Sangwoo held tightly on a white bag, reserved for the boy across the playground.
He didn't want to embarrass himself, so he made one of the supervisors to deliver it for him.
"Are you sure Sangwoo? Maybe if you did it, he might want to talk to you." The supervisor says, trying to convince Sangwoo.
"I don't think he likes me Mr. Im....." Sangwoo says, putting his head down. Mr. Im sighs and oats Sangwoo's head, "You never know until you try."
Sangwoo stares at the bag and then at Jin. "I'll do it," He says confidently.
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[Oh Sangwoo]
I stare at Jin wearing one of my mom's hundred aprons. He looked very cute in the apron, small and adorable. I could just squish him right there.
"Sangwoo?" Jin asks, tying the strings around his waist.
"Yes?" I asked.
"Do you want to help us?" he responds. I immediately shook my head, "no, I'm very bad at cooking. Or anything in the kitchen for that matter."
Jin giggles a little bit. "It's fine, you can just watch." He goes over to my mom who is setting the stove up. "We want a very flat pan, to ensure the flavors." He says voice filled with determination. My mom nods and grabs a pan from under the counter top.
"Hey," I ask, "since you guys are cooking, I'll just stay in my room."
Jin turns, "that's perfectly fine Sangwoo. It'll only take about fifteen minutes." I wave and head towards the stairs.
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[Kim Jinsoo]
I watch as Sangwoo retreats back to his bedroom. Both his mother and I begin our journey towards the best bulgogi ever made.
"Okay, I would usually put a little bit of butter on the pan for greasing." I state simply after. "I want to treat the thin meat as a regular steak."
"Considering the thickness of the meat, we would have to leave it in for not more than forty-five seconds on each side." I walk over to the bag of the marinated meat, opening to ensure the quality. "This is Japanese wagyu. Why do you choose such a high priced meat?"
"The higher priced meat give a more in-depth flavor compared to the other alternatives," Seo-yun says. "Sangwoo's father never eats what I make. I get the best quality for Sangwoo because he deserves it."
I nodded, going along with their statement. "Do you cook often?" She asks.
"Oh, yea I do. Since my mom is a nurse, she's rarely home to cook meals. But when she is home, she makes an abundance of everything I like." I respond. She gives a soft smile and continues to grab the ingredients.
"Seo-yun, do you know where I can get gloves?" I asked. "They should be in there," she says pointing to the drawer in front of me.
I opened the drawer and saw the box of gloves. I put them on, aware of the hand size being larger than mine. "Okay, let's get started."
I grab some of the marinated meat, soaking with the marinate. Carefully, I dabbed a paper towel to remove access moisture. Seo-yun put butter in the pan and heated it. "I never use butter, I would just put the meat straight into the pan." She says, slightly confused.
"We also need some garlic and thyme. Maybe a lemon." I said.
She nods and opens the drawers to find the requested items whilst I began cooking the meat. I layer the slices parallel to each other on the flat pan, making sure there was space between each piece. Seo-yun came back with the ingredients and chopped them up,
"There's a pool of butter in the pan. If we ad the thyme and garlic to the butter, it enhances the flavor greatly."
Seo-yin looks at me with surprise, "you know how to cook. You should teach me sometime." I blushed at her compliment, "thank you, but I'm just a mere rookie." She hands the the chopped garlic and the thyme. I place it in the pool of butter, watching it mix in beautifully.
"It smells amazing!" She says.
I flipped the meat to reveal a crisp drown side, the juiciness of the butter flowing from every crevice. "Wow, that looks so good. My mouth is watering just looking at it!" Seo-yun says, licking her lips. She then looks down at me, "don't you paint?"
I nod, "yes, I do! Cooking is something I picked up whenever I'm not working on a project."
"Amazing," She says. "A few days ago, Sangwoo came home with one-hundred dollars worth of paints. I don't know why but he said that it was 'for a friend'. You might be that friend." She says.
I blush. "O-oh, Sangwoo told me he was going to give me something after school today. I didn't think he'd invite me to your lovely house. Sorry if I'm intruding or anything..."
She gasps. "Don't be! Sangwoo rarely lets people come over. It's nice to see a friend after such a long time." I blink, "how long?" She stops what she was doing and puts her finger on her chin. "He has had girlfriends over, never to long though, his father never lets people stay for too long. You're lucky he doesn't come home til later."
I stare, relatively surprised.
Shaking my head, I plated the finished dish. I added some extra garnish to make it look perfect. "This is amazing, it also smells so good." Seo-yun says. I thank her and go to grab some napkins.
From behind me I hear heavy footsteps coming from the hallway. "What's the smell? It's good." Sangwoo asks, coming from the corner. I took off my Arron and placed the napkins on the table.
"The food's done. We just need rice." I say. He stares at the bulgogi, amazed. "Mom, why does this look different from the one you make. More.......juicer...."
"Well, Jin helped me make it. He added some of his techniques to making his bulgogi, it smells amazing right?" She asks. Sangwoo agrees, "Yea, it smells delicious."
Suddenly, an alarm rings from Seo-yun's back pocket. "Oh, that must be the alarm for when your father is coming home." She says. Sangwoo groans, "why now, we are just about to eat and now he's coming home."
Seo-yun glares at her son, "don't disrespect your father. He will be coming home in twenty minutes. I suggest Jin to leave now before he yells at you Sangwoo."
Sangwoo rolls his eyes, "Jin doesn't have a ride."
Seo-yun pauses to think, "Dae-jung can take him home."
Sangwoo stops arguing and folds his arms. Finally, he gives in. "Fine. But before you leave Jin, o need to give you something." He gets up from his seat and makes his way up the stair case. After a minute, he returns with a bag. It was big and looked like it weighed a lot.
"I thought you could use some of these. But from the look of your room you seem to have enough." He hands the white bag over to me. I grab hold of the handle given on the top.
Immediately, the weight of the bag pulled me down. "Uwa...Sangwoo you didn't have to give me this." I peek into the bag to see art supplies of every kind. "W-why is there so many?"
Sangwoo scratches the back of his neck. "I just grabbed whatever was at the store. I guess it's a thank you gift for helping me pass the art project." My face heats up. "I-I didn't give you anything...."
He shrugs, "it's fine. I wouldn't expect you to."
"T-thank you. That's very kind of you." I says, bowing down to him. He gives me his signature smile that could melt any heart. "You're welcome. Let's go before my dad gets home."
I nod and turn to his mom to say 'bye' when I saw her with her phone out. "M-mom!? What. Are. You. Doing!" Sangwoo rushes behind his mom to see what she was doing with her phone. "You were recording us! Ugh, moooom. Why?!" He goes forward to snatch the device away but ends up missing.
Seo-yun giggles, "this is the first time will see you give a gift to someone. It's so cute!" Sangwoo regains his posture and glares at his mom. "You're evil..."
Seo-yun puts the phone away. "Come one Jin, you gotta leave before dad gets home." She calls Dae-jung over to start the car. He come, prepared.
"Yes master." He leads the way to the door for me. Sangwoo trails behind. Stoping, Dae-jung turns to face Sangwoo, "excuse me Sangwoo, but I recommend staying home while I take your friend home. You know what your dad wants." He warns.
"I want to go. If I can't go, Jin can't go." Sangwoo says crossing his arms. He's acting fairly immature but his sarcastic tone breaks it all.
"S-Sangwoo, it's fine. You can walk me home tomorrow after school." I say trying to convince Sangwoo. "I do that regardless." He says.
I sigh, giving up.
"Sangwoo, just go. Your dad won't be happy so just hurry." Seo-yun says putting her hand on her forehead. Dae-jung agrees reluctantly. "Okay Sangwoo....you can come.."
Snagwoo quickly grabs hold on my wrist once again and drags me to the car. His butler arrives shortly after, unlocking the vehicle. "Please, we must hurry."
Sangwoo sits in the front as I slide into the back. Dae presses the button to start the car, pulling out of the driveway. "Give me directions to your house, Jin." He asks.
"O-oh, you can just...," I pull out my phone, "here...." I show him the directions to my house. Automatically, he drives towards the destination provided. We stay silent in the car, the sound of the streets fulling in the awkwardness of the atmosphere.
After an uncomfortable five minutes, we arrive on the street in front of my house. It is currently dark, the moon high in the sky with the street lamps glowing brightly, illuminating the road.
"Jin." I turn to Sangwoo, aware of the silence cast upon us. "Y-yes...?"
"You're going to the party this Saturday right?" He asks, raising a brow. I honestly didn't know if I wanted to go to the party or not. "I'll s-see."
I see Sangwoo sigh but smile. "That's okay. I guess this is goodbye until tomorrow?" I nodded. "T-thank you a lot for today, I had fun," I opened the door, "I'll see you tomorrow Sangwoo."
He waves at me as I make my towards the porch, lit by the simple light. I grabbed my keys from my backpack and unlocked the door, looking back at the car on last time before closing the gate to the outside.
The house was usually quiet, my mom sleeping off her sleepless nights at the hospital. I took off my shoes and headed to my room. There lay my paints and supplies scattered all over the floor just the way I left it. I then remembered that Sangwoo bought me more supplies.
I put down my backpack and changed into my pajamas. After finishing my night routine, I sat on my bed to examine the items Sangwoo got me. I dumped everything on the bed and sorted them out from paints and tools.
He bought me some canvases and an abundance of oil paints. Sangwoo probably bought the entire craft store. There were various brushes of different sizes; chosen at random.
"Ashhh....Sangwoo..."
I cleaned my room and put everything up. Then, I turned off the lights and turned on the lamp.
Slowly, I walked towards my bed and plopped down, the sheets creating a protective cover around me. I closed my eye, the darkness taking me away from reality.
I couldn't help but remember the same white bag from somewhere.
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