He Takes Me To The Place

The entire journey is tedious and no one wants to talk. I take a chance to open the car window and all the fresh air hits on my face. This place opens my heart to like them, this compact town with a lot of enormous trees and a one-sided roadway.

"You like this place." He mutters. 

I nod as I glance at him and he grins without leaving his eyes on the road. 

"This place is calling me. I don't know why," 

"Maybe because you've been here or you were born here." He replies without looking at me. 

"How do you say that? As far as I know, my twin brother and I were born in Korea." I explain, striving to calm down.

"I'm just guesting and enlightening you since you mentioned that this place is familiar to you. It's either you've been here or you were born here. You're not born here so it means you've been here when you were younger but you didn't remember." He parks his car in front of the coffee shop called "Rafflesia Café". 

"Shall we go? We could get some lunch here before I stroll you around the city." I nod. 

Abruptly, we walk inside the shop and sit beside the glass wall. 

"What do you prefer to eat? My treat." He states and gives me a quick wink. 

"No. I can pay off my meal so you don't have to waste your money on me." I reply.

"I'm not accepting a 'no' answer, so I insist. Tell me, what do you want." I sigh. 

"You shouldn't have Youngjae. Seriously, I can pay off my meal, and besides, we just met like an hour ago." I explain.

I step to the counter, ready to order my food, but he grabs my wrist and stops me from walking.

"Please, I know we just met but I want this meeting to be memorable. Just let me do this." I furrow my eyebrows and snatch my wrist to him and cross my arms.

"If you don't want me to pay for your food, consider you borrow some money and you can repay me back by offering me food. Does it sound a friendly agreement?" He asks and shows me his puppy look.

My mouth releases a heavy sigh and gives up. There's no way I could win this argument.

He is an adamant one. 

"Fine, but next time, it's my turn." 

I shake my head when seeing his lovely expression, excitement gestures. We both step to the counter and tell our order to the waitress.

"One large macchiato please and a chicken alfredo and one large chai latte and a lasagna," I utter.

"Any dessert sir?" My brow raises when she's using her flirty voice. 

I couldn't deny, Youngjae is a fine-looking good man. Any girls swirl their heads to glance at him.

"Blueberry cheesecake and a muffin, " I mutter sternly. The waitress astonishes when my eyes frown. She blinks multiple times and cleared he'd throat. 

"T-that would be $29.99." She replies without glancing at me. 

I leave him behind the counter and sit on the chair. My elbow touches the table as my cheek leans to my inner palm while watching the place. This place is stunning and peaceful unlike in Korea. All people in Korea are very lively both morning and evening. They all devour from the pleasures they receive at night but here, it's more hush. 

"Here's your order ma'am." A voice in front of me catches my attention. I look up and see Youngjae holding our food.

"Funny, " I say and taking my food out of his hands

"So tell me about yourself Minsoo." He spoke out of the blue.

My eyes narrow when he wants to know about him. It's odd. Why is he interested in me? However, I shrug and eradicate the suspicious thoughts. He just wants friendship. Nothing more, nothing less.

"It's nothing much to learn about me," I reply. 

"Really? I perceive there's more intriguing about you." He states while leaning his chin on his inner palm. 

"Well, what would I say, I live in Korea my entire life and moved here in the US to accompany my grandmother since she's ancient and my parents need to take care of her and also her business. My family has a normal life but a happy one. My brother Jungmin is my twin and has an ultimate crush on Jinwoo. See? Nothing special about me." He hums and continues eating his food.

After eating, we go inside his car and take me on the picnic grounds to hang out more and to clear my mind. My head leans to the window and watch the beautiful town.

Suddenly, my eyes catch some familiar faces on the sidewalk. "Is that my brother?" I whisper to myself. 

My eyes wander to search Taehyung but it's a bad idea. I feel a sting inside me when he's with someone else. Why am I feel hurt? I thought to myself as my fist clutching my chest to ease the pain. The car stops beside the road, I turn over and Youngjae's brown eyes glance at me with a hint of worry inside his eyes.  

"Minsoo, are you okay? Why are you crying?" He asks me. 

My hand lifts up to touch my cheeks. There's liquid rushing through my cheeks. I look away to avoid his eye contact and wipe all my tears. Heaving a deep, heavy sigh. 

"I…I'm fine. Just drive, don't worry about me." I say. 

I heed a sigh coming from him and says, "If it makes you feel better, I'll drive and I won't force you to tell me what's wrong." I respond with a nod, looking away with him. He starts driving. 

After an hour of travel, my hand clutches the car handle and widely opens the door.  My eyes glimmer when seeing the beautiful garden in front of me.