“Oh, you’ve finished this step? Let me see, let me see,” Ryeowook calls eagerly. With some embarrassment and slight trepidation, Chihiro steps aside from her cooking so he can taste her work-in-progress.

Dipping the ladle into her soup, he takes a sip and then pauses, eyes closed. Chihiro glances at him anxiously. “I know it’s not that good right now, but—”

“No, this is great!” he suddenly exclaims, breaking into a grin. “I like the texture of the soup base. Just—hmm, maybe add another pinch of salt? To enhance the flavor.”

Chihiro complies and Ryeowook then steps back, allowing her to continue her work. It is her first time making chicken soup from scratch, and she was a bit nervous at how it would turn out.

As any of her good friends knew, she was an eater, not a cook; only within the last few months had she finally decided to change. But rather than to face the awkward shame of revealing that she had started learning and then flopping a dish, she had chosen to first practice her skills a bit with someone who could teach her well.

“Is it ready for the vegetables now?” she presently asks. Then before waiting for his input, she abruptly takes a handful of carrots and drops them into the simmering base. “Maybe the carrots first, since they need more time to soften.” Ryeowook nods approvingly, apparently pleased with her improving perception.

“What do you think about dessert?” he suggests. “I can make it. To compliment your soup.”

“I’d like that,” Chihiro says instantly. “Brownies, please!”

He laughs at how quickly she asks for it, and then reaches into the overhead cupboard for the first ingredients.

He doesn’t have to use a mix. His cooking was already way beyond that.

One couldn’t tell from the bare leafless trees that it was almost the end of December. With the average outside temperature ranging in the forties, it hadn’t rained in weeks and snow was nowhere to be found. The Christmas decorations that lined some houses and yards looked out of place against the bare paint and the lifeless grass; driving through the dark paved roads at night only heightened the viewer’s observation of the lack of the season’s usual blanket of snow. There wasn’t to be a white Christmas this year.

Not that this didn’t have its benefits, Chihiro had mused, as she opened the bedroom curtains earlier that morning. She had had a dentist appointment on the 23^rd, and she had appreciated the easy twenty minute drive into the next town over without the hassle of slippery ice and brown slush. But thinking about her trip to the dentist had triggered a memory, and she had frowned slightly, leaning against the bare window pane for support.

Sungjin had been there. Sungjin, with whom once upon a time she almost could have called a fellow acquaintance. But now no more.

In the kitchen, the two continue their preparations. As she drops in the cut-up chicken pieces and starts stirring, Chihiro glances over at Ryeowook. He was busy mixing the batter, pausing for a moment to add sugar. He sees her looking in his direction and smiles ruefully.

“At first, I wasn’t thinking of using this much sugar, but… some people seem to like these brownies more sweetened,” he explains.

Chihiro smiles, knowing whom he’s referring to. Traditionally, after she had sampled his first batches and critiqued them (not that there was much to critique—mostly praise), he would wrap up the remaining brownies and send them to some of their mutual friends, most of whom appreciated his culinary skills because they, like her, lacked their own.

“I still think you’re my favorite taster,” he would secretly confide in her. “Everyone else just tells me that my desserts are delicious, but they never tell me exactly what about them makes them good. You’re the only one whom I can get good feedback from, beyond ‘Oh, this is tasty. Please make me more!’”

Chihiro laughs. “But you know to add more sugar,” she teases.

He merely shrugs. “This batch of brownies just seemed to call for it. Here, have a taste.”

She walks over and dips a spoon into the mix. “Hmm, I can see what you mean. This does taste really good. Not too bland, yet not too sweet.”

He makes a face. “I don’t like it when my brownies are oversweet. It just ruins them entirely.”

She agrees with him, and then goes back to her soup. “I think I’ll add some spices for the chicken,” she suggests, after tasting a piece, and he gives another trusting nod in approval.

“I think it’s about done now,” Chihiro announces hesitantly, looking at Ryeowook for confirmation. She had already placed all the vegetables in and boiled them until they were soft. She had made sure the chicken was completely cooked, even splitting a few pieces to make sure the inside was also done. She had also thrown in a few spices and other flavorings, and the resulting soup was now producing a strong aroma of something that at the very least smelled edible.

Ryeowook takes a sip, which Chihiro makes sure to watch so she can monitor his immediate reaction. “This is great!” he praises her, grinning at her sigh of relief. “I think I would have personally used more onion, but this isn’t bad at all. It’s worthy of showing the world!”

She blushes at the compliment. “You really think our friends would like it? This is worth letting them taste?”

“Definitely,” he confirms, and happily, she begins scooping some to be placed into disposable containers. One for Leeteuk, one for Yesung, one for Shindong, one for—

And then she pauses, hands hovering over the last bowl. One for Siwon, she decides.       

“These brownies are set to bake for forty-five minutes,” Ryeowook informs her. He closes the oven door and reaches for his jacket hanging from the coat rack. “I have to run some errands now, wish some friends a Merry Christmas,” he grins. “If you want, I can deliver your soup to people.”

“Okay,” Chihiro agrees, handing him the containers. “Just let me label them first so you’ll know who to give them to.”

“Do you still keep in touch with Yesung?” he abruptly asks her, upon seeing her write down the names on the lids.

She is slightly taken back. “Of course,” she says simply. “We’ve never lost touch.”

“Hmm,” Ryeowook merely mumbled. “I see. I’ve always thought he was a bit weird. We haven’t talked in a while.”

She shrugs, and her heart lurches slightly. “I know what you mean. There are some friends I haven’t talked to in a while, too.”

“You know Kyuhyun?” he asks, and she nods. “We used to be best friends back in elementary school.”

Her eyes widen. “Kyuhyun? Best friends?”

“Exactly,” he states matter-of-factly. “By junior high, you couldn’t tell anymore.”

“Well, for me it was Sungmin,” she discloses quietly, and now it is his turn to look surprised. “We used to spar together. For four years, we were taekwondo partners.”

“And then what happened?”

She merely looks lost. “I don’t know,” she admits heavily. “He got a girlfriend? We just drifted apart.”