Status: on-going.

Entres Nous

surprisingly.

This is dinner for two?”

“Shush, don’t speak until you’ve tried it.” G.O tugged his mask down, smiling at the woman inside the red tent filled different types of street food. Chan had to admit it. It smelled wonderful. She had almost wondered how she hadn’t sniffed this place out before, it being just two blocks away from her place. Even when they were barely rounding the corner her nose caught a whiff of the meat boiling in different types of spices, her stomach emitting a loud enough growl for three grown men to turn and give her a glare and G.O to burst out laughing.

He spoke fast korean to the woman as they both watched her place food in a plate wrapped around in plastic, handing it over to G.O and then him to Chan. She lowered her eyebrows. “Are any of these spicy?” She sniffed them, quickly pulling away. “Oh God, they are all spicy aren’t they?”

“They aren’t.” He leaned in close to her, placing his own plate down on the metal counter and pointing at each item on Chan’s plate. “That’s kimaree, which is basically like... sweet potato noodle wrapped in seaweed and batter and then fried.”

She made a face of utter disgust. He picked up the little roll with a toothpick. “Ah!” He opened his mouth, urging her to do the same.

Chan stared at the little fried ball of noodle. She cringed, slowly parting her lips as he slipped the roll into her mouth, letting her take a bite. “Mm...” She drooped her head from side to side, chewing and swallowing. “Pretty good.”

He grinned. “Told you.” He pointed at the next two. “This is kogi mandu which is meat and noo-” She downed it as soon as she heard the word ‘meat’. G.O bit into his own, rolling his eyes at her.

“So far, my favorite.” She let out a sigh. Oh, meat bliss.

“Moving on.” G.O laughed. “This is gogoma which is basically sweet potato.”

She picked up her toothpick, slipping the gogoma into her mouth and quickly swallowing. “Not bad, not bad.”

“This over here is yatchae which are vegetables that were battered and fried together. It’s one of my favorites.” He picked up his own portion, placing it in his mouth as he watched Chan take a bite. She smiled in response.

He pointed at his plate. “I didn’t order you this one because I wasn’t sure how you would feel about it but we can order some if you do like it. This is soondae, and it’s... noodles mixed with a little bit of meat, put into a sausage casing and steamed. It’s my favorite.” He picked it up with his toothpick passing it over to Chan who took an immediate bite, right before giving him a frown. She covered her mouth.

“That is not meat.” She muttered behind the palm of her hand. She forced herself to swallow. “I swear.

He bit it, covering his mouth as he spoke. “Oh that’s... meat. Just... not regular meat.”

“What does that mean?”

“Have you ever had lung before?”

She gave him an incredulous stare. “Did you just trick me into eating lung by using the word ‘meat’?”

His lips curled into a sly grin. “Of course not. Anyway, for the end of our meal here, here we have what this tent is famous for and the reason I brought you here. This place makes the best dokbokki ever.” He pointed down at what Chan had feared the spicy stench was coming from. “If you haven’t had dokbokki yet, which if you haven’t, Yura-yah hasn’t taken you out enough, it’s basically rice cake smothered in-,” He paused. She didn’t blink. “Sauce.”

“What kind of sauce?”

He shrugged. “Sauce.” He picked up a piece of rice cake, smothered in the red goo with his toothpick. “C’mon try it.”

She sniffed it immediately taking a step back. “No way in hell.”

“Aw c’mon look,” He took a piece, stuffing it into his mouth. “Mm...” He looked down at her, giving her a close-lipped smile. She could see his eyes watering.

“Wipe your tears.” She passed him a napkin. He leered down at her.

“It really is good though! The sauce is a great compliment to the rice cake. At least try one.” He picked up one, dabbing some of the sauce away against the plastic. “Look I even removed a majority of it. Please? I did buy you those cute boots you know...”

She groaned. “The things I do for you...”

“For me?” He passed her the toothpick.

She glared. “I was talking to the boots.”

He gave her a satisfied shrug, watching her take a bite, her eyes immediately watering. “Yura-yah wasn’t kidding when she said you couldn’t stand spicy food huh?”

Chan tore the napkin from his hand, spitting it back out. She grabbed her glass of water, taking chug after chug until it was empty, her lips pressing against the rim, waiting for them to cool down. “Not at all.” She moaned. “Oh God, I think I felt the fires of hell engulf my throat.”

“I’ll make up for it.” G.O passed her his own drink giving her a sweet smirk.

“Thanks,” She chugged it down without hesitation, letting out a sigh of relief at the end. Water had never tasted sweeter.

He stuffed the rest of his food into his mouth, sliding out his wallet from his back pocket and taking out a some won. They both thanked the woman, slipping out of the plastic tent and into the cold air. Until then she had completely forgotten just how horribly cold it had gotten, her eyes glancing upward at the night sky, skyscrapers towering over her heads. He tugged at her sleeve. “Follow me.”

“Where?” She crossed her arms, trying to keep up with his pace.

He gave her a final shrug, making a heart with his gloved hands. “It’s a secret.”

Image


“As romantic as getting dragged on the subway to another side of town when my home was literally twenty steps away and later stopping buy for soju, cider and yogurt at an ungodly hour of the night is,” She glanced up at him with a tired expression. “Can I go home now?”

He grabbed her wrist, forcing her to speed up her walk. “We’re gonna be late, c’mon.”

“Late for what? The next train?” She spat.

He ignored her question, pulling her behind as the walked down the sidewalk, his direction quickly changing as they started walking down a couple steps, their bodies meeting rails that stood right in front of the Han River. She gave him a quizzical glance. “The Han River? Yura has taken me here you know.”

“Have you ever seen the show though?” His hands squeezed the rail as he turned his head towards the bridge that lied next to them, his lips curling into a smile.

“Show?”

Chan’s eyes widened as soon as the water nozzles turned on, shooting out water, creating a long and beautiful rainbow alongside of the bridge. Music played in the background, a song she had once heard on the radio but wasn’t curious until now to know who the singer was. She felt magical. The LED lights zoomed into the nozzles, radiating different colors as they twirled around, crossing each other and creating synchronized patterns that danced with the eye. “This is...”

She was speechless, her fingernails digging into her palms as she leaned closer, her head bobbing from the spectacle and then back to G.O who was giving her a grin as he sat down on the first step. “Yura once brought me here, but since we were running late we couldn’t stay to watch the show.” She grinned back. “I had completely forgotten...”

“Well,” He patted down the space next to him, his hands digging into the grocery bag and taking out the drinks and cups. “How about we celebrate?”

She sat down, watching him uncap the three items he had bought. She frowned at his choices. “What are you doing?”

“When we first met Yura-yah, she invited us over to her place for drinks. We’re more beer drinkers than anything else, but she is-,”

“Different.” Chan cut in, letting out a laugh.

“I was gonna use the word ‘special’, but different works too.” He poured some soju into the small, paper shot cup, pouring it into a larger cup. “She taught us how to make cocktails.” Chan shook her head as she watched him pour some yogurt in. She would. “My favorite one though, although I hate to admit it in front of the rest of the guys, is...” He finished pouring the lime cider into the cup, taking a sip and handing it to her. “This.”

She sniffed it, taking a sip. “Hm... Skittles.” She smirked. “Yummy.”

He poured himself some, stirring it a little bit with a chopstick and then taking a gulp. Their eyes connected with the dancing rainbow in front of them, twisting and turning as cars rode over the bridge and people ran under it, smiles on their faces as they took it all in. Chan had always said the scenery was the best thing. But in her life, she had never as relaxed as she had then. Looking back, when had she ever felt relaxed? The thought made her throat clog up with sadness, her nails scratching at her navy jeans.

She had worked so hard. Her life back in New York was perfect in a sense. But there was something more calling out her name. Something more that brought out a kind of anger and sadness she hadn’t felt since she was sixteen. She closed her eyes.

One cocktail wasn’t going to last her for the rest of the night.
♠ ♠ ♠
GO WRITE MORE OF MY STORY NOW.