Cruel Woman

From the very beginning, Youngbae knew Sandara was wrong for his friend Jiyong.  For one, she was extremely different from his previous girlfriends.  Jihye, his first love, was very liberated; Chaerin was a female rapper; while Dara was a girl who never knew what to do with herself when meeting strangers for the first time.  She never hang-out with Jiyongs’ friends, and if she did, she always behaved like she felt out-of-place, like a fish-out-of-water.  He remembers Jiyong telling him one time, they always end up in a fight after they get home from meeting his friends, so he’d rather not take his girlfriend.  They were complete polar opposites.  Jiyong was outgoing while she was an introvert by nature.

But what did he know?  In the end, his friend, Jiyong, stayed with the girl.

And now, she was inviting him to celebrate Jiyong's birthday.  Their other 'friends' could not make it. Him, being the best friend, had no choice but to concede to her invitation.  Jiyong used to hate celebrating his birthday, he thought in dismay as he turned up at their driveway. 

He got down from the car and Gaho (Jiyong’s dog), hurled himself toward him until his leash grew taught.  Youngbae stayed out of range and whistled to calm the mutt down. 

There was the sound of something falling to the floor and a curse.  

"Aisht!"

Then Dara appeared through the door with dripping tangerine-colored hands.  She shushed the dog into silence, and the poor mutt indeed stopped barking and looked at her with doleful eyes. 

“Youngbae!  You came!”  She exclaimed in delight as she came towards him, eyes alight, face flushed with excitement, and tendrils of escaped hair from her bun billowing around her face. She apologized for her hands being dirty and instead gave him an awkward hug for a greeting, careful to to get the dirt on his shirt.  The body contact was brief. 

Gaho barked even louder begging for release from his leash.  Poor dog, he thought.  Because Jiyong wasn’t around Dara ties him up.  Cruel woman. 

She explained, the tangerine hands was the result of her trying to bake squash-flavored cake, as they made their way into the house.  Youngbae didn’t dare to say he’d never heard of a squash-flavored cake before, he just said he couldn’t wait to try it though he was very doubtful of her cooking skills.  Afterall,  "She was not a good cook," Jiyong told him before.