[CONTENTID1] 021. [/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2] Epilogue [/CONTENTID2]

[CONTENTID3]

A small, sweet tune echoed throughout the room as tiny fingers descended down the smooth, ivory keys sporadically. The tune became more of a whole with each lesson and a proud smile failed to fade from his face as the child continued playing, his skills were evidently getting better.

“Nice job, Sanjun,” Baekhyun praised while clapping after the boy finished. “You’re getting better and better.”

“Really? Thank you, Mr. Byun,” Sanjun smiled joyfully as he bowed to him. 

With a smile, Baekhyun ruffled the boy’s head as a response. He glanced down at his wrist-watch, it was about ten minutes before his parents would come to pick him up. “We can end today’s lesson a little early today. Do you want to go get a cookie with me?”

“Yes!” Sanjun beamed at the offer just before he got off of the piano bench and rushed to hold Baekhyun’s hand before they strolled out of the room and toward the eating area joined by the kitchen.

After renovating the bakery, the kitchen and the eating area was condensed in smaller dimensions, though the looks of it remained the same. Some of the decorations from before remained, only shifted into new places. The walls were repainted with the same soft-blue color, giving off the same vibrancy and liveliness it always brought in.

“What cookie would you like, chocolate chip or M&M’s?” Baekhyun walked behind the counter as Sanjun followed after.

“You know my favorite cookie,” Sanjun laughed.

The boy’s laughter brought a chuckle out of Baekhyun. He was right, ever since the first day of lessons, Sanjun always chose chocolate chip cookies without a doubt. After a couple of weeks, Baekhyun would always give him one without asking. 

“You’re right,” Baekhyun smiled as he reached for one cookie and handed it to Sanjun.

“Thank you, Mr. Byun,” Sanjun accepted the pastry before taking a bite. 

“You can go ahead and sit down at one of the tables, and I’ll…” Baekhyun insisted just as he looked around and noticed that some areas of the counter weren’t cleaned up from yesterday. “I’ll clean up for a bit here. I’ll join you for a bit after.”

Sanjun nodded before leaving and sitting himself down at one of the eating tables. With a smile, Baekhyun then began organizing some of the items on the counters and placing them in their original places. Luckily, it wasn’t a major mess - which was surprising with all the kids - and it was fairly easy to clean up.

After wiping down the counters with cleaning wipes and throwing them into the trash, Baekhyun reached for a cookie and held it to his mouth before taking a small bite out of it. His eyes roamed over his surroundings until they landed on a hanging photograph of him and his grandmother smiling while sitting  together.

Over three years had passed since that day, that feeling of longing was still present within him even though it had been long since he had accepted her death. There were things he felt weren't completely resolved or even shared with her. It was painful to know he didn’t completely show out for her, which was why every time he would visit her urn in the hospital’s columbarium, he would talk endlessly and share things that he had yet to say when she was still here. Even if she wasn’t there physically, he felt listened to and it felt like those times before again.

A bittersweet feeling glossed over him as he glanced at that photo, reminiscing of their conversation that day when that photo was taken.

Sitting themselves down at a table after the bakery closed, Baekhyun snacked on pastries as his grandmother looked over a list of items needed for the day after. 

“I can run to the grocery shop after this for some of the ingredients,” Baekhyun insisted as he peered at the paper in her hands after chewing his food. “You won’t need to worry much about paying weekly fees for the deliveries.”

“I don’t think your little fancy car can handle these supplies, I need bulks of them,” his grandmother replied as she scribbled something down on the paper. “I just need you to help me bring them in when they arrive here.”

“I’ve done that since I got here, I’m practically gaining muscle from carrying those supplies to the backroom almost every week. Shouldn’t I have more options?”

Since his arrival in Tongyeong, Baekhyun would do tasks that didn’t involve much of making things. His grandmother didn’t trust him very much after he had forgotten to put eggs while baking cookies one time, which was a dumb move since it was the most essential ingredient in the dessert. But besides that, it seemed fair to have more tasks, given the fact that he had to make up years of lost interactions. 

“You would’ve if you hadn’t forgotten the eggs,” she reminded, making him pout. “But I’ll consider it.”

Baekhyun cocked his head to the side, hopeful, “When?”

“When I retire.”

“You have plans to retire?”

“No.”

Open mouthed, he leaned back in his chair and groaned, “That means never!”

“Exactly.”

Sinking in his seat, he took another bite out of the pastry while sulking. His grandmother looked up from her paper and shot him an amused look. He knew what that meant. Sitting back up, he leaned into the table. “You seriously have no plans for retiring?”

“Of course I do,” she replied, like it was obvious she would. “Maybe in a couple of years, I will.”

“Then what’s gonna happen to the bakery?”

“I’ll sell it.”

“You’re gonna sell it? You’ve practically called it your second home.”

She practically ran the whole bakery for over twenty years and it was simply a place that could easily be sold? He knew just how much the business meant to her from all the times she had mentioned about its significance to him whenever there was an open opportunity to. It just couldn’t be easily handed over to a new pair of hands.

Mrs. Byun huffed, “What else am I supposed to do? Let you take over?”

“Sure,” Baekhyun nodded, “This pianist thing feels like it won’t last long.”

She scoffed, “You can’t even bake.”

Playing piano didn’t feel as entertaining as it used to be anymore. And she was right, from playing and practicing with the instrument endlessly for nearly his entire life, he hardly had the chance to try out yet alone develop other skills that he wanted to do: baking, building, so much more. It was wasteful really.

“I know that, but I can try to renovate the building for a different purpose. I’ll still keep your essence here though.”

“That’s sweet of you,” she admitted with a small smile, “But what are you gonna turn it into?”

Baekhyun sat silently in thought, he couldn’t think of anything to his desperation. “That, I’m not sure.”

“You mutt,” she said before pinching his arm, causing him to wince from her touch. “How can you say that when you have no idea?”

“That hurt…” Continuing to rub the spot where he was pinched, he then answered, “And like you said, you have a couple of years until you retire. That gives me plenty of time to think.”

“And if I decide to retire early or something happens to me? Then what?” His grandmother raised a brow.

Knowing himself, he would be able to have something in mind by that time. 

“Nothing will happen to you, I’ll make sure of it. And if you’re considering retiring earlier, I’d have many options in my head by that time.”

He wouldn’t forgive himself if anything bad happened to her. That’s why he was always so careful and always looking out for her and her health mostly, knowing that angina was quite serious. Even if she was annoyed by him being overly-caring nature towards her, he’d still continue being the way he was.

“So if I consider it tomorrow…”

Baring his teeth, he then shook his head with a small smile, “Not that early though.”

Mrs. Byun scoffed before shaking her head. “You amuse me.”

“I have to live up to my nickname from you somehow.”

“Like mutt? Pain in the ?”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun nodded. She called him those nicknames as well but in a loving way. “But there’s ‘shining light’ too… I like that name.”

She chuckled and nodded, “Okay then.”

Pursing his lips together, he then gave a pleading smile in hopes she changed her mind. “Now, can I buy some of the ingredients after this?”

Almost instantly, she answered, “Absolutely not.”

“Fair enough.”

“Mr. Byun, what are you doing,” Sanjun asked, breaking Baekhyun out of his thoughts. 

Turning to the boy, Baekhyun forced a small smile. “It’s nothing, I was just looking around for any other mess.”

His eyes made their way back to the photograph momentarily before he strolled over and sat down with the boy until his parents came to pick him up.

-

“I’ll see you next week!” Baekhyun waved as Sanjun walked away from his parents. 

As the family entered their car and drove away, he let out a short sigh and closed the door behind him as he entered back into the building. It had been over an hour and a half since he had last checked up on Eunseo. Approaching the room where she was in, he could pick up faint clamor and music from behind the door. The corner of his lip curled just as he slowly opened the door and walked into the room. 

A couple of kids were busily drawing in their seats with coloring materials sprawled over the table. By one side of the room, Eunseo was helping with one of them, carefully guiding their hands over the paper. With his presence, she slowly looked up from the paper and smiled at him. It was sweet enough to make him smile back.

‘Hi, Mr. Byun,” Juyeon - one of the kids - turned and greeted him. “Do you like my flower?” She then held out her paper to his direction.

Bending down to her eye level, he then observed her drawing. His brows raised in interest seeing the large rose in the middle of the paper. He smiled and gave a thum