얼음꽃 (Frost Flower)

Chapter Six

There was something about breakfast with Kris and his sister, along with Krystal, on bright Saturdays that put this rare and unbelievably beautiful smile on Jessica’s face. She hardly ever revealed this side of herself to anybody else. Seeing her smile was as good as seeing her with an extra arm or body part. You get the drift.

“So, how did your project go? Did you manage to submit it on time? Have you been completing your assignments?” Jessica turned to face her sister, who was busy loading bacon slices into her mouth. The way she pigged out amazed Jessica at times. How could one person eat so much food yet not put on a single ounce of weight? Perhaps there were worms living in her tummy that consumed everything put there.

“I’m in college, unnie. Don’t worry so much, I’m responsible enough to handle my own school issues. But since you asked, everything’s good, I guess. I’m doing pretty well this semester.” The girl with bright red hair responded obscurely, reaching for what seemed like her tenth hotdog and spearing it with her fork nimbly as she munched away loudly with her mouth open. A girl looking rather tomboyish with short brown hair seated opposite her stifled a laugh as she watched.

“Every single time I see you eat I’m reminded of why you’re not attached yet. I, for one, wouldn’t wanna share a table with a female version of Takeru Kobayashi.” Yes, the guy who finished sixty-nine hotdogs in twelve minutes.

“Shut up, Amber.” Krystal gave her best friend a penetrating look, setting her fork down slowly as she attempted to chew her food more gracefully. She resembled her sister when she was mad.

Kris suppressed the urge to comment further, choosing instead to trade knowing looks with the woman seated across him. They shook their heads together, and Jessica mouthed, “Kids.”

“Yah, I saw that. Seriously, the two of you should, like, date or something. Get past the eye flirting already. Jesus.” Amber slapped the guy’s back, causing him to cough on his scrambled eggs. It was apparent that she shared a rather knitted relationship with her brother.

Still saying nothing, Kris grabbed his glass of water and took a few sips, hoping that the direction of the conversation would change. Any topic at all would not be half as awkward as this one. Although Kris knew Amber was openly discussing this because she knew of his hopeless crush on the woman, he did not want to make things embarrassing for Jessica, especially not with her sister around.

“I think Chairman Wu is already seeing somebody.” Her sudden remark generated a couple of gasps from the two younger ones. Even the man in question was shocked himself, eyes shooting up straightaway to meet hers.

“What’re you talking about?”

“Kris, how long are you planning to evade this? The entire office knows about Seohyun and her special homemade meals for you.” Jessica was practically chuckling by the time she reached the end of her sentence.

“About that… I never agreed to anything. She just started showing up with those boxes of food one day. What was I supposed to do? Tell her to take them back, stuff herself, and have a nice life?” The fellow replied, wishing that Jessica would understand that there really was nothing going on between him and the mentioned girl.