T W E N T Y – E I G H T

Word of the Day – “Jacquarding”

Kyungsoo stirred awake when he felt a frantic tap on his cheek. He grunted in response while getting up, finding himself laid on his couch. How long was he asleep? God damn, that sure felt like a whole night of sleep.

“Kyungsoo, I tried a few pieces and then I don’t know what happened, I burnt it. I did the timer and stuff on your deep fryer but it still didn’t work.” Miyoung’s concerned voice made him fully awake.

“What?”

Hurriedly getting up, Kyungsoo rushed to his kitchen where light smoke came out from. But it wasn’t strong enough to set off the alarm, fortunately. “Why didn’t you wake me up? What is i—oh , that is burnt.” He peeked at the deeper fryer and quickly lifted the basket and set it on its hook. “Wait,’ He grabbed a tong and lifted one burnt piece. “Oh, my g—sweetheart!” Realization hit him as he smiled at Miyoung, defeat rushing through him. He took a step closer to her and cupped her cheeks, amusement fluttering through his heart.

“What? What did I do?” Miyoung asked, still confused.

“You have to put the sauce mixture after deep frying it, not before or during. You know? You toss the deep-fried chicken in the sauce when it’s cooked. Like sweet & sour chicken.” Kyungsoo explained. “This burnt easily because the sauce has sugar in it and obviously, you’re not supposed to cook it this way.”

Miyoung’s shoulders drooped in disappointment as she stared at the five burnt pieces she made. “I just—I thought I should let you sleep and might as well try it myself, I thought I was doing good.” She mumbled softly.

Kyungsoo grabbed the spoon from the bowl and smudged some sauce on the back of his hand to taste it himself. Hmm, that was actually pretty good sauce and quite spicy. “No, sweetheart. You did good, the sauce tasted just right, you just—it was just the wrong execution.” He assured her right away before tossing the burnt pieces in the trash.

“We have more, so just try doing it better this time, maybe a few pieces again and when you get right, toss the remaining ones. No sauce this time, okay?” He motioned her to continue.

Miyoung proceeded with a disgruntled look on her face and Kyungsoo couldn’t do much even if he wanted to. It was part of the process. It was normal to make mistakes and that was one more thing he wanted her to learn.

Despite that she technically chose a very basic and simple recipe out of all that there were in the notebook, she was still a newbie and he never wanted to make her feel any less just because he was a professional and she wasn’t.

She was trying her best and it showed. Kyungsoo leaned on the counter across her and watched in silence, letting her know that he still trusted her despite that little mistake. Miyoung gave him small glimpses while she moved around as if she wasn’t sure about anything anymore and that was the last thing that he ever wanted her to feel. She needed to trust herself in order to achieve whatever she wanted to achieve.

Just then, his cat finally made an appearance again. Chef walked into the kitchen, gliding against the lower cupboards while gawking at Miyoung who was too focused to even notice the cat. “Oh? Chef’s here. He must have smelled the chicken, hm?” Kyungsoo grinned making Miyoung quickly turn and a smile finally spread across her lips.

“Hi there.” She leaned over her knees to peer down at the cat who looked back cautiously before slowly taking backwards steps. “Oh, still don’t like me? Oh god, he rejected me again. He's so hard to get.” Miyoung looked at Kyungsoo with a defeated pout.

“Well, I mean, he’s here for the chicken.” Kyungsoo shrugged. “I better feed him then.”

As he started preparing Chef’s food on the other side of the kitchen, Miyoung proceeded to cook the other pieces of the kitchen—meaning she might have done it right this time. A proud and satisfied grin plastered across her face as she tossed the meat to the fryer and she never looked more beautiful when she smiled so genuinely. Kyungsoo would trade anything just to see her this way every day.

He never realized how much it actually mattered to him all this time, until now. Her happiness mattered the most to him and there were no words to explain exactly why. He'd do anything to give her that. Anything.

“Can you try one cooked piece?” Miyoung peeked out of the kitchen while he was setting Chef’s food on the feeding station. “Yeah, of course. Just a sec.” He nodded right away before pouring water from a pitcher down to Chef’s bowl beside his food.

Once Kyungsoo was done, he made his way back to the kitchen and a piece of meat was alright stabbed in a fork, ready for him to taste. “Here.” Miyoung passed it to him. Instead of eating in right away, he inspected it first for a while before grabbing a steak knife to slice through it.

“Oh, come on, just try it. Why you gotta be so critical?” Miyoung whined while hopping in frustration.

“I’m just checking,” Kyungsoo argued back and laughed. He nodded in approval as he peered through the inside. “Slightly overcooked, but it’s fine, the juice is still there which is important. Good job. Let me try it with the sauce.” He grabbed the spoon from the bowl and glazed the sauce over his chicken.

Miyoung looked up at him closely as he took a whole bite as if she was waiting for the chaos to happen right in front of her. He pursed his mouth tightly while chewing and looked away. “Can you not look at me like that?” He muffled while chewing and covered his mouth. “You’re making me nervous and I’m the one judging it.” He raised his head as he struggled to chew the hot meat.

“How is it?” Miyoung asked eagerly.

“It’s good—oh wow, that’s spicy—wait!” Kyungsoo turned around and fanned his mouth. “That hit me hard out of nowhere. What the ?” He laughed.

He faced her again and flashed her two thumbs up. “But it’s good, it’s just—” His words broke into coughs as he air into his teeth to cool his tongue up from the strong spice. “Okay, well … I don’t think I want to see my dad look like that when he eats it.” Miyoung frowned while scratched the back of her neck. “Should we add something to the sandwich to lessen the heat? Like a coleslaw or whatever? I like coleslaw a lot, as long as it doesn’t come from fast food because the fast-food ones are .” She suggested.

Ding! The idea popped in Kyungsoo’s head and his eyes dilated at her. “Holy crap, you got it. What the hell, I think you just fixed your mom’s last recipe!” He snapped his fingers at her, disbelief seizing in.

Miyoung blinked in confusion, not understanding what exactly was happening at all.

Kyungsoo pressed both hands on her shoulders, even shaking her a little. “Maybe Kimchi slaw, instead of a traditional one? That’s the perfect zest that your mom would have needed.” He beamed in delight.

It was such a small and basic addition but it would work. And the idea came from Ra Miyoung. “Hmm, I’ve never tried a Kimchi slaw but that sounds pretty good, I guess? I really don’t know what I did here or why you’re reacting like that. Coleslaw’s not that special, I just suggested it randomly because I used to