"Bleh" Soojin scrunched up her face as she looked at the menu for the day. The menu consisted of meat cooked up in foreign herbs that smelled like medicine and some weird looking vegetables. The dorm established Friday to be 'Healthy Food Day'. As much as the girl wants to live healthy despite the limited budget as a student away from home, the food just looked and smelled ultra unappetizing. 

The first few Fridays she spent in the dorm ended up with her drinking coffee for dinner or at best, a cup of instant ramyeon. The dorm's plan definitely backfired, especially for picky eaters like Soojin. Despite the fact, she always told herself that 'Independent girls must eat proper to keep healthy' and she was going to prove it by not drinking coffee on empty stomach or anymore cup ramyeon on any Friday. So, she made it a personal mission of the day to find a cheap, and hopefully nice, eating place near her living quarters. 

It had been almost a month the Daegu girl came to Seoul for school. It's been long enough yet she has not make it a point to explore the area surrounding her school and dormitory simply because the dorm was actually pretty nice and conducive. Well, except for the meal every Friday. 

The area was pretty tranquil on the Friday evening, as expected from a school area. A few small shops selling school essentials dotted along the street. As she walked further into an alley, more houses can be seen. At the first intersection, a small traditional bistro finally caught her eyes. It was a Chinese Noodle House, specializing at Wanton Noodle. The price was good too! Friendly enough for her almost-always-almost-empty wallet. 

"Please, let this be a good one" she chanted before finally making her entrance into the small venue. 

 

 

As soon as she stepped in, she was bombarded with the scent of chicken stock and flour. Seemed legit. Quite a few people were also seated, as far as one can see, enjoying their own preferred food. 

Soon enough, a woman in her forties approached Soojin and took down her order. She ordered a bowl of wanton noodle for herself, a practical choice minding the fact that this particular restaurant specialized in the chosen delicacy. 

Constant attacks from the heavenly smell of the food did not help appease her grumbling stomach. But, in less than 5 minutes, the much anticipated dish was finally presented to the very hungry Soojin. At last, a proper meal on a Friday!

She quickly poured all the broth in the small bowl into the larger one containing her noodles and wantons. Her chopsticks movement was fast too, trying to mix the sauce with the broth quickly. Just as she was to take her first bite, someone appeared before her. Mark, one of the very few foreign students in her school and also one of her seniors living in the dorm, stood before her carrying his own two bowls. 

"May I sit here?" he questioned the female. 

"Yeah, sure" she offered with a polite smile. 

 

Soojin noticed something about the way Mark enjoyed his wanton noodles. His motions showed routine, he did not even need to think about his rather unique steps. He picked out all the stems of the vegetable and put them in the smaller bowl. He then proceeded by putting three spoons of the broth into the noodle to dilute the sauce. 

"Why do you that?" she asked. 

"You should try it the next time you come here, then you'll know" he suggested with a glint in his eyes, looking much like a child who succeeded asking his parents for sweets. 

 

 

True enough, the girl came back to the same restaurant the following week. The same woman peered at her with a hint of recognition. "Are you here for another bowl of wanton noodle?" she asked. 

"Ah, yes please!" Soojin quickly answered. 

Not long after that, Mark took a seat in front of her. When did he come?! The girl didn't even realize the arrival of the senior as she was lost in a daze. 

"Are you here to try eating the noodles my way?" he inquired, Soojin just nodded quietly in response. Just in a beat, the woman quickly served two bowls of noodle in front of them. They muttered a 'thank you' to the owner of the small restaurant and Mark immediately did his magic to his own noodles, Soojin copying him step by step. 

As soon as the girl tried the first bite, she understood the reason her senior did the extra work. The taste of the sauce was strong with just 3 spoons of broth, not overwhelming yet not too diluted like hers the previous week. The scrumptious wantons tasted even more amazing with a thicker coat of the sauce. Mark chuckled at the sight of her widening eyes, she looked like a toddler getting her first savory meal. 

"Now you know, right?" he grinned at her. "It's pretty convenient too. I won't mistakenly eat the stem part, I hate it as much as I hate Friday dorm food" he stated. 

She smiled back at him, understanding fully his predicament. It was good that he stumbled upon her last week, if not she would not discover the full blown awesomeness of the cheap wanton noodle, and the fact that she's not the only one who despised the supposedly healthy food. Heck, she was not even sure that the vegetable on Fridays were fresh, they looked sickly. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The weeks went on and the two kept meeting up at the same noodle house. The owner did not even need to ask what their orders were anymore. It was always the same old cheap wanton noodle. The ice between them broke too as they started to talk about school and many other mundane things. And soon the run-of-the-mill talks become getting to know each other sessions, their family, hobbies and everything else under the sun. The weekly rendezvous quickly became a habit of theirs, in just 2 months the two decided to just go there together. It was simply a silent agreement that they made without even being aware of it. Sometimes one or two friends would come along, sick of the unpalatable dorm food. Friday evenings became a Get Together Day for them, instead of the daunting Healthy Food Day. 

But as they said, good things don't last. 

"You know that summer is approaching, right?"  Soojin just hummed in response.

"You know that it means I'm graduating soon, right?" at the word 'graduate' her eyebrows quirked up. "Your point is?" she fired the question back at Mark. 

"This is the last 15 Fridays that we can do this…" he answered sullenly.

"Then, let's not miss any of these Fridays, yeah?" she wrapped her smaller hands on his, in the hopes that it offered some kind of comfort and assurance to the graduating senior. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The 15 weeks flew by, the season has changed and so were the situations. While Soojin was back in school, Mark was already enrolled in a university in Seoul. 40km never felt so far, even Daegu felt nearer for the lass. They were both still in the vicinity of Seoul, yet his absence during Friday dinner left a gaping hole larger than their distance in Soojin's heart. She couldn't even remember how it felt like without Mark. And the Hong Kong guy who happened to follow her that day to the restaurant did not help her forget the void in her heart and mind. 

"Dayum, you actually still eat it like Mark hyung!" the fencer stated boldly.

"No, I always finish the soup. He doesn't" she answered while lazily poking the noodles in her bowl. 

 

That day, she promised that she would find another place to eat on Fridays. 

 

 

 

And yet, she found herself standing in front of the all too familiar noodle house the next week. Her feet automatically brought her to the very doorstep that she has been visiting for more than 60 weeks. Sighing, the girl made her way into the bistro. The owner's face lighted up upon seeing her loyal customer and hurriedly went to the kitchen to make Soojin's noodle. The lass then proceeded to sit at her usual spot, or what used to be their usual spot. Letting out yet another long sigh, she took out her phone to kill time. 

Mrs Jung, the owner of the bistro, appeared with Soojin's wanton noodle just a second after Soojin cleared a level on Candy Crush. 

"Cheer up, yeah?" Mrs Jung offered a kind smile to the seemingly glum girl. 

"Ah, yes. Thank you Mrs Jung!" Soojin tried to respond as cheerful as possible. 

"And enjoy your noodles, as always" she threw another smile before walking back to her spot at the cashier counter. 

Habitually, Soojin sorted out the vegetable stems in her bowl. Another pair of chopsticks appeared out of the blue, helping her remove the last piece of stem. Slowly but surely, she traced her sight along the limb of the chopstick holder, and finally to his face. 

"Mark?!" she gaped at the male before her. "How…? When… ? Why…?" his sudden arrival got her tongue tied. She couldn't even think up a proper question to ask him! Mark just snickered seeing her reactions. 

"Your campus is pretty far from this place! What are you doing here?" an extra 5 seconds finally allowed her to untangle the nonexistent knot in her tongue. 

 

"I missed you" he gazed softly at his noodle buddy. Those three words sent a rush of blood to Soojin's cheeks. 

"And the distance doesn't matter as long as I can see you"

---

Author's notes: 

I hope you liked the story :) 

I hoped that the story would be a tad bit longer, but I guess this wasn't so bad either?

Do leave a comment and give me a piece of your thoughts about this oneshot. They are much appreciated because it's a way that I can improve my future stories :) 

PS. Upvotes are much appreciated too, if you really do like the fic anyways~