five: potato with vinegar flavor I

I felt like I was being into the Amazon with no rations. This jungle of a market was littered with people, fruits, rice, and hello, more people. I undoubtedly clung to the end of Kris’s shirt, feeling like a total idiot for doing so but I couldn’t help it. This was insane.

I’m starting to grow a slight fear of markets. Marketophobia. If that’s even a word.

“What are you doing?” He turned his head and his eyes grazed down to my hand at the end of his shirt.

“Nothing.” I immediately replied, not looking at anything but at his face. He turned his attention back to me and a slow smirk graced his lips.

“Aw~ are you scared~?” He asked, cooing like a mother. It made me sick.

“No!” I gasped, exasperatingly but my hand didn’t leave his shirt. “Just..! Just move already!” I said, pushing him on the back with my other hand. He laughed before he started walking, with me tailing behind him, my hand still latched onto his shirt.

Kris walked along as if he was the king of the jungle, and it almost seemed like that as several people turned their heads from their work to greet him. He felt like an idol. An idol in a market. The Market Idol.

“Oh, Yifan!” One of them, an ahjumma waved her hand at him, calling him over. “How are you?”

Kris suddenly turned to her direction and I at last, lost my hold on his shirt. I gasped, panicking, thinking that I would be swept away in the river of coconuts that had just passed by. “Kris!” I called out, chasing after him.

“Hello, ahjumma.” Kris greeted, his voice soothing and gentle. I could feel the hairs at the back of my neck shoot up. The ahjumma blushed a little.

“How have you been?” She asked, extending out a hand. Kris took it like a gentleman.

“Fine, thanks for asking.” Kris replied with a smile – which leads me to think that it’s probably the first time I’ve seen him smile. It kind of looks good. Wait, what am I thinking?

“That’s good~” The ahjumma nodded, smiling. Her old eyes turned to me and smiled. “Oh! You brought a friend with you today! That’s rare!”

I perked up as she noticed me but Kris replied, “Don’t be silly, ahjumma. He’s my student.”

Student! I dropped my cheery grin and glared holes at his back. The ahjumma let out a little gasp as her eyes widened, “Student? I didn’t know you teach, Yifan.”

Yeah. Me neither.

Kris let out a soft smile and chuckle, “It’s only for a short time. It’s part my apprenticeship.”

Oh, sorry for being your extra baggage, Mr. Holy Grail.

I began to grumble unpleasantly behind his back, earning a little curious stare from the ahjumma again. “Oh my, is your student sick?” She asked.

I blinked and was about to correct her but Kris got ahead of me, “Slightly. He’s had LBM before, you see.”

I blushed. Jerk! Idiot! Creep! How dare you say something like that to this innocent ahjumma?! I mentally pictured myself slapping Kris on the back with one of the fishes I saw hanging nearby. A nice thick and wet aquatic vertebrae sounds like a good weapon of choice for me right now.

The ahjumma gave a gentle laugh, “Oh, is that so?” She turned to me, “Well, be careful with what you eat. You can have Yifan here cook you something up. He’s a really good cook.”

“I don’t deserve such a thing, ahjumma.” Kris smiled an almost prince-like smile that caused the ahjumma to laugh again with a little blush on her cheeks. In fact, I was somewhat entranced by that smile and then I had to step on my foot because I was not about to admit to myself that I found Kris’s smile gorgeous (although, it really is).

After bidding goodbye to the ahjumma, we continued the adventure. I followed Kris in the market as he squeezed his way along the way with complete ease. I had to put a little more effort than he was which was an absolute pain in the—

“Kris, slow down.” I called out to him as he was a few steps away from me. I was afraid I was going to get swept away by the crowd.

“You’re really slow, come on.” He said, a hand in his pocket as he was taking out a piece of paper. He unfolded it and handed it to me. There was a list of ingredients on it and I ogled at it for a while.

“What is all this?”

“Ingredients for your next dish.” He said, flapping the paper lightly over my face. “Take it. I want you to cross out the ingredient when we get it.”

“What?” I pouted. “Why don’t you do that yourself?”

“Listen to your teacher.” He smirked and I really regretted not getting that fish earlier.

“You really have a knack for annoying people, don’t you?” I said, taking the paper nonetheless.

“People?” He raised an eyebrow, looking off into the distance as if he was searching for something. “I thought I was talking to an animal.”

Bastard! I gritted my teeth as I glared at the piece of paper in my hands. “What am I cooking anyway?”

“Can’t you tell by the list of ingredients?”

“Uh, no. That’s why I’m asking.” I gave him a deadpan look. He returned it with a scoff.

“Do your research.”

Bastard!

He caught sight of my evil glare and shook his head, “I really pity that little brain of yours, you haven’t been feeding it properly with nutritious food, haven’t you?”

What! He’s not only insulting me but my brain?! “Kris..!”

“We’re making potato with vinegar flavor today.” He  continued to walk as I lagged behind him. “It’s a healthy vegetable dish that’ll help with blood pressure and prevent blockages in the arteries.”

Huh… he actually thought about a dish that’s beneficial for my health. Well, at least if I cook it right.

“Maybe it’ll help deal with your demonic expression.” He turned around and smirked. “Clogged arteries is bad, right?”

I widened my eyes before sticking my tongue out at him. “I don’t have clogged arteries!”

“Sure you do.” He waved a hand and motioned for me to come closer to him as he stopped in front one stall. I stomped my way to him and pouted, standing right next to him as he glanced over what looked like a bunch of green stuff.

“What?” I snapped.

“We’re picking our green onions here.” He said.