Page 57 of Paradox
“Do you even know what you’re complaining about?”
“Unless it’s Korean barbecue, I steer clear of everything Tek eats.”
“Then stop Eden–splaining to me.” I open my mouth, but the daggers Jin shoots at me shuts it straight back up again. “Sugar counteracts the spice in gochujang, and soy sauce makes it more umami. Because I didn’t realize I was cooking for a little bitch.”
I shouldn’t let him get away with it, but there’s something pinching at the base of my skull. It’s not rage, but it’s similar.Maybe more of a glutinous need to see Jin fighting back against me more and more.
After sprinkling on a good amount of sugar, Jin stirs everything up and sucks the residual mixture off his fork. Then he snatches my fork, pierces four things, and hands it back to me. “It’s like, thirty percent better.”
“And what exactly do I have here?”
He points; “Potato, carrot, beet, and spam.”
“Spam?”
“Spam,” he repeats, but I don’t drop my frown of disgust. “Koreans eat it all the time.”
“I’m not Korean.”
“It was inyourpantry.”
“Was it past the use by date? I think it came with the cabin.”
“It’s fine. And, lucky you, I didn’t even use it all.”
“Yeah, lucky me.”
“It’s no skin off my nose if you don’t wanna eat it,” he says, stealing the fork again and taking the bite himself.
“Hey.” I grab it back.
“You don’t get to complain on both fronts.”
“And you don’t get to keep pointing out my contradictions.”
Jin dips his face towards me and looks up all innocent like, preemptively countering his following words. “But you make so many. It’s too hard for me to ignore them all.”
The pinch is back, but this time it’s lower down my spine.
Grabbing his wrist, I yank his hand towards the food. “Again.”
“How primitive of you.”
“I’d do it myself but all that shit looks the same cause of that lava you put on it.”
“Gochujang.”
“Whatever.”
“Go. Chu. Jang.”
“Go. Chu. Jang.”
“Thank you.” Jin stabs the same four ingredients on my fork and hands it over. “It’s just red chilli, fermented soy beans, and rice powder.”
“Sounds delicious.” It’s my turn to roll my eyes.
“It is… I coated the veggies in Perilla oil first, then mixed in the spam and Gochujang—for goodness’ sake,” he sighs, guiding the fork into my apprehensive mouth. With his other hand he pushes up my chin. “You’re gonna have to chew it on your own.”
