HyukJae POV

The flavor of freshly fried Kimchi was in the air. The delicious smell hovered around my nose and made my mouth watery. With relish I closed my eyes and focused solely on my sense of smell. The smell and the thought of the promising smelling food made my stomach grumble shortly.

The fat in the pan hissed loudly as another ingredient was added to the already cooked mass. I opened my eyes as soon as that threatening sound came to my ears and stared in the direction from which the sound had come from. My body tensed up as I tried to get an overview of the kitchen. When my eyes found their way to the quietly working person in the kitchen, I immediately started to relax again. DongHae.
Without wanting it, my eyes got stuck on the young brown-haired man and intently watched every one of his movements.

A shrill sound suddenly clang and tore my attention away from him. Not long, however, and my eyes had found their way back to him again. He quickly turned off the annoying noise and then devoted himself to a large pot, which he had been ignoring for the past twenty minutes. He carefully looked into the steaming vessel and held a small wooden lid into the air in order to take a look at the things that were steaming in the cooking pot. Apparently the sight seemed to please him, because immediately a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

He hurriedly lifted up the plate that he had put next to the pot when he started cooking and moved his attention back to the contents of the pot. I watched as he gently put his hand into the pot. Without hesitation I jumped from my seat at the bar to prevent him from implementing his plan into reality. However, I was too late. Only a few milliseconds after I bustled up to him, I heard him cry out in pain and immediately pulled his hand out of the steaming pot. I quickly grabbed his hand and pulled him with me to the sink to cool the burning pain down with cold water.

"It's alright. Thank you", I heard DongHae say softly as he withdrew his hand from me.
Indignant, I shook my head. "Why didn't you take a spoon? You wouldn't have... "
"If you're fast enough you don't burn your fingers. The steam is the problem. I'll be more careful. Promised", DongHae said while grabbing a nearby spoon. He tried to turn around to get to the pot again, but I beat him to it. I quickly took the spoon from him and leaned over the pot. With big eyes I looked at the perfectly shaped Mandus in the small wood basket in the pot. When I noticed that next to me DongHae tried to shoo me away, I started to shovel the huge dumplings out of the small wooden baskets as soon as possible. It didn't take long until the entire content was on the plate, which I had previously also snapped from DongHae.

Triumphantly I grinned at DongHae and held him the plate of steaming hot Mandus under his nose. However, he didn't seem very happy about my sudden urge to help him. Nevertheless, he took the plate from me and put it on the dining counter behind him.
"The Kimchi pancakes should be ready soon", he said which was a more then a clear order to leave the kitchen again. First I wanted to contradict him and offer to help him even with the rest of the work, but his eyes told me that he wouldn't accept my help. Sighing, I gave up and went back to my place behind the counter to watch him cook from there.

DongHae wasn't lying. Not long after he made me leave the kitchen he put a pale of freshly prepared pancakes next to the Mandu's. Despite the delicious-looking food in front of me, my gaze remained on the dishes next to me. Since DongHae had been busy cooking, I had set the table.
Nervously, I started watching him. He hesitated. I expected that he would take the dishes on him and put them to the place on the counter that was the furthest away from me, but DongHae didn't seem to be sure what he should do right now. Softly he bit his lower lip and then slowly nodded to himself before he pulled away the stool next to me on the counter and sat down on it. My breath caught. My heart began to beat faster from one second to the other. Had he really just sat down next to me? I quickly blinked, but the image before my eyes did not change. Without meaning to, the corner of my lips moved upward and formed a happy smile.

DongHae took his chopsticks to grab one of the Mandus, but stopped in mid-motion when he noticed that I was staring at him.
"Can you please stop doing that! I don't like it when people are staring at me", he asked. A soft red glow appeared around his nose area.
His words brought me immediate back to the here and now. I nodded quickly and turned my attention to the food in front of me. I also quickly took my metal chopsticks to hand and was about to grab one of Mandus when I noticed out of the corner of my eye that DongHae wanted to grab one of the Mandus too. I immediately stopped in my tracks and let the brown-haired select the first Mandu.

He briefly hesitated again, but soon one of the dumplings stuck between the chopsticks and he smiled happy while looking at it. Satisfied with himself, he took a small bite of it and closed his eyes gleefully. Although he had previously pointed out to me that he didn't like it when I stare at him, I simply couldn't help myself to watch him from the side and admire him. Unconsciously I slowly let my chopsticks sink until they accidentally hit against the edge of a plate. At the unfamiliar sound DongHae opened his eyes and looked directly at me.

"Aren't you hungry?", he asked while putting his head slightly askew when he noticed that I hadn't touched neither the Mandus nor the pancakes.
"N-No, no. I'm very hungry", I immediately said and grabbed after a Mandu and bit off a huge piece of it to confirm my words. I don't know if it was because he had made those Mandus by himself, but I could have sworn that this was the best Mandu I've ever eaten in my entire life.

Insecure bit DongHae his lower lip nervously while watching me from the side. His eyes wandered restlessly over my face. As his eyes met mine he instantly seemed to notice that I had been watching him from the corner of my eye and turned his attention back to the food in front of him. A soft smile crept on my face as I watched how he shyly grabbed one of the pancakes and bit off a huge piece of it.

"Where did you learn that?", I asked while holding the half-eaten Mandu in the air.
DongHae raised his eyes from his plate and looked first at the Mandu and then at me. His shoulders sagged in visibly and also the previous joy of the food seemed to be completely gone by now.
"Don't you like it?", he sadly asked as he let his head hang low and began to poke his pancake with his chopsticks. Because of his poking his pancake soon was parted into several small pieces. Slowly I put my hand on his and stopped him to further dismember his pancakes. For a short time he let my hand linger on his, but that moment didn't take long. He violently yanked his hand back from me when he realized what he had just allowed. Shyly his eyes darted briefly to me but immediately took them off of me again, when he noticed that I still was looking at him.

"This is probably the best Mandu I've ever eaten", I honestly admitted and realized how my words instantly brightened the mood of the young man.
DongHae looked carefully at me. I gave him a wide smile before I stuffed the rest of the half-eaten Mandu into my mouth.
On DongHae's face appeared a gentle smile before he devoted himself to the previously fragmented pancakes and tried to pinch the little sponge-like pieces between his chopsticks.
"Where have you been learning to cook like this? Are your parents working in a restaurant?", I curiously asked as I was reaching for my next Mandu.
DongHae froze when he heard my question. After a little while he shook his head hastily and turned himself to face me.
"A friend of my family runs a small Mandu shop in Mokpo. When I was younger I helped them out a few times. In my last year of high school, I even worked there regularly", he told me hurriedly to be able to focus on his pancakes again. While he spoke, a small smile appeared on his face, but his eyes had spoken another language. Was I mistaken, or was in them a slight veil of sadness visible? Is he missing his old home so much?

"Do you miss your family a lot?", I asked after a while of silence.
With sorrow I noticed how DongHae took a Mandu from the dish, tucking it into his mouth and then nodded vigorously. I already knew his answer before he had nodded and yet it saddened me to see how the light veil of sadness in his eyes became clearly visible now. Was being here with me really that bad for him?

As DongHae noticed that I was watching him again, he looked up at me and tried to force a smile. A project that was already doomed to failure from the beginning. I sighed.
"If you want we can go visit them", I said, hoping to cheer him somewhat with this proposal, but contrary to my expectations no joy spread out on his face. Hastily DongHae turned away from me and slowly shook his head. His eyes began to glisten.
"Don't you want to see them? I don't mind to drive you...", I began, but immediatel