teacup [m.t]

14 : Groceries

"Jae, we've got our first task." Mark calls from the living room. "Really? What is it?" I asked as I walked out from our shared room to the living room where he was.

"Let's open it up." He says before he slots his thumb into the unsealed portion of the envelope, tearing through the adhesive as he slides his thumb down.

"Goal Number One," He reads out as he moves such that I could see as well.

"As you can see, the fridge and the cupboards are empty. As your first task as a married couple, the company is providing you with $1000 to buy your groceries."

"Woah.. That's a lot of money." I said as my eyes widened. "Should we have a list?" Mark asks as he puts the letter down. I nod.

He stands up to grab a piece of paper and a pen. "What would you like to eat?" He asks.

"Let's keep it pretty simple, so both of us can take turns cooking." I told him, hoping for his approval. "Let's make a deal,"

"Whoever doesn't cook that night, cleans the dishes." He says, as he looks at me.

"We're supposed to do things together, Oppa." I said teasingly, as if I hadn't come up with the idea to take turns cooking.

He rolls his eyes and chuckles.

"Let's have some meat." He suggests, writing it down on the list. "I want pork belly." I said with a smile, nodding. He nods, writing that down as well.

"Let's have some chicken breast as well." He says, writing it down. "Should we get things to marinate the meats and chicken in?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows. He nods.

"Some condiments too." I suggested.

"Some bottles of water , fruit juice and fruit." He adds on.

Soon, we kept on adding and the entire piece of paper was full of food to buy.

"Who's driving?" I asked. "You don't have a license. Don't even try me." He says with a sigh, stuffing the list into his pocket.

"I know." I chirped happily as I grabbed my phone off the table.

======

"Get in the cart." Mark says as he walks towards me, pushing an empty cart. "What?" I questioned, furrowing my eyebrows.

"It'll be fun!" He pleads, grabbing me by the arm and pulling me closer. "Fine.. I'll just need some help."

I said as I grabbed hold of the edges.

"More like a ton of help." He says, lifting me off my feet as he grabs me by my sides.

"Oppa!" I squirmed, as he put me down into the cart. "Buckle up." He says with a chuckle. I let out a sigh, trying to recover from that terror.

"Which aisle do you want to go to first, teacup?" He asks, leaning on the cart with his elbow. I shook my head disapprovingly before eyeing the various aisles.

"Let's go get the fruit first." I told him, pointing to the nearest aisle. He nods, beginning to push the cart.

I mentally cursed as it wasn't the smooth ride I expected. "This cart.. it's a little.." He starts. I hum, glaring at him.

"Sorry." He says, smiling sheepishly.

"Apples." He says, trying to drift away from the topic. He picks up a slightly bruised one which I snatch from out his grip. "Oppa, you should pick those with the stem still attached to it." I told him, replacing the bruised apple with another.

"Why?" He asks, furrowing his eyebrows. "It means that they were plucked off the tree and it wasn't picked up from the ground." I said, putting it into a little plastic bag along with a few other apples.

"Woah.. So smart." He says as he begins pushing the cart to the other fruits.

"Who taught you that?" He asks, as he begins to pick out some ripe bananas. "My Mom." I answered in a whisper, as I smiled.

He looks down to me, giving me a small smile.

You could see the confusion in his eyes as to why I was so happy. But I couldn't explain it either. You could say that I was alright with my situation. That I didn't mind.

Soon, we went through all the lanes and we were at the counter. He slides the company card down the card slot.

Surprisingly, we were able to keep within the budget of $1000. We spent $890 on food.

We didn't intend to go out to buy more food anymore. But we decided to keep the rest, in case we needed to go back for more.

"Oppa, the bags I'm carrying are extremely light. Let me help you." I told him. He shakes his head. "Nope. I'll do it, Jae. Don't you worry." He says with a smile.

I found it very gentlemanly of him to do this. Unlike other girls who would fight to get the bags from him.

"I can tell that you're exhausted from packing, Jae. I'm not going to let you carry frozen meat all the way back to the apartment." He says with a chuckle.

I smiled, thanking him.