Requested EXO Imagines

Chanyeol Imagine

{ Requested Chanyeol Imagine }

Imagine Chanyeol taking me out to a date to celebrate the fact that we've been together for half a year now. We've been through tough times together and had many arguments within these 6 months, but we've also had many romantic dates and sweet moments together. He was always silly and making funny statements because he loved to fool around; it was his way of making the people around him laugh. After all, he's known to be the happy virus. Regardless of how bad things get, he always carries his sweet innocent smile around. And sometimes it scares me knowing that in unhappy situations he still smiles. I can never understand his true feelings and when he needed comfort even when he denied the fact he did. It was hard to understand him because he always kept the unhappy things to himself and shared all the bright things with me to make me happy. He was caring and thoughtful, but since we're together, I preferred that we went through everything together like how couples do. And as a couple coming from different backgrounds, it was even harder for us to get along sometimes. He was Korean, I was Latin. Our culture has it's own difference and beauty, but because I hated our arguments that were mostly based on our differences I tried understanding his culture. I did research and tried to remember everything, I tried adapting to their routines on a daily basis. I started eating more spicy food and changing up what I usually eat. Maybe in order to understand someone Korean, you had to be Korean. Obviously it wasn't possible to change my roots and where I came from but for Chanyeol and for us, I tried to blend in to his culture. Some things, you just have to sacrifice for those you love. I love him for the person he is, and I didn't mind accepting, respecting, and loving everything else that came along in being with him. Whether it be assimilating to his culture or following Korean traditions. But I wasn't giving up on my own culture either. I'm proud of where I came from.

Korean people often have many small plates for each dish, and they often have soup and kimchi as well, meanwhile in my culture, we ate off one plate. We often eat with forks and knives, but they had the traditions of using spoons and chopsticks. The way they ate compared to how I ate was one of the most important thing to learn because if I was to be with him and have dinner dates, I couldn't make a fool of myself in front of him. The content of our food was also different, and I've tried getting use to it although majority of their food had spice. It wasn't easy to get use to spicy food, but I wanted to be able to be with the person I love and eat the things they loved because he would be happy. His culture is really interesting and honestly because I'm doing this for him, it didn't feel like work at all.

Chanyeol took me to a more western restaurant today for our date. I asked him why and he said that he knew I liked western food better. He didn't take any offense of that fact either. I did miss eating western food honestly, but I wanted to make him proud by showing him how much I've improved on eating Korean food. Sometimes this cultural difference between us made me feel distant from him, like I didn't know who he really was or just anything about him. I hated it but sometimes I'd be proud of that difference because if anything about me changed, he might not have chosen me. It's so complicated. I continued with our date happily and put the thought about our differences in the back of my mind. Being with him is the thing that's most important.

Today, I'm going to prepare him a Korean dish for lunch and surprise him. Since he's spent time with me doing and eating things that resembled closer to my culture than his yesterday, I wanted to spend today with him doing and eating things that resembled closer to his culture. I got up early in the morning after a restless sleep the night before to cook him a meal. Last night I searched up popular dishes and its recipe, so I went shopping for ingredients. Since it's my first time preparing a different type of dish, I knew I'd make mistakes and would take much more time so I planned out that the entire morning was to prepare him a meal. A big ingredient was kimchi, and I didn't want to add too much because when I tried the dish, it was too spicy for me but knowing that Korean people can withstand really really spicy food, I added a little more for Chanyeol. Once everything was done, I packed the each dish into its own small container, separating the rice from the kimchi and the kimchi from the meat, etc. I texted him that we were going to have a last minute planned picnic, but because he was a little busy at the time, he said to wait for him for a while. It was already noon, but he still hasn't called me to tell me when he was available. I worried that the food would get cold so I went back home to reheat it. As I was reheating it, my stomach growled. I had food in the fridge, but I didn't want to eat yet. I had to wait for him, we were going to have a picnic date. And I've made enough for the both of us, so I can't just have a picnic with him to just watch him eat everything. He wouldn't feel too comfortable either.

I turned on the tv to help me not think about my hunger. And eventually Chanyeol finally called. I was glad to receive his call no matter how late it got. I went to meet him up and we held hands as we went to a nearby park to have our picnic. It was so embarrassing when my stomach started growling in the silence between us.

"You didn't eat yet?" He asked as he looked at the time.

"I was waiting to have a picnic with you," I explained.

"Sorry to make you wait. If you were hungry, you could have eaten first," he apologized.

"It's okay, I wanted to wait for you," I said.

I laid out the dishes after he finished setting up the blanket. He was surprised to see what was there, and was even more surprised to know that I prepared it. He gave me a kiss just to thank me for my hard work. Honestly, I spent a lot of time in this but it was so worth it to make him happy. When he got a pair of chopsticks, he started eating right away because he wanted to see how well you cooked and because he felt really proud that his girlfriend cooked for him. Seeing the enjoyment that showed all over his face made me feel so proud.

"Is there any more kimchi?" He asked.

"Is it not spicy enough?" I asked, giving it a try.

I suddenly choked because of how spicy it was. It was so embarrassing in front of him especially after all the times I've been eating kimchi to get use to the spice. He handed me water and patted my back.

"If it's too spicy, don't force yourself to eat it," he said.

"It's okay," I mumbled just after drinking a sip of water.

"Really. When you're with me, I want you to be who you are, do what you usually do, and eat what you usually eat. I want you to feel comfortable around me, I don't need you to change for me. I'm fine if you like it, but clearly you're forcing yourself," he said looking at you with a mixture of disappointment and worry.

"I just wanted to do the things you love and eat the things you love with you," I explained.

"I know it's because of our cultural differences, but you don't have to force yourself to this point. It's not like I don't like western food. I don't mind if you don't like Korean food, it's never been your daily routine to eat it. I can't force you, and I don't want to. In being with you, I've accepted your differences from me and everything else that makes you who you are. If something like this would make me unhappy, why would I choose to be with you from the start? I've chosen you even after knowing our cultural differences. But because I love you, I don't mind that you're slightly different from me. I respect you and your culture. You don't need to change for me. Be who you truly are, after all thats whom I fell for," he replied.

He was so sweet. I didn't even know how to reply to him. I just wanted to hold him and cry.

"But thats not fair if I give you my share," I pouted.

I didn't know how else to reply. I guess I've learned to be a little silly like him. And it wasn't like I didn't like Korean food, it was just that I couldn't take the spice.

"How about you give me everything that has kimchi, and I give you everything that doesn't?" He offered.

I nodded. And then we were finally eating happily together enjoying the view and the sunshine. At times, I'd just stare at him and think about how much I loved him and how lucky I was to have him.

~~The End~~

Requested By..