Meat Party (2)
Meat Party (2)
"Speaking of, want to go grocery shopping now?"
"Nah, no matter how you look at it, it's not a good look for a married man to be wandering around with two unrelated women."
Knowing it might spark some strange rumors, Eun-ji
shook her head.
To think she'd be so considerate of others.
Eun-ji really had grown up, too.
"Jeong Hwan-ssi was supposed to come to work today, right? If we drag him along for shopping, it'll be 2:2, so it won't seem strange."
"Hey, you actually used your head?"
"Hehe, praise me."
At Eun-ji's request for praise,
Yeji gently stroked her head.
I had no idea how they reached that conclusion, but I thought that if we all went around in equal ratios, people might not find it as odd.
"Then should I call Jeong Hwan-yi?"
"Why would Seong-hwan-i go? Eun-ji, you go get Jeong Hwan-ssi."
"Got it!"
Feeling better, Eun-ji dashed out of the cafe.
Did her mood improve just because she got praised earlier?
To think she could stay that hyped up just from something so small...
Idols really must be built differently.
"That's not it, she's looking forward to the meat party."
"Did Eun-ji like eating that much? When she came over to our place before, she didn't eat a lot."
"She was being self-conscious because a man was around. You're a married man, how can you be so clueless about a woman's heart?"
When I tilted my head, wondering what marriage had to do with it,
Yeji let out a wry smile.
It must be hard to find a man like me who understands women's hearts.
A moment later, Eun-ji came back inside the cafe, pulling Jeong Hwan-yi by the hand.
Jeong Hwan-yi, who had been suddenly dragged away from work,
wore a bewildered expression, and when his eyes met mine, he signaled for an explanation.
I just shrugged my shoulders.
I wasn't the one who brought him here, so why was he asking me for an explanation?
"Jeong Hwan-ssi! Are you busy today?"
"No... well, I'm not busy..."
"Then come grocery shopping with us."
"Grocery shopping? What kind of groceries do you mean..."
Since it was that time of day, the invitation came at just the right moment—Jeong Hwan-yi was about to finish work.
Yeji and Eun-ji started coaxing him earnestly,
and Jeong Hwan-yi nodded, signaling he understood.
"Then let me grab my jacket and bag."
"I'll wait in the parking lot downstairs, so take your time coming down."
"Okay."
After sending Jeong Hwan-yi off like that, we returned our empty cups
and headed to the parking lot.
*
"Let's buy that galbi-sal, too."
"Let's also get the sirloin."
"Unni, can we get pork belly, too?"
"Pick out everything you want to eat. Jeong Hwan-ssi, if there's anything you'd like, pick it all out, too."
"Y... yes!"
As Yeji, Eun-ji, and I were piling up different kinds of meat,
Jeong Hwan-yi stared at us with a fascinated expression.
Since I knew A-ra, Eun-ji, and Yeji really ate a lot,
I was piling up every kind of meat without thinking as a precaution,
and it looked like he found that fascinating.
"You have a noona, too."
"My family members are the type to eat like birds... So this is the first time I've seen something like this."
"Idols probably just eat a lot because they have so much work to do."
Don't they move their bodies almost as much as athletes?
Otherwise, there was no way to explain A-ra's eating capacity and strength.
But I guess not all women ate a lot and were strong.
"Seong-hwan-a, I think we might have bought enough meat now...?"
"Hmm..."
As I kept loading more meat into the cart, Eun-ji came over and grabbed my shoulder.
The shopping cart Yeji was pushing was already piled high with meat,
with at least 5 kilograms stacked up.
"Eun-ji eats a lot, too, doesn't she?"
"Well... I do eat a lot, I guess... but wouldn't this be enough for just one day?"
"Then, should we go buy drinks..."
"Whiskey for me! Highballs!"
She must have been agonizing over what alcohol to buy,
because she suddenly dashed over to the liquor section and declared she'd be drinking highballs.
I'd heard that personalities like Eun-ji's can be polarizing for men,
but to me, she just came across as really cute.
In a way, wasn't she similar to Lee Min-ho?
"Ah, that reminds me, I totally forgot to ask Lee Min-ho."
"Lee Min-ho? It'd be better not to call him."
"Why?"
"With your wife, Eun-ji-ssi, and Yeji-ssi all gathered, do you think food would even go down his mouth?"
"Ah..."
Would he even be able to eat at our place with those three around?
Probably not.
He wouldn't even know if the food was going in through his nose or his mouth.
So not calling Lee Min-ho was actually for his own good.
"Aren't you going to buy any drinks?"
"They're right here."
What Jeong Hwan-yi pointed at were two 1.5L bottles of cola
sitting in the cart Yeji was pushing.
Had Jeong Hwan-yi always liked cola?
"You're not drinking any alcohol?"
"Mm... then should I just buy a few cans of beer?"
"I'll just buy a few cans of beer, too."
"What do you mean 'a few'? You're only drinking one can."
Remembering how Jeong Hwan-yi had struggled last time because I got drunk,
I had no retort to offer.
I tried to glare at him nonetheless,
but since I was wearing sunglasses and a mask, it was completely ineffective.
We also picked out a couple of beers and wines from the liquor corner
and placed them on top of the shopping cart.
Yeji, too, put a few bottles of wine suited to her taste on the cart
and then began adding a few bottles of soju.
"Yeji Nuna, do you drink soju, too?"
"It feels disappointing to buy alcohol and leave out soju."
What was there to be disappointed about?
Was the soju the one feeling disappointed?
Since I wasn't someone who particularly liked alcohol, it might just be some slang I didn't understand.
And then, Eun-ji, who had dashed to the liquor aisle earlier and spent a long time agonizing over which whiskey to pick,
came over carrying a box with a bottle of whiskey inside.
"We have to drink at least this much."
"Just that one bottle?"
"They only had one 25-year, and two of the 21-year."
"Then go bring both bottles of the 21-year, too."
Since I didn't know anything about it, I couldn't tell if it was expensive or cheap,
but the whiskey box had 'Macallan' written on it.
The only things I knew were Johnnie Walker, Jack Daniel's, and Ballantine's,
so I just thought, 'So there are whiskeys like this, too.'
"This one is worth 2.2 million won."
"Heek..."
"As expected of a top-class idol, she's on another level... to think she'd plan on making a highball with something this precious."
Already excited, Eun-ji dashed around and grabbed lemons and soda water, loading them onto the shopping cart.
Well, to Eun-ji, money in the realm of 2 million won
probably wasn't even money.
I couldn't help but marvel once again at the difference in league.
***
"Nuna!"
A-ra stretched as she stepped out of the studio, and I ran over to hug her.
A-ra, with a look of 'what are you doing here', was briefly bewildered
but then she wrapped her arms around my head and patted me gently.
"Don't tell me you were waiting out here until I finished?"
"Nah, it just looked like you were about to wrap up, so I got here a moment ago."
When A-ra worriedly asked why I'd been waiting in this cold weather,
I retorted, telling her not to worry.
Only then did A-ra let out a wry smile
and tightly clasp my cold hand, starting to warm it up.
"You must be cold?"
"I had the heater on in the car until just now, so I'm fine, really."
"Liar, your hands are frozen solid like this?"
She'd slipped my hand into her pocket to warm it up,
and now she held it as we walked toward the parking lot.
"Did you eat dinner?"
"We were all waiting to eat with you, Nuna."
"All of us? Who else is there?"
I said nothing and just smirked.
Wouldn't it be no fun if I told her now?
"It'd be no fun if I told you now."
"Is it Jeong Hwan-ssi and Lee Min-ho-ssi?"
"You got it partially right."
"Hmm... this is tricky."
Because A-ra hadn't brought her own car and had come in the one her manager drove,
she was sitting quietly in the passenger seat.
After one last glance at A-ra lost in thought,
I started driving.
*
"A-ra, you're here?"
"Unni~ welcome."
"What, it was just you two?"
The moment she saw Eun-ji and Yeji's faces, A-ra's bright smile
was the very image of an angel.
And upon seeing Jeong Hwan-yi, who had insisted on standing until A-ra arrived,
she smiled brightly once more and greeted him.
"Jeong Hwan-ssi came too? I'd been thinking about whether we could share a meal sometime,
but I'd been too busy..."
"I'm grateful for just the thought."
Jeong Hwan-yi also bowed his head stiffly.
Only after A-ra urged him to sit down did he take his seat.
Was it good manners or sheer stubbornness?
"But what's all this for dinner... oh my..."
Seeing the huge pile of meat, alcohol, and various side dishes,
A-ra covered her mouth, seemingly surprised.
It was understandable—even after buying the alcohol, so many other things had been picked out
that there were three separate grills spread out just for cooking the meat.
And the bottles of alcohol soaking in ice-cold water
created an atmosphere that anyone would have mistaken for a camping trip.
"What kind of drinks did you buy?"
"Unni, you said the highball made with Macallan was good last time, didn't you? So I went and bought Macallan."
"That must have been pretty expensive..."
"It wasn't much, was it?"
Shrugging her shoulders and acting as if it were nothing,
Eun-ji smiled brightly and pulled the Macallan 25 Year from the icy, cold water.
So Eun-ji had bought that because A-ra had liked it.
"Unni, hurry and sit down."
"Give me your coat."
As Eun-ji urged her along, I took A-ra's coat,
and she sat down at the large table.
When I came back out after putting her coat in the master bedroom, Eun-ji and Yeji had finally
moved the meat onto the grill plates,
and Jeong Hwan-yi had poured a glass of cola and handed it to me.
Looking around now, the women's glasses were filled with beer nearly to the point of overflowing,
while only Jeong Hwan-yi's glass and mine had cola poured into them.
"Now that Seong-hwan-i's here too, let's drink until we die!"
"Drink up!"
With Yeji and Eun-ji's toast, the meat party kicked off.
That 'eat and drink until we die' toast really did always show up at drinking parties.