Chapter 92
Did he forget about that and buy all these ingredients? How could he forget when he has a cast so clearly visible on his arm?
I was dumbfounded, but at the same time, I couldn’t help but smirk at Joo Kwon-oh’s clueless face.
“Sit down.”
“You can’t cook, though.”
“I can do the basics.”
“No, Jeong-ha, you can’t.”
Kwon-oh immediately denied it. Honestly, he wasn’t wrong, but it hurt my pride.
“What do you know…”
I meekly protested and forcibly sat Kwon-oh at the dining table. However, unable to stay still even for a moment, Kwon-oh sprang up.
“I’ll at least wash the vegetables.”
“I can do it. What were you planning to cook?”
I checked the items Kwon-oh had bought one by one.
“Squid rice bowl and beef bone soup.”
“Ah.”
I paused as I was taking out ingredients from the bag.
Squid rice bowl and beef bone soup? Those are dishes I dare not touch. I’ve never even attempted to make them before. Maybe kimchi stew, but not these.
“That’s why I said I’d do it.”
Kwon-oh clicked his tongue as if he had expected this.
“Then just tell me how to measure things from the side. Should I cut this radish?”
“Yeah, yeah. But be careful, it’s big.”
My hesitation lasted only for a moment. I placed the washed radish on the cutting board Kwon-oh had brought out and pressed down hard with the knife. Then I started cutting the split radish roughly to the size that would fit in the bone soup.
Kwon-oh, who had been desperately trying to stop me, seemed to realize that it was impossible to use a knife with one hand, and just watched me with anxious eyes.
Every time the knife cut through the radish with a thud, thud sound, Kwon-oh made strange interjections like “Ugh,” “Ah,” “Don’t!” As if he was witnessing something unbearable.
“Ah. Why are you like this, really?”
Unable to stand it anymore, I stopped cutting for a moment and glared at Kwon-oh. Only then did he let out a sigh of relief as if freed from torment and opened his mouth.
“No. It’s just so nerve-wracking to see a peach using a knife. What if you hurt your hand?”
“I won’t hurt my hand with this, so please just stay still.”
“Haa…”
“Be quiet from now on.”
As I picked up the knife again, Kwon-oh simultaneously waved his hand.
“This won’t do. Let’s just order in.”
I’m the one struggling to cut the radish, so I don’t understand why he’s so restless.
“We’ve already started preparing, why? Let’s cook ourselves since we’ve already bought the ingredients.”
I accelerated my knife work, signaling that I had no intention of listening to whatever he said.
“Ah, that stubbornness, really.”
Kwon-oh moved close to me and suddenly bit my cheek. He gently nibbled with his teeth, which was ticklish and embarrassing, so I pushed him away with my elbow.
“Just check if I’m cutting this right.”
“Yeah. It’s perfect.”
“How can it be perfect when you’re not even looking?”
“If Jeong-ha made it, I’d eat raw radish in cold water and find it delicious.”
As he said this, Kwon-oh rested his chin on my shoulder from behind and fiddled with my waist. Then he brought his lips close to my ear and whispered.
“You know, being like this, we’re just like newlyweds.”
A shiver ran down my nape. I felt heat rushing to my face and bit my lower lip.
Then suddenly, I realized that I hadn’t washed up yet. I was worried about smelling of sweat since I couldn’t shower from yesterday until this morning due to being in the hospital.
“Don’t say weird things.”
I pushed Kwon-oh away with my elbow again to stop him from getting too close. My courage was too small to be this close in a place where Kwon-oh’s family lived, unlike in our own apartment.
Fortunately, this time Kwon-oh backed off willingly.
“Put it in here, add the meat and sesame oil, and stir-fry it. Yeah, that’s right.”
Kwon-oh took out a pot and gave it to me, explaining the cooking method step by step from the side.
In fact, because he assisted very skillfully, all I had to do was cut, add, stir-fry, and boil as instructed.
The squid was already prepared, so I just had to rinse it lightly in water and stir-fry it with vegetables in the pan. However, Kwon-oh made a fuss, saying that squid leaves a fishy smell on hands and absolutely forbade me from touching it, so I was pushed aside and made the seasoning sauce in the meantime. In the end, Kwon-oh washed the squid.
“Wow. I can’t believe Jeong-ha made this. Joo Kwon-oh is so lucky.”
“You made most of it…”
I felt embarrassed by Kwon-oh’s exaggerated reaction in front of the neatly set table with side dishes. But seeing his grinning expression that seemed genuinely happy, I thought, what does it matter? If Kwon-oh is happy, I’m happy too.
After finishing our meal, we took out the fruit that Kwon-oh had put in the refrigerator earlier and ate it for dessert.
When the meal was completely over, I felt drowsy again from fullness. At the same time, I suffered from a strangely uncomfortable feeling. Because I hadn’t washed, my clothes felt sticky on my skin.
To go to Seoul, we’d have to take a bus or a taxi. I felt too itchy to wait until we cleaned up everything and arrived in Seoul. It wouldn’t matter if I was alone, but with Kwon-oh constantly by my side, I couldn’t help but be more conscious of it.
“Kwon-oh. Can I take a shower?”
“Ah. You couldn’t wash yesterday, right?”
“Mm-hmm.”
Even though it was an unavoidable situation, I don’t know why saying I couldn’t wash feels so shameful. Will I look dirty?
Come to think of it, I haven’t properly looked in a mirror today except when brushing my teeth…
“I’ll give you my clothes, so go shower.”
“I’ll do the dishes first.”
“It’s fine, we can just run the dishwasher.”
“I can do it…”
“We can just put everything in and run it, so hurry up and go in. You said you wanted to wash.”
He blocked me like a wall, not letting me do any cleanup, so I had no choice but to take the new clothes Kwon-oh gave me and enter the bathroom.
My worries about the empty plates I left behind quickly vanished. Taking a shower after two days feels twice as refreshing as usual. I quickly washed up and put on the clothes Kwon-oh gave me.
The underwear was boxer briefs. Although loose, they were comfortable to wear. The top was a white short-sleeved T-shirt, but being Kwon-oh’s, it was too big, with the shoulder line stretching all the way to my arms.
I felt good because the clothes smelled like Kwon-oh. I secretly buried my face in the clothes and inhaled the scent deeply.
And before leaving the bathroom, as I was carefully putting on the clothes, I suddenly realized that the pants were missing.
“Um, Kwon-oh. You didn’t give me… pants.”
As I opened the door and poked out just my head to speak, Kwon-oh quickly appeared from somewhere.
“Ah. Did I not? I’ll get them for you when you come out.”
“Just bring me anything now.”
“My arm is like this, so it’s hard to get them out alone.”
What kind of nonsense excuse is that? Then how did you manage to get out the boxer briefs and T-shirt alone?
Only then did I realize that Kwon-oh had intentionally not given me pants. As I glared at him, Kwon-oh calmly acted as if he really didn’t know, putting on an infuriating expression.
“How can I come out like this without pants?”
“What’s the problem, it’s just the two of us. You can come out and put them on.”
“But this is someone else’s house…”
“It’s my house, so it’s fine.”
“……”
“Hurry up.”
Haa. That mischievous look in his eyes.
I glared at Kwon-oh while racking my brain. But I couldn’t stay in this standoff forever, so I finally stepped out of the bathroom. Anyway, the T-shirt was long enough that it didn’t expose my entire lower body.
“Now you’re done, right?”
“Ha, why are you so sexy?”
“Pervert. Qu-quickly, give me the pants.”
I was about to burst from embarrassment because of Kwon-oh’s lewd smile. After thoroughly scanning me as I fidgeted, trying to pull the T-shirt down to my thighs as much as possible, he obediently handed over the pants he had already taken out.
I snatched them and put them on immediately.
“I’ll go wash up too.”
“Oh, ah, can you do it alone?”
Having put on the pants, I looked at Kwon-oh with concern.
“Why wouldn’t I be able to?”
“You can’t let water touch it, right?”
“These days, casts are waterproof. If Jeong-ha wants to help me wash while wearing only underwear, I won’t stop you…”
“That’s enough, just go in and wash quickly. Is that all you think about?”
“How can I not think like that when you’re dressed like this? Wouldn’t it be weird if I had no thoughts at all?”
Kwon-oh, on the contrary, presented his forced logic as if he was the one being wronged.
Leaving him behind, I went into the kitchen to check if there was anything left to clean up. But because Kwon-oh had cleaned everything while I was in the bathroom, both the dining table and sink were spotless.
Concluding there was nothing to do, I went back into Kwon-oh’s room. And I discovered a photo album on the bookshelf that I had overlooked earlier.
“Wow.”
I quickly took it out. Kwon-oh said I could look at anything freely, so it should be okay to browse, right?
After a very brief hesitation, I couldn’t resist my curiosity and opened the album.
“Amazing.”
There I found baby Kwon-oh sucking on a pacifier, kindergartener Kwon-oh, Kwon-oh doing taekwondo, and Kwon-oh holding cotton candy!
“What are you looking at? The album?”
“Ah, yeah. Is it okay to look?”
Kwon-oh, who had finished showering and come out, was entering the room while shaking his hair. I stiffened up, feeling caught even though I wasn’t doing anything wrong.
“What’s there to see in that?”
“There’s a lot…”
“There shouldn’t be many photos. Both Dad and my brother don’t take pictures often.”
“Still… Ah, this is so cute.”
I pointed to a young Kwon-oh in a taekwondo uniform, striking a pose with a serious face.
“You think I’m cute? Then Jeong-ha can have the photo.”
