The movie was a blur to Donghae. Jessica had chose a romantic tearjerker. Even though he would have much rather spend his money on the slapstick comedy, Donghae wasn’t that inept in socialising to insist his preference. Always one to look on the brighter side, he was grateful they weren’t watching that foreign film she seemed keen on in the queue for tickets. The plot was predictable: boy meets girl, they fall in love, their happiness is short-lived when girl or boy gets hit by a speeding car, other party promises never to love at another, etc. These were the kind of shows he watched when he had insomnia at 3am.

Stifling a yawn, he sneaked a look at his companion. The girl was completely engrossed in the movie and it seemed that she was the kind that cried at sad movies – he noticed the handkerchief that she clutched, probably in case she lost her composure during the intense scenes.

When his date first arrived at Kim Ramyeon, all the other males, from Shindong to the boys, did a double take. If you saw Jessica Jung through their eyes, it was as though a gorgeous creature decided to grace their humble establishment, something rarely seen at the restaurant. With her sophisticated demeanour, she looked like a fish out of water perched in perfect posture on a bar stool at the counter. Girls like that were probably more at home at a fancy French restaurant with unpronounceable food names on a proper paper menu. Despite this, Donghae had to give her credit for making the effort, even though he saw that she had been somewhat taken aback when Shindong some octopus right at her. Ki Hwan didn’t believe much in presentation, he used to reason, as along as your food tastes good, no one is going to care much about how it looks. Heechul took a different perspective on this issue, it was little wonder the kitchen saw them engaged in furious spats often when both of them were around. Those were noisy times yet the father and son always made up at the end of the day. Inwardly, he sighed, wondering how to deal with the competition that Ramyeon Go Go would pose.

He had no idea what was happening on onscreen. The lead actor was bawling now although he didn’t recall seeing anyone die yet. His date had not been interested in any popcorn or soda so Donghae felt silly stuffing his face alone – thus ended up forgoing the snack he looked forward to at movies and he had nothing to do with his hands during the movie. She had to maintain her figure - it was an unwritten rule that ballerinas could not have any ounce of fat on their body. That must be a tough life to lead - Donghae enjoyed his food and could not imagine having to restrict himself in any way.

Well, it was a good thing they watched a movie tonight, he thought to himself as they drove in silence after leaving the cinema – he had no idea what to say to Jessica in the truck – they had probably run out of topics from the previous times they met.

“I like the restaurant. Everyone’s like a big family.” Jessica’s attempt to strike a conversation was promising.

“Yes, we are.” Only to have it falter when it came to his reply - it made sense to ask her whether she liked the food, however, he remembered that she barely touched her bowl of ramen. It wasn’t to her liking or it was too much carbohydrates for her?

While he was pondering over this, Jessica brought up something else she was curious about, “Does Amber always drop by like that?”

Amber. The other person, besides Heechul, he didn’t want to think about tonight – he was seriously disturbed by her recent distance. “Yes. Usually she stays for dinner. I’ve no idea what was up today. She was in and out in seconds.”

It was the female intuition and Jessica didn’t have any male friends who were tight with females. When she saw a flicker of emotion flash pass Donghae’s face when Amber was mentioned, she realised she needed to dig more about their relationship. A stranger could tell things weren’t so simple between them, “Amber and you are very close.”

“We’re best friends.” And he didn’t offer more insight. His clenched jaw was an indication that he didn’t want to speak about the topic.

“Are you tired? You seem awfully quiet today.” Jessica was curious, the most he had said today was his reply to her mention of Amber. She liked him despite the lacklustre first date - there was something strong in his silence that was appealing.

“It’s kind of late. I’m usually ready for bed at this time.” Donghae conveniently forgot all those times he had late night drinks with Hyukjae and Amber.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t realise this.” She seemed ready to believe whatever he said.

Releasing a dry laugh, Donghae flicked the signal to indicate the direction the truck was going to turn. “Nah, don’t worry about it. You had to wait for the restaurant to close. I should be the one apologising. It’s tough to have a social life when you are in the food and beverage industry,”

The truck slowed to a crawl. “Thank you oppa,” Taking her time to undo her seatbelt, she lingered, hoping Donghae would say something more – like suggest they meet up again.

However, he didn’t seem to get the hint and simply replied, “Hope you enjoyed the movie. I’ll see you next time.”

His lack of enthusiasm stunned her, just for a second. This reserved ramyeon chef was unlike any other man she had met before, he didn’t seem that keen on her, however, she liked the challenge. She was confident when it came to men – she never failed to snare their hearts and Donghae should not be an exception.

“I hope next time is really soon.” She lowered her voice into a husky whisper and instead of opening the door, angled her body towards Donghae. Putting her face barely an inch away from his, she asked, “Don’t you want to see me again?”

She could see his pupils widened from the sudden movement and made her next move. Placing her lips right on his, she kissed him, hard. When Donghae didn’t react, she pressed against his mouth with more force, only to have his lips part. Good, no one has ever resisted me, Jessica thought to herself as she snuggled close to him with only the stick gear between them.

Despite his apparent disinterest in the girl who was now battling tongues with him, Donghae was still a man and his body worked in such a way that was sometimes disconnected with his mind. Plus, it had been ages since he had some. Take this moment for instance, when his date threw herself on him, his body betrayed him and began to respond to her ministrations – his arms seemed to have developed their own mind and disobediently reached to encircle the girl.

And all of sudden, Amber’s face floated into his conscious, like a ray of guiding light in this haze of physical pleasures. It was amazing, instead of his mother’s disapproving expression that he would have expected during these situations, his best friend was the one who came to mind.

Regaining control of his arms, he removed them from the girl’s body and leaned back so their faces were now apart. The mixture of surprise and disappointment on her facial features was unmistakable.

“You don’t like me?” It was a rude shock to the girl who had never been pushed away by any guy – this was like a virtual slap on the face.

“I don’t usually think about this kind of things.” Donghae was never good at rejecting people, be it the homeless lady who always badgered him for a hand out at the busstop near his house or those bold girls who wrote him notes and gave him cookies at high school. For the former, he just dropped a few coins in her cup and Hyukjae used to get rid of the latter for him. “This seems to be going too fast.” He hoped his gentle tone would pacify Jessica, she looked close to crying or throwing a fit.

Thankfully, the other person seemed satisfied with his explanation, it must have been the half daft look that he had perfected. A sense of relief flowed through his body when she pushed the door open. Perhaps venturing on a date was a lousy idea. Turning on the headlights again, he had to be honest to himself. The distraction of a female had felt like a reprieve from the stress he was currently going through with the restaurant that was practically his entire life. He had no one else who could share his burden, neither did he think it fair for anyone to. Although quite selfishly, he had been hurt with Amber’s absence, he could always count on her for support and yet had to admit he had gone overboard when he snapped at her for helping him pay his bills. She probably didn’t realise this but he missed her badly.

He ended up driving to Amber’s apartment building and parking along the road where he could see her bedroom window without getting out of the truck. Killing the engine, he saw that the faint glow of her nightlight was still on. This meant that she was getting ready for bed, he could just picture the scene in his head – Amber going about her night time routine in her bedroom. That girl really stuck to her routines, funny she wasn’t annoyed about missing dinner at Kim Ramyeong. It was almost 3am, he was sure Amber would punch him if he paid her a visit so late. He stayed in the driver’s seat, just looking at the light, his mind blank, until she finally switched it off.

 [Eight years ago]

He had rushed over to the Liu residence as soon as he could after the restaurant closed for the day. It was unusual for him to receive a call from Nara, occasionally he was the go-to person when Amber’s whereabouts were unknown. Amber’s mother had been waiting for him and the young punk was nowhere to be seen. A storm had just blown through the living room and now there was an eerie peace that engulfed the atmosphere.

“Please help me Donghae. Please help talk sense into her. I can’t possibly let her live alone in Korea when I’m going to move to the States.” Nara had explained, wringing her hands tearfully.

So Nara’s boyfriends had finally asked for her hand. Donghae learnt that Bruce requested for Nara to relocate to LA. Her daughter had no objection to the union yet only had one condition of her own – she wanted to stay in Korea. Nothing Nara had said, cajoled, threatened, pleaded would make her change her mind. Amber stuck to her ground. She didn’t want to interfere in the soon-to-be-married couple’s life new and she had no desire to start her life anew in a foreign land. Nara refused to let her daughter have her way.

“She’s still a minor for god’s sake!” The older woman sighed. “Amber’s more stubborn than her father.”

Falling into the armchair, Nara implored, albeit a touch dramatic, “She’s inside her room.” The mother was at her wits’ end – she had not intended to reveal all this to an outsider yet deep down, she recognised how Donghae had more persuading power when it came to her own daughter than herself and had no choice but to turn to the apprentice chef yet again.

Amber didn’t have the habit of locking her door, no matter how much privacy she craved. Her mother was highly strung and would turn hysterical at the slightest provocation. He opened the door. The girl sat in her roller chair looking out of the window with her back to the door.

“So, she finally called you.” The 15 year old spoke before Donghae could – she had the uncanny ability to sniff out the man’s presence even when she couldn’t see him. “She can forget about it. There’s no way in hell I’m moving to the States with her.”

Spinning around so she now faced him, the teenager gave the intruder a wry smile. He sat on the edge of her bed, holding his arms out for a hug he thought she needed. Instead, with a hand, she pushed him flat onto the mattress.

“Why don’t you want to go? Everyone wants to live in America. And Nara’s your mother.” She wasn’t in the mood for the emotional approach, so he went for the rational one.

Her fingers brushed the offending bangs out of her eyes and she stared straight at Donghae. “There’s nothing for me in LA. Only my mother. But she doesn’t need me and I don’t need her. Bruce loves her and that’s more than enough. I’ll go crazy having to start over again being the new kid there.” Nara didn’t understand her daughter and her manner of loving her was suffocating to the girl.

“I’m independent. I’ve practically been living my own life since she’s been off in her own lala land with Bruce.” The girl stated her case. “Besides, I can’t leave you. You are my family.” Her eyes were clear with determination and Donghae realised that whatever he said, he would be hitting a wall. The consequences of Nara’s marriage was becoming clear to him – the huge gap that would be in his life with Amber’s potential departure was something he had not reckoned. Now as he thought seriously about it, he attempted to disguise his relief - she was practically part of him.

“Your mother’s going to go mad.” He commented when she flopped onto the bed next to him.

She stared at the ceiling and muttered at his obvious statement. “The woman already did.”

“How do you feel about her getting married?”

“It’s good that he finally put a ring on it. She likes to have a proper status.” Nara didn’t like to be labelled a widow, yet she took more offence to being someone else’s girlfriend when she had a child. Amber too, had no idea how her mother’s mind worked. Her father had now faded to a wisp in her memory – it was sad - as though Nara too had died along with him and the current Nara was someone else – she had lost both parents when her father passed away. For a long while, she had dealt with being the strange foreign outsider at school. She was a very strong girl, and managed to get through life, not only in a new place without any of her childhood memories but also devoid of the parental love she had back in Taipei. Despite all this and the six-year age difference, she found her rock in Donghae.

“Hae, remember that lullaby that you used to sing to me when I was a kid?”

There was a nod from the man.

“Sing it to me again.” Donghae was surprised – lately, the teenager had been going through the rebellious adolescent phase where they insisted on being treated like adults, instead of in-between, and shunned him whenever he babied her. So she wasn’t that tough.

He obliged. As the words of the children’s song slowly tumbled out of his mouth, the girl shut her eyes and held his hand tightly. Squeezing her hand back, he hoped the girl knew that she would never be alone, as long as he was around.