A tap on my shoulder. “Namjoon, wake up.”

                “Mmm, let me sleep.” I said, burying my head in my arms.

                This time, somebody shook my shoulder. “Namjoon, it’s 3 PM. You can’t just fall asleep here.”

                That got my attention.

                My head bolted up as I fixed my posture, looking around warily. Hoseok smiled at me, his hand still resting on my shoulder. “Morning, sunshine.”

                I smiled sheepishly. “Don’t mock me, Hoseok! You know I was busy…”

                He laughed, shaking his head. “Ah, don’t worry. Nobody noticed except for me. By the way, why are you in the corner of the kitchen working?”

                I looked around at the pink walls and silver countertops surrounding me as my face flushed red. My laptop, which had since turned off, lay next to me, still opened.

                “Oh… I was trying to work on some… accounting things.”

                I hadn’t.

                In truth, I had been looking into a small space in America to open up a second branch of Bangtan Bakery. We had such good business here in Korea, and I had just enough to cover taxes here and open up a joint in a nice shopping mall in Southern California.

                Thankfully, Hoseok believed me and smiled, holding out his hand to help me up. “Ah, don’t work on accounting in a position like that! You’ll get all cramped up, and then you’ll be uncomfortable and I can’t give you hugs.”

                Stop being so gosh dang cute, Hoseok! I blushed, pulling him into an embrace.

                I smiled, nuzzling my face into the crook of his neck as his arms tightened around me. Without saying it, he sensed how stressed I felt and kissed the top of my head. “Don’t overwork yourself, okay?” I nodded, continuing to hide from the world in his embrace.

                “I’m just… A bit conflicted.” I wanted to tell Hoseok about my plan, but I didn’t want to hurt him when I told him the catch.

                When I told him that I’d need to move to America for a few months to make sure the bakery ran smoothly.

                That I’d be leaving him with all the others for 6 months.

                Shaking my head, I tightened my grip around Hoseok. “It’s just a bit of stress. Don’t worry about me…”

                Hoseok began playing with my hair with one of his hands. “Why?”

                I shook my head. “Ah, never mind! I’ll tell you when it gets more important, okay?”

                He looked down at me worriedly, his hands trailing down to my arms. “Are you feeling okay? Is this about us…?”

                I shook my head, eyes widening quickly. “No! No, of course not. We’re- I’m happy with you, Hoseok. It’s just a little bit of business.”

                “Oh.” He nodded, pressing his lips to my cheek comfortingly. “Come on, then. Help me out with some cookies, alright? Take a break.”

                I nodded, smiling slightly. “Anything for you.”

-+-

                “Namjoon, can you pass me two eggs?” Hoseok stirred a metal bowl with a whisk as I measured ingredients and passed them to him. I nodded, grabbing two of the dozens of eggs in our freezer.

                As I walked out with my hands shaking, one of the fragile eggs slipped from my hand and cracked on the ground, leaving a gooey mess of yolk and egg white. I flushed, handing him the other egg as I stared down at the cracked one in embarrassment. “Oops…”

                Hoseok laughed softly. “Ah, don’t worry about it! Just get another one and clean that one up. Trust me, I once crushed five eggs trying to bring them back, and it wasn’t even funny by the third one!”

                I smiled at his story, remembering the mess he had caused and his sheepish face as I tried to hide my smile at his clumsiness. Now, it seemed, the tables had turned, as I reached for the mop to get rid of my mess.

                Hoseok continued to mix the batter, occasionally speaking to me and retelling his tale of armeggeddon, as he called it, laughing at his own story.

                I smiled as I finished cleaning, returning to Hoseok’s side as he finished up his whisking.

                “Perfect! These are going to be really good, don’t you think, Joonie?”

                Noddi