**Chaeng knew something’s not right just by the way Mina stared at the girl that Ryujin claimed as Mina’s best friend. And it was even confirmed when Ryujin darted to her sister as soon as the two visitors exited the door.**
**Without thinking, Chaeng walked towards the counter when Mina came back from the kitchen. There’s no point in sitting at her table and wonder what happened between the three.**
**Mina’s back was facing the cash register, and when she turned, Chaeng was standing there with a cup in her hand.**
Chaeng: Hmm… can I get a refill?
**Her smile was short and hesitant. And Mina could sense that she’s there not because she wants a refill for her coffee… but something else.**
**Mina smiled before she sauntered towards Chaeng.**
Mina: Why not?
**Then she grabbed the cup in her hand. But when she figured out that it’s still half full, she abruptly raised her head and stared at Chaeng.**
Chaeng: Hmm… you want to walk? I… I found a book store in town when I first came here. We can find something for you to read before you sleep or we can just sit there and read something for a while. I believe they also offer coffee and tea. That is if it’s okay with you to drink someone else’s coffee.
**She grinned, kind of proud of how smart her reference is.**
Mina: You really know how to pick up the lines, huh?
Chaeng: Well, it just so happened that I know how to play with words.
**Mina shook her head and smiled. As if forgetting everything that happened a while ago. There’s something in this girl that makes her forget all the bad things happening around her, even the deepest sadness and pain inside. She can make all those things disappear with just one smile.**
Mina: Well…
**She pretended that she’s thinking deeply. That she’s in between saying yes and no to Chaeng’s offer to walk in town.**
Chaeng: Well?
Mina: All right. Let me abandon my coffee shop just to sit in someone else’s café.
**Chaeng laughed, and it almost rang at the entire café. Some of the patrons turned their heads towards them, but as always, she doesn’t care.**
Chaeng: I love that…
*****
**Chaeng parked two blocks away from the bookstore since there’s no other parking lot near it. The sun is a bit hotter than the usual weather in town, which worries her if Mina is okay to walk under it.**
Chaeng: It’s quite hot today, eh?
**Mina’s walking beside her kind of feeling dizzy because of the heat of the sun. She’s not used to it since she’s confined in her café most of the time.**
Mina: Hmm… maybe?
**She whispered, kind of getting weaker as they spend more time walking on the pavement.**
Mina: I don’t usually walk here. I mean, the only time I go here is whenever I need to buy something.
Chaeng: Oh… so you’re also a tourist in your town.
Mina: Kind of. Well, I rarely have business here, and I’d rather stay in my place than go for a walk in each shop.
**That wasn’t the case when Jeong was still alive. Jeong loves the town, and she always drags Mina to visit some shops there even though they don’t have anything to buy.**
Chaeng: Hmm… I rarely walk in the city, too. I mean… just like you, I don’t go out of my apartment unless I run out of salt. You know.
**Mina giggled. She wonders how it is to be a writer. If she has an imagination like her, sure enough living in the apartment twenty-four-seven would be heaven for her.**
Mina: You mean, you rarely go out? You just stay in your room like… forever?
**Chaeng couldn’t help but laugh at it. She knows most of the people who knew her kind of think she’s weird or something. But for her, the way she runs her everyday life isn’t as pathetic as other people think about it.**
Chaeng: Well, if there’s a place that I love the most, it’s the four corners of my room. I can be anything and anyone I want. You know, through the stories I write.
Mina: I wish I have the imagination you have.
Chaeng: And I wish I could have a palate like yours so I won’t need to visit coffee shops every now and then.
**Then she turned her head towards her and smiled. Why does it feel so good to be near her? She thought.**
Chaeng: Anyway, here we are. Sorry if I made you walk that long.
**Mina stopped for a second and stared at the board before the door. Whoever wrote on that board has an amazing talent in arts. The letters are evenly written like it was photoshoped.**
Mina: It’s fine… my mom always tells me that I need it.
**Then they entered the bookstore. It isn’t that big. The space between the shelves is a bit narrow. Like it couldn’t accommodate two persons standing back-to-back. Or maybe it can, but it means almost touching each other’s back.**
**The entire place is divided into portions. Half of it is bookshelves, which where on the left side, and the other half is comprised of the counter, where a young girl is standing at the cash register, and some tables and chairs that everyone can use while reading the books they chose from the shelves.**
**Mina is fascinated with the earth color they used. The vintage look is just perfect for both the books and coffee they sell at this place.**
Mina: Why does it feel like they transported me in the past?
Chaeng: You mean, you haven’t been here?
**They walked side by side towards the counter where a girl was already smiling at them endlessly.**
Lia: Good morning! Anything you want?
**Both of them smiled at the girl and stared at the menu behind her.**
Mina: Hmm… not at this part of the town.
**Unfortunately, she and Jeong don’t read books that much. The only books they used to cling in were those recipe books they purchased at the commercial bookstores.
Chaeng: Good thing I brought you here at least you had discovered something good in your own town.
**Chaeyoung teased. It feels good that the mood is now starting to lighten up, unlike several minutes ago where they only have few words to say while driving.**
Mina: Hey!
Chaeng: Just kidding. So… what do you like?
Mina: I guess I’ll have the Peppermint Frappuccino.
**Then she leaned closer to Chaeng where Chaeng felt her breath tickling the back of her ear.**
Mina: This is what I hate about local coffee shops. The names are too long and some of them I couldn’t even pronounce.
**Chaeng snickered. I didn’t know she’s also funny. She thought.**
Chaeng: Kind of have the same dilemma.
**Then Chaeng gave the girl their orders—one peppermint for Mina, and white chocolate frappe for her.**
Mina: Uhm… so we can read everything here? I mean, no restrictions?
**The young lady behind the counter gave her a sincere smile before she answered.**
Lia: Yes ma’am. Everything. No restrictions.
Mina: Oh… that’s nice. But… are you also selling these books?
Lia: We do. We have stocks of each book. So, if you think you want to keep the book with you, we can let you buy it.
**Mina turned to Chaeng nodding. She didn’t know there’s a generous bookstore in their town, and thanks to this girl beside her, she found out about it.**
Chaeng: Nice… isn’t it?
**Mina nodded before they left the counter and walked to the left side of the café.**
**Mina has no idea which one to pick. She just hopes that she has the same interest as Ryujin, who loves reading so much and knows which one is worth reading. Then something caught her attention after scanning the whole shelf for several minutes. Another book from the girl who makes her feel that everything is all right.**
**C.Y. SON as the name embossed at the side of it. She pulled it to check the title “A Different Normal”. How can a normal be different? She thought. Then she flipped it to read the synopsis.**
Chaeng: You found something interesting?
**She muttered as she walks towards Mina who’s already holding a book in her hand. She found something interesting, too and she wanted to show it to her.**
**Mina didn’t bother to look at her. She just nodded and then continued to read the back cover.**
Chaeng: Oh! I didn’t know they also have my books here.
**That was the only time Mina tilted her head to look at her.**
Mina: You… you didn’t know?
Chaeng: Yeah… I mean, the first time I came here I didn’t even bother to ask the girl at the counter if they have my books. It’s not my job to promote my books, you know. Besides, I know my work is a bit selective.
**Then she shrugged. She knows her stories are not something a parent would want their children to get exposed with.**
Chaeng: Anyway, want to sit?
**Mina nodded and they walked towards the table near the wall and facing the entire café.**
Mina: When did you… you know… figured out that you have this huge imagination? And that you could actually write it in a way that will capture someone’s attention?
**Chaeng leaned at her seat and tried to dig her memory for the first story she had written.**
Mina: Is it something that you dreamed of?
Chaeng: Not really. I didn’t see it coming. All I know is I just want to write these pictures that keep on flashing in my head. And… I didn’t even pay much attention when I won the short story contest I joined in during my junior high.
Mina: Seriously? You didn’t plan to be a writer even once?
Chaeng: Nah. I want to be a painter or something that involves doodling and colors. That’s what I really wanted a long time ago. Unfortunately, my mom didn’t approve of it. She wants me to be someone other than a painter. She’s not against them, I guess my mom was just worried about being financially, you know, stable.
Mina: But I think you’re still painting.
**Chaeng smiled and nodded. It’s true, she’s still painting, but not with paints and canvass, rather with words that depict what’s in her mind.**
Chaeng: You got it. That’s the best thing I could do… to still paint with words. And you have no idea how many stories that keep on popping in my head.
Mina: You know, I’m not sure where I’ve read it, but it says “If you fall in love with a writer, you can never die.”
**Are you already there? Chaeng wants to ask. Are they on that part already—falling in love? Maybe they’re still far from it, but she knows that she likes her so much. That it’s the most vivid thing in front of her right now.**
Chaeng: Isn’t it the chef or cook that keeps us alive ‘cause they always make sure that our stomachs are full?
**She smirked. She knows what Mina wants to say, but playing with her through words is just so entertaining. Maybe because she’s just so… comfortable with her now.**
Mina: You’re smarter than I thought. You always have something to say.
Chaeng: Well, words are the only thing I can brag to everyone.
Mina: Oh, not the looks?
Chaeng: You think I’m cute?
**She’s still wearing the smirk she let out when she talked about the “chef thing” a minute ago.**
**Mina squinted at her and suppressed her smile. Is she trying to flirt with me now?**
Mina: Hmm… a bit.
Chaeng: A bit? What am I? A cake? And that I’m in the middle of being bland and sweet?
**Mina laughed. She could see from Chaeng’s reaction how surprised she was with what she said. But she couldn’t see that she’s hurt by her answer.**
Mina: What do you want to hear from me? That “yeah, you’re cute that’s why I’m sitting here with you with books in front of us?”
Chaeng: What do I want to hear from you? That you like me, too. ‘Cause I really do.
**She said calmly as if she’d rehearsed it so many times that being tensed no longer exist in her vocabulary.**
**Mina didn’t mean to pause for a while, and that awhile seemed to be a lifetime for Chaeng. She doesn’t know if that was something inappropriate to say at this moment or what.**
**This conversation is not what Chaeng planned before she stood up at her table and walked towards her. But it looks like she had totally forgotten what happened to Mina earlier, and so did Mina.**
Mina: I don’t think words are needed to describe how much I like you. With everything that happened to us the other day, I guess that already says everything.
**Chaeng nodded and felt a bit stupid. Mina’s right. Whatever happened between them at her hotel room already confirmed everything—that they both feel the same. But hearing it kind of makes a difference. Like asking someone the level of sugar they want for their coffee. You know that coffee needs sweet, but confirming from someone if they want it is better than assuming that they need it.**
Chaeng: Maybe… maybe I just don’t want to assume that a butterfly loves a flower because of its nectar. What if the butterfly keeps on coming back because he loves the flower and not because he has something to get from it? Words are important to me, and you know that.
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