Gentle Giant Chapter 22
Bubble bubble—along with the delicious sounds, spicy and tangy aromas filled Dain’s studio apartment. Kimchi stew was one of Dain’s favorite dishes too, and since he hadn’t eaten anything while working his part-time job, his stomach was empty and his mouth immediately watered.
Watching Juho move the hot pot to the table for him, Dain picked up a rice bowl and asked.
“Juho. How much rice should I give you? Do you usually eat a lot of rice?”
“Um, yes. You can fill it up for me.”
“Okay. Got it. There’s plenty of rice, so let me know if you need more. Alright?”
“Yes. Hyung, come quickly.”
At Juho’s gesture, Dain grabbed two rice bowls and headed to the table where he was sitting. Who would have thought the day would come when he’d be eating a meal with someone other than family in his studio apartment? Though he was still young, it was something worth living long to see.
Wanting to record this touching moment, Dain asked Juho for permission.
“Juho, can I take a photo of this and send it to my noona?”
“What?”
“My noona worries too much about me not having friends, so I think she’d be happy if I sent her that I’m eating at home together with you today. But… if it makes you uncomfortable, I won’t do it.”
“Ah, it’s fine, hyung. Then how about we even take a selfie together to send?”
“No, no! You don’t need to go that far! I just want to show off to my noona.”
How embarrassing it was to take photos with other people. Dain, who had only taken about two selfies because of Juho, shook his head so vigorously it made a whooshing sound.
Juho, whose face showed brief disappointment at that rejection, nodded while looking forward to next time.
Dain decided to take a photo showing both Juho’s hand and his own hand together instead of their faces, and send it to his noona.
Juho’s white, long fingers and his own stubby fingers. The two people’s fingers captured in the same frame seemed to say “We’re close friends!”
Dain composed a message with lots of excited emoticons.
After proudly looking at the message that was successfully sent to his noona, Dain soon put down his phone and ladled kimchi stew into a side dish for Juho. The kimchi stew in the side dish was served in extreme proportions: 70% meat, 20% kimchi, 10% broth.
Juho’s eyebrows rose slightly as he received the plate from Dain.
“Hyung, didn’t you give me all the meat?”
“Huh? Juho, you like meat. And I put a lot of meat in mine too. Look. I have lots of meat too.”
“But I have way too much compared to yours.”
“It’s not too much. When you finish what’s in your bowl, I’ll give you more meat from here. You can eat all of this, right?”
Dain asked Juho with a bright smile while pointing at the pot. Juho reluctantly nodded at that smile.
Damn, he’s so fucking nice. Crazy. Giving up meat like that. Juho seriously pondered where the limits of Dain’s kind personality might end.
And the two waited quite a while for the kimchi stew to cool down. Since they were both feline beast-men, they preferred to eat after it had cooled down somewhat. Realizing they were both not touching it as if by agreement, soft laughter escaped from both their mouths simultaneously.
“Juho, you can’t eat hot food well either?”
“You too, hyung?”
“Yeah. I can’t eat hot food well either. Especially soup dishes—I can only reach for them when they’re lukewarm. So when I go to restaurants, I don’t eat for a long time even after the food comes out, and sometimes the ajumma looks at me strangely. That’s kind of embarrassing.”
Dain seemed to have experienced this quite a bit, smoothly telling his story without hesitation. Juho nodded at Dain’s words and replied.
“Right. Korea has a lot of soup-based dishes. In America, it’s not like there are only hot foods, so I never had that problem, but I definitely don’t think I could eat freshly boiled stew quickly.”
“Haha! Right, come to think of it, in America you eat simply a lot of times, right? Yeah, that’s the difference!”
At Juho’s words, Dain’s eyes widened as if he’d had a realization. That change was barely noticeable even if you stared intently, but it was so cute that Juho almost unconsciously reached out to pat Dain’s head. Repeating ‘good dongsaeng, good dongsaeng’ to himself, Juho barely restrained his twitching hand and lowered it.
During their brief conversation, the stew had cooled to just the right temperature, and when Dain tasted it first, it was satisfying to his palate. However, Dain was so curious about what expression Juho would make when eating the stew that he felt nervous.
“Juho, hurry and try it. It’s not hot at all now.”
“Yes. I’ll eat well.”
“Yeah yeah!”
Because of Dain watching him with such an intense gaze, Juho made a briefly troubled expression, but quickly scooped up some stew with his spoon and put it in his mouth. That brief moment felt so long that Dain found himself staring only at Juho’s face with his mouth slightly open without realizing it.
“clears throat, hmm hmm!”
Dain’s expression as he watched with such tremendous concentration was so adorable that Juho had to pause eating and suppress his laughter for a moment.
The kimchi stew in his mouth had a nice harmony of moderately seasoned broth, light meat flavor, and kimchi that wasn’t too sour but slightly tangy. Honestly, it was the most delicious kimchi stew he’d ever had.
“Hyung, it’s completely delicious. I definitely didn’t see you add anything special to this. Why does it suit my taste so perfectly? Hyung, you’re really amazing. How are you even good at cooking?”
“Really? Is it, is it okay? Does it suit your taste?”
“Yes. Completely. It’s perfect for my taste. I should eat three bowls of rice.”
Juho looked at Dain with smiling eyes. With his bright red, sparkling lips, he continuously praised Dain.
There wasn’t even 1g of falsehood in that expression, so Dain felt shy but happy. It was his first time presenting his cooking to someone else, and it was also his first time having that cooking praised.
No wonder people say “praise makes even whales dance.” Dain felt so good that he wiggled his toes.
If he could, he wanted to film Juho while he ate all three bowls of rice and occasionally take it out to watch later.
But he thought he shouldn’t go that far, worried that if he did, Juho might leave his room with a disgusted expression. Even though he was dense, he could understand the situation that much.
However, Dain’s toes, whose mood was already floating high above the sky, continued to wiggle.
“Juho, eat lots of rice. Let me know if you need more. Alright?”
“Yes. Hyung, thank you so much.”
“Don’t mention it! Next time I’ll make something even more delicious. Juho, do you like chicken? I can make chicken braised in spicy sauce too!”
“Really? I’d also like to repay hyung with cooking, but to be honest, I’m not confident in cooking… Um, instead I’ll buy you salmon, hyung. Next time let’s go eat something you like.”
“Juhooo…”
At Juho’s kind words, Dain looked at Juho with moved eyes. Last time he said he ate salmon because he thought of me. Now he’s even saying he’ll take me out to eat together.
Dain’s head moved up and down constantly. He was already looking forward to dining out with Juho.
“Oh, right. Hyung, I think I need to go to the company where I’m doing my internship in a bit.”
“Huh? Are you going to work already?”
“No, I’m not working right away. First they told me to come take a quick look around, like an orientation.”
“I, I see. Then what if you’re tired? If I’d known, I would have told you to rest at home.”
“Haha. I’m not tired at all. Don’t worry.”
Dain made a pitying expression while looking at Juho’s face, even stopping eating his rice.
Even though he was only 21 and a beast-man with better stamina than ordinary people, he had just arrived in Korea yesterday and stayed up all night. No matter how much he said he was fine, he must be extremely tired.
Dain thought he should let Juho sleep a little more.
Seeing Dain suddenly trying to eat faster, Juho asked.
“Hyung, why are you eating so hastily? You’ll get indigestion.”
“Mmm, I need to eat quickly and get ready for bed. It’s better to get a little more sleep before going. Ah, do you have to leave right after eating?”
“No. They said to come when it’s convenient, so as long as I’m not too late, it’s fine. Hyung, you can eat slowly…”
“No no, I’m done eating. How about you, Juho?”
“I’m done eating too.”
Juho, who had long since finished his three bowls of rice, had been watching Dain eat. He had wanted to watch more leisurely, but wondered if he shouldn’t have brought it up before Dain finished eating. But thinking about it differently, it wasn’t bad seeing Dain stuff his cheeks full of rice because of him.
“It was really delicious, hyung. I’ll do the dishes.”
“No no! I’ll do them! Go wash up quickly!”
“I really do have time. It’s okay.”
The two bickered in front of the sink. Two rice bowls and one pot—an unproductive conversation about who would do the dishes that wouldn’t even take 5 minutes.
“I’m not okay with it! If the company told you to come, you should go as quickly as possible. Go wash up quickly and get some sleep.”
“Sigh, alright. Thank you, hyung.”
At Dain’s unusually firm attitude, Juho finally raised both hands in surrender. He had no choice but to leave the cleanup to Dain and head to the bathroom.
And as soon as the bathroom door closed, Juho sat down while covering his upturned lips.
“Fuck, crazy…”
He ordered me to go wash up. That’s insane. So fucking scary. Shit, he’s so cute it’s scary as hell.
Does he know that when he tries to make a stern expression by pressing his lips together, he looks exactly like a child pouting because he wasn’t given candy?
Juho recalled Dain once more—wearing red rubber gloves with his hand on his waist.
He’s cute, he is cute. Hmm… why the focus of the image he recalled started with his face but gradually concentrated on that slender waist, he didn’t know.
After running his hand over his mouth once, Juho pulled the shower lever. It seemed like he’d need to take a cold shower.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
