T H I R TY – S I X

Word of the Day – “Parboil”

Kyungsoo stirred awake when he felt a faint touch on his forehead. The warmth was familiar. The sweet vanilla scent that waved over his awareness was also familiar. When he fluttered his eyes half-open, he was met by a Ra Miyoung who was looking extremely worried. Despite the heavy feeling all over his head and body, her mere presence made him jolt up.

“Woah, relax—stay down.” Miyoung hushed and pushed him slowly to lay back down.

Not following her command, Kyungsoo asserted to stay up and leaned on the hospital bedboard. “What are you doing here?” The words came out hoarse when he spoke. He must have been out for a while for his voice to come out so dry. Events slowly seeped back into his head as he looked around, other hospital beds were in a row, occupied by people he didn’t recognize. Nurses and doctors walking around, doing their jobs. Emergency? The last thing he remembered seeing was that big needle and then—, did he actually pass out?

Well, that was definitely not his proudest moment.

Miyoung cleared making him look back again. “I was trying to call you many times and then when you finally called back, it was—it was your ex-wife. She explained to me that she was in labour and that she called you since she was alone.” She said, smoothing her palms over her lap. Kyungsoo unwittingly held his breath as he waited for more. She was mad about it, for sure. He could already see it coming. “And you were passed out for so long that I decided to pay a visit to her too. I couldn’t get in anymore but I heard her screaming. It was scary.” She then added to her story, even physically trembling as if she had just seen a ghost.

“You—you’re not that mad … that I’m here?” Kyungsoo decided to ask, just to be sure. Or was this a dream? Was he dreaming? Blunt-sassy Ra Miyoung wasn’t mad at him?

“I mean—” Miyoung looked up as she crossed her legs and folded her arms against her chest. “—why would I, I told you I didn’t love you that much.” She looked down at him with a pout. Before Kyungsoo’s heart could plunge in displeasure from that unsolicited reminder, Miyoung continued to speak. “Which I obviously didn’t mean at all but my stupid foul mouth always says it doesn’t mean just so I win an argument. I always listened to argue … not to understand. I want to apologize.”

There was a brief silence between them as their eyes glued together for an extended moment.

“I realized … for me to work out a relationship with an old person like yourself,” Miyoung’s tone was sincere with a hint of mischief. Kyungsoo looked up with a sunken expression, his eyes fluttering wider from what she said. “I need to learn how to listen to understand.” She finished her sentence before pursing in a straight line as if waiting for his turn to speak.

“Wow.” Kyungsoo shook his head. “You really always have to squeeze in a rude remark with your speeches no matter what, huh?” He asked but a smile already formed on his lips and it was then that he realized that he had forgiven her. He reached over to ruffle her hair. Miyoung’s shoulders jerked up as she tried to move away from him.

“Anyway,” She sat up straight again while running her fingers through her head. “On that note, I would like to move out of Dad’s house whether he likes it or not and I’d like to move in with you.” She looked up with a growing smile.

Kyungsoo’s expression completely froze upon her last proposal. “Uhm—say what?” He asked in a much higher pitch than he normally would.

“So, okay, I guess I need to start from the top—I got too excited, sorry.” Miyoung bounced on the chair like a child and reached for his hand on the side of the bed. “Anyway, I told my dad about us and I didn’t give a about what he thought or what he’d say, I told him and in front of the Hwang family that I was in love with you and I can’t marry Jun later or ever. Aren’t I such a badass? Oh, and the thing with Baekhyun is already fixed, the Hwang family helped us so worry no more.” She revealed without a single pause.

“Wait, wait, wait—" Kyungsoo squeezed his eyes shut for a moment and pressed a hand on his temple to replay and process all the things that she had just said.

“Isn’t that great? We don’t have a problem anymore.” Miyoung shirked excitedly while trying to grab his hand which Kyungsoo quickly raised, with his index finger pointing up. “Okay, give me a minute. This is—” He opened his eyes and looked down at her with a pinched smile. “You did this without even telling me at all—Miyoung, that was something that we needed to do together. Why would you do that without me?” He asked.

Miyoung lost her smile into a big pout. “Why does it matter how it’s done? What matters is that it’s done and my dad knows and we can do whatever we want freely without—”

“Wait, no no no—it’s not that. It matters how it’s done because now, you want to move in with me out of nowhere and just—you know, just go crazy on it, basically. That’s not how I want to—babe, I take you seriously and I still want to keep a relationship with your father because he is your father. We need to talk to him together about this, you can’t just—” Miyoung groaned loudly, making him pause.

Kyungsoo tried to keep her calm by grabbing both of her hands with one grip and sliding his other hand on her cheek. “Sweetheart, listen—” He smiled, even planting a soft peck on the tip of her nose. “Moving in together is not as simple as you think. Trust me, I’d love that but there’s a lot of processes we have to go through first. And also, what if I lose my job if I cut ties with your father because I took you away from him like that? And then you don’t have an official job right now. What, you want to move in together—where? You want to live with me on the streets?” He asked.

Miyoung’s shoulders drooped in defeat. “Yeah, but I don’t want to live with my dad anymore. I want to be independent and so I want to—”

“Sweetheart, I’m sorry but you’re just basically depending on me now instead. Moving out like that isn’t the same as being independent. I fully support you on becoming an independent woman but that’s not how you do this.” Kyungsoo was blunt with her this time, seeing as there was no other way to explain the situation to her.

Miyoung leaned on the chair with force and looked around as if in deep thought. “Okay, fine, let’s say you’re right … but what else could I do? Don’t you want to live with me? It’d be easier for the both of us since we’re dating anyway. I will learn how to do my own laundry, I promise.” She raised her right hand to swear.

Kyungsoo leaned on the headboard again and hid his smile in his palms. Miyoung wasn’t understanding this the way he wanted to explain it. Not at all. “Sweetheart, it’s more than the laundry, there’s a lot more—” His words broke with a heavy sigh as he laughed softly. “Ramyeon, you’re too cute but this time, this is just pitiful kind of cute, you know?” He dropped his hands to look at her with a worn-out grin.

“Well, ,” Miyoung threw her hands up in a sassy way. “What do you want me to do—what am I supposed to do now? I don’t want to live with my dad anymore. I want to date you comfortably. How is this funny to you?” She flipped her hair harshly, v