Chapter 61

“Such a thing never happened. First, Seung-Jae really is not that kind of kid and…”

“And?”

“I would never do that either. To begin with, I don’t even look at him that way. So that is it.”

“And I’m telling you you’re easier than you think.”

“Can you stop calling others ‘easy’ already?”

“Of course, as for me, with much difficulty, I resisted you till the end.”

Yeah, how ‘not easy’ it must have been. Na-Yool dubiously narrowed her eyes.

“Are you really sure you did not do anything to me last night?”

A spark of suspicion lit up. Si-Jin shrugged his shoulders.

“You came at me, not the other way.”

“It is not an answer.”

“Right.” Si-Jin immediately agreed, as he also did not think it was an appropriate answer. When his lips opened again to speak, Na-Yool frowned with apprehension.

“I fondled your breasts a few times and that’s all.”

“… That is not ‘doing nothing’, is it?”

“I didn’t even suck them, no big deal.”

“……”

Si-Jin went on, displaying a glowing and self-satisfied expression.

“Although I might have stuck in between my dick that you made hard.”

“…If you did not do such a disgusting thing, then leave it out. No need to fill up your quota of sexual innuendos.”

“Your drunk-self also said she liked it.”

“……”

“So how easy were you, hm?”

“Lies. It is all lies, isn’t it?”

“If Lee Seung-Jae was there, he would have thanked his luck for this good meal and eaten you up already.”

“You must be lying.”

Her anxiety and disbelief seemed to delight him, and he grinned from ear to ear. His wicked nature permeating through his smile, his lips grazed her cheek.

“It doesn’t matter, so let’s eat. It’s done.”

She really never could follow up with this guy.

Na-Yool sat at the table, close to being swept along. Hardly wrapping her head around the situation, it took her some time to piece together the flow of events.

Meal. Kwon Si-Jin. Cooking… Come to think of it, although he had been standing all along in front of the pot, Na-Yool could not picture him as a man who cooks. Maybe because she had been completely distracted by his continuous revelations that stumped her one after another.

She still could not believe he had been cooking. And that, despite the pot placed in the center of the table, the side dishes that were already neatly laid out in several blue ceramic bowls, and the bowl of white rice right in front of her eyes.

It was then that the food’s smell, which she was not aware of a second ago, came tickling her starving stomach. As soon as she inhaled it, Na-Yool turned terribly hungry. She unconsciously grabbed the spoon Si-Jin was extending towards her and, just as she was about to dig in the rice bowl with her chopsticks, she halted and probed into Si-Jin’s eyes.

“What’s up?”

“All this… what is it?”

“Your breakfast.”

“……”

“Well, most likely lunch. Timewise.”

Si-Jin casually replied and sat down across from her. In front of him there was no spoon nor rice bowl, but only a mug of coffee that had cooled down. With a frown, Na-Yool stared alternately at the mug he was holding and the food in front of her, perplexed by this improbable reality.

She seemed even doubtful it was real.

“…What is it, really?…”

“Your lunch-like breakfast, like I already said.”

“No, what is this?”

“What are you curious about exactly?”

“Everything.”

“You don’t know what those are? Do I have to recite every side dish name for you?”

Na-Yool raised her suspicious eyes.

“Why are you cooking suddenly…”

“The side dishes were in the refrigerator, and the rice was in the rice cooker.”

“……”

“Only the stew is new. There’s nothing to feel burdened with, so relax.”

“It’s sufficiently burdensome though…”

Kwon Si-Jin and cooking! A breakfast made by him… Such an ill-matched scene! Not only could she not picture him cooking to feed himself with all these delicacies, but unbelievably he had prepared that meal for someone else’s sake!

Presenting his guest with heated-up instant rice and side dishes would make the other party uncomfortable already, so even more with this skillfully handmade meal. Each side dish bowl stylishly set, the warm stew’s steam coming out of the pot…

Na-Yool seemed to realize how much she had been considering him as less than a human being all this time. From the incredible sight of Si-Jin’s ordinary table setting, to the surreal reality of him eating at home such a common meal, it was simply unbelievable.

How ridiculous of her to now wonder “Never would have thought he would eat like everyone else at home!”. Not that Na-Yool imagined he lived on by feeding on dew, but she had been dead set on categorizing him as lacking human traits.

Na-Yool raised her spoon again and asked:

“…Did your mother send you all of this?”

“My mother can’t cook. She has no skill at all.”

“Then, your housekeeper…”

“They only clean the house for me.”

Struck dumb by the discovery of the new sides of the person sitting across, Na-Yool’s astound eyes intensely stared at Si-Jin.

“I bought the side dishes so stop looking at me this way. I didn’t make it.”

“… But you made the stew yourself.”

“To help relieve your hangover.”

“…… Who the hell are you?”

“What?” Si-Jin instantly laughed at the absurd question. Na-Yool scooped a spoon of rice and kept staring at Si-Jin in suspicion while eagerly chewing on it.

“You, did you think I never eat at home?”

“Yes.” She answered flatly.

“How come?”

“How to say it… It might sound offensive, but I thought you were running around without eating… Since you are a workaholic.”

“It might ‘sound offensive’, yet you always say what you want anyway.” mumbled Si-Jin as he brought the coffee mug to his lips. Na-Yool looked at the food displayed, meticulously prepared and far from her image of ‘living without eating’, and her face suddenly turned happy.

Thanks to a certain someone, she could barely remember when she last had a proper breakfast or dinner at home. And the fact that the culprit was living so well with a satisfied belly was annoying, but…

“This one is so delicious…!”

“Which?”

“This. The…”

“The young radish kimchi?”

Na-Yool nodded enthusiastically. The food was great, so she felt good. Even the ordinary side dishes were filled with the tasty flavor as can be found at a high-end Korean restaurant. She gulped down what she had been chewing on and continued.

“Yes, that one. Strangely, it even kind of tastes like soybean paste.”

“That’s because it was cooked in some.”

“…Did you make this yourself?”

“Just this one. Did you lose your appetite now that you found out?” asked Si-Jin with a smirk, his chin propped on one hand. Na-Yool shook her head sideways.

“No, it is delicious. Really.”

As though she had nothing to hide, Na-Yool’s emotions showed through her face. Her spoon busily scooped in and out of the small pot. The freshly boiled stew was by far the best dish.

“You should have opened a restaurant instead, you know?”

Instead of bullying innocent people at work. Na-Yool swallowed back the words along with a spoon of stew and glanced at Si-Jin. Setting aside the noxious temper of the cook, this tasty food truly was a blessing.

Si-Jin took a sip of his coffee and replied:

“Sometimes I get tired just from eating.”

“I was thinking it is a waste of your talent.”

“I’m not that good.”

“No, you really…”

“Of course, I’m at least better than you.”

Gone was the unusually and briefly respectful Si-Jin, now back to his good old self! He put down his empty mug. Although said with a pout, Na-Yool confirmed.

“I indeed cannot cook at all.”

“Yeah, you don’t look like you can.”

“…What do you mean?”

“Just as I said. Accept it.”

“……”

It sounded like he had no expectation towards her to begin with and he was right, but she felt offended either way. Although all she had confidence in was nothing else but her design skills…

However, when her mouth was filled once again with the savory food, her mood lifted up.