IF I STAY

Phone calls and Meet-up plans

The meeting with the client went well—their team will renovate the interior of a small teahouse called Haedabang, in Ansan-si to upgrade its clientele. It’s at least a two hour drive from Seoul and Beomgyu had almost refused the project, because after computing the cost of the project and the resources they will need in transporting and the manpower… plus more, it really is not worth it.

Except the client said that he would be willing to pay any amount for them to get the project done-- that they were highly recommended by another client he doesn’t want to reveal. Beomgyu had consulted this with Yeonjun and the guy simply said that they are still a small company and needed all the projects they could get… also, they needed the money to get a new office and to hire more people.

Beomgyu doesn’t regret it anyway when he met the owner, Jeon Suyeon. She is a sweet old lady who tells him about how it’s really just his grandson who wants to fix up her old teahouse. She doesn’t really mind how other restaurants and cafés are getting more customers because for her, this is just something she’d like to do because it has always been her life. She has a garden at the back where she grows her plants, collects the tea leaves and dries them to her standard.

Besides, she has her loyal customers who doesn’t care if the interior of her teahouse is falling apart. He couldn’t agree more. Her Lan Han Guo tea recipe is just amazing and when Beomgyu asked her what she put in it, she basically gave him a toothy grin that accentuated the beautiful wrinkles on her face and told him ‘It’s a secret.’

He spent a good amount of his morning not just measuring spaces and taking photos of the place, but also just talking to the old woman. She has so many stories to tell, despite the slur on her speech which she also said happened when she suffered a minor stroke last year. It’s already almost lunch when Beomgyu left him with the promise of coming back. She packed him some mahua for the road before he left. Right at that moment, he knows he has fallen in love with her and will probably do this job even if his grandson didn’t pay enough.

She reminds him so much of his late grandmother—probably the only person who has loved him and accepted him even before he came out to his family. His grandmother took him in for a few months before his father found out and kicked him out, again.

The memories bring a bitter taste in his mouth he knows he can never wash it out with any sort of tea. Rejection is foul, but rejection from your own family is just the worst. Sometimes, he wishes he is not the way he is. Maybe, life would have been easier.

No use thinking about that now. He goes back to where he parked Yeonjun’s pickup, because that guy is just a sweetheart and decides to look for someplace first to have lunch. He is about to start the engine of the truck when his phone buzzed

~ You said you’d call.

Beomgyu chuckles. He’s late for only ten minutes since the conversation with Jeon suyeon has dragged on for a while, but Taehyun is already mopey. It’s cute.

He picks up his phone, stills his heart and presses call. Taehyun answers on the third ring.