Dear Jia,

Mom and dad are going to be out all night because they’re going to some old person party. I won’t be home until after nine for dance practice. Please take care of lunch and dinner and what I mean by that is please include Kyungsoo when you eat. Share.

Love,

Jong In

“Looks like we’re stuck together,” Kyungsoo came shuffling into the kitchen behind me as we both looked down at the note left on the counter. His voice still gruff and hoarse from just waking up, I wanted to bathe in the bass tone of his vocal chords.

“Yep,” was all I could squeak out still leaning against the counter in my oversized shirt and gym shorts. 

I could hear the fridge and freezer door opening in an alternate pattern as if he couldn’t choose which one to look at. We didn’t have much food to begin with that’s why I always ate out with Lia while Kai just ate my leftovers. It wasn’t that our parents didn’t care, it was just that they were always busy and the only time real food came into this house was when they came home which was normally late at night.

“You have no food in your fridge.” Kyungsoo voiced finally closing both doors before coming over to stand in front of me, “Which is surprising but then again you must have eaten it all.”

He laughed, looking at me, hoping I would laugh at his joke, but I didn’t find it funny at all. It was still morning and I wasn’t in the mood for jokes about my appetite. Kyungsoo ruffled his hair, looking off to the side, avoiding my eyes out of awkwardness.

“I didn’t eat it all. There is never food in this house to begin with,” I mumbled crossing my arms over my chest.

He took the note and reread it, “What’s the plan?” Kyungsoo leaned over the counter closer to where I stood, “How do you plan to feed me?”

I leaned back pushing his forehead with my finger. “I don’t plan on feeding you. You are a grown man who can feed himself.”

“But I’m a guest.”

“You’re Jong In’s guest, not mine.”

“Jong In’s not here. I’m in your presence. This is your house, therefore I am your guest, for today at least.” Kyungsoo pressed, raising his nice eyebrows at me with a smile.

“That doesn’t mean I have to feed you, Kyungsoo.”

Oh god, saying his name felt good.

“No it doesn’t, but I have a feeling there is something more to this story, Ji. Ah.” He straightened up, sauntering around the counter so he stood right beside me. “Am I right?”

I raised my chin and turned to look at him, losing some of my confidence, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Kyungsoo scooted closer to me, his arm grazing mine. I imagined what it would feel like to have his arms wrapped around me and cling to him until he kissed me. It was tempting to test it out but I refrained from that temptation to check the fridge myself.

There was nothing but bread, water, and milk.

                And as if on cue, my stomach growled signaling my growing hunger. I shut my eyes, groaning when I heard Kyungsoo call out behind me, “Like I asked before, what’s the plan Kim Ji Ah?”

                Shutting the fridge, I turned around slowly, “Shut up and get dressed.”

                I shuffled past Kyungsoo, grabbing the roots of my hair, it was too early for this.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

                I grabbed a blue shopping cart and headed into the super market while Kyungsoo straggled behind me with his hands buried in his jacket pockets. I told him he didn’t have to come but he insisted on having a say about what he had to eat if he was staying in my house for two weeks. We got in a hushed argument on the subway when I told him because he was the guest he was subject to what the owner of the house had to offer. His argument was because he was the guest that he should be treated with a little more respect. I almost yelled at him when he pushed me out of the subway doors when we reached our stop. I didn’t talk to him since then.

I wrote down a list of things I thought we might need and scanned it while pushing the cart, “Bacon, kimchi, pancake batter—“

I kept reading the list, not noticing that the cart was veering left.  “You’re going to run into something,” Kyungsoo pushed my hand to the side and took the cart before it could run into one of the nearby fruit stands.

                “Oh, sorry.” I stood beside him, standing a head shorter. He smelled minty. It felt nice standing in his shadow, feeling his body heat radiate from his gray jacket. His aura was authoritative and kind of manly.  I thought about what it would feel like to loop my arm through his like a newlywed couple but that thought went away when he nudged my arm, “What are you getting?”

                My arms weren’t exactly rock hard, so his bony elbow left a throbbing pain in my upper arm, “Ow, that hurt.”

                “Oh, whatever. I didn’t even hit you that hard.” He kept walking while I followed, rubbing my arm, pointing to the aisle where the pancake batter was. He pushed the cart in that direction while I watched his behind sashay with each step. It was a satisfying sight that made me appreciate the way his jeans hugged his thighs and wonder where he’d been all my life but then again I remember what he’d done to me in the past 72 hours and all those thoughts disappear before they can fester into something more.  

                We stood side by side staring at the vast array of batter brands. There were red boxes, blue boxes, yellow, white and the like all with the same pancake picture on the front in varying sizes and numbers. How was I supposed to know which one my mom bought?

                “So which one do you get?”  

                “I don’t know my mom is the one that normally buys this stuff.”

                “Well what color is the box at least?”

                “I think it was yellow.”

                “Do you remember the picture on the box?”

                “Pancakes obviously.”

                There was a pause in question when I glanced up to see Kyungsoo staring down at me with a deadpanned expression to my answer. I just shrugged when he turned towards the shelves and pointed to the top, “Is it that one?”

                He pointed to a red box that I think I remembered sitting beside the boxes of cereal Jong In and I liked to eat. I thought hard when the realization clicked. My eyes lit up at the familiar packaging and nodded, “Yeah it’s that one!”

                Kyungsoo made no sudden moves to get it. He stayed planted in his spot, pulling out his phone. I scrunched my nose up in distaste at his lack of chivalry, but I didn’t need him. I didn’t think I did. Seeing I was still beside him, he made a motion with his arms for me to get the box myself, “It’s all you.”

                “Wow thanks, you’re so helpful.”  I stepped up to the shelf gauging my chances of reaching it. The box was beyond my arms could reach but I did try, I did but feeling my shirt ride up in the process, I stopped. I grew flustered at the slight breeze on my lower back and put my arms down while pulling down my shirt, “I can’t reach it.”

                Kyungsoo had an amused expression on his face, his lips quivering as if he wanted to laugh but he suppressed it. Again the corners of his brown eyes twinkled with mischief and playfulness that put red in my cheeks.

                “What do you want me to do about it?” He stepped up in front of me, his eyes shining while his lips upturned into that knowing smirk. I felt my mouth fill with saliva, blocking words from forming when I saw how perfectly smooth his skin was up close. I could even make out the shadow of a fuzz on his upper lip, .

                “Could you get it for me,” I eyed the button on his jacket, seeing his addam’s apple move, “please?”

                “What’s in it for me?” I could almost feel the vibrations of his vocal chords in my throat.  

                I felt his hand graze mine and reacted the only way I knew how. I pushed him back with my eyes closed, not realizing that an older lady with her cart was passing by. He stumbled into the woman’s cart rather hard which hit our cart which resorted in a pile of syrup bottles on the ground and a pile up in the aisle. If things couldn’t get any worse for me, one of the packages on the higher shelves fell on top of my head and I was showered in white powder.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

                Needless to say we are not allowed back into that supermarket. We caught a cab back to the house and I ran upstairs to shower before Kyungsoo could even say anything. I wanted to cry at my own stupidity and embarrassment.  What was happening to me?

                I scrubbed the flour from my hair feeling it start to thicken under the warm water when something heavenly reached my nose above the smell of my hibiscus shampoo, bacon. It’s thickness broke though the heat in the bathroom and I couldn’t finish the shower fast enough.

                I slipped into a new pair of sweats and shirt before scurrying to the banister where I could smell something amazing cooking.  The sound of oil popping under the bacon strips, the searing of vegetables on medium heat, the sizzle of something frying it was all there.

                Above the sound of all that, I could hear the melodic hum of a mellow voice that could only come from the only other person in the house. If he wasn’t already perfect enough. I leaned my head against the metal banister bars and just listened to the quiet music being played out below when I accidentally hit the metal with my knee. The sound rang causing all else to stop.

                “Hey, you done yet?” Kyungsoo sounded so harsh, I was afraid to answer.

                “I’m coming!” I fell down on my back with a thud, not wanting to get up.

                “Well hurry up, I’m almost finished.” I crawled to the stair and began my descent when the smells grew stronger. I rubbed my stomach feeling it empty itself out for whatever was waiting in the kitchen. I turned the corner to see on the counter folded paper bags and Kyungsoo at the stove with a spatula in one hand and a plate of kimchi pancake and bacon in the other. He looked over his shoulder, not even acknowledging me. I sat down on one of the barstools watching Kyungsoo focus on finishing up the food. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and watched the bacon carefully until they were crispy.

                He turned off the stove the finished plating everything when he brought over two plates to the counter that glistened from the sheen of oil that counted the top. The bacon was glowing while the kimchi pancake looked so crunchy I could almost hear them crackle.

                Kyungsoo had one fork in his hand, glancing up at me with that smirk I hated so much, “This is my brunch, what are you going to eat?”

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It's been so long T.T