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Spring was returning to the valley. The flowers were poking out of the ground, the trees had new leaves that made music in the breeze. And for the first time, Bongchun did not have his mother, on his birthday.
Gaeul had asked every year what he’d like for his birthday. And every year, he asked to cook her a meal in thanks for keeping him company and being his mother. He’d make her favorites when they had the ingredients. Yakgwa was a certainty since he could always find her favorite flowers by then. Kimchi rice porridge that would make her feel lively without the need to chew. Some fresh fish from the stream steamed to perfection that would flake beautifully with a bed of steamed vegetables. Jasmine tea with plenty of honey. And of course, a small jug of rice wine to wash it all down and put her to sleep.
It had been their routine for almost 15 years. And it had served them well, simple, yet comforting. Nothing extravagant, but it made them closer. The mother and son pair lived in near solitude since their flight into the woods. And Gauel who would normally go to town and bargain with merchants, had slowly lost her mobility and sight. The walls of the house had become her whole world, so if Bongchun could give her the simple pleasures of life like good food and a warm bed, he did it.
Gauel would fuss about it being his birthday and not hers, but Bongchun took it in stride. He used his birthday to thank her for all the love she had given him. He also used it as a way to apologize for robbing her of her husband and forcing them to live in isolation.She never made him feel that way, but for many years after his death, he’d hear her cry in her room for her husband. The kind, younger man that had turned her solitude in the woods into a loving place.
This year, he made her favorite meal along with all the other offerings to her grave. In the morning he prayed at the pair of small mounds that held his family. He left the food out as an offering, and sang his mother’s favorite song before trudging back home.There was no real work to be done in the fields, and Soongap had probably already done his self imposed household chores.
When Bongchun entered the gates, he saw Soongap trying to mend a pair of baji on the porch with a few baby chicks huddled around the rice bran on the ground. It was a wonderful sight: His lover waiting patiently for his return, toiling away at a small task, forever trying to be of use.
But the only thing Bonchung had ever wanted from Soongap was for him to be happy. Perhaps he would keep Gaeul company and make the long days without Bongchun more pleasant for the sweet old woman. And over the beginning weeks of their acquaintanceship, he’d held a deeper, and more alarming hope. That maybe one day, Soongap would want to stay here with him. To keep him company. To smile his way…
It had come true. Accidentally, it had become a reality. And what a sweet reality it was. Dreams could never be as wonderful as this. To have Soongap crave his touch. To see his pretty face blush. To hear Soongap say ‘master’ with so much lust behind the whimper. The look in his eyes that shouted ‘I need you’. It was something he hadn’t felt he deserved, but was granted anyway. An unsaid prayer he’d held in his heart to never be left alone.
He sat down next to his darling, who was too oblivious to notice his approach until he whispered “Saeksi-ya” in his ear. Soongap snapped out of his frustrated and fixed concentration to look up at his master.
“Oh. You’re back from the fields?”
“There wasn’t much work to do since I’ve been doing a little each day.” Bongchun caressed soongaps cheek, admiring the flush that crept across the beautiful face. “Are you hungry?”
“Um. Not yet. In an hour or so?”
“What is your favorite meal? I’ll make it for you.”
“Oh, no. Please. That is much too kind, I can reheat the porridge from this morning”
“Nonsense. It’s my birthday, and I want to eat a hearty meal with my darling bride”.
Soongap turned pale. “Why didn’t you tell me it was your birthday? I could have had a meal waiting for you by now”
“There is no need, darling. I alway cook something nice on my birthday. It’s tradition”.
Soongap kept trying to insist that the birthday boy should just relax and be spoiled since all he does is work. But Bongchun simply kissed his bride into submission until the fussing stopped.
“I already know what I’ll have for dessert.” He rubbed his thumb across Soongap’s bottom lip suggestively. “So what should we have for dinner, Saeksi-ya?”
Soongap tried to catch his breath. The fervent kissing mixed with the implication of more the be had, flustered him enough that he didn’t think to lie and choose a dish that Bongchun liked.
“Fish and pickled vegetables, w-with a mountain of rice! Anything braised, too.” Bongchun raised an eyebrow waiting for more. And Soongap hurriedly finished with “Beef”
“Then that is what I shall cook for you, Saeksi-ya”.
Bongchun walked off to the kitchen to prepare a modest feast for his darling bride. Soongap was left at his post to finish the work, or do what he pleased. The urge to forgo the meal entirely and pounce on the lumbering oaf came to mind immediately.
“Wait!” And he scurried off after his master.