”Fall in love with me.”

The statement felt out of sorts – Soojin drawing a spoon to her lips, humming over the taste of the soup. “A little more salt,” she mumbled as she added another pinch, turning off the gas to the flame when it tasted just right, “Shuhua, where are-”

“Fall in love with me,” was spoken again, gentle like the wind on a beautiful summer day. It was a stark contrast to the robust and chaotic edge the world knew and loved.

“Yah,” Soojin squeaked softly as arms wrapped around her waist. Cold damp skin pressing into her backside, Soojin shivered. Still dressed in her clothes from the day, thick layers to keep out the winter chill, the chill made little sense, “You’ll just get dirty again,” she tutted, thinking of all the places they’d been throughout the day.

Nose nuzzling into the material covering Soojin’s shoulder, Shuhua mewed, “S’okay. I missed you.”

It seemed ridiculous. It hadn’t been more than twenty minutes since they had arrived home, Shuhua disappearing into the shower while Soojin turned to the kitchen. It wasn’t that she was hungry, rather, over the course of the day, the topic of seaweed soup had slipped into the conversation more than enough times for the idea to stick.  

“You didn’t answer me though.”

Drawn from her thoughts, Soojin felt her brows furrow. She couldn’t recall Shuhua asking a question.

As if sensing her plight, Shuhua repeated, “Fall in love with me.”

The w