Almost Lover

Chapter 11 - Night Skies and Mists

Chapter 11 

Night Skies and Mists

Part 1

For the next four business days, I worked at Jaewoong's office by myself. He had gone overseas for a business trip without taking me along with him. Apparently, he had suddenly become Superman and did not need the help of a personal assistant on his business trips.

The days at the office had been lonely; I kind of missed seeing him in the same room everyday – the way he would place his chin in his hand while staring at his computer screen, so deep in thoughts; the sound of his manly voice saying "Hello" to his callers; the way he would carelessly scribble notes on his desk and the way he'd frantically look for those notes when they get lost in the mess of documents on his desk. There were a lot of things I missed about working with Jaewoong; I couldn't wait to see him again.

Although the days had been lonely, they didn't particularly drag because some interesting things happened during those days Jaewoong was absent in my life.

For one, Youngwoo had moved in with Wonhee and me.

He was going to relocate on Tuesday, but it was raining cats and dogs that day, so he postponed his move-in date to the following day.

Wonhee was super ecstatic the day Youngwoo moved into our humble little abode. She did not only get a hot tenant, but she also got a brand new refrigerator. Youngwoo brought a new fridge with him, the kind that talks and gives you water in whatever temperature you desire, saying he couldn't possibly wrestle with a broken refrigerator door every time he wants a drink.

Wonhee was so happy and thankful that she made a feast for dinner to celebrate Youngwoo's moving in, and Youngwoo willingly ate all the dishes Wonhee prepared, even the ones he didn't know the ingredients of, declaring that Wonhee was one of the best cooks he had the privilege of knowing (what a suck-up!). He kept repeating how much he loved the dish with the diced meat and peanut sauce. He had no idea it was bull testicles.

The thing about Wonhee's cooking is that it's always good, but she's so big on creativity and exoticism that you won't know what kind of unfamiliar ingredients she will mix into her concoction - from spices that can only be bought in mysterious market alleyways to animal parts that would normally be trashed by your average, normal chef. Where did she get all these eccentric food ideas from? Two words: Andrew Zimmern.

It was obvious that first night that Youngwoo loved the taste of exotic food. The next night I found out that he only loved the taste of exotic food... because he had no clue it was exotic.

On Youngwoo's second day with us, Wonhee made dinner again, and one of the dishes she cooked was a specialty of hers – frog legs curry.

"Sunmi-ssi, what is Wonhee cooking? It smells really good," Youngwoo said, craning his neck from the living room, trying to catch a glimpse of the covert activity in the kitchen. He and I were not allowed to go to the kitchen while Wonhee was cooking, so we stayed in the living room watching an episode of Gonzo Foods with Will Do, Asia's more bizarre, more disgusting, more barf-inducing version of Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern (I was not allowed to change the channel either).

"She's cooking chicken curry," I lied, thinking it was better that Youngwoo didn't know the truth about our dinner.

"Ooohh... Sounds good. I love curry." Youngwoo rubbed his hands like an overly excited pre-schooler about to get a cotton candy. He shifted his attention back to the TV program we were watching just as Will Do slurped a whitish, wiggly substance from a bowl that looked like a skull. "Eww! Gross! Did he just eat monkey brains?!?" Youngwoo exclaimed with disgust, his nose scrunching up.