Coffee Girl

Parallel lines

"Mom, dad, I'm home"  Sora's casual English tone smoothly switched to a softer enunciation of her native languge- Korean. Immigrated to a surburban neighborhood with little representation of Asian community, discrimination was not really a huge problem for the Yang family, as their parents were sagacious university professors who knew better not to mingle with some 'aggresively patriotic American individuals'. Hence, Sora was raised fairly well with a deep appreciation for her Korean heritage and an embedded pride for her native country's cuisine (American public school's lunch did not bring her fond memories)

"Sora, did you get wet? Your body is not well right now you know! What if you get a cold and all that huh!"  Mrs. Yang, a kind-hearted soul with love languages consisted of making good food and words of affirmation (nagging in Sora's firm opinion), quickly scurried to check on her daughter, whose clothes was barely damp due to her clumsy nature of stumbling on rain puddles

"It's not that bad Mom, I'm just a bit clumsy and I almost fell on some puddles" Sora whined softly as she closed her umbrella, walking to the living room with damp socks on where her dad casually read some Camus's work. She sat down near the fireplace, comfortably curling up into a ball and placing her chin on her knees

"Dad, when will I have to go again?" She said quietly to her father, who instantly tore his gaze from the book's content and looked at her, eyebrows raised.

"Sol, just enjoy school and hanging out with your friends okay? You don't have to be worried about that. What matter now are good GPAs, good extracurriculars and that you have fun with your little band with Max okay?" He affirmed his daughter calmly, yet Sol only nodded in return, she genuinely expected a different answer from her father. It was still the same.

She decided to move on from that topic and exchanged casual conversations with her parents about her silly little things at school instead. Making jokes and slight jabs at her dad's clumsy antics she inherited from made the Yang's household a bit livelier than the gloomy weather of Friday's evening. After the mandatory dish washing ritual and scrubbing herself clean, Sora returned to her bedroom to fulfill her student's responsiblity. Math homework took her mind away from Chrissy's offer to play solo at Stellare a bit as she industriously tried to finish that 10 practice tests of her 'ancient Math teacher'. 

The clock struck ten as Sora leaned against the chair, sighing loudly for the workload. Her mother had brought a cup of ginger tea an hour ago and a roasted sweet potato as a daily treat of cold winter days. She always entered her room without knocking though, definitely a trick from Asian Parenting 101- checking on her daughter's studying while pampering her with comforting food. Sora hugged Albert, her emotional support teddy bear while she complained about schoolwork.

"Like why does Math require so much work? Albert, we have Math test on Monday and I'm here on a Friday, struggling on my 5th practice test. Sometimes I just want to be like those brain dead kiddos on Euphoria who inhaled drugs like gamers with energy drinks but I don't want to starve and fight pigeons for a piece of bread on the streets you know. Like I have a strange carnal fear of pigeons like what if one day a huge flock of pigeons just decide to fly into me, and scratch my face with their claws until my face is deformed into Shrek. Sorry Albert I mean that was kinda vulgar but i I honestly feel like pigeons are so unpredictable and scary to be honest." 

She mindlessly ranted to Albert in a carefree tone as she took a sip of her mother's ginger tea to warm herself from the cold air of rainy days along with the warmth of the cozy lavender sweater she crocheted. 

 While warmth engulfed Sora and comforted her as if she was its favourite child, Max prefered the coldness of raindrops trailing down to his face, numbing him from all the sickening turmoils inside his stomach.