Chapter 9
“Still sleepy after sleeping that much?”
Heena’s eyes shot open at the loud cry. Wondering if she had misheard, she tried to lie back down when Seo Yohan’s voice came again.
“If you don’t come out right now, I’m coming in.”
What’s gotten into him all of a sudden…?
Heena’s eyes widened, creating another deep crease above her eyelids. She checked her face in the mother-of-pearl inlaid mirror in the corner of the small room and ran out to the yard.
“What? What’s going on?”
“What’s going on with you still sleeping when the sun is already high in the sky?”
“Did you come to check if I was dead?”
“Wash up and come out. We have somewhere to go.”
“Where?”
“We’re going to Mr. Park’s to get a quote for his house renovations. You should come too. It’s good to know how much it will cost.”
“Do I really have to go? I’m still sleepy…”
Still in her pajamas, Heena rubbed her sleepy eyes and grumbled, but she quickly washed her face, changed, and reappeared in front of him. Even so, all she did was change from her sleeping pajamas into a hoodie and sweatpants, and put on a fleece jacket.
“You just splashed some water on your face again, didn’t you? Look, you’ve still got eye boogers stuck there.”
He rubbed Heena’s eye with his thumb as he spoke.
“I made sure I got all the eye boogers out! Don’t make up excuses just to touch me again.”
Heena shoved both hands into her pockets, yawned widely, and followed Yohan out.
✦⋆🍒.₊ ⊹
“It’s a gable roof.”
That was the first thing Yohan said after entering Mr. Park’s house and looking around the interior.
“What’s that?”
“It’s where the roof shape is exposed on the ceiling. If you’re not planning on making a separate rooftop, just leave it as it is. The high ceiling will definitely give you a sense of openness.”
When Yohan pointed at the ceiling, Mr. Park also looked up at the ceiling and tilted his head. His expression said he didn’t understand a word.
“I noticed the exterior bricks were quite worn out as I came in. You should repair those. Rainwater could leak in during a typhoon, and it won’t provide insulation in winter.”
“That’s true. My bones were so cold this past winter. But why did you bring the young lady along?”
Heena, who had followed behind Yohan into Mr. Park’s house, had been dozing against a wall. At the question directed at her, she cleared her throat.
“I…”
“Her?”
“I came to thank you for the makgeolli yesterday.”
Heena gave an awkward smile. She couldn’t bring herself to say that Seo Yohan had woken her up and she had come along in a daze.
Over Mr. Park’s shoulder, Yohan glanced at Heena and chuckled. Then he went over to the wall, tapped on it, and opened the window wide to look outside.
“Just the makgeolli? This young man swept away all the samgyeopsal and got dozens of refills of the pa kimchi, too.”
Heena, who had thoroughly enjoyed the samgyeopsal, pa kimchi, and even the lettuce wraps that Yohan had brought, couldn’t refute him.
“Next time, we’ll host a feast at our house. You must come.”
“Well now, if you two get married, that’ll be a feast in itself.”
Mr. Park burst out laughing, apparently amused by his own words.
Yohan, who had just finished looking around the kitchen, immediately responded.
“That’s why I said I wouldn’t charge for the construction work.”
Heena playfully narrowed her eyes and glared at Mr. Park.
“Oh dear, I’ve been caught, haven’t I?”
“But why the sudden remodeling? Did you get permission from your wife?”
“My wife asked for it. She said she wanted to live in a pretty house like yours.”
“Their house is really nice. It’s warm like Southeast Asia inside, but it felt like I was in Northern Europe.”
Heena agreed with Mr. Park’s words, but she was met with four surprised eyes.
“So you two go in and out of each other’s houses?”
Mr. Park’s two eyes widened as if they were about to pop out.
“You might as well just spread the rumor.”
Seo Yohan’s two eyes widened, as if asking why she had said such a thing.
Realizing her slip-up, Heena awkwardly scratched the back of her neck and pressed her lips together.
“So, are you going to entrust it to me? Or would you like me to find another company?”
Yohan, noticing Heena’s embarrassment, quickly changed the subject.
“No, it’s alright. We’d be happy if you did it. It’s good to have a neighbor’s help. But how much will it cost?”
“It will be quite a bit, more than you might think. Material costs have gone up a lot lately.”
“I’m not going to end up losing my shirt trying to get a new one, am I?”
Yohan, letting Mr. Park’s witty joke go in one ear and out the other, was busy calculating the estimate with his clipboard and calculator. Then he showed Mr. Park the number on the calculator.
“Yikes. It costs that much?”
“There’s nothing I can do about that. This is the standard these days.”
“Well, I’ll have to discuss it with my wife.”
“Yes, then please discuss it and let me know.”
Yohan, maintaining a professional and relaxed demeanor, left Mr. Park’s house. Heena, following behind him, clasped her hands together and exclaimed in admiration.
“Wow, you really don’t seem like you want to work at all. How can you be like that?”
“Because I don’t want to work.”
“You mean you’re bothered by it?”
“It’s not that it’s bothersome, I’d do it if asked.”
Heena had to mobilize all her connections to get a single job. Of course, even now, she was in a situation where she had more work than she could handle.
“But why don’t you take your pay? Did you come down here to volunteer instead of working a side job?”
“Call it a donation of talent.”
“So why?”
“How can I take money from elders I’ve known since I was young? I just help them out within my means.”
“You’re excessively conscientious in some ways.”
Yohan shrugged, as if he didn’t feel the need to respond, and walked alongside Heena, matching her pace.
Heena’s stomach growled.
“What was that sound from your stomach? It’s about to tear apart.”
“I’m hungry.”
“Go eat something, whether it’s food or cow feed.”
“We ate meat yesterday, so I want to eat flour-based food today.”
“The store that sells flour is to the left of the village hall.”
“How about sujebi?”
“Go to your grandfather’s house and make it.”
“Your house has a gas stove, doesn’t it?”
“Stop your scheming.”
Was I caught…? The food Yohan made was much tastier than anything she could make herself. It was really hard to get a free meal.
✦⋆🍒.₊ ⊹
Yohan had tried to send Heena away heartlessly, but in the end, they returned to his house. This was because Heena’s grandfather’s house didn’t have any food stocked. They even had to use a portable gas burner instead of a gas stove…
“I should remodel my grandfather’s house too.”
Heena murmured in a small voice as Yohan added salt and water to the flour to make dough. Yohan replied without even lifting his head.
“Mr. Jeong didn’t like changing things. He said he was comfortable with what he was used to, and he stubbornly refused even when I offered to remodel it for him.”
“Still…”
“What’s comfortable for us isn’t necessarily comfortable for him.”
“…”
That was true. For her grandfather, who had lived there for decades, every new change would have been unfamiliar. Used to cooking over a wood fire, he would have found a gas stove unfamiliar, and learning how to use it would have been daunting. Things that were natural to them would have been full of fear for her grandfather.
Having grown up with his grandparents, Yohan definitely had a knack for understanding the hearts of the elderly.
Heena was still lost in thought as he put the flour dough in a plastic bag and placed it in the refrigerator. She suddenly remembered that Yohan had been doing all the cooking. His gestures as he kneaded the flour dough, the way he skillfully prepared the ingredients… It overlapped with the past.
She snapped back to reality at the sound of Yohan’s thumb and middle finger snapping in front of her face.
“What are you thinking about? We need to make the broth.”
“Oh, uh-huh.”
Heena opened the lower cabinet and took out a cutting board. She took out the carrots, zucchini, red pepper, and green onions from the refrigerator, washed them thoroughly under running water, and then picked up a knife.
Yohan, standing next to Heena, took out a potato and a peeler, then clicked his tongue and put them down. Instead, he took out a head of well-ripened kimchi from the kimchi refrigerator.
Heena knew. He had taken out kimchi instead of potatoes because she preferred kimchi sujebi to potato sujebi. It showed how well they knew each other’s preferences without asking or having to answer.
While he chopped the kimchi into large pieces, Heena hid her inner thoughts and focused on julienning the carrots. The only sound in the quiet house was the rhythmic chopping of knives.
“Ow!”
Her index finger stung, and then blood started to seep out. It had been a while since she had used a knife, and she had almost cut her finger without realizing it.
“Be careful. I knew that would happen.”
Yohan, who was chopping the kimchi, frowned and checked Heena’s hand. After confirming the bleeding, he immediately brought Heena’s index finger to his mouth.
“…!”
A wet tongue enveloped her finger. Not only that, but the way he sucked and applied pressure sent a strange sensation spreading from her fingertip.
She had cut her finger before while trying to help him cook. Each time, Yohan had stopped the bleeding with his mouth, so she hadn’t realized that this was strange. It had always seemed so natural.
The moment she realized they weren’t in that kind of relationship anymore, the atmosphere became quite awkward. Things that had been natural then now created an awkward situation.
