Koon Chai Cafe

Chapter Six - Chemistry Chaos

Park

I was really hoping a meteor would have crashed through the cafe by now, saving me from showing Kopter my home. If he could afford to attend Trinity Academy as a regular student, then he wouldn't be accustomed to homes like mine. It's not like it was dirty or that we lived in squalor, it was just...small.

We walked down to the subway station together, Kopter whistling as we walked. Kopter had clearly never been on the subway before, as he actually stopped to watch the buskers before I pulled him away before he could get mugged.

Once we got on the subway, we sat down, only for Kopter to immediately stand back up again to offer his seat to an elderly lady.

We finally emerged at my station in Brooklyn. It was a short walk from the station to my apartment and Kopter hadn't stopped whistling the entire time we walked. It irritated me at first, but now I was used to it and I even found myself humming along with him. I think it was the tune from 'Spirited Away'.

When we opened the door, the house was chaos. My two youngest sisters, Grace and Joy, were running around the living room playing cops and robbers. A delicious smell filled the entire house. In the corner, I could see Mom expertly chopping an onion into tiny pieces. She looked up and gasped, taking off her rubber gloves as she did and rushing over to where Kopter and I stood.

"Who is this Min-Hyuk ah?" She asked, looking lovingly up at Kopter who smiled down at her. Their height difference was even more extreme than ours.

"Mom, this is Kopter. He works at the cafe with me."

She reached up on her tippy toes to hold his face in both her palms.

"Such a handsome boy!" She exclaimed, examining every detail of his face.

"It's nice to meet you Mrs Park." Kopter said, through squeezed cheeks.

"Mom, you're embarrassing him!" She un-cupped his face and turned to me, hands on hips.

"And why you didn't tell me you bringing friend over?"

Kopter interjected, "Sorry for the short notice m'am, we were supposed to study at my place but I had to cancel last minute."

She turned back to Kopter, and her facial expression had completely softened.

"Oh, it okay honey, not your fault. Min-Hyuk, you show your friend your room and I will bring some snacks."

"Why don't you just adopt him already." I muttered under my breath, making sure she couldn't hear as I grabbed Kopter's wrist and led him upstairs into my room in the loft.

I'd been lucky to be born the only male in the family. My three younger sisters all had to share a room for ten years until the oldest Sunny turned fifteen, but I'd always had my own space.

I sat down on my blue mattress and Kopter followed suit, placing his bag next to mine at the foot of the bed.

He turned to face me. "How do you wanna start?"

"Hand me the textbook, we can start with that."

We set up a workstation on my bedroom floor, taking notes and highlighting vaguely useful information. Mom came in twenty minutes later, carrying a tray of cut up apples and pears.

"You stay for dinner, okay?" She posed it more as a statement than a question.

"Mom, he has to go back home before then." Mom glared at me again.