“Hey, wh-what…. You say something like that out of nowhere. No, that’s not the problem…. Haah, do you even know what you’re saying right now?”
Seeing Jaehee excitedly firing off words in rapid succession, Jeongwoo chuckled.
When Jaehee got flustered and excited, he would pour out words without even breathing like this, but when he truly disliked something, he’d clam up like a shellfish. Knowing even these small habits of Jaehee’s, Jeongwoo only found the excited Jaehee cute. Moreover, his face flushed bright red didn’t look like someone who disliked it at all.
“Ah, Jaehee, I’m sorry. I was too tactless. I should rent out a nice restaurant with 100 red roses and a ring….”
“Hey! St-stop it! Re-really. What’s with you…. Are you getting revenge because I teased you about the college entrance exam?”
Jeongwoo actually hadn’t thought as far as a proposal event, but seeing Jaehee’s reaction made him think he should set aside a day to do it. Just hearing about it made him turn bright red with such distaste, so if he actually did the event, it would probably be even cuter.
Well, to his eyes, Jaehee would look cute no matter what he did.
“Jaehee, who would get revenge and tease with something like this? I’m always sincere when it comes to you.”
Jaehee was flustered by Jeongwoo’s serious answer and quickly turned his head away. But even without looking, Jeongwoo felt like he knew Jaehee’s expression. His face would be flushed red with embarrassment and apology, lips moving wordlessly. Jeongwoo grinned at the ticklish feeling in his heart and approached Jaehee, wrapping his arm around his shoulder.
“Hey, don’t do that.”
Though he poked his ribs with his elbow telling him not to, Jaehee didn’t particularly remove Jeongwoo’s arm. Jeongwoo smiled inwardly, finding such a Jaehee cute. When he got close to Jaehee, there was a sweet smell. Sometimes when he approached Jaehee, he would give off this sweet scent. Jeongwoo wanted to eat something sweet even though he didn’t like sweet things. No, maybe what he wanted to eat was something else.
“Hey, Shin Jaehee. What’s so embarrassing? Hm? Are you embarrassed that I like you?”
“Hey! No, it’s not that…. Woo Jeongwoo, you’re way thicker-skinned than I thought. Other people usually aren’t as thick-skinned as you, you know?”
“Mm. Well, after going through various things, I learned that I don’t really care about other people.”
“What kind of things did you go through…. Urk.”
Jaehee suddenly frowned at a headache that seemed to pierce his temples. He’d been getting these headaches frequently lately.
“What’s wrong? Does it hurt? Want to go to the hospital?”
“It’s fine. You keep saying weird things, so I’m getting a headache.”
“Weird things? I’m being serious. And what I said earlier about living together, it’s not a joke, so think about it carefully.”
“…What you said earlier was real? You really did coins and stocks?”
“Yeah.”
“Hey! What were you going to do if you went bankrupt? This kid has no fear.”
“Well, I did it behind my parents’ backs, so if I’d lost money, I would’ve just kept quiet about it. Besides, I’ve already made enough, so I was planning to wash my hands of it anyway. That’s why I’m buying a house now.”
“Hey, what did a minor do, and how much!”
“We’re not minors, Jaehee. That’s why we can do that kind of thing, hmm, that stuff too, right?”
In an instant, Jaehee’s face turned so red it seemed impossible for it to get any redder.
Jaehee looked at Jeongwoo and opened his mouth several times as if to say something, then firmly shut it.
“Huh? Shin Jaehee! Shin Jaehee! Where are you going? Let’s go together! And I’m serious about living together? I actually already bought a house! Hey! Shin Jaehee!”
Jaehee shook off Jeongwoo’s arm and walked away quickly. Jeongwoo belatedly noticed that Jaehee was upset and hurriedly followed, but the distance between them didn’t close easily.
And some time later, before full-fledged summer began, Jaehee moved into Jeongwoo’s apartment.
* * *
“Hey, you’re really not going to make me do anything?”
“Of course! Why would I ask you to live with me to make you do things? Don’t worry. I’ll take care of everything.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I’ll do all the cooking, dishes, and housework, so Jaehee, you just need to live here.”
Before moving in, Jaehee had put his foot down, saying he wasn’t going to do anything. Each time, Jeongwoo had confidently insisted it was fine, but it wasn’t very convincing. The Woo Jeongwoo he remembered was someone completely far from having any domestic skills.
But when he actually moved in, Jeongwoo really was taking care of everything. On the day Jaehee moved in, Jeongwoo even cooked and served him a meal. Sweet and sour pork, no less. If he hadn’t seen him frying it himself, he wouldn’t have believed it.
On the day Jaehee moved in, his stepmother and Yiyeong came together, and everyone was shocked. Yiyeong especially said it was delicious and ate two whole bowls.
After telling Jaehee he’d bought a house, Jeongwoo really did move to an apartment where you could see the Han River. Even just a Seoul apartment would have been surprising enough, but seeing that the apartment Jeongwoo bought was in a famous wealthy district, Jaehee had a strong reality check. And on top of that, Woo Jeongwoo owned multiple properties. Besides the apartment by the Han River, he had more houses.
At this point, it seemed like instead of teasing Jeongwoo for not going to college, Jaehee should be the one getting teased for going to college.
“I’ll make you a delicious lunch right away, so Jaehee, just watch TV or something. Lunch is sujebi, which you like.”
“Sujebi? You know how to make sujebi too?”
“I kneaded the dough to make it for lunch, did you think I was joking?”
“Hey, Woo Jeongwoo. Are you trying to become a chef or something? Is that kneaded dough thing real?”
“Sujebi dough isn’t hard. I’ve got the broth simmering now, so it won’t take 30 minutes.”
“Wow…. This is really driving me crazy. I thought my stepmother was good at cooking, but honestly, you seem better. Yiyeong ate so much of the sweet and sour pork you made on the day I moved that she had to take digestive medicine when she got home. But even after that, she says she wants to eat it again and asks if she can come over every time I call her.”
“Tell her to come over. If Yiyeong comes, next time I’ll fry pork cutlet for her. She seems to like fried food.”
“You’re going to make pork cutlet from scratch too?”
At Jaehee’s question, Jeongwoo, neatly wearing an apron, smirked with a confident and arrogant expression.
“Of course. That much is nothing. I’m even going to put cheese inside.”
“Yiyeong will be so happy she’ll dance. You’re super popular with Yiyeong these days. She likes you more than me.”
“Yiyeong knows how to pick men.”
Watching Jeongwoo disappear into the kitchen carrying the sujebi dough, Jaehee burst into laughter.
Even until last year, he couldn’t have imagined things would turn out like this with Jeongwoo. It had only been a little over a year, but everything felt so distant.
He’d thought he’d had a one-sided crush on Jeongwoo for a long time, but at some point when he came to his senses, the one courting was actually Jeongwoo. How did it end up like this?
Jaehee sneakily stole glances at Jeongwoo busily moving around in the kitchen. The apron suited his large frame quite well. Given his size and good physique, he looked less like a housewife and more like a hotel chef.
“Jaehee.”
“Yeah?”
“I hope our child is a cute girl like Yiyeong.”
“Huh? What are you saying?”
“Yiyeong’s cute. Seeing Yiyeong makes me want a daughter. Then I’ll brush her hair every day and braid it into princess hair. I’ll even knit her knit dresses to wear.”
He was about to scold him for saying something foolish, but then imagining Jeongwoo holding a pretty little girl, he closed his mouth. If she resembled Jeongwoo, she couldn’t help but be pretty. He did want to see a child who resembled Jeongwoo too.
“You know how to knit too?”
“I’ll learn. So you give birth to the baby.”
“No way! If we’re going to have one, you give birth.”
“Can’t do that. You can’t knit or cook. So you have to give birth. And babies should be born by the mom.”
“What are you saying? Why am I the mom!”
Jeongwoo, holding a ladle, peeked his face out from the kitchen.
“Huh? Shin Jaehee-ssi, you don’t know why? So the dad’s thingy goes into the mom’s….”
“Hey!”
When Jaehee yelled with a bright red face, Woo Jeongwoo quickly hid in the kitchen. And soon, an appetizing smell began to fill the air.
“Jaehee! The sujebi is done!”
It was unfortunate timing that the sujebi was completed just when he was about to get angry. But just smelling it made his mouth water, so he missed the timing to get angry.
In the end, Jaehee ate a bowl of sujebi in an instant and let out a sigh.
“Fine. I’ll be the one to get pregnant, so you do the cooking.”
“Hey, is that for real?”
“With cooking like this, I think I should be the one to get pregnant. I’ll be the mom, so you be the dad.”
“Okay. It’s a deal.”
Jaehee thought about Yiyeong and roughly nodded his head. It wasn’t like he was really going to give birth, so he figured he’d just play along. It wasn’t the first or second time Jeongwoo had made frivolous jokes.
“Fine. But no preference for sons or daughters, just have one and raise them well.”
“Just one? My dream is to make a soccer team. How great is it to have siblings? Look at Yiyeong. You’re happy to have Yiyeong too, right?”
Jaehee paused for a moment. Well, thinking about Yiyeong, two did seem better than one. Although Yiyeong was a niece-level younger sister, he’d received help from Yiyeong several times.
Huh…? But what kind of help…?
“Let’s have as many kids as possible, Jaehee. I’ll earn lots of money. I’ll do all the raising too. I’m an only child, so it’s always been my wish to give my kids lots of siblings.”
“Ha, well. Sure, sure. If it happens, we’ll have them.”
Jaehee looked at the empty sujebi bowl with eyes full of regret and nodded his head.
Yeah, well. If it’s Jeongwoo’s wish, what’s so hard about saying we’ll have a few more.
“You promised, okay? And let me say again, I like daughters.”
“Mm…, thinking about it, I like sons too.”
“Sons?”
“If they resemble you, Jeongwoo, I think sons would be good too.”
Actually, if they resemble you, I’d like anything. Jaehee swallowed the rest of that thought.
