#49. The Duration of Affection (4)
After the broadcast of ‘Please Take Care of My Dining Table’ ended, I asked the chefs to organize detailed recipes for me.
Oh Jinseok in particular didn’t just stop at telling me how to cook, but also made small changes considering the eating habits of the people who would eat it. As a bonus, he passed on know-how for making it easily for me, who wasn’t familiar with cooking.
“It’s a flaw that I didn’t have time to practice, but I ran simulations hard in my head, so it should be okay, right?”
Saying that, I rubbed my cheek with the back of my hand and smiled awkwardly.
“Do I look tired? Hmm. I haven’t been up for long since waking up, so I might be a bit disheveled. I’m rather plain when I don’t dress up…”
[Somehow I’m anxious]
[Simulation isn’t practice, Seowoo!!!!]
[He went to filming, ate something delicious, and got the recipe to share with the members, this is really ㄱㅇㅇ]
[Waking up early on a day without schedule to cook is also love… and showing us that too… what do I do with this lovely one, really]
[Who says you’re plain, you’re just pretty ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ]
[It’s okay, you’re cute♥♥♥]
[The way you whisper is like ASMR lololol]
Looking at the chat and answering while cooking wasn’t as easy as I thought. But fortunately, I was able to do it somehow by going step by step, so I introduced the braised sole recipe to the fans and then briefly showed the ingredients.
“Hapil and Jihan eat well, so I prepared plenty. They must have suffered a lot controlling their diet throughout the activity period. Especially Hapil completely cut off his favorite snacks… Oh, right. Snacks.”
Something came to mind as I was talking. I rummaged through the shelf to find a can of pineapple I had secretly bought a few days ago and put it in the refrigerator.
Messages asking about the purpose of the canned pineapple appeared on the screen I glanced at. After lighting the fire under the braised sole and bringing oranges to use for ‘A Plate of Vienna’, I answered.
“Why I chose canned pineapple is because we all watched a movie together a few days ago. It’s an old movie… oh, you all know it.”
The movie that was made before I was even born is still loved worldwide today. Of course, that includes me.
In the movie, there’s a scene where the male protagonist buys canned pineapple. I remembered Hapil watching very intently as he bought products with the same expiration date, trying to delay acknowledging the breakup even by a day.
When we talked about it later, he said that scene was indeed his favorite. So I remembered picking one up while I was at the convenience store.
“That line comes out too, right? If love had an expiration date, I’d want mine to be ten thousand years. When I was young, I didn’t fully understand the meaning of those words. Why would you deliberately set an expiration date? I thought maybe ‘I want to love you forever’ was too naive.”
I chattered away while starting to prepare the oranges. I cut the flesh into bite-sized pieces and put them in containers next to the canned pineapple, and used a paring knife to thinly peel the orange-colored outer part of the skin.
That was Oh Jinseok’s tip for changing the ‘A Plate of Vienna’ menu to better suit the Arcus members. When I told him that Hapil liked anything with strong flavors and was curious and liked foods with bouncy textures, he advised me to julienne orange peel and lightly place it on top of the cream.
“But much later, when I was older and watched it again, I realized. Actually, having an expiration date of ten thousand years is a bigger wish than something eternal.”
[Wow I really love that director’s movies too ,, to be able to hear this on a live stream is really amazing]
[In Sikbuhae they ground the orange in a grinder but this time you’re slicing it thin]
[Be careful with your hands~~~ ㅠ Why does it look so dangerous!!!]
[But why is having an expiration date of ten thousand years a bigger wish than love being eternal? Eternity is longer than ten thousand years?]
“I just think so.”
I answered while slicing the orange peel as thinly as possible.
“It’s not just existing, but having to absolutely not change until the promised date. Being consistent enough that you won’t get sick no matter when you take it and swallow it is a really difficult thing.”
I was speaking slowly while cutting when the chat suddenly started scrolling rapidly.
[Behind]
[Behind you]
[Seowoo behind you]
[lololololol behind]
[Look behind!!!!!!!]
[Behind behind behind behind behind]
Behind? What’s behind me?
But before I could turn my head, an arm stretched out from behind and grabbed my hand.
“Be careful. Why are you getting distracted while holding a knife?”
“Jihan.”
“You’ve been rustling around since the crack of dawn, so I wondered what was going on…”
Na Jihan’s large hand covered my entire hand that wasn’t holding the knife protectively.
“Hello, Hope. Did Seowoo have any accidents?”
“Hey. Do you think I’m some little kid?”
[lololol Yoon Seowoo’s exclusive patrol unit appears ㅜ]
[Hi Jihan~]
[Wow seeing it like this, the difference in their hand sizes is crazy]
[But if he holds it like that, won’t he not be able to cut?]
[That’s probably the point, right? I guess…]
[Jihan!!! Seowoo says he’s making something delicious ( •̀ ω •́ )✧]
“It’s hard to do alone. You should have woken me up.”
“If I woke you up, it wouldn’t be a surprise, would it…”
The surprise was already ruined since I was caught, but I still didn’t want to give up on the point that I was preparing it. I looked up at him with a rather serious expression.
“You sit here and talk with the Hopes. Staying still is how you help.”
“Why are you saying what I should say?”
“Hurry up.”
“Be careful not to hurt your hands.”
Fortunately, thanks to Na Jihan’s interference, I had less work to do. I could focus only on cooking while leaving communication and filming to him, which made me much faster.
I portioned the braised sole into individual servings in appropriate bowls, and also made the dessert separately so they could take it out and eat it whenever they wanted.
I was putting cream on top of castella soaked in coffee and finishing with orange when Na Jihan suddenly approached and asked me.
“Why don’t you have one? Don’t you want to eat it?”
“No… it’s not that I don’t want to eat it.”
I thought for a moment and answered honestly.
“The castella was four pieces. Buying two seemed excessive, so I was just going to make it for myself later.”
“You can eat it together with me.”
Taking the dessert plate that had just been decorated, he asked.
“Haesol hyung seems tired and is sleeping really deeply, and the other guys will probably wake up late too. Can I eat this first?”
Unlike me, Na Jihan ate everything well. He wasn’t the type to lose his appetite and skip meals just because he ate a plate of bread, so there was no reason to tell him not to.
He showed the ‘A Plate of Vienna’ I made in detail on the broadcast screen. Then he cut it large and ate it in one bite.
I was sure I had made it well, and I thought it was a recipe that would be hard to mess up. But seeing him chew made me suddenly feel tense.
“How is it? Is it delicious?”
“……”
“Not good?”
“……”
“Hey…”
He made a serious face and covered his mouth with his hand. Because of that, I became serious too.
I clearly followed everything exactly as written, right? I even weighed the amount of sugar to put in the cream with a scale, right? It looks decent too…
“This is crazy. It’s so delicious.”
“Hey! You scared me!”
“Wow. The taste is really interesting but delicious. I didn’t know orange and coffee went so well together. Ah, open up. You eat too.”
Relieved, I obediently ate what he offered. It wasn’t as delicious as what Oh Jinseok made, but fortunately it was decent enough to eat.
“See, it’s delicious.”
Na Jihan said with a bright smile.
“Nice. Getting to eat food made by Yoon Seowoo from morning.”
I think I must have failed at measuring the sugar. The ‘A Plate of Vienna’ I remembered wasn’t this sweet.
I thought while feeling around my mouth with my tongue tip, where the sweet taste remained. If my love had an expiration date, I’d want it to be ten thousand years. I wanted to like you who smile like this for a long, long time without changing until the promised date comes.
The confession I couldn’t voice and swallowed had the scent of orange.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
