𝐑𝐄𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐍 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒 | 𝐝𝐨𝐭𝐬 [𝗡𝗩]

01 • Cheer Up, Baby

°.• chapter one — "Joreujima eolma gaji anha~"
"Episode One"

Flavoured smoke filled the little green kitchen as Soojin slowly cooked her second meal of the day.

She twisted and turned around in the small space, her piling already prepared food into bowls and raw meet into her frying pan.

The smell of fresh rice and kimchi jjigae filled the woman's nose as she quickly brought the bowls over to her coffee table, her placing the steaming food onto her place mat.

She quickly rushed back to the kitchen to stir the bulgogi, the woman sighing happily as it cooked.

Can you blame her? The woman was hungry.

She'd gotten up early that morning, had breakfast and gone for a run before spending a few hours at the local animal shelter she volunteered at. She forgot to bring snacks with her, so she hadn't eaten since the early hours of the morning, and by the time she got home her stomach was growling obscenities at her.

Soojin couldn't have her own pet as she could be away from home for months at a time, sometimes not even being in the country for half of it. She knew she could get her neighbours to come feed the animal, and walk it if it needed, but then the pet might as well not be Soojin's.

The woman would miss out on all the important and fun things that make a pet yours. They wouldn't get to go on walks together, wouldn't get to cuddle and learn tricks, and wouldn't be able to bond like a pet and owner should.

Soojin didn't think that was a good life for either party. So she volunteered, and as much as she hated to leave the animals at the shelter at the end of her shift, she knew it was better than leaving them in an empty home.

The meat seared in the pot, and once brought to the right doneness was brought off the heat and stacked into a bowl. Soojin turned off her stove and put the pan in the sink before opening her utensils drawer and pulling out a set of sujeo.

She took the metal utensils and bowl of meat and put them on her coffee table along with the rice and kimchi jjigae. Soojin took a step back to look at her work, her hands on her hip as she tried to figure out what was missing.

"Oh, mul!" The woman remembered and quickly rushed back to the kitchen.

Soojin took a glass from her cupboard, filled it with ice from the freezer, and poured the cold water from the jug in her fridge into the glass.

Her bare feet skidded across the wood floor as she grabbed a coaster and placed the drink to the right of the food. She smiled contently at the meal she made herself.