Rainy Day
Rainy Day
- As of early morning, the northern Gyeonggi region began receiving heavy rainfall, and a heavy rain warning was issued at one point...
"A heavy rain warning..."
We had been planning a quiet date today.
But a torrential downpour was coming down.
Given that it was a warning rather than just an advisory,
the daily rainfall was likely over 150mm.
A gentle rain
provides a nice bit of excitement during a date.
Dates spent sharing an umbrella in the rain really were wonderful, after all.
With A-ra's clothes growing damp and her underwear becoming faintly visible through them...
Ahem...
Anyway, fitting for the gender-reversed world, the announcer was also a handsome older man, not an older sister type.
I wasn't sure if it was just because the profession itself was cool,
but both female and male announcers always seemed impressive to me.
Was it because the job involved wearing sharp suits and crisply delivering information to viewers in front of the camera?
It even stirred up a desire to be like them.
"Seong-hwan-a, which one suits me?"
Just then, A-ra poked her face out from the dressing room
and spoke to me with a bright smile, asking me to help her pick out clothes.
In her hands were a blue dress
and an oversized t-shirt that looked enormous on her.
I couldn't help but give A-ra, who was clearly looking forward to the date, a bitter smile.
"A-ra Noona, I don't think we'll be able to go out on our date?"
"Eh? Why not?"
To A-ra, who was looking at me with a disappointed expression,
I pointed toward the window.
"What about the window?"
"Oh, right."
The curtains in the master bedroom, dressing room, and bathroom were all drawn shut, so of course she wouldn't know.
I pressed the switch attached to the bathroom wall
and drew the curtains open.
Wheeeeeeng....
Along with the sound of the motor turning,
the black blackout curtains slowly pulled back, and outside the window, rain was pouring down so hard it almost looked like a showerhead was running.
"It's... raining..."
"It's not just rain, it's a heavy rain warning."
"If it's a warning, we can't go out...?"
"We were planning a walking date today. I'd say we definitely can't go out."
Once I delivered the final confirmation,
A-ra's expression turned a little gloomy.
After that, A-ra gazed out at the weather and approached the window with a wistful look,
then perched by the windowsill with a slightly sad expression on her face.
To anyone who didn't know better,
it would look like a woman feeling sad about not being able to go on a date,
but it was actually a scene from the drama A-ra had recently starred in,
'Deodeok Root Three Sisters,' where A-ra played the villain
and had a moment of sadly reminiscing about a lost lover.
For a moment, I nearly burst out laughing, thinking she was doing a comedy bit,
but A-ra's expression kept looking bleak, so I walked over beside her,
perched next to her, and stroked her cheek.
"Are you disappointed?"
"Yeah... I felt bad about leaving you home alone for two days because of filming,
so I was planning to take you around to different places to help you unwind..."
At her voice, tinged with guilt, I naturally lowered my head.
It seemed she had been worrying quite a lot.
It appeared A-ra sometimes forgot that we were a married couple with only a two-year age gap.
"You have nothing to be sorry about, Noona. I keep telling you not to worry about being busy with work."
"Still... as a woman, how could I not worry about my husband?"
"You're thinking about it too deeply."
I chuckled and headed to the sink to spit out the minty toothpaste in my mouth.
I rinsed my mouth and reached my hand toward where the towel was hung,
but my hand just flailed through empty air and grabbed nothing.
"Seong-hwan-a, here."
"Ah, thank you."
I took the towel A-ra handed me
and carefully wiped my face.
No, I thought I had wiped it carefully.
When I finished drying my face and was about to toss the towel into the laundry bin,
A-ra snatched the towel away and suddenly started meticulously wiping my face.
"Mmph... Mmmph..."
"Since you're a boy, you need to be dried off properly, right?"
A-ra's face, with her gentle touch carefully drying my face,
was beaming with a radiant smile.
She really does love taking care of me, after all.
***
The living room was filled only with the sound of the TV and the rain.
With the sound of the rain falling steadily, drop by drop, as background music,
the laughter of the variety show cast on the TV blended together,
creating the feeling of a deeply atmospheric Saturday morning.
"What should we make for lunch?"
"Hmm..."
While I sat in the living room watching TV
and touching A-ra's chest, noon had already passed.
We had skipped breakfast too, so I needed to feed her lunch.
"Since it's raining... how about samgyeopsal or something?"
"Samgyeopsal is too heavy."
"Umm..."
I hadn't expected A-ra to turn down meat.
I was a little shocked, but I closed my eyes again
to try to think of a good lunch menu.
If meat was too heavy, maybe a vegetable-focused meal would be good.
How about fried deodeok root?
Considering A-ra's diet, I had once thought about
cutting out all meat and making a vegetable-focused meal plan.
In fact, when I tried an experiment with that and served her nothing but vegetables with the meat removed,
A-ra had gotten teary-eyed and asked if she had done something wrong, begging me not to do this and promising she'd fix whatever it was.
Back then, it was a relief I had prepared meat in advance; I had nearly made A-ra cry on the spot.
Since my wife was someone who absolutely needed meat,
she would require at least one meal that included meat or seafood.
Hmm...
What would be good...
When it came to food that combined meat and vegetables well,
the only things that came to mind were the okonomiyaki and monjayaki we had eaten in Japan not long ago...
Ah! That's it!
On a rainy day, it would be disappointing to leave that dish out.
Why hadn't I thought of it!
"How about pajeon?"
I had heard that on rainy days, pajeon and makgeolli were the best combination.
Wasn't this truly the perfect harmony of food and atmosphere, passed down from our ancestors?
"Pajeon sounds good... no... I think it's the best choice..."
"Let's go to the store, buy some meat and seafood, and make it."
"Yeah, yeah, and while we're there, let's grab a bottle of makgeolli too."
With that, A-ra sprang right up
and headed to the master bedroom.
I had been thinking about just ordering delivery, but I wasn't so clueless as to not recognize
A-ra's desire to go out and have at least a little bit of a date.
"It's cold outside so don't wear anything too thin!"
I just hoped she wouldn't realize that the only reasons I didn't dash after her
were the empty, wistful feeling in the hand that had been touching her chest
and 'that thing' which was popping up a folding tent of its own.
*
"L-Like this?"
"Oh... it worked..."
After several attempts, A-ra succeeded in flipping the pajeon.
With pajeon, you have to cook the bottom batter until it's nearly fried and crispy,
and once the base is sturdy enough, you flip it. If you try to flip it while the bottom is still soggy,
it'll stick to the spatula or tear right through it, so you have to be careful.
A-ra had succeeded in flipping the pajeon,
but the shape of the batter hadn't turned out very pretty.
After comparing it with mine, A-ra pouted her lips adorably and put on a sulky expression.
She didn't seem too pleased with it.
"It turned out beautifully, though."
"It's not as pretty as yours, Seong-hwan-a. The edges are sticking out here and there too..."
Pointing here and there with her finger
and pouting her lips over how it wasn't as pretty, A-ra was so cute that
I gave her a light kiss on the cheek.
"Hyeok!"
She seemed a little surprised, but judging by how she blushed
and lowered her head bashfully, she didn't seem to dislike it.
Well, she wasn't the type of woman who'd dislike her husband giving her a kiss on the cheek.
"In my eyes, it turned out really beautifully, so it doesn't matter."
"Really...?"
"Of course. For a first try, this level means you've got talent."
I felt sorry for all the pancake-flipping geniuses that existed in this world,
but right now, our A-ra was the best.
When I nodded and told her it was definitely the case, she seemed satisfied,
set down her apron and tongs, and sat at the dining table.
The one I had flipped
was a jeon made with flour and cabbage mixed like okonomiyaki, with bacon on top,
and the one A-ra had flipped
was a super-deluxe seafood pajeon packed with seafood.
This one had king crab, abalone, and large prawns in it,
so it had honestly turned out more like an okonomiyaki than a pajeon, too.
Then I brought over the cold makgeolli, poured it into a kettle,
and slowly filled the bowl A-ra was holding with both hands.
"That's enough, that's enough."
At A-ra's signal, I pulled the makgeolli kettle away from the bowl that was nearly overflowing.
And then, A-ra picked up that kettle
and began pouring it generously into the bowl I was holding in my hands.
Well, one drink should be fine.
"Shall we eat, then?"
"Yes, Noona, please go ahead first."
"Thank you for the meal~"
After the pre-meal greeting, A-ra brought the bowl in her hands to her lips
and began gulping it down.
As the ice-cold makgeolli flowed down A-ra's throat,
I could practically see her body temperature, which had risen with excitement just from being in front of the food, gradually cooling down.
"Delicious!"
"That makgeolli had the best reviews."
It was called Slow City Makgeolli, and though it was slightly more expensive than the others,
I bought it because it was said to taste the best.
Was it about 3,000 won per bottle?
Seeing A-ra's satisfied expression, I coolly drank my own bowl in one go.
The fizzy, smooth taste felt like drinking yogurt.
"Please eat the pajeon too, before it gets cold."
"Shall I?"
A-ra broke off a piece of the pajeon with her chopsticks
and held it out in front of me.
"Ah~"
How could I refuse when she was offering it with such a bright smile?
With a bitter smile, I brought my mouth to A-ra's chopsticks.
"Ah~"
I took the bite, covered my mouth with my hand,
and slowly savored it.
Perhaps because it was a super-deluxe pajeon packed with expensive ingredients,
the taste was exceptional from the start.
When I looked at A-ra, she wasn't eating the pajeon she had been told to eat;
instead, she was sucking and licking the chopsticks that my lips had touched.