A/N: This chapter does not progress the story, just a little thing I wrote because I know that I haven't updated for a couple weeks. This scene is taken out from last chapter, where Sungjae brought ingredients to try to bake a cake with Joy. There is also a little backstory on Sungjae's love life, nothing big. C:

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Sungjae had never stayed over at anyone’s house before. Not even a friend’s. But he was surely glad that he could experience it for the first time with his newfound friend, Joy. Secretly, she too, was happy that he could come over. Hours before, she had spent most of her time cleaning the house, being more meticulous than usual and going through each surface and corner multiple times. She never liked cleaning, but she did do a reasonable amount to keep her house neat.

Likewise, Sungjae had put a lot of thought into his outfit and made sure he looked his best before coming. He tried styling his hair, but thought he came out looking like he tried too hard to look cool. So, he just brushed it. He then chose a black and white plaid flannel and wore a t-shirt inside. His friends told him on several occasions that he looks great in casual clothing and decided to stick with it. He put on a pair of clean jeans and sprayed on some cologne. It was then that he felt he was ready. When he arrived at the grocery store to buy the ingredients to bake a cake, there was an aisle holding just flowers and bouquets. He subconsciously walked into the aisle while pushing his cart and picked up a bouquet that had a variation of flowers, yet the colors all came together beautifully. For a while, he stayed in that position: holding it with both hands tightly gripping the stems, looking down.

Standing in front of seventeen-year old Sungjae was his first love. Is this what ‘love’ feels like? With a big smile on his face, he held the bouquet of roses and a big teddy bear in his arms. He took a step closer towards her. She was beautiful and her eyes never lost her sparkle. They had been friends for four years. Sungjae didn’t know when he fell for her, but that did not matter to him. Because in that moment, he would be able to tell her. How he felt when he saw her, how she filled him with happiness with just her presence. The way she would twirl her hair and sit shyly. How she always smiled brightly, brighter than the stars at night. The way she would listen to his stories with her full attention, like a child listening to her mother reading a bedtime story. He handed her the roses and the bear. Hesitantly, she reached out. But when he spoke, she suddenly lost the sparkle in her eyes. slightly open, not knowing what to say. He could feel it. It was coming true. The restless nights and fear of his feelings not reciprocated. It was then that she told him her feelings. Before he could say anything else, she her heels and ran out the school. She took the bouquet, the teddy bear, and left his heart. Broken. Now, there weren’t any butterflies fluttering in his stomach. It just felt like a painful stab that would last for a long, long time. She left him with nothing.

He was now twenty-one. He never completely recovered, but he was better. While putting the flowers back, he sighed. He finished the purchases and was on his way to Joy’s house. Remembering that, he felt happy again.

They both stood in the kitchen together, each scrolling through their own phone to find the directions on how to bake a cake. Sungjae was still putting the apron on, but had trouble. She was still focused on finding a recipe. He tried his best to fix it but it was like quicksand. The harder he tried, the more tangled it got. After a while, he built his courage to ask for help. It was quite an embarrassing view, in his perspective at least.

“J-Joy?” he called out timidly.

“Hm?” she said, still looking at her phone.

“Save me.” he whispered. Confused, Joy looked up and saw Sungjae in his hot mess. Hot mess. Hot. She wanted to laugh because it was a really funny sight, but he actually looked pretty good. It was like he was in a photoshoot, posing for the camera, similar to those K-POP idol photo cards. His hair was nicely ruffled and his expression was in distress. She felt her heart skip a beat. Finally, she got up and went to help while laughing a little. As she was pulling the apron off of him, they were so close to each other that Sungjae could feel the heat radiating off of Joy. His heart beat a little faster when she brushed his chest by accident to pull on of the straps over his head. He wasn’t sure if she felt it, but it didn’t bother him too much either.

After a while, they decided to make a Red Velvet cake. Sungjae was in charge of the cream while Joy was in charge of the actual bread. They both agreed to work on the decorations together. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him, she just wanted to be in charge of the dangerous stuff like the oven in her own house. She does trust him, just not enough yet. After she placed the bread into the oven, she turned to see how Sungjae was doing with the cream. She closed the lid and let it bake. She walked towards him and stood on his right. For some reason, he was able to make a rainbow of colors.

“You know, I’m usually not good at this. I don’t know how this came out.” Sungjae laughed.

“Well...I’m impressed.” she giggled.

Soon, it was time for the best part, at least Sungjae thought so. Joy grabbed the mittens and opened the oven lid. She pulled out the tray and placed it on the kitchen counter. It was slightly burnt, but still looked edible. Sungjae decided poking the cake would be a good idea. Turns out you will burn your finger if you touch a cake fresh out of the oven--or anything that came fresh out of the oven. He let out a scream and backed up, almost tripping over his legs. Joy only stood there and watched him while laughing and continuously asking if he was fine. She picked up the burnt finger and gripped it with her own hand, letting her cold skin press against Sungjae’s finger.

They spent the next hour playing around with each other and trying to decorate the cake. With a quick swipe, Joy was able to get the blue-colored cream on Sungjae’s cheek. He retaliated with a green-colored cream on her nose as they both laughed in unison.

It was 11:06 p.m. and the cake was finally finished. The rim of the cake had a circle of rainbow-colored cream. On the inside read S and J and little green stars speckled the background. It was also sprinkled with random candies and gummies, and somewhere in a random area was a large spoon of ice-cream. And just above the letter J was a green crown. The two finished the entire cake together and slept next to each other on the couch.