A few weeks have already passed since the day he bought me lunch. I thought that was the beginning of us getting to know each other and getting closer but nope. Nothing’s changed… we still don’t talk to each other and most of the time he comes home late.... I try looking at it in a positive way that it’s better that he comes back late than him not coming home at all. Maybe he’s the silent type that doesn’t like to talk much... maybe I need to be the one that talks to him first? All of this thinking really drains my energy... Why did he marry me? This is a question that crosses my mind everyday.

Deciding to recharge my energy, I send a message to the group chat to hang out and, of course, there’s no way they won’t say yes. Wearing comfy clothes- a black t-shirt and track pants- I wait for Minki’s car to pull up. Seeing Minki’s latest Benz from afar makes me smile along with the 3 monkeys that keep waving to me.

“Yah! What are you wearing?! Aish.. we need to wear hot and y clothes, you know? To attract guys” Minki just shakes his head, listening to Jinyoung “No, no... she already has Minki here” said Yein, making the other 2 laugh. But Minki and I can’t bring ourselves to laugh... Was that supposed to be a joke? Because I didn’t find it funny.

We decide to eat brunch and go shopping for ‘y and hot clothes’ like Jinyoung wants. The drive to Itaewon is filled with laughter and hitting as we keep joking around. Our conversations are nonstop as we talk about old stories during our time in school to our lives at home. Even certain building and familiar streets create  conversations as we reminisce. 

We decide to eat at the cafe called Bimbom located in the center of Gyeongnidan-gil in Itaewon. Nayoung suggested we eat here as it’s currently one of the most popular places for brunch. It was featured on a popular food talk program, Wednesday Food Talk(수요미식회), which is known to feature only the best quality restaurants in Korea. Jinyoung also added that a photo is a must so the cafe must come with a nice view, pretty decoration and atmosphere. Minki and I don’t mind as long as the food tastes great.

We order 2 sets of their most popular menu- the Brunch Tasting Menu that comes with 3 tiers of plates. For each tier, we can choose something different, whatever we want to try. For the first tier, we chose to get crepes, the second tier we chose the quiche and a tomato meatball stew, and for the third tier we chose the french toast. The set came with 2 free cups of Americano. Since we ordered 2 sets, we got 4 cups of Americano  and since I’m the only one who can’t drink coffee, I ordered a cup of tea.

After eating, we started hopping from one shop to the next. The girls kept comparing the price, color, design, quality and, of course, which one make them look hotter. Minki gave up on keeping up with us after an hour and said that he would find a cafe and wait for us there. He left me with the 3 overly excited girls... oh man...“Buy this one, it looks nice on you!” Said Yein while placing the black dress on my body and winking at me. “What she means is buy that dress and maybe seduce our Minki” Said Jinyoung, rolling her eyes. The 3 girls look at me like hungry wolves that just found meat, making me almost give in. “Uhhh...No thanks” The girls sigh and make sure I see their disappointed faces. I could hear Yein shout “why not? why not?”  while I placed the dress back in its original place, making me laugh.

After four freaking hours of shopping, we drop onto the chairs in front of Minki totally exhausted with so many bags in our hands. “Did I really re-energize myself or did I drain myself even more of my energy?” Lucky for us Minki already ordered our drinks when we called to find out his location. “Indeed our Minki knows us so well.. no wonder you’ve stayed with us for so long” Said Yein while hugging and shaking Minki’s body side to side. It’s so obvious Minki’s used to this as he just lets Yein do whatever to him. Even squishing his cheeks.

We drop Yein and Nayoung to Yein’s house. The 2 girls still have the energy to party tonight. They said they need to try out their hot new outfits. While Jinyoung has a family dinner to attend, I have no choice but to go back home. “You can drop me with Jinyoung, I was thinking of buying groceries at the shop near her house” Glancing at Minki, I see him smile “Good! I also want to buy something. Let’s go together and I will drop you home after that” Without think much, I just nod with small okay “Yah! Yah! You guys started flirting with each other only after Yein and Nayoung are gone but me, JinYoung, I am still here... please guys, don’t make me jealous” Being the only guy, Minki seldom expresses himself since the 3 girls always have things to share or talk about, which is why now Jinyoung and I are just looking at him as he laughs out loud.

“What do you want to buy?” Minki says while pushing the cart. “Hmm.. ingredient to cook spaghetti?  I feel like eating spaghetti for dinner” I say while dropping the box of spaghetti into the cart. “That’s quite a lot of spaghetti for one person. Does that mean you’re silently inviting me to your house?” I instantly freeze and become speechless. Seeing how I suddenly stopped walking, Minki says that he was just joking. Still feeling awkward I say “I will push the cart while you go get the things you want to buy”. Without saying anything, he just nods and walks away. Knowing that he’ll want to pay for my groceries, I swiftly walk to the cashier and pay before he can. Hearing my phone ring in my pocket, I can already tell it’s Minki. “Where are you?” I can hear his voice drop when I say that I’m already at the cash register.

When we’ve almost reached my house, I feel the car slow down “do you.. you know... it’s still early.. How about we stop for coffee or tea? Tteokbokki also sounds nice” His eyes are still on the road but I know from his voice that he has a lot on his mind. “You already drank 2 cups of coffee...it’s not good if drink too much you know... and we‘ve almost reached my house so maybe next time? Thank you, Minki” I expect to see a sad Minki but he gives me a big smile that leaves me a little confused. “You care about me...” Is it weird to care for your friend? Did I never show that I cared for him before?

This time, walking into the empty house didn’t make me feel cold or lonely... maybe the girls’ energy is still stuck with me. Walking into the bedroom while humming, I decide that I will shower first and then cook dinner. The warm water hits my body, washing the negativity away and making me feel refreshed. While blow drying my hair, I think back to what happened today and it brings such a big smile to my face.

Being so into my own thoughts, I didn’t realize that someone had already come inside the room. After turning off the hair dryer and putting it back in the rack, I turned around and ended up facing the shirtless guy. I shouted and quickly shut my eyes. “Sorry, sorry, I didn’t notice that you came back” With my hands still on my eyes, I slowly walked to the door “Umm..I..I wanted to cook spaghetti for dinner. Do y-you want to j-join me?” I couldn’t see if he nodded because of the hand on my eyes but I soon heard his chuckle and a soft-spoken sure. I ran to the kitchen and did a little celebratory dance. Today is the best day EVER. 

I prepared the ingredients for spaghetti aglio olio, my favorite, because I still didn’t know what his favorites were. “I will ask him soon...how he prefers his spaghetti” It doesn’t take long to cook so when I finished cooking, I could see that he was already sitting at the dining table with his eyes focused on his phone. Bringing 2 plates to the table, I placed one in front of him. He quickly put his phone to the side and took a sip of water before beginning to eat.  

“H-how is it?” He hasn’t shown any reactions yet, making me curious as to what he thinks about it. “Good..” That one word is enough to make me proud. “D-do you prefer spaghetti with sauce? Like carbonara or bolognese?” There’s this proverb “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” So I will try my best. “Anything is fine..” We continue to eat in silence but it’s not an awkward silence...it’s more of a comfortable silence. “It’s okay.. slowly..”