“Hey. Why are you sitting at the table? The food’s all cold. It might’ve even gone bad. It’s summer, you know.”
“The air conditioner’s been on. It’s fine. Even if it did go bad, I’ll just eat it and deal with the stomachache.”
“Does that even make sense?”
This bastard. There he goes again.
I couldn’t understand it, but it seemed like Do Jihoon had gotten fixated on something weird again. A sigh slipped out of me automatically. Whatever. Nothing I could do about it. Once that guy decided to do something, he did it.
“Hey, wait. Let me try it first and check if it’s gone bad.”
“Why bother? It’s fine. I’ll just eat it.”
Before I could even reach the table, he’d already picked up his spoon and stuffed some japchae into his mouth. His expression looked the same as usual.
That was reassuring. Guess it hadn’t spoiled.
“Looks like it tastes okay. Is it edible?”
“The soup is extremely salty and the glass noodles are completely bloated, but… it’s not inedible.”
“You bastard. You’re the one who came home late and now you’re complaining. If it’s not spoiled, just eat it.”
“The pumpkin pancake is somewhat soggy. It’s not crispy at all. The only thing that’s remotely decent is the mushroom pancake.”
“Hey. Don’t eat it then. I’ll eat everything.”
“You can’t take something back after giving it away, Yuri. It’s too late. The ownership of the food you prepared belongs to me now.”
That was such ridiculous bullshit I had nothing to say.
Fine. If he wanted to eat it, there was no reason to stop him. I did want to smack that smug mouth of his once, but… the way he ate so heartily was kind of nice to watch too.
He ate so elegantly and so deliciously that it started making me hungry as well.
Come to think of it, I hadn’t eaten dinner because I’d been waiting for Do Jihoon today. The moment I realized that, my stomach felt extremely empty. I grabbed some chopsticks and sat down at the table too. After debating what to eat first, I picked up some japchae.
“……”
But I failed to get it safely into my mouth.
Do Jihoon suddenly tapped my chopsticks aside with his own.
“…What are you doing?”
What the hell?
I stared at him in disbelief, mouth slightly open. He answered with complete confidence.
“It’s mine.”
“Excuse me? I’m the one who made this.”
“Wasn’t it my birthday present? Then it’s mine.”
“What kind of bullshit is that! Of course your birthday present is separate. Do you really think I’d settle everything with just a birthday meal?”
When Do Jihoon mentioned the birthday present, I immediately remembered the masterpiece I had painstakingly worked on for nearly a week—the department paper-crane set.
I quickly brought the glass jar and cake from the living room and proudly showed him the cake first.
“You couldn’t see it earlier because it was dark, right? I made it myself.”
“……”
Do Jihoon looked deeply moved.
Heh.
Feeling proud, I rubbed my nose smugly. He pointed at the cake and spoke.
“You made this?”
“Yeah. Touched, aren’t you? Your hyung went out today and worked really hard to make it.”
“No wonder it looks so strange.”
“You little—”
When my expression immediately turned serious, Do Jihoon chuckled softly and offered an apology.
Today was his birthday, after all.
Fine. I’ll let it slide because it’s your birthday, you bastard.
Using the birthday privilege, I graciously accepted his apology.
“Yuri, is this English on top?”
“……”
Do Jihoon looked genuinely confused.
Which meant that comment wasn’t bait to tease me—it was completely sincere.
That made me a little depressed.
“It’s not.”
“Really? Then is it just a pattern?”
“For fuck’s sake, it’s Korean, you idiot.”
“……”
Do Jihoon opened his mouth like he had a lot to say.
Then he closed it again.
Pouting slightly, I explained the writing to him.
“‘Happy birthday to my Doji. Let’s be happy together forever and ever with Yuri.’”
Suddenly, a very fundamental question crossed my mind.
Why was I teaching Korean letters to a twenty-year-old grown man?
It was deeply tragic.
“……”
Do Jihoon stayed silent.
I glanced sideways at him. He couldn’t take his eyes off the cake.
I spoke to him playfully.
“Doji. Are you moved? Why can’t you stop staring?”
“Yeah. I’m moved.”
“……”
I’d expected him to tease me.
But instead, Do Jihoon smiled warmly and answered gently.
Even though the air conditioner made the house cool, for some reason it felt like heat was spreading all through my body.
How could a person look that pretty and lovable?
For a moment, such embarrassingly sentimental thoughts—like some nosy middle-aged aunt—passed through my head.
I quickly shook my head to get rid of that cringeworthy thought.
“Alright, now let’s eat the cake! Here—cut it, Doji servant.”
When I handed him the knife, Do Jihoon cut the cake with precise, clean slices and handed me a piece.
I took a fork and tried a bite of the strawberry cake.
Fortunately, the strawberry cake I made tasted pretty good.
Only the appearance was somewhat… grotesque, like a zombie.
Well, whatever. If it tastes good, that’s what matters.
And while I was at it, I quickly grabbed my chopsticks and stuffed some japchae into my mouth.
This was only possible because Do Jihoon wasn’t holding his chopsticks at that moment.
That bastard. Just how good was it that he was trying to eat it all by himself?
I chewed the japchae thoroughly.
It seemed a bit swollen, but still fairly salty and sweet…
…and sour.
“……”
Fuck.
Why does it taste sour?
I looked at Do Jihoon in shock.
At some point, he was staring at me with a very similar expression.
This bastard…
“Hey. This smells sour.”
“…That’s why I said I’d eat it all.”
“Are you crazy?! Why would you eat spoiled food and get gastroenteritis? You’ve clearly never experienced shitting liquid out of both ends to know how painful that is!”
I nagged Do Jihoon for quite a while.
And unfortunately, the japchae ended up going straight into the trash.
The pancakes still tasted fine. Thankfully, the pancakes and seaweed soup were salvageable.
“What? Did you force yourself to eat it because you thought I’d be disappointed?”
“…Something like that.”
He shrugged.
Damn it. When he acts like that, he looks handsome again.
If that’s not being blinded by love, then what is?
“I appreciate it, but take care of your body. Building muscles doesn’t make you immune to food poisoning.”
“Yuri. I’m not a kindergartener.”
“Anyway. This is your present.”
I handed Do Jihoon the glass jar filled with colorful paper crafts.
Depending on the angle of the light, the paper reflected different colors.
Holding the jar with both hands, Do Jihoon quietly stared at it.
“I thought about it for a long time, you know? What I should give you. You already have pretty much everything.”
“…So this was the conclusion?”
“Yep. A handmade piece. The only thing you’re lacking is character, so I figured sincerity was the most important thing. Who knows—maybe my sincerity will restore your terrible personality.”
“……”
Contrary to my expectation that he’d snap back at me, Do Jihoon stayed silent.
He simply stared blankly at the paper cranes and the crane eggs.
“Don’t tell me you don’t like it? Lee Daeju said the most useless gifts are cross-stitch and paper cranes.”
“…No way.”
“So that means you like it?”
“…I really do. Very much. I’ve never received a gift like this before.”
His voice was full of excitement and joy.
Hearing that filled my chest with happiness and pride as well.
Do Jihoon smiled beautifully.
I smiled back at him and said,
“Your first time, huh? So does that mean I took Do Jihoon’s first?”
“……”
A crack instantly appeared in Do Jihoon’s smile.
The corners of his mouth trembled slightly.
A moment later, the smile had completely disappeared from his face.
“Yuri. I say this all the time, but you really need to be more careful with what you say.”
“Suddenly? What are you talking about?”
“…I’m not sure if the problem is your mouth or your thoughts.”
“You bastard…”
Do Jihoon and I started bickering again.
But both of us had smiles on our faces.
Even though the surprise I had ambitiously prepared had failed, well… this wasn’t so bad either.
I stood up, grabbed the camera, and scooped some whipped cream onto my fingers. Then I dabbed it onto Do Jihoon’s nose and both cheeks.
The camera captured Do Jihoon looking like an idiot.
My joy was short-lived though.
Soon after, Do Jihoon retaliated brutally with whipped cream.
With whipped cream marks on my forehead and both cheeks like ceremonial dots, I ended up loudly singing, “I am an idiot.”
And of course, that humiliating scene of mine was perfectly captured on camera too.
Ugh.
