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"You're smart, kid," Chef Yixing joined her a little late on the visitation. "These are great potential customers."
"Wow, all you see is money." She rolled her eyes while feeding her brother in law her Japchae in front of other grown soldiers. "I want to feed them because I want to. That's it."
"Hey, I see a career for you. That's it." The old man had her frowning at him, but she was actually blushing at the idea more than embarrassed. "What? Don't believe me? Excuse me, fellow soldiers, but if my pretty student here, Cha Jayoung, opens a restaurant in the future, will you come to eat?"
"NE!!!" a loud boom of agreement almost pierced through her ears and right through her heart, but she stayed composed.
"If possible, I want to work for you!"
"We'll be regulars there!"
Once the soldiers turned back to their own tasks, Chef Yixing nudged her. "See? You're getting somewhere."
"Hey, don't ignore me!" Suho chirped in with his mouth still waiting for her to feed him.
"Omo! You're disgusting, here." It was at that moment that Chef Yixing decided that he had enough with her brother in law and took the chopsticks, feeding the old man himself. "How are you a CEO?"
With a mouth full of Japchae, Suho almost choked but still managed to say, "I can say the same to you? How are you a Head Chef?"
Ten minutes listening to old men whining at each other about how the other was more childish while stuffing food into one another's mouth to shut each other up, and her ears were about to bleed.
"I'm sorry." One of the soldiers approached them.
"Ne?" She had a bad feeling about this.
"Minseok-sunbae isn't available."
Chef Yixing was quick to follow up with, "What do you mean? What happened to him?"
"He's still recovering from his injuries and he asked not to be disturbed."
The girl tried to ignore it even the real Taemin was quite annoyed by the pairing made by her classmates. All they did was one assignment together with some questionable polite acts towards each other and everyone started to spread it like wildfire. This was something that highschoolers still do, but then again, most of them were freshmen like her.
"Why don't you two just date?"
"Look so good together!"
"Bitch, get off Taemin or I will end you."
It was getting overwhelming each day. Pointless support and hate.
The popular girl in the class came to her, asking if she was dating him and she had to say no five times to make sure it would get stuck in their brains, but the pestering persisted.
Her hands shaking, her feet trembling, her eyes glazed, her ears unable to block all of the gossips behind her back.
Suddenly, from her chair, she stood up, not caring if it startled anyone, passing Taemin who gave a courtesy smile, which others found that cute. Well, he was being polite. He was trying to suffocate her with his charms.
Her legs storming towards one of her lecturers' office.
"Can I get a day off, Madam?"
As soon as she let off, Jayoung booked it. It was a good idea trying to be a good student. The perks.
Her minds boggling, pain swirling in her chest while she looked around aimlessly at anywhere but school. Her fingers itched and she looked down to her free hands. Free of labels. Empty.
Her heart rattled and her eyes watered.
She had to get something. Anything. Anything.
So she walked and walked and walked, not caring to wipe the tears in her tired eyes.
She didn't know how long it had been. She knew that the shop before she had what she needed.
"Good evening, Miss. Is there something you're particularly looking for?" The man greeted her politely and she had to calm her shattering heart down to get an answer out.
"Couple rings."
She couldn't stand it. Not being with him, and now having to be shipped with another man only made it worse.
She wasn't anyone else's. She was his. And he was hers. That was the way it should be.
She didn't care what happened to him. It had to be Minseok. Not anyone else.
Staring at the two small silver rings now adorning her ring fingers, she sunk into her pillow, arms clutching on to her blankets, back strained on the windowsill with Chenchen and Chan below her snoring comfortably. The times when he would play with the dogs without any worries, laughing and crying at how should be. She wanted that back. She wanted it to go back like how it used to be. How it was supposed to be.
She looked forward to the day when he would hold her like she was his once more, remembering the time she was safe in his arms without all the restraints. Like how it should be.
