Coffee without Sugar

Description: Five friends met each other in a cafe and became friends and learned from each other the meaning of life.

Rating: So G!

Characters: Choi Seunghyun (BigBang), Choi Sooyoung (SNSD), Kim Jonghyun (SHINee), Park Gyuri (KARA), Yang Yoseob (BEAST)

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in the fiction.  The story is only a narrative and does not involve any real life situation.  The whole plot of the story is written originally by myself.  If there's any similarity to other fictions, it is totally a coincidence.

It was seven years ago when they promised to meet again at that café, the only decent café in the university campus.  The date was supposed to be today, but Yoseob was not sure if any of them remember it anymore.  Seven years was quite a long time and he thought they must be busy.  The café was the same.  The waiters and the tables and chairs changed though.  But, the arrangement was just as the one when he graduated seven years ago, when they graduated seven years ago.

There were not many students in the café that evening and that made Yoseob felt free to go inside, less attention on him, if there was any.  He looked at the spot they used to take, the one at the far left corner of the café.  It was empty, but he hoped this evening all the five chairs will be occupied.  He sat on one of the chairs.  A waiter came and gave him the menu.  He thanked him, politely, although knowing that the boy was just a student working as a part-timer.  He was once a student too.

Yoseob smiled at the menu.  They were still the same, as if seven years ago was just yesterday.  He closed the menu book, already knew what he wanted to order.  He called for the boy again, and from far he saw the boy walking as fast as he could to him.

“Are you ready to make your order, sir?” the boy asked.

“Yes,” he replied.  The waiter took out his pen and his order list.

“Sir?”

“Give me Tea Set 1 for coffee and cupcakes.  Make the coffee without sugar and the cupcake without whipped cream, please,” said Yoseob.

The boy looked surprised but still jotted down his order without much question.

“Is that all, sir?

“Oh, make them five, please,” he said.

This time, the boy looked at him confusingly, and then his glance moved towards the other four empty chairs.

“Are you sure, sir?”

“Yes,” he nodded convincingly.  The waiter blinked a few times before he jotted it down and made his way to the kitchen.

Yoseob laughed to himself.  That waiter boy was quite surprised when he asked for his order.  Yoseob thought me might looked like the boy ten years ago, when he first met Choi Seunghyun.  His expression must be the same when Seunghyun ordered coffee without sugar and cupcakes without whipped cream on top.

Yoseob can remember it clearly in his mind.  That day, the café was packed with people.  When he entered that café, he found out there was no other seats rather than the one at the far left corner.  That place usually was not his favourite because waiters usually didn’t aware of those who sat at that spot, so, the order will come very late.  But, since he had no other place to sit at, that place seemed convenient.  He jogged to that table with five chairs, hoping he could reach it before other people get it.  Right when he grabbed one chair, a person on the other side dragged another chair.  He froze.

That guy looked intimidating.  He was tall and there was something about his eyes.  People might be right.  When they said ‘a stare could kill’, it was probably not a joke, because this guy’s stare really could kill.  He was scared to claim that place.  He was scared to even say a word.

“Are you alone?” at last the guy broke the silence between them.

But, that made Yoseob’s knees wobbled.  That guy’s voice was very deep.  He felt like the Angel of Death was right in front of him and ready to take his life away.

“Hey, are you alright?” he asked again.  Yoseob came back to reality.

“Oh, yes.  I’m fine.  Yeah…yeah...I’m alone,” he scratched his head.  He hoped he didn’t sound like a chicken in front of that guy.

“Good.  We can share the place then.  I’m alone too,” he said.

That was good enough to make Yoseob felt better.  At least, that guy sounded friendly.  He slowly dragged the chair he already grabbed earlier and sat down.

“I’m Yang Yoseob.  A sophomore,” he said, to make the moment less awkward.

“I’m Choi Seunghyun.  Also a sophomore,” he said while putting his bag on the floor.

“What is your major?” Yoseob asked again while waiting for the waiter who will most probably spotted them the last.

“Medicine,” he said.

Yoseob wanted to laugh, but he controlled himself from being rude.  The fact that a guy with a look of a killer was a future doctor was funny.

“You?” Seunghyun asked back.

“Journalism,” said Yoseob.  The other guy nodded.  In Yoseob’s opinion, that guy seemed not a person that talk a lot.  He smiled sometimes but most of the times he was expressionless.

“I’m sorry, but can I sit here with you guys?” it was a tall girl, like a skyscraper was being squeezed into the café, carrying stack of books about animals.  Both Yoseob and Seunghyun looked at each other, their eyes communicated on their favour to allow the girl sit with them.  Yoseob saw Seunghyun’s gaze softened, and he interpreted it as a yes.

“No problem,” Yoseob said on behalf of both of them.

“Thank you,” the girl was very carefree and the fact that she was sitting with two unknown guys seemed like not a problem to her, “I’m Sooyoung by the way.  Choi Sooyoung.”

The guys looked at each other again before introducing themselves to the girl.  She listened to them intently and even repeated their names, years and majors.

“I’m a sophomore too,” she said.

“Are you majoring in zoology?” asked Seunghyun while pointing to her stack of books.

“Oh, yes,” she nodded.

“Cool,” he replied and back to staring every single waiter in the café.  They busily served other tables and ignored them who were at the corner, out of sight.

“We don’t even stand a chance to make an order,” Yoseob sighed.

“Excuse me.  I hope that seat is still unoccupied,” another girl, this time with uniform.  By the look of it, she must be a naval cadet.  Yoseob cannot be sure of it, whether it was because of the uniform she was wearing or not, but there was a stern tone to the sweet voice of her.

“It is not,” said Sooyoung.

“Good.  Permission to join?” her way of asking was polite, with smile and all, but she sounded cadet-ish, which made it awkward for them.  But, Sooyoung was okay with that.

“Sure.  Not like there are other seats available in the café now.  Join us!” she said cheerfully.

“Thank you,” said the other girl while putting her beret on the table.

“I’m Choi Sooyoung,” cheerfully, Sooyoung introduced herself.

“I’m Park Gyuri,” the cadet girl said, shaking her hands.  Then only the guys proceeded to introduce themselves.

“Are you a Chief Warrant Officer?” asked Seunghyun, pointing at her insignia.

“Oh, yes,” she answered shyly.

“Wow!  What year are you in?” asked Sooyoung.

“Sophomore,” Gyuri replied.

“That is quite fast.  I mean you are in your second year and already are a Chief Warrant Officer?” Sooyoung seemed amazed.  Yoseob had to admit that he was surprised such a pretty face was doing quite well in the military cadet.

“I was a cadet since 11 years old,” she said, still shyly.

“That makes sense,” Yoseob said, “What is your major then?”

“Computer engineering, specialized in naval intelligence,” Gyuri explained.

“Sounds complicated,” Yoseob replied, amazed how a young lady could do so well as a navy.

“Whaddup!!!” a guy appeared out of nowhere and greeted them like an old friend.

“Yo!” surprisingly, Gyuri the cadet answered that informal greeting.

That guy was incredibly short, carrying a guitar at his back.  He wore baggy jeans and a casual checkered-shirt and a bowler hat on top of his head.  As if the guitar was not enough, he was holding a ukulele in his hands.  He plucked the strings and produced a song.

“Jonghyun, Jonghyun the explorer… Jonghyun, Jonghyun the explorer… Where are we going? Find a seat! Where are we going?  Find a seat!” he sang to the melody of Dora the Explorer, but he changed the lyrics spontaneously.

He smiled at them sheepishly.  They stared back at him, without any word coming out from each of their mouth.

“Alright, to make it simple, I really need a seat.  Please?” he asked.

Seunghyun looked at Sooyoung and Yoseob looked at Gyuri.  Seunghyun and Sooyoung seemed okay but Yoseob tried to give a sign to Gyuri, about not allowing a weird guy to join them but Gyuri was not affected by that.

“You can sit on the empty chair.  Join us,” Gyuri says.

“Thanks,” and Yoseob was glad that he did not sing it as a song.

When Jonghyun was about to take his seat, Sooyoung got very frustrated and stood up, waving, tried to attract the waiters.  Jonghyun quickly aware of the height difference, which he could say, there was no difference at all.

“I feel insulted,” he said.  Sooyoung noticed that.

“It is not my fault that you are short,” she said.

“Double stab,” he sat down.

They laughed silently, did not want to insult the new person who just joined them.  Sooyoung was still waving like a madwoman.

“I don’t think that’s going to work, Sooyoung,” said Gyuri, matter-of-factly.  Sooyoung sighed and sat down.

“We are not going to get our food,” she said.

“This might work,” Jonghyun started to strum his guitar.  Yoseob rolled his eyes and Seunghyun smiled to that.  Sooyoung stared at him in disbelief while Gyuri laughed wholeheartedly.

“Waiter!  I beg you to come here… I said, waiter!  I beg you to come here… I said, waiter!  I beg you to come here… Because.  We.  Need.  Our.  Food.  Oh please.  Waiter…” he started to sing to YMCA.

His voice was so loud and high-pitched that the whole café could hear.  That attracted attention to their table.  Seunghyun was still smiling and it was impossible for Gyuri to stop laughing.  But, Yoseob and Sooyoung felt embarrassed by that, at the same time, impressed by the boy’s skill.  He might not be as best as Jung Sungha in ukulele, but the spontaneity in creating the lyrics was beyond amazing.  Not that he did something wrong though.  They felt good when they saw a waitress ran to their table.

“How can I help all of you?” she asked.

“Alright.  Take my order.  I want a set of French toast with mushroom soup, a bowl of potato salad, a set of cupcakes with whipped cream on top and white choco-mocha frappe,” said Sooyoung.

“God!  You eat like you have not eaten for weeks!” said Jonghyun.

“Oh, that’s because I am tall,” Sooyoung coolly brushed him off.

“Ouch, that hurt a lot,” Jonghyun put his palm on his chest and did an expression of pain.  Sooyoung rolled her eyes.

“I would like to have Tea Set 2.  Pancakes and chocolate milk,” Gyuri said.

“Give me lava choc cake with vanilla ice-cream and strawberry lemonade, please,” Yoseob quickly made his order.

“Alright.  I just need Tea Set 1.  Cupcakes with cream on top and coffee.  Thank you,” said Jonghyun.

“Make that two,” Seunghyun quickly added, “But no cream on cupcake and no sugar in the coffee,” he said.

The waitress looked at him again, to make sure he had order it right.  Sooyoung stared at him, her expression showed bizarre.  Yoseob muttered a small ‘What’ and Gyuri looked at Seunghyun as if she was studying him.

“Bro, that tastes horrible,” Jonghyun said, almost dropped his ukulele.  Sooyoung wished he did.

Seunghyun convincingly looked at the waitress and said, “Please.”

The waitress took down his order and hurried to the kitchen.  While waiting for their food to be served, Jonghyun started again.

“I’m Jonghyun.  I’m Jonghyun…” that was ‘I’m the Map’ melody from Dora the Explorer.  Yoseob wondered if he really watched that programme all the time.

“Not again…” said Sooyoung.

“Okay.  I’ll stop.  Since we have different brain wave frequency, I’ll introduce myself manually.  I’m Kim Jonghyun, a sophomore,” he said.

“You must be a music major,” Gyuri stated.

“Oh, yes.  Quite so.  Majoring in music composition,” Jonghyun said.

They started to introduce themselves again.  Jonghyun made fun of Zoology, saying that Sooyoung was a giraffe and she did not have to study animals.  Sooyoung was angry but Jonghyun defended himself saying she had hurt him four times for the first ten minutes they met each other.  Yoseob became tired of the argument and took out a pen and a notebook and scribbled about anything.  Gyuri laughed and laughed at them.  Finally, Seunghyun acted maturely to stop them from bickering.  Shortly after that, their food was served.

They ate their food, while at the same time watching Seunghyun drank his coffee.  It must be bitter without sugar.  On top of that, Seunghyun was weird.  He drank his coffee while having the cupcake in his mouth.

“Seunghyun, can I try your coffee?  You seem to enjoy the taste.  Is it good, coffee without sugar?” asked Jonghyun.

Seunghyun pushed his mug towards him and Jonghyun took it and brought it to his mouth.  He took a sip and immediately, he pulled it back.

“Dude!  How can you drink this like nothing?  It was bitter like hell,” said Jonghyun while quickly drank his sweet coffee.

“Try it with the cupcake,” said Seunghyun.

Jonghyun took a cupcake from Seunghyun’s plate and chewed it in his mouth.  Before he swallowed the cupcake, he tried again Seunghyun’s coffee.  His eyes widened to the taste and he did the thumbs up.

“I know why you like it!  This!  This is a taste of life!”

Seunghyun gave a smile of satisfaction, that finally a guy got it.  But, only Jonghyun understand it.  Gyuri intensely looked at the coffee, still trying to figure out what it meant.  Sooyoung shook her head.  Yoseob stared blankly at Seunghyun.  Jonghyun already picked up his ukulele and played a song.  This time it was an original song he created so spontaneously on the spot together with the lyrics.  The only thing that didn’t make sense was he named the song Life while the lyrics were all nonsense about cupcake without cream and coffee without sugar.

+++++

They went to the café after spending time watching a movie in Seunghyun’s dorm.  Sooyoung and Yoseob didn’t look happy, as though the movie they just watched was not at all interesting.  Gyuri was expressionless and sturdy, as she always did.  Jonghyun was the opposite of Sooyoung and Yoseob, all bouncy with guitar in his hands.  He talked to Seunghyun like there will be no tomorrow and Seunghyun just nodded and smiled to what he was talking.

Ever since the coffee without sugar incident, Jonghyun and Seunghyun had become so close.  They were like a complement to each other.  Tall and short, quiet and talkative, it made some sense though.  They fit each other in a way people could explain, like the lock and key hypothesis.

“How can you even call it a movie?” Sooyoung started commenting about the movie when they took their place at the corner again.  It had become their favourite place so far.

“It was okay,” Gyuri said and shrugged.  In the weekends, Gyuri did not wear uniform and that made her looked even more beautiful.

“No, it’s not.  It was just a combination of some videos together for two hours.  That is not a movie,” Yoseob supported Sooyoung.

“Practically, all movies are about combining videos, combining footages,” Gyuri stated.

“But, not without plot,” Sooyoung rolled her eyes.

Seunghyun always invited them to his dorm to watch movies.  Every time he did that, only Jonghyun showed interest in the movie.  Sooyoung and Yoseob found out that Seunghyun’s definition of a good movie was ‘boring movie’.  But, it was hard to tell whether Gyuri enjoyed it or hate it.  Her face was always expressionless, like when she was in the line, marching.

“Life in a Day was not about plot.  But, it was about the message,” Seunghyun defended.

“You told us that thing as well when you showed us Song of Sparrow and Life of Pi weeks ago.  But, I could not see what the directors wanted to show actually,” Yoseob stood with his point.

“Well, at least Song of Sparrow and Life of Pi have plots.  And actually I don’t mind watching them because movies with animals are awesome,” Sooyoung said.

A waiter came and took their order.  As usual, Seunghyun and Jonghyun will order coffee without sugar and cupcake without cream.

“What do you like so much about animals anyway?” Yoseob asked.

“I’ve been thinking of asking that as well,” Gyuri said.

“You guys just don’t know how animals can make us appreciate life, do you?” Sooyoung asked this time.

“Well, I know that Boots the Monkey helped Dora a lot in her exploration,” Jonghyun shrugged.

Sooyoung rolled her eyes, “There’s one thing that animals are good at.  Emotion,” Sooyoung stated.

“So?” Seunghyun asked, curious.

“All their actions are based on their emotion.  Well, you know.  Animals have brains, but they think not using their brains but their emotion.  That is my opinion though,” Sooyoung said.

“And?” Gyuri asked.

“You guys don’t get it?  Oh, God save me.  What makes us, human, different from animals, is that we are given the ability to think based on our emotion as well as rational and logic.  You know, sometimes when you work with animals, when you see what they did, you will feel ashamed of yourself.  If animals who think using their emotion all the time are able to behave well, then what about us, human who are given rational and emotion?  But, most human nowadays act worse than animals.  You get what I mean?” Sooyoung said.

“You are basically saying that human nowadays think less?” Seunghyun asked.

“That, somewhat is true.  We are becoming less humane day by day as well,” for the first time Sooyoung felt that she can get along with Jonghyun.

“Yeah.  You see that.  Being given the ability to think through logic deduction and emotion, that makes us human.  But, what you can see nowadays is the opposite.  Animals teach us a lot.  A lot more that you could see,” said Sooyoung.

The tense at the table was eased when the waiter came with their food.  However, Yoseob can’t just let go.  Right after the waiter left, he continued.

“Alright, Sooyoung.  I could see that.  That was true.  But, still.  Seunghyun’s movie just now was boring,” Yoseob said.

“No, it’s not,” Jonghyun quickly argued.  Yoseob stared at Sooyoung and Gyuri to gain support.

“I told you it was okay,” Gyuri said.

“Alright, I go with you, Yoseob.  It was boring,” Sooyoung admitted.

Seunghyun smiled to that.  It was up to them to make their own assumption, as long as he understood the message of the movie, that was enough.  He took his cupcake and drank his coffee, and savoured the taste.

“You guys don’t understand.  You have to learn to look at things implicitly and appreciate the beauty,” Jonghyun said, stomping his left leg.

“You always said that, implicitly.  Could you please, Mr. Kim, explain to us how you look at things implicitly?” Sooyoung asked sarcastically.

 Jonghyun pushed his mug of coffee without sugar and his plate of cupcake without cream to Sooyoung.

“Taste that the way Seunghyun and I did, and you will understand what I mean,” Jonghyun dared her.

Sooyoung looked at the black concentrated coffee without sugar and then at Jonghyun.  That short guy nodded, convincing her to try it.  She took the cupcake and chewed it her mouth and before she swallowed it, she drank the coffee.  Then, she set the mug down and looked back at Jonghyun.

“Now, I know what you mean,” Sooyoung said.

Jonghyun laughed merrily and gave Seunghyun a high-five.  Seunghyun smiled widely, with satisfaction.  Jonghyun picked up his guitar and strummed it to ‘We Did It’ of Dora the Explorer.

“We did it, we did it, we did it, yay!” and the song continued and that menu just became Sooyoung’s favourite Tea Set from the café.

+++++

They were together again at the café, after a week of hectic schedule.  Senior year was crazy.  They had a lot of projects and stuffs.  Those things needed to be done for them to graduate next semester.  Gyuri sailed the sea for a week, while Seunghyun visited the hospital a few times.  Sooyoung went to the zoo every so often and Jonghyun locked himself in the studio to compose a few songs.  Yoseob went out a lot to do interview and went back to the campus to write reports.  But, the different projects of different majors did not stop them from seeing each other at the café.

“I composed a few songs but thus far, this is my favourite.  I promised it is good,” Jonghyun strummed his guitar.

“The last time you said that, your song entitled ‘Us’ but it was all nonsense about chemical composition and atom arrangement in alloy,” Yoseob said while tapping his finger on the table.

Sooyoung laughed while having his cupcakes and coffee.  Seunghyun smiled and Gyuri maintained her stern navy expression.  Jonghyun looked at Yoseob.

“Well, the title is Passport this time,” said Jonghyun.

Sooyoung laughed.  Yoseob still can’t believe that Sooyoung had gotten along very well with Jonghyun these days.

“I’ll start,” he said and Yoseob resisted the urge to cover his ears

.

Jonghyun strummed and plucked his guitar.  He sang coolly.  The melody was nice but the lyrics were nonsensical again.  How can he name the song Passport when they lyrics were all about Dinosaur living in Mesozoic Era?

“On a piece of land…They lived in clans…But there’s no line…Where they should stand…” he went on and on.

Once he finished his song, Sooyoung gave him the loudest applause.  Seunghyun did a thumb-up and Gyuri just smiled.

“I like that better that the atom arrangement.  I just love how you include reptiles in that,” Sooyoung said.

“I know I’m good,” Jonghyun joked.

“That song conveys very implicit meaning.  I like it,” Seunghyun said and they did their high-five.  Sooyoung nodded to that.

“What meaning?” Yoseob started to feel irritated.

“He said implicit meaning,” Gyuri answered.  Sooyoung nodded.

“You understand them Gyuri?” Yoseob asked.  Gyuri shook her head while taking a sip of her strawberry lemonade.

“But, you must learn to respect people’s work, Yoseob,” she said.  There’s a stern tone in her voice.

That was how it went with Gyuri.  Every time they had an argument, oftentimes Gyuri smiled and didn’t show which party she supported.  She will always give pros and cons, telling them that both teams had their rights and wrongs.

“No use talking to you.  You will never choose side,” said Yoseob.

Gyuri shot him a sceptical look with her eyes.  Yoseob was shocked and with her wearing that uniform, Yoseob thought that it must be hard to deal with soldiers.

“You tend to judge people, Yoseob,” Gyuri said softly.

“I usually choose side when I write my articles,” Yoseob shrugged.

“No.  You made hasty generalization.  Just because I didn’t tell you what I choose doesn’t mean that I never choose side,” Gyuri stated.  The other three silently watched the argument.

“Alright.  Tell me this time.  Do you agree that Jonghyun’s song conveys no meaning?” Yoseob asked.

Jonghyun swallowed while looking at Seunghyun.  His expression was clear, a sense of guilty.  That song was now the topic of debate between Gyuri and Yoseob.  Sooyoung looked at them with timid expression while eating the sweet cupcake with the bitter coffee.

“Which side I choose is my secret.  You know that your vote is your secret, are you not, Yoseob?” Gyuri asked.

Yoseob sighed.  Gyuri was a secretive girl and it was hard to dig out her thoughts on something.  She gave her pros and cons for things but she will never reveal which side she supported.  Not even her expression will show it.

“You win,” Yoseob said.  Jonghyun sighed in relief, grateful that he did not have to hear his friends fought because of his song.

“It is not so much about winning, Yoseob.  It is about information.  When you heard people’s opinion, it is subjected to biasness and a lot of things go wrong that way.  The best way is to find the meaning of the song by yourself,” Gyuri said.

“How?” Yoseob asked, ready with his pen and notebook.

“Jonghyun, would you care explain that implicit meaning to us?” asked Gyuri.  Jonghyun looked at Sooyoung and she shrugged.

“As you said, find it out yourself,” Jonghyun said and passed his mug of sugarless coffee and his plate of creamless cupcakes.

Gyuri frowned and looked at Yoseob.  Yoseob rolled his eyes and gave her a told-ya! look.  But, this time Gyuri took that cupcake and chewed it and drank the coffee. She closed her eyes and swallowed that.

“That makes so much sense now.  I understand everything,” Gyuri said.  But her expression was unreadable that Yoseob was unable to tell whether she was being sarcastic or being honest and Jonghyun went again with Dora’s ‘We Did It’.

+++++

That day they were no longer undergraduates.  All of them received their scrolls and threw their mortar-boards.  They were supposed to be with their families, but they postponed it to a night schedule, because that evening was their final time together.

Not like other days filled with bickers and laughs, that day it was solemn and quiet.  On the table was their scrolls and each of them stared at it.  That spot at the left corner of the café was occupied with 5 quiet persons.

“Jonghyun, say something.  You always say something,” Seunghyun pushed the responsibility to Jonghyun.

The problem was, Jonghyun was emotional.  They were all emotional.  Say a word and you will cry, and that was the last thing they wanted to happen.

“So…this is it?” said Jonghyun, knowing immediately that he made wrong choice of words.

“No,” Yoseob said.

“We can see each other again,” Sooyoung said.

“Not when we are busy working,” Gyuri stated matter-of-factly.

At last, Seunghyun broke the silence by calling for a waitress.  The waitress came.  Without asking the other members of the table, Seunghyun called for Tea Set 1, sugarless coffee and creamless cupcakes for five.  When the waitress left, they were in silence again.

“Thank you,” Jonghyun said.

“No problem,” Seunghyun replied.

Gyuri played with her beret.  That was the first time they saw Gyuri as Gyuri, not a sturdy-stern cadet.  Sooyoung bit her lower lip and played with her finger.  Yoseob took out his notebook and wrote something.  Then, he passed the message to all of them.

‘If you’re not going to speak, we can always write.’  That managed to crack them up.

“How silly we are!” said Sooyoung while wiping her tears of happiness and sadness.  It came out after she laughed, but she admitted the tears were collected since the moment of silence.

They talked again about Seunghyun’s movies.  They talked about how Gyuri’s was always so expressionless.  They talked how Sooyoung could handle a cobra.  They talked about Jonghyun’s songs and how Yoseob still can’t get the meaning behind it.  Even when the food was served, they ignored it and kept talking.

“Let’s make a promise,” said Gyuri.

“A weird one?” asked Jonghyun.

“We won’t contact each other again no matter what happen.  After seven years, we will meet here again, on this exact date,” Seunghyun said.

“Why seven?  Why don’t make it five or ten?” Yoseob asked.

“Dude, because we are weird,” Sooyoung said.

With that, the promise was carved in their hearts.  They ate the cupcakes and they drank the coffee and Yoseob still wondered how Seunghyun managed to make everybody understand.  At last, he was the only one not eating.  But, as they made their way out of the café, one by one, Yoseob touched the cupcake.  When he was the only one left on the table, he took the cupcake and chewed it and drank the sugarless coffee and that was when he realized it.  That was the day when Song of Sparrow, Life of Pi and Life in a Day made sense.  That was the day when Life, Us and Passport made sense.

+++++

It was already five in the evening and Yoseob faithfully waited in the café.  There was hope that they will come.  His heart kept telling him that. His friends won’t forget this day.  They won’t.

“Are you alone?” he quickly recognized the voice and turned to his back.

It was Seunghyun, in an adult version.  He smiled like before, but his sharp dagger eyes showed that he had been through a lot of things.  Yoseob was a journalist and he was highly resourceful.  Seven years not contacting each other didn’t mean that he did not know what happened to his friends.

He knew Seunghyun was a doctor and that guy with the look of a killer joined UN for humanity missions.  He knew that Seunghyun went to places where war broke out or where disasters happened.  Some part of his face was scarred and the exposed part of his left hand was decorated by burn marks.  But, the most important thing was his eyes spoke a lot of things people only could ever imagine.

“I thought you forget today, doctor,” Yoseob said while giving him a friendly hug.

“How could I?” said Seunghyun.  They sat down.

“You ordered this?” Seunghyun asked, pointing at the cupcakes and coffee.

“I finally understand the meaning,” said Yoseob.

“Your eyes showed a lot of things, Yoseob,” said Seunghyun.

“So, do yours,” replied Yoseob.

Seven years was not a short period.  Both of them travelled all over the world, with different responsibility, to get the taste of life.  Both of them had seen a lot.

“Do you think they forget?” Seunghyun asked.

“No,” here came a voice so familiar to them.

Yoseob and Seunghyun were happy to see Sooyoung.  That girl had the same look as them, a look that showed the world they had learned a lot.  Her hands were decorated with what Yoseob thought were the scars of snakes’ bites, tigers’ claws and marks that he wished he did not know.  The last time Yoseob heard about her was when she was on a mission to save tigers from black market trading.

“You guys look so different,” she said cheerfully.

“So do you,” said Seunghyun.

“I guess we experienced a lot, huh?” Sooyoung said.  Both the man nodded.

Then, they heard the sound of boots clattered the floor of the café.  They did not need to take a look to know who was coming.  It must be Park Gyuri.

“Evening, friends.  Permission to sit?” Gyuri smiled and greeted them but they looked at her without a blink.  To be the country’s first line of defence was always her ambition, but they didn’t expect her to be all tough and strong like a guy.

“Sounds seaman-ish,” said Sooyoung.  Gyuri laughed.

“Just done with duty at our border and forced a boy to fly me here,” she said.

“Captain, yes, Captain,” Yoseob said, imitating how a navy would talk to officers with higher rank.  Gyuri laughed.

“I miss the coffee and cupcakes,” said Gyuri and her hand reached for a cupcake, but she was stopped by Sooyoung.

“Gyuri, we should wait for Jonghyun,” she said.  Gyuri laughed.

“Alright, this small guy.  You think he will come?” Seunghyun asked with a big grin.

“I don’t know.  Two days ago he flew to Japan for his cancer-charity concert,” Yoseob informed them.

“Yeah…I know that.  I mean…who doesn’t know him.  Popular singer with weird songs.  No title matches his lyrics but people can understand him without having to drink sugarless coffee like us.  That guy conquers the world with his songs and charity concerts.  He can be in Korea and Japan at the same day,” said Sooyoung.

“And he broke his promise.  We said that we should not contact each other until today but he tried to make contacts through songs,” Gyuri said.

“His latest contact was to me.  That song he released a few months ago with the title Arrogant and the lyrics were all about food being stuffed into one stomach,” Sooyoung rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, and the song was a hit,” Gyuri said.

“That guy is funny, writing songs about all of us in a weird way,” Seunghyun said.

Just then, they heard the door of the café opened and guitar strummed and nice melody and weird lyrics.  They laughed altogether.

“Speaking of the devil,” said Yoseob.

“Whaddup!” Jonghyun greeted them.

“Yo!” Gyuri replied him.

In contrast to the four of them, Jonghyun looked so bright.  He dressed up like he was ten years ago, a pair of baggy jeans, a checkered-shirt and bowler hat on his head.  He looked matured and his eyes tell something they don’t understand.  But, in all, he was the ball of energy for them.  They quickly realized that all this years he was making songs for each of them, it was to brightened them up.

“There’s something about you, Jonghyun,” said Sooyoung.

“Want to hear my new song?  The name is Guitar,” he said and he went on with lyrics about cupcake this and cupcake that.

One thing that made them same that day was they were able to understand those lyrics.  It was about Jonghyun himself.  They smiled.  They know life is meaningful not when you tried to make something sweet out of bitterness or make something bitter out of sweetness, but when you make the bitterness and sweetness complement to each other.

__________

heaDeVil^23

Mood: Hungry