23/07/2026
Last Sunday was one of those days when the café was so busy that everyone was constantly on the move.
In the middle of the rush, a mother and her 10-year-old son walked over to where I was drawing latte art.
She smiled and said, "We're from Harbin, China. My son discovered your latte art on Douyin. When we planned our trip to Malaysia, he insisted that visiting your café and meeting you had to be part of the journey."
I was genuinely surprised.
The boy, wearing a pair of glasses, looked quiet, polite, and thoughtful.
Curious, I asked him how he had found us.
He immediately connected to our Wi-Fi, opened Douyin on his phone, and showed me that he had been following my account.
At that moment, it all felt very real.
I smiled and said, "You've come such a long way. Let me treat you to a cup of hot chocolate, and I'll draw anything you'd like."
I turned to ask one of my colleagues to prepare the drink.
He gently shook his head.
"No."
I laughed and asked, "You don't like hot chocolate? Then what would you like instead?"
"A hot latte," he replied.
Then he added something I didn't expect.
"But please don't treat me. My mum will pay for it. I'm bringing this coffee back for my dad."
That simple sentence caught me off guard.
"So," I asked, "what would you like me to draw?"
"Nicholas Tse."
I smiled.
"I'm not very good at drawing Nicholas Tse. How about a musician holding a guitar instead?"
His face lit up.
"That would be great."
Then he asked shyly,
"Can I make one request?"
"Of course."
"When you've finished, could you post the photo of the latte on Douyin... and tag my Douyin account?"
As I was drawing, we continued chatting.
I asked him what places he had visited in Malaysia.
He counted on his fingers and said, "Merdeka 118... the Petronas Twin Towers... and another place about 16 kilometres from here, but I can't remember its name."
I told him not to worry. "I'm sure you'll remember it later."
Then I asked, "Harbin must be really cold, isn't it?"
He nodded.
"In winter, it gets below minus thirty degrees. My family runs a coffee business, and when it's that cold, hardly anyone goes out. There aren't many customers."
For a moment, I paused.
Here was a 10-year-old boy from Harbin, whose family also works in the coffee industry, sitting in a small café in Kuala Lumpur because of a short video he had watched on Douyin.
We had never met before.
We grew up in different countries, spoke different accents, and lived thousands of kilometres apart.
Yet somehow, a single cup of coffee brought our paths together.
