twenty-three: bulgogi cheesesteak sandwich

“So,” Kyungsoo had this really annoying grin on his face the next day when he came to visit me at my house. “So?”

“So, what?” I growled, getting incredibly irritated at his grinning face.

“How did it go?” Kyungsoo asked.

I knew all too well what he was trying to get from me. He must be asking about Kris and I... I turned my head around with a scoff, “Nothing.”

“Liar.” Kyungsoo teased, “Something happened, huh? Did you two make up now? Are you two together?”

“Why are you so interested in things between us anyway?” I spat back. “Just – hurry up and finish the damn crackers!”

I pointed to the plate of crackers in front of him as he drank his coffee. He stuck out his tongue before picking one up. “After all I did for you the other day when you were beside yourself, weeping over Kris-hyung, you’re not even going to tell me if things are all right between you guys now?” He added, teasingly as he bit on his cracker.

I made a face at him and turned around again, anything to get away from that stupid look of his. I turned back to my counter, a piece of paper on a clipboard to avoid it getting dirty with written instructions on how to make a bulgogi cheesesteak sandwich. I scrunched up my nose as I read the recipe. For some reason, I still find it hard to actually do what these things tell me.

“How are you doing over there?” Kyungsoo asked as he continued his little morning snack. “Kris-hyung is going to come over any time soon to check how things are, right?”

“Er...” I glanced aside as I added some beef in a mixture that had been mixing in the food processor. The food processor, of course, was lent by Kris since I have none. My kitchen was pretty empty after all. “Well, yeah. Wait a minute, how did you know that?”

Kyungsoo wiggled his eyebrows, “Your place is extra clean. It’s kind of suspicious given the fact that you never really clean anything – or do housework in general.”

I blushed and turned back away from his wiggling eyebrows and back to my processing paste. ! I thought. Am I that obvious? And almost as if it was planned, the doorbell rang and Kyungsoo shot up from his seat, taking his coat.

“Well! Looks like that’s my cue to get going.” He said, snickering.

“What?” I gasped, dropping the things for cooking in my hands as I went around my counter to answer the door. “Wh-What are you saying?”

“Oh c’mon, don’t be clueless about it. You know who it is and besides, I don’t want to interrupt.” He grinned even wider as I walked with him to the door. “And because I’m such a good friend and all, here’s my suggestion for you. Why don’t you try inviting him to stay over? You want to spend more time with him, right? I can read it all over your face.” I made a face at him but while I was distracted by his incessant teasing, my hand had somehow found its way to the doorknob and before I knew it, my door was opening – revealing my cooking teacher dressed in a khaki-colored trench coat and slacks. Since when do cooking teachers dress like that?!

“K-Kris?” I gawked at him, eyeing him from head to toe. Why is he dressed so... so—

Kris glanced towards the short male by my side, smiling with his eyes like they were crescent moons. “Was I interrupting something?”

“Huh?” I blinked, snapping myself back to reality. I then caught Kyungsoo snickering by my side, “N-No! No, no! You didn’t—I mean—He—“

“Don’t worry about it, I was just about to leave.” Kyungsoo patted my back and gave me a wink, probably a silent push to go ahead with his suggestion earlier, and stepped outside, “Enjoy!” He gave a smile to Kris who was also blinking his eyes in confusion.

The elder turned his eyes from Kyungsoo’s distancing figure to me, stepping inside my house. “Does he know?”

“Ugh,” I grunted, turning around. “He’s got a partner himself so it’s no surprise that he knows.”

“Huh,” Kris began taking off his coat, hanging it on the sofa’s armrest as he walked towards the counter where I was once more resuming my attempt at replicating his recipe. “That means you were showing signs that allowed him to know quickly.”

I flinched, quickly turning back to face him only to be trapped at the counter by my cooking teacher. “E-Er...”

Kris smirked, leaning closer. “Well?”

I looked aside, the memory of what happened last time with him flashing in my head. I blushed even redder, pushing his arm aside to turn back around the counter. “M-My paste is rested enough, right? I have to slice some carrots now.”

Taking the carrots from their plastic and a knife from the rack, I tried my best not to look incredibly self-conscious. But it was proving to be too difficult. Just his very presence behind me was enough to make my heart lose control. Then, as if it wasn’t hard enough to keep my composure, Kris suddenly wrapped his arms around me – one of his hands suddenly taking hold of mine which had been holding the knife.

“Let me help then,” He whispered by my ear, pressing his chest further against my back. I winced.

Oh . The contact was enough to make my head swirl. I watched as his hand guided mine to thinly slice some carrots. Now, I should really focus on how to do this on my own but the fact that Kris was leaning close to me made it hard to do so. After we had cut the carrots together, he craned his head to whisper even closer to my ear.

“What’s next, chef?” He teased and I wanted to jab his side so much – which was what I did. “Ugh!” He coughed, releasing me. “What the hell?”

“Give me some space, geez!” I spat, furiously red from the embarrassment. “How do you expect someone to cook when you’re looming over them, ert!”

Kris scratched the back of his neck, tilting his head innocently, “But I thought you liked that sort of thing.”

“Bull!” I spat again, turning around. In seconds, his arms were back around my waist.

“Don’t be so stingy.” He said, “I want to be closer, that’s all.”

I was feeling incredibly giddy from hearing that but I had to keep my head off the clouds and back to the ground. I have to learn how to cook if I ever still want to beat this guy—

Hm? Come to think of it, does he still want to fight me? I turned my head slightly, seeing him resting his head on my shoulder as he watched what I was doing with hawk eyes. “Kris,”

“What?” He said, not leaving his gaze from the counter. “You should add the beef with the marinade not before.”

Ignoring what he said, I stopped moving my hands and continued, “Are we still—Are we still going to have that cook-off?”

“...” Kris paused and turned his gaze, focusing on mine as well. “I don’t see the point anymore, do I?”

“What?” I froze for a moment.

“Well, to begin with, that kind of thing was to get you to cook. Or at least, get you to learn how.” He sighed, “It was some kind of silly excuse of mine to stay with you as well. But I don’t really need it anymore, do I? We’re both together, after all.”

I stared at him in mild awe as he answered. Oh wow, look at him. He’s completely honest to me now. I thought. , I’m really happy. Then there was a tiny pinch on my side, snapping me back to reality. “Ow!”

“Besides, wasn’t it your idea in the first place?” He grinned. “Didn’t you want t