if there was one thing jaewoo thought he’d never grow used to when it came to shared living, it was the process of actually sharing communal spaces. even when he’d completed his military service, he’d vowed to never spend another day—much less two months and counting—living somewhere that required him to share a bathroom with another person. he liked his space, and years growing up under his grandma’s care had instilled a particular appreciation for orderliness and organization. when objects had their own home, things rarely got lost; just as when he lived on his own, no one was able to move his things around and add ten extra minutes to his cook time. it was frustrating but unavoidable; whenever jaewoo entered the kitchen, he never knew exactly what to expect. misplaced ingredients? unwashed pans? a fire hazard in the making? that was what made the share house’s main kitchen its own special kind of warzone.
so when he turned into the space and found it unoccupied, clean, and quiet—well, he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. it was an odd hour in the day, caught somewhere between lunch and dinner, so maybe that had something to do with why no one else was around. “good,” he uttered beneath his breath, moving to set up the sous vide equipment he’d previously left in the pantry alongside a neatly scrawled DO NOT TOUCH. with how often he had to field questions about the odd cookware or two that he brought home, it was rare that he ever felt the mood to try more complicated techniques. but with no one else around? jaewoo was positively thrilled.
with the recipe pulled up on his phone and his phone carefully propped up against the rice cooker, jaewoo systematically worked through the steps, setting the container’s temperature, seasoning the cut of meat with care, and later slipping it into a specialized bag. his phone chimed an alert at one point—nearly displacing it in the process—but he elbowed it back into place with a grunt, noting the flash of a familiar email address. so she’d survived the custard after all, he thought with a slip of humor. sending seo raewon recipes always felt like a gamble, ever since the one time she’d nearly set her kitchen on fire. with her analytical mind, jaewoo didn’t exactly understand how things often went wrong—but, then again, maybe that was why she was a computer engineer and not the world’s next gordon ramsay. he shook his head ruefully and submerged the vacuum-sealed steak in the pot of water. “you’d be in good hands with the other pyromaniacs here,” he told his samsung galaxy ( the de facto seo raewon ) and stepped over to the sink to wash his hands.
still he was curious. had she succeeded with the recipe? were additional eggs harmed in the process? did she even enjoy egg custards or was she emailing to express her disgust over the treat? with an hour to wait out, he turned to his phone and tapped on the alert, quickly scanning through the contents and skipping over to the final line in her reply. with a softly huffed sound of amusement, he typed:
We haven’t spoken about interest rates yet, and my partner and I both believe it’d be in your best interest to decide on that before settling on payments. Because this was meant to be a scholarship fund, she’ll likely deny any interest payments. I personally recommend looking up fixed and variable rates.
p.s. It was a custard. You called it “food” … did it not turn out like a custard?
it wasn’t until he sent the reply that he registered the sight of two feet planted by the entryway. wiping the grin from his face, jaewoo glanced at the other tenant. long, dark hair. a sharp, intelligent gaze. he’d seen her in passing a few times, but had never caught her name ( or, for that matter, even attempted to ). “ah.” his arm swung out to motion to the sous vide machine. “i need to run that for another hour, but the rest of the counter’s open.”
❝ ⠀⠀⠀ something was fascinating about watching someone cook or maybe, raewon was the only one who thought so. nothing if not, her lack of professionalism to distinguish cutlery and other ingredients to prepare decent nourishment led her to find anyone, who could do it intriguing. due to this reason, during the short time she stood by the door to observe the other, she found herself monitoring the way he so effortlessly wander around the shared kitchen, knowing exactly what to do and when to do. it was no wonder that the staff members admired him, such that they did not hesitate to mention his name here and there, whenever they talked about food and recipe. that was also how she first heard his name as well. raewon just happened to be around when a fellow housemate and a staff member talked about lee jaewoo and his occupation, and she only knew his face because he happened to pass by them right then and there.
raewon was not quite sure what occupied her mind back then because she neither thought of the familiar name nor his occupation that could become an assumption for her. fortunately, she was not a pupil of sherlock holmes or by then, raewon would be unemployed. frowning at the memory and the sight in front of her, she once again began to think if he could be the one she had been looking for. it would be easier if in the past when she left a gift for her donors, she tried to catch a glimpse of them. however, that was not the case, both parties promised to respect each other's privacy, which led her to the present time.
“ should i just go and ask him if he had ever provided scholarship to someone? ” raewon uttered to herself when the chef with magical cooking skills checked his phone. she was not sure what he checked but during the time he did idle around ― or so she thought, raewon reached for her phone to check the recipes lee jaewoo sent to her. as just then she noticed, if she could not ask him directly his identity, she could just try to cook one of the recipes he sent her and watch for her housemate's reaction.
busy with going through the notes, where she kept each recipe and the consequences she received after trying them, raewon managed to find the latest one she got. however, just when she was about to click on it, suddenly her phone rang the sound of notification that informed her about an email arrival. raewon elevated her eyebrows in surprise and almost checked what lee jaewoo wrote but she was interrupted by the one she had been observing all this time. “ sorry? ”
her question was followed by silence as raewon looked at the fellow tenant and then, the unused counter. part of her wanted to tell him it was better if she did not make another attempt to cook but the other part, which was dominant at the moment, reminded her of her plan. “ oh... thanks. ” she said with a thankful ― and still awkward smile as she walked into the kitchen. from what she conjectured he did not notice she had been by the door for a long time. bless him for that or it would be will-o-the-wisp for her to explain her reason properly.
“ sorry to disturb you, ” raewon said to keep up with good manners before she walked towards the other side of the counter. she unlocked her phone once again to check the recipe and frowned when she caught the sight of ps of the new email. “ custard? how was it supposed to be a custard? ” she asked to herself, not expecting an answer for her question even if her tone reflected genuine confusion. abandoning her phone on the counter, she walked towards the refrigerator to get some eggs to make "custard" whereas her mind tried to come up with various diagrams both for her plan and for the steps of the recipe.
