Our Little Dorm Mother

Chapter 8- Prissy Princess

"So do you like spicy food, then?" Xiumin asked as we walked side by side on the pavement.

It was already well into the night and the streets were illuminated with orbs of light from the lampposts and shops to create a kaleidoscope of colours.

We had been walking for about ten minutes and fortunately, we hadn't bumped into any of the fangirls which had been chasing Xiumin earlier.

"Not really" I replied.

Xiumin gave me strange look. "But tteokbokki is spicy."

I glanced at his direction and saw that he had his brow raised. "There's actually a funny story to why I like tteokbokki, even if it's spicy."

Xiumin eyed me curiously, "Oh? Do tell."

I smiled at him and saw that we still had a while to go before we reached SM Entertainment HQ. "Well, back when I was in university, I was having a hard time with my studies." I fixed my gaze ahead of me as I started to recollect my year abroad in Seoul.

It was only for a year, but I participated in an exchange programme as part of my university degree. While I was in Seoul, I had trouble coping with the language barrier and I didn't have many friends to hang out with it. There were hard times and, I constantly felt lonely and homesick.

But one day, while I was coming back from the supermarket, a delicious aroma enticed me to enter this pop-up stall. I pulled back the covers and saw that they were serving tteokbokki.

The vendor was an elderly man whose skin was blotchy with age spots and his head was peppered with grey hairs. He smiled at me kindly and asked if I wanted to buy some of his freshly made tteokbokki.

The food did look delicious but, I was sceptical because it was bright red and, I wasn't good with spicy food.

But the man insisted and, a few minutes later, I was sitting in front of a plate of steaming hot tteokbokki. I took a bite and my eyes immediately started watering.

The vendor laughed and gave me a glass of water. "You're just like my daughter," I remembered him saying, "she's not good with spicy food either."

"Where is she now?" I remembered asking with tears streaming down my cheeks.

His smile slowly faded and he replied, "She's gone far away. I don't know if she'll ever come back."

I prolonged my gulp of water, not knowing what else to say.

But he surprised me by continuing, "Whenever my daughter was sad, she would eat tteokbokki and start crying." He smiled at the memory. "And whenever I asked her why she was crying she would say, it's because the tteokbokki is too spicy." The man offered me a napkin to wipe away my tears.

After that day, I started eating tteokbokki whenever I felt sad or angry or stressed. It felt cathartic to just cry it all out. And it was around this time when I started listening to BTS' music. Their songs really resonated with me because they sang about emotions which I had felt during my stay in Seoul. And I couldn't stop listening to them ever since.

I told this all to Xiumin with some minor details omitted so that I wouldn't blow my cover. We had been walking for a while now and we were finally in front of SM Entertainment HQ.

"Wow, so that's why you eat tteokbokki" he commented. He thought for a second, "but if you're eating tteokbokki now, does that mean you're sad?" He wore a concerned expression on his face. "Are you unhappy living with us as our housekeeper?" he questioned further.

"No, that's not why I'm having tteokbokki," I rushed to reassure him. "I was just having it today because I felt like it."

Xiumin still looked doubtful but he didn't press any further.