Author’s POV:

 

 

The uninviting cold slowly embracing Seolhyun’s body as she opens the door to the house belonged to the person whom still living strongly in her heart. She never believes this, getting to open the door or stepping her foot in the house that she had locked for years after her arranged marriage with the person her father chose.

 

Marriage.

 

The word snapped her out for a moment. She felt a hard tug in her heart upon recalling her status. A heavy sigh escaped involuntarily from . One after another. Heaven knows her marriage was meant for business. Never based on love. It's just part of the business... only at the beginning. Her husband does fall in love for her eventually. Just her. She didn't feel the same about him entirely. It's like she can't fully give her all. Love and desire. They just felt different while being with her husband. Till now. The word 'odd' could describe her situation the best. It's not easy to love him the same as how she felt for her boss.

 

Her heart skips a beat.

 

She loves her boss for infinity. That's definite. She won’t leave her house in a crazy storm if not. That's what she had been telling herself. Even after twenty years later, the feeling she has for her boss remain the same. No one could understand that. And she doesn’t need anyone to tell her how to cope with her own feeling. How could she calm down when the person she has been looking like crazy is showing up herself at the place that she had been expecting her to return one day?

 

She desperately wants to see the only person that she truly loved and ever addressed as her 사장님 (sa-jang-nim / boss). Wanting to know why her boss disappears without leaving a message or a trace were among a few reasons why she can’t wait till the storm could calm down. But most of all, she just wants to see her boss. No other reason that she could give better other than seeing her boss personally. Face to face. Just stay, in the same space with her, watching her closely... the face that she missed so dearly.

 

How foolish does it sound if she doesn't feel emotional at all? Her heart rate increased rapidly, her body was sweating, her breath becomes shallow as her tears found gravity is too immaculate.

 

The cold that she received from the storm outside was incomparable to what she encountered at the very moment. It’s been years the place was unattended and untouched by any human. She had locked them for years after her last visit to the place. She knew none of the staff that she had hired can open it without the passcode. Only her or the person from the inside of the place can open it, she thought.

 

How peculiar.

 

She sneezes and coughs from time to time. The air that she inhales was full of unseen dust. It felt horrid. She had to cover and nose with her winter scarf to filter the air. With a very careful manner, she arranged her step to walk further inside. The pile of white sheets next to the couch in the living room caught her attention directly. Every white sheet that she used to cover and protect the area from years of dust have been removed and placed in one area. It’s the same as when she checked her boss’s bedroom. The other rooms in that place were still untouched, anyhow. Only her boss’s bedroom and the living area were apparently having a sign of someone has entered the place. There is no sign of forced entry when she checked all the windows. They're all closed. The grille was fine. She could tell by looking at the footsteps trail against the dusty floor. She has been very careful since the beginning, scanning things around the place like a professional forensic officer.

 

Till now, she can't process or progress how her boss could enter the place without the right passcode? The grille was totally untouched as well. It left her no clue just like the day when her boss suddenly disappeared, leaving her in agony and tormented for years from trying to find her whereabouts.

 

Awhile ago, the car that she drove from home was stranded near to the gas station. The road that she used was blocked by heavy snow, which turned the place to block of ice. She had to walk nearly half kilometres against the blizzard before she could arrive at the place. Her full winter apparel that she used seem very helpful to withstand the freezing like an ice temperature she faced while walking into the place. It's kind of wet a little. The long black parka with mink fur trim hood was removed from her body before she hanged it on the clothes hanger stand nearby.

 

Her smart watch still beeping ever since she left from her house. Her husband was the caller. She answered it finally. Only to tell her husband that she won't be returning to the house tonight. She has no intention to return home until she finds her boss and meet her face to face. Now, she begins to wonder. Should she leave from the place to find her boss within the area or should she wait her at the place like what she had been doing when her boss suddenly disappeared?

 

 

 

 

*******

 

 

So Into You by Tamia was playing from the kitchen’ surround sound system that connected from Jessica's phone to accompany both of them who occupied the place. That song was played from Jessica’s favourite playlist. Her old-time favourite songs that covered pop, R&B, ballad, and oldies. None of the songs could really bother the chef like she was trapped in her own loop, preparing the food for the two of them.

 

Sitting in the barstool with her legs crossing and arms resting on the bar table for the unknown period make Jessica discovered something, her eyes won’t blinking as frequent as it normally does. Evidently, the unnie in the kitchen of her house has cast a spell upon her to make her stay put till she didn't feel required to blink. It’s so cliché, Jessica thought. The song really portrays her situation. She was totally under control. So much in charmed just to watch the unnie alone.

 

Not long before, she thought she could record or making a v-log about the foods she demands the unnie to make for her. She didn't intend to share her v-log, though. The V-log was meant for her safekeeping. Or maybe, she could share it with her baby sis. She wants to record the ingredients, the preparation, and how the unnie cooks the special meal as her future reference. Too bad, her hands couldn't even get her cellphone to do the simple task that her brain requested.

 

Her eyes seem fixated. She was clearly enjoying the sight that she had been presented in the kitchen after placing the unnie’s uniform in a dryer not too long ago. She felt like a devoted fan to a cooking show. Every little thing the unnie does could simply catch her attention. The way the unnie chops the onions and garlics, the way the unnie sprinkles the spices, and the way the unnie shakes the pan to cook evenly could tell how skilful the unnie was. She just needs to show the unnie how to use the induction cooktop in her kitchen one time, and the unnie knew what to do next.

 

A little that she wonders where the unnie lives and why she doesn’t aware of how to use an induction cooktop which have been used commonly in every household? Because the unnie seems so impressive to use kitchen appliances at her place like the unnie only has an experience to use a gas stove in her life. The thing that she thought a bit strange gone a second later after the simple glance that she received from the unnie. She felt enthralled with that short eye-contact. Out of shyness, her brain forced her to ask something about when the food would be ready to eat because she can't wait to have them already? The answer she received is not registered in her head anyway. She was in her zone out moment again, admiring the person who made her the most worth waiting meal in her life.

 

The clean touch of apron on the unnie’s body, the roll up shirt sleeve on her arms, and her ginger hair that gathered and secured at the back of her head with a hair tie brings her back to the past memory. The time when the unnie made her a delicious food when she was so hungry. The smell of food being cooked made her feel the same just like in the past. It seems the unnie just brought her to travel back to the past with the aroma of food she cooked.

 

It’s true to what people say, a special scent to something could trigger a memory. To Jessica, that kind of scent is not in a form of a fragrance or a body cologne, but in a form of food. The smell of food being cooked was making her hungry and embarrass at the same time. Recalling to what happen in the past makes her feel regretful. Her hunger forced her to make the unnie as her target. It’s unethical. She knew that as she grew up with different parents. Her parents convinced her, it’s only her survival instinct and she didn’t mean all that.

 

She blamed herself when she knew the unnie disappears for years. Knowing she was the last person who talked to the unnie. The thought of her kiss and her accusation was the reason why the unnie left the place was bothering her too much. Why did she do that? She kept on asking herself over and over as she grew up. It only worsens the situation. The kiss totally tattooed on her mind. It's not easy to shake them off. It’s like a punishment that she doesn’t want to happen in her next life if she ever been reborn. God knows how thankful that she was to find the unnie again today. She really can’t wait to ask her the question, but she will hold herself for now. She can talk to the unnie after breakfast.

 

Jessica bears her hunger from the nice aroma a little more while mastering or recording everything she sees mentally, hoping she could cook them in the future since she had seen all the ingredients and preparations the unnie made. Did she? Probably not, she thought. She could only recall how charming the unnie is. She truly doesn't look aging at all like she had discovered a fountain of youth somewhere. The question in her head pop-up for the nth time. How the unnie could maintain her look? It’s impossible if she can’t find a sign of a wrinkle on her face. She really wants to know the unnie’s plastic surgery surgeon or her dermatologist. Because that person made the unnie’s face look just the same as what she remembers. How insanely charming...

 

'Oh, god! What the hell!' Jessica stated mentally upon