Chapter 32

You heard a knock on the door and figured it was Yeseo coming up to bring you your food. Slowly the door opened and instead of your best friend, Chanyeol entered with the tray of food in his hands. He was careful not to drop or spill any of the food and slowly closed the door behind him with a kick of his foot. Slowly, he walked towards you and placed the tray on the table beside the bed. He then grabbed a chair and sat beside you. You raised your eyebrows.

“Aren’t you going back down to eat? I can eat by myself you know.”

He shook his head and pointed towards the tray. “I brought enough food for the both of us. And I don’t think you can sit upright by yourself right now.” He said while examining your body.

Feeling a little upset about what he said, you tried your best to show him you could sit up by yourself. Of course, your arms once again failed you and you just plopped back down on the bed like a fallen coconut. You sighed and folded your arms. Chanyeol pressed his lips together and stood up. He wrapped one of his arms around your shoulder and another gently placed on your arm. Slowly, he lifted your upper torso and placed your pillow so that you would have some support to sit up. It was as though he had done this many times before but then you remembered how he took care of you for that whole week when you fainted.

He sat back down and looked towards the tray. “So, what do you want to eat first? We’ve got rice, some kimchi, seasoned fish, some fried octopus…wow, and some of them I have never tasted in my entire life.” He chuckled but his face turned emotionless again when he turned to face you. You wondered what was wrong but decided to think about it later.

“I’ll just have some rice…and fish. Thanks.” You mumbled.

Chanyeol nodded and proceeded to take the bowl of rice and slowly picked a few pieces of fish into the bowl with the chopsticks. When he got the rice together with the fish, he slowly brought it towards your lips. You opened your mouth and slowly ate the food, careful not to spill any on the bed. Chanyeol then proceeded to take a few bites of the food himself. The both of you chewed in silence, the air was still tense and at the same time awkward between the both of you.

Chanyeol kept feeding you and you kept playing with the hem of the covers of the bed, hoping everything would past by fast because you couldn’t handle how surprisingly quiet Chanyeol was. For someone who constantly had something to say in every situation, you didn’t think he could last this long in the silence. You tried to tell him you weren’t hungry anymore but he forced you to finish up everything that he brought, saying how the others would be worried if you didn’t finish up your food. When you were almost about done with the food, he finally spoke.

“How are you feeling?” He said without looking up at you. He was just scraping the few pieces of leftover food in the rice bowl.

“I’m fine! God, what is everyone so worried about? I’m alive!!” You said and sighed in frustration.

Chanyeol just nodded and continued playing with the food. “Sorry, I was…I was just worried. As long as you’re fine then it’s good.” He said.

You frowned and puffed your cheeks. “Good. The one I’m worried about is Kyungsoo though.” You said.

Chanyeol raised his eyebrows and stopped what he was doing with the food. “Why is that?” He said, trying not to sound curious when in actual fact he was dying to know why you would be worried about Kyungsoo out of all people.

“He’s the one that saved me right? And I know pulling someone to shore is a very difficult task. And we were so far from the shore. How hard must it have been for him to pull be back safely.” You wondered, feeling guilty about what had happened. “He kept rubbing his arm just now. I must’ve hurt him.”

Chanyeol just stared at you and after a few minutes of not saying anything, he nodded and started to place the bowl back on the tray. He stood up and carried the tray with him before walking towards the door. Before he left, he turned to look back at you, for the first time that day, the both of you made eye-contact, but the look in his eyes were different than how it usually was.

“I’ll let Kyungsoo know you’re worried about him. And I’ll be sure to get him some ointment for his sore arms.” He emphasized on the word ‘sore’ for some reason but you didn’t notice. Instead you just nodded and lied on your bed again.

You thought that you should at least do something for Kyungsoo, since he sorta saved your life. Maybe you should buy him some coffee? Nah, that’s too simple. Buy him something expensive? That’s nothing compared to what he did for you. You rolled around in your bed, thinking of how you should repay him, and then it hit you. You should be nicer to him instead. Sure, it doesn’t seem like anything special but you thought maybe he deserved a little bit of kindness from you? After saving you, you realized that not once were you nice to him, and you felt bad about it. Besides, being nice to him would make the both of you closer and there would be a better chance for you to ask him about Yeseo. It’s like killing two birds with one stone.

Satisfied with that, you finally fell asleep.

You were feeling much better the next day and remembered what you had planned to do the night before. Suddenly being so nice around Kyungsoo would be so weird for you so you decided to just take it slow. Kyungsoo was always in the kitchen preparing meals and since it was only a few hours before breakfast, you figured you should go help him; your first kind act towards him.

You quietly bathed and changed onto a tank top and black shorts, careful not to wake Yeseo up. It seemed as though she slept late the night before. Maybe she was busy sticking to Kyungsoo like glue last night. You shook your head and quietly tiptoed your way out. Closing the door behind you, you let out a sigh and looked around. The house was still dark since all the doors were still closed. The guys, you assumed, were still asleep as well. You heard footsteps coming from downstairs and thought maybe it was Kyungsoo.

Sure enough, when you went in the kitchen, you see him, wrapped in an apron that seemed a little big for him. He was busy moving from cupboard to cupboard, taking out ingredients needed to make breakfast. Honestly, you were quite impressed that he was putting in so much effort to cook. What was more impressive was that not only was he cooking, but he was cooking for the rest of you. The Kyungsoo you knew was selfish and only thought of only himself, however the Kyungsoo you see now, was so much different.

“What are you making? Can I help?” You said and stepped into the kitchen before grabbing one of the aprons that was hanging on the wall. It was a floral patterned apron and you assumed this was once his mother’s.

Surprised by your sudden presence, Kyungsoo dropped some of the pans he was holding and it made a loud noise as it fell to the floor. The sound was ringing in your ears and you quickly went to help him pick up the pans. After placing the fallen pans on to the counter, you noticed an old recipe book that was opened on the table.

“Oh, so you’re making this for breakfast today? Looks delicious.” You tried to make yourself sound as friendly as you could. Kyungsoo noticed but he shrugged it off since he was already flustered from the falling pans incident.

“I haven’t tried making it before so I thought I should cook it for you guys.” He said and his look was serious as he read through the ingredients listed on the book before busying himself again. You pressed your lips together and just followed him around, observing what he was doing.

A few minutes later, he seemed to notice and was starting to get a little bit annoyed with your presence. He stopped what he was doing and turned to face you. His eyebrows were raised and he folded his arms.

“Can I help you?”

You smiled and shook your finger in front of his face. “Actually, it’s the other way around. Can I help you?”

Kyungsoo just stared straight at you, trying to protest what you had just said and he leaned back against the counter. “And why, might I ask, would you want to help me?”

You felt your body went stiff as you didn’t know how to answer him. You couldn’t just right off the bat tell you wanted to be nicer to him right? That’d be so embarrassing! It’ll just make you look weak in front of him. But then again, it is the truth though. You thought hard about what to say when Kyungsoo let out a heavy sigh and rubbed his temples.

“Okay, you don’t have to answer. Breakfast is in a few minutes and waiting for you to come up with an answer is just wasting my time. You can help me beat the eggs in the bowl over there.” He commanded and continued cutting the vegetables. You smiled and nodded, happy that you were able to lend a helping hand.

The two of you worked in the kitchen in silence, only the sound of the knife against the cutting board and the subtle sizzle of the bacon in the pan bounced against the walls. You were frying the strips of bacon while Kyungsoo was busy making the salad. You noticed how serious he was about cooking and thought that maybe he had a passion for it.

“Say, do you like cooking?” You asked as you flipped the pieces of bacon over.

“Hmm? I won’t say ‘like’ but I don’t mind doing it either.” He said but his voice sounded distracted. You nodded and continued to examine him. It seemed as though he had been cooking for years.

The way he handled the knife and the speed of his cutting was amazing. It was like those professional chefs like Gordon Ramsay or something. Could he be like a cooking prodigy?

“Looks like you’ve done this before.” You tried your best to continue the conversation.

He just shrugged and nodded.

“Do you always help out in the kitchen?”  You said while at the same time transferring the already cookded, and a little bit burnt, bacon strips on to a plate.

“We’ve got our own people to cook for us at home.” He said flatly. Again you just nodded and placed the plate of bacons on the counter.

“Hey, is that your very own personal apron—“

“Could you stop talking for like ten seconds?!” Kyungsoo suddenly snapped at you but after a few seconds, as though he realized what he had done, his face quickly became apologetic and he placed the knife he was holding on the table.

You didn’t mind him shouting at you so suddenly of course. Who wouldn’t get annoyed when they’re being asked so many questions? You were trying your best to have a normal conversation with him. But it seemed as though he didn’t want to be disturbed at that moment.

“What are you doing Hae Ra? You never start a conversation with me; just…what do you want?” He furrowed his eyebrows and placed his hands on his hips.

You pouted and played with the hem of the apron. “Well, you know, I just want to say thank you.” You mumbled. Kyungsoo furrowed his eyebrows and looked at you.

“For what?”

“For saving my life. You know how I hate to be indebted to someone. So, since you saved my life, and I felt that I haven’t been treating you so well, I thought...to repay you, I’ll open up to you.” You felt embarrassed. You had no choice but to come clean.

Kyungsoo seemed surprised at first but then he just turned his back at you and continued cooking. “Y-yeah sure, you’re welcome.” He said.

You smiled. You assumed he turned away from you to hide his blushing face. You let out a sigh of relief and helped to bring out the plates to the dining table. Maybe if you continued like this, you would be able to ask him about Yeseo and maybe also ask about his bipolar behavior.