It’s been three days since Wendy and I went out to eat. While that incident no longer bothers me, I still think of the good aspects of our time together fondly. I still remember the taste of the spicy ramen I had and the mango boba that was originally tasteless, but the taste had returned once I brought it back home.

Perhaps, the taste alludes to the fact that I have now developed feelings for Wendy. Love tastes like mangoes, apparently. I don’t mind. It is better to taste like mangoes than to be tasteless at all.

The good memories of that day seemed to have influenced my art. Lately, I’ve been drawing portraits of random girls that all have Wendy’s face. All of them are drafts, but all of them detail Wendy’s cat-like face and her warm smile. I have fallen deep and am still going deeper with these feelings.

When I think about Wendy, my heart skips a beat and my mood perks up. My body also feels lighter.. I always thought love was impossible for someone like me, but here I am, smitten like a young boy in love.

Ding-dong.

It’s unusual for me to have guests. Who could it be? Is it Wendy? Does she want to invite me to lunch again? I grab my phone and use the camera app to check my appearance. I don’t have a hair out of place. Good.

I get up and rush towards the door. I unlock the door and see Mom greeting me with a vinyl bag in her hands.

“Eugene!” She looks so happy to see me. It’s been a long time since I last saw her smile like that. It’s not unusual for her to know my location. Eura used to live here, and she would visit her occasionally. It’s not weird that Mom knows where I live.

“Umma, what are you doing here?”

“I brought you some vegetables! I grew them myself, so I wanted to share some with you.”

She hands me the bag. I open it to see a bag full of sparkling vegetables. I see green Korean chili peppers, Cheongyang chili peppers*, eggplants, and tomatoes. The sight of these vegetables makes me happy. I like organic vegetables. Eating produce from delivery groceries isn’t bad, but even I want to eat good food at times.

“Thanks.”

“Now, I have to go. I have more to deliver.”

She rushes off pretty fast for someone with an injured leg. I hope she gets down safely. I look at my bag of vegetables once again. There are way too many peppers in the bag compared to the eggplants and tomatoes. Can I eat all of this without wasting them?

I think about Wendy. Does she like vegetables? Would she like some peppers? I wouldn’t mind sharing some with her. We are friends…right? Oh gosh, this isn’t some weird one-sided delusion where I believe we’re friends while the other party thinks the opposite?

I leave my apartment and head next door. I ring her bell and await her appearance. She opens the door and smiles as soon as we make eye contact. I can feel my body temperature increasing. My face is heating up as well.

“W-Wendy…my mom brought vegetables for me. Would you like some?” I lift the bag and open it to show her the vegetables.

She looks quite fascinated with the assortment. She reaches in and grabs some peppers. “Wow, these peppers are so green! They’re beautiful!”

“My mom grew them.”

She picks one and then takes a bite out of it. Knowing that she’s not good with spicy food worries me. She shouldn’t be so reckless.

“Are you okay?” I ask her.

“I’m okay…” Wendy’s cheeks flush red as she starts reacting poorly to the sudden surge of spice in her mouth. She starts coughing.

“Hold on!” I rush into my apartment and come back out with a glass of water for her to drink. She drinks the whole glass in one go and holds the water in her cheeks like a hamster. The puffy cheeks slowly deflate. She sticks her tongue out to cool off her tongue.

“You okay?”

She looks very uncomfortable. I can see her sweating profusely. She starts fanning herself. “What do I do? It’s getting hot.” She starts flapping the collar of her shirt in order to cool her body. She’s not satisfied. She starts taking off her shirt.

“What are you doing?” I yell as I grab her shoulders.

“It’s hot!”

“If you’re going to take off your shirt, do it inside!”

Wendy takes a good look at my expression and smirks. “You want to see me shirtless inside? How naughty. I thought you were much purer than that.”

A sharp denial comes to me. I do not want to see her shirtless! “I don’t want to see you shirtless.”

Wendy hummed. “No man can resist me though.”

I realize my hands aren’t holding onto her anymore as she slowly takes off her shirt. My body heat rises and all I can do is cover my face.

When I uncover my face, the ceiling of my room greets me. I can feel sweat trickling down my neck. The warmth of my bed made my body hot. I can only be flabbergasted with that ridiculous dream I just had.

 Is this a wet dream? Did I just have one? Am I that in love with Wendy to the point that I have erotic dreams about her? The fact that so many peppers appeared should have been a dead giveaway**. A sense of dread comes to me. Peppers…

I carefully lift my blanket and see a bulge in between my legs. A strange sense of shamefulness comes to me and it makes me cover my face like how I did in the last sequence of my dream. Wendy deserves more than being a source of a weird dream. I roll around in my bed in embarrassment. It’s really going to be hard to talk to her.

 I am not sure why I am behaving like this. Why am I behaving like a loser virgin who never had sex in his life? Realization kicks in. I am a loser virgin who’s behaving like he never had sex in his life.

Dad, Mom, Eura, Jay, Gustav and Wendy, I am sorry.

--

* The difference between Korean chili peppers and Cheongyang chili peppers is the spice level. Cheongyang peppers are much spicier than regular Korean chili peppers.

** The Korean word for pepper is gochu. Gochu is also slang for penis.