Chapter 841. Sequence 11

He used a spoon to have a taste of the spicy stew. If it was for his tastes, he would have to add more soy sauce, but he just turned off the stove like that. This was more in line with Gaeul’s tastes after all. He received a message saying that she was on her way after the shoot. He thought that he would only be able to see her around 1 a.m. It seemed that her shoot had ended quite early. He watched TV on the sofa before looking at the clock on the wall. It was 11:43 p.m.

“I’m here.”

Gaeul opened the door and came in. She hadn’t even removed her makeup. After barely taking off her trainers, she came into the living room with shopping bags in both of her hands.

“What are those?”

“I was visiting a clothes shop that just opened today. This is a hat I got as a souvenir, and this is wine and beef jerky that we’re going to eat.”

“They give you beef and jerky at a clothes shop?”

“No, I bought these myself to give as a present. I bought some more while I was at it. But hey, I’m so tired.”

Gaeul put her arms out. She seemed to want him to carry her. Maru brought her to the bathroom while she was whining.

“Alright, get washed up first. I’ll get the food ready.”

“Did you cook spicy stew?”

“I did, so get washed up. Be thorough when removing your makeup.”

While Gaeul got washed, he set up the dining table. He brought the portable table from the veranda and opened it in the middle of his living room before putting some newspaper on it. He then placed a portable stove, followed by a pot, before turning the stove on. By the time the spicy stew was on the verge of boiling again, Gaeul left the bathroom.

“What a good smell.”

She sat down in front of the table with a towel wrapped around her head. She picked up her spoon and had a taste of the steaming hot stew. From how her lips curved upwards, it seemed to fit her tastes.

“Maru, you’ll be a perfect housewife.”

Gaeul brought two wine glasses from the kitchen. She removed the cork of the wine that she bought as a gift and poured some into the glasses. Spicy stew and wine. They weren’t really a great pair, but Maru didn’t care since the one drinking with him was good. He drank a sip before ruminating on the taste before swallowing it.

“It’s quite sweet.”

He wanted to give a detailed description of the taste, even if he couldn’t be as good as a wine sommelier, but it was difficult after all. Although he tried focusing on the taste because she was the one who wanted to drink it, he couldn’t do what he couldn’t do after all.

“You honestly don’t get why people drink wine, do you?” Gaeul asked as she waved her wine glass in the air.

Maru nodded. That was because the sweetness of cheap wine was his impression of most wines. While the one he drank just now wasn’t unpleasantly sweet, his tongue was used to soju and caused a rejection to sweet liquor.

“It’s not bad, but I don’t think I’ll drink it that often.”

“But since you’re drinking it anyway, try being in the mood.”

Maru used his thumb and index finger to hold the glass by the neck while straightening out the other three. He raised the glass so that the semi-filled glass overlapped with her face and spoke,

“Here’s to looking at you, Mademoiselle. Is that what you want?”

“You were really cocky just now.”

“I thought you wanted me to be in the mood.”

“There’s a limit to being cheesy.”

She raised her glass as well. After toasting lightly, he drank a sip again. While they were talking, the spicy stew started boiling. After tasting the wine and the spicy stew alternately, she eventually said that it was no good and brought some soju from the fridge.

“It’s weird to eat something spicy with something sweet.”

“How about the glass?”

Gaeul emptied the wine in her glass in one go. She then raised it above her head and flicked it against her head before looking at him, expecting him to do the same. Maru also emptied his glass and flicked it against his head. Transparent soju replaced the wine glass that originally had the red grapevine in it.

“The pairing of the liquor and the food is important too, I guess.”

Those were Gaeul’s words right after she ate a piece of fish from the stew and drank some soju. Maru agreed wholeheartedly. That bitterness of soju and the spiciness of the stew went well together.

They talked about praising the pairing of spicy stew and soju before Maru asked about what happened today,

“How was the shoot?”

“Today? I just shot a kiss scene.”

She made a sneaky smile while eating some fish with some celery.

“And a deep one at that.”

“Kang Giwoo has it real fortunate today.”

“You jealous?”

“Of course I’m jealous.”

“Even though it’s work?”

“I’m only going as far as being jealous because it’s work.”

“I don’t think I’m going to be jealous even if you shoot a kiss scene, though.”

Gaeul teased him while pouting a little. Maru grabbed her lips that were protruding out.

“This is the mouth uttering nonsense, huh.”

Gaeul pulled her head back and smiled.

“What did you do today?”

“I had a very busy day today. First, I did some cleaning.”

“I don’t know who will wed you later, but whoever it is, she won’t have to worry about household cleaning at least. Why don’t you run a cleaning company once? Han Maru Cleaning corp. Making your dirty house shine again,” Gaeul said as she lifted Woofie, who was passing by.

The dog seemed startled and looked around with her eyes wide open, but she soon wagged her tail in relief as though she realized that the owner of the hands that picked her up was Gaeul.

“I’ll try if I don’t have anything to do in my later years. Anyway, today, I cleaned the kitchen and the bathroom before heading to the market.”

“Mr. Han Maru. What made you go to the market?”

Woofie’s front paw became a microphone. Maru grabbed the paw and replied,

“My superior wanted to drink spicy stew, so I went grocery shopping. She has a picky taste and notices if I cook her pre-made food, so I picked the ingredients myself and cooked it myself too.”

“Reporter Woofie here says that superior doesn’t have a picky palate.”

“That’s not true. I made seasoned seaweed last time and I got an earful about it being too salty. I put a lot of effort into that too.”

“Mr. Han Maru, your voice has become incredibly low right now. Are you mad by any chance?”

“As a housewife, my heart is torn whenever I hear my superior say that the food does not taste good. It’s beyond the level of being ‘mad.’”

Gaeul turned the dog around before looking at the dog.

“Reporter Woofie, I think this is my fault. Can you apologize in my stead?”

Gaeul waved the dog’s front paw up and down while lowering her head. How many men would not fall in love with her while looking at that? Maru chuckled and told her to put the dog down. The dog kept giving him hints that she was uncomfortable for a while now. As the owner, he couldn’t just ignore his dog’s pleas.

“I know. You don’t season the food that much because I like my food on the bland side. Thanks every time.”

“I’m grateful that you acknowledge it. My sister just grumbles at me after eating. What’s even more serious is that she can only cook two things with confidence.”

“What are those two?”

“One is ramyun.”

“Ramyun is a splendid dish. Do you know how hard it is to cook it properly?”

Gaeul stood on Bada’s side. For a brief moment, he could picture a certain woman scolding her husband while standing on her sister-in-law’s side as well as the image of a husband crying that there is no one on his side.

“Alright, let’s consider ramyun cooking. The second thing she’s confident in cooking is microwaved rice.”

“The timing is really important with microwaved rice, you know? A single second can change the taste.”

“What am I supposed to say to that? Geez, this is sad.”

Gaeul laughed out loud. It wasn’t even that funny though. He thought that he was missing something and observed her closely. After laughing her heart out, she calmed her breath and asked again,

“Right, what’s Bada doing these days?”

“College. She’s in various circles or whatnot too. I’m worried about what she’ll do after graduation already. Watching her makes my head hurt.”

“You should play around while you’re still a student. Now that I think about it, I haven’t graduated yet either. I haven’t been to school for the past three years too. I guess I can’t really complain even if I get expelled.”

“You were just that busy after all.”

“I know it’s too late to talk about it at this point in time, but Maru, don’t you regret not going to college? It’s not like I went to college properly either, but just being in Chung-a university’s theater department helped me out a lot. Even the seniors who are known to be scary on sets treat me kindly after knowing that I’m from the same college as them. There are many producers who are graduates of Chung-a university, so it helped me out quite a lot too.”

“It’s already in the past. Back then, I chose not to go because I thought that was for the best. I have no regrets.”

Gaeul spun the wine glass around.

“Sometimes, it makes me think. What if you went to Chung-a university with me back then? We wouldn’t be needlessly apart from each other, we would be able to create more memories, and we would be able to share more love.”

“But the result is that we’re still together in this place. I’m okay with that.”

“Yeah, I guess the present is what’s important. There’s a delicious spicy stew in front of me and the adorable Woofie right now.”

“How about me?”

Gaeul put her hand forward. Maru grabbed her hand and locked his fingers with her. It may be small, but it was a firm hand.

“You will be next to me in the future too, not just now. Hey, that was a little cheesy. I must be drunk.”

She laughed silently and let go of her hand. They had gone through two bottles of soju already. She drank more than her usual capacity. They shouldn’t have drank in wine glasses.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine. Isn’t that right, Woofie?”

Gaeul picked up the dog lying next to her again. He should have realized when she was grinning while holding the dog’s paw. He finally realized what he was missing.

“You should get to sleep. You’re drunk.”

“Really? I don’t have any plans for tomorrow.”

Tomorrow – she was definitely drunk when she said that word with a huge grin on her face. She would probably fall right down if he poked her from the side. He rescued Woofie from her arms and put the table away. She immediately lay down on the floor, curled up. This was one of her habits when she got drunk. Even in his previous life, she would lie down once she got drunk. When it was bad, she would grab onto anything next to her and not let go.

“Miss Han Gaeul, you should brush your teeth and go to sleep.”

“I can’t move.”

“Yes, you can.”

“Give me a piggyback.”

“Aren’t you giving me too many orders today?”

When he crouched down in order to piggyback her, she put her arms around his neck as though she had been waiting – from the front that is. Maru ended up having to lie down while being face-to-face. He had briefly forgotten that Gaeul’s physical strength was better than most unathletic men.

“Let’s stay like this for a while.”

Her voice soon faded out and her breathing turned rhythmical. What should he do? The rational answer was to get her washed and send her to bed, but the emotional answer was the better answer right now. He supported her head before pushing his arm below her. When he tapped on Gaeul’s back, who hugged him tighter, her breathing became a little more relaxed. Woofie looked around and came over before lying down around her head.

“This is enough.”

Maru brushed up her draping hair before giving a kiss on her forehead. Good food, a home he can relax in, the cute dog – though she bites from time to time –, and above all, the woman that was sleeping like a child. He might get punished if he wished for more. Actually, it might be okay since he was already being punished anyway.

The thought that he had to bring her to bed became faint. Maru eventually closed his eyes as well.