Lifetime

Come Over

I squinted toward the sunlight, my mouth dry from the amount of time I slept. The deep breath I took was punctuated with familiar floral scents, my vision coming into full focus so that my first view of the morning was the bouquet of flowers from Seokjin. He'd trimmed the stems and placed them in a pretty pink vase that I took a few minutes to admire.

Him and my dad's muttered voices were even more audible with the door left ajar, back and forth laughing and shushing as they reminded one another I was asleep.

They were doing just that when I finally made my way to the kitchen. It was always the room we found ourselves in the most, both of them leaning in across the island countertop toward each other in intense discussion.

"Finally, Sellie can help us." My dad exclaimed. "I want to add a couple more items to the menu once I'm back. We came up with six and need to narrow it down to two or three." He pointed at the sheet of paper in front of Seokjin, in that focused and passionate headspace my mom always referred to as chaotic but secretly adored.

"Can I get you something to eat?" Seokjin tipped his head down and raised his eyebrows at the same time, backing toward the pantry while answering his own question. "Actually, I picked up some of those muffins you love from Delia's the other day?"

I slid the page to myself, scrawled with random unorganized concepts and ingredients in a mix of their handwriting. "You're bringing back brunch?" I asked with an expectant smile, noticing the plethora of breakfast incorporations among their notes. Brunch was mom's favorite, and after she was gone it didn't take long for it to fall away as an option at the restaurant.

"I already talked to Donna about it. She says people still ask about our brunch menu after all these years." He responded. I tilted my head to peck Seokjin's cheek as he placed a saucer with a banana nut muffin in front of me, my attention back on the paper as he leaned into the counter on his elbows.

My mouth pressed together tightly as I tried making sense of their chaotic stream of ideas. They were going back and forth about a honey butter chicken biscuit, a combination that had been scribbled into the margin of the page. My stomach growled at the thought of every concoction they'd noted, sandwiches and platters that I couldn't wait to sample.

Seokjin held up a finger as another idea came to him. I'd taken a seat on a barstool, creating a more organized list of their plans while picking bites off my breakfast and sipping on the creamy cup of coffee Seokjin brewed for me.

"We should cook some of these for Seline to try." He looked to my dad for his approval, initiating my week of watching them battle it out in the kitchen like master chefs who urged me to take on the persona of a critical yet uplifting judge.

It was a nice distraction from the anticipation of my dad's approaching surgery, but even with Seokjin encouraging me to keep myself from being overcome with worry every evening, I still lacked sleep and held onto him extra tight.

We slept at my dad's apartment the night before his procedure, more bags than we typically carried packed by the door for the few days we'd be spending at the hospital. I paced to and fro until the sun was rising, double and then triple checking that we had every piece of paperwork, charger, and item of clothing that was necessary.

"She's still going at it?" My dad called from the front of the hallway seconds after his alarm rang through the house. I ignored him, continuing to put together a small cooler of snacks while Seokjin laid across the couch, barely awake and having long given up on trying to convince me to slow down.

"Leave her be, hopefully she'll stop once we're at the hospital." He responded, rolling over so that he didn't face the sunlight pouring through the curtains I'd drawn.