Chapter 26
[26] Oppa, Have You Heard of a Tteokbokki Kiss?
After the strange gift-giving ceremony was over, the two of them began their date in earnest.
Today’s date had a cooking theme.
Minjun and Sia had often made food for each other.
Surprisingly, though, they’d never cooked together.
So today, they decided to try making something together for a change.
The dish was tteokbokki, Sia’s favorite.
Sia had already prepared the ingredients, so all they had to do was cut them up and cook.
“I’ll soak the rice cakes. Could you slice the green onions and fish cakes, Oppa?”
“Sure.”
They could’ve done it easily with magic, but the whole point of this cooking date was to enjoy the process of making a meal together.
In particular, although she hadn’t said it aloud, Sia wanted to watch Minjun wield a knife.
She liked seeing him chop ingredients with that confident air, of course, but the veins standing out along his forearms as he showed off his strength drove her wild every time.
As she slowly softened the rice cakes in a large pot, Sia sneaked glances at Minjun as he chopped.
‘Wow. Look at those veins.’
Even his veins were so sexy.
Every time she spotted the distinct veins on his forearms, Sia swallowed hard.
“You’re really looking forward to it, huh? You’re every bit the tteokbokki lover.”
“Mhm. I really am.”
Minjun probably couldn’t imagine that she was swallowing because she was staring at his forearms, not because she was thinking about tteokbokki.
Anyway.
Once he’d finished chopping, Minjun deftly mixed the tteokbokki sauce and added it to the pot of boiling water.
As soon as he’d put in all the sauce, Sia hugged him from behind and showered him with affection.
“My Sia, you’re such a clingy little cicada.”
“Cicada. Cicaaada.”
When Minjun teased her for clinging to him, Sia playfully imitated a cicada and puckered her lips, asking him for a kiss.
“It’s unfair for a cicada to be this cute.”
Minjun set down the bowl of sauce for a moment and kissed Sia.
As they kissed, they both thought the same thing.
‘It really was a good idea to have a cooking date.’
‘I’m so glad I listened to Oppa!’
They were enjoying their cozy time together as they cooked when Minjun’s phone rang.
“Who is it?”
“Oh, it’s Junhwi. He’s the younger guy who went through the Gate with me last time.”
Minjun wondered what he was calling about, but didn’t answer.
This was his precious time alone with Sia, the only three hours they got together each week.
It probably wasn’t urgent. He could call Junhwi back after their date.
Sia surely knew why Minjun wasn’t picking up. Normally, she would’ve praised him for it.
But—
“You can answer it.”
“No, it’s probably nothing urgent.”
“It’s fine if you’re quick. I’ll go take care of something while you’re on the phone.”
Sia said she’d be back in five minutes, then stepped away.
She headed straight for the dressing room.
After carefully setting aside the special gifts Minjun had given her, she opened one of the wardrobes.
“I should give Oppa a present, too, right?”
And that present was her clothes.
She couldn’t be sure Minjun wanted some of her clothes to make his place feel like they lived together, just as she wanted his things for her lair.
Even so, she thought she had plenty of reason to give them to him.
‘If, by some chance—an extremely unlikely chance—’
It would never happen, of course, but—
‘If some other woman ever comes to Oppa’s apartment.’
Then Sia would have to warn her with a sign of her own.
Even if they weren’t actually living together, she could make those women think Minjun had a live-in girlfriend.
Simply put, it would be a way of marking her territory.
With that in mind, she began choosing clothes to hang up in Minjun’s apartment.
At first, she wondered if she should give him some old clothes, like he’d given her. But those didn’t seem appropriate to hang up in his apartment…
It would probably be better to give him clothes she’d only worn once or twice, practically new.
No, giving him only clothes she’d worn might look strange, too. Since she was at it, maybe she should give him a matching couple’s outfit soon.
‘Maybe I should’ve done this later.’
Even now, the time she had with Minjun was slipping away.
What a waste, squandering five precious minutes—more precious than ever—like this.
She stuffed whatever clothes she could grab into her subspace and hurried back to Minjun.
By the time she returned, he’d already ended the call and was finishing up the cooking.
“Was it something urgent?”
“No. He just had something he wanted to check.”
She wanted to keep the present a secret.
She wanted to surprise Minjun.
The two of them continued cooking together, and before long, the tteokbokki was ready.
“Mmm, that smell brings back memories.”
“It’s amazing. Just smelling it brings all those old memories back.”
They’d made it using the same recipe Minjun had used to cook tteokbokki for Sia now and then, back when they’d lived together.
As they reminisced, Minjun and Sia’s eyes met.
“Enjoy your meal.”
“You too, Oppa!”
At last, they began to eat.
The appetizing tteokbokki might’ve been enough to capture their attention, but they looked at each other far more often than they looked at the food.
They smiled as they gazed into each other’s eyes.
When sauce got on one of their lips, the other wiped it away.
Their sweet meal continued like that, just like any other couple’s, until—
“Oppa, why did that person call earlier?”
Sia asked.
If the caller had been a woman, she wouldn’t have let Minjun answer in the first place. But since it had been a man, she hadn’t been particularly wary.
They’d probably just exchanged greetings.
“He called to thank me for last time. He wants to treat me to a meal and asked when I’d be free.”
“Oh, really? Go and enjoy it. Tell him to take you somewhere nice. You did save his life, after all.”
So far, it was no big deal to her.
But then came the problem.
“But… Junhwi isn’t the one treating me.”
“Then who is?”
“His older sister. She said she wanted to thank me for saving her little brother. She asked if the three of us could meet up and have a meal sometime.”
A woman.
And the older sister of a man whose life Minjun had saved.
Sia’s thoughts began racing.
That woman must have felt grateful to Minjun for saving her brother.
But—
It would only be a matter of time before that gratitude turned into romantic interest.
“…So what did you tell her, Oppa?”
She slowly set down her spoon and asked in a serious voice.
As if he’d expected this reaction, Minjun answered calmly.
“I said I appreciated the offer, but it might make my girlfriend misunderstand, so I didn’t think I could meet her.”
“And what did she say?”
“She said she’d really wanted to meet me and was disappointed. She said she’d like to send me a present instead.”
Disappointed.
The word landed like a pinprick in Sia’s heart.
“Why was she disappointed?”
Was she simply sad that she couldn’t meet the person who’d saved her brother?
Was that all?
The word could mean several things, and that only made Sia more uneasy.
Whoever the woman was, Sia couldn’t bear even to imagine Minjun meeting with another woman and having a cozy conversation with her.
‘But…’
If she tried to see it from Minjun’s point of view…
The woman wanted to buy him an expensive meal to thank him for saving her brother’s life. Wouldn’t he want to enjoy being treated well and have a pleasant meal?
Sia didn’t want to be selfish toward the person she loved over just one woman.
But at the same time, it was true that the woman bothered her.
So she came to a decision.
“Oppa, can I come with you?”
“I’d like to meet that Junhwi, too. Would that be okay?”
Minjun could still meet the woman and have a meal with her, while Sia stayed by his side and kept an eye out in case she tried anything.
That way, everyone could be happy.
Minjun hadn’t expected Sia to want to come along, but he had no reason to object if Junhwi and his sister were both okay with it.
“Hmm. I’ll ask Junhwi about it when I get home.”
“Okay! Thanks!”
They decided to leave the matter of Junhwi there for now.
The two of them went back to eating their tteokbokki.
“Oppa, I’ve always wanted to try this when we eat tteokbokki.”
“What?”
“A tteokbokki kiss.”
The last time they’d eaten tteokbokki together on a date, Sia had wondered if they could play the same kind of game couples played with a biscuit stick, but using a rice cake instead.
She wouldn’t have minded doing it at home, but there were too many people around to get that affectionate in public.
But now—
There was no one else in the lair.
“Want to try it?”
“The rice cakes are a little short for that, though—”
“That’s even better.”
How could something so simple be difficult when it was his girlfriend’s romantic fantasy?
Minjun picked up a rice cake of a suitable size, held it between his lips, and gave Sia a look.
Sia immediately moved closer.
The fun of the biscuit-stick game was watching two people who were awkward around each other try to leave as little of the stick as possible without letting their lips touch.
But that didn’t apply to this lovey-dovey couple.
Without hesitation, Sia pressed her lips to Minjun’s and took a bite of the rice cake he was holding.
She felt the soft rice cake—and the softness of their lips.
“My turn this time.”
They switched roles, and Sia held the rice cake between her lips.
As soon as she did, Minjun kissed her and took a bite.
Once they’d bitten off the rice cake, they savored each other’s lips instead.
No matter how soft the rice cake was, could anything be as soft and sweet as the lips of the person you loved?
When their first tteokbokki kiss ended, Sia held another rice cake between her lips. Minjun moved toward her mouth without hesitation.
Just after their next tteokbokki kiss, Minjun noticed some tteokbokki sauce on Sia’s lips.
A famous kiss scene from an old drama suddenly came to mind, and he kissed her again, tasting the sauce on her lips.
Sia’s face began to flush with embarrassment.
Not a word passed between them, but they could tell just by looking at each other.
The primal instinct that lovers felt for one another—
It was beginning to stir between them.
“Oppa…”
“Sia.”
Their smoldering gazes met.
No more words were needed.