#21
“It shows up on messenger.”
Bonoh became sullen at Taeseong’s continued suspicion and questioning. Even though it was a birthday meal prepared out of stubbornness, he thought Taeseong would be a little happy, but now he regretted it, wondering if it was pointless.
“Fine. If you don’t want to eat it, don’t. I’ll eat it all myself…”
Bonoh pulled the meal table toward himself. Then he reached out to take the seaweed soup bowl from the opposite side.
“If it’s my birthday meal, then it’s mine. Why are you deciding on your own?”
Taeseong quickly sat down across from Bonoh.
“Then you’ll eat it?”
“Yeah.”
“Then, wait a minute! The seaweed soup got cold. I’ll quickly reheat this in the microwave. Wait!”
Bonoh was excited at Taeseong’s serious response. Saying he would heat up the soup, Bonoh firmly told him to wait like he was training a dog. The sight of Bonoh hurriedly leaving the room with two bowls of soup was so urgent it was amazing he didn’t spill any.
While Bonoh was away, Taeseong looked down at the meal table with a very serious expression. He could see that the ingredients inside the rice paper of the Vietnamese spring rolls were cut evenly to the same size. Even if the side dishes were bought, care had definitely gone into them.
Taeseong took out his phone and took pictures. Once from the front, once from above, and once each of the foods separately, pressing the camera app’s shutter several times. Then he entered the album app and created a new folder. The folder’s name was ‘Evidence Materials.’
It probably wouldn’t happen, but just in case Bonoh tried to deny it later, he’d use it as evidence. Taeseong moved the photos he just took to the ‘Evidence Materials’ folder. He flipped through the photos of the meal table full of food with only the seaweed soup spots empty. He didn’t forget to back them up to the cloud in case he lost his phone.
“Hot!”
Bonoh came in with perfect timing. He made a fuss while holding seaweed soup in both hands. As soon as he put the seaweed soup on the table, Bonoh grabbed his round earlobes with both hands and smiled sheepishly. Bonoh’s cheeks were slightly flushed from rushing in excitedly.
“…Evidence Material Number 2.”
“What? What number 2?”
“Nothing.”
Taeseong was overwhelmed by the desire to take a photo of Bonoh’s current appearance and collect it in the evidence materials folder. Since he couldn’t openly take photos, he earnestly captured it with his eyes. How Bonoh’s eyes curved when he smiled sheepishly, how cute and round his earlobes were, and what color his slightly reddened cheeks turned. The cheekbones that slightly protruded when he smiled, and even the white front teeth that peeked between his lips – he couldn’t miss anything.
Bonoh’s eyes sparkled like a dog waiting for praise. His expression said to hurry up and try it. Under that gaze, Taeseong picked up his chopsticks. Taeseong’s chopsticks headed toward the Vietnamese spring rolls. He brought the spring roll to his mouth and cleanly bit off half of it.
“How is it? Delicious, right?”
“Yeah, it’s delicious.”
Taeseong hadn’t expected much from Bonoh’s cooking, but the food was quite tasty. Fresh vegetables crunched between the chewy rice paper, and the pineapple’s sweetness blended well with the sauce. Seeing Taeseong enjoying it, Bonoh also picked up his utensils.
The Peking duck made with a kit was excellent as well. The hoisin sauce that came with the kit stimulated the appetite. The duck meat was tender and had a rich umami flavor. Thanks to the scallions wrapped in the crepe with the meat, it seemed like they could eat it without getting tired of it.
Bonoh’s ‘preparing a birthday meal for a roommate who isn’t on very good terms in poor conditions without any cooking utensils’ was successful. It was disappointing that the side dishes were ready-made, but it couldn’t be helped. Even that picky Taeseong seemed quite satisfied.
After the meal, Taeseong and Bonoh became busy cleaning up. Bonoh cleared away the containers and Taeseong cleaned up the leftover food. After cleaning everything up, when Taeseong got up to wipe the floor, Bonoh stopped him.
“The highlight is still left! Let’s do this and then finish cleaning up.”
“…What is it?”
Bonoh took out a cake box from the mini refrigerator. He took out the cake, placed it on top of the box, and stuck in candles.
“It’s a birthday, so we have to eat cake. But… you’re not going to report me for lighting candles, are you? I’m lighting this because it’s your birthday, okay?”
“……”
“If you’re going to report the candles, tell me now. I won’t light them.”
“I won’t report it. Is that enough?”
Only then did Bonoh take out matches and light the candles. Worried that candle wax might drip, he quickly turned off the room lights and returned to his seat. The sun hadn’t completely set yet, so it wasn’t that dark, but it was enough for the candlelight to look bright.
In the dim room, Taeseong and Bonoh faced each other’s faces shadowed by candlelight. The excited atmosphere from when they were eating had somehow become calm.
“Ahem, happy birthday. Happy… birthday.”
Since they had gone as far as lighting candles, it would be disappointing to skip the song. Bonoh began to sing. Singing alone was very embarrassing. Moreover, facing Taeseong’s completely humorless face made his voice keep getting smaller. Especially during the part where he sang “dear Taeseong.”
He barely managed to finish the song, but Bonoh could tell his face was red-hot without looking in a mirror. His face burned with embarrassment. He tried to cool the heat in his cheeks with the back of his hand, but it wasn’t easy.
“What are you doing? Hurry up and make a wish and blow out the candles. Candle wax is going to drip on the cake.”
Taeseong just quietly looked at Bonoh’s face, then without making a wish, blew out the candles. As the candles went out all at once, the room became dark. White smoke rose from the ends of the candles, and beyond that, they could see each other. Bonoh felt awkward at Taeseong’s silence from earlier.
“…The sun must have completely set. It’s dark now.”
Bonoh was just saying anything in the quiet atmosphere, but Taeseong got up and turned on the lights.
“Can I take pictures?”
“Huh? Yeah. Of course. It’s your cake, so whatever.”
When Bonoh readily agreed, Taeseong picked up his phone and started taking pictures. But the camera angle was suspicious. He’s not taking pictures of me, is he? For a moment Bonoh was suspicious, but soon concluded it was excessive self-consciousness.
He thought Taeseong would take one or two pictures and stop, but Taeseong took quite a few photos. He must really like the cake! Ah, could this be his first time with something like this? Come to think of it, it was Taeseong who realized it was his birthday through the birthday meal today. He had never seen him contact anyone or be with anyone before either.
Considering his personality, it made sense that face wouldn’t have friends. There’s probably no one to congratulate him on his birthday and no plans either. Bonoh felt sorry for Taeseong.
Of course, Taeseong had received birthday messages from classmates and alumni whose names he couldn’t even remember, as well as from his parents. Bonoh had no idea that Taeseong usually turned off all messenger notifications and only checked them once every few days.
When Taeseong put down his phone, Bonoh dipped his finger in whipped cream and smeared it on Taeseong’s cheek. Taeseong froze at what happened unconsciously.
“What?”
“This is how you’re supposed to play.”
As soon as Bonoh’s answer fell, Taeseong also brought his finger with whipped cream on it over. He had answered, but the too-sudden counterattack made Bonoh pull his face back. Because of that, Taeseong’s finger, which was aimed at the tip of his nose, brushed against Bonoh’s plump lips.
Bonoh reflexively stuck out his tongue and licked the whipped cream off his lips.
“Evidence material…”
“Huh? What are you talking about, you keep saying that.”
Bonoh asked back, but Taeseong mumbled that it was nothing.
“Since you got me too, it’s only fair that I get you back. Come here, put your face close.”
Bonoh hesitated while trying to run away. Right, this must be his first time doing something like this, so he’d want to try it too. With that thought, he squeezed his eyes shut and brought his face close. He expected a finger with whipped cream to come flying at any moment, but no matter how much time passed, it remained quiet.
When he gently opened his eyes, he met Taeseong’s gaze.
“Aren’t you going to do it?”
“……”
Taeseong, who had been still, poked the tip of Bonoh’s nose with his finger. Like Rudolph, Bonoh’s nose tip was covered with whipped cream.
“The cake is completely messed up, right?”
Looking at the cake that had been disheveled from smearing whipped cream on each other, Bonoh giggled. Taeseong also smiled slightly. He was proud that preparing the birthday meal was successful and Taeseong seemed to like it. Bonoh resolved to often play with the friendless Taeseong. Thinking that if his loneliness was resolved, Taeseong’s nasty temperament might improve too.
***
“Ah, I already have to apply for summer session.”
However, as a college student, Bonoh couldn’t spend much time on Taeseong’s belated social correction. Lying on his bed and mindlessly browsing the school website notices, Bonoh sighed. In the past, specifically during the second semester of his freshman year, Bonoh had miserably failed not only his major courses but also the required liberal arts course “Critical Thinking and Argumentation.”
Since he had to retake it anyway, it was better to take it as quickly as possible and get it over with, so he decided to take it during this summer vacation’s session. Good things are good, but is there really a need to develop critical thinking skills? It was uncertain whether Bonoh’s grades could be recovered when he approached everything with this kind of thinking.
Since it was a required liberal arts course, Taeseong would have taken it too, so if things went well, couldn’t he get help from Taeseong? That would be nice. Joo Taeseong wouldn’t need to retake something like this. That guy, just looking at his schedule, is someone who would graduate with a double major and minor all taken care of, or graduate super early.
But if he lives that intensely, doesn’t he need to take summer sessions? Or does he take care of summer sessions too? Unless he was crazy, he probably wouldn’t, but Taeseong sometimes seemed a bit crazy, which was worrying.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
