Internal Noise | Haechan

t h i r t y t h r e e

A/N: double update :))

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Ｉｎｔｅｒｎａｌ Ｎｏｉｓｅ
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After my talk with Mark I finally felt better. Things weren't exactly perfect but I hoped for my luck to start changing. After all, something good had finally happened.

Kami found me a job!

That's reason to celebrate! And with all the free time I had on my hands, I planned on doing something good.

"Cook the chicken over a well heated skillet..."

"Okay," I heated up a skillet while I spoke back to the woman from the cooking video I was watching.

"Don't transfer too much sauce from the chicken onto the skillet. Make sure to leave sauce for later," the video continued.

"Crap! Is this too much sauce?" I looked at the food in the pan with horror. I had done everything the woman in the video had said, but my food looked nothing like what she had made. I was surely overthinking it.

My parents really failed me... they should've taught me how to cook when I was younger!

"It's fine," I tried reassuring myself, "it looks good... enough..."

I placed the rest of the marinated chicken in the skillet and started grilling it. I also took out a pan and poured the leftover sauce to boil.

"How many minutes...?" I looked at my phone, but the video had stopped, "what's wrong with this thing?" I looked closer.

Oh no... I forgot to pay my phone bill!

"No! No! No!" I screamed looking at the food sizzling in the pan. How long am I supposed to cook this for?! "Damn it!!"

"Wow, what's all this mess?"

I looked up at the voice coming into my apartment. Oh no, what's he doing here?! I looked around the kitchen at all the mess I had created.

Mounts of discarded food I had used to make the sauce were spilled everywhere. The place was a mess!

"Why are you here? I said don't come 'till eight!" I kept glancing back from Hyuck's figure to the sizzling food in front of me. I didn't know what stress factor to concentrate on.

"It's eight," he pointed at the clock behind me. I looked, and indeed, it was eight. Shit! How did time pass by this fast?!

He looked at the desperation in my face and laughed, "do you need help?"

"No!" I tried concentrating on the food I was making. It didn't look burnt yet, at least I knew that much, the sauce on the other hand... how does one know if sauce is burning? Will it attach to the pan? Will it smell? Damn it, I don't know! I looked at him again, who was eyeing my sink suspiciously. "Yeah... please help."

— ☔︎ —

After Hyuck helped me save the food—or whatever it became—we sat at the table.

"You don't have to eat it," I said, looking down. I was sure, whatever that thing was, it was not edible.

"No, it smells good," he said, "what is this again?"

"Chicken bulgogi..." I said lowly, to which he responded with a chuckle. I pouted and looked down.

"It looks good! Really!" He put a piece in his mouth, "mmh! So good!"

I decided to taste the abomination myself. Not believing his words, and to my surprise, it wasn't all that bad!

"It's... okay," it came out more as a question than a statement.

"See, I told you."

"No, you said it was good. It's..." I thought for a moment, trying to find the right word, "edible."

We broke out in small laughs after that. I brought out some dumplings I got from the store and we were able to eat a meal.

Afterwards, we started to clean up the mess I had made in the kitchen.

"So," I started, "something really good happened!" He looked at me, eyebrows raised, waiting for my response. "You know how Kami had something important to tell me?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, she found me a job!" I said excitedly.

"Oh my god, babe! That's great!" He hugged me.

"I know! Well, it's not at a school... it's a tutoring job, but it's something," I went back to scrubbing the dishes as Hyuck brought me the rest of the plates we used, "she has some rich friends whose kids are bad at English so I'll have to go there in the afternoons."

"Rich, huh? You better not leave me for some spoiled brat!" He joked.

"Mmh... can't promise you that. This girl loves money— AH!" My butt-cheek burned. I turned around, eyes wide, mouth agape, "did you just spank me?"

He smirked, "so what if I did?"

I smirked back, not going to lose at this game, "not gonna lie, that just turned me on a little."

"Oh, yeah?" He came closer.

"Yeah."

He was trapping me against the sink, looking down at my lips, getting closer and closer and...

"Hey!" He screamed. I swatted two fingers across his cheek, painting it with a thick, bubbly coat of dish-soap. "Oops," I shrugged innocently after.

"I see how it is... two can play this game, Lee Nari. He fiddled with something behind me, and before I could do anything he was spraying my back with water.

"Ah! It's cold! Stop!" I yelled, but to no avail. I had one of those detachable faucets, and he was evilly using it to damp my clothes, while he laughed in victory.

I managed to push him off, and turned around to grab my sponge, throwing it at his chest, but missing by a few inches, "you little shit!" I screamed and he laughed.

I cringed feeling my damp sweatshirt dripping on the clean floor. I quickly removed it, only staying in a tank top I wore. I scoffed, turning around and finishing to water down the soap from the dishes.

He snaked his hands around my waist, giving it a light squeeze and planting a kiss to my cheek.

I felt a shiver go down my spine, making me shake momentarily. If only I knew there'd be more where that came from.