Flower Viewing (2)
Flower Viewing (2)
"Fuuu... the breeze is lovely."
It was spring, but the river breeze that blew in was cool and chilly.
And watching A-ra eat so happily, I felt my own appetite stir to life as well.
Once she'd swallowed everything in her mouth, A-ra began exploring the lunchbox again.
She picked up a piece of well-fried karaage.
Then she popped it into her mouth and started chewing, munch-munch.
"Is it good?"
"It's spicy!"
A-ra was complaining about the spicy karaage but kept putting it in her mouth anyway.
I had added something a little spicy when I marinated it.
Sriracha sauce, was it?
A sauce with the natural flavor of chili peppers, but a different, pleasant taste from chipotle.
"But it's still good!"
"Thank you."
I'd figured a woman like A-ra would appreciate just how good spicy karaage could be.
So that's why I'd gone and made it that way...
Lil' One was gobbling it up as well, seeming to find it tasty.
Normally, I'd mix about a quarter of a can of Cesar into her food, but today I had specially opened an entire can.
It wasn't particularly expensive, but they say that once dogs taste something truly delicious,
they'll refuse to eat less tasty food afterward, so I usually used just enough to stimulate her appetite.
"Lil' One is smart, so she'll be fine."
"Euumm... well, I'm not so sure."
Our Lil' One was smart, sure, but was she really smart enough to be aware of something like that?
Every once in a while, she'd show behavior that made it seem like she understood human speech.
When I looked at Lil' One, she was tilting her head back and forth as if asking why I was staring.
Anyone watching would have thought she was reading her owner's face to guess what he was about to do.
"It's nothing, go on and eat."
"Woof!"
I smiled down at Lil' One, who was gobbling her food down again.
See, our Lil' One really is just a puppy after all.
"Little one, eat slowly. Here, drink some water, too."
I took out a water bowl and poured some cool bottled water into it.
A large 1.5-liter bottle of water I had brought solely for Lil' One.
"That's why the basket was so heavy when you carried it."
"Hehe... I couldn't help it."
Water that people drink and water that dogs drink must absolutely never be shared.
After all, Lil' One was still young, and you never knew what could go wrong.
***
"Here, have some tea."
"Mm."
I handed cold tea to A-ra, who looked as if her throat was stuffed and she might collapse at any second.
A-ra always takes hers iced, so any hot beverage was strictly off-limits.
When she held out her cup, a gentle breeze fluttered by, and the fully bloomed cherry blossoms above our mat shook in the wind, sending petals drifting down.
I wasn't sure if it was good luck or bad, but two of the drifting petals landed and floated on the surface of the teacup.
For the record, quite a few had landed on Lil' One's head,
turning her into the very picture of a flower-puppy.
"Ah, some cherry blossoms fell in."
Just as I thought I should empty it and pour a fresh cup, A-ra shook her head and took the thermos.
It felt like she didn't mind at all.
"This is part of the whole poetic mood, don't you think?"
And then I gave a wry smile as I watched A-ra quietly sipping her tea.
Calling it poetic at Hangang Park...
Well, there's nobody else around, so at least we could feel the atmosphere a little.
"But Seong-hwan-a..."
"Yes."
A-ra, who had picked up her chopsticks and started eating again, began acting self-conscious.
Was she feeling shy?
"Aren't you going to eat?"
"I did eat though? The karaage, the fried shrimp, the sandwich."
"Do you really think that's enough to fill your stomach?"
She handed me a sandwich, telling me to hurry up and eat more,
then picked one up herself with both hands and started chewing, munch-munch.
I gave another wry smile as I pushed the shrimp cutlet sandwich I'd gotten from A-ra into my mouth.
For A-ra, who loves fried shrimp that much, to yield shrimp to me...
"Oh, this one's pork cutlet?"
She must have found it tasty, because with sauce smeared all around her lips, she popped a Vienna sausage into her mouth.
I took a handkerchief from my pocket and gently wiped the sauce from A-ra's lips.
"I spread the sauce thinly on the outside, then put in a fried pork cutlet."
"Mmmm... it's delicious!"
"I'll make it often for you."
"No! You don't need to make it often!"
I was touched by A-ra's consideration in telling me there was no need to go through so much trouble making something like this every time.
She might not have known what I was feeling inside, but I just pushed a rolled omelet into my mouth.
"Just do it once in a while."
"Yes, got it."
"But... is it okay for dogs to eat rolled omelet?"
"Well, I used very little salt, and it's a vegetable rolled omelet, so it's fine. Why?"
"Look at Lil' One."
I looked at Lil' One, and for some reason, a single piece of rolled omelet was sitting untouched in her food bowl.
She was just tilting her head back and forth, not knowing whether she was allowed to eat it or not.
"I gave her one because she was staring so hard earlier, you know? But she's just sitting there not eating it."
"Little one, it's okay to eat it."
"Woof."
Only then did Lil' One bury her face in her bowl and start eating.
It seemed she had been waiting for me to confirm that it was okay to eat.
"Seriously, what is it about our Lil' One? I feel like she's just too smart."
"Right? It's amazing every time I see it."
She was still young, but she didn't need much looking after...
At first, thinking maybe she was just behaving well out of fear of being abandoned again,
my heart had stung and ached sharply.
Now though, anyone could see she was living comfortably and happily, so I didn't think like that anymore.
"Is it yummy? Have one more."
"Woof!"
There really was nothing wrong with her eating it, since it wasn't salty without added salt, and it was a dry rolled omelet with almost no oil used.
Looks like Lil' One finds her papa's cooking tasty, huh?
I'll make you something delicious next time.
*
The lunchbox was completely empty and I was tidying up, when I looked around and saw people appearing one or two at a time.
It seemed a festival, or maybe a club gathering, had ended.
Judging by their outfits, they hadn't been out partying all that flamboyantly.
They were just in ordinary clothes.
"This spot is in a corner anyway, so nobody will come here."
"Then shall we sit here a little longer before we go?"
"Mm. Want to listen to some music?"
She took out earphones from her pocket, connected them to her phone, and plugged one earbud into her own ear.
Then she held the other one out to me.
When I put the other earphone A-ra offered me into my ear, it was thumping heavily,
as if a subwoofer was attached to it.
"But A-ra noona, your music taste... it's definitely..."
"My taste? It's not bad, right?"
"Euumm..."
Just as I thought...
Most of the music A-ra listened to was old, classic pop songs.
Or else it was her own songs or her group's songs.
She seemed to listen to music by her seniors and juniors once in a while, but she mainly listened to her own songs.
"Captivating you~"
I didn't know why the lyrics were like that, but it was strangely popular.
For the record, when A-ra sang solo songs, she also worked as a singer-songwriter, so they were usually tracks she composed herself.
"Noona, why are the lyrics for that like that?"
"Good, right? It's about my feelings for you."
Never mind whether it was good or not; I felt my face would suddenly turn red, so I jerked my head away.
Seeing me like that, she scratched her head and then started singing along to the lyrics again.
Just before, the lyrics were about captivating me, but now lyrics were flowing out about promising never to let me go for the rest of her life, telling me to look at her.
"So it means she'll capture me and love me?"
"Mm. It's a song about catching you, Seong-hwan-a, and never letting you go for the rest of your life."
"It... doesn't sound so bad."
"Hehe... thank you."
Maybe it was because she had now fulfilled that wish — she was smiling radiantly while stroking the head of Lil' One, who was sitting on her lap.
Which made me a little bit embarrassed.
"But, noona, where do you draw your inspiration when you're writing lyrics and composing?"
"Mm... usually the inspiration comes from old music."
"When you say old music..."
"You probably wouldn't know them, Seong-hwan-ah? They're truly really old songs."
A-ra started naming every single title that came to her mind.
Sure enough, there was not a single piece of music I would have known.
"About that much, roughly?"
"The world of creative work is profound."
"Seong-hwan-a, you do creative activities too, don't you?"
"Me, my whole thing is just filming videos of me making the dishes I want to cook."
"And that's what makes it amazing. The vast majority of people in this world can't do that, you know?"
I shrugged.
For some reason, receiving a compliment from the highly successful A-ra made my shoulders automatically rise up, shrug-shrug.
They say praise can make even a whale dance.
Little did I know, instead of a whale, it would be me who ended up dancing.
"Hmm... It looks like the number of people is gradually increasing, shall we head home soon?"
"Let's do that. Little one, let's go home~"
"Woof!"
At the sound of going home, Lil' One jumped off A-ra's lap, then bit the edge of the wooden basket and started pulling it along.
All the heavy things inside were empty, so it wasn't heavy, but it was probably a little too much weight for a puppy to pull.
"Oh dear, little one. Lil' One can't carry this."
"Kkiiiiing..."
"You can do it later when you've grown big like that dog over there. Okay?"
Just then, a very large, fluffy furball of a dog passed by.
Wait, could you even call that a dog?
Should you call it a canine?
"It kind of looks similar to what Lil' One will become..."
"That's a Samoyed."
"A Samoyed, huh? So there are quite a few people raising them, I see."
If someone was walking one in Hangang Park, there were probably more people raising them than I thought.
They were big but extremely cute... and its fur was fluffy like cotton...
"It must get really hot when summer comes."
"Lil' One might be hot in the summer too, I guess."
"Should we shave her fur for her?"
"That's a good idea too, but we can just keep her environment cool."
"Like turning on the air conditioner..."
The air conditioner was truly an indispensable object.
To the point where three prayers a day to its inventor, Mr. Carrier, felt insufficient during the summer.