Five large mushrooms. Check. A glove of garlic—make that six at least. I loved garlic. Three onions, three carrots… I furrowed my brows. A tin of shrimps, and half a cup of dhoifwehhdhd! The last ingredient was dissolved by a large water stain on the cookbook I used. I was sure it was some kind of sauce or paste though and rummaged the cupboard for what I thought was a suitable ingredient. Gochujang paste sounded nice. A generous amount made its way into the pot.
While the mix was simmering, I made sure the table was set with the kind of gimmicks that left their carton usually not more than once a year. A china flower vase was waiting for long-stemmed white roses and baby's breath, surrounded by a sea of tea lights, that waited to be lit up. In the background was Younha's beautiful voice, and her song 기다리다 on constant repeat. We danced to this song on our first date and later danced to it at our wedding.
To the side was a bucket of ice with a chilling bottle of Don Perignon, which had been a bit of an excessive purchase. Neither myself nor Daeun was particularly fond of alcohol, but Bosook would appreciate finding the bottle tomorrow morning when she would return Minho.
Now, I only needed my wife to come home, and we could finally enjoy the romantic evening I had messed up the weekend prior. A quick glance at the clock told me that I had at least another thirty minutes to ensure my preparations were perfect.
Daeun was currently teaching violin class, the first face to face one after a year spend on zoom with limited possibilities for correcting bad posture. Maybe I shouldn't expect her home before an hour at least, as I was certain some students and their parents might want to catch up, and my wife would smile through the process and endure, although any crowd bigger than five was out of her comfort zone. But she wouldn't complain. She would simply take a deep breath, and get through this will all her power. Sometimes I thought being an introvert must be hard now that we were breaking out of this pandemic more and more.
I put the rice in the cooker and checked the time again. While everything was simmering, I should be able to clean up the kitchen. There was nothing worse than preparing a romantic meal and leaving the kitchen looking like a battlefield. I learned this the hard way during my college years, with one of my exes whose father had eventually broken us up, because I was some hoodlum from the wrong side of town while she was the heiress to a fashion brand. A fashion brand that had recently gone into administration, because some hoodlum of a lawyer had sued the CEO for embezzlement, and won his case. This had been the case that earned me the nickname Busan's biggest Investment shark. And I am petty enough to admit it felt great.
Just in time, the doorbell rang. I had ordered a large bouquet of flowers, that was meant to be delivered between five-thirty and six o'clock. The time was five twenty-nine right now.
I checked the stove one last time, then opened the door and the wide grin on my face diminished. "You don't have flowers," I complained.
"I'm happy to bring a bunch of flowers next time I come. I'm sorry. I wasn't aware we were in this kind of relationship. Which ones are your favourite?" JK whipped from his heels to the balls of his toes and back, scratching the back of his head, his eyes widening. "Had you asked me to purchase flowers? I'm sorry, I didn't check my emails. I will go and get some…" He was about to turn and run off, and I grabbed him by the elbow.
"Hold on. What brought you here?"
"I…erm…"
Just that moment, the actual flower delivery person arrived, carrying the bouquet I had asked for.
"Oh, wow," JK remarked at their sight then remained quiet as I thanked the driver and wished him a good rest of the day.
"Come on in," I nodded to JK and lead him to the living room, where put the flowers in water, but kept them slightly out of sight. I would hand them to Daeun later.
"Sorry, I guess this is really bad timing," JK mumbled. "I'm gonna see myself out and speak to you another time."
I raised my brow at that.
"It's not important…" he trailed off, his entire demeanour contradicting his words. I looked from his dirty shoes to the transport-free parkway, "you wouldn't have walked all the way here if it wasn't important."
"I guess not," JK mumbled. "I…I guess I need some advice. You know…the friend I was helping out…I think I'm a bit head over heels with the situation. I…" JK fell back into the couch then shook his head, mumbling something to himself.
"What was that?"
"I think I made things worse rather than better," JK said a little bit louder, looking utterly miserable.
I quickly rushed to the kitchen to check on my food. "I'm still listening," I shouted back to JK, "I just need to make sure I won't overcook my Jjamppong."
"Jjamppong?" JK called from the living room, followed by some hurried footsteps. "You're cooking Jjamppong? That's my favourite!" A moment later he stood beside me.
"I'm cooking for my wife," I told him.
JK nodded solemnly. "You want to make sure it's cooked to perfection then. I think you really need someone to taste test for this."
"And I guess you're offering?"
JK nodded eagerly.
I sighed, but reached for a bowl and put two spoonfuls of soup inside. "There you go. That's all you're going to get."
JK's eyes lit up when he took the bowl and shoved a hearty spoonful of soup into his mouth. "You know, if it doesn't work out between you and Daeun…I'll marry you any time."
"That's great motivation to work harder on my marriage."
"Hey, I'm a great catch." JK protested.
"I'm sure you are. Now, you said you're here for some advice about your friend's case? What is it about?"
JK bit his lip and shoved the bowl aside. Apparently, his appetite had evaporated as suddenly as it had come. "It's a custody case," he sighed. "I thought it was going to be straightforward, because from what I understood, one of the parties had already rejected custody once, and in fact disappeared for a while." JK played with some loose skin at his nail, not looking up. "So when a caseworker was sent to access the current living arrangement, I told my friend not to worry, as he's been the sole caregiver for over a year." JK looked up, looking utterly dejected. "They ruled against my friend. And custody was granted to the other party."
"Usually they have to follow some very strict guidelines, depending on the age of the kid in question. How old is your friend's kid? And how long have the parents been together? What is the relationship between the parents? And was there any explanation given for the long absence of one parent?"
JK shook his head. "It's nothing of the sort." He finally said.
"What do you mean?" I asked then jumped up. With all our talking I had actually forgotten to turn the temperature down on my soup and it was now happily bubbling from the pot. "Darn. I overcooked it!" I yelled at the stove. "JK can you fetch me some water and a cloth?"
I tried a spoonful. It should still be fixable. I only needed to add some more water, some more gochujang, some more spices and…"
"There you go," JK handed the requested ingredients.
"Thanks," I started fixing my dish and proceeded to clean the stove. "I'm sorry," I said. "I guess, find out what the requirements are for whatever age the kid is and check what the government deems appropriate living conditions. These may be things like, how much time does each parent have, does the kid have their own bedroom… You should find the info on the website, or ask Pam for help. When was the decision made? Your friend should be able to go in revision. If he's been the one in charge of the kid before, maybe all he needs to do is show a willingness to make changes in his schedule."
JK sighed again. "That's the thing… it's kinda hard to determine the age bracket this would fall into and therefore what kind of things are required. That's why we've been stumbling in the dark."
"Here is a funny idea. But most people would determine an age based on the kid's birthday." I chucked, but JK's morose expression didn't lift. I was about to ask more when a car drove up to our parkway. Daeun was home.
JK's expression fell, but he nodded. "I guess I'll be heading off then. I hope you have a nice evening."
I nodded too, a feeling of guilt expanding in my stomach. I wanted to help JK, I really did, but I needed this evening with Daeun. We needed this evening together.
"I can make some time for you at some point this week," I promised, already going through my appointments in my head. Tomorrow morning, I would be meeting Hoseok for his court briefing, following day one of the Serendipity trial that was scheduled for two. Afterwards, I had an interview with channel one and Busan News, and in the evening, I would visit Tae in prison. The following day, I had more meetings scheduled, as well as an appointment with Tae's psychologist on how to move forward. There was still the murder investigation in London, and I had a video call with his PA, who said he had found some weird files on my former partner's s email account. Maybe this would shed some light on the murder. And my agenda didn't ease up until the end of the week.
"Well…maybe if you come over any day…I should be home after ten pm," I advised.
"Ten pm." JK nodded. "I can do that. If that's okay, I pop over at ten pm tomorrow?"
I stared into a hopeful pair of big, brown, doe-like eyes and found myself nodding. "Tomorrow ten pm should work," I agreed.
JK took a step towards the door, but then seemed to have changed his mind. "Do you perhaps want me to sneak out of the back door?"
"Why would I…" I furrowed my brow as his grin grew wider. "You're an idiot," I told him. "Now get out of here. I got some important business to attend to."
"I bet you do," JK mumbled and I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to have heard him. I was contemplating throwing something at him when he looked me up and down and quirked his brow. "I'm not usually one to critique other's fashion choices, but I would highly recommend getting rid of that fetching apron before you open the door."
"As you said, the apron is rather fetching." I pirouetted. "I was in fact contemplating getting rid of everything else."
"I didn't need to hear that." JK covered his ears with his hands. "And I most definitely don't need to see this. I'm out of here. Bye." With that, my now-former intern dashed to the door, and exchanged a brief "hi and bye," with my wife. Meanwhile, had put the apron aside and fixed my plain shirt while throwing a judging glare into the mirror. One would expect one to dress up for an occasion like this, but my wife had complained that she didn't see me in casual clothing often enough, so here I was in a soft white tee and distressed jeans, looking like a mixture between an Abercrombie model and a hobo.
"Is that blue nail polish on your feet?" Daeun said instead of a greeting. She didn't even seem to have noticed the atmosphere I had been so careful to create. I threw her a reprimanding glare. "We are raising a five-year-old kid outside gender norms. My toenails haven't seen their natural colour in weeks."
"I didn't know you were so…progressive."
I wasn't progressive. Getting my toenails painted allowed me to spend time with my child while still getting some work done. I was in fact the epitome of the parent I didn't want to be, and I started feeling guilty all over. "I cooked for you," I said instead and reached for the bouquet of flowers.
Daeun finally glanced around the room, her eyes widening. "Jin," she exclaimed. "This is…" her gaze fell onto the flowers in my arms, "are those for me?"
I swallowed a stupid comment that wanted to leave my lips, knowing it wouldn't be appreciated at this moment. "They are," I said instead and her face lit up like a Christmas tree. "They are beautiful," she said.
"Erm…why don't you take a seat and I bring out the dishes," I pulled out of her chair, feeling a bit silly going so. I don't think I pulled out my wife's chair on our wedding date, but as per the latest edition of Cosmo, this was considered basic manners. I think the magazine targeted the wrong clientele. There were so many useful tidbits my teenage self should have known.
"Oh, this is our song." Daeun beamed at me. "Do you know what that means?"
"That our old CD player is still working?"
"It means you owe me a dance," Daeun beamed and held out her hand. My stomach grumbled and I realised I hadn't eaten all day. My wife chuckled, "okay, I get the hint. Let's have a dance after dinner then."
"After dinner, you can have as many dances as you like."
