Shrimp tempura, garlic fried chicken, sweet and sour pork, chicken.
Then there were fried rice, sushi, sashimi, rolls, steak, and so on….
As the limited range of food I was supposed to eat with Siyeon suddenly expanded to the buffet setting, I quickly cleared two or three bowls, stuffing myself to the brim.
Exercise or dieting is just for normal days; when you’re at a buffet, you gotta eat as much as you can.
If you come to eat and just pick at fruits and greens, it would be such a pity to watch.
Anyway, while the meal was in full swing—
“What’s that?”
“It’s shrimp sushi; do you want to try it?”
I teased Siyeon, who was pointing at the sushi in my bowl with her chopsticks, asking if she was really going to eat it.
Until last year, sushi and sashimi were things we generally avoided.
Of course, I expected her to say no, but surprisingly, Siyeon nodded her head.
“Yeah.”
For some reason, the sushi she had avoided until now, she was boldly reaching for it.
The more types of food to eat, the better for me.
With that light thought, I carefully picked up a small piece of sushi from my bowl and offered it to Siyeon’s bowl.
Just as I handed over the soy sauce dish for sushi and explained how to dip it—
Siyeon picked up the popular shrimp sushi.
Imagining its taste—she dipped it lightly into the soy sauce and brought it to her mouth.
Chewing like a chipmunk, she seemed to be enjoying it more than I expected when suddenly—
“Blech…”
“Not good?”
Siyeon wrinkled her nose and stuck out her tongue.
What could she possibly find unappetizing about simply shrimp and rice?
As I wondered what was in the sushi, Siyeon first mentioned the reason for spitting it out.
“Spicy.”
‘Ah, wasabi.’
The green paste that I’d become too accustomed to think of as just an ingredient.
For kids, it’s certainly a barrier to sushi, that green stuff.
Thinking back, I think I avoided sushi before I got used to its taste because of wasabi too.
“Hm….”
I took the sashimi off the remaining sushi, scooped out the wasabi part with my chopsticks, and put them back together.
This time, salmon sushi.
Without the wasabi, it should be fine to eat, and Siyeon keenly watched as I prepared it.
“Okay, I removed the wasabi.”
“What kind of fish is this?”
“Salmon.”
The white fat line running through the bright orange flesh.
The sushi topped with salmon, which you can often see at supermarkets.
Even though she wouldn’t know what it looked like even if I told her, I made sure to name the fish correctly.
At that curious age, she needed to know what was going in her mouth.
It seemed that without the wasabi, she found it edible and chewed it without wrinkling her face like before.
The married couple went around greeting people who had come to the wide restaurant.
‘They must be having a tough time.’
I sucked on the soy-sauce-covered chopsticks, watching the two of them busily bustling about.
…The small amount of wasabi remaining on the tip of my chopsticks lightly pricked my nose.
To erase that wasabi taste, I immediately grabbed a piece of garlic fried shrimp and popped it into my mouth.
The greasy and moderately spicy sauce covered my mouth.
Just like that, I felt full after only three bowls.
Considering the fourth one to be my last, I returned with the little bread and cake pieces for dessert.
When I returned, Siyeon was still finishing her third bowl, and the couple in suits and dresses were there.
“Did you eat a lot, Mari?”
“This is my fourth bowl.”
“Oh wow, you ate well.”
As I proudly showed off the number of stacked bowls at the table, Ji-eun sister added her praise that I had eaten well.
Just as she said, when I patted my stomach, it made a funny sound from being stuffed.
With no time to relax and chat, the bride and groom started to shuffle through the seats, heading somewhere.
Maybe they had something to say to me, but Ji-eun sister briefly lingered near us, awkwardly trying to speak.
“I’m sorry, but can you two head back alone?”
I didn’t know what she was apologizing for, but Ji-eun sister left us with the words to return by ourselves.
Considering they were the main characters of the day, I didn’t expect them to have the luxury of driving us.
They probably had a lot to clean up following the meal.
I had thought this from the beginning, so I nodded and said.
“I’m not so clueless as to barge in on a newlywed couple.”
“Mari is the best; can I leave it to you then?”
With that sharp reply, Ji-eun sister raised her thumbs in excitement.
Then, as if she were the prettiest person in the world, she fussed over her cheeks, then chased after the groom who had maneuvered through the chairs.
At a noticeably slower pace, I started picking up bread and cake pieces, barely managing to empty my fourth bowl.
“Phew.”
With the sensation that food was filling my throat, I let out a heavy breath.
Judging that there was no more space, I mentally waved the white flag.
I turned my head slightly to look at Siyeon, and she was the same.
Unable to reach for the next chopstick on the small remaining piece of meat in her bowl, she let out a tiny, inaudible burp.
“Can you eat more?”
With the casually thrown question came a gesture of shaking her head without a response.
It seemed like that was it for the both of us.
Leaving our seats and exiting the restaurant, there were already lots of people on the third floor.
The once empty first floor of the building we entered was now packed with people, leaving no empty space.
After escaping the dining area and catching a taxi on the street, we returned home.
From that point, I was enveloped in a sleepiness I couldn’t explain.
Thinking back, it could have been because I had been moving since dawn, also the warm spring sunshine, and the hearty meal I had eaten.
Right.
The combined attack of spring lethargy and food coma.
“Yawn.”
Due to that fierce onslaught, as soon as I got home, I let out a massive yawn.
Of course, ever since the wedding day, I hadn’t seen Ji-eun sister for a while.
Honeymoon, moving preparations, and all sorts of other random things.
Considering that she couldn’t possibly work during the travel period, it meant we’d be alone at home for a few days.
That didn’t mean I needed to panic and say, “Oh no! What a big deal!”
I had been around since the beginning anyway.
“I managed just fine in first grade; why worry?”
It just meant I had a little more housework to do.
Once I confirmed that I was fully back home, out came Gomteng from my pocket without needing any coaxing.
“Ha, I wished I could eat too….”
As Gomteng wiggled out from my pocket, he grumbled slightly.
I understood his disappointment, but there was absolutely no way I could comply with this.
I bent my arms and rested my hands on my hips, continuing my speech as if to say, “Don’t say silly things.”
“How many eyes are watching? How could I feed you there?”
A restaurant filled with dozens, hundreds of people milling about.
They may not be paying attention to each other, but feeding a doll would surely draw attention.
“True, but… Aah! I want garlic fried shrimp—!”
Even though I understood that, Gomteng started wriggling on the floor.
Now that he had started lying down, I stepped on his face to keep him there.
I felt my toes squish into his mouth comfortably.
Surprisingly, the inside of this mouth was rather spacious.
“Ugh, gack.”
“Hasn’t it been a while, huh?”
As if I had hooked him, I kicked him with the appropriate grip inside his mouth.
Naturally, Gomteng detached from my toes and fell with a thud against the wall.
“Cough! Who on earth—puts toes in someone’s mouth…!”
“Right here, you little rascal.”
Now, Gomteng had learned to retort even while getting hit.
It seemed he was unsatisfied with my toes in his mouth, and he repeatedly dry-heaved with his hands pressed against the wall, despite not having anything to throw up.
“Yuck, it stinks….”
“Some say that’s a reward for some people.”
“Ew? What fool would think that…?”
Lifting the legs that had just been in his mouth, I absentmindedly mumbled about those with that kind of taste.
As if he was about to retort but perhaps because he had seen enough on the internet, Gomteng frowned and turned his gaze to the void rather than me.
“…I guess some exist.”
“See? This is a reward for your wriggling on the floor.”
“No, anyone would tell that’s just abuse…ugh!”
“It’s all in the eye of the beholder…right?”
This time, while stepping on the back of Gomteng’s head, I picked up my smartphone and checked the notifications.
Recently, Ji-eun sister sent a message asking if we had made it home safely.
In response, I reassured her that Siyeon and I made it back fine, and wished her well with the busy cleanup and a good trip.
Good wishes were good, but I still had to keep doing what I was doing.
“If you can do a push-up in this state, I’ll order the garlic fried shrimp.”
“What, really?! Gah…!”
Throwing that little bait, Gomteng leaped at me desperately.
In the end, due to the difference in volume and weight, he couldn’t succeed, but either way, I ended up ordering garlic fried shrimp from the Chinese place for 30,000 won.
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