Chapter 86: The Abalone Porridge Recipe

As Yoonwoo trembled, his fists clenched, unable to contain his surging anger, the front door burst open with a loud bang.

Both Yoonwoo and Kevin’s gazes simultaneously darted towards the entrance.

“Agh, a burglar?!” Kevin shrieked.

The newcomer, not to be outdone, yelled back, “Ah, damn it, Go Kevin! I told you not to come! Why are you here again?!”

It was just Yeon-chae.

He was panting heavily, gasping for breath, evidence of how fast he had run. His face and neck were flushed crimson, dappled with red. His eyes, fixed on them, gleamed with an intensity Yoonwoo had never seen before.

Kevin, peeking out from behind Yoonwoo, made a tearful face.

“But I got your permission to come!”

“When did you get permission? Was a text message informing me you were coming over with abalone porridge ‘permission’? Huh?!”

“You said Yoonwoo was sick! I brought him abalone porridge, so why aren’t you praising me? Why are you angry? Yoonwoo even said it was incredibly delicious. He said it was the best in the world!”

‘When did I ever…?’

It was true that he had found it delicious. To be more honest, he had enjoyed that it tasted similar to the abalone porridge Yeon-chae had made for him in his officetel when Yoonwoo had an upset stomach once.

However, Yoonwoo had no intention of telling Kevin that. In fact, he hadn’t even uttered the syllable ‘delic’ from ‘delicious.’ He had merely remarked that even a snail has a trick up its sleeve.

Before Yoonwoo could even retort to Kevin’s words, Yeon-chae strode forward with his long legs, detached Kevin, who was clinging to Yoonwoo’s back, and tossed him onto the sofa.

The large body, like a sack of rice, swayed before collapsing onto the sofa. It almost seemed as though Kevin was feigning fragility.

“I made that! I wondered why you suddenly asked for abalone porridge this morning, but this is unbelievable! Don’t take credit for my abalone porridge to impress Yoonwoo-hyung!”

“Aish, I told him you made it, I told him! Right, Yoonwoo!”

‘No, when did he ever…?’

He was about to retort, dumbfounded, when he recalled Kevin, who had been groaning with a face like a puppy needing to pee. A moment ago, what Kevin had intended to say after ‘Actually, I didn’t make that abalone porridge, Yeon…’ must have been ‘…chae made it.’

No wonder it tasted excessively good for something Kevin supposedly made. Though, to be fair, Yoonwoo had never actually eaten Kevin’s cooking before.

“I wanted to look good for Yoonwoo! But I brought it for him to eat, and you won’t even praise me!”

“Why should I praise you when I could just make it at home myself? Do you have an affection deficiency? Go home quickly and get some love from your mother!”

“My mom doesn’t love me. She told me to go back to America.”

“Then get out of here too!”

Yeon-chae’s cheeks were so flushed they looked ready to burst.

Yoonwoo blinked, quietly observing them. At some point, the conversation between Yeon-chae and Kevin had become inaudible to him. Their voices merged, buzzing in his ears.

‘I made that.’

It had been ever since Yeon-chae uttered those words.

Yoonwoo had thought the taste was familiar, but Yeon-chae had made it himself. Although it ended up with Yoonwoo, Yeon-chae didn’t know Kevin’s intentions.

It was a dish made for Kevin.

Did Yeon-chae stop by Kevin’s house before going straight to school? Did they spend a good time, just the two of them, making abalone porridge in Kevin’s kitchen?

Yeon-chae’s face, smiling gently at Kevin, floated before Yoonwoo’s eyes. From the morning, Yeon-chae and Kevin, alone in an empty house…

Alone together…

Just the two of them… like a newlywed couple.

Yoonwoo’s cheeks grew progressively redder. His eyes burned with heat, feeling as though tears might well up. Fortunately, he bit his lip, holding them back, so he didn’t actually cry.

Yoonwoo glared at Yeon-chae and Kevin, who were still bickering on the sofa.

“Aren’t you going home right now?”

“Aish, why! Let’s play together, huh?”

Yeon-chae was straddling Kevin, who lay sprawled on the sofa, gripping the collar of his shirt. To an outsider, it might have been mistaken for an intensely passionate scene.

His head felt hot. Yoonwoo suddenly yelled, “Me too!”

Kevin and Yeon-chae, who had been squirming on the sofa, froze. Yeon-chae let out a bewildered sound.

“What?”

“Teach me too!”

“What… what do you mean?”

“The abalone porridge recipe. I’ll make you abalone porridge too…”

His eyes felt hot, and his throat tightened. The corners of his mouth trembled as he forced a smile. However, perhaps his voice sounded strange, because Yeon-chae quickly slid off the sofa and bowed his head in front of Yoonwoo.

His expression, as he peered into Yoonwoo’s face, was filled with worry.

“Hyung, what’s wrong? Is your stomach upset again?”

“No, it’s not that…”

“If you want abalone porridge, I’ll make it for you. You don’t have to do anything.”

“No…”

“Huh?”

Yoonwoo loved all the dishes Yeon-chae made. Every single one melted in his mouth. So, Yoonwoo also wanted to make Yeon-chae many delicious things.

Yoonwoo bowed his head low and mumbled, “If you just tell me the recipe, I think I can make it deliciously too. Probably…”

He wasn’t confident, but he hoped that with Yeon-chae’s recipe, it would at least be edible abalone porridge.

“…”

Yeon-chae opened his mouth, then fluttered it before closing it again. His light-brown eyes wavered greatly.

Yoonwoo grew anxious when Yeon-chae didn’t readily respond. He grabbed Yeon-chae’s shirt hem with one hand, pulling it, and asked with determination, “I’ll make it for you. I can do it well. Right?”

“…”

Yeon-chae remained silent, simply staring intently at Yoonwoo. Very slowly, a blush spread across his soft cheeks like watercolor ink.

Then, unsure what to do, he rolled his eyes and puffed out his cheeks with air. His plump cheeks resembled strawberry-flavored cotton candy.

“Alright, Hyung.”

Yoonwoo, who had been unable to tear his eyes away from Yeon-chae’s cheeks, suddenly snapped back to attention. “Really?” he asked, his eyes wide.

Yeon-chae bent down and brushed back the bangs covering Yoonwoo’s forehead. Yeon-chae’s face, now fully visible without the obscuring hair, was bright with a wide smile.

“Of course.”

This time, it was Yoonwoo’s cheeks that flushed. It was because Yeon-chae’s radiant face was so beautiful. Yoonwoo, flustered and unable to find a place to look, eventually dropped his gaze.

The tips of his toes, caught at the edge of his vision, wiggled.

“Yoonwoo! Yeon-chae! Let’s watch a movie together! This is a super scary horror movie. I’m too scared to watch it alone. Watch it with me!”

Kevin’s voice, who had somehow been flipping through TV channels with the remote, boomed through the living room. Yoonwoo’s fists were not just itching, but burning.

Before Yoonwoo’s fist could make its point, Yeon-chae swiftly grabbed the tip of Kevin’s ear.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! Yeon-chae, Yeon-chae! It hurts! Yoonwoo! Save me!”

Kevin desperately called for rescue from Yoonwoo but was ignored. Then, he was kicked in the backside by Yeon-chae and chased out. The house instantly fell silent.

“Hyung. Are you okay? Go to your room and rest.”

“No, I don’t hurt at all now.”

Yoonwoo was surprisingly fine. The faint scent of cherry blossoms that filled the house after Yeon-chae’s return calmed his upset stomach.

Thanks to the abalone porridge, his belly felt warm and full. It seemed the baby much preferred Yeon-chae’s abalone porridge over Yoonwoo’s samgyeopsal gimbap. Anyone would, probably.

So, Yoonwoo enthusiastically rolled up his sleeves.

“I’ll make abalone porridge.”

“…N-now?”

“Yeah. Just tell me the recipe.”

“…”

Yeon-chae flinched, looking flustered. Yoonwoo, secretly bothered that he might have seemed too childish in front of Kevin, tried to act mature and reassured Yeon-chae.

“If I follow your recipe exactly, it should be edible. And I need to learn to cook too. You can’t cook for me my whole life, can you?”

“…My whole life?”

Yeon-chae’s broad shoulders visibly twitched. His light-brown eyes darted around, clearly revealing what he was thinking, which made Yoonwoo chuckle.

“You really intended to do it your whole life, didn’t you? It’s written all over your face.”

“No, that’s…”

“Hey, even if I’m a bit slow, I’ll learn diligently.”

“Uh, yes.”

Yeon-chae blinked his large eyes slowly.

“I’ll go wash the abalone; you go wash up too!”

Yoonwoo’s steps towards the kitchen were brisk. Yeon-chae gazed at his round, swaying head and mumbled in a voice too low for Yoonwoo to hear, “It’s not that, Hyung, it’s just that you just said ‘my whole life’…”

In conclusion, Yoonwoo did not make abalone porridge that day. Yeon-chae, who had followed him into the kitchen a moment later, stopped him.

“Hyung needs to rest. Just eat this abalone porridge today, and you can make it in a few days. Even though Kevin touched this abalone porridge a bit…”

“But I want to cook for you.”

Yoonwoo expressed his disappointment, but when Yeon-chae added, “And if we make more, there’ll be too much left over,” he nodded in agreement. Yeon-chae, observing Yoonwoo’s expression, suddenly said, “You have something else you made, Hyung. I’ll eat that.”

“Something I made? What?”

“Soy-marinated crabs.”

“Ah, that… No, let’s just eat the abalone porridge together…”

Yoonwoo’s voice trailed off, lacking confidence. He didn’t think the soy-marinated crabs would be edible. However, for some reason, Yeon-chae disregarded Yoonwoo’s dissuasion and stubbornly took out the soy-marinated crabs from the refrigerator, placing them on the table.

Yoonwoo looked down at the flower crabs floating in the murky black liquid with a wry expression.

“But didn’t you say this needed to marinate for a week?”

“It’s been overnight, so it should be fine, right? I’ve never made it before, so I don’t really know.”

“I looked it up online, and it said to leave it for several days…”

“It’ll be fine. I want to eat it now. I’ll eat it now. Please?”

“Uh, uh…?”

Yeon-chae’s voice was excited. It was a mystery why he had suddenly become so happy. However, Yeon-chae, smiling with crinkled eyes, was so beautiful that Yoonwoo, after a hesitant ‘uh, uh,’ unwittingly nodded.

He shouldn’t have.