The dining room was elegant in a minimalist sort of way, yet still echoed the natural world outside the manor. The table dominated the space, an elongated ellipse of oak with the raw bark at the edges.
The table for six had been squeezed in, gouges in the drywall bearing testimony to the difficulty in getting into and out of a chair. The walls were bare concrete and the windows were perspex screwed on with chunky bolts.
"I knew that they would pick an excellent wife for chaewon. you both look good together. so, have you guys kissed yet," mom asks us as we sit in a family manner on the dining table.
"why would we?" I said coldly putting on of the tempura mom cooked in my mouth. "well... your father and I were devoted very early. kissing just wasn't enough for us. so make sure you guys practise beforehand," mom advised.
"mind your own business, mom," I slam my chopstick hardly onto the table, couldn't take it anymore. "why did you guys kiss in the first place," it's wonyoung this time to ask.
"that's because we like each other. even now we still do," mom smiles sweetly to dad making me slightly disgust. you kissed because you like each other. but we don't so stop saying that we like each other sooner or later.
"Thanks for the food," I monotonously said grabbing wonyoung's wrist to drag her to my room. "there's still time until the people from the ministry get here," I heard mom remind us from the kitchen but I just continue to walk away not minding to answer her back.
my bedroom wasn't just a mess, it was a disaster zone. It looked like a drunken cyclone had erupted in my closed strewing my clothes across the floor, then made its haphazard way across to the desk to do the same to my school work.
"what the fuck is this?! what did you do until it became like this?! disgusting," we just got into the room and the first thing she said somehow offends me. it's not that bad like I've seen worse.
"I tried to clean up this morning, but I'm too lazy so I give up and just sleep," I look away from her scary eyes that were telling me that it can kill me anytime soon.
"let's clean this mess up. we still got time anyway before they arrive," she sighs before making her way to the pile of clothes that were scattered all over the room. she's holding my clothes like it's poop.
after some time cleaning this whole mess up, we manage to get it done before the people from the ministry arrive. having wonyoung here makes the whole room smells like strawberries. bye-bye, my favourite fragrant aka jasmine.
"can I take a look at this?" wonyoung asks with a book securely embraced by her arms on her chest. she was holding the school magazine back when I was still 10 years old. "sure."
and just like that, we start to kill time by looking and going through this magazine. memories start to appear in my head. memories from the old time. back when I was still young and know nothing about the world.
"look at minju! she's so cute! she looks so young here!" of course she looks young, dummy. she's just 10 years old back then. do you expect her to look like 20 years old? but I can't lie, minju does look super cute and small back then.
"hmm? what's this picture?" she curiously asks grabbing the photograph to look at it. it was a picture of me and minju together. it's the only picture of both of us so I treasure it very much. "this is from a trip."
"by the way, when did you realise you are in love with minju?" she suddenly turns the mood to a more serious one. "hm... I don't know as well. it's like when I get up one day I start to see her differently. I don't remember when but it just happens that way I guess. from there, minju became special to me."
