twenty-four: mango pudding I

Later that day Kris, who was staying over, opted to use the time wisely and teach me how to make some Mango Pudding, with the hopes of me recreating it for dessert later on.

“We’re cooking again?” I whined, leaning back on my sofa as I closed another cookbook, still unable to really understand what in the world I was reading. I was beginning to think that either I was really unmotivated or just plain stupid.

The blonde cocked one eyebrow up before blocking my way out, an arm on the sofa headrest as he leaned towards me, “Why? Do you have other things in mind that we can do?”

Somehow, the intonation and meaning in that phrase seemed pretty suspicious – no, erse, even. I narrowed my eyes towards him, my mouth frowning, “You’re not thinking of—“

“Oh,” He grinned, “Naughty Chanyeol.”

I blushed, “I didn’t say anything!”

“But what were you thinking?” He teased and I blushed some more. ! I’m too obvious sometimes!

“You-!” I slapped his arm on the headrest away, “You started it!”

He chuckled before retreating, standing up to gather his notepad and his coat. I raised an eyebrow as he turned around. “Come on. Get dressed.”

“What? Why?” I gawked, checking him out from head to toe. Damn. This guy is too good-looking for his own good.

“Well, we need some ingredients for the new dish right?” Kris shrugged his shoulders as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “And we have to shop for dinner too.”

“So I have to cook more later?!” I sort of shrieked, horror in my eyes. I have had it with the freaking stove today. I’m a complete beginner, I’m not denying that, I need more time! I need a break—

“Dimwit,” He flicked his fingers over my forehead, “I’ll cook dinner. I have something in mind.”

I gazed at him, half in admiration and half in sheer joy. Oh, wow. I thought as I blushed, not really knowing what to say. “… Uh…”

“What?” He looked at me, pursing his lips. “What is it?”

I looked aside, “You’re too much.” I stood up all of a sudden and headed for my room to grab a coat, leaving Kris to question my sentiment.

“… Too much?” He echoed, tilting his head in confusion.

I grabbed a jacket from my closet and zipped it up while leaving my room, only to bump into my teacher-slash-lover in the hallway. “Wha—Why are you here?”

“What you said made me curious so I followed you,” He snickered. “So am I too much?”

“Don’t think too much of it.” I waved a hand and gave an awkward smile, “Anyway, let’s go and—“

“Hold it,” He grabbed my hand and I internally screamed. I flushed beet red and laughed nervously. Kris caught on easily, of course, and smiled even more mischievously as his hand held onto mine.

“What?” My voice shook and my eyes refused to look at him. Now I’m just plain embarrassed to look at him. I can’t help it. If he’s going to help me bake some dessert and make me dinner then of course I would be happy – embarrassingly happy.

“Did you bring your wallet?”

“O-Of course!” I barked back. He held onto my hand still.

“Your house keys?”

“Yes.” I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Did you turn off the lights in your room?”

“Kris!” I spat at him, pulling my hand back. “I’m not a baby! Geez! I know all of those stuff already!”

“But, Chanyeol,” Kris crossed his arms, tilting his head a little. “Remember that sweet time when you forgot to lock your apartment because you were totally distracted?”

Ugh. I thought. , did he have to bring that up right now?! “That was just a one time thing. A one time deal.”

“You’re a careless, forgetful guy, end of story.” Kris argued and took a step closer to me. I flinched. “I’m just making sure your apartment doesn’t get sacked by the time we get back.”

“You really like to come up with the worst possible scenarios.” I made a face but then Kris’s face was suddenly close to mine. I held my breath and he smiled in satisfaction at my reaction.

“Chanyeol,” He said, and all of a sudden, the hallway got a little hotter.

“Wh-What?”

“You know I like you, right?”

, where did that come from? I shrugged. “Do you?”

Kris chuckled, shaking his head. “Are you going to go for that?”

I gave it a thought. “All right, let me rephrase.” I cleared my throat, “I know you do, so what about it?”

“Then,” Kris’s face was so close that our noses were almost touching. I was preparing myself to kiss him – because I sort of found myself wanting to. Just staring at those brown eyes was enough to make me lose my sanity. “You know what I mean, right?”

I blushed some more – mostly because the kiss I believed to come… well, didn’t come. I looked down on the floor, noticing a small gap between my floorboards. When did that happen? Damn, I got to have that fixed. My thoughts were running wildly but my heart was still stuck on Kris. Asking me if I knew what he meant, well of course I do. Of course I’d know… why else would I be ridiculously embarrassed right now?

“Er…” I mumbled, “You just want to make sure I’m all right..?”

Kris’s hand came up and held my chin gently, tilting it a little. “That’s good.” And the kiss I thought wouldn’t come had come – and damn, I wasn’t prepared for it!

His lips pressed against mine and I melted in an instant. First it was a gentle peck but when I kissed back, he pressed harder, deeper and I wanted more. I grabbed his arm and he responded by biting my lower lip. I gasped and wondered why we’re both always so rough on each another.

“H-Hold it,” I groaned against his parted lips. “What was that about shopping for groceries?”

Kris chuckled softly, “You’re right.” He pulled back but stayed in place, considering my hand was still latched onto his arm. “Shall we?”

“Don’t talk like it’s you’re place.” I whimpered, taking one step forward to peck a quick kiss onto his unsuspecting lips. Ha! Payback!

Kris blinked and followed me blankly as I released his arm, taking the lead to the door. He smirked as he followed me, “… Someone’s even feistier than last time.”

Ugh. I thought, my heart swelling to a breaking point.

We headed straight to the marketplace – yes – that jungle of a place that Kris seems to love. I still had the gut-wrenching feeling of latching onto his arm in fear of getting lost but I’m somehow managing better than the first time. I walked with him towards the dairy part of the area where we bought some condensed milk then headed to the fruits for the mangoes and limes.

Kris handed me the list, “Tick off what we already have.”

“E-Er, right.” I said, maneuvering a bag of mangoes and limes to get the notepad and a pen out of my bag. I began checking off ingredients and I happily noticed some side notes in Chinese. I chuckled to myself, “Guess old habits die hard, huh?”

“What?” Kris turned around, a pack of gelatin from god-knows-where in hand. I flipped the notepad to show him.

“Your side notes,” I chuckled, “They’re so cute.”

Kris looked at me before looking aside, a faint blush on his cheeks. “Hmph.” I chuckled even more at his reaction.

He has cute reactions too. I snickered but then he dropped the gelatin bag in my arms and I gasped. “K-Kris! You—“

“Oh, Yifan! Welcome back!” A stall owner greeted all of a sudden and I internally sighed. Here we go. I thought to myself as I looked away, already expecting some audience to surround him considering he’s such a celebrity around here.

I decided to fix the things in my arms and began looking for some bench of sorts. I looked back at Kris who was engrossed in a conversation about spring onions or something like that before leaving; just to make sure I took note of where I last saw him. I managed to spot an empty seat somewhere nearby and ran for it, managing to catch it before anybody else did – dropping some of the load on the ground before sitting myself down.

“Whew,” I sighed, fanning myself with my hand. I watched on as Kris was surrounded by the market folk. He sure is popular. I thought, seeing him laugh and smile which sort of makes me feel happy too… I guess.

I was getting pretty comfortable when I noticed an old lady pass by, checking around for some seats. I’m a gentleman myself so I stood up and let her use the seat I had. Something like this once in a while feels good. After exchanging kind smiles, I picked up some of our groceries to return back to Kris before he notices I’m gone; but as I swung a bag over to my arm, it bumped into someone.

“Ah—“ I gasped, turning around. “S-Sorry. I didn’t know—“

The guy turned around, looking a little flushed and I immediately knew he had been drinking. Who drinks at this ungodl