I Like You || kyy || completed ||

Chapter 7

Even after the note incident, and Jaebum had told me what the scrambled Hangul had said, I still felt a burning curiosity. A want to get to know Yugyeom and talk to him. This curiosity, often resulted in me staring, watching his mouth fall open in laughter at something one of the other boys had said. He had a nice smile.

"Anora." I tilted my head lazily in the direction of who was calling me.

Mama Tuan stood in the doorway to the kitchen, a recip recipe clutched between her pale and delicate hands. I let out a breathy sigh and stood from where I sat on the couch, my body had been pressed against the arm of the couch, Youngjae sat beside me, and Jackson beside Youngjae.

"What is it?" I asked once I was close enough to hear her, and myself. Seven boys and Haneul gathered in one room resulted in more noise than I had originally thought.

"Will you help me make this?" She asked sweetly, holding the index card up to my eyes. It took a few seconds for my eyes to focus before I realized what it was. A recipe.

"Uh," my gaze flickered over the neat English, before I looked up to meet her gaze. "I can't cook," I said slowly. Mama Tuan's lips turned down at the edges in a frown, before she cleared her throat and nodded curtly.

"That's okay, there's always room to learn." She took my upper arm and guided me into the kitchen. I felt a spike of anxiety, and I had to stop a round of nervous laughter from slipping past my lips. The last person I wanted to disappoint was Mark's mom, but unfortunately my cooking skills were nothing to boast about. Hell. I couldn't even make a grilled cheese sandwich.

She pulled me from my scrambled thinking by roughly shoving me into a seat at the tiny round table. My eyes widened at the sudden action, my gaze following her around the rather kitchen. I still held the index card in my hands.

I glanced down at it, and reread it. It took me awhile to realize that the recipe I held in my hand was a recipe my mom had made on many occasions. "Pepper steak and rice?" I looked up at Mama Tuan, scrunching my face.

She turned from where she stood in front of the fridge, flashed me a smile before turning around to smile at me. "It's sort of an american dish. I thought you'd like it." I bit my lower lip and set the card to the side.

"I don't want you to go out of your way to make me feel comfortable," I muttered bitterly. To be honest, I would have preferred it if everyone that was so nice to me here had turned me away. It would make it easier to leave when the time came.

"Nonsense!" Mama Tuan turned away from the fridge, holding a plastic bag with about three green peppers in it. She sauntered over to me, placed them on the table before walking over to the counter and grabbing two knives.

She ploppd herself across from me, and handed me one of the smaller knives. I was kind of thankful. I had a clumsy tendency, and no doubt would wind up cutting myself. "Have you ever had this?" She questioned curiously, pulling one of the green peppers and placing it in front of herself. She handed one to me as well.

I cleared my throat and shifted in my seat. From where I sat, the island next to me aloud for me to glance through the opening into the living room. Yugyeom remained in his seat on the loveseat, but his gaze flickered occasionally to where I was sitting, to the doorway to the kitchen. A smile pulled at my lips before I turned to Mama Tuan again. "A few times."

Mama Tuan nodded slowly, before giving me a tender smile. "I hope it's good." I scoffed in response and curled my lip up in disgust. I grabbed the pepper that had been placed in front of me. I tossed it between my hands, sighing heavily. "My mom always made it."

"So does that mean it won't be as good?" She sounded so hurt, her happy smile falling.

"No no!" I rushed to comfort, laughing nervously. "No. It means your version will probably test better than anything my mom ever made. She never really cared about me." Mama Tuan frowned sadly, before biting her lip and straightening her back.

"Let's get some work done!" She clapped her hands together before grabbing the pepper in front of her. She put the pepper on it's side, before slicing downward. The pepper fell into nearly symmetrical pieces beside the knife. I watched the whole thing play out with wide eyes.

She didn't seem to notice me blatant staring, until she went to remove the seeds from one of the peppers. "Are you okay?" She asked, tilting her head to the side slightly.

"Huh? Yeah. Yeah I'm fine." I nodded curtly and set my pepper on its side, following her example. I grabbed one of the pieces before it could roll off of the table.

"Do you want to listen to music?" She set her knife in front of her, before grabbing her phone from her hoodie pocket. She unlocked it, before pressing her music app.

It was a slow song, the voice that filtered through the speakers spoke Korean. Luckly, it wasn't too bothersome.

We settled into a rythem of cleaning the peppers of their seeds, then slicing them into somewhat thin strips. It was nice, almost calming in a way. It required a certain concentration that I didn't usually have.

Until a song filtered through the speakers along with a familiar voice.

Geoura, geoura
Jebal jom malhaejuryeomuna -

Mama Tuan's eyes widened and she dropped her knife. The piece she had been cutting bounced fro. The table to the floor. She scrambled to grab her phone, stopping the music adruptedly. That deep voice sounded so familiar, that it nagged at the back of my head.

"Who was that?" I questioned slowly, after Mama Tuan had collected herself. She gathered her knife, and the soiled pepper strip. She walked slowly over to the sink, tossing the knife inside. She tossed the pepper in the trash, and seemingly walked on shaky legs to me.

"Yah! Anora!" I turned away from Mama Tuan, turning to Bambam, who stood standing in the middle of the living room. I don't know how I didn't notice all the furniture being moved around, but I did. It looked sort of like a dance studio.

I stood from my seat and made my way into the living room, rubbing my hands furiously on my thigh. I plopped myself on the love seat next to Yugyeom, crossing one leg over the other.

I felt Yugyeom's body tense beside mine, and I smiled. I wanted so bad to giggle and tell him that he was precious, but I restrained myself, instead turning to Bambam, who stood in the middle of the floor.

Youngjae had music playing from his phone, joyus laughter slipping past his lips as BamBam started dancing, his hips swiveling around. He threw his hands up and continued rocking his hips before Jackson shoved and jumped up, running to BamBam and wrapping his arms around his hips and hugging him to his side.

Everyone busted into laughter, even Yugyeom, as Jackson and BamBam started dancing together rhythmically, as if they had practiced for a long time.