realizing it was empty.

Calling over a waiter, he asks for a refill, and as he waits, he hears the sound of the bell by the door ringing, and he looks up.

A boy walks in, around his age, but a little younger, with a scarf and beanie that looks too big that it swallows up his face. But Myungsoo sees the childish eyes and the blonde hair underneath. He watches the boy as he orders a box of blueberry muffins and a caramel-latte with a large dollop of cream. He inwardly cringes at the thought of the too-sweet substance.

He is distracted from his thoughts when the newcomer looks around, as if looking for something. Then Myungsoo realizes that there are no more tables. He stares, and for the half-second their eyes meet, he immediately thinks those eyes are pretty.

“E-excuse me, but can I sit with you? There are no more tables so…” the boy was already right in front of him and his voice was a bit childish and he let it run through his mind a few more times than necessary.

His coffee arrives as he nods and the blonde boy takes a seat in front of him.

“I’m Sungjong,” he starts, introducing himself with a little smile.

Myungsoo hums and nods, his name rolling out from his tongue as a reply.

‘Sungjong’ glances at Myungsoo’s mug and raises an eyebrow. “Black?”

“Yup,” he nods. “I like it pure.”

Sungjong hums and nods. “I think I’ve seen you around before. Maybe we go to the same uni?”

“I go to K, right around the corner,” he replies, and as soon as they find out that they do go to the same college and that the blonde was a freshman in the Social Sciences, Myungsoo shares his own course, and Sungjong launches into an enthusiastic rant of how being a freshman and how he hopes to graduate soon and leave all the terror teachers and the sleepless cramming.

Myungsoo smiles. He’s been there before and he knows the feeling. He even wonders how he’s made it to sophomore year.

As the boy across him continues his rant and offers him a muffin (Myungsoo politely takes one, of course), in the middle of saying how Woohyun looks quite good with Sunggyu when they’re right behind them, Myungsoo listens, smiling and nodding in all the right places.

He soon realizes that his second cup of coffee is almost finished and so was the toothache-inducing drink of the younger.

He contemplates for a moment whether to have another cup because he quite liked the boy’s voice and animated movements as he tells stories of his life and his school or to leave with a polite excuse of being late for something.

He runs through the list of possible excuses in his mind when he feels a tap on his hand.

“Can I call you hyung?”And Sungjong flashes him the most gorgeous smile he’s ever seen, with crinkling eyes and pearly teeth showing, and it makes him feel so warm in his chest, so warm that he finds himself nodding, asking if the boy wants a refill of his coffee, and enjoying more words spilling out of the boy’s mouth.

And the more they talked, Myungsoo hadn’t realized that his third cup had run cold, or that the people in the café were getting fewer and fewer.