𝐅𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐬 | Twenty-Five Twenty-One

𝟏.𝟐

Ji-eun sat cross-legged on the living room floor, flipping through her school textbooks as she awaited her brother and aunt's return home. On a typical Friday afternoon, her aunt would be off work and cooking dinner by this time. However, since there was a school conference for her brother tonight, her aunt had to attend, leaving Ji-eun responsible for dinner.

Don't get her wrong; she loved cooking and took every opportunity to do it. But with homework piling up as exams approached, she barely had a moment to herself. Now that she had dropped fencing entirely, her future relied solely on her grades.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, she slammed her math textbook down on top of the other books scattered across the coffee table. Just then, she heard the gate opening outside, followed by her aunt's voice carrying into the house. It suddenly struck her—she hadn't prepared anything for dinner.

Mentally face-palming herself, she scrambled to her feet and rushed to the kitchen. She hurriedly went through each cabinet, hoping to find something pre-made or an easy dish to prepare, so it wouldn't look like she had just started cooking a few seconds ago.

Her eyes lit up as she spotted a packet of ramen. She filled a pot with hot water and set it on the stove to boil, eagerly cutting open the packet. Every now and then, her gaze flicked to the front door as she rocked on the balls of her feet, anxious for the water to boil faster.

Panic surged through her when the door handle twisted. She quickly grabbed the contents of the packet and dropped them into the half-boiled water. Reaching to turn up the heat, she accidentally inhaled the steam rising from the pot and began to cough. 

"Oh, shit," she muttered under her breath, her eyes watering as the steam thickened in the room, creating a dense haze. Fanning the steam away from her face, she reached, half-blindly, to turn down the heat. "Ow!" she yelped, having accidentally brushed her forearm against the hot pan. 

"What the hell is going on here?" a sharp voice cut through the steam, making her bite back another curse. 

Sheepishly, she slowly turned her head toward her aunt, acutely aware of how ridiculous she must look: one arm froze before her face to fan away the steam, the other hovering over the ramen pot. Her body was still angled toward the stove, despite her face turning towards her Aunt. One foot raised while the other bore her weight. Yes, she looked extremely stupid.

With a heavy sigh, her aunt stepped into the kitchen, eyebrows raised in equal parts confusion and mild amusement.

"Cooking...obviously," Ji-eun replied, offering a weak smile while still fanning the air. She let out a laugh that died quickly under her aunt's stare. She lowered her arm and turned back to the pot, hoping it looked less disastrous with the lid on. 

Her aunt shook her head, stepping closer to the stove. "You had one job, Jieun-ah." She expertly adjusted the heat and lifted the lid to check the noodles, and her actions were smooth and practiced. "At least it looks like you didn't burn the place down."

Ji-eun slumped into a chair at the kitchen table with a sigh, glancing at her half-finished math homework still lying innocently on the coffee table. "I meant to start cooking after finishing my homework, but it took longer than I expected. Sorry."

Her aunt turned her attention back to the ramen, stirring it gently as she replied, "Well, you can't do it all at once. Go on and finish up your homework. I'll take care of dinner."

A smile replaced the obvious exhaustion on her face as she stood up to hug her aunt. Then, she walked over and settled back down on the living room floor. The carpet over the marble tile provided a sense of comfort as she resumed her homework.