In My Way | Day6 YoungK

two - first timers

Dowoon and I had just gotten out of rehearsal. I changed out of my sweaty clothes and into something presentable to go out to eat.

"So whatcha feeling to eat tonight?" Dowoon had taken us to school in his car and was gonna be taking us home too.

I was looking down the Main Street at all the chain restaurants. Nothing really sparked me. "You know what I could really go for?" I told Dowoon. "Noodles."

"Panda Express is right there, you want me to pull up?" He was about to start heading towards it until I stopped him.

"Look, there's an Asian restaurant right there." I read the small sign outside the building. "Authentic Asian Cuisine. It's a mom and pop shop, you wanna try it?"

Dowoon shrugged. "Why not? Let's see if it's authentic as my mom's cooking."

He pulled up into the parking lot of the restaurant. We walked in to find not too many people there. A group of friends sitting in the middle, a family in the back corner, and a few people sitting by themselves. We were welcomed by a young Asian woman who seemed to be in her early twenties.

"Hi! Welcome to Asian Cuisine! For two?" She asked us. Dowoon nodded.

She led us to a small table for the both of us. "Here is our menu, we have all types of Asian food, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, and they're all by category in the menu. Now, would you guys like anything to drink?" She pulled out a notepad and pen from her apron.

Dowoon started first. "I'll take a, uh," he scanned the menu quickly for where the drinks were listed, "a Cherry Coke."

"And I'll take a lemonade," I said with a smile. My mom always taught me to be polite to anyone in food service, because after all, they are handling your food.

The waitress smiled back. "Okay, I'll be back with your drinks soon, and please take time to look at what we have." And she left.

I started looking through the menu for noodles. But now I was really conflicted for which type of noodles, Chinese, Korean or Vietnamese?

My eyes started looking around the place. It was a small dining area, with a window storefront that was decorated with window paint. While the family was in one corner of the dining area, the other corner had an area with a wooden ledge on it, like a higher floor, only a couple inches above the ground.

"Y/N? Hello? Did you get anything of what I just told you?" Dowoon was waving his hand in front of me.

"No, I'm sorry, what was it Dowoon?"

"I asked you if I should try their kimchi."

"Don't you eat that like every day?"

"Well yeah, but- I mean I guess you're right. I'll eat some of this, bulgogi? I've never had any of that before."

Dowoon is Korean, but being raised in the states wasn't the best method to preserve culture. It's not like he tried to run from it though.

"Okay," I said aloud. "I'm gonna eat the Vietnamese noodles." They actually had another name but I couldn't bring myself to try and pronounce and have it end up being wrong.

The waitress came back with a tray in her hands with two drinks, Dowoon's Cherry Coke and my lemonade.

"Are you guys ready to order?" We gave her our order and then we sat in silence.

Dowoon was the one to break it. "I propose a toast," he lifted his drink in the air, "to my best friend on her awesome accomplishment on being one step closer to her dream school."

I lifted my drink in his toast. We clinked our cups together and took a sip from each of our drinks.

"Thanks Dowoon. I really appreciate you doing this. It means a lot." I smiled at him.

"Anything for my best friend." He smiled back.

I started looking around the place again, mainly focused on the ledge in the corner. On the ledge was a stool, and just a stool. Nothing more.

Dowoon was talking but I was stuck in my own thoughts. I kept on staring at that ledge, wondering what it's purpose was.

Then, from the back of the restaurant where I can only guess the kitchen was, cane out a guy with a guitar case. He was Asian, tall with dark hair and fair skin. He walked out of the kitchen and a shorter woman walked out shortly after, who I can only assume was his mom.

He walked to the back corner of the room, on to the ledge. Then it hit me; it was a stage.

The guy pulled out his guitar and sat on the stool. He quickly tuned his strings and strummed a chord.

No one really seemed to notice him playing. Everyone carried on with their food while he was on stage.

He didn't seem to care much. He started strumming away at his guitar.

He started to sing. He had a soft but strong voice. People started paying attention. Even Dowoon had stopped talking about whatever he was saying and noticed this guy.

I had never heard the song he was singing before. I didn't quite catch the lyrics but I could tell it was a sad love song.

By the time he finished, everyone in the restaurant was clapping and cheering for him. It was undeniable that he was amazing.

The small woman that had followed him out of the kitchen had a huge smile on her face. "Ah, my Younghyun!" She went up to him and hugged him.

This guy, Younghyun, smiled and put his guitar away. He had no mic, but he did have a strong voice. "Thank you guys, that was an original song I wrote, I'm glad you all like it." He walked with his mom to the kitchen again.

The waitress came back with our food. Dowoon ate everything in minutes, and I decided to take a to-go box.

Dowoon brought me back home and walked me to the front door. "Thanks for taking me out, dude. You're the best."

"No problem Y/N. Well, I guess I better get going. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Of course. Goodnight Dowoon."

"Night Y/N."
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A/N: Happy New Year guys!! Hope you guys had a good time with your families :)
and give me a little more, this story will be good. I promise.