Page 56 of Paradox
“You can if you want to. They're your beers.”
But he shakes his head. “I’ll go through them too quickly.”
“Suit yourself,” I shrug, and force my eyes back down to the books.
“Oh, um—do you want a tree?”
“A tree?”
“Yeah. It’s December.”
“Is there really any point if it’s only the two of us?” Looking almost hurt, Eden backs towards the bathroom. “And there aren't any decorations.”
“How do you know?”
“Apart from your loft, I’ve cleaned every square inch of this place more than once. So unless you’re hoarding them up there—“
“Fine, I get it. I was just trying to be nice.”
“Not ignoring me for the past three days would have been nice,” I mutter as he re-enters the bathroom.
“What the fucking fuck, Jin? You said you weren’t going to poison me.” I wave my hand in front of my face and do that thing where you think if you open your mouth wider it will stop burning.
“You said you weren’t going to complain.”
“I’m not.”
“What do you call this, then?”
“A slow and painful death.”
"I've seen you eat my Mom's Tteokbokki before."
"Your mom can fuck off with her tteokbokki. That shit could be classified as a chemical weapon."
"How did you eat at our house so many times?"
"She'd make me black bean noodles in bulk. But she still tries to get me with those damn rice cakes every Christmas when I'm drunk."
Even though he's turned away from me I can see Jin roll his eyes before putting another fiery red piece of potato in hismouth. After chewing it, he puts the fork down and gets up to go back inside the cabin. “If you’re worried about calorie intake, you’ll shut up and eat the meal I prepared.”
In front of me on the ground is the lid of a cast iron skillet with a large piece of aluminum foil peeled back with Jin’s creation inside it. All four vegetables are diced, but everything is the same deep red. And it had all started with one lone potato haphazardly thrown into the fire.
I’d wanted to say something about it not being wrapped, but I held my tongue.
It seems that's all I’m good at lately; not talking and making myself scarce.
He didn’t even stay outside with me for the twenty minutes it sat amongst the flames. But can I blame him? I've been ghosting him while living in the same house.
Jin returns from inside and sits back down on the front steps beside me.
Leaning forward, he splashes something onto the roast veggies, then pops the lid of the glass mason jar where I keep the sugar.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I put my arm in front of him to stop him pouring it onto our dinner.
“Shutting you up.” He pushes my arm back.
“Not with that you aren’t.”
