It'll Make Sense in the End

Friday, 31 December 2021

Friday, 31 December 2021

"I'll be there, Mother, I promise," Kate said, inwardly sighing at her mother's nagging. "Okay. Okay, I'll see you later, Mother. I love you too. Waalaikumsalam." She ended the call and scratched the back of her left ear. The last few days had been ... peculiar, to say the least. Especially her relationship with Markus Kusabana.

Nari Seong persuaded Kate to extend her stay until lunch after it started drizzling. She ended up helping the woman and her son to prepare their Christmas dinner—a mix of Korean and Japanese meals. Kate didn't expect to see the screenwriter to be quite an expert in cooking. For the most part, Kate only helped the chopping. She also took internal notes about cooking from Nari and Markus.

The lunch extended to dinner after the drizzle turned into heavy rain. She didn't want to impose them any further, but Nari and Markus told her it was fine. Kate had to pinch and slap her face to make sure this wasn't some hyper-active delusion. At least, Markus didn't bother her much about the upcoming film.

That's only because Nari took over the conversation to showcase Markus. Then again, Kate's whole closeness to Nari was to make him (aka the infamous Nari's youngest son) have a chance to be with Doyle. It was kind of unnerving. Most of the 'facts' and facts Kate knew about Markus came from his limited IMDb bio and trivia. Knowing Markus' early teen years explained a lot about his films, though. No wonder Kate related a lot to his works.

During the Seong-Kusabana's Christmas dinner, Markus' father made her feel ... out of place. He kept side-eyeing her and Markus during Nari's stories about Markus. Kate guessed there's some sort of bad history between the father and son. He kept 'tsk'-ing every once a while. Especially when Daniel, Markus' older brother, pitched in a good story about Markus.

Eventually, clouds began to dissipate as dinner ended. Markus walked her back to Doyle's house. They didn't share a word on the way there. She guessed he was embarrassed after his mother's praised him a little too much in front of Kate.

Only after Kate reached the porch, mumbling a "thank you, sir" as she opened the door, did Markus say, "Can we have lunch on New Year's Eve, Katherine? To talk about your interest in the writing industry."

Thus, here Kate was, back in the small bedroom above the shop, contemplating about lying to Markus. She didn't want to talk about it. She didn't want to talk about getting into the writing industry, about writing stories in general. It was a dumb dream. Doyle ... was such an ant.

Then again, that would be hypocritical because Kate was being an ant in Doyle's love life. Did Doyle even want to date? Sure, she listened to romantic songs on the radio, but it didn't mean she wanted to have a romance. Even Sonata, who had no interest in having a romance, enjoyed listening to romantic songs.

Kate looked at the address Markus sent her. Seong's Diner. He chose his brother's diner for lunch. Wouldn't it be packed, though? The place wasn't as sensational as it was in 2018, but today was New Year's Eve. Daniel Seong's victory in MasterChef Maninsula 2017 turned the place more popular. Even Kate's family had ate there once and the food was good.

Like a silly confused kid, Kate decided to go to one of the Yes or No wheel sites. Should I go meet Markus today? She spun it, her throat drying as her eyes watched the wheel slowed down. Yes. "Oh well," Kate sighed.

She bicycled all the way there, worrying about what Markus wanted to talk about. Could she distract him with something about Doyle? She could. Would Markus be able to know what she's doing? He might.

The diner was closed. It ... didn't make sense. Kate stared at the sign on the door, then to the windows. It's empty. No one's there. Were they closed for New Year? Wouldn't that be bad for their business?