The Professor Next Door (Cider Bar Sisters Book 3)

by Jackie Lau

  “Okay,” he said, feeling like he’d just been bulldozed by Nicole’s grandmother.

  “What will we make?” Po Po asked.

  “Maybe galbitang?”

  “I don’t know what that is.”

  “Oh, I love galbitang,” Kelsey said. “Good idea.”

  “You can buy all the ingredients and come to my house at seven,” Po Po said. “I’m not sure what you need, and Kelsey is tired of driving me around, so I won’t volunteer her for this.” She reached up and touched his face.

  “What are you doing?” Kelsey asked.

  “Seeing how many grains of rice Nicole left in her bowl.” Po Po located his small facial scar, from when he’d had chicken pox in kindergarten. “Just one, I guess.”

  “Po Po! Don’t scare him off.”

  “Wah, he’s not scared!” Po Po turned to David. “The number of leftover grains is how many pockmarks your husband will have. This was what we told children.”

  “Husband? This seems a bit premature,” Kelsey said, grasping her grandmother’s arm. “I think it’s time we leave. See you tomorrow, David! I’m sure it’ll be lots of fun.”

  Oh, dear. What was he getting himself into?

  * * *

  “You wear glasses?” Po Po asked as David studied the galbitang recipe he’d printed out. They were in her kitchen.

  “Just for reading.” He returned his attention to the recipe but could feel her studying him.

  “I thought glasses were uncool. My daughter was very upset when she needed them in high school. But earlier, Kelsey showed me this Twitter thread—is that what it’s called, even though it has nothing to do with sewing? It was all pictures of men wearing glasses, and women were going, how do you say, gah-gah over it?”

  “David, I think she’s trying to tell you to wear glasses for these videos,” Kelsey said.

  “Yes, this is exactly what I am saying. People will love it!” Po Po cackled with glee.

  Well, he supposed he could do that.

  After all, Nicole liked him in glasses, and it would amuse her.

  * * *

  “Professor Cho, I never thought I’d see the day!”

  David’s grad student walked into his office, holding up his phone, at the appointed time for their meeting to discuss his thesis.

  But clearly Hunter had something else on his mind.

  “You’re famous!” Hunter said, then burst into laughter.

  Alarmed, David nearly grabbed Hunter’s phone from his hand.

  “What are you talking about?” he asked instead, in a deliberately mild tone.

  “Everyone thinks you’re hot! This woman on Twitter is famous for all the pictures she posts of men wearing glasses, and she posted a video of you making food for your ‘special friend’s’ grandmother.”

  Hunter held out his phone, and David looked at the video from Po Po and Kelsey’s TikTok account. It had been retweeted thirty thousand times.

  “Uh, right,” David said. “Thanks for showing me. Now—”

  “My sister didn’t believe it when I said you were my supervisor.”

  “Right. How about—”

  “And one of your undergrad students replied and said, ‘That’s my prof!’”

  “Thanks for letting me know.”

  Hunter studied him for a moment. “Look, I’m sure it’ll all blow over in a day or two. Stuff moves fast these days.”

  Yes, David would reassure himself with that, and he’d just hope that no one else he knew in person—other than Nicole—would find this.

  Unfortunately, his hopes proved to be in vain.

  Chapter 22

  “You have a girlfriend?” Umma shouted over the phone. “And I had to learn this from an internet video?”

  David had been about to order food for his Friday dinner with Nicole, but that would probably have to wait half an hour now. He couldn’t imagine this call with his mother would take less than that.

  “I don’t have a girlfriend,” he said.

  “Then what else is a ‘special friend’?”

  “She lives next door to me. We’re friends. That’s all.” He might wish for something else, but he wasn’t going to say that now.

  Umma sniffed. “Well, that’s okay. I think you will have many women interested in you now. You should make a Twitter account and reply. You will have many dates. This is not how things worked in my day, but maybe...”

  “No, I’m not creating a Twitter account.” Actually, he’d created one about ten years ago to see what all the fuss was about but hadn’t used it in ages.

  “Okay, I will make a Twitter account and say you are my son and you live in Toronto. I will be your dating manager.”

  David was getting a headache. “Please don’t.”

  “Don’t you want to get married again?”

  “Yes, but I can figure it out for myself.”

  “Can you? You’ve been single for four years. Or are you in love with this ‘special friend’?”

  He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Umma, I can take care of it.”

  Unsurprisingly, this wasn’t enough to reassure his mother, and he spent another twenty-five minutes talking about his love life with her.

  * * *

  Nicole had been on her lunch break when Kelsey had sent her a text, telling her to look at their latest TikToks.

  The videos were hilarious.

  And now, as Nicole knocked on David’s door, she was still in a good mood.

  David, however, looked more tired than he usually did on Fridays, but he still smiled when he saw her, and his gaze lingered on her chest as she took off her coat.

  “You’re a star!” she told him.

  “So I’ve heard,” he said drily.

  “I can’t believe you agreed to make videos with my grandma.”

  “She was very persuasive. She paid me a surprise visit on Wednesday to ask for my help and threatened to have a medical emergency if I said no. I figured you could have a laugh at my expense, so why not?”

  She couldn’t help feeling touched. He seemed to care very much about making her laugh.

  “But I didn’t expect it to be so popular,” he said. “I didn’t expect my grad students and my mother to find it.”

  She laughed. “Your mother?”

  “Yes.”

  “The problem,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck, “is that you put on your glasses. I’ve told you how hot you look in those, haven’t I?”

  “Once your grandmother saw me with glasses, she insisted I wear them in the video.”

  She couldn’t help laughing again. “Well, uh, thank you for satisfying her whims, but if you ever need help saying no to my family, just let me know.”

  She’d never thought a man appearing in her grandma’s TikToks would warm her heart, but then again, she’d never been able to conceive of such a thing happening. Po Po’s popularity on TikTok had definitely been one of the big surprises of the year.

  And David, though he seemed slightly annoyed with the attention now, was just so agreeable. She’d make sure she treated him very well tonight so he’d forget all about this.

  “What’s for dinner?” she asked.

  “About that,” he said. “Due to the long phone conversation with my mom, in which she tried to involve herself in my dating life and start a Twitter account, I didn’t order until fifteen minutes ago, so it’ll be a little while.”

  “Where did you order from?”

  “A Filipino restaurant near Bathurst and Wilson. Since I don’t have a car, it’s a bit inconvenient for me to pick up the food, so I got delivery.”

  “That’s okay.” She was hungry, but she could wait.

  Unfortunately, her stomach could not. It protested. Loudly.

  “Alright,” David said, “how about we eat dessert first?”

  “Why, Professor Cho,” she said, “how scandalous!”

  And with those words, she shimmied her body against his, and he made a growl in the back of his
throat.

  “What did you get for me?” she asked with a seductive wink.

  “It’s from the same bakery where I got the ube cake.” He stepped away from her and opened a box, revealing what looked like two lemon tarts with a little dollop of meringue on top. “Calamansi tarts. Shall we eat them now?”

  “I don’t see how I can say no.”

  He slid each tart onto a plate and placed one at what was now “her” spot at the breakfast bar.

  She had a bite. The tangy filling made her groan.

  “Good?” he asked.

  “What if I said no?”

  He frowned. “Well, I guess I’d buy you an ube cake tomorrow to compensate. Or ensaymada. Those looked tasty, too. A kind of brioche, I think?”

  Oh, God. Why was he making her heart melt? Having tea with her parents and sibling. Making videos and H-Mart trips with her grandmother. Buying her dessert every week.

  He was so kind and considerate, and he would make a very nice boyfriend. There were tons of people drooling over him on social media.

  He’ll fall in love with someone else soon.

  It felt like there was a countdown on their so-called arrangement. She didn’t know when it would end...but it would. A man like this belonged in a relationship, and she did not—and besides, he’d given no indication he wanted anything else with her.

  That’s a good thing, she reminded herself.

  She just couldn’t bear to think of how it would end. The pain of him saying he’d met someone, the light in his eyes while talking about that woman.

  “You’re quiet,” he said. “Do you really not like the tart? When you groaned, were you pretending? If so, I can eat your tart”—he pulled her plate toward him—“and then I’ll buy you the cake tomorrow.”

  Okay, no. He wasn’t getting away with this.

  “Mine,” she said, grabbing back her plate.

  “Is that so?” He lifted up a forkful of her tart.

  “David!” She couldn’t believe he’d dare to do this.

  But then he fed her the bite.

  “Of course I wouldn’t take the tart away from you,” he murmured. His breath on her cheek turned her on even more, and she made a show of licking her lips afterward.

  And even though she ate her whole calamansi tart—and enjoyed it very much—the next day, there was a knock on her door, and she opened it to find not a person, but two pastries in a box. Ensaymada? They looked like they were topped with cheese.

  She glanced down the hallway and saw the professor next door entering his unit.

  She didn’t suppress her smile.

  Chapter 23

  The following Friday afternoon, Nicole was at work when she got a most distressing text from David.

  Sorry, I can’t have dinner with you tonight. I’m sick. I stayed home from work today.

  Oh, no! How awful.

  That sucks, she replied. What do you have?

  Bad cold, I think. I’m very tired.

  Do you need anything from the pharmacy? she asked. I can pick it up on the way home.

  Actually, if you could get some Advil and throat lozenges, that would be good. If you’re sure it’s not too much trouble.

  Of course not.

  She couldn’t help feeling disappointed. Friday evening was the highlight of her week, and that wasn’t entirely because of David, but still.

  But more than anything, she felt terrible that he was sick.

  I can pick up some food for you, too, she offered. Is there some soup you’d like?

  Are you sure you don’t mind? There’s a place near us where you can get samgyetang. I’ll find the link. You can get whatever you like from there, and I’ll pay you back.

  She started typing. No worries! I want to look after you.

  She stared at the words on her phone, then deleted them.

  You don’t have to pay me back, she wrote instead. This is my week to get dinner.

  She sent the message, put her phone away, and returned to work.

  For the next hour, she worked efficiently, the thought of going home to David making her more productive than usual. She ordered the food before she left the office, then picked it up thirty-five minutes later. She quickly got the stuff from the pharmacy before heading to their building and knocking on David’s door.

  It took him longer than usual to answer. He wore pajama pants and a hoodie, and he looked awful. It pulled at something in her chest.

  She went to hug him, but he stepped back.

  “I don’t want you to get sick,” he said.

  “Okay, no hugs, but I’m staying for dinner,” she said firmly. “Then I’ll leave.”

  They sat down to eat. Nicole had gotten kimchi sujebi for herself. Samgyetang, which she’d never tried before, was ginseng chicken soup—a small whole chicken was stuffed with ginseng, garlic, rice, and other things. If he were well, she would have asked for a bite of his, but she shouldn’t be sharing his germs now, and besides, she wasn’t going to take soup from a sick person.

  After dinner, she left so he could get some rest, making him promise to tell her if he needed anything. When she got to her apartment, she planned to watch a movie, but she couldn’t fully relax.

  David still had half the samgyetang, but what else would he eat tomorrow? Canned soup? Instant noodles?

  Before she realized what she was doing, she was on the phone with her mom.

  “Can you send me your recipe for jook?”

  There were a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone.

  “Are you sick, Nicole? I can make it and bring it over for you.”

  “No, no, I’m fine.”

  “But you only eat jook when you’re sick.”

  “I know, but...”

  Oh, God. She could see the error of her ways now. It was just jook. Surely there were countless recipes online. Wasn’t it basically just boiling rice with lots of water and chicken? Not that it had to have chicken, but that was how her mom always made it.

  “You’re cooking for David, aren’t you?” Mom asked. “He’s the one who’s sick?”

  “Yes,” Nicole said sullenly. “It’s for David. Don’t you dare say this means—”

  “Of course not. I would never suggest you have something other than friendly feelings for him. Who, me?”

  “Mom, stop it. Will you give me the recipe or not?”

  “Ah, you’re so touchy. But the problem is that I don’t have the recipe written down. I’ll just have to explain it to you, okay?”

  Ten minutes later, Nicole ended the call and massaged her temples.

  What if David didn’t like jook? She could text him, but then he’d say not to trouble herself. She should make something else, too, something she knew he liked. Like the short rib soup he’d cooked in the video with Po Po. Unfortunately, the exact recipe hadn’t been posted, just brief instructions.

  She texted her cousin. Hey, do you have the galbitang recipe that David made last week? I want to cook it for him as a surprise.

  After sending the text, she cursed herself. Saying it would be “a surprise” would probably fuel everyone’s thoughts about her feelings for David.

  He’s sick, she explained. Whatever you do, don’t tell Po Po, okay?

  A few minutes later, Kelsey sent Nicole the recipe and promised not to tell anyone that Nicole was cooking for her neighbor.

  Nicole wasn’t entirely sure she believed her cousin, but what could she do at this point? Besides, could her family really tease her more than they already did?

  The answer was yes. It was always yes.

  She pushed those thoughts aside and concentrated on making her grocery list for tomorrow. She had to go grocery shopping this weekend anyway, so it wasn’t like she was going that out of her way for David. And she’d definitely keep some galbitang for herself. Plus, it was good for her to know how to make jook.

  Yep, nothing more to it than that.

  * * *

  Saturday afternoon, David woke up fr
om his two-hour nap still feeling like crap.

  He was heading to the fridge to pour himself some orange juice and figure out what to do for dinner when his phone buzzed.

  Hey, are you awake? Nicole asked. I have something to give you.

  His head felt like it was full of cotton, but he managed to type out a reply. I’m here.

  A couple of minutes later, there was a knock at his door. He opened it to reveal Nicole, who was carrying a big pot.

  “Let me put this down and I’ll go back to get the rest,” she said.

  The rest?

  She returned a minute later with another big pot, and after setting this one down, she removed both of the lids.

  One was galbitang.

  The other looked like...dakjuk? It was definitely rice porridge.

  “You made all this for me?” His voice was hoarse because of his cold. Yes, must be the reason.

  She shrugged as though it was no big deal.

  But he knew Nicole didn’t particularly enjoy cooking, though she was capable enough in the kitchen. She just enjoyed, well, eating. She wasn’t the sort of person who was always giving other people homemade food. So, the fact that she’d done this for him...

  And that was when he knew for sure.

  His feelings for Nicole weren’t going anywhere, and this gesture had given him hope. She must feel something for him, right? Even if she was adamant she didn’t want a relationship?

  Should he confess his feelings?

  Not now, of course. He wasn’t feeling well.

  Except he no longer felt quite so ill.

  Nicole seemed unsure of what to make of his silence, and she started filling it. “This is the recipe you used in the video.” She pointed to the galbitang. “I had Kelsey give it to me.” She pointed at the other pot. “This is jook with chicken.”

  “My mom made something similar when we were sick.” He pulled out two bowls and a ladle. “Thank you. I wasn’t sure what I’d eat for dinner.”

  “Why two bowls? Are you having both?”

  Oh. “I thought you were going to stay, but you don’t have to, of course, though it would be nice to have company.” He attempted to bat his crusty eyelashes, and she laughed at him.