Now and for the Last Time

26 장

By the time I'd gotten ready - changing my shirt twice, redoing my makeup once - I still had nearly an hour before I was set to meet Gayeon. So I went downstairs to look for Wooyoung.

He was in the kitchen. Wooyoung loves to cook, had even toyed with going to culinary school at one point after college. But he hated the small kitchen at his perfect-for-him high-rise, modern apartment, preferring to keep it clean at all times and not smelling of garlic. So when he felt like cooking, he always come over to our house, where he could spread out across the island and counters and know whatever he made would be welcomed. (Eomma and I were take-out kind of gals: all she could make was toast and ramen noodles, and my strength was cookies. But you couldn't eat them every night.) There was no set schedule when Wooyoung would cook, though, which added a surprise.

"What's the occasion?" I asked him as I came in.

He looked over his shoulder, chopping something. "Your mom read an article about clean eating and getting in shape. She's inspired and requested a home-cooked, healthy meal."

"Again?"

"We could both do with a lifestyle change," he replied, the knife chopping. "We're going to start cooking more, and walking every night, as well."

Sure you are, I thought. They made these diets and exercise pledges every few months, stating it's the Start of a New Era. It was usually only a week at best before I found them once again on the couch after work splitting a bucket of fried chicken and watching TV. I knew better than to point this out, though. "Sounds great. What are you making?"

"Chicken salad with Asian pears and spinach," he replied. "I'm just hoping you guys have lemons. It's the one thing I forgot."

"Wooyoung. You know we don't have lemon. We don't even have bread right now."

"What?" He looked horrified. Wiping his hands on the apron - a plain linen one he always brought from home - he went over to the fridge, opening it. "Oh my, there is nothing. Not even a bag of spinach!"

"I'd less surprised to find a live animal," I said.

He shut the door, shaking his head. "I always wonder how you managed to get eighteen without scurvy."

"Hey, we order salads from Mixed almost every night," I said, defending myself. "Just because it's not here doesn't mean I don't eat it."

"Well, thank goodness for that." He sighed, looking at the onion and chicken breasts out on the island. "I need lemons, though. They're the key to the dish."

"I can run and get you some," I said. "Farmer's Market is, like, two seconds away."

"Farmer's Market?" he repeated. "No. I don't cook enough to lower myself to that kind of standard. I'm going to Whole Foods. While I'm there, I'll grab some prosciutto and lettuce, as we do need an appetizer. And maybe some of those macaroons for dessert."

"What happened to healthy eating?"

"They're organic, Suzy. Are you coming or what?"

Fifteen minutes later, we were at Whole Foods, the gourmet market, where the fragrant notes f expensive coffee hit you the second you stepped through the entrance doors. It was practically required that you pause just to smell. We both did.

"I want heaven to smell just like this," Wooyoung said.

"And popcorn," I added.

"Well, duh."

He grabbed a basket and we walked over to the produce, which was so beautiful and arranged that it felt like a shame to remove any of it. As Wooyoung took two lemons, I examined a nearby artichoke that was so big and perfect that it looked fake.