thirteen

The slightly warmer spring breeze brought the fresh fragrance of grass to Seunghwan's nostrils as he leisurely walked down his residential street.

Sun hadn't reached above his head but the sweat traversed inside his shirt.

Seunghwan's attention dropped on the tiny portable food stall—standing to one side, contrasting the high-end—ADER Error mini showroom beside. [ADER Error's a popular clothing brand that came out in around 2014 and swept the fashion world with Korean fashion, introducing a variety of Korean-like styled clothing to the world]

The old wrinkly woman behind the stall, lovingly chatted with some daytime grade school boys standing in a group near her stall.

The steamer gurgling on her stall counter, bubbled with sha-sha noises and the delicious aroma of freshly steamed Dakgogi Mandu wafted. [Mandu are dumplings in Korean cuisine. Mandu can be steamed, boiled, pan-fried, or deep-fried. The styles also vary across regions in Korean Peninsula. Dakgogi refers to the meat filling of different types]

She's one of the famous food stall vendors around here. Most of the day school children stop by her stall—to grab her tasty mandu's before school.

At first she only sold mandu's because of her age, she cannot do much strenuous activity and preferred to sell those mandu's. But now-a-days she also prepares Beondegi in the evening. [Beondegi literally means pupa, is a Korean street food made with silkworm pupae. It is usually sold from street vendors. The boiled or steamed snack food is served in paper cups with toothpick skewers. Canned beondegi can also be found in grocery stores and convenience stores]

Seunghwan rubbed his flat stomach with dismay and checked his wallet. A slow smile crept on his lips when he found that there was enough cash to buy some mandu's from the old lady.

With an eager look, Seunghwan walked up to the stall and greeted the old lady. "Halmeoni.." [Halmeoni means 'grandmother' in Korean]

The old lady looked away from the grade schoolers and squinted her eyes at Seunghwan.

Seunghwan waited for the old lady to recognize him and continued smiling.

In fact, their story goes way back.

When Seunghwan was dumped with only a big one-storeyed villa-house to start his University with, he was very unwilling—constantly arguing with his dad.

He remembered how he went on a hunger strike and nearly fainted on the street with exhaustion. Thankfully, this halmeoni was present there that day and came to him like the Kitchen deity with two mandu's wrapped in a paper napkin. [The kitchen deity worshipped by the general public of korea is a goddess, referred to as Jowanggaksi, Kitchen Maiden Goddess or Jowanghalmae, Kitchen Grandmother Goddess]

Seunghwan had gobbled down those two big dumplings in one go with tears streaming down his face. He was so hungry at that time.

Since that day, he became her regular customer and even proposed to help her if she ever required any.

Their relationship was sweet and Seunghwan loved this granny very much.

The granny finally recognized Seunghwan and coughed out a reply. " Eh? Chongak? Oh, oh is it Hwan-ah?" [Young men are referred to as chongak. This literally means bachelor so it is for men who are not married and have no children. Again this is a term used mainly by older people who are calling someone younger]

The grade schoolers looked at Seunghwan and began sizing him up.

If one were to judge then they would say that those little boys were being protective of the old lady and maybe kind of envious too at her doting tone—directed at Seunghwan.

"Yes Halmeoni, are the mandu's done?"

The old lady beamed at Seunghwan and when his words finally registered, the old lady—grinned and wiped her hands on her worn off apron.

"Yes, I have some left from the last lot. If you're in hurry, I can pack them for you." The old lady fawned over Seunghwan and pulled the storage container to bring the left hot mandu's out.

Seunghwan shifted on his feet and quickly went behind where the old lady stood, grabbing her hands. "Easy, Easy. Do it slowly, ne?"

A gruff chuckle escaped the old lady's throat as her face crinkled with affection. "Mn."

One of the boys from the group of grade schoolers suddenly jumped and unhappily addressed Seunghwan. "Hyung! Hogging up all of Halmeoni's affection is unfair.."

The other grade schoolers hummed along with him and glared at Seunghwan.

Seunghwan understood the feelings of those boys. They always acted childishly towards the granny to gain her favorability. It was not hard to guess why.. because Halmeoni gave out extras to those children.

The old lady laughed at the bickering children but continued packing the mandu's for Seunghwan. Once done, granny gave it to Seunghwan and coaxed the waiting children.

The children immediately stopped and adorned smiles on their faces.

Seunghwan pocketed the mandu's and opened his wallet to pay—when the granny's wrinkly hands covered his and in the same affectionate tone denied him. "Hwan-ah, just go hm? Study well."

Seunghwan ignored her and decisively forced the money on her hand and sternly replied. "No, you'll take this. And thank you."

Before granny could comprehend, Seunghwan left a feathery light kiss on her cheek and left.

The grade schoolers felt inferior to the big and nice Seunghwan and surrounded her stall again, drowning her in praises for her delicious mandu's.

Seunghwan devoured the mandu's with a satisfied expression—waiting in the bus stop for the bus to arrive.

Fully occupied till the neck with boarders, Seunghwan keenly kept his eyes on the road for his bus.

As soon as the familiar number plate came to his vision, Seunghwan wrestled through the horde of boarders—also thanks to his big physique, caught the bus.

Seunghwan grabbed the handle near the closed door of the bus and huffed. Those days the rush hour changed untimely and rained havoc on the traffic.

Once Seunghwan's heart rate became normal, he shot up in search of any vacant seat available.

But who would've thought that the very moment he shot up—his eyes collided with someone.

The opposite pair of greenish eyes froze on landing upon Seunghwan and a tremor passed through them.

Seunghwan did curse in his mind but then confronted the pair of eyes.

It's high time that he clears the misunderstanding between them.

author's note : aiya~ sorry for the late update! Injured my hands while cutting veggies. (・・；)

Btw, thanks to @Eliselin for your support and lovely comments. muah~ ( ˘ ³˘)♥