"Why have you called, Eomma?"
Iris was good at putting on a chipper voice when talking to her parents. Don't get her wrong, she loves her parents in her own way just as they love her in their own way. That's how they all love-in a way. She can only handle her parents in short bursts, anything beyond her withhold leaves her exhausted by the time she manages to peel herself away from them.
She calls her parents maybe too often, far too often, all to the detriment of her mental health. An attachment she can't seem to shake even in her adulthood. They're her parents at the end of the day. Any resentment she may hold for the way they raised her was disregarded as something ridiculous and childish. They did the best with what they had, rearing a child in a country that would never see her as one of their own.
"What? Is it suddenly a crime to want to talk to my child? Do you not want to talk to your mother, Iris?" It was just like her mother to become quickly defensive. It's something Iris picked up on from a young age. Never give her mother a reason to victimize herself because she'll find a way to do so. Everything was an attack and everything must be defended against.
Iris sighed, rubbing her forehead as she pulled on her slippers. Jungkook had texted her asking for help studying for an exam he had to take the next day. She was reluctant but Jungkook had begged and pleaded with her for help. So now her day was taken up by Jungkook and her morning which was beginning to look nice and quiet was now snatched away from her by her mother. "No, Eomma. I'm glad you called. I'm just kinda...distracted right now."
"I hope this distraction isn't affecting your grades, Iris. You know you cannot let those get in the way of you succeeding." You'd expect her words to be said with maternal tenderness of concern but instead, it's spoken as concern is always spoken from her parents, with cold stoicism. Iris chalked it up to simply how her parents show their worry: in calm, calculated callouses in their voices. They're the reason Iris doesn't know how to properly express emotions, nor how to properly read them. It took her moving away from them for her to finally learn that were was actually an expression for pride.
"I know, Ma, I know. My grades are just fine. It's nothing I can't handle." Iris grabbed her reading glasses and left her apartment to go to Jungkook's to help him. She let the door slam shut behind her and walked the few feet down the hall to Jungkook's door.
"Are you handling it? I doubt it."
"Thanks for your confidence, Eomma. I really needed that." Iris murmured and knocked at Jungkook's door. "I gotta go, Ma-"
"Go where? What's more important than talking to your mother?"
Iris truly didn't have the time for this. She could already hear Jungkook unlocking the door and she'd rather not argue with her mother in front of him after her brief moment of transparency the other day. "No, no. I'm not saying that, Eomma. You know there's nothing more important than you in my life." Nothing like a good ass-kissing to get her mother off her back. In moments of danger, most know the "fight, flight, or freeze" response. Little do most know there's a fourth response. Fawn. Iris knew the best way to avoid her parent's wrath was to simply appease their desires. No use in fighting them because she will lose every time. They've already made it known.
"I'm just-" Iris glanced towards the door as it began to open and was quick to spit out the rest of her sentence, "-handling the distraction right now. Love you, Ma. I'll talk later." She knew she'd get a swift tongue lashing for hanging up so abruptly later but quick thinking didn't often account for future consequences.
Jungkook was there in the doorframe with his hair tied out of his face in a messy little ponytail that was obviously once neater but fell apart with time. He was wearing a black apron, the ties around his waist are tight and clearly define the narrow slope of his waist. Maybe it was his clothes exaggerating it but all the same Iris glanced at his get up. "What are you wearing an apron for?"
Jungkook held his hands against the small of his back with a sweet grin placed across his dewy lips always plump and rosy with lipbalm. "I was cooking for you." Of course, he took this as an opportunity to woo her. A nice, homecooked meal he slaved over in the kitchen. The most brutally difficult meal he's had to make in a while. He paid extra for more expensive products, finer ones for a person of more refined taste like Iris.
He has no clue that Iris grew up in a small, cramped apartment eating ramyeon most of her life. She doesn't have a refined taste for anything expensive in life. She just presents herself as she does. Fake it 'til you make it type of game.
"Jungkook- you realize this isn't a date, right?"
He scoffed, waving his hands in dramatic dismissal with overcompensation for the fact that he definitely taking this as something more than it was. "Of course not, Noona. I was just grateful that you're being so helpful and wanted to show my appreciation." He played it off smoothly but he knew Iris was smarter than that; saw right through his facade, but didn't comment. "I'm a pretty damn good cook if I do say so myself."
Iris knew he was in cooking classes simply based on Jungkook's offhanded ramblings in the earlier years of his time here. It seemed to be the only class he wasn't completely uninterested in.
It didn't matter, she was already here and hadn't eaten anything all day besides a bowl of ramyeon in the early hours of morning. "Fine." Jungkook's grin only broadened as he clapped his hands together before quickly ushering Iris inside.
She doesn't know what she expected Jungkook's apartment to look like but it was far more put together than imagined. Maybe he took an effort to clean it before she arrived. Either way it made no difference. The air was warm and filled with the overwhelming scent of something savory. Jungkook breezed past her, removing his apron to put it aside.
"There's no real name for what I made. Just something I threw together...a recipe I've been working on." Iris presumed she was meant to follow him to the kitchen, growing closer to the source of such a delicious smell. "I would be grateful if you were the first person outside of myself to try it." He had been fiddling with it for weeks now with a different combination of ingredients, spices. Thinks he might have finally figured it out.
Jungkook eagerly got her a bowl and filled it with his concoction of noodles he made from scratch, his own sauce, everything made by his own hands. He gave it to her, along with some chopsticks and watched on with eager expectation as she took a bite. "How is it? Let me know if it needs anything."
It was fucking heavenly. Even if it did need something Iris would never be able to tell. Cooking wasn't her forte so she'd leave it to him. Iris wouldn't give him the satisfaction of getting her to moan just from food (knowing him he'd take that inch and run a mile with it). She significantly decreased her true reaction and simply nodded, humming slightly. "Not bad, Jeon."
That was good enough praise for Jungkook, probably the greatest compliment Iris has ever let past her lips in his direction. His face was red, grin sparkling with pride. "I'm so glad you like it. I'd be happy to cook more for you, noona." That's all he wanted. He wanted to cook for her, clean for her, do everything just for her. He'll be the perfect house husband.
He heard what Iris said the other day. How she felt he was infringing on her boundaries. Jungkook hadn't meant to. In all honesty he meant well but in hindsight...he could maybe...probably...kinda see what she was talking about. So he'd attempt to tone it down, his desperation to please her. He'd simply have to demonstrate how great of a husband he would be rather than talk about it.
"Come on, I hung up on my own mother for this. Don't make me get yelled at for nothing." Iris dreads looking at her phone which she always leaves on silent. She'll come up with some excuse later, tell her mother that her phone was cutting out, bad signal and all.
It seemed Jungkook needed help in Korean History and Institutions. "History's not my strong suit." Many things aren't his strong suit. He stuck to what he was good at for the most part. He figured Iris could help, seeing as she already took the class. Was it also an excuse to spend time with her? Maybe, but that was simply an added bonus.
Jungkook sat a safe distance from her, a show that he respected her space but Iris ended up sitting closer than expected. She smelled nice, like citrus and lavender. He stared at her lips as she licked them and set the bowl down to the side with the chopsticks sitting on top.
Why was she leaning into him like this. Was she trying to tempt him? Jungkook felt hotter than before. Could she see how red he was?
"You said history, right?"
Jungkook let out a small, strangled noise parallel to that of something of agreement. Iris looked at him, eyes grazing over his rosy cheeks. He refuses to look her in the eyes, chewing softly on his bottom lip as he scrambles to get his laptop. "I have an exam tomorrow and I obviously never did the work or paid attention so..." he motioned to his laptop.
Iris figured she should be demanding some form of payment for the extra help. She got her parking spot back but she never signed up to be at his beck and call whenever he asked for it. "What do I get for helping you? I ain't doing this shit for free."
'I'd do anything for you', Jungkook wanted to say. 'I'd do everything for you, mommy. I'll give you the world if that's what you want. Just tell me. One word and you'll want for nothing.'
Boundaries. 'Tone it down, Jungkook. Bring it back.' "I can make you more of that." He pointed to her bowl. "Whenever you want." Hell, he'd cook dinner for her every night if that's what she wanted. He'd do so happily, without complaint.
Iris fell silent with consideration. "Deal. I don't know how you keep convincing me to do these things."
"All I did was ask, Noona."
*.✧ Kᴀʏs Eɴᴅɪɴɢ Nᴏᴛᴇs
I'm going to Six Flags today and I'm scared. I live in Ohio so I go to King's Island so I've never been to a Six Flags before. I've heard all about rides tht failed and killed people and now I'm kind wary.
So if I never show my face on this account again, I probably died.
Thank you all for reading. I hope you guys enjoyed and I wish you all an amazing day/night
사랑해
~Kay ⊂(•‿•⊂ )*.✧