For about a week, Seung-ri kept sending her slices of cherry pie and sometimes she would get whole pies from his friends when they came over.  Lucky for them, she had a sense of humor or they would have all had pies in the face.  Her abundance in pies also meant she had to take them to work and give them away.  Today, she was giving away her last whole pie; she had received seven of them.  Her co-workers didn’t ask and she did not feel like telling either. 

“Unni, thanks for the pie.  I can’t wait to go try it.”

“Don’t worry about it!  I hope you like it.  It’s cherry.”  She was relieved someone was taking it off her hands. 

“Don’t forget tomorrow is the awards reception.” 

“Oh, thanks for the reminder.  I almost forgot about it.” 

“I’ll see you there.” 

“Yeah, I’ll see you there.” 

Ji-won couldn’t believe she had forgotten about the dinner.  She had made plans with Jinnie for dinner and a movie but now had to cancel.  Ji-won didn’t feel any regret about having to call her sister to cancel.  She had been ditched enough times by Jinnie to expect phone calls ten or twenty minutes right before they were supposed to meet anywhere.  Now, she could pay Jinnie back.  She got her phone out and began to dial Jinnie’s phone number. 

“Hello?  Ji-won? HELLO!!” 

“Hey, how come I didn’t hear the phone ring.” 

“I just called you but you kept pushing buttons.” 

“Jinnie, about tomorrow night—” 

“I can’t make it.” 

“No, I can’t make it.”  Ji-won did not want to allow her sister to take away the satisfaction of bailing on her for the first time.  

“Why?  What are you doing that you can’t spend time with me?” 

“What?  You just said you can’t make it either.” 

“Well?” 

“I have an awards reception I need to attend.  My boss is—” 

“Is your boss hot?” 

“My boss is a she.” 

“Well, whatever.  Have fun.”  Click. 

Jinnie.  Still the disrespectful little sister who doesn’t care about anyone but herself.

Ji-won began to worry as she realized she needed to bring someone with her to the reception.  She couldn’t show up alone, again.  She hadn’t planned on going but because her boss was being honored, everyone from the office was encouraged (more like required) to attend. 

She walked out of the building scrolling through the pages of her phone looking for a suitable date.  It wasn’t very helpful when everyone on her phone was from work or related to her. 

“Unni, an-nyoung!” 

Ji-won looked up from her scrolling and spotted where the voice was coming from.  

“Hyo-ri!  Hyo-ri!  Come here.” 

“Nae, unni.” 

“Are you going to the reception?” 

“Of course.” 

“Are you going to bring a date?” 

“I’m going with Hyun-bin oppa.” 

Ji-won’s shoulders slumped just a little.  Of course she was going with the cutest guy from the office.  

“Oh.  Is everyone going with a date?” 

“I’m pretty sure.  Are you?”  Her shoulders 

“Oh, yeah.  Of course.  I was just making sure everyone had a date.” 

“Unni, you’re so nice.  Always thinking of everyone.” 

“Yeah, sure.  I’ll see you tomorrow night.”  Her shoulders slumped a little. 

She turned and gave Hyo-ri a quick hug before getting on the bus.  What the hell was she going to do?  How could everyone have a date already?  Probably because it didn’t slip their minds!  If everyone in the office already had someone they were taking to the reception, it meant half of her contacts were off the potential date list.  This left her with little to no room to choose. 

“Noona!” 

Ji-won turned to see someone walking from behind the bus.  She wasn’t sure if he was talking to her so she went back to concentrating on her current task at hand.  Again, she scrolled up and down her phone as if by some miracle new contacts were going to appear. 

“Noona.  What are you doing?”

She looked down at the pair of sneakers on the floor in front of her and followed them all the way up to find Tae-yang hovering over her.  He was wearing his cap, but it was turned just a little to the right, with baggy pants and a multi-colored zip down hoodie.  The hoodie looked like it had been rolled around in paint and presented as suitable for wear.  

What is going on in the world of fashion today?

“Tae-yang.  No one is going to take you seriously if this is all you wear.”  She reached her hand up and adjusted the cap.  After the pie incident, Seung-ri’s friends had somehow also become her friends.  Whenever Seung-ri was out, they would sometimes come and organize her refrigerator, eating almost everything in sight.    

“Nae, omma.”  There went his smiling eyes and sarcastic tone again. 

“Are you on the way to see Seung-ri?” 

“Yeah.  We have a double date tonight.” 

“I see.” 

“My bike is in the shop and figured we would take his car instead.” 

"Got it, but is this really what you’re wearing?”  She made a face and pointed to his clothes. 

“Noona, this is all the style now.”  He adjusted his cap back to the way it was.  

“Lucky girls then,” she said sarcastically. 

The bus stopped and they both got off together.  He was nice enough to carry her briefcase for her and they continued making fun of one another until they got up to the apartment.  

“Noona, I don’t think Seung-ri is here.  Can I wait for him over at your place?” 

“Yeah, yeah.  Hold this while I find my keys.”  She handed him her phone so she could search for her keys.  She didn't need to add one more thing in it to make her keys harder to find. 

“Ooooo, who’s this?”  Tae-yang was looking through pictures on her phone and found old photos of her with a certain someone who had been deleted out of her life a while ago but hadn’t been deleted off her phone. 

“Stop it!” she grabbed the phone from him, “I said hold this, not look through this.” 

She opened the door and dropped everything on the floor next to her coat tree.  

“Go ahead and make yourself comfortable.  You should know where everything is already.”  Ji-won didn’t wait for Tae-yang to answer but went straight to change into something more comfortable—a white tank top and black sweat pants, her uniform of choice when home.  

“Are you hungry?”  Ji-won opened the refrigerator door, “Do you want some kimbap?” 

“Are you going to make it?” 

“Well, do you want some?”

“If you make it.” 

“I’ll make it but you have to realize that since you’re eating, you’re also going to have to help me make it.”  Normally Ji-won would have just boiled some water and eaten ramen but a good hostess shouldn’t make her guests eat something like that.  Then again, he technically really wasn't a guest.  She had hoped Tae-yang would refuse but he didn’t so she was stuck making it. 

“Hmm.  Okay.  Seung-ri and I don’t have to get going until around 6 p.m. so we’ve got time.” 

Ji-won threw Tae-yang the manliest apron she had, white with blue polka dots and ruffles around the edges, and handed him the cutting board, knife, and vegetables.  While he began slicing the carrots and pickled radishes, Ji-won made the rice and grabbed the other ingredients. 

“Noona, so who was the guy in the picture?”  She had been wondering when that question was going to come out.  

“No one important.” 

“It sure didn’t look like it.” 

“Well, hold on.”  Ji-won the rice cooker and walked back to sit rather than help him.  Tae-yang finished slicing the carrots and started on the pickled radish.  

“How thin do you want the pieces?” Tae-yang asked.  He sliced the radish into half-inch pieces and then into quarters.  

“Yeah, that looks good.  It doesn’t seem like this is your first time.” 

“Of course not!  I’m a pr—Aah!” 

“Aish!”  Ji-won jumped out of her chair and grabbed his finger, “A pro, I think you were going to say.”  She dragged Tae-yang to the kitchen sink and tore off a towel to soak the blood. 

“Looks like you’ll have to finish the kimbap now,” Tae-yang smiled but winced when she purposely squeezed his finger a little too hard. 

He looked down at her concentrating on bandaging his wound and understood just a little bit more why Seung-ri was attracted to her.  Her bangs kept getting in her eyes and she kept right on blowing it out of her face.  He wasn’t sure what was frustrating her more, the bangs or bandaging the cut.  

She rinsed his finger with warm water and dragged him to her medicine cabinet only to be dragged back to the kitchen sink.  She carried with her a little red bottle and he tried taking his finger away. 

“Stop it!  Do you want an infection?  Okay.  This is going to sting a little.”  She unscrewed the top and squeezed a little drop of hydrogen peroxide on the cut and he yelped like his was on fire. 

“Aahhh!” 

She blew lightly on his finger to lessen the pain and like a little boy he quieted down.  Ji-won tore off the wrapper for the band aid and revealed a red band aid covered with miniature Puccas all over it.  Tae-yang grinned as she wrapped his finger with it. 

The rice was cooked and he sat down to mix in the sesame oil for her.  She took out seaweed from the cupboard and placed it on the table.  Ji-won spread the rice on the sheet and began on her first roll.  This time Tae-yang sat while she did all the work. 

“Back to the question at hand, who was that guy in the picture?” 

“Just this guy.”  She didn’t want to say too much.  While she got along very well with people and loved to tease, when it came to personal topics such as this she didn’t like telling many people and kept it personal not public.  

“Really?  Just this guy?” 

“We-we never became exclusive.  That’s it.  There’s nothing to talk about.  It was a really long time ago.”  Even this little blurb about her personal life had been hard to get out.  

“You were never a couple but you keep his picture with you wherever you go.  Must have been the perfect guy?” 

“Have…Have you seen Il Mare?” Ji-won said with some hesitation.  She didn’t like talking about HIM because it still brought back memories.  She finished her first roll, set it aside, and began working on a new one. 

“Yeah.” 

“Do you remember the part when Eun-joo explains to Sung-hyun about her boyfriend slash fiancé and how he went abroad to work?” 

“Vaguely.” 

“In that letter she writes that love hurts not because it ends but because it goes on.  We went our separate ways because I wasn’t quite ready to move forward with him and he was leaving—”

“And your love goes on.”  Tae-yang could see a faraway look in her eyes and knew she was no longer standing in front of him but off to that moment in time, whenever and whereever it had been. 

“Yeah, I guess you can say that.”  She finished with the fifth and final roll and began to cut them into pieces.  

“Since we’re on the subject, what about you?” 

“Noona, you don’t want to know about me.”  Tae-yang popped a piece into his mouth.  

“Yeah, I probably don’t.  You were a heartbreaker I bet.  There are probably girls out there who still have love that goes on for you.”  Ji-won laughed and nearly choked on a piece of kimbap.

“You know it!” Tae-yang laughed and agreed.  He liked how she could take a hurtful situation and still make fun as though it was nothing at all.   

Seung-ri was worried that Tae-yang would be waiting outside the apartment so had driven back as quickly as he could.  He had gone to his parent’s house to drop off the bike and pick up his car.  He hadn’t driven it for so long but it hadn’t gathered dust as he had thought.  It looked like his mom couldn’t stay still.  She was always cooped up in the house most of the day.  It had to have been his mom and her incessant cleaning.

When he arrived, there was no one waiting outside his apartment as he had previously thought; instead he heard laughter coming out from Ji-won’s apartment.  He suspected Tae-yang had taken the opportunity to spend time with Ji-won—whether purposely or not, Seung-ri was not sure.  He did not like where this was going very much.  His past experiences told him that Tae-yang was able to easily wrap women into the palm of his hand but, the player that he was, one woman could never hold on to him long enough.  He did not want it to be Ji-won this time around.

Seung-ri rang the doorbell. 

“Noona, do you have any more cherry pies?” Tae-yang innocently asked.

Ji-won threw the hand towel in his face and walked to open the door.  Guessing that it was Seung-ri, she didn’t stop to look at the monitor. 

“Seung-ri, try this.”  Ji-won held out a piece of kimbap for him to eat.  He opened his mouth and she plopped it in.  Tae-yang only watched and wondered why she didn’t do that for him. 

“Mwhat was the occasion?” he asked with his mouth still full. 

“No occasion. Tae-yang and I made it.”  

Seung-ri nearly spit out the piece he had in his mouth. 

“Noona!  Are you trying to kill me?  How could you let him near the kitchen?  How could you let him near a knife?” 

Tae-yang proudly displayed his Pucca band aid for Seung-ri to see.  

“How was I supposed to know?  He was doing okay for a while.” 

“Tae-yang, we need to go.  The girls called me before I got here, and they wanted to meet up earlier.” 

“Before you guys leave, can I ask a favor?”