Mother's Old Music Box <All of us are dead>

1

I walked beside Cheong-san as he checked his phone.

He groaned. "Aish... seriously? I told them to change the name."

"I heard your restaurants opening, are you going to have a grand opening?" I asked.

Cheong-san shook his head. "No, we're not."

Gyeong-su gasped. "What why?! I heard you were."

Cheong-san placed his phone into his pocket. "Nope, the fryer hasn't even came in yet."

He sighed. "My moms impossible."

"Hey!"

I jolted.

"My phone!"

Cheong-san reached down to grab his phone.

"You can't run away." On-Jo passed her bag to Cheong-san.

"What?" Cheong-san furrowed his eyebrows.

"We're heading over to your moms restaurant." On-Jo said.

"But it hasn't opened yet." Cheong-san replied.

"I know. But your mom is trying out a new recipe." On-Jo stated.

Gyeong-su patted Cheong-san's back.

On-Jo turned towards me. "You're going right?"

I nodded.

"What about you?" She asked Gyeong-Su. "Of course I'm going!"

Gyeong-su turned towards I-Sak. "You coming?"

"Of course I am."

He chuckled. "So is this like a date but with a third wheel?"

I-Sak rolled her eyes. "Of course not idiot." She walked away with On-Jo.

"Let's go." I motioned towards them before beginning to walk.

"Hey! Wait up!"

-TIME SKIP-
Everyone cheered as Cheong-san's mother brought it to plates of chicken.

"Thank you!" I smiled as I took a piece of chicken.

"Why is there so many?" Cheong-san asked, clueless.

Cheong-san's mother giggled. "Because the Nam twins always eat a lot!"

"We don't eat a lot, we eat well." On-Jo grinned.

"That's what I like the most, eat up Gyeong-Su. You too A-Sak."

I took a bite out of the chicken as I-sak and Cheong-san's mother laughed.

"You shouldn't change someone elses name. Change the restaurant's name instead." Cheong-san stated.

"Why? It's the name I called this restaurant before you were even born." His mother rolled her eyes.

"Exactly, you named me after the shop." They began to bicker but Gyeong-su stopped them.

"Quiet." He turned towards Cheong-sans mother. "I like it. It has authenticity."

She smiled. "I know right?"

I nodded in agreement. "He's right. Your recipe is amazing Mrs Lee!"

She chuckled. "Thank you, thank you. Didn't I tell you to call me Mom?" 

I laughed awkwardly.

"This is a new recipe we made." She pointed towards the plates. "This is slightly hot, this is very hot."

"So what do you think? Be honest with me." She said.

Gyeong-su hummed in delight. "This is super-mad-crazy good."

I chewed on the chicken skin. "The skin is just how I like it! It's delicious!"

Gyeong-su chewed on the chicken while speaking. "If you ever need a delivery man, I'll do it, for cheap."

I laughed. "We all know you just want free chicken."

"You guys need to study." Cheong-san's mom turned towards my sister. "On-Jo, is it too hot?"

On-Jo thought for a bit. "It's salty."

The smile that was once on my best friends' mother's' face dropped. "It's salty? Oh, how about you try this one." She pointed to the other plate. "Is it hot?"

On-Jo shook her head. "It's salty."

Cheong-san's mother went back into the kitchen. "It's salty? That's not a good thing." She ran back into the kitchen. "Honey, she said it was salty."

"Salty?" Her husband turned confused. "Why?"

We ate silently as Cheong-san's parents were discussing about the recipe.

"It's good." I-Sak said.

On-Jo continued to eat it.

"You shouldn't eat it." I mumbled.

"Why? It's good." On-Jo took another bite out of the chicken.

I hummed. "Cheong-san, can you pass me the Cola?"

He nodded. He grabbed the drink and took my cup.

"What are you doing?"

He glanced at me before looking back at the Cola. "I'm helping you refill it."

Once it was filled, he passed it back to me.

"Thanks."

"Did you guys hear?" I turned towards I-Sak.

"Our science teacher, Mr Lee. He smells like a rotten corpse."

I cringed. "And how do you know that?"

"Jeez. Nayeon Spread that rumour didn't she?" Cheong-san rolled his eyes.

"It's true! He didn't come to school after a few days after his son went missing." On-Jo replied.

"He came to class one day, and smelt like a rotten corpse. Nayeon knows every smell except that. Since she has never smelt it before, she said it was a rotten corpse." She continued. "He became weird after his son went missing."

"His son was an outcast, I heard he got bullied quite badly." I-Sak frowned.

On-Jo frowned too. "I know. I feel bad for him... I also feel bad for Mr Lee too."

-TIME SKIP-

"I'm so full!" I-Sak panted.

We ran as quickly as we could. "We're late anyways." I mumbled.

Cheong-San was about to run up the stairs when I stopped him. "Cheong-san!"

He paused and turned towards me.

"What is it? I have a literature test."

I searched through my pocket before taking out a small box. "Remember this?"

He rolled his eyes. "So you stopped me just to show me that old music box."

I grumbled. "If you're really in a rush, you could've just said so instead of being so rude."

I turned and walked up the stairs.

He followed behind me. "Don't you usually bring it to school?"

"Yea. It's just a small memory of..." I closed my mouth. Saying her name would make me break down into tears

He sighed. "I understand, you don't have to say it anymore, let's just get to class."

I nodded.

"Hurry up!"