If You Want Me - Episode 97
<Episode 97>
The place Do-gyeom and Seo-won drove to was a large mart near Do-gyeom’s house.
Perhaps because many people came grocery shopping right after work, the mart was bustling with numerous people. The mart’s CM song coming from the speakers, people chattering, and the boisterous sounds from the tasting corner telling people to try the food all blended together.
Do-gyeom seemed to have quite a few things to buy today as he brought over a cart from nearby. It was the first time Seo-won saw him pulling a cart, and the cart looked small and cute with him pulling it.
I knew he was tall, but I’m reminded of it again. Seo-won swallowed a laugh inwardly and naturally walked next to him.
“What do we need to buy? Do you have a list?”
“Hmm… Since we have sauce at home, we just need to buy spaghetti noodles and meat. Oh, and since you can’t drink alcohol, should we buy something simple to drink too?”
“You can drink alcohol, and I’m fine with water.”
“What’s the fun in drinking alone?”
Do-gyeom chuckled as if he heard something pointless. Like last time when they went down to the countryside to pack and ate raw trout, it seemed he felt conscious drinking in front of someone who couldn’t drink.
There’s no point in forcing alcohol on someone who says they won’t drink, so Seo-won had no choice but to compromise and said to buy soft drinks.
Do-gyeom and Seo-won, who roughly sorted out what to buy, went around the mart and filled the cart one by one. What Seo-won felt while following Do-gyeom around was that Do-gyeom was quite particular about selecting ingredients. Except for when he lived alone in America, he probably didn’t have many occasions to cook himself, but it seemed his experience in choosing ingredients had accumulated from looking around a lot.
Seo-won also meticulously selected ingredients along with him, but suddenly he felt a chilling sensation. A creepy feeling that made his spine tingle, as if someone was watching them.
What? Seo-won felt something strange and quickly turned around, but there was no one looking this way with a weird gaze. There were only admiring gazes directed at Do-gyeom.
I felt a malicious gaze… Was it just my feeling? As Seo-won looked around with a suspicious gaze, Do-gyeom, who was buying asparagus, seemed to have noticed something was off and asked looking at Seo-won,
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
“No… It’s nothing.”
Seo-won shook his head while forcing a smile. They were just looking with no particular meaning, but he seemed to have taken it ominously for no reason.
By the way, he only realized it now, but quite a lot of people were giving Do-gyeom attention. It seemed to be because his build was much larger than others and he had an eye-catching appearance. He had also shown his face in the media a few times, so perhaps there were people who recognized him.
There’s probably no one else who attracts this much attention even though he’s not a celebrity. As Seo-won was thinking that for a moment, Do-gyeom glanced around and opened his mouth.
“Should we buy figs too?”
“Figs? Those don’t go into the dish we’re cooking though.”
“To eat for dessert.”
Do-gyeom answered shortly. Even though he wasn’t usually the type to have dessert, it seemed he was considerate because Seo-won liked sweets so much.
The figs being sold were in season for only a short time and looked delicious. But they weren’t being sold individually, but by the box, so he was already worried if they could finish them all. Even if Do-gyeom said they could eat the leftovers little by little, he often ate out rather than at home, so it seemed like there would be leftovers. And the cart was already half full, so he thought they might be buying too much.
“But aren’t we buying too much? It seems like we already bought a lot…”
“We brought the car anyway.”
“That’s true, but what if we can’t finish it all and it goes bad?”
“Are you worried there will be no one to eat it? If you’re worried, you can come to my house every day to eat and go.”
“Me?”
“Yeah.”
If there are leftovers, he could just pack the figs for me, but why…? It was obvious he was making a move using the figs as an excuse.
It would be nice to turn a blind eye and cutely go to his house every day to eat, but there was something he felt conscious of every time he went to Do-gyeom’s house, so it seemed he couldn’t go to that extent. Seo-won thought for a moment then shook his head.
“…Never mind. Don’t buy it if it seems like only I will eat it.”
“I’m kidding. I won’t make you eat it all, so let’s buy it.”
It was obvious it wasn’t something he said as a joke, but Do-gyeom immediately put the figs in the cart as if he had just tried saying it.
Seo-won thought there was nothing more to buy since they bought everything including dessert, but Do-gyeom seemed to have a lot he wanted to feed Seo-won, asking “Do you want to eat this?” with every step he took.
Even though he knows I don’t eat that much, why is he doing that…? If they stayed in the mart any longer, the cart would pile up like a mountain, so Seo-won had to forcibly drag Do-gyeom out of the mart.
* * *
After loading the car full of groceries, they arrived at Do-gyeom’s house.
Entering his house with heavy hands, Do-gyeom washed his hands and put on the navy apron in the kitchen.
“I’ll make it quickly, so wait a bit. If you’re bored, you can look around the house too.”
“Is there anything I can help with?”
“Staying still is helping.”
Do-gyeom spoke as if restraining a child who would mess things up more trying to help for no reason.
No, it’s not like I’ve ever caused problems before… Seo-won didn’t want to stay still even out of a sense of injustice. He took out things that needed to be washed once like the asparagus among what they brought.
“Then I’ll at least wash these.”
“I said I can do it.”
“Staying still is boring too. I’ve been to your house a few times, so there’s nothing new to see.”
Seo-won didn’t frequent Do-gyeom’s house, but there was nothing new to look at either. It’s not like the interior changed.
As Seo-won stood next to the sink, Do-gyeom stuck close trying to snatch it away saying he would do it, but Seo-won barely protected it and said,
“I’m hungry too, so wouldn’t it be nice to do it quickly and eat?”
“…Then just wash that and rest.”
Do-gyeom seemed concerned about the words that he was hungry, so he didn’t touch it anymore and quickly started boiling the pasta noodles first.
Seo-won was going to go in after washing only the vegetables as Do-gyeom allowed, but noticing the rose pasta ingredients required a lot of work, he stood by Do-gyeom’s side and helped prepare the ingredients. Fortunately, the kitchen was wider than other houses, so it wasn’t cramped even with two adult men standing there.
Washing the onions, cutting the sausages plumply… As they moved diligently, a nice smell soon wafted through the house. Around the time the pasta was almost done, Do-gyeom even put the meat on the pan, so the food was completed in no time.
As Seo-won sat at the dining table first, Do-gyeom put the slightly bloody beef on a cutting board-like plate, then took out a thin, flat plate, put the pasta on it, and came back.
“It’s all done. Try it first.”
“Thank you for the meal.”
At Do-gyeom’s words, Seo-won lightly greeted and picked up a spoon.
Both the steak and rose pasta were dishes he liked, but his hand reached for the meat first after all. Cutting the meat with a knife and putting it in his mouth, admiration naturally came out.
“Mmm…!”
The steak, grilled until slightly pink, was tender, not tough, and just right. It was to the point he felt it wasn’t inferior even compared to the steak he had eaten at the restaurant he went to with Do-gyeom.
Is meat a dish that’s hard to fail after all? He was hungry too, so eating delicious food made a faint smile spread on his lips. The next place Seo-won’s hand headed was the rose pasta.
Since the steak he ate before was so successful, he put it in his mouth with high expectations, but it felt a bit chewier than he thought.
Still, it’s not like it was bad, so he ate it silently, but Do-gyeom seemed to have noticed Seo-won’s reaction and immediately scooped up some pasta and took a bite. He made a disappointed face after savoring it.
“The pasta… it’s not a dish I make often at home. It doesn’t seem to have turned out well.”
“What? No, it’s delicious though.”
“Eat more of the meat.”
Seo-won encouraged him saying there was no need to mind, but Do-gyeom still seemed unsatisfied with the pasta.
He doesn’t need to say that much… Rather, it’s on the delicious side, but Do-gyeom’s taste is so particular that it seems he’s not satisfied. Or maybe he’s saying that because he’s embarrassed about acting overconfident to Seo-won earlier.
At his words, Seo-won rather twirled more rose pasta noodles on his fork and said,
“I didn’t come because I wanted to eat professionally made food by a chef, but because I wanted to eat the food you made for me.”
“…”
“And it’s plenty delicious. I think it’s also because we made it together… Out of the meals I’ve eaten with you, today’s is my favorite.”
I didn’t actually do much… But still, I did help a little, so it felt like we cooked together. It also tasted more delicious because I felt proud.
He only spoke his honest feelings, but there was no reaction from Do-gyeom, so it became a bit embarrassing. As he lowered his head and put the noodles twirled on his fork in his mouth, Do-gyeom slowly relaxed his expression.
“I didn’t know that. I’ll make it for you again next time.”
“…”
Next time… Until a few days ago, he used to draw the line saying to make it so they wouldn’t see each other next time, but now it was natural to promise a next time.
If a similar opportunity arises next time, I should cook for Do-gyeom then. As Seo-won made a private resolution, Do-gyeom suddenly chuckled.
Did he suddenly think of something funny? As Seo-won looked at him curiously, Do-gyeom spoke in a voice strangely filled with a good mood.
“Doing this, we seem like a married couple.”
“…Kek!”
A married couple? At the unexpected words, the pasta noodles suddenly got stuck in his throat.
Urgently gulping down the carbonated fruit drink he had poured in a glass, Do-gyeom asked as if it wasn’t something to be so surprised about.
“Why are you so surprised?”
“No… I’m not surprised.”
“Decide quickly for me. It’s hard to wait.”
“…”
He didn’t say what to decide for him, but from the context, Seo-won could tell Do-gyeom was waiting for an answer about marriage.
Translator Notes:
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