As usual, the familiar sound of small talk, bean grinding, brewing coffee behind the counter, beeping cash registers, background music that can be heard from the speakers on the walls and busy staffs saying ‘welcome’ or ‘what’s your order’, filled the whole coffee shop.

“One iced cafe mocha please.” I said as I stood behind the counter, staring at the large brown menu which hangs on the wall, and handed the money to the cashier. I noticed a woman at the corner of my eye, waiting impatiently for her turn, clacking her heel while looking at her wrist watch with an irritated expression on her face. She looked at me weirdly as I ordered my beverage.   

“Iced? It’s freezing outside and you buy iced?” She said in a blunt manner with a smug look on her face that caused me to scoff at her. I looked at her from head to toe, observing her outfit that looked like the cold air outside didn’t bother her.

“Well, excuse me for ordering a cold beverage when it’s winter. Gosh. You don’t need to be so nosy unless, of course, you don’t have anything to do with your life except clack your heels in impatience and mind other people’s business.” I said sarcastically and showed her a smile that irked her.  

 As if on cue, the familiar barista wearing a brown apron over a white polo shirt and black slacks called my name and placed my order on top of the counter about two or so meters away from the cashier. “Tall iced cafe mocha for Min Hee!”

I rolled my eyes at her, not forgetting to toss my hair before strutting my way toward the other counter to get my order. I looked at the barista once again and my face lit up with a friendly smile. It’s Onew. I’ve met him four years ago, on a sunny day but, not in this coffee shop, in a place you’d never expect a simple barista like him to be in. He showed me his familiar smile, bright and playful from that of a child’s. He’s two years older than me but we’ve decided to just be friends and not use any formalities.

“Hi Onew. It’s nice outside, right?” He chuckled softly. Placing a hand on my cold coffee, I showed him the receipt as proof that I paid then crumpled it afterwards, throwing it into a trash bin—for papers—under the counter. I wasn’t really nice to him when we first met. But after a year, I realized that befriending him wouldn’t be that bad. And so I did. I looked into his face, observing his eyes dark brown as coffee, cute bushy eyebrows and burnt amber hair with streaks of lighter shades of brown.

“You never change, Min Hee. How are you and your Jonghyun? Still close as ever?” He asked. You too, Onew... you haven’t changed. I observed his face, it’s not like he’s been having a hard time working here after all. He doesn’t have any sign of wrinkles from stress or dark circles from not having enough sle—I blinked at his question, as if someone slapped me back to my senses.

“Yup. Well, it’s nice to have a chat but I’m itching to drink my coffee now. See you.” I dismissed our conversation as quick as possible because we might end up talking about the past, which I try to not share with people as much as possible.

I sat on an unoccupied table behind the glass window and that showed light gray clouds. I wiped the mist on the window that obscures the view outside and sat comfortably on the chair, placing my drink on top of the chestnut brown table. I sipped my coffee slowly, savouring the sweet taste while I look outside the window, observing traffic lights change, busy people making their way to different shops and an odd person who stood out from the rest of the crowd caught my attention—a guy that looked like he stepped out of a manhwa with his charming walk and excellent posture—and came to look for me and tell me: I like you very much. Just as you are or I have crossed oceans of time just to find you. The guy entered a bookshop from across the street and disappeared from my view. 

Oh. My. Gosh.  I think I’m in love! I don’t know. I just got a feeling about him. I love him. I knew it the minute I met him. Nah. That’s too cliché to happen. Those lines just came from a couple of movies