Chapter 9  Cousin

 

Cooking was not a big deal for Sena because she had helped her mother cook since she was small. Moreover, she’s a manager of an all boy club so whenever they go for training camp, she was the one who was responsible for the food. It made her master in cooking faster.

 

 

The soup’s aroma was spreading throughout the room, with tempting sounds of boiling broth. Sena took a spoon and tasted the soup. Assuring that the taste was okay, she nodded her head. Although she only used the available ingredients, she’s happy her soybean soup turned out good. Sena turned off the stove and went to the basin filled with salted chinese cabbages. She turned them over once again, making sure all the surfaces was affected by salt. The preparation for making kimchi was almost completed.

 

 

It’s enough. She thought.

 

 

It was time to add the kimchi paste. While searching for the paste ingredients, she remembered that she saw hot pepper flakes in the wall cabinet earlier. She opened the cabinet and found that the hot pepper was on the highest part of the cabinet. Reaching out her hand, she tried to take the hot pepper bottle but it was quite hard for her even just to touch it because she wasn’t that tall. While she was struggling like that, a hand suddenly took the hot pepper. Surprised by the hand, she immediately turned around, finding Park Chanyeol standing close to her. Not knowing why but she held her breath, her heart throbbed faster than normal. Sena felt awkward because of the closeness, she averted her gaze and stepped away from him.

 

 

“It’s your hot pepper...” he said while handing it to Sena who was currently backing away.

 

 

Fortunately, her weird feelings didn’t last long. She turned to him with her normal self and received the hot pepper. “Thanks...” and then she frowned, realizing that he abandoned her command to rest and stay in his room. “...What are you doing here?”

 

 

“I was bored. Instead of just lying in the bed and not doing anything, I’d like to help you.” He said while inspecting the soybean soup, smelling the aroma.

 

 

Shaking her head, she pushed his back, forcing him to go back to his room. “I don’t need your help. Just rest.”

 

 

But he turned around, causing her to stop pushing him. “I slept for more than 12 hours so I’m not sleepy at all. Just let me help you.” He was about to walk back to the kitchen but Sena spreaded her hands, blocking his way.

 

 

“You just had a fever, I don’t want to make your condition worse.”

 

 

“I’m fine. I feel much better.” he said, trying to convince her. He could be really persistent sometimes, like someone. He guessed it’s heredity.

 

 

Sena assessed his face, trying to find a reason to send him back to his room, but she couldn’t find anything. Maybe he really was much better. “Okay. I’ll let you help me, but under one condition, if I feel like something’s wrong with you, you must go back to your room.”

 

 

Smiling happily like a child, he nodded, “Call.”

 

 

 

 

After pouring all the ingredients of paste, they began to mix it with the salted cabbage. With his two hands, Chanyeol confounded the mixture carefully. It’s his first time doing it and he didn’t want to mess the food. “Is it suppose to be like this?”

 

 

“Yes. Just make sure the paste is distributed evenly.”

 

 

Chanyeol seemed enthusiastic and enjoyed making kimchi. Sena was glad, he seemed better this way rather than suffering because of the fever and his sorrow. After a while, when the mixture seemed perfectly mixed, Sena picked a small piece of cabbage and handed it to Chanyeol, letting him taste it.

 

 

“How does it taste?”

 

 

Sena observed his face while he chew on the kimchi. His eyes grew bigger and he nodded. “It’s good.”

 

 

“Really?”

 

 

“You must taste it yourself.” Chanyeol took a piece and fed Sena with the cabbage. “How is it? It’s tasty, isn’t it?”

 

 

“Hmmm it’s good, but it’ll be better if we add a little more salt into it.” Sena confessed and search for the salt. She added some of it in the mixture. Watching her seriousness in making kimchi, Chanyeol smiled, pondering whether the girl always did everything whole heartedly. Realizing he was staring at her, she couldn’t help but want to stare back at him. “Why are you looking at me?”

 

 

“Me?” He also wondered why. But, he needed an excuse. “I was looking at the wall behind you.”

 

 

Curious about the wall behind her, she turned her head. There is nothing interesting about the wall, because that was just Chanyeol’s random words. Not getting anything, she returned her eyes at Chanyeol but he just cleared his throat while continued to mix the kimchi. At that time, the door bell started to ring.

 

 

“Who’s coming? Is it package delivery?” He speculated.

 

 

Removing the rubber gloves and her apron, Sena stood up. “I’ll open the door. You can continue mixing it.”

 

 

The bell rang once again. “I’m coming.” She shouted so that the person behind the door could hear and wait for her.

 

 

After opening the door, she found two guys standing in front of her. It wasn’t package delivery. The two guys seemed to look like around her age. Sena lifted her eyebrows, waiting for them to talk first. Meanwhile, they were too surprised to see Sena and it looked like they knew the owner of this house. The three of them were drowned in their own minds.

 

 

“Who…” The girlish tall boy tried to ask Sena but the shorter one held him back. The small one step up front and asked politely, “Is Park Chanyeol home?”

 

 

Sena noticed that these two were Chanyeol’s friends. Maybe they were worried about him because he didn’t go to school today. She nodded her head. “You must be his friends, please come in.” The two followed behind Sena while whispering to each other, curious about who she was because they never saw her before in Chanyeol’s house.

 

 

"Did Cha Yookyung change her face?" Sehun whispered to Kyungsoo.

 

"Stupid, she's definitely a different girl."

 

 

Being aware of his friends’ presence as Sena brought them in, he left the kitchen and approached them. “What are you doing here? You skipped afternoon practice again, didn’t you?”

 

 

Kyungsoo curled his lip, looking at him from head to toe. “Well, someone made us worried because we had not heard anything from him since yesterday."

 

 

Oh, right. He left them just like that yesterday because he hurriedly went to Yookyung's house to tell her about his feelings. Sadly, his plan failed and he just went straight home without saying anything to her. Later, he found himself lying on the bed helplessly. He just couldn't tell them because of the situation, not because he didn't want to. Feeling bad to make them worry about him, Chanyeol thinned his lip. “Yeah...I’m sorry. I had a fever but now I’m fine.”

 

 

They knew that “I’m fine” wasn’t a lie. His friends could see his face was better than before, compared to when they saw him last time. “Yes, you look really fine. Moreover, with the apron, you look better.” Sehun stifle a laugh, teasing him. He did that to make the atmosphere more enjoyable. Chanyeol realized that he still had the apron on him but he didn't take it off. Well, just think this as his style for today. After satisfying himself, teasing his friend, Sehun looked at Sena, asking the question he had wanted to ask since she opened the door. “By the way, who is she?”

 

 

Chanyeol just remembered he hadn’t introduce Sena to his friends yet. He grabbed her hand to make her stand by his side. “Let me introduce her, she’s Kang Sena...my cousin.” Hearing his words, Sena looked at him, frowning. Since when did she become his cousin? But, Chanyeol just blinking his eyes, asked her to get along with him. After she thought about it, it would be strange for Chanyeol to be home alone with a strange girl. They would misunderstand their situation.

 

 

“Y-yes, I’m his cousin.” She decided to follow his way.

 

 

Chanyeol continued the introduction, “And Kang Sena, these are my friends, Oh Sehun and Do Kyungsoo.”

 

 

“Hi, Kang Sena.”

 

 

 

Meanwhile Chanyeol and his friends were chatting away in the living room, Sena was in the kitchen making fruit shakes for them. Chanyeol was willing to help but she rejected him, the host must accompany his guests. After turning off the blender, she began to poured the shakes in glasses. Because the blender’s sound was gone, she could hear their conversation more clearly.

 

 

“You suddenly left the school and went to somewhere yesterday.” Sena was backing them but she knew it was Sehun’s voice.

 

 

“Something happened, right?” This one was Kyungsoo’s voice. “Is it because of Cha Yookyung?”

 

 

Hearing the girl’s name, Sena stopped pouring the drinks. It was the name that she heard earlier. She sharpened her hearing, waiting for Chanyeol’s answer. Actually, she also wanted to know what happened with Yookyung and him. After some silence, she could finally hear Chanyeol’s soft voice.

 

"Cha Yookyung... She is dating my friend."

 

"Chanyeol-ah..." Kyungsoo soften his voice, showing his empathy.

 

“Lately I wonder why I’m having these regrets. I wanted to tell her everything, maybe if I'd been able to, we could have lived differently. Maybe I'd be there with her now instead of here.” She could hear him chuckled sadly. While Sena was guessing what happened, Chanyeol’s voice could be heard again. “I thought that no matter how much time went by, she’d always be there, waiting for me. But then, I realized it was too late. So, I decided to let her go...”

 

 

His words made her heart flinch. To let go of someone, she knew the best about those feelings...

 

 

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