Sarang Iyagi

Grocery Shopping

On the first days of winter that year, as the cold wind started to blow and people in Hanyang began to crave for warmth, Sooyoung felt she craved the freer air outside the gates of Yook Family house. She had spent weeks inside the house, as she should be, busy managing her and Sungjae's pavilions, with their dozens servants, rooms to be cleaned and aired and all the other preparations needed before winter really took over their abilities to run the house as usual.

One morning, feeling tired after writing letters and studying, Sooyoung sighed loudly.

"Ah, I wish I could go to the market and see other things, something outside of this Yook house!"

Taeyeon, who was folding Sooyoung's dresses and putting them neatly on her beautiful wardrobe, replied, "Why don't you ask Yook Doryeonim's permission to go? You can supervise the winter stock shopping."

"That's a good reason! Maybe I should try that!"

Sooyoung was responsible to stock the food for winter, for her, her husband, and all their servants. They needed to do a huge grocery haul, since there were vegetables to be fermented, and meat to be smoked and dried, in preparation for the coldest month of the year.

So that night, before they went to bed, Sooyoung asked for Sungjae's permission to go to the market the next day.

"You don't really have to go, you know. You could just write a complete list of what to buy, and ask Taeyeon and the other servants to buy it for you. You don't need to move a muscle."

"But I want some fresh air, I feel bored being cooped up in the house for weeks already."

"Is my house boring for you, Park Sooyoung-ssi?" Sungjae asked, closing his book.

They had a night routine by then.

They would both undress on their own, without the help of their personal servants. First Sungjae, then Sooyoung, until they only wore their white under clothes, that resembled their outer wear, but with lighter fabric. Hers was a white, light hanbok dress for bed, and his resembled a white pajama.

They changed behind the partition at the corner of Sooyoung's bedroom, sometimes still talking to each other although they were unable to see the other's face. When Sungjae changed, she would be sitting in front of a wooden box full of her traditional skincare pots and bottles, and when she changed, Sungjae would lie on the bed, reading a book of adventure and action. It's his way to de-stress after a day of working.

When she finished undressing her formal dress and wore her skincare potion (Sungjae asked once, she said it was water mixed with powdered peach and cherry blossoms) and climbed the bed, he would put down his book and prepared to sleep.

They usually ended up talking first, the chat opened by him reaching out to her braid and loosening it, leaving her long hair tumbling off her shoulders. She had given up trying to convince him it made her looked messy, and he insisted it was a habit he'd never let go and she should just deal with it.

"Please don't turn this into that matter, Sungjaenim" she complained, sitting still as he was almost done loosening her hair.

"What matter?" he asked, letting her hair fell all over her but not returning her hair ribbon.

He had started the habit of using her ribbons as his bookmarkers. Not only his adventure books, but also his counting books, his rice stock reports and his daily notebook.

"Making this into me thinking your house is boring. Because it's not. And can you stop taking my ribbons? I don't have any left to tie my hair!!!"

"Buy new ones, aish! And you said it yourself, you're bored being kept inside."