cheers

He nodded at her and shrugged a bit “Yeah reading is more harder for me since I didn’t really learn it that well I just know how to speak it fluently.” He grabbed his drink after it was done and walked with her to take a seat at an open table by the window and he sat down, grabbing his phone and setting it on vibrate just to not disturb the conversation. “Mhm, my mom has been calling me constantly since my arrival here and has told me to study and study my Korean… she knows I’m not good with some of the grammar when writing it or reading in Korean much, so I’m trying my hardest so I can be on my own here!” He chuckled and took a sip of his drink. “Well let me just say that it is the best coffee shop I’ve tried, back in New York I thought my favorite coffee shop had the best coffee, but I’m not too completely sure now,” he held on to his drink to keep his hands warm. “I’m actually surprised that it’s kinda the same weather like in New York, I mean I love the cold, that’s why.”

She followed him to take a seat at a table by the window, her eyes wandering as she held on to the cup tightly to keep her fingers warm. She blew slightly on the drink to cool it down a bit to not burn herself once she took a sip of her cappuccino, she then spoke with a slight smile edged on her lips. “It must be nice to have a mother that makes sure that you are doing good.” Her smile grew a bit as he confessed that he might agree with her on this being the best coffee shop. Taking another sip she then nodded, giving him a playful wink. “I told you so, they serve good coffee! —And really? What did you expect? To be honest I am not a fan of the cold, I like warm things..so summer is more of my season!” She said with a hum as she turned the cup around in her hand, enjoying the warmth it provided her.

Daniel smiled. “She told some of my relatives who live here in Seoul to look after me, and so, ah I want to reassure here I’ll be fine, but eh I’m still a little not sure about that so...” He laughed and nodded at her statement of how they serve good coffee. “I’m sorta addicted to coffee really, that is all I would drink in New York on my way to work, so much coffee shops there.” He shrugged a bit. “Well I knew of the weather conditions here since my dad gave me a heads up, but like it’s crazy cold and crazy with the weather,” he grinned and sipped his drink. “Heard winter over here is crazy too but I feel prepared!” He looked at her with his mouth slightly open. “Sometimes I can’t stand the heat, for real, I don’t like it. I do like summer though, just wish it wouldn’t get hell hot sometimes, then I feel like walking around barefooted and with no shirt, because going around walking naked is not something anyone wants to see.... and I’m a civilized human” Daniel laughed shaking his head at his dumb statement.

Stirring his macchiato with his straw, Seunghoon hummed in thought and quietly while he allowed himself to listen to his friend speak. A soft chuckle of agreement left him along with a nod, “Yes, and sometimes if I feel like the person is trustworthy, I tell them my life story,” He joked, “Which would take months to tell– kidding.” Blinking, the boy tilted his head in slight worry, “Are you okay? Are you having heat flashes–?” Bringing the coffee to his lips he took another sip and a long one as he tried to find the words to describe his experience of bartending. For Seunghoon, it was a walk in the park, but there were nights where he had enough of being around people in general. “Aha, lets say that with bar tending… You have to have a LOOOOOT of patience,” He smiled satisfied with his answer, “As for being a professor, it’s an alright job. At first, it was rocky since no one respected me. I used to be bullied before.”

Daniel laughed at his joke and nodded. “Understandable, imagine telling your life story to some stranger that could turn out to be someone evil and rob you or something... I don’t know.” He downed the rest of his drink and looked up at him smiling. “Nah, I’m all good, just couldn’t breathe with my jacket zipped all the way up.” Daniel explained playing around with his now empty drink and nodded as Seunghoon spoke. “Mm, I bet, there’s many people out there that do not have patience, and to deal with rude customers... ah it must be draining ,” Daniel sighed as he had had an almost similar experience, but he had worked as a waiter back in New York to earn money and such, so he knew the occasional inpatient and rude customer wanting their way. “Oh I’m sorry, students take advantage of so much things, I know I used to back in college, at times, but I knew never to take advantage of a teacher, that’s just not right. Sorry for that, really, but I’m glad it’s all going good for you now!”

“You know, I get that quite a lot,” He let out a soft laugh and a nod, “That I’m mysterious. I don’t know how since I keep my private life private, you know? Yeah, I do have a few people who know everything about me, but that’s cos I’ve known them for a long time.” Seunghoon brought up his cool drink and took a long sip with a content sigh from the sweet and slight bitter taste of his chosen drink. Soon, the boy livened up thanks to the espresso shots he decided to put in, “Well, I’m a professor. Part time. And I used to work here at this cafe and used to be a bartender too.” He chuckled and shrugged, “Give me a bit of time to figure out a few questions to ask you, yeah?”

“I see I see, I’m not much of an open book myself since I like to keep to myself and go on like that, but like you there’s maybe 3 or 4, including my family, who really know me completely”. He shivered slightly and unzipped his jacket a bit to let him breathe. “I always thought being a bartender would be such a fun job! Back when I was studying in community college, there was a class that taught bartender stuff and such, but I never did get the chance to...” He grabbed his drink and sipped some setting it back on the table and nodding at him with a bright smile. “Ah no worries, take your time, and only if you want to,” he laughed “How do you like being a professor?”

“—Ah, I see, although I think you speak Korean well, but maybe reading is a tad harder?” She nodded at her own statement, understanding it must be hard to learn a new language at such an old age, it’s easier when you’re younger. “Well that is good! Hopefully you won’t get lost after this, maybe you should practice your Korean too? So you will be able to walk around by yourself I mean.” She said with a hint of a playful smile as she waited for her cappuccino to arrive. Turning her gaze back to him after she was handed her drink, she gave him a short nod. “I’ve been here before, I usually buy my cappuccino here before I get to work, since it’s pretty close to where I work. It’s the best coffee shop in my opinion, hopefully you’ll think the same!” She let out a soft chuckle as she searched for an empty seat in the crowded shop.

He nodded at her and shrugged a bit “Yeah reading is more harder for me since I didn’t really learn it that well I just know how to speak it fluently.” He grabbed his drink after it was done and walked with her to take a seat at an open table by the window and he sat down, grabbing his phone and setting it on vibrate just to not disturb the conversation. “Mhm, my mom has been calling me constantly since my arrival here and has told me to study and study my Korean... she knows I’m not good with some of the grammar when writing it or reading in Korean much, so I’m trying my hardest so I can be on my own here!” He chuckled and took a sip of his drink. “Well let me just say that it is the best coffee shop I’ve tried, back in New York I thought my favorite coffee shop had the best coffee, but I’m not too completely sure now,” he held on to his drink to keep his hands warm. “I’m actually surprised that it’s kinda the same weather like in New York, I mean I love the cold, that’s why.”

She raised a brow in amusement. “Yeah, I can see that—” she paused as she walked inside, giving him a slight bow in gratitude as he held the door open for her. “—And sure, my friends would probably love that story, the foreigner lost in Seoul –wandering the streets in hope of some company and for someone to show him the way instead of using the modern technology to find his way around. They would definitely love it!” She glanced at him over her shoulder, giving him a taunting grin before turning to stand in one of the lines, waiting to order.

He laughed at her sarcasm and pushed softly. “No, I mean I could use a map, but my Korean isn’t that good, so I’ll get myself even more lost if I use a map I’m not familiar with,” he nodded to himself. “But I found someone who knows the place better and is, hopefully, willing to help me out and figure it out, even a little bit.” He waited as she ordered and went after her, giving his order and standing to the side as he waited and let the other person behind him put their order in. “You ever been to this cafe, or is it your first time here, like me, obviously??”

ʜᴏᴡ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇғʀɪᴇɴᴅ ᴀɴ ʀᴘᴇʀ: a guide

—— i guarantee that if you just come to my inbox in all caps and scream at me about something random, we will be best friends in .00984 seconds flat. 

She let out a soft chuckle while shaking her head a bit. “Yah, if you’re inviting someone to go grab some coffee, you better plan where you’re supposed to go! Or are you guys always like this? Just impulsively ask someone to join them and then don’t know where to go? Aish–” she gave him a playful nudge before pointing to a coffee shop nearby. “I let it slide this time —and there is a coffee shop right over there, should we give it a try?”

He nodded. “Honestly, sometimes I tend to do that,” he shook his head at himself and shrugged. “But I was hoping to just keep walking until I saw a coffee shop somewhere.” As they approached the shop, Daniel opened the door for her and walked in after she had. “I don’t know, it’ll make a good story to tell later on about how you’ve met a foreigner who wandered around until he found where he wanted to go,” he laughed..

She hooked her arm around his and started to walk, pulling her with him. “It’s were I work. It’s called Bloom Cafe.” There was a grin of her face, she was always happy to meet new friends. “I’m pretty new to Korea too. Nice to meet you Daniel, my name is Christina, but you can just call me Chris.”

She glanced at him through the corner of her eye, observing him as he spoke. “Daniel hm? That alone tells me you are not from around here..I bet you’re from the US or something, am I right?” A small smile of amusement played on her lips as she continued to walk forward. “Do you even know where we’re going and what coffee shop we’re going to?”

He chuckled and nodded. “You’re right, I’m actually from New York, and I just moved to Korea, for the first time ever I guess I can say.” Daniel slowed down a bit as she mentioned whether he knew where he was going, and turned slightly to look at her. Daniel laughed a bit and fixed up his hair. He shook his head, “Uh no, I don’t, i was hopping you would have know a place or where we were at,” he continue to laugh.

“Well if you come up with any questions, I’ll be more than happy to answer them,” He hummed and lolled his head as his gaze fell on the baristas behind the counter as they prepared their drinks, “Although, I don’t know absolutely everything. I’m still a student.” He nodded and turned his head to look at the male next to him and he smiled in agreement. Reaching up for his drink as soon as they called out his order, he handed the other their own drink while speaking, “It’s not nonsense if it’s true. It’s difficult to explain to others unless they’ve seen it before with their own eyes and experienced it.” Seunghoon took a sip from his drink and walked to an empty table for two against the wall. Hearing Daniel’s question, he nearly choked on his drink and shook his head, “Ah, no, uh, you’ll find out sooner or later – kinda hard to explain.” Or believe.

As he listened to the other and thanked him for handing him his drink, he nodded in understanding as he talked about what he studied and others. “Well as long as it’s not kept a secret for much long,” Daniel chuckled a bit and shrugged. “It’s a bit mysterious,” he laughed and shook his head. “But it’s only up to you to tell me, so when the time comes”. He pushed his drink away from him a little bit and sat more comfortably on his chair. “What else do you do asides from studying?”.he grabbed his drink and took a sip. “If I may know? Oh and feel free to ask me questions also,” he nodded with a smile.

He chuckled and nodded. "Hm, alright, but I'm gonna let you know right now, I got another cake and I'm pretty sure if I eat this one by myself along with the other, I'm going to end up with a stomach ache," he shrugged. "Oh and I did have a very warm welcome, it's a nice place, um I heard about a pool or something like that up on the top floor... or something? Do you know anything about it? I've been busy unpacking that I haven't had time to look around the building or explore the city and stuff...."