“I’ll teach you how to make the soup I invented. It’s delicious! All the old women in the neighborhood flocked over to my shop to learn it for their husbands!” Namjoo’s mother boasted as she killed the live eels on their counter.

She’d taken to their house as if it was her and they were her live-ins. The scars on her hands were from when she used to work as a chef. Namjoo’s mother a proud self-pronounced chef, who now experimented with her own dishes in the restaurant Namjoo had opened up for her after earning her first paycheck.

Namjoo’s mother, like any other woman, was a bit hungry for money. Though she never asked for it, he knew she always waited for some allowance from them every month. During their wedding the gift from her had been the cheapest; a chair.

Kris didn’t quite trust her. He always felt that she had intentions she didn’t show. He couldn’t deny the fact that she was a nice woman though; very accepting of him. The first time he met her was when Namjoo pulled him in on her and said they were getting married.

Namjoo and Kris stood by watching warily as she worked the knife. One other thing they had in common was they didn’t deal with live things.

As her mother hacked the eel’s head off, Kris clutched onto Namjoo’s arm.

“Now you cut it into pieces like this,” Namjoo’s mother instructed. “When you cook eels, they’re not supposed to break up. If that happens, you’re doing it wrong. Remember this.”

“Mom, really…” Namjoo tried. “Kris doesn’t like eels.”

“Oh, don’t be silly! See, that’s why!” Her mother stated loudly and turned to look at him. “You need to start eating them to be strong! Come strong! Go strong! That’s the way.”

He smiled awkwardly and side glanced at Namjoo for her to help him.

Rolling her eyes she whispered, “Can’t you just deal with it?”  

Shaking his head profusely he whispered quite haughtily, “No!”

Heaving a sigh she turned back to look at her mother, who seemed so concentrated. The other eel, close to death, was squirming around in the plastic bag weakly.

“Ok, I get it,” Namjoo tried. “Just make a small sample. You bought too much. We won’t eat all that.”

“We?” Her mother repeated as if shocked the mention of it. “This is only for my son-in-law; treats for him.”

Kris pulled on a smile when she glanced his way so as not to hurt her feelings. Her intentions were kind, but he wasn’t feeling it.

“You need a lot of radish, some green onions, and pepper. Simple things give the perfect taste. Do you have them?” Setting the knife down without waiting for an answer she walked toward the fridge and mumbled to herself.

Her head ran up and down as she searched the shelves inside before saying, “There’s no radish here. This dish needs radish. I’m going to have to go to the store.”

And as if she lived there with them, walked over to the sink to wash her hands before ordering, “Namjoo, lets go to the store.”

“Now?” Namjoo asked surprised.

“Yes, now. I have to get this done so you two can settle down for lunch.”

Namjoo turned to look at him before hurrying to follow her mother. Kris heaved a sigh when the door closed and stared at the dead eel whose head had been chopped off looking back at him.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he said, “I’m not going to eat you.”

+++

“Mom, really,” Namjoo pleaded again once they were down the road. “Why are you here? You should’ve called ahead of time.”

Like Kris, she grew up with a single parent. Her father had passed away when she was young, so she’d grown up with her mother. Wherever the woman went, she tagged along before growing into her own ways. But unlike Kris who didn’t know his own mother, she knew her father.

“Just checking up on you two.”

“Mom, please.”

She could tell from the hidden gleam in her mother’s eye that there was something else, but her mother acted well. With eyes glued to the street and lips glued together she didn’t say a word until they turned around a bend where they were met with a bridge.

“Behind you,” she told.

Namjoo frowned at her before leaning over her seat to peer into the back. Two boxes the sizes of a small package of twenty dollar rice were stacked atop each other. Reaching out to try to lift one she discovered it was heavy.  

“What the heck? What are they?” She turned to look at her mother surprised.

“Tonics. I got them from your aunt for three hundred dollars.”

“What!?” Namjoo shrieked.

“Ow!” Her mother flinched away. “You’re hurting my ears.”

“Mom, that’s a rip-off!”

“They’re tonics, honey,” her mother went on as if it didn’t matter at all. “Have Kris drink them. He should finish them by the end of the week.”

“Are you crazy!?”

“They’re supposed to be good for him!” Her mother explained. “You remember your cousin, Soona, couldn’t have a baby? Her husband drank a whole box of this tonic and look what happened? Bam! She was pregnant a month later!”

Namjoo’s shoulders sagged helplessly, “Then why’d you buy two?”

“Double the power.” Her mother smiled and pulled into the lot of a mart.

Namjoo dragged herself out of the car to follow her mother’s quick steps with a deeper sigh. She and Kris were in trouble.

A few minutes later, instead of looking for radishes her mother was checking out more eels. The owner of the store was having a special sale that afternoon.

“Mom, what are you doing?” Namjoo asked from the side.

“The more eels, the better. Store them in the fridge and have Kris eat them. You’re his wife, you should be making them for him,” her mother lectured. “I looked at him earlier and he looks sort of weak. How have you been taking care of him? It’s no wonder you aren’t pregnant yet.”

She felt her mother run her judgmental eyes over her objectively as if she was the one in the wrong. Namjoo’s jaw dropped while her mother bravely grabbed a live eel holding it up to check it out, as if her eyes could scan for any hidden defects.

Shaking her head she set it down, “It’s a female. This one won’t do.”

Namjoo snorted, “How would you know that?”

“I’m a chef! I know my food!”

Namjoo let out another deep sigh, “Mom, we don’t need more eels. You’re wasting money. Lets go buy your radish and go back already.”

“I heard there’s another mart nearby. Lets go see if they’re selling eels for cheap there,” her mother ignored her and walked on.

“Mom!” Namjoo whined feeling invisible before forcing herself to follow.

+++

“They said they were going to buy radish,” Kris mumbled sitting on the couch with the couch pillow on his lap.

Leaning his head over the couch he moaned. He was bored.

“Women,” he spoke, “always take their time shopping. It’s been two hours already.”

Kris moaned before kicking his feet around frustrated. He was supposed to be watching a movie with his wife by now.

“Namjoo!!!” He whined.

About half an hour later the door opened and Kris turned his head to watch them come in. Namjoo carried in a heap of bags with her before almost dropping them onto the floor. Kris knitted his eyebrows together to shoot her a stare in order to express how bored, irritated, and wanted her to know how long he’d waited. In return she just widened her eyes a bit and shrugged as if it couldn’t be helped.

Lost with motivation he stared up at the ceiling. The stench of the eel soup drifted up his nostrils when Namjoo’s mother began making her new soup, as she called it.

Namjoo finally walked over moments later to place a cup of what like black tea in front of him.

“What is it?” He asked. “It looks evil.”

“Tonic.”

He frowned, “Tonic?”

Namjoo looked over at her mom before holding up a hand to her lips and explained as if she didn’t want her mother to hear, “It’s supposed to help build up your .”

Laughter rolled through his chest, “What!? Why would I need that?”

Namjoo glanced secretively over at her mother again before looking at him, “She thinks you’re weak.”

Kris made a face at her deciding not to take her words for it. When Namjoo started to walk away he threw his leg up pressing his foot into the edge of the table to bar her.

“When is she leaving?”

Namjoo shrugged before stepping over his foot and disappeared back into the kitchen. His impatience was growing. Sweet, romantic dinner was now gone from his mind.

“How is it?” Namjoo’s mother asked, leaning forward onto the table respectively while staring into his face.

The sun was about halfway down the sky now and the soup was finally completed. Such simple soup would have been done earlier if it wasn’t for the radish they didn’t have.

Kris stared into the soup and tasted the broth, “It’s good, mom.”

Namjoo’s mother smiled quite happily and glanced at Namjoo, “See, he likes it.”

Namjoo smiled in a quite reserved manner before her mother finally stood up.

“Well since I’m done here I should be going,” she said. “Don’t forget to feed him the tonics. I packed the eels away. They better be gone by the time I come back.”

Unable to escape her, they smiled and nodded to her bidding before walking her to the door. Once the door closed Kris groaned and leaned his face into it before walking over to the table. Quickly turning on his heels he chased after her.

“No! Wait! Don’t eat that,” he grabbed her arm.

Namjoo turned to frown at him, “What? My mom did this for you and you’re not going to eat it?”

He made a face at her before forcing her into her seat, “Stay here for a sec.”

She turned to watch him run around the kitchen gathering the candles he’d hidden a few days ago and placed them around the kitchen and on the window sill near the table. After lighting them up he opened the fridge and preheated two slacks of ready-to-go steaks before setting them onto the table.

A tiny smile grew on his face when he saw the expression of surprise on her face. And for a last touch he poured wine into two glasses for them.

“I would have had this ready by the time you went to the store and it would have been ready when you came back,” Kris told sitting down after turning the lights off.

“Wow,” Namjoo nodded with open in awe and slowly clapped, “someone wants to get rewarded.”

He made a face at her before picking up his utensils, “It’s not a first grade meal, but I’ll do better next time.”

“Lets make a cheer first,” Namjoo grabbed her glass.

“Alright,” he set down the utensils and grabbed his glass too. “Cheers to what?”

“Mmm…” she thought then smiled, “in hopes that we make it to our second anniversary?”

Kris eyed her before smiling in return, “No, this is to our second anniversary we’ll have for sure. Lets have a good year this year.”

+++

After walking out of the shower Namjoo took a seat at the edge of the bed to put on some lotion. As she rubbed the cream onto her skin she thought about the story her mother had told her about her cousin. Tilting her head to the side she wondered if the tonic really worked.

Her aunt was one of those traditional herbalists who believed that oriental medicine healed anything and everything. Namjoo, unlike her, wasn’t very much of a believer. Oriental medicine was nice, but she preferred science and Western medicine. It just seemed more logical to her.

“What are you thinking about?” Kris’ voice popped into her ears when the weight on the bed increased beside her.

She felt him wrap an arm around her waist suggestively and smirked at him.

“What are you doing?”

“What married people do,” he answered smartly and kissed her. “Come on, lets go to bed.”

Sliding his other hand under her arm to pull her up the bed he laid her down before kissing her from above. She could hear him breathing into her lips as he combed his fingers across her jawline. Folding her leg up she ran her toes over the back of his leg and grabbed onto his arm.

Her head inclined back into the pillow when his lips snuck over onto her neck and he grasped onto her hip. She could feel the heat emanating off his body as he further climbed over her, his lips hungry for more.

Before they could start undressing she pushed him away slightly, “Wait, I’m on my period.”

His eyes zeroed in on her as if she were joking before they changed gaze, “What!? Now?”

She nodded.

Tossing his head back he groaned, “Why!? You should have told me sooner!”

Flipping onto the side he kicked his legs around.

“Why isn’t anything working out today?!” He whined.

“What?” Namjoo asked. “Everything worked for you today! My mom did everything for you! It was you, you, you all day!”

Turning to look at her he knitted his brows together before releasing them. He looked almost innocent like a puppy for a moment.

“Can’t we still do it?” He sounded hopeful.

Namjoo snorted baffled, “Don’t you remember what happened the last time? The room smelled and it took me weeks to wash it out of the sheets! Just go to sleep.”

Throwing his head into his pillow she listened to him groan again. Sighing she leaned over to hug him.

“In a few days, promise,” she compromised.

Still whining he wrapped arm around her and pulled the blanket over them.

+++

The flight had been delayed for at most three hours. If not for the heavy rain he would have returned to Korea by dawn. When the announcement for his flight was finally announced through the speakers, he slipped his sunglasses on and grabbed his backpack.

He was finally heading back home. 

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***Huhuhu~~ Newlywed Kris isn't getting what he wants. Our lovey-dovey couple is surely enjoying their new life together. 

***Our third party will be revealed next chapter!! 

***I want to implement crude adult jokes and language into this story, I'm no sure how it'll go since it's my first time trying. Lets hope it turns out good ~.~

***A/N: I've been having images/visions and these feelings about sweet marriage life ever since I started writing City Blues. People say marriage isn't totally what we think it to be; sweet, lovely, romantic etc. I know I incorporate a lot of realism into my stories, only because I understand things to a certain a level. But I've never been married, I've only seen people experience it and have listened to their stories, but as I see it; it really depends on your character and how well you match with your partner and who and how you/your partner changes after marriage. So I'll do what best I can with this story and KrisJoo's newled life to sitll keep that love there and realistic essence to it.

***Please stay tuned for more! 

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