nine: yakbap

Never in my wildest imaginations did I imagine myself to be kissing my teacher. I mean, that is probably the last thing in my bucket list if I ever have one. But right now, it’s happening... and to make things even more ironic, it’s with the person I thought I would never come to like.

Kris wrapped his arms around my waist, still seated on his stool as I stood between his legs, my whole body totally surrendering to this moment. I found myself leaning against him and eyeing his ear which for some strange reason, reminded me of one of those shrimps on the plate. Was it because of the shape? The way the body part slightly curves in that certain way..? I my lower lip before repeating the action to my mentor’s fleshy structure. He tensed at the contact before I heard him chuckle at my actions, I could feel the vibration of his laughter as I leaned closer against his chest.

“What are you doing?” He hummed, caressing my hips as if he was molding a clay pot for fermenting kimchi. “The giraffe really is hungry.”

“I’m not—“ I stopped abruptly and grunted, one of his hands somehow finding their way to one of my cheeks. He was moving his hand around like he was massaging doe. I mentally cursed at the pleasure I was feeling. “L-Leave me alone!” I gasped, finally pushing myself away from him. I tried to catch my breath as I tried to forget the feel of his hand around my bum. It wasn’t helping though that he was still looking at me.

Finally, he left his chair, bent down to pick mine off the floor and put it back to where it should be. He turned around to face me and graced me with another crooked smile, “Like I said, dinner’s getting cold.”

I blushed, turning to get on my chair when my arm brushed against his. I paused and looked back up at him. His gaze hasn’t left me at all which made me all the more intrigued at the sudden turn of events. I grabbed his apron and pulled him close to me, kissing him. When I pushed him back, his eyes were wide. I simpered at him, “Happy?”

He smirked, one eye creasing as he lifted his eyebrow – impressed at my move, maybe? “You could say.” He sat back on his chair, chuckling. “So you can learn just from watching alone.”

I turned red once more at his statement and sat back down. We shared another set of glancing before resuming dinner, the shrimp fried rice still waiting for us to eat them all up.

After dinner, he set aside our plates to clean them up. I found myself in his living room, feeling very satisfied at that delicious dinner (and I’m not just talking about the kissing, but yeah, you could count that in too). I was watching some random show about Chinese mythology – about a dragon and the phoenix on his fabulous wall-mounted TV. Damn, he could afford something like this? Somehow, I feel a little envious of his place, eyes glancing around every few minutes or so as I jealously hugged one of his sofa pillows. Then, he came back around carrying a tray of two cups of tea and two plates of nutty brown balls. I raised my eyebrow at him and he smirked.

“Yakbap.” He said, answering my silent question. “It’s a Korean dessert, don’t you know?”

“Oh~” I glowed, finally relieved to see something Korean from him. I scooted forwards to the edge of the sofa and leaned towards my plate. There were three balls of the glutinous rice and I could clearly smell the brown sugar, chestnuts and cinnamon from them. I grinned, taking the small dessert fork and stabbing one poor ball before popping it in my mouth. I blushed at the sweet taste and the gooey-ness of the dish; the honey from the dessert just exploding in my mouth. “Good~” Well, I seem to have lost my reservations about complimenting his cooking.

“Naturally.” Kris hummed, leaning back on the sofa. I glanced at him before chuckling. The Kris I’m oh-so-familiar with is back.

“Conceited bastard.” I said, popping another one in my mouth. “But of all the desserts out there, why’d you make this? I thought since we came from your cooking school, you’d make apple pie or something.”

“It’s healthy, don’t you think?” Kris said, popping one in his mouth. I waited for him to finish chewing on his piece before he continued, “The sweet rice used is very easy on the stomach. It’s great for people who have digestion problems, wouldn’t you agree, my student who has had a traumatizing experience with LBM?”

I blushed, turning my head away. Ack, I wanted to forget those LBM days, did he have to bring that back up again? I pouted, chewing on my last yakbap. “And...?”

He chuckled softly, “Well, other than that it helps with anti-aging and has its own calming effects too.”

I widened my eyes and glanced back at him. At the same time, he glanced back at me and smiled.

“You’ve had your fair share of nervous tensions too, right?”

I lowered my gaze again. He’s thought about me that much that he’d make this dessert to help me? I couldn’t stop my heart from punching against my rib cage. I placed the plate down and felt my throat dry up from the sweet dessert and from his words. I grabbed the cup and took a gulp from the tea, a pretty stupid move considering how hot tea actually is.

“Ah!” I pulled the cup down and stuck my stinging tongue out. “Hot, hot, hot, hot!” I fanned my slowly reddening muscle to cooling temperature. Beside me, Kris laughed hard.

“Someone’s embarrassed.” He teased, placing his plate down to get out of the sofa, preparing a glass of cold water for me. When he returned with that deliciously cool liquid in his hands, I took it from him before he could even say another word and gulped it down – both for my burning tongue and my dry throat.

“Ha~” I sighed, placing the cup down as I felt him sit back beside me and then, I also sensed that his arm was now around the sofa headrest. I meekly turned my head back and he tilted his head innocently at me.

“Better?” He asked.

More than better. I thought but I couldn’t find the balls (no pun intended as I glanced at his dessert plate with two more yakbaps still) to say it. I nodded my head and eyed my tea cup and then the TV. “What are we watching?” I started lamely.

“I don’t know, you were the one watching.” He replied, eyes looking back at the TV as well. The show was still about the dragon and the phoenix and they looked like they were near some kind of lake, the phoenix drinking some water after they had this long journey from somewhere.

“Should a phoenix made out of fire be drinking water like that?” I asked out of the blue again.

Kris stifled his laugh, “Pfft.” His shoulders shook as he laughed, shaking his head. “You and your random questions.”

I turned red. I quickly noted that I turn red quickly these days. “Shut up. It’s not that random.”

I felt Kris shift on the sofa to pick up his dessert plate once again. When I turned my head, I saw him pop the second yakbap in his mouth and then I found myself just staring at his mouth. I felt myself squirm uncomfortably. Ever since our kiss, there’s been an obvious change in our demeanours – the close proximity of our seating positions, the almost friendly aura, the glances... I realized that our relationship had grown ever since that kiss, and I really, genuinely like it.

“What’s up?” He asked, playing with his third yakbap.

“Nothing.” I lied before hugging the same pillow I hugged earlier. Kris chuckled by himself and I found myself slowly and unconsciously lean towards him till I felt my head rest against his shoulder. I tried not to make it obvious that I was sensing every bit of his movement. I felt him turn his head towards me as I rested my head on his shoulder while hugging his pillow. Then, he shook his head disbelievingly before popping the last yakbap in his mouth. In a few seconds after he placed his plate down, his hand was in my line of sight and he c