“Taemin-ah!”

Taemin jumps when he feels a pressure on his back. He turns around quickly and relaxed when he saw that it was just So-Hee. “You gave me a scare…” He chuckled.

“Sorry~” So-Hee said, lips formed in a playful grin. “No problem, so what’s up?” Taemin asked, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

“Neh, after school, do you wanna hang out?” So-Hee offered cheerfully.

Taemin’s smile dropped at this. He had to visit Minho after school. “Sorry So-Hee…I usually meet someone after school.” He said, rubbing the back of his neck apologetically.

So-Hee frowned at this, not expecting to be rejected. “Eh? Can’t you postpone it?” She whines.

The bell rings as if on cue. “Sorry So-hee.” Taemin said again and gave a small nod. “I’ll talk with you tomorrow neh?” With that, he runs off to his last class. So-Hee stares after Taemin, still feeling upset at the refusal.

After school, Taemin packs up quickly and walks out of school, eager to see Minho again. Though he didn’t know So-Hee was following him…

Taemin slowly opens the door of the pastry house, closing his eyes as the warm and pleasant aromas welcome him in. He closes the door behind him and makes his way quietly to the kitchen, hoping to catch Minho by surprise.

Once he got to the front door of the kitchen, he slowly turns the doorknob before bursting into the room.

“RAH!!” He yells hands like claws in front of him as if trying to impersonate a tiger.

“Hello Taemin.” Minho said as he was taking out a metal pan from the freezer. Taemin pouts at this. “I didn’t scare you?” He asked sadly.

“I heard the door open.” Minho said before looking up at Taemin and smiling. “Nice try though. That was very cute.”

Taemin feels himself blush at this. He was trying to be scary…

“What’s that?” He asks, walking over to Minho and standing beside the table.

“Gelato.” Minho answered simply as he stirred the frozen content in the metal pan. It was light brown, almost like chocolate, but not quite.

“What kind?” Taemin asked in excitement. “You’ll see.” Minho chuckled and got out an ice cream scooper before scooping some of the gelato into a small and cute cup. He put two wafer roll sticks into the cup near the gelato and placed a small spoon on the plate. Minho pushes the plate towards Taemin.

“Milk Tea Gelato. Have a taste.”

Taemin takes the cup and small spoon, taking a small bite of the gelato.

The richness of the milk.

Sweetness of the honey.

Freshness of the tea.

“Delicious.” Taemin said meekly, not wanting to talk at all. All he wanted to do is eat.

Minho smiles at this and lets the other boy eat his gelato while he gazes at him softly.

So-Hee had followed Taemin all the way to the pastry house. At first she thought it was weird for him to go so deep into the woods. But now she sees why.

There was a house in the middle of the woods. Small, but not bad-looking at all. So-Hee slowly moves to the side, peeking through the window and into the kitchen.

Her eyes widen once she see’s Taemin with an unfamiliar boy. The two of them were talking and eating some sort of ice cream. They seemed to get along really well…

So-Hee noticed that Taemin had never looked that happy when he was with her. Just who is that guy?

Whoever he is…He was stealing her Taeminnie away. So-Hee can’t allow that to happen. If she allows them to hang out any longer, Taemin might soon forget about her!

So-Hee whips out her cell phone and dials Taemin’s number. She watches from outside as Taemin answers his phone. “Hello?”

“Hey Taemin!” So-Hee chirps.

Taemin’s eyes lit up once he recognizes the voice. “So-Hee!”

“I miss you… Where are you right now?” So-Hee asks softly.

“M-Me?” Taemin glances at Minho before answering. “I’m at a friend’s house. Why?”

“Just wondering…What are you doing there?” So-Hee continues to ask, eyes narrowing like a cat waiting to pounce on its prey.

There was a pause from the other line.

“We’re…Working on project.” Taemin said finally.

There was a long silence.

“Is…Is that so?” So-Hee said, voice cracking. “What’s wrong?” Taemin asked, noticing something different about So-Hee’s voice.

“No…It’s nothing. I gotta go now…” With that, So-Hee hangs up, head hanging low.

“Hello? So-Hee?” Taemin looks at his phone and sighs as he closes it. “Everything alright?” Minho asked, peering at Taemin in worry.

Taemin nods at this. “Yeah… I should go now.” He pushes the plate with the empty cup back to Minho. “Thank you for the gelato. It was really delicious.” He gives a small smile and walks out of the kitchen, and out the door.

So-Hee watches Taemin leave and disappear past the trees. Her boyfriend…Lied to her! She can’t believe such a thing happened. Why…Why would he-

She turned quickly to the kitchen window and sees Minho right there. “May I help you?” He asks, not recognizing the girl at all.

So-Hee lets out a squeak and dashes out of there, leaving Minho feeling a bit confused but closed the window.

“I don’t understand…” So-Hee muttered to herself as she walked quickly through the woods. “Why would Taemin lie to me like that?”

An unexplained anger started bubbling in her.”I bet it was that chef… He must be manipulating Taemin little by little; drawing him away from me.” She hisses, clutching onto her purse in rage.

“We’ll see about that…”

The next few weeks and months passed like that. Taemin continued visiting Minho for advice and to help him taste his sweets, and So-hee secretly followed whenever she could.

She tried many times to draw Taemin away from Minho. Giving him many phone calls, asking him to see her, saying that it was urgent.

But the chef and Taemin were still as close as ever.

So-Hee was getting close to going insane. Why… Was she not good enough? But she was beautiful, smart, kind, and Taemin always looked so happy around her. She just couldn’t understand it.

“Neh hyung…” Taemin said as he sat with Minho at a table. “Christmas is coming pretty soon… How’s the cake?” He felt selfish for asking, since he barely did anything to help.

Minho smiles at this. “I’m almost done. Don’t worry, I think I’ll have it ready by Christmas, and then we can eat it together.”

Taemin smiles back at this. “Yeah!” Minho chuckles and ruffles Taemin’s hair, loving how adorable the boy was.

“So hyung… I was wondering.” Taemin said, twiddling his fingers. “Hm?” Minho looked up.

“I wanted to do something for So-Hee…” He said. Minho nods for him to continue.

“I was thinking of writing her a song.” Taemin said. “Oh really?” Minho said, surprised at how high-level Taemin was thinking.

Taemin nods sheepishly. “N-Neh… What elements do you think go into a good song?”

Minho thinks about this, drumming his fingers on the table. “Well…It has to be romantic, duh. And girls usually like soft songs which will also make their hearts beat fast at the same time.” Taemin nods, taking down mental notes.

“Don’t go too hard on the sappy stuff either. I’m sure you’ll be able to think of something.” Minho said smiling.

Taemin smiles back and stands up from the chair. “Thanks Minho. I’ll think of a song over the weekends and give it to you so you can check it for me. Neh?” Minho nods and escorts the younger male to the door.

The next week, when Taemin comes back with the song sheet, he was panting happily. “Hyung! I got the song!” He runs over to the kitchen.

Minho was plating some cookies onto a plate and looked up in surprise. “Omo, that was fast! I’ll be right there.” Taemin nods and goes over to a table to wait for Minho.

Minho brings over the plate of cookies along with a cup of tea, putting them in front of Taemin.

“Pumpkin Shortbread. Have a taste.”

Taemin puts the song sheet aside and takes a star-shaped shortbread and blew on it before taking a bite.

Warm pumpkin.

The soft texture.

The sweet granulated sugar.

“Omo, daebak!” Taemin said, covering his mouth so the pumpkin pieces don’t fly out of his mouth.

Minho smiles and takes the song sheet before examining it.

“Can you sing it for me?”

Taemin chokes on his tea, making Minho straighten up in surprise. “W-What?” Taemin splutters.

“Sing. You know…The song. I wanna hear it too.” Minho said, grinning widely.

Taemin felt himself get nervous. He wasn’t sure how Minho will handle his awful singing, but he decided to give it a shot.

He cleared his throat and let the song flow out from his mouth. He had spent nights trying to memorize it, and it was finally paying off.

There were some parts where he stumbled, but overall it went well.

Once he finished, he looked back at Minho nervously, not sure of how he’ll react.

Minho was staring, speechless. “Wow…” He said quietly.

“Was it bad?” Taemin asked, leaning closer to the other. Minho shook his head quickly. “That was really amazing. Daebak!” He claps loudly. Taemin sits back sheepishly and rubs the back of his neck. “Y-You really think so?”

Minho nods again. “She’ll love it. I’m sure she will.”

Taemin breathes out a sigh of relief. “I’ll give this to her tomorrow. And we can celebrate Christmas together after, neh?”

Minho’s smile widens at this. “Yeah! Tell me how it goes after.”

“…Thank you Minho. I really couldn’t have done this without you.” Taemin said softly before getting up from his chair and leaning closer to the other, planting a kiss on Minho’s forehead.

Minho froze at this. When Taemin pulled back he touched the place where those lips made contact. He couldn’t help but flush pink at this and look down at his lap.

Taemin glanced at his watch and stood up again. “Omo! I should go now. But I’ll see you tomorrow neh? Wish me luck.” He gives one final wave before taking the song sheet and skipping out the door, leaving Minho still in his seat, heart almost bursting out from his chest.

Taemin was still walking out of the forest, taking his time to look at the trees coated with white fluffy snow. His boots crunched under the snow and his breath fogged in front of him.

Zipping his puffy jacket up, Taemin smiled to himself.

“Nothing could ruin this day…”

So many things happening in one chapter

I totally imagined Taemin being like this when he tried to scare Minho

I love milk tea .So much. I wanna try the gelato. WHY CAN’T I BE IN TAEMIN’S PLACE

Oh wait there’s So-Hee never mind… But anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter! Brace yourselves for the next one. Other than that, I bid you good eating (Iron Chef America haha). PEACE~