The Coffee Shop (Scoups)

𝟹𝟾 - ᴡʜᴏ ɪs sʜᴇ?

I stare at Mingyu is bit of a shock, not sure if I heard him correctly. My facial expressions perhaps must have been bit too expressive because Mingyu smiled in a regretful way, and said, "I know what you are thinking. I'm a servant's son. But my mom is not a servant. Housekeeper's are real people too."

I blink a few times, finding this new aggression from Mingyu uncomfortable. 

"I don't think of your mom as a servant," I say softly, "I was just. . .not expecting that. We've been friends for six months and you've never mentioned what your parents do so I am just a bit surprised."

Mingyu only clenches his jaw in reply. 

"And Seungcheol never said anything to me so I guess that's why I'm a bit more surprised," I add. 

Unclenching his jaw, Mingyu says, "My mom wasn't a full time housekeeper. She worked a couple of hours everyday and his house. She wasn't even his housekeeper. He had different ones. My mom worked for Mrs. Choi mostly. We know each other because there were many times where my dad was in China and my mom had to work late so me and my sister used to go to their house and stay there after school until my mom got off work."

"At first we used to play, since we were seven after all. But one day his dad came home midday and saw me with him. I guess he must have told his son to keep a safe distance since I am low class and we had limited contact after that. I was nine."

I can't say I was too shocked to hear this but still don't understand how some people can be this cruel. Especially to a young child. Social class should never be a division determiner for our society. If anything, we should be judged based on our intellectual ability and our successes achievements. Rather we still live in a world where matters such as skin color, gender, social class and financial stability is how we differentiate people from one another. 

"If you were seven when your mom started then. . ." I wonder. 

"She worked for ten years," Mingyu confirmed. 

That means that Seungcheol should definitely know who Mingyu is. It would make sense for him to forget and move on if the last time they saw each was when they were nine, but a gut feelings inside of me says that Seungcheol knows. 

"My mom also worked at other people's houses," Mingyu said, "She worked for Jaehyun and Jooheon's houses as well. But not as long as she worked for Seungcheol's house."

"So. . .that means that. . .?"

"Jaehyun and Jooheon know me from before too," Mingyu finished my thoughts, "Yes. They do. But Jaehyun has always been nice to and doesn't care about my background. That's why we are friends. He's one of the nicer ones from the bunch."

The way Mingyu says 'nicer ones from the bunch' makes me wonder how much Mingyu really knows. The way he speaks, his tone and his words, has me getting a feeling that Mingyu has been around long enough to know some really deep things about that entire group. 

"But why don't you like Seungcheol? I understand it must be a bit weird and awkward but if you never got the chance to get close with him. . .then why?" I can't just help but point out. 

"I don't like him. . .because. . .because of things I can't explain," Mingyu looks away, "Look, I don't like Seungcheol but I like you. You're one of my closest friends here and that's why I am even trusting you with this. I don't want for him to come in between our friendship and I rather we don't just talk about him more than necessary. I don't want things to be awkward between us as well."

Unfortunately, I have a keen tendency to push around until I get the answers I want, a habit I don't know if I picked it up from Soyeon or if it is a trait my birth parents passed on to me, but once the pit of curiosity is opened within me, I just cannot seem to let it burn down without feeding it.