"Might be a sinner and I might be a saint, I'd like to be proud but somehow I'm ashamed."
-R.I.P. 2 My Youth; The Neighborhood
Mikala POV
"I'm tired," I mumbled, adjusting the bag that was on my shoulder. I was at the Seoul airport currently waiting for Yejoon to pick me up. My plane had landed over 30 minutes ago and I wanted nothing more than to go back to Yejoon's place and sleep, but knowing him he would most definitely take me on a tour around seoul even though I had been here many times before to visit Halmeoni.
Looking around the crowded airport, I swished my strawberry lollipop around my mouth before letting it rest tucked away in my right cheek as my eyes locked with familiar blue ones. "Ah," Grabbing my suitcase, I rolled it over to where an excited Yejoon was standing behind the gate.
"Kala! Kala!" I let a small smile grace my lips as I rushed over to Yejoon who was now attracting stares as he jumped up and down. As soon as I was close enough, the long haired teen ran over and pulled me into a hug, "Kala, I'm so glad you decided to spend summer break with me. I thought for sure you'd head back to France."
I returned the hug, my head not even reaching his shoulder due to the height difference. I swear, how come I inherited everything from Peré but his height, yet Yejoon who got everything from Meré managed to get the height? Shaking away the childish thoughts, I pulled away from my Freré and responded, "I would have but they had their anniversary and went off the grid, I wouldn't have known his Mia hadn't called me a month ago to warn me."
I rolled my eyes at the remembrance of the phone call I had with Meré's personal assistant. You'd think with how mature she was she'd at least contact her children before disappearing for two weeks along with her husband, but then again, Peré might have dragged her off.
Yejoon let out a small laugh before grabbing my suitcase and heading towards the exit, "Sounds like them! They do that every year, I'm surprised you forgot."
We continued to catch up on the ride back towards Yejoons house, which was actually our parents home for when they were in Korea. I had told him about the new friends I made and about how good of a chef they all are. I also told him about the training camp and the upcoming tournament. In response he told me about how he had made some friends here in Seoul and decided to move in with one of them since he didn't like being alone in such a big house.
"I've told them all about you, they even wanna taste your cooking after I bragged a bit." Yejoon said as he pulled into the parking lot a block away from the house. I raised an eyebrow at his words but didn't comment on it since it wasn't unusual for him.
The walk towards the house was a calming one, Yejoon was still talking about some art competition he won last week and how he had gotten a coupon in return.
"Ah, here we are! Come on, I'm sure the guys are waiting for you. Jihyun even bought some fried chicken to celebrate your arrival, and before you say anything about instant food, it's from a restaurant 2 blocks away, BamDan." Pulling out the key, Yejoon unlocked the door before yelling out that he was back. Kicking off his shoes, he headed down the hall, rushing me to do the same.
"Please, calm down I am coming." I huffed out, Slipping off my shoes and placing them neatly in the corner, grabbing Yejoons and doing the same before following the hyper teen.
Rounding the corner, I was met by at least 6 other males, catching me off guard. "Um,"
"Kala, meet my friends!" Yejoon said before telling the group to introduce themselves.
"Right, I'm Jihyun, the roommate. Sorry about the crowd, usually on Fridays we have a sleepover and Yejoon forgot to cancel." A tall black haired man introduced a small smile on his face as he gave me a polite bow.
Doing the same I shook my head, "It's fine, I'm sure to be around a bunch of people. Besides, I came earlier than I was supposed to." Jihyun was about to respond but was cut off by a cheerful brunette.
"Hello! I'm Pichu, is it true you're a great cook? Can you make something tomorrow? Yejoon told us you hate instant food so we rushed to eat all the ramen and stuff we had and bought some fresh foods! It'll be fun having some home cooked meals, no one else here can really good except for Zack but he's usually super duper busy since he works at a-hmyhm"
"Home cooked meals? Youre saying that like you live here." The only blond spoke up, his hand over Pichu's mouth to stop the small boy'h s ramblings. The teen let out a sigh which quickly turned into a disgusted grunt as he pulled his hand away from Pichu, who was sporting an innocent look, "You disgusting bastard, you licked me!"
"Wha? I did no such thing!" Pichu bounced back, his eyes slipping into puppy like innocent ones as he turned to Jihyun, "Hyung, Zack is accusing me of things again!"
"You brat," Zack, according to Pichu, growled out standing up to grab the boy who jumped back.
Letting out a laugh, the boy used his index finger to pull down the bottom of his right eye before sticking out his tongue in a mocking way, "Nyah, no one will believe a delinquent."
"Cut it out you two, jeez Mikala just arrived and you're already embarrassing yourselves." This time it was the pale white haired boy who spoke up. Shaking his head, he continued, "This is taking too long, My name is Elliot, gloomy over there is Grey, blackie is Aach, and you know the rest. Unlike the rest of them, I am still in high school like you so if you wanna talk to someone closer to your age you can visit me anytime."
"You say closer in age like we are old or something, I graduated High school a while back." Zack grumbled out, a scowl on his face.
"Hmm, when was that grandpa? The 1800's?" This time it was Yejoons teasing voice, a laugh following it as Zack reached for him over the table.
"For the last time, being 20 does not make me old, I'm only 2 years older than you!"
A hand on my shoulder bought my attention, looking up I saw a smiley Jihyun, "Sorry about them, I want to say that they aren't always like this but I'd be lying."
Scratching the back of my head, I watched the group as they fought, Pichu and Yejoon teaming up to rile up and pissed off Zack. While Elliot and Grey chatted with Aach. "Yeah kinda, but it's fine, kinda reminds me of my friends back in Japan."
"Oh? Are they rowdy there too?" Jihyun asked, to which I responded with an amused "Very".
Once everyone calmed down, we all ate the chicken save for Zack who I found out was vegetarian. At first I was hesitant to eat the meat in front of him but he said it was fine and he didn't mind if others ate meat as long as they respected his choice not to.
After eating, they asked me a few questions about myself. All which they also answered in hopes to get to know each other better since we would most likely be seeing a lot of one another for the next month based on what Yejoon told me.
All of them were kind, even going as far as to offer being my personal taste testers after hearing about the upcoming competition.
After talking for a while we settled down to watch movies until I became too tired to stay up any longer.
"Hey Kala, if you're tired I can take you to the guest room." Yejoon spoke up as the credits started rolling.
Shaking my head, I fought back a yawn as I stood up, "It's fine, I can go on my own, you can stay down here with your friends."
Nodding his head, he retired his ponytail before kicking his feet up and onton Grey's lap. "It's still upstairs on the second door on the left."
I bid everyone goodnight before heading upstairs, grabbing my bags on the way up.
Entering the guest room I pulled out my night clothes before taking a quick shower and completing my night time routine. Once I was finished I plugged up my phone before flopping down on the bed and falling asleep.
+++
The falling weeks flew by pretty fast. I had spent the past few weeks hanging out with Yejoon and his friends along with testing recipes for my curry dish, which hasn't been going very well if I'm being completely honest.
Whenever I make a curry dish, it always seems to be lacking in impact. Although my personal taste testers beg the differ, I can't help but feel satisfied with my dishes.
Which brings us to the problem I am facing now.
"Not this one either, merde!" I swore, clicking my tongue in disappointment as I tasted the curry I just made.
I had just made a shrimp curry, getting the idea from Elliot who had said he was craving a shrimp dish. It wasn't bad, the opposite really. The dish was delicious but for some reason I had a gut feeling this dish wouldn't make the cut either.
Hearing the kitchen door slam open, I was forced to stop glaring at the dish in front of me in order to look up at a grinning Yejoon. "Kala, why are you cooking, did you forget our plans to eat out?"
Hardly, Jihyun reminded me this morning while the others kept talking about this new restaurant that finally opened and how we should eat there before sending me off tomorrow.
That's right, tomorrow is the day I head back to Japan, and the day after will be the Autumn Tournament and I've yet to find my golden dish.
Letting out a sigh, I was just about to tell the long haired teen that I had to stay back and think of another dish only to be stopped by Yejoon shaking his head with a loud, "Tsk, tsk, tsk."
Grabbing my arm, Yejoon pulled Ve out of the kitchen and towards the doorway where Jihyun was waiting and knowing the look on his face. "Mikala, you think too much. That's your problem, you need to take a break. I understand how stressed you are but you have to understand, working may lead to results but rest is what is key to success."
"That makes absolutely no sense-"
"Shhh," Yejoon's finger was smashed against my lips making me blink twice in confusion. "You can cook later, but for now we are going to leave this house, meet the others at Z00merz and enjoy your last day of vacation with a tasty meal. Okay? Okay, now put on your shoes or we will be late."
The elder left no room for debate as he walked outside dragging a sympathetic Jihyun behind him. Shaking my head, I slipped on my shoes before following the two out the house.
Yejoon was right, there's no point in stressing so hard over this. I have to gather my thoughts and try again, working non stop wont do me any good. Besides, maybe I just needed some inspiration.
After arriving at the restaurant, we meet up with the others before being seated. Zack insisted that we go all out and ordered half of the entire menu.
"Um, and who will be paying for all of this? Surely not you." Pichu stated, after doing the mental math on how much our bill might be.
Zack raised an eyebrow before looking at Pichu like the answer was obvious, "Of course not me, I'm your average broke college student. I thought it was obvious Aach would pay. He's the rich one."
Hearing this, Aach just let out a tired sigh, "Zack for the last time, just because my parents are rich doesn't mean I am."
"Mhmm, whatever you say trust fund baby." The blonde spoke.
Thankfully before it could escalate, the food was brought to the table.
"Alright, lets dig in!" Grey spoke up, drool practically spilling from his mouth as I reached over and began to fill in plate with various pieces of food from each dish, everyone else following his example.
We talked about random things, from random memories we had from the past few weeks to events that were coming up.
I toned out Elliot who droned on and on about this girl from school he had a crush on and how she had messaged him yesterday. Instead of listening I was thinking about reasons why my dishes aren't coming out as good as I'd have liked.
"Ah, I love how the Dak-galbi's flavor changes depending on the base you eat it with. Noodles, rice or lettuce, it's the same topping but different flavors it's amazing." Pichu sighed out in content as he stuffed more of the stir fry into his mouth.
Base? The base!
As if a light went off in my head, it finally clicked. I had been sticking with the same rice base for my curry dish, if I were to change it...
Standing up, I looked over at Yejoon with wide eyes only to notice the whole table looking at me, I felt my ears heat up briefly but it didn't bother me as much, my mind racing with an possible dish, the thought of making it actually bought a smile to my face, "Um, sorry to interrupt this nice moment but do you mind taking me back? I just got an idea and I really, really wanna test it before I lose it."
My words came out quick and jumbled but Yejoon seemed to have understood as he smiled up at me. "It's fine, do you need to stop at the store to pick up some things?"
Nodding my head, I hurriedly pulled out my phone, my hands shaky as I typed out the ingredients I would need before it slips my mind.
Too full of inspiration at the moment, I told Yejoon I'll be waiting outside, just barely bidding the other goodbye as I continued to visualize the dish I want to make unable to stop the huge grin on my face.
×××
Mere - Mother (French)
Pere - Father (French)
Frere - Brother (French)
Merde - Damn it (French)
Dak-galbi
College move in is coming up, so I've been getting things together plus I still have my job. Ive just been overall busy so heres a small filter update while you guys wait.
~Lilah
\ Omake /
"T-this..." Yejoon stared in awe at the dish before him, his tongue still tingling at the taste. He looked up at his younger brother, eyes wide as he stared at Mikala whose face was shadowed by his bangs, the only part visible was a trumph smirk on the younger's lips.
"It's perfect isn't it?" Mikala asked, his smirk growing wider upon seeing his stunned elder brother.
"It truly is, who would've thought such a dish exists."
/ end \