Absolut - for chenpionships
Written for chenpionships.
Title: Absolut
For: capturedhear_t
Pairing: Jongdae/Kyungsoo
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: this is as vanilla as a shortcake.
Word count: 3.6k
Summary: The countdown to a bakery.
Notes: I could have done better. It's merely a reflection of my own rusty writing capabilities but I will store this here as a reminder to be a better writer in the future.
DAY MINUS TEN.
“So, tell me, why do you want to work for me?”
“Because you are cute!” a man better dressed for the circus answers, holding a juggling ball in hand.
Jongdae swallows.
“Because I know you pay well!” a young man dressed impeccably for a job that is not baking answers.
Jongdae is pretty sure he is opening a bakery as Kim Jongdae, not as the wayward second son of his overtly rich father and he swallows.
“Well…” the girl twirled her finger round the tips of her hair, eyes coy, and cleavage slightly low, “do you like this?”
Jongdae breathes harshly as he waves the last person out of the room, slumping over the table as the man pours the last of the juice in his cup. Perhaps advertising his name was not the best way to attract potential employees. “Yifan, does any of these people know how to bake?”
“This last one does.” Yifan nods enthusiastically as Jongdae gulps down the entire cup in a gulp, before taking a breather. His tongue sears up and his mouth dries out, as he clears his throat for the last person of the day. He frowns as he turns to look at his assistant, whose expression stays frigid, those annoying eyebrows perking up high above his eyes, and it hits him.
“This isn’t orange--”
“So hello Do Kyungsoo, welcome to our interview! You are hired!” Yifan announces, and Jongdae turns again to the door, to see the said man coming in and sitting down across him. Jongdae huffs, looking away and crossing his arms. His head is feeling more than heavy right now, more reasons than one, and he can feel Yifan snickering in a corner.
“Jongdae, it’s been a while.”
“What are you doing here?” Jongdae murmurs, leaning his head to his side to stop the sudden grogginess on his frame.
“You know everything about me, why did you ask?” Kyungsoo answers lightly, eyes trained on the other.
“This is an interview, please be serious.” Jongdae answers, his eyes wrinkling, lips tight, and head throbbing.
“I want to work in Korea, to support my talents for my motherland after studying all these years abroad.” Pause. “Also because I know you are opening this bakery.”
Jongdae breathes in slightly harshly. “Did Yifan tell you about it?”
“Kris.”
“Yifan.” Jongdae swung his arms sideways when he turned to look at his assistant, whose footsteps shrink just a step backwards. “Why are you interrupting when I am in the middle of interviewing a candidate?”
“But Jongdae, you said you will call me Kris when there’s other people around.” Kris answers simply, and Jongdae’s frown deepens at the mischievous twinkle in the other’s eye. “And I only sent Kyungsoo an email telling him you are opening a bakery and couldn’t hire the perfect pâtissier who could stand your temper-“
“He’s part of our bakery now, he can bear it.” Huffily, he turns back to the other, who perks up at his words, his composure straightening in delight. “You call him Kris though. Only I get to call him Yifan.” Jongdae stands up, trying to shake that blush off his cheeks as he leans over the table to shake the other’s outstretched hand.
“Thank you.” Kyungsoo smiles brightly, his lips tucking upwards, his hand remains as warm as Jongdae remember it, and he pulls away huffily before falling back on his chair.
“So, Kyungsoo, you will start tomorrow, and I’ll tell you more of the details regarding this bakery...” Yifan is already in business mode, taking a folder and murmuring, pushing his glasses up as Kyungsoo stands beside him, nodding properly and listening, both of them exiting without more of a glance. Once the room is clear, Jongdae quickly reaches for that innocuous looking orange and sniffs it, making a face.
DAY MINUS EIGHT.
“So, we need a waiter.” Yifan comments as Kyungsoo and Jongdae sit down for their (first) weekly meeting in Yifan’s office, the same place where they hired Kyungsoo as the bakery is still under construction. Jongdae briefly wonders why on earth his assistant is making the entrepreneurial decisions instead of him. Why is there knocking at the door?
“I’m the waiter.” Jongdae protests.
“I agree.” Kyungsoo answers. “Jongdae can’t even tell the difference between orange juice and orange vodka.”
“Hey!” Jongdae protests again.
“Jongdae, you thought Absolute Orange was a special brand of orange juice. So, I was thinking that this extra addition can also be your assistant in the kitchen, since we are expecting a lot of customers to come in and your efforts alone may not be enough to supply the demands.” His assistant answers, opening his folder and taking out a notebook. “I have put up the ads to look for the best person.”
“You didn’t ask me!” Jongdae raises his voice, but no one acknowledge him and he slumps back on the chair grumbling. He turns to look at the door for a bit. The knocking stops, so he turned back to stare at his employees.
“And have we seen any persons?” Kyungsoo asks in interest, looking at the papers Yifan is pulling out, and Jongdae shoots him a stare. He does not like this.
“I believe I do. This man right here, Kim Junmyeon, he’s graduated from a Korean bakery institute and has at least three years of experience...”
“Too pretty.” Jongdae comments at the picture, a face of disgust. Kyungsoo and Yifan turns back to look at him, as if he has only just been there. There is a moment of silence, and the knocking increases. Jongdae frowns. Why is no one heeding the door?
“Okay.” Yifan coughs, flipping to the next page. “Well, the next candidate I find good is Kim Jongin, he’s fairly young, but he has a lot of waiter experiences under his belt and he’s very quick to learn…”
“Why does he have a semi-nude picture in your folder?” Jongdae blinks.
Yifan has the audacity to blush. “Well, he moonlights as an underwear model.”
Jongdae stands up and waves his hand. “No, this will not do. I need someone serious.”
“He is serious!” Kyungsoo answers this time, also blushing. “I mean, I seen the photo shoots he did. He is serious.”
“No, no, no!” Jongdae shakes his head, and walks to the door, slowly unlocking it. The knocking is driving him mad. A sharp face is peering inside through the window, waving frantically. “Who is this?”
“Oh, he’s--” Yifan begins.
“I’m Park Chanyeol!” The gangly man grins, walking into the middle of the room, bowing to everyone. Jongdae jumps back when the other’s hair swish to his direction. “I’m here to be your new waiter!”
“--that’s your third option.” Yifan finishes. “Park Chanyeol, eager puppy with a love of cakes, he’s very charming to the ladies and is a definite asset.”
“Yifan!” Chanyeol calls, coming over and squishing the man in a head hug. Yifan beams.
Yifan never beams. This is bad, Jongdae thinks.
“You call him Kris!” Jongdae retorts. “Only I call him Yifan!”
“So, Yifan, you and Chanyeol know each other?” Kyungsoo asks enthusiastically, and Chanyeol smiles.
“Kyungsoo, not you too!”
“We are from the same school in Canada!” Chanyeol grins. “Before he left to go to Korea and become an assistant to some midget--”
“I am NOT a midget! Yifan tell him that!”
“-but then he contacted me last week saying he needs a waiter for a bakery and I thought, why not offer myself? So I flew in here at the first available flight.”
“That is so nice of you!” Kyungsoo beams, and Jongdae frowns deeper. “So, I heard you like cakes?”
“Yes I do!” Chanyeol beams in return, flashing a pair of bright white teeth, and all the sudden brightness in the room is too much for Jongdae to bear. “I did take some baking lessons before in college, but I’m really rusty now and I thought, why don’t I learn some from you, master pâtissier who graduated from Le Cordon Bleu and had offers at Ladurée and Pierre Hermé but chose to work in some small Korean bakery instead?”
“At least someone appreciates my presence.” Kyungsoo announces louder than normal to Jongdae’s direction before turning back to Chanyeol and smiles. “I like you.”
“What do you mean, you like him?” Jongdae protests, stalking up right back to the table and glaring at Chanyeol. “I don’t like you.”
Chanyeol makes a kicked puppy face, eyebrows furrowed, lower lip jutting out, and Jongdae sputters.
Kyungsoo grins.
“I like you too Chanyeol, and don’t you worry Jongdae, Kyungsoo is all yours.” Yifan comments as Chanyeol sling his arms around the glasses-clad man again. “So we will hire him then?”
Kyungsoo nods and gives two thumbs up as Chanyeol rubs his cheek against Yifan’s hair. Jongdae is flabbergasted.
“Is no one going to ask for my opinion?”
DAY MINUS FIVE.
Today Jongdae is seated across the table with Chanyeol, looking up at the serious Kyungsoo who was writing something on a whiteboard in Yifan office in Jongdae’s father’s building on the other side of the table. Yifan is somewhere out, looking at progress of their bakery.
(Jongdae wonders when he will see his bakery. Yifan refuses to let him see the construction, on the basis that “a rich young boy like yourself is not used to messy sites like that”, and Jongdae conceded. He doesn’t even know where the bakery is and he has staff. How strange.)
Chanyeol looked like a dog with his tongue hanging halfway out of his mouth. Jongdae chooses to ignore the rabid expression and instead looked down on the papers Kyungsoo gave them.
“They’re in English.”
“French.” Kyungsoo comments. “These are basic French pastries and cakes I learned back in school.”
“I can’t read them.” Jongdae comments again.
“I included the hangul by the side, per Yifan’s orders.” Kyungsoo answers coolly, and turns back to the board. “So if you two are to be waiters, I need you two to at learn the menu. This is only a third of what I had planned, but we can go slow and learn more as we go.”
“Question.” Jongdae raises a hand, and Kyungsoo turns to look at him.
“You can only ask if I say you can ask.”
“Oh, kinky.” Chanyeol teases, and Jongdae scowls at his direction.
“What’s the question though?” Kyungsoo asks, leaning over the table, and Jongdae sees his thick eyelashes. He gulps.
“I have a question.” Chanyeol asks, and Kyungsoo turns to his direction instead. “I know that your specialty is macarons and profiteroles, but I don’t see them here.”
“I like the depth of research you put in understanding my background.” Kyungsoo smiles, and Jongdae pouts. “I definitely will add those to the menu later.”
Chanyeol nods, and Kyungsoo turns back to look at Jongdae.
“So, your question.”
Jongdae shakes his head quickly, and Kyungsoo looks disappointed for a moment, before going back to the board.
“I’m going to teach you the basics of the pastries first, and we will move on from there. Understood?”
Chanyeol’s enthusiasm rubs off so wrongly against Jongdae’s grumpiness, and he keeps looking at Kyungsoo’s back, but the other did not turn back any more.
DAY MINUS THREE.
“Flour.”
“Check.”
“Water.”
“Check.”
“Butter.”
“Check.”
“Eggs?”
“Che-shit.”
Kyungsoo folds his arms and eyeing Jongdae sideways, shakes his head with the stare of his, pursing his lips in a light curl of what Jongdae judges as smugness. The man grumbles unwillingly as he scribbles it down his list. Kyungsoo takes out the spare container of eggs from the cabinet and cracks one into the bowl in ease, picking up a spatula and mixing it with the natural ease he always had.
They are currently in the kitchen of Kyungsoo’s friend, Baekhyun’s bakery, as Kyungsoo decided from the class a few days earlier that Jongdae has almost zero absorbing skills and needs more of a hands on teacher. Whereas Chanyeol has memorized the menu and the ingredients in the cakes, Jongdae has only remembered that Chanyeol’s stupid face is rubbing off on Yifan and Kyungsoo and he dislikes it. (He hates it even more that Kyungsoo announced his lack of pastry comprehension to Yifan and Chanyeol’s faces when they are eating dinner and caused them to choke. He really is not that bad!)
“Is that why you dropped out of high school? Because of your bad memory?” Jongdae scratches his ear with the stub of his pencil in frustration, side eyeing Kyungsoo who’s not looking at him as he speak. “Or is it because you have no patience whatsoever?”
“Wrong on both accounts.” Jongdae answers huffily.
“Well, you need to start recognizing the cakes, at least. I can’t have you going around messing orders because you cannot even tell me which cakes have fruit in them and telling them with colors instead.” Kyungsoo murmurs, now done with the egg mixture and moving to sifting the flour.
“I will.” Jongdae squints at the unmade flour bowl as if by sheer eye power alone, a cake will pop out.
“Firstly, you have to treat the cakes as your babies.” Kyungsoo answers serenely, carefully making sure all the rough unrefined flour beads stay in the sifter instead of the bowl. “If they feel your love, they will surely become the best cake ever.”
“You’re a nutjob.” Jongdae comments, eyeing Kyungsoo with slight suspicion. “No wonder you aced all your classes in school.”
“I just love baking.” Kyungsoo raises a finger, and smiles. “Also who’s the nutjob who couldn’t even tell when Yifan has been pouring you orange vodka all day during the interviews instead of juice?”
“Kris.” Jongdae sullenly replies. He still hadn’t punish the other, mostly because of Yifan’s expertise in making those darn cute faces.
“So, Yifan said you have good alcohol tolerance, and I didn’t believe it until it was my turn and the entire orange vodka was finished.” Kyungsoo mutters, adding the eggs into the flour bowl and start mixing.
“How do you know Yifan anyway?” Jongdae murmurs.
“Yifan’s cousin Yixing was in school with us, remember? He came one summer to visit Yixing and met us.”
“I remember that, he even gifted all of us with plushies when he left.” Jongdae mumbles, looking at the slightly rough-looking mix. “You left too, that fall.”
Kyungsoo’s hand drops, and he looked at the other, eyes judging. “Is this why you have such a grudge on me?”
“I do not have a grudge on you!” Jongdae exclaims, his eyes round and wide.
“But you are being very irrational and cold to me, ever since I came back.” Kyungsoo mutters and he turns to look at him. “I thought we were good friends back then.”
“Good friends don’t leave without telling each other plans.” Jongdae answer back.
“You was so excited on us finishing last year together that I couldn’t find the heart to tell you that I got an offer from my dream school.”
Jongdae deflates and he whispers. “You could have just told me.”
A hand reaches for Jongdae’s cheek, and he does not know when he can see the other so clearly. Kyungsoo’s eyes are sharp and bright, bright pink tongue darting along his lip, and Jongdae swallows. Where is that vodka when he needed it?
“If I had told you, I couldn’t have left. But I came back, didn’t I?” Kyungsoo whispers, and Jongdae blinks as the other turns back to look at the mixture, coughing loudly. “So, this is really all we need for a simple sponge cake. I’m going to put this in the oven.”
Kyungsoo leaves the sudden closed in space Jongdae belatedly realized they were in, and he shakily takes up his phone to see the reflection.
A flour mark was on his cheek where Kyungsoo has touched him, and he wonders if it is too late at all.
DAY MINUS ONE.
“So, is everyone ready?” The smiley giant grin happily as he adjusts the button one last time, before running over to join the other three people in front of the camera. The construction turned out nicely, and Jongdae is proud when Yifan had brought them to tour the bakery. Kyungsoo exclaims delight at the size of the kitchen, and Chanyeol gave a thumbs up at the inclusion of a tiny music box by the corner. Everyone was pleased, and Jongdae was pleased as well.
“No. Never.” Jongdae grumpily complains, tugging a bit at his bowtie, only to be quickly slapped away by Yifan. Jongdae turns around to glare at the tall man, before Kyungsoo steer his face back to the camera with a tap on his cheek lightly. The flash snaps.
Intervals of two seconds as they take another picture, stiff in position. Jongdae’s lips curves into a crooked cat-like smile, his best attempt of a smile, as Kyungsoo smiles in that heart shaped lips of his, Chanyeol doing his best impression of an idiot and Yifan well, being Yifan.
“We all look like a family!” Chanyeol smiles happily as he runs over to the camera once the photo session is over, looking at the photos through the pathfinder. Yifan’s nose twitches as Chanyeol continues to exclaim happiness at one pictures to the next. Jongdae takes a deep sigh as he looks at Kyungsoo, whose smile remained on his face.
“Does that make Kyungsoo and Jongdae our parents?” Yifan asks, and Jongdae blinks, turning to stare at the duo. Yifan quickly ducks behind Chanyeol at the glare from the bakery shop owner and Kyungsoo reaches to squeeze his hand.
“Doesn’t that make you happy?”
Jongdae blinks again at Kyungsoo, and he does not mind the beam the other was radiating, because it was channeling at him.
He suddenly feel like he understood a lot of things.
“So, we will put this up at the bakery when it opens and everyone is going to love us!” Chanyeol chatters excitedly to Yifan, who nods and beams at the other (no seriously, Jongdae thought, frowning; the latter is too sunshine-y lately it is starting to creep him out) and Kyungsoo steps by his side.
“Are you nervous?”
Jongdae takes a deep breath. “Do you know I opened this bakery just so on a chance, you will come back?”
Kyungsoo laughs at the question and hums. “Well, Yifan did tell me about your abrupt decision to quit your father’s conglomerate.”
Jongdae huffs. “He tells you everything and I don’t know half of what’s going on.”
Kyungsoo smiles and looks over, and Jongdae turns over too, to see Chanyeol hugging Yifan’s shoulder rather tightly.
“You’re just very dense.” With a smirk, Kyungsoo walks back to join the rest of the crew, leaving Jongdae blinking a few times.
Yifan is the one to gesture him over. “Jongdae, come over and look at this full portrait!”
Jongdae sighs and moves over to the group, and he looks up at Chanyeol’s excited face, Yifan’s smug smile and Kyungsoo’s hand linking to his arm, holding him tight, and Jongdae releases the breath he is holding.
DAY MINUS FIFTEEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTY.
The boy preps his glasses and let it perch carefully on his nose bridge, heart beating very hard against his ribcage. He coughs a bit and walks up the ledge where the other boy was waiting, eyes bright and lips curled up in hearts.
“Soo.” Jongdae begins, a small word passing his lips as he passes the box to his best friend. “This is for you.”
Kyungsoo smiles broadly, his eyes twinkling as he takes the box and opens it. “Profiteroles!”
“Your favorite.” Jongdae grins, as his best friend takes one of the chocolate crème and tucks it into his mouth.
“One day, I will make one for you.” Kyungsoo answers softly as he feeds one to Jongdae who takes it happily. “I promise.”
“I don’t need profiteroles, not when I have my best friend!” Jongdae loops a hand around the other’s shoulder, leaning in close to lean his forehead on the other’s hair. He misses Kyungsoo’s gasp, and just tightens his arm. “We’re going to spend last year of high school together right?”
He misses Kyungsoo’s answer of a whisper and instead just decides to hold him close, pouting a little when he thought he heard no answer.
“Soo?”
Soo’s blinks at him, and contorts a bit in discomfort and Jongdae pulls away, suddenly aware that he had probably touched his friend a little too closely. “I think we should go meet up with Yifan and Yixing.”
“Oh, right.” Jongdae grins sheepishly and pats Kyungsoo’s shoulder instead. “We should go.” He offers his hand to his best friend, tilting his head a bit in invitation, and the other steps forward.
Kyungsoo shyly intertwines their fingers, and Jongdae’s grin widen even more.
Extras.
DAY MINUS THREE SIXTY FIVE.
“So, my dad hired you to become my personal assistant?” Jongdae asks cautiously, as Yifan steps into the room, notebook in hand and serious face plaster on his face.
“Yes, he did. Mr. Kim looked through all your contacts and decided that I’m the best person to assist you in your future endeavors.” Yifan sits down across him in the table.
“Oh-no. It must be the Canadian factor isn’t it?” Jongdae furrows his eyebrows and Yifan’s expression only gave him the affirmative. “I know English too!”
“I heard from your father that you cannot even differentiate German and Dutch.” Yifan answers simply, and he shuts up. “So, I am to assist you in possibly every aspect of your life, minus your personal needs, and make sure you end up a successful adult.”
“I am a successful adult!” Jongdae huffs, and Yifan snorts.
“For starters, you will call me Kris.”
“Why Kris? You’re Yifan.”
“It sounds more international. Mr. Kim’s orders. Although of course, you can call me Yifan in private.” Yifan mutters in that low tone and permanent angry face of his, and Jongdae briefly wonders if the other even smiles. “So, what is the first order of the day?”
Title: Absolut
For: capturedhear_t
Pairing: Jongdae/Kyungsoo
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: this is as vanilla as a shortcake.
Word count: 3.6k
Summary: The countdown to a bakery.
Notes: I could have done better. It's merely a reflection of my own rusty writing capabilities but I will store this here as a reminder to be a better writer in the future.
DAY MINUS TEN.
“So, tell me, why do you want to work for me?”
“Because you are cute!” a man better dressed for the circus answers, holding a juggling ball in hand.
Jongdae swallows.
“Because I know you pay well!” a young man dressed impeccably for a job that is not baking answers.
Jongdae is pretty sure he is opening a bakery as Kim Jongdae, not as the wayward second son of his overtly rich father and he swallows.
“Well…” the girl twirled her finger round the tips of her hair, eyes coy, and cleavage slightly low, “do you like this?”
Jongdae breathes harshly as he waves the last person out of the room, slumping over the table as the man pours the last of the juice in his cup. Perhaps advertising his name was not the best way to attract potential employees. “Yifan, does any of these people know how to bake?”
“This last one does.” Yifan nods enthusiastically as Jongdae gulps down the entire cup in a gulp, before taking a breather. His tongue sears up and his mouth dries out, as he clears his throat for the last person of the day. He frowns as he turns to look at his assistant, whose expression stays frigid, those annoying eyebrows perking up high above his eyes, and it hits him.
“This isn’t orange--”
“So hello Do Kyungsoo, welcome to our interview! You are hired!” Yifan announces, and Jongdae turns again to the door, to see the said man coming in and sitting down across him. Jongdae huffs, looking away and crossing his arms. His head is feeling more than heavy right now, more reasons than one, and he can feel Yifan snickering in a corner.
“Jongdae, it’s been a while.”
“What are you doing here?” Jongdae murmurs, leaning his head to his side to stop the sudden grogginess on his frame.
“You know everything about me, why did you ask?” Kyungsoo answers lightly, eyes trained on the other.
“This is an interview, please be serious.” Jongdae answers, his eyes wrinkling, lips tight, and head throbbing.
“I want to work in Korea, to support my talents for my motherland after studying all these years abroad.” Pause. “Also because I know you are opening this bakery.”
Jongdae breathes in slightly harshly. “Did Yifan tell you about it?”
“Kris.”
“Yifan.” Jongdae swung his arms sideways when he turned to look at his assistant, whose footsteps shrink just a step backwards. “Why are you interrupting when I am in the middle of interviewing a candidate?”
“But Jongdae, you said you will call me Kris when there’s other people around.” Kris answers simply, and Jongdae’s frown deepens at the mischievous twinkle in the other’s eye. “And I only sent Kyungsoo an email telling him you are opening a bakery and couldn’t hire the perfect pâtissier who could stand your temper-“
“He’s part of our bakery now, he can bear it.” Huffily, he turns back to the other, who perks up at his words, his composure straightening in delight. “You call him Kris though. Only I get to call him Yifan.” Jongdae stands up, trying to shake that blush off his cheeks as he leans over the table to shake the other’s outstretched hand.
“Thank you.” Kyungsoo smiles brightly, his lips tucking upwards, his hand remains as warm as Jongdae remember it, and he pulls away huffily before falling back on his chair.
“So, Kyungsoo, you will start tomorrow, and I’ll tell you more of the details regarding this bakery...” Yifan is already in business mode, taking a folder and murmuring, pushing his glasses up as Kyungsoo stands beside him, nodding properly and listening, both of them exiting without more of a glance. Once the room is clear, Jongdae quickly reaches for that innocuous looking orange and sniffs it, making a face.
DAY MINUS EIGHT.
“So, we need a waiter.” Yifan comments as Kyungsoo and Jongdae sit down for their (first) weekly meeting in Yifan’s office, the same place where they hired Kyungsoo as the bakery is still under construction. Jongdae briefly wonders why on earth his assistant is making the entrepreneurial decisions instead of him. Why is there knocking at the door?
“I’m the waiter.” Jongdae protests.
“I agree.” Kyungsoo answers. “Jongdae can’t even tell the difference between orange juice and orange vodka.”
“Hey!” Jongdae protests again.
“Jongdae, you thought Absolute Orange was a special brand of orange juice. So, I was thinking that this extra addition can also be your assistant in the kitchen, since we are expecting a lot of customers to come in and your efforts alone may not be enough to supply the demands.” His assistant answers, opening his folder and taking out a notebook. “I have put up the ads to look for the best person.”
“You didn’t ask me!” Jongdae raises his voice, but no one acknowledge him and he slumps back on the chair grumbling. He turns to look at the door for a bit. The knocking stops, so he turned back to stare at his employees.
“And have we seen any persons?” Kyungsoo asks in interest, looking at the papers Yifan is pulling out, and Jongdae shoots him a stare. He does not like this.
“I believe I do. This man right here, Kim Junmyeon, he’s graduated from a Korean bakery institute and has at least three years of experience...”
“Too pretty.” Jongdae comments at the picture, a face of disgust. Kyungsoo and Yifan turns back to look at him, as if he has only just been there. There is a moment of silence, and the knocking increases. Jongdae frowns. Why is no one heeding the door?
“Okay.” Yifan coughs, flipping to the next page. “Well, the next candidate I find good is Kim Jongin, he’s fairly young, but he has a lot of waiter experiences under his belt and he’s very quick to learn…”
“Why does he have a semi-nude picture in your folder?” Jongdae blinks.
Yifan has the audacity to blush. “Well, he moonlights as an underwear model.”
Jongdae stands up and waves his hand. “No, this will not do. I need someone serious.”
“He is serious!” Kyungsoo answers this time, also blushing. “I mean, I seen the photo shoots he did. He is serious.”
“No, no, no!” Jongdae shakes his head, and walks to the door, slowly unlocking it. The knocking is driving him mad. A sharp face is peering inside through the window, waving frantically. “Who is this?”
“Oh, he’s--” Yifan begins.
“I’m Park Chanyeol!” The gangly man grins, walking into the middle of the room, bowing to everyone. Jongdae jumps back when the other’s hair swish to his direction. “I’m here to be your new waiter!”
“--that’s your third option.” Yifan finishes. “Park Chanyeol, eager puppy with a love of cakes, he’s very charming to the ladies and is a definite asset.”
“Yifan!” Chanyeol calls, coming over and squishing the man in a head hug. Yifan beams.
Yifan never beams. This is bad, Jongdae thinks.
“You call him Kris!” Jongdae retorts. “Only I call him Yifan!”
“So, Yifan, you and Chanyeol know each other?” Kyungsoo asks enthusiastically, and Chanyeol smiles.
“Kyungsoo, not you too!”
“We are from the same school in Canada!” Chanyeol grins. “Before he left to go to Korea and become an assistant to some midget--”
“I am NOT a midget! Yifan tell him that!”
“-but then he contacted me last week saying he needs a waiter for a bakery and I thought, why not offer myself? So I flew in here at the first available flight.”
“That is so nice of you!” Kyungsoo beams, and Jongdae frowns deeper. “So, I heard you like cakes?”
“Yes I do!” Chanyeol beams in return, flashing a pair of bright white teeth, and all the sudden brightness in the room is too much for Jongdae to bear. “I did take some baking lessons before in college, but I’m really rusty now and I thought, why don’t I learn some from you, master pâtissier who graduated from Le Cordon Bleu and had offers at Ladurée and Pierre Hermé but chose to work in some small Korean bakery instead?”
“At least someone appreciates my presence.” Kyungsoo announces louder than normal to Jongdae’s direction before turning back to Chanyeol and smiles. “I like you.”
“What do you mean, you like him?” Jongdae protests, stalking up right back to the table and glaring at Chanyeol. “I don’t like you.”
Chanyeol makes a kicked puppy face, eyebrows furrowed, lower lip jutting out, and Jongdae sputters.
Kyungsoo grins.
“I like you too Chanyeol, and don’t you worry Jongdae, Kyungsoo is all yours.” Yifan comments as Chanyeol sling his arms around the glasses-clad man again. “So we will hire him then?”
Kyungsoo nods and gives two thumbs up as Chanyeol rubs his cheek against Yifan’s hair. Jongdae is flabbergasted.
“Is no one going to ask for my opinion?”
DAY MINUS FIVE.
Today Jongdae is seated across the table with Chanyeol, looking up at the serious Kyungsoo who was writing something on a whiteboard in Yifan office in Jongdae’s father’s building on the other side of the table. Yifan is somewhere out, looking at progress of their bakery.
(Jongdae wonders when he will see his bakery. Yifan refuses to let him see the construction, on the basis that “a rich young boy like yourself is not used to messy sites like that”, and Jongdae conceded. He doesn’t even know where the bakery is and he has staff. How strange.)
Chanyeol looked like a dog with his tongue hanging halfway out of his mouth. Jongdae chooses to ignore the rabid expression and instead looked down on the papers Kyungsoo gave them.
“They’re in English.”
“French.” Kyungsoo comments. “These are basic French pastries and cakes I learned back in school.”
“I can’t read them.” Jongdae comments again.
“I included the hangul by the side, per Yifan’s orders.” Kyungsoo answers coolly, and turns back to the board. “So if you two are to be waiters, I need you two to at learn the menu. This is only a third of what I had planned, but we can go slow and learn more as we go.”
“Question.” Jongdae raises a hand, and Kyungsoo turns to look at him.
“You can only ask if I say you can ask.”
“Oh, kinky.” Chanyeol teases, and Jongdae scowls at his direction.
“What’s the question though?” Kyungsoo asks, leaning over the table, and Jongdae sees his thick eyelashes. He gulps.
“I have a question.” Chanyeol asks, and Kyungsoo turns to his direction instead. “I know that your specialty is macarons and profiteroles, but I don’t see them here.”
“I like the depth of research you put in understanding my background.” Kyungsoo smiles, and Jongdae pouts. “I definitely will add those to the menu later.”
Chanyeol nods, and Kyungsoo turns back to look at Jongdae.
“So, your question.”
Jongdae shakes his head quickly, and Kyungsoo looks disappointed for a moment, before going back to the board.
“I’m going to teach you the basics of the pastries first, and we will move on from there. Understood?”
Chanyeol’s enthusiasm rubs off so wrongly against Jongdae’s grumpiness, and he keeps looking at Kyungsoo’s back, but the other did not turn back any more.
DAY MINUS THREE.
“Flour.”
“Check.”
“Water.”
“Check.”
“Butter.”
“Check.”
“Eggs?”
“Che-shit.”
Kyungsoo folds his arms and eyeing Jongdae sideways, shakes his head with the stare of his, pursing his lips in a light curl of what Jongdae judges as smugness. The man grumbles unwillingly as he scribbles it down his list. Kyungsoo takes out the spare container of eggs from the cabinet and cracks one into the bowl in ease, picking up a spatula and mixing it with the natural ease he always had.
They are currently in the kitchen of Kyungsoo’s friend, Baekhyun’s bakery, as Kyungsoo decided from the class a few days earlier that Jongdae has almost zero absorbing skills and needs more of a hands on teacher. Whereas Chanyeol has memorized the menu and the ingredients in the cakes, Jongdae has only remembered that Chanyeol’s stupid face is rubbing off on Yifan and Kyungsoo and he dislikes it. (He hates it even more that Kyungsoo announced his lack of pastry comprehension to Yifan and Chanyeol’s faces when they are eating dinner and caused them to choke. He really is not that bad!)
“Is that why you dropped out of high school? Because of your bad memory?” Jongdae scratches his ear with the stub of his pencil in frustration, side eyeing Kyungsoo who’s not looking at him as he speak. “Or is it because you have no patience whatsoever?”
“Wrong on both accounts.” Jongdae answers huffily.
“Well, you need to start recognizing the cakes, at least. I can’t have you going around messing orders because you cannot even tell me which cakes have fruit in them and telling them with colors instead.” Kyungsoo murmurs, now done with the egg mixture and moving to sifting the flour.
“I will.” Jongdae squints at the unmade flour bowl as if by sheer eye power alone, a cake will pop out.
“Firstly, you have to treat the cakes as your babies.” Kyungsoo answers serenely, carefully making sure all the rough unrefined flour beads stay in the sifter instead of the bowl. “If they feel your love, they will surely become the best cake ever.”
“You’re a nutjob.” Jongdae comments, eyeing Kyungsoo with slight suspicion. “No wonder you aced all your classes in school.”
“I just love baking.” Kyungsoo raises a finger, and smiles. “Also who’s the nutjob who couldn’t even tell when Yifan has been pouring you orange vodka all day during the interviews instead of juice?”
“Kris.” Jongdae sullenly replies. He still hadn’t punish the other, mostly because of Yifan’s expertise in making those darn cute faces.
“So, Yifan said you have good alcohol tolerance, and I didn’t believe it until it was my turn and the entire orange vodka was finished.” Kyungsoo mutters, adding the eggs into the flour bowl and start mixing.
“How do you know Yifan anyway?” Jongdae murmurs.
“Yifan’s cousin Yixing was in school with us, remember? He came one summer to visit Yixing and met us.”
“I remember that, he even gifted all of us with plushies when he left.” Jongdae mumbles, looking at the slightly rough-looking mix. “You left too, that fall.”
Kyungsoo’s hand drops, and he looked at the other, eyes judging. “Is this why you have such a grudge on me?”
“I do not have a grudge on you!” Jongdae exclaims, his eyes round and wide.
“But you are being very irrational and cold to me, ever since I came back.” Kyungsoo mutters and he turns to look at him. “I thought we were good friends back then.”
“Good friends don’t leave without telling each other plans.” Jongdae answer back.
“You was so excited on us finishing last year together that I couldn’t find the heart to tell you that I got an offer from my dream school.”
Jongdae deflates and he whispers. “You could have just told me.”
A hand reaches for Jongdae’s cheek, and he does not know when he can see the other so clearly. Kyungsoo’s eyes are sharp and bright, bright pink tongue darting along his lip, and Jongdae swallows. Where is that vodka when he needed it?
“If I had told you, I couldn’t have left. But I came back, didn’t I?” Kyungsoo whispers, and Jongdae blinks as the other turns back to look at the mixture, coughing loudly. “So, this is really all we need for a simple sponge cake. I’m going to put this in the oven.”
Kyungsoo leaves the sudden closed in space Jongdae belatedly realized they were in, and he shakily takes up his phone to see the reflection.
A flour mark was on his cheek where Kyungsoo has touched him, and he wonders if it is too late at all.
DAY MINUS ONE.
“So, is everyone ready?” The smiley giant grin happily as he adjusts the button one last time, before running over to join the other three people in front of the camera. The construction turned out nicely, and Jongdae is proud when Yifan had brought them to tour the bakery. Kyungsoo exclaims delight at the size of the kitchen, and Chanyeol gave a thumbs up at the inclusion of a tiny music box by the corner. Everyone was pleased, and Jongdae was pleased as well.
“No. Never.” Jongdae grumpily complains, tugging a bit at his bowtie, only to be quickly slapped away by Yifan. Jongdae turns around to glare at the tall man, before Kyungsoo steer his face back to the camera with a tap on his cheek lightly. The flash snaps.
Intervals of two seconds as they take another picture, stiff in position. Jongdae’s lips curves into a crooked cat-like smile, his best attempt of a smile, as Kyungsoo smiles in that heart shaped lips of his, Chanyeol doing his best impression of an idiot and Yifan well, being Yifan.
“We all look like a family!” Chanyeol smiles happily as he runs over to the camera once the photo session is over, looking at the photos through the pathfinder. Yifan’s nose twitches as Chanyeol continues to exclaim happiness at one pictures to the next. Jongdae takes a deep sigh as he looks at Kyungsoo, whose smile remained on his face.
“Does that make Kyungsoo and Jongdae our parents?” Yifan asks, and Jongdae blinks, turning to stare at the duo. Yifan quickly ducks behind Chanyeol at the glare from the bakery shop owner and Kyungsoo reaches to squeeze his hand.
“Doesn’t that make you happy?”
Jongdae blinks again at Kyungsoo, and he does not mind the beam the other was radiating, because it was channeling at him.
He suddenly feel like he understood a lot of things.
“So, we will put this up at the bakery when it opens and everyone is going to love us!” Chanyeol chatters excitedly to Yifan, who nods and beams at the other (no seriously, Jongdae thought, frowning; the latter is too sunshine-y lately it is starting to creep him out) and Kyungsoo steps by his side.
“Are you nervous?”
Jongdae takes a deep breath. “Do you know I opened this bakery just so on a chance, you will come back?”
Kyungsoo laughs at the question and hums. “Well, Yifan did tell me about your abrupt decision to quit your father’s conglomerate.”
Jongdae huffs. “He tells you everything and I don’t know half of what’s going on.”
Kyungsoo smiles and looks over, and Jongdae turns over too, to see Chanyeol hugging Yifan’s shoulder rather tightly.
“You’re just very dense.” With a smirk, Kyungsoo walks back to join the rest of the crew, leaving Jongdae blinking a few times.
Yifan is the one to gesture him over. “Jongdae, come over and look at this full portrait!”
Jongdae sighs and moves over to the group, and he looks up at Chanyeol’s excited face, Yifan’s smug smile and Kyungsoo’s hand linking to his arm, holding him tight, and Jongdae releases the breath he is holding.
DAY MINUS FIFTEEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTY.
The boy preps his glasses and let it perch carefully on his nose bridge, heart beating very hard against his ribcage. He coughs a bit and walks up the ledge where the other boy was waiting, eyes bright and lips curled up in hearts.
“Soo.” Jongdae begins, a small word passing his lips as he passes the box to his best friend. “This is for you.”
Kyungsoo smiles broadly, his eyes twinkling as he takes the box and opens it. “Profiteroles!”
“Your favorite.” Jongdae grins, as his best friend takes one of the chocolate crème and tucks it into his mouth.
“One day, I will make one for you.” Kyungsoo answers softly as he feeds one to Jongdae who takes it happily. “I promise.”
“I don’t need profiteroles, not when I have my best friend!” Jongdae loops a hand around the other’s shoulder, leaning in close to lean his forehead on the other’s hair. He misses Kyungsoo’s gasp, and just tightens his arm. “We’re going to spend last year of high school together right?”
He misses Kyungsoo’s answer of a whisper and instead just decides to hold him close, pouting a little when he thought he heard no answer.
“Soo?”
Soo’s blinks at him, and contorts a bit in discomfort and Jongdae pulls away, suddenly aware that he had probably touched his friend a little too closely. “I think we should go meet up with Yifan and Yixing.”
“Oh, right.” Jongdae grins sheepishly and pats Kyungsoo’s shoulder instead. “We should go.” He offers his hand to his best friend, tilting his head a bit in invitation, and the other steps forward.
Kyungsoo shyly intertwines their fingers, and Jongdae’s grin widen even more.
Extras.
DAY MINUS THREE SIXTY FIVE.
“So, my dad hired you to become my personal assistant?” Jongdae asks cautiously, as Yifan steps into the room, notebook in hand and serious face plaster on his face.
“Yes, he did. Mr. Kim looked through all your contacts and decided that I’m the best person to assist you in your future endeavors.” Yifan sits down across him in the table.
“Oh-no. It must be the Canadian factor isn’t it?” Jongdae furrows his eyebrows and Yifan’s expression only gave him the affirmative. “I know English too!”
“I heard from your father that you cannot even differentiate German and Dutch.” Yifan answers simply, and he shuts up. “So, I am to assist you in possibly every aspect of your life, minus your personal needs, and make sure you end up a successful adult.”
“I am a successful adult!” Jongdae huffs, and Yifan snorts.
“For starters, you will call me Kris.”
“Why Kris? You’re Yifan.”
“It sounds more international. Mr. Kim’s orders. Although of course, you can call me Yifan in private.” Yifan mutters in that low tone and permanent angry face of his, and Jongdae briefly wonders if the other even smiles. “So, what is the first order of the day?”