A few days later, Namjoon woke up a little earlier than the day before. He still hadn’t adjusted to his new, free sleeping schedule, his body was so used to being up early in the morning. He had a shower and wandered down to the café for a cup of coffee, as he had been doing every morning since he arrived. When he got downstairs he noticed that Sam was on her own, looking a little frazzled. “Hey, everything ok?” he asked her. “No.” she said as she rushed around behind the counter. “Taehyung is sick and he was supposed to be in early to help. Today is the delivery day and I have like three tonnes of flour sitting at the back door and I’ve barely made a start on the cakes and pastries for today. I can’t call Jimin to come in earlier because he has class and my other part timer, Amber, can’t come in today because she has a funeral.” She sighed loudly, running her hands through her hair in frustration.

“I can help.” He said as he rolled up his sleeves. She whipped around to face him, a hopeful smile on her face. “Really? But don’t you have plans? I mean you're meant to be on holiday, right?” she said. He shrugged. “I don’t have anything planned. Just tell me what to do.” He said as he stepped around the counter. “I swear I could kiss you right now.” She said with a laugh, not noticing the slight red tint that appeared on his ears. “Could you help me bring in the bags of flour? Just chuck them anywhere in the store room, I can sort the inventory and organise them later. I just need them inside in case it starts to rain.” He nodded and gave her a salute before disappearing to the back door.

She followed him into the kitchen, quickly washing her hands as she started baking. She looked back at him, easily getting distracted by his muscles as he hauled the heavy bags into the storeroom. “Focus.” She mumbled to herself as she turned back to the mixture in front of her. She checked the time, cursing slightly when she noticed how close it was to opening time. She rushed around, trying to make several things at once while Namjoon brought in the rest of the delivery. By the time he was finished, she had the first load of things in the oven. He wiped the sweat from his forehead as she handed him a cold drink. “Thanks, I seriously owe you one.” She said as he downed half the drink in one go.

“What else can I do?” he asked as he wiped his face again. She turned to him from her next batch of cookies, “Oh, don’t worry about it! You’ve already been a massive help! I don’t want to take up anymore of your time!” she said, giving him a grateful smile. “Sam, I wouldn’t offer if I didn’t mean it, honestly. What do you need me to do?” he asked. She smiled at him. “Could you put out all the chairs? We put them on top of the tables at night because it’s easier to clean.” He nodded and headed out to the café. She peeked a glance at him through the door as he quickly put down all of the chairs and even wiped down the tables. She threw the next batch of cookies into the oven and took out the first batch of pastries.

Over the next half an hour he helped her set things up while she continued to bake and get the food ready. They opened the café just a little later than normal, but with everything ready to go. “Thanks for all your help. If it wasn’t for you I’d still be trying to lift those bags of flour in here.” She said with a grateful smile. “Don’t mention it.” He said with an easy smile. “It was kinda fun helping out. I've never worked in a place like this before.” He said as he leant against the counter behind him.

It was raining hard outside, so Namjoon decided just to hang out at the café for the day. He helped out as much as he could until Jimin arrived for his shift. When he heard about Taehyung not being there in the morning, he felt guilty for leaving Sam on her own. “I’m so sorry nuna! I didn’t realise Taehyung was ill! I had an early morning class and left long before he was meant to be up! If I'd known, I would have come and helped you.” He said apologetically as he tied his apron around his waist. “And miss your classes?” she said with a shake of her head. “No way. Besides, Namjoon helped me out.” She said throwing him a grateful smile which he returned from his now usual seat by the window in the booth closest to the counter. Jimin looked between the two of them, a smile appearing on his face. “Ah, so you didn’t even need me?” he said, his tone teasing. She pushed him playfully. “Go serve some customers.” She said as a soaked couple made their way into the café.

She went back into the kitchen, Namjoon following her. “What are you making now?” he asked as she grabbed some ingredients. “Cinnamon cookies.” She said as she started weighing her ingredients, Namjoon edging closer to watch. She chuckled when she noticed that he was practically hanging over her shoulder. “Do you want to help?” she asked. He took a step back, realising how close they were. “Y-yeah, I mean. I don’t know how to bake though.” He admitted. “That’s ok. I can teach you.” She said as she grabbed a spare apron and handed it to him.

He quickly tied the apron around his waist and washed his hands before coming up beside her. “Don’t you have a recipe?” he asked. He could remember his mother always carefully following the instructions in her cookbook when she was cooking for him. She nodded and went into the small office, bringing out a faded notebook. She handed it to him carefully, like it was made of glass. He gingerly turned the pages, revealing pages full of neatly handwritten recipes. “It belonged to my grandfather. This café used to be his before he passed away.” She said, a hint of a sad, nostalgic smile on her face. “These are the recipes that he created and used in this café over three decades. I’ve got half of them memorized now.” She said, a proud expression on her face. “That’s amazing. I bet he’d be really proud.” He said as he closed the notebook and handed it back to her.

She put it back in the office and came back out, her sad smile replaced with a happy one. “Shall we get started?” he nodded eagerly as she started to take him through the process step by step. “Ok, now all you need to do is get the hand mixer in there. Once the mixture starts to come together, you can stick your hands in there instead. It’ll get too hard to use the mixer after a while.” She instructed. Namjoon nodded as he put the mixer in the bowl. Sam turned back around to face him. “Just remember don’t put the mixer on too hi-.” She was cut off as a cloud of flour, sugar and the other ingredients of the bowl exploded outwards and covered them both and half the kitchen. She chuckled, making a white cloud form in front of her. “…High.” She finished with a chuckle.

Namjoon apologised quickly, feeling guilty and embarrassed for messing up. He half expected her to be angry, to tell him to get out of the kitchen, but instead, she just laughed. “Oh my god, Namjoon!” she said in between laughs. “You’re covered!” she said as she clutched her stomach. He couldn’t help but laugh along with her. She was also covered in the mixture as well. Jimin poked his head into the kitchen, “What on earth happened to you two?” he asked, looking between the two of them. “We had a little accident with the mixer.” She said as she wiped away her tears which were mixing with the mixture on her face. Jimin chuckled. “Still not as bad as the time you let Taehyung bake.” He said with a grin as he went back out to the safety of the café.

Their chuckles finally died down and Namjoon grabbed a towel, which was mainly flour free. He shook off the little flour from the towel and stepped in front of her and gently wiped her hair and face, trying to remove as much of the powder as possible. She stood as still as a statue, his sudden close proximity catching her off-guard. She held her breath as she examined his face. Even with all of the ingredients covering his face, he was still breathtakingly handsome. Once he had wiped most of the powder from her face, hair and clothes he seemed to realise how close they were standing, their faces were only inches apart. He took a step back. “Sorry. I- I should have controlled the speed better.” he said. She shook her head, letting out the breath she had been holding as if when he took a step back it released his hold over her. “No, it was my fault. I should have said to you before.” She said giving him a smile, her heart beating at a million miles an hour as she patted down the rest of her clothes.

Namjoon quickly wiped down his own clothes, shaking the flour from his hair. She chuckled at him moving forward and wiping some flour from his face with her fingers. “We should really clean this up.” she said, suddenly feeling nervous. He nodded, “I’ll get a cloth.” He said as he headed for the sink. “I’ll get a broom.” She said as she headed for the cleaning cupboard at the back of the kitchen. They quickly cleaned up the mess and she offered to teach him again, this time making sure to properly show him how to use the mixer without turning the kitchen into a Christmas wonderland once again.