“Mandy?” Ji Hoo said after their laughs had reduced a bit

“Hmm”

“When is your birthday? You said he dumped you in September and your birthday was a few months after that. Has it already gone?”

“No, it’s still to come”

“When is it?”

“27^th January”

“Hmmn, good then I have time to buy you a gift. What do you want?”

“You are supposed to surprise people with gifts, not ask them and give them; because if I want something I can get it myself.”

“I’m not really a good gift giver”

“Then start thinking now, you have more than a month to decide.” And she again set her head in his lap “and do that thing to my hair while you do so”

But Ji Hoo pushed her head away and got up from his spot

“What?” she asked in an irritated voice

“First take your medicine, because I know that you’ll fall asleep if I start your hair and I won’t have the heart to wake you up then.” He said handing her the medicine.

“Let me get you a glass of water” he said and vanished into the kitchen. He returned after two minutes

After Mandy swallowed her medicine, she again set her head in his lap. Ji Hoo her head for the second time that day till she fell asleep.

Next day Mandy got visitors. She had fallen asleep after taking her medicine in the afternoon and Ji Hoo had gone to the market to buy some things. When he returned Jan Di and Ga Eul were standing at his doorstep.

“Sunbae, where were you?” Jan Di asked Ji Hoo “I tried your number so many times”

He checked his pockets “I think I left it inside” Ji Hoo said

“But where were you?”

“I went grocery shopping”

“You went grocery shopping? Since when do you shop for groceries yourself?” Jan Di had an unbelieving expression on her face

“I went to shop for some special ingredients that I need to cook food for Mandy” Ji Hoo simply said as he let the friends in

“You learned to cook?” Both the friends said in unison

“Yeah, Mandy taught me” he said, vanishing into the kitchen

Ga Eul and Jan Di looked at each other and then at Ji Hoo but didn’t comment and silently followed him. When they entered the kitchen, they saw Ji Hoo arranging a bunch of white lilies in a glass vase.

“Where is unnie right now?” Ga Eul asked

“She is sleeping right now.” He said as he moved to the kitchen “Would you like some tea?” he asked smiling at them from behind the kitchen counter

“Uh…okay” they said uncomfortably

“If you are making tea, make one for me too, and make it sweet” Mandy said standing a few feet behind Jan Di and Ga Eul

“Unnie!” both the girls ran to her and hugged her.

“How are you two?” Mandy asked as they sat on the kitchen stools

“The question is unnie, how are you doing?” said Ga Eul

“As you can see, I’m doing well. I’m definitely doing better than yesterday” and then her eyes roamed to the lilies. “Oh you two remembered…… you two are so sweet” she said as she scooted towards the vase

“Actually unnie, Ji Hoo sunbae brought that” Ga Eul said hesitantly

“What?” and then she gave Ji Hoo a questioning look

“I thought you might like them” Ji Hoo said scratching the back of his head. The calm Ji Hoo was acting like an anxious teenager.

“I do like them; they are my favorite. How did you know?”

“Just a guess” Ji Hoo said and turned towards the fridge to hide his expression

“Are you making chai?” Mandy asked when Ji Hoo took out the carton of milk

“Yes, don’t you want that?” Ji Hoo asked

“I don’t think it will suit their tastes, so make the herbal tea you usually make, I’ll drink that too” Mandy said

“What is chai?” asked the ever curious Ga Eul

They all continued chatting and after a while Ji Hoo left the three girls alone. They all moved to Mandy’s temp room as she liked to call the guest room.

“Unnie, I actually came to invite you to dinner tomorrow” Ga Eul said

“What’s the occasion?” Mandy asked

“Unnie! Did you forget? It’s Christmas” Jan Di said

“Oh! Right, it is. I finally get to see your home then huh Ga Eul? Would your parents be there too; I didn’t get to properly meet them at Jan Di’s wedding.” Mandy said

“Actually unnie, there is another reason for the dinner party too” Ga Eul said blushing.

“What is it?”

“I moved in with Yi Jung sunbae” Ga Eul said shyly

“Congratulations!!!!! Why didn’t you say so before! Oh my god, did you do it?” Mandy asked her

“Unnie!” Ga Eul said and hid her face in her hands

“She totally did it right?” Mandy looked at Jan Di

Jan Di nodded and the two girls burst out laughing.

“But this is no fair!” Mandy started “You both lost your ities before I did. And I’m older than you both!” and the two younger girls laughed

“But tell me” Mandy whispered to them “is it good?”

Jan Di first looked at Ga Eul and then at Mandy and then both she and Ga Eul nodded together

“Really? How does it feel?”

“Unnie!” Ga Eul admonished her

“Oh come on, dish the details, because I’m not letting you two go anywhere before you tell me” Mandy said and held onto a wrist of both the girls with each of her hands.

After a lot of convincing and prodding, Jan Di and Ga Eul shared almost every detail with her. The girls talked for more than two whole hours.

After the two also invited Ji Hoo for the dinner and took their leave, Mandy went to the kitchen to have a glass of water and saw Ji Hoo watering the lily vase.

“Thanks for the flowers” she said as she plopped herself onto the counter and smelled the flowers. “Uggh, my nose is still blocked, I can’t smell these”

“Don’t worry it’ll get better” Ji Hoo consoled her as he rubbed her hands and then poured himself a glass of water too.

“Ji Hoo, have you ever had before?” Mandy asked coolly

Her question had made him sputter the water in his mouth and cough.

“No…” he said looking at her suspiciously “Why are you having these thoughts?” Ji Hoo asked as he wiped off the water

“Ga Eul lost her ity” she said coolly again

“Didn’t need to know that” Ji Hoo commented

“Oh, come on. One day or another you are going to have with someone, and you are a medical student, so it shouldn’t be an issue.”

“That doesn’t mean you talk about it openly”

“What’s the harm? We have to confront it one day”

“Why haven’t you confronted it yet?” Ji Hoo asked cautiously “Didn’t you find someone you liked?”

“Like I said before, love affairs are not really supported in my family. My parents grew up in those ideologies and would be very against these things. In the end they would only truly accept it if I married a guy of whom they approved. And after what happened with my so called ex, I try not to fall for someone deliberately. But I sometimes feel like I’m missing out on things” Mandy said looking into the distance. “Jan Di and Ga Eul say it’s good, Niya says it’s good; maybe I should try it.” But she saw that Ji Hoo was looking at her weirdly “I’m not going to you, relax. I was just wondering how it would feel like having .”

“So what’s this you-marrying-a-guy-your-parents-choose-for-you talk? Didn’t you say you don’t let anyone make decisions for you?” Ji Hoo asked

“In the end it will be my choice if I marry the guy or not, no one can force me into it. My parents would just suggest a guy.”

“But can’t you convince them if you fall for a guy and want to marry him?”

“They will agree but not wholeheartedly; and there’s no guarantee that if I have a love marriage it would be successful. My sister had an arranged marriage and she is very happy right now.”

“So you just marry any guy your parents tell you to marry?” Ji Hoo asked impatiently

“It’s not like that. First my parents show me the guy’s photo and tell me about his family and profession and bank balance, you know the things that usually matter to parents. The same is being said to the guy for me by the guy’s parents. Then we meet each other a few times and then decide if we want to spend the rest of our lives together. If yes, then all is good; if not, then we move on to the next candidate.” Mandy explained

“This makes it sound more like a job interview than marriage.” Ji Hoo said annoyingly

“Why are you being this way?” Mandy asked

“It just annoys me to see that another one of my friends would be married off against their wish”

“But I won’t get married against my wishes; my parents will fully respect my decision. It’s not like the old days now where you were told a month ahead that you were getting married to someone you have never met before.”

“That happened?” Ji Hoo asked unbelievably

“Happened to my mum and dad; also happened to all my aunts and uncles. Rules change with every generation. My parents’ generation is more considerate and therefore this meeting before the marriage system. Me and my cousins would be more considerate and would agree to love marriages happily and so on and so forth.” She explained to him

“But I still can’t believe how you can decide if you can spend the rest of your life with a person on the basis of a few dates.” Ji Hoo pouted like a child. Mandy was sitting on the counter with her legs crossed and Ji Hoo was standing in front of her with his arms folded in front of his chest.

“Don’t worry babu” she said pulling his cheeks “I’ll take the decision carefully when the time comes. But you have to promise me one thing.” She said in a serious tone

“What?”

“If I find out before the marriage that the guy is not good for me; you’ll have to elope with me” and she burst out laughing

“OK, promise” Ji Hoo said, joining in the laughter.

A lot of promises being made under the pretense of jokes. let's see if Ji Hoo stands up to those in the end or not? May or may not be a spoiler. sorry i'm evil this way :-D