Women Problems

Tuesday, 27 April 2021

"Bro."

"What?"

"Catch!"

Justin turned around as I tossed him his black shirt. He was rummaging through his fridge and getting ingredients for kimchi jjigae. "Who said I wanted a shirt?" He asked, looking at the piece of clothing as if he was allergic to it.

"Me. I don't like you cooking in the kitchen in your underwear." I was making myself comfortable on the stool by the counter that divides his kitchen and living room when I said this.

He closed the fridge. "It's my kitchen."

"But I'm a guest. I don't think it's appropriate to cook in your boxers."

"So, I can't cook in my underwear because you feel it's inappropriate, but you think slapping my butt is okay?"

"Yeah!"

He rolled his eyes. Despite his protest, he still wore the shirt. Then, he held up two frozen meats. "Sausage, or pork?"

"Hmmm…both. I feel like I can finish those two packs of meat. Boiled eggs would be fine, too."

"Wow, you've got quite an appetite today! We can't consume all these, so I'm frying two of these big sausages. I'll cut them in bite size. Then, I'll put lots of pork in the stew. I ran out of eggs."

"I can buy some eggs in the convenience store. And some beer, too. And Coke. What else do you want?" I noticed that there was something between the stack of magazines on the far end of the counter that wasn't usually there, so I transferred from one stool to the one near the magazines to check them out.

"What is up with you and the protein overload? We don't need beer. There's Coke in the fridge, so that'll do."

He quickly chopped some brown and green onions, then sliced some mushrooms and tofu while I took out a very familiar book that was in between the magazines. "Oh my God, bro! This book!"

"What book?"

"This photography book by Henry Carroll called Read This If You Want to Take Great Photographs. I can't believe I didn't recognize her at the bookstore. She looked totally different without her café uniform."

Justin seemed confused, as if he didn't even know the book was there.

"You know I'm talking about Julia, right?"

"Yeah, why's that book in there? I told her I didn't want it." He turned the stove on and put the stew ingredients on an average-sized stainless-steel pot with water.

"I don't know. Why are you asking me?" He rolled his eyes while chopping some sausages. "Wait. Were you sleeping in the afternoon because you've had an exhausting sex with Julia here?"

He looked at me with an expression that I couldn't quite measure, then he placed the knife down and turned the other stove on, so he could heat the pan for the sausages. "It wasn't my idea. She just came here and voila! You already guessed what happened next."

"What is up with these women intruding our lives like that? What are they? Do they want to dominate our world or something?"

He was frying sausages, but he turned to face me. What do you mean? Is there a woman in your life right now?"

"Oh. Well." I paused while he looked at me intently. He had forgotten about the sausages. "Bro, please focus on the sausages."

He followed my advice, so he turned his back and attended to his sausages, as well as the kimchi stew. After tasting the stew, he put back the pot lid but didn't cover it entirely. Then, he turned it down to low heat. "I was asking if there's a woman in your life right now."

"Right. That would be yes, and no."

He turned to face me. "What does that mean?"

I crossed my legs and put down the photography book. "Serena's back."

He looked surprised, but not too surprised. "Hmm. Wow."

"I don't think 'wow' is the right reaction. It's not exactly worthy of 'wow.'"

"You still hate her."

"Of course, I do. She cheated on me."

He turned off the stove's control knob where the pan of sliced sausages was fried, then started to put them on a plate. "Did you have sex with her? I mean, of course you did. That completely explains your appetite for protein. I guess you lost a lot of it."

"Bro, I couldn't resist her."

"I know, right?"

"What is up with these women?"

"I don't know." He leaned on the counter by the fridge. "I thought I made it clear to Julia that I didn't want a relationship, but then she started acting like my girlfriend, barging in here with some take-out food, wanting to hang out and get it on. Then, I was surprised that she gave me that book as a gift because I mentioned that I was planning to focus on photography, and establish a business out of it, and I got disappointed instead of happy that she was thoughtful enough to support me." He sighed. "I mean, I don't want her involved in my life, but how can I resist her when she comes in here saying she's not wearing panties?"

"Oooooh, she's good. She knows what she's doing. Hey, do you think the kimchi stew is ready, now? You might overcook it. It's been boiling for decades."

He walked to the stove and opened the pot lid. "Nah, just 5 to 10 more minutes. Why are you so impatient? There's lots of meat in here, it needs to cook well," he said while he slowly stirred the stew using a soup ladle.

When he started prepping up the table by putting plates, utensils, and glasses, I helped out by getting a pitcher of water from the fridge, as well as two cans of Coke. He instantly stopped what he was doing as if he was holding his breath, then when I was done putting them on the table, he started breathing and comfortably sat on the chair. "You know, I can do simple things like this without breaking anything, do you?"

He chuckled. "I just…I just get really nervous when you're moving things around."

"For your information, I'm not distracted by a book right now. In fact, it's still on my bike which is parked outside. You know I usually bring my book with me when I come in, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well? I don't have it with me, now. It turned out that I'm not really the God of Destruction. I'm just often distracted and unable to multi-task, which is why I drop or accidentally break things. You don't have to worry about that now, I learned a thing or two during our last conversation."

He looked proud. "Good for you. I'm still not comfortable, but I like that you're trying."

"So, back to Julia. And by the way, I think the stew is really done now, I'm starving." He stood up and finally turned off the stove. The rice was also done, so he started putting some on a big bowl. After that, he poured the kimchi stew in another big bowl, using the ladle. "Bro, the smell is to die for!! Okay, back to Julia. How are you going to handle her if she's that determined to be in your life?"

"I don't know. I thought she could help me forget Ayu, but the more that she does things for me, the more that I wish it was Ayu doing those things for me. I couldn't take her off my mind. I mean, even during sex, I imagine doing it with Ayu, which is sad because I've never really done it with her."

"Wow, at least my only concern is Serena. Not that I want her back or anything. But I did miss the sex a lot. At first, when I saw her looking so hot and beautiful, I thought I wanted her, but it turned out that I just wanted to get laid. It wasn't really her that I wanted. I wanted some action because I've been deprived of it for years."

"I think it's the same with me," he said. We started to eat since dinner was already set on the table. "Right now, I'm scared she'd want something more."

"You tell me! Serena asked me to live with her. Can you believe that?"

"What? That was a drastic move."

"I know! I mean, did she think she can make it up to me by fulfilling my physical needs? She already lost my trust, there is an absolute possibility that she'll do it again."

He nodded. For a short while, only the utensils made noise because we were both busy enjoying the mouthwatering kimchi jjigae and fried sausages. After about five minutes, Justin even had to fetch some more rice. "Are all women like Julia and Serena?"

"Oh no, I hope not. That would be…"

"Tiring?"

"No, not that."

"Crazy?"

"Yes, crazy. They would run the world."

"I hope they don't. If women always use their body to get what they want, then no man would truly be happy," he said as he opened a can of Coke then swigged it.

I opened mine, too. Then, a silent burp came out. "Do you think we'd be okay without sex?"

"You were fine without it for a long time."

"Who said I was fine without it?"

"Well then, I guess not. But I'm not sure we can handle the consequences if we push through either."

"You're right. We should nip it in the bud before it gets serious. We should stop seeing them. I mean, I already told Serena that I'm not getting back with her and asked her to go back where she belongs, but I'm not so sure if she'll oblige." I poured some water on the glasses then consumed my share.

"Me, too. I told her to never come in here again, but I'm not so sure if she understood me." He drank his water.

"You do realize that a lot of guys would kill to be with Julia and Serena, do you? They're both hot."

"Which is why we shouldn't feel bad to let them go. It's for our own good, and for their own good, too. We can't keep on doing this. We don't have any feelings for them. You don't have feelings for Serena, right?"

"No, I don't."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure as death and taxes."

He suddenly smiled. "Look at both of us having the same problem with women. Some crazy bonding we have here!"

"Let's officially make a pack, not to let them into our lives anymore. Cheers?" I held up my can of Coke.

He did the same. "Cheers!"