Kwangmin searched the refrigerator frantically. “I can’t find the garlic!” he cried, pushing past two large jars of kimchi only to turn up empty-handed.

Youngmin glanced up from where he was stirring the sauce ingredients for the tteukbokki the twins were trying to cook. “There should be some in there. Did you search the inside of the door?”

Kwangmin turned and rifled through the contents stuffed in the shelves on the fridge door. “I don’t...oh.” He stepped away from the fridge with a head of garlic. “Found it.”

“The recipe says we need two teaspoons of minced garlic.” Youngmin read off the printed piece of paper.

“What does ‘minced’ mean?” Kwangmin broke off a clove of garlic and stuffed the rest back into the fridge. He peeled the clove and set it on the table, watching his brother with a baffled expression.

“Just chop it up into tiny pieces or something like that.” Youngmin reached over and grabbed a knife, handing it over to Kwangmin. “Here.”

Kwangmin took the knife hesitantly and slowly starting chopping at the garlic clove. Youngmin abandoned the pot of sauce for a few seconds to grab the bowl of soaking rice cakes. With a pair of chopsticks, he pushed the cakes out of the bowl and into the sauce, stirring them to make sure they didn’t stick to the bottom of the pot.

“I’m done with the garlic.” Kwangmin laid the knife down and scooped the poorly minced garlic into his hands. He scurried over to Youngmin’s side, holding out the garlic and looking at his brother expectantly.

“Just put in two teaspoons.” Youngmin paused in his stirring and moved over slightly, giving Kwangmin room to drop the garlic into the boiling pot.

“How much is two teaspoons?”

“...Just put all of it in.”

Once Kwangmin had dumped all the garlic into the pot, Youngmin consulted the recipe again. “We need a sheet of fish cake and four ounces of green cabbage.”

Kwangmin grabbed the fish cake that he had taken from the fridge earlier. “How should I cut it?”

“Just cut them how Mom cuts them,” Youngmin suggested. Kwangmin nodded and began slicing the fish cake into triangles. Youngmin took another knife and cut off what he thought looked like four ounces of cabbage, then sliced the four ounces into smaller pieces. He rinsed the cabbage, occasionally leaving it for a few seconds to stir the cooking rice cakes. Kwangmin finished cutting the fish cake and was about to add it to the pot, but Youngmin stopped him, saying that the rice cakes were supposed to boil for around eight to ten minutes before adding the cabbage and fish cake.

Once eight minutes had passed, Youngmin let Kwangmin dump the fish cakes into the pot, following with his bowlful of cabbage. He waited for the tteukbokki to boil for another four minutes before taking the sesame oil that Kwangmin had gotten out, pouring a dash of it into the pot, and turning off the heat right after.

He scooped the dish onto a plate Kwangmin offered. The twins grabbed chopsticks and sat down at the dining table, apprehensively eyeing the tteukbokki they just made.

Kwangmin was the first to take a bite. His face remained in a neutral expression as Youngmin watched him chew the rice cake. His demeanor changed into a contemplative one as he swallowed and his lips.

“It’s not...bad,” Kwangmin said unsurely. Youngmin took a bite of the food as well, eating with the same thoughtful look as his younger brother.

“I think we put too much garlic.”

Kwangmin nodded in agreement as he continued to stuff the rice cakes into his mouth. Youngmin followed suit. The tteukbokki really wasn’t bad. Aside from the excessive garlic, Youngmin couldn’t point out any other flaws that stopped it from being decent.

“We did pretty well for our first try.” Youngmin turned to look at Kwangmin and was greeted with the sight of his brother blinking back at him with his cheeks stuffed so full, he looked like a pufferfish. Youngmin let out a bark of laughter, which led Kwangmin to nearly spit out his mouthful of food. Luckily, the younger twin managed to control himself, but some sauce escaped and ran down his chin.

“Why are you like this?” Youngmin shrieked as he grabbed a roll of paper towels and practically threw it in his brother’s face.