LUMINESCENCE | K.NJ ✓

XVII - CAFÉ NOSTALGIA

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN—CAFÉ NOSTALGIA

CONSIDERING HOW OFTEN something horrifying and tragic had been occurring, Nouri found it odd when two weeks passed without anything happening.

Namjoon was busy with classes and studying, but he met up with Nouri as often as possible for them to discuss their hardware store idea. Yet, even that was presenting its own roadblocks. There were, unsurprisingly, an abundance of hardware stores within the city limits of Seoul. To search each and every one of them would take much longer than either of them wanted. Not to mention the issue of figuring out what exactly they were looking for.

"We can't just go in there and say 'Hi, we're looking for anyone who bought anything resembling a large light source,'" Namjoon had told her. "Besides, there are several different possibilities. I doubt he's just got a giant light he hauls around with him."

"Well, what do you think it is?" Nouri asked.

She hadn't gotten an answer. That was where they had left off in their "investigation" the day before.

"Nouri, could you pass me the yellow crayon?"

Drawn back to the present, Nouri smiled. She was sitting in the pizza parlor, her mother back in the kitchen with Chris while Nouri sat in the dining area with Chris' wife, Tashay, and their young twin sons, Jonas and Jonathan. The parlor was in a lull—customers most likely wouldn't come in again until a little after five.

"Jonas, did you finish your worksheet?" Nouri asked. He stared back at her, chocolate eyes wide with guilt as he shook his head. "You need to finish your work before you color. I'm supposed to be teaching you."

"Nouri! Nouri!" Jonathan jumped up and down, black curls bouncing as he grabbed the sleeve of her shirt. "I finished my worksheet! Do I get to color now?"

"Let me see it first," Nouri said, reaching for the paper. Looking over the page filled with the Korean vowels that the boys were supposed to have memorized, she quickly realized that they had learned nothing at all. The entire worksheet had been done incorrectly.

"Jonathan, this isn't . . ." her sentence trailed off when she looked back at him. His bottom lip stuck out in a pout, and his hand gripped her sleeve tighter, eyes growing watery faster than she thought was possible. She swallowed.

Be strong, Nouri.

She swallowed again, both of the boys now fixing her with puppy dog eyes. With a sigh of defeat, she slumped down into her chair.

"Okay. You guys can color."

"Yes!" They cheered in unison and immediately spilled the box of crayons all over the tabletop, beginning to fight over the yellow color right away. Nouri stood and moped over to the table where Tashay sat, collapsing into a chair beside of her.

"You know, we're paying you to teach the boys Korean, not to let them walk all over you," Tashay said with a teasing smile. She closed her laptop where she had been doing some work and focused her attention on Nouri.

"I know," Nouri mumbled, laying her face on the table. "You may as well fire me now. I have absolutely no authority skills."

Tashay laughed, patting Nouri on the head with endearment. "We're not going to fire you, honey. Giving you a little bit of extra cash for two days of tutoring a week is the least we could do. And besides—the twins love you."

Nouri smiled halfway. She knew that Chris and his wife—the Andrews family—were well aware of the Lin's financial situation. Even though they weren't extremely well off themselves, after hearing that Nouri had lost her job at the Cocobean, they insisted on paying her to tutor the twins in Korean. Originally they had wanted her to work with them four days a week, but Nouri asked for two. She told them it was because she didn't want to take too much money out of their pockets, but in reality, she wanted to have enough time to dedicate to the case.