Dammit. So I haven’t forgotten my feelings for Kai. They were lurking in the corner of my heart all this time, until he returned to Seoul. Then they proceeded to spring forth from the cage in which they were trapped.

If he could hear my thoughts right now, he would probably make fun of me for sounding so sappy.

“Sojin!” Saemi bounds into the room, a frantic expression on her face. “I have an emergency. Like, a real emergency this time.”

I tilt my head. “What is it?”

“So... I kind of invited this guy over for dinner.”

“You did what?!” I screech, shooting up from the couch. “Saemi! Why didn’t you tell me sooner? And what boy is this? Is he nice? Is he from school? Are you two close?”

“Calm down,” Saemi inhales; ironic because she’s obviously nervous as well. “We’re working on a school project together, so I kinda... asked him if he wanted to eat dinner here.”

“Do you like him?”

She bites her lip. “No, but...,”

“Okay.” I cut her off. “Fine. I’ll make a really nice dinner for you two. What time’s he coming?”

“Uhh... 6 o’ clock.”

I glance at the clock. 4:45, it reads. “I’d better go buy ingredients right now. Saemi, I’ll be back. And you owe me one, got it?”

She exhales in relief. “Thank you, Sojin. Honestly, I owe you one."

Why does she look so worried?

“Why do I do these things,” I sigh as I place tomatoes in a plastic bag. HaeJa Supermarket is relatively quiet for this time of the day, with only a few customers shuffling around the aisles. My shopping cart is already packed with lettuce and beans and parsley and garlic. Just a few more items and I should be ready to-

A huge crash! in the next row over nearly causes me to jump out of my skin. Throwing the tomatoes in my cart I hurry over to the source of the noise.. and am greeted with a skittish Kim Kai, attempting to surreptitiously kick some broken bottles of ketchup under the display board.

“What are you doing here?” I say slowly. Kai’s head snaps up and swivels to mine.

“Soji- I mean, Dr. Park? How did you get here?” he asks confusedly. “Also... er... this didn’t happen.” He stares pointedly at the gigantic mess of ketchup and glass and upturned cans on the floor.

My eyebrow quirks up. “You know they have surveillance cameras, right?”

“I know that,” he snaps. “But I can always claim that it wasn’t me. I was going to tell the store management that the camera traveled through a warphole in the fabric of time and space, and recorded a Kim Kai from an alternate universe spilling ketchup. It’s a pretty plausible explanation.”

“Yeah, if you’re Edward Witten and are trying to advocate the M-theory.” I scoff. My response elicits a slight grin on his face.

Kai laughs. “You’re so sassy, Soj- Dr. Park." His face reddens at his blunder.

I sigh. “There’s no need to call me ‘Dr. Park’. Sojin is... fine.”

“Good. You can call me Kai, too. Or... Jongin. If you want.”

“I’ll stick with Kai.” I reply coolly.

We stand in the middle of the condiments aisle, uncomfortably avoiding each other’s eyes. He’s wearing sweats and a t-shirt that reads, Seoul Private Academy. The familiar emblem of my high school causes me to curl my lip. Kai still has our class shirt? I threw mine into the dumpster the day after graduation.

“So,” Kai says, trying to break the ice. “It’s been a pretty long time, huh.”

I clear my throat. “Yeah.” Suddenly, something buzzes in my pocket. It’s a text from Saemi. Thank you Saemi for saving me from this uncomfortable situation.

Are you done buying vegetables? There’s only 30 minutes until he comes!!

“Hey, I have to keep shopping. My intern invited someone over for dinner, and I have to make them both something before 6.” I sigh. “It was nice seeing you again. Have fun dealing with your little ketchup mess.”

“You have to make dinner by 6?” Kai checks his gold Rolex watch. “It’ll be pretty hard for you to manage that by yourself.”

I shrug. “I suppose.”

“It would be really helpful if someone was there to help you, right?”

“Yeah, but there isn’t anyone, really.”

Kai fiddles with the hem of his shirt. “Well, you know. I’m free right now.”

“Alright, Kai.” I roll my eyes. “Would you like to come and help me make dinner?”

“Sure, I guess.” he says nonchalantly, ruffling his hair like it’s no big deal. “Since you asked and all.”

It takes all my willpower not to kick him in the shin.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?”

I’m sitting in the passenger seat of Kai’s sleek black BMW. Kai offered to drive us to my house. Seeing that I walked to HaeJa Supermarket I accepted his offer. Plus, I really didn’t want to carry armfuls of grocery bags all the way home.

“What is it?” Kai replies, keeping his eyes on the road.

“Why did you give my lab extra funding? I truly appreciate it. But why?” I question.

He shrugs. “I could see real potential in your muscular dystrophy project. But ParkBio standing alone wouldn’t have been able to experiment further unless it had extra money. So I approved further research.”

So Kai really was helping me. Is it too good to be true? The Kim Kai I knew would go out of his way to make things not work for me.

“Can I ask you a question?” he says suddenly, interrupting my thoughts.

“Go for it.”

“Tell me how you’ve been.” He gives me a small smile.

My eyes widen. “Oh. Well, I’ve been doing alright. I got my degree in Biotech, and opened my own lab... well, it used to be my own lab.” I can’t resist throwing him a spiteful glare.

Kai’s jaw tightens. “Sojin, when I say that I bought ParkBio to help you, I’m telling the truth. Look at the pros: now that your labs belong to Kim Biotech you get extra funding and a powerful sponsor.”

“That’s not the point.” I exhale, shaking my head. “Whatever, Kai. Just... forget it.”

The rest of our car trip is in tense silence. When we pull into the parking garage of my loft apartment Kai’s eyebrows shoot up.

“You moved?” he remarks. “Your new place is nice.”

“Thanks.” I dump a load of grocery bags in his arms. “Help me carry these up, please.”

I hope our afternoon of cooking together doesn’t end up in both of us killing each other.