- Chapter Seven - "He's going to be a father."

"Après avoir salé nos choux chinois et les réserver pendant au moins une heure et demi, nous allons les laver et les essorer. (After salting our Chinese cabbages and put it aside for at least one hour and a half, we'll wash and drain them.)" Jaejoong said to his students who wanted to learn how to make some good kimchi, a specialty from Korea. "Maintenant, nous allons préparer la garniture. Donc nous avons besoin d'une casserole, d'eau et de farine de riz gluant. (Now we will prepare the filling. So we need a pan, water and sweet rice flour.)"

Jaejoong showed to all of his students what they should do. In the pan, he put two cups of water with two tablespoons of sweet rice flour. And soon, he put the utensil on the stove and the burner.

"Mélangez le tout et laissez bouillir.(Mix and let it boil.)" He added, turning the mixture with a wooden spoon. "Oh! Si vous n'avez pas de farine gluant vous pouvez utiliser de la farine de blé.(Oh! If you don't have sweet rice flour you can use all purpose flour.)" His students were nodding and took some notes on their block notes. "Lorsque le mélange commence à bouillir, mettez deux cuillères à soupe de sucre. Et mélanger bien!(When the mixture starts to boil put two tablespoons of sugar. And mix it well!)"

He turned off the burner when the mixture boiled. He set it aside letting the mixture cool down. The man looked up at his students who were concentrated at his every word.

It was the idea of grandma Isa.

She was just saying that it would be nice of him to give some lessons of Korean cuisine to her and her friends. Of course, Jaejoong was happy to do something for her, an old lady who accepted him in her life without asking anything from him. And after a few lessons, one of her friends who had a son working in a cooking school as a teacher had talked about him to the latter and made him an offer. Being a teacher for a special course in his school.

And here, he was trying to teach some traditional Korean cuisine to those people who were students of this same cooking school wanting to learn foreign cuisine than their traditional French cuisine, an option in their main course.

Even if he didn't have any degrees in this field. He was employed as a special guest for teaching a specialty for a few hours per week. It wasn't something much, but he was enjoying every hour in this cuisine's room while teaching a part of his culture to those foreigners.

"En attendant, nous allons nous occupez des légumes et épices qui vont garnir notre mélange. (Meanwhile, we'll take care of the vegetables and spices that go fill our mixture.)" Jaejoong showed them a Korean radish. He peeled and washed it. He cut the vegetable into thin slices like a professional. "Maintenant je vais couper les rondelles en fine lamelles. (Now I'm going to cut the slices into thin strips.)"

He linked his words to action. Jaejoong did the same with the carrots. He cut the green onion into slices pieces, about two centimeters each slice. And he put all the vegetables on a bowl.

"Maintenant nous allons préparer une sorte de purée avec de l'ail, des oignons et du gingembre. Certaines personnes ajoutent de la pomme ou bien de la poire. Pas la poire que vous trouvez sur les étales de vos marchés. Mais une poire comme celle-là. (Now we will prepare a kind of mash with garlic, onions and ginger. Some people add apple or pear. Not the pear that you find on the shelves of your markets. But a pear like that.)" He showed to all his students a Korean pear. "Vous pouvez l'acheter dans les épiceries asiatiques. Mais nous pouvons aussi bien nous en passer. (You can buy it in asian grocery stores. But we may as well do without it too.)"

Jaejoong put on a blender a half of cup of garlic, two teaspoons of ginger and a cup of onions. He didn't forget to add half of the peeled pear. And he minced all of it in the blender.

"Dans un grand saladier, nous allons mélanger notre mélange avec la purée, ainsi que de la sauce de poisson. (In a large bowl, we'll mix our mixture with the mash, and the fish sauce.)" Jaejoong added half a cup of fish sauce into the mixture and mash. He mix it well. "Et le plus important de tous les ingrédients, le piment rouge. C'est ce qui donne la couleur rouge au kimchi. Nous avons besoin d'un peu ou beaucoup de flocons de piments rouge, tout dépend de nos goûts. (And most important of all ingredients, hot chili pepper. This is what gives the red color to the kimchi. We need a little or a lot red pepper flakes, depending on our tastes.)" The man showed the bag of hot pepper flake to all his students and opened it. "J'adore tout ce qui est épicé. Lorsque je fais mon kimchi j'en met beaucoup. Mais comme ce kimchi est pour tout le monde ici présent, nous allons faire en sorte qu'il soit épicé mais pas corsé. Au même goût que ma femme aime. (I love to eat spicy food. When I make my kimchi I put a lot of pepper flake. But as this kimchi is for everyone here, we'll make it spicy but not too strong. At the same taste as my wife likes.)"

He added a cup of pepper flake into the bowl and mixed the paste well. After that, Jaejoong put all the vegetables on the paste. And he showed all of them what kind of kimchi paste they had at the end.

"Nous allons étaler cette pâte de kimchi entre les feuilles de nos choux. Un conseil, porter des gants en plastique. Parce que vous allez finir par avoir les mains rouge si vous prenez la pâte avec vos mains. Donc je mets les gants. (We will spread the kimchi paste between every sheet of our cabbages. I will give you an advice, wear plastic gloves. Because you'll end up with red hands if you take the paste with your bare hands. So I put the gloves now.)"

Jaejoong took the bowl filled with the napa cabbages. He put a piece of cabbage on the paste and spread it on every sheet, then he put the piece on a large plate. He did it until the last piece.

"Nous allons utiliser ces boîtes en plastique, communément appelé tubberware pour stocker notre kimchi pendant quelques jours jusqu'à ce qu'il soit fermenté. (We will use these plastic boxes, commonly known as tubberware to store our kimchi for a couple of days until it fermented.)"

"Comment peut-on savoir si notre kimchi est fermenté?(How can we know that our kimchi is fermented?)" One of his students asked.

"Bonne question! (Good question!)" He said while putting some kimchi on those tubberwares. "Normalement, les choux sont fermentés au bout d'une bonne journée ou deux. Tout dépend de nos goûts. Certains les aiment un peu aigre-doux et d'autres le veulent plus fort. Donc au bout de 24 heures, vous goûter le kimchi. S'il est a votre goût, le kimchi est prêt. Et n'oubliez pas de le mettre au frigidaire pour l'éviter de fermenter encore d'avantage. (Normally, the cabbages are fermented after a good day or two. It all depends on our tastes. Some like them a little bit sour and sweet and others want it stronger. So after 24 hours, you taste the kimchi. If it is in your taste, so the kimchi is ready. And don't forget to put it in the fridge to avoid it to ferment more.)"

Everyone nodded and wrote some notes on their notes book, making Jaejoong smile at their action. He let some kimchi in the bowl and went to wash the cutting board he had used to cut all the vegetables. Then, he cut the remaining kimchi for them to taste right now.

"Certaines personnes aiment le manger sans attendre. Donc, je vous en pris, goûtez en. (Some people like to eat it after the preparation. So please, try some.)" He added, putting the freshly prepared kimchi on a plate.

All his students went to his table and took turn to taste a bit of the kimchi with fork for those who didn't know how to use chopsticks. Some students found it really good. Others found the taste of ginger was a bit dominant. They found it sweet, salty and really rich in taste.

"C'est une explosion de saveurs. (It is an explosion of flavors.)" One of his students said with a smile, taking another mouthful of kimchi.

"Vous dîtes que ce n'est pas épicé?! C'est fort pour moi! De l'eau!! (You say that it's not spicy?! This is really spicy for me! Water!!)" A young woman said while waving her hand in front of , making everyone and him laugh at her clumsy behavior. She reminded him of Ha-chan the first time she taste his cooking. She was drinking water all along the diner making the guys and him laugh softly at her.

"Manges quelque chose de sucré et ça va passer. (Eat something sweet and the spiciness will go away.)" Another student said, giving her a cube of sugar.

"Merci! (Thank you!)" She said, taking the sugar and put it in .

Jaejoong was watching all of them with a smile. They were all friends and some of them was teasing the young woman who couldn't stand to eat spicy food. And it made him think of his four other friends he had left behind. He missed them. There was no day he didn't think of them.

"Hmm... Je vois que ton cours connait un franc succès. (I see that your class is a big success.)"

"Oh! Robert! Vous vous joignez à nous? (Oh! Robert! You join us?)" Jaejoong said to his colleague, the one who had offered him this job as a cooking teacher in this establishment.

"Seulement pour manger! (Only to eat.)" The older man replied with a smile and dove onto the kimchi to taste it. "Aussi bon que la première que j'ai manger ta cuisine. (Delicious as the first time I ate your cooking.)" He ate another spoon. "Alors, ton examen s'est bien passé? (So your exam went well?)"

"J'ai fait tout mon possible. (I did my best.)"

"Ne t'en fait pas. Tu l'auras ton diplôme de cuisinier. C'est le premier pas pour de belle choses dans le future. Avec ça, tu pourras prétendre à un meilleur poste et à de meilleurs horaires pour les apprendre la cuisine de ton pays. (Don't worry. You will have your cooking degree. It's the first step to something beautiful in the future. With that, you can claim a better position and better hours to teach them your country's cuisine.)" The older man added looking at all the students who were eating with their heart's content, a smile painting on their faces.

"Ouais! (Yeah!)"

Jaejoong was trying to pass his cooking degree as an independent candidate. But he felt grateful to this man to give him his time to teach him everything he needed to know for his exams. He had passed the practice exam two week before and his written exam had ended two days ago. Now, he was willing to wait three weeks to a month for the results, hoping that he will have a good news at the end.

"Bon, je m'en vais avec ça! (Well, I'm leaving with this!)" The old teacher said, showing a tubberware in his hand. And Jaejoong nodded letting the man go with one of their preparation.

Soon, his students took their tubberwares and bid him goodbye cheerfully after cleaning everything in the cooking room. Jaejoong didn't waste his time either. The man left the cooking school to join his wife in the café-restaurant owned by his wife's older brother.

It was a bit difficult to drive a car in those streets, so Jaejoong always took the Parisian metro since they settled in Paris. He found it more calming to have time to look at his surroundings than to spend most of his time in the traffic trying to see if he could take the road by cutting the way of another driver. He had tried several time to drive around Paris. And he ended up more tired than before.

He found something not pleasurable to be in Paris. Driving in streets full of cars. And to think that many people do it every day. When he was Kim Jaejoong, the singer, member of Dong Bang Shin Ki, his other members and him always had someone to drive them everywhere around. They didn't have to think of anything, only filling the schedule of their day by performing in a TV show or talking about their new song, new album or only talking about them to maintain their popularity. It was a simple life where they didn't have to think much, only doing their best to out shine others groups.

But, now, his life was not the same. He was the one responsible of all his decisions, be it bad or good. And he loved it, being able to think for himself, not having to report his every move and word to someone who ruled his life for everything.

The man took less than 20 minutes to arrive at the café-restaurant and saw Hana eating a chocolate cake eagerly, as if she craved for that sort of cake for so long. He smiled seeing her like this, having appétit and not refusing everything saying that she was full those past months.

"Hey? Are you okay?" He asked her softly, taking the seat across of her.

"Yeah! I'm fine. Why?"

"Nothing. It's just good to see you eating like this." He said, taking the spoon from his wife's hand and fed himself a piece of the chocolate cake. "It's not in the menu. Where did your brother go to buy this delicious cake?"

"He did it for me." She said with a smile.

Jaejoong nodded. It wasn't surprised for a chef to know how to bake a cake, even if it wasn't his specialty.

"He should make it a dessert for his menu." Hana said, sipping a glass of milk.

"He should. Now you drink milk?" Jaejoong asked, cocking a brow with an amused smile painting on his lips.

"I do. Why?"

"Where is the girl who said that she can't stand milk gone?"

"It's in the past. So? How was your day at the cooking school?"

The young man chuckled at her behavior. "It was good. And being the last day of class before the school summer holidays, it was enjoyable to teach them a kimchi recipe."

"Weird! I thought they would ask you to teach them how to make kimchi the first day you entered the school as a teacher."

"Well, they have other things to think about."

"Yeah..." She nodded. "God! I want to eat ramyeon." Hana heaved a forlorn sigh. And she earned a soft laugh from her husband, who was looking at her with his chin pressed on his right palm.

"The last time you wanted ramyeon, it was past midnight yesterday. You know, I like it when you eat. But, don't eat only ramyeon. It's not really nutritive."

"But, you cook ramyeon with vegetables and meat for me. So it wasn't bad for my health."

"You're right. However, I want you to eat something else than ramyeon. And I don't know anyone who eat ramyeon after eating a chocolate cake."

"Are you sure?" Hana asked with an amused smile.

Jaejoong narrowed his eyes for a while and shook his head slightly. He forgot someone. Shim Changmin. That young man would eat anything, even a dessert before the main dish.

"Changmin..." He said with a small smile painting on his lips.

"Well, all five of you could eat everything which is edible." She added, looking at her husband with a smile. She had her cell phone in her right hand and snapped a picture of him while having this thoughtful stare with a smile painting on his pouty lips. A good one to send to the other four men staying in South Korea with a few words saying how the man looked like when thinking about the four of them.

"Stop taking pictures of me."

"Don't worry. From now on I will record everything about our life together." Hana said with a smile.

"What do you want to do with all the recordings? A movie?" Jaejoong asked amused.

"Why not! And you could enjoy it while sitting on a armchair quietly in the near future. Remembering those annoying days with me." She said with a smile.

"Annoying? Yeah, you can say that."

"Thank for me!" Hana pouted playfully. And she earned a soft laugh from her husband. "So? Would you want to cook some ramyeon for me?" she demanded with her hands joining together as if she was begging for him to do what she wanted right now.

She didn't have a puppy eyes to die for and a pout which could make anyone to fall for her tricks. But she was adorable in her own way. And Jaejoong never was immune to her behaving like that. It remained him of Yunho. The man was a real man but sometimes he could behave like a child. And Jaejoong always gave in when he had a childish Yunho in front of him.

He chuckled softly at his thought. It's been a while he didn't think of the other man in that way. But, he will not deny anything. Yes, the man Jung Yunho was someone important in his life. And he won't lie. He missed him a lot.

"So? Can you cook some ramyeon for me?" Hana asked again, knowing that her husband was thinking at someone else than her. And she knew who was that person.

"Now?" He asked, cocking a brow while looking at his wife. And Hana nodded eagerly. "I don't think your brother has a bag of ramyeon in his cuisine but some fresh ramen."

"Who knows?" Hana said playfully with her chin pressing on the palms of her hands.

Jaejoong stared at his wife for a while. Her smile could only mean one thing. And he sh