The next day, Taemin gets ready to go to school. Putting on his uniform and checking his hair, he skips out of the house to school.

Thanks to Minho, he was feeling much better after being dumped. “I wonder if I can see him again today…” He wonders curiously.

Once he arrives at the school, Taemin starts walking into the building. He notices two girls talking happily with each other.

Taemin recognizes one of them immediately. “HYORI!” He calls happily, waving his arms to get her attention.

Hyori hears a faint voice and turns her head. Her smile fades once she see’s Taemin. She whispers something to her friend before walking gracefully over to Taemin.

“Yes?” She asks, her voice showing a small amount of patience. Taemin grins. “About last time…”

Hyori rolls her eyes, as if the date that she didn’t even go to brought back horrible memories to her.

“Did something come up? You didn’t show.” Taemin’s eyes were stained with concern. Hyori puts on a fake smile and looks at Taemin. “Yea… Sorry about that. Something came up~” She claps her hands together in a half-apologetic gesture.

Taemin shakes his head. “No it’s okay. Do you want to arrange for another time?”

Hyori’s face falls. “U-Uh…”

“We could have it later in the day! And we can go watch a movie this time. I know a lot of good movies that are playing in theaters.” Taemin rambles on and on until he gets interrupted by Hyori.

“Stop! Sorry I don’t think I’ll be available for… A while.” She said.

Taemin tilts his head. “Eh? Why?”

Hyori looks around frantically in search of an answer and breathes a sigh of relief when she hears the bell ring. Her friend calls for her “Hyori! Hurry up or else we’ll be late.”

“I’m coming!” Hyori answers happily, looking back at Taemin with a disgusting pout.

“Sorry… We’ll talk about this next time, neh?” She gives Taemin a gentle pat on the arm before skipping to class with her friend.

Taemin stares after them, a bit disappointed that he couldn’t get an immediate answer, but decides to be patient.

“What was that Taemin kid talking to you about again?” Hyori’s friend asks.

Hyori rolls her eyes. “He wants to set up ANOTHER date. I swear this guy never gives up.” Her friend stares in shock. “What are you going to do?”

Hyori pouts. “I don’t know… Help me Ji-Eun~” Her friend laughs at her silliness. “Just dump him already. You’re obviously not interested.”

Hyori nods. “Yea… I guess I should. I’ll do it after school.”

Once the final bell rang, all the students rushed out of class to go home. Taemin gathered his things into his bag and was about to walk back home when he was stopped by Hyori.

“Taemin… Can we talk?” She asks in an innocent voice.

Taemin smiles and nodded, following Hyori to a private spot.

Once they stopped walking, Hyori turned to Taemin with a tired and annoyed expression. “This isn’t working out.”

Taemin’s smile drops. “Eh?”

Hyori scoffs, not happy to repeat herself. “I think we should break up.”

Taemin’s heart starts to swell. “B-But why?”

“You’re just not my type. You’re whiny, childish, clingy, and so dam cliché. Also, who just starts dating girls after they just met them?” Hyori said mercilessly.

The comments were like arrows to Taemin’s heart. “I-I‘m sorry… I can change! Please-“

“Just stop it.” Hyori glares at Taemin. She flips her hair. “You were fun for a while, but you got boring fast.”

Taemin should feel offended, and pissed. But instead his heart still yearned to please her.

“Please… I’ll do anything! Anything!” He begs.

A smirk spreads across Hyori’s face. “Anything?”

Taemin nods quickly.

Hyori walks closer and leans in, whispering into his ear.

“Kill yourself.”

Taemin’s eyes widen. He slowly looks at Hyori, his body shaking.

Hyori laughs, as if the whole thing was a joke. She manages to stop herself. “That’s all I had to say. Don’t talk to me anymore. If you ever do, I will be the one to kill you.” She gives a small wave before sauntering off.

Taemin is left speechless, staring after her. His heart felt battered and bruised. Taemin sinks to his knees, tears now freely falling to the ground.

Taemin clutches the grass beneath him, ripping it by the roots. He lets out whimpering sounds of frustration.

After what seems like an eternity, Taemin finally stopped the tears. He looks up at the sky, noticing how late it was.

He staggers up, clutching onto the handle of his schoolbag.

He takes in a deep breath, sniffing his runny nose. He walks lifelessly past the school gates.

Before he knew it, he found himself face-to-face with the same pastry house. He wondered how he got here, but he didn’t care. He allowed himself in, trudging into the house.

He was immediately engulfed by the familiar smells. Heavy sugar, cream, and was it… Peaches?

Taemin saw the door to the kitchen was opened so he slowly creped in. He saw Minho working on something in the counter.

Minho took out pieces of sliced peaches from a can using a fork, laying it on a paper towel to drain the liquids.

He got a French knife and proceeded to cut the peaches into small pieces.

He then went over to a pan that was placed on a stove, adding the pieces of peach into the pan, along with sugar and lemon juice. He turned the heat to medium and used a wooden spoon to stir the content around.

He continued stirring for 5 minutes, waiting for the water to evaporate.

Next, he went to a pie tin, laying the pie dough in it, and t the excess dough. He poked holes on the base before transferring the peach pieces flatly on top. He surrounded the outside of the tin with a pie sheet strip, which he had pre-measured. He placed more on top, crossing the stripes.

Lastly, he dripped a brush in egg yolk and brushed the surface of the pie. He put the brush down once he was done and took a step back, taking the time to look at his masterpiece.

Taemin stomach, once again, had to interrupt the moment by growling. Taemin covered it in embarrassment, and looked up to see Minho’s surprised face.

A smile spread across Minho’s face once he realized who it was. “You’re here!”

Taemin nods apologetically for barging in. Minho ushers to the outside of the kitchen. “Go and have a seat. I’ll just put this in the oven and be with you.”

Taemin nods and walks out, taking a seat carefully.

Minho puts the pie into the oven and presses the start button. He dusts off his hands on his apron before walking out of the kitchen and over to Taemin. He takes a seat in front of him.

“Glad to see you again.” Minho chirps. Taemin blushes slightly and looks down.

“So what were you baking?” Taemin asks curiously.

Minho glances back at the kitchen. “Peach Pie.”

Taemin’s eyes brighten. “Peach pie?! I love those!”

Minho grins. “Really? You can try some later. I loved to eat those when I was little.”

Taemin tilts his head, asking for him to go on.

“When I was little… Peach pies were my ultimate comfort food.” Minho closes his eyes, the memories coming back to him.

“After a rough day at school, I would come home feeling depressed and upset. I would be in no mood to eat anything. Even sweets.” Minho chuckles to himself, remembering his childish self.

Taemin continues listening intensely.

“But one day… When I was playing soccer and accidently hurt my ankle, resulting in me not being able to compete in the finals with my teammates… My dad baked me a Peach Pie.” Minho explains.

“At first, I was in no mood. I was very upset and just wanted to sleep. But seeing how hard he worked to bake it for me, especially with his cramped work schedule, I decided to eat it for him.” Minho thinks back to his father’s tired, but happy face as he had pushed the plate of pie towards him.

“Once I tried it… It felt like all the pain was lifted off my shoulders.” Minho smiles at the memory.

“It made me feel like there were still people who cared for me… And wanted me to be happy. That time, for me, was my dad.” Minho finally opens his eyes and stares back at Taemin.

Taemin felt so moved by the story. He didn’t think a simple pastry could bring so much comfort.

“Whenever I eat it… A smile just appears on my face. I don’t know why.” Minho laughs to himself.

Taemin gives a small smile.

Minho stares at Taemin’s face. “Is something wrong?”

Taemin looked back in surprise. “Eh? Why do you ask?”

“Well, last time you came here, you said that your date didn’t show up.” Minho reminds him.

Taemin’s face turns red, suddenly remembering that he had confessed. He was feeling disappointed and confused that day, so it wasn’t surprising that he might have spouted some things.

“I-I don’t want to talk about it…” Taemin thinks sadly to himself.

Minho nods in understanding. The buzzer on the ovens goes off right on time. Minho stands up.

“I’ll get the pie out.” He walks into the kitchen and puts on a pair of oven mitts. He opens the oven door, the smell of peaches engulf him. He closes his eyes to enjoy it for a few seconds, before taking the pie out and bringing it out of the kitchen.

He places it in front of Taemin, taking off his oven mitts and going back into the kitchen to get a knife, fork, and plate.

Taemin just stares at the beauty. It felt like whatever Minho made, always turned out perfect.

The striped of dough looks tender and soft on top of the pie as it’s evenly placed in strips. The smell of peaches was strong, not that Taemin minded.

Minho came back with the things, putting them on the table. He slowly and skillfully cut out a slice of pie and put it onto the plate.

He pushed the plate towards Taemin and handed him a fork.

“Peach Pie. Have a taste.” Minho grins.

Taemin stares at the slice. It looked absolutely delicious…

“Why did you decide to use canned peaches?” Taemin asks as he takes a piece of the pie using his fork.

“Because…” Minho starts. “I was eager to feed a hungry Taemin.”

Taemin had already put the piece of pie into his mouth. It was amazing…

Peaches.

Soft dough.

Sugar.

He felt a hand gently touch his head. He looked up and noticed Minho smiling at him.

“You don’t have to suffer alone…” Minho said softly.

Taemin finally noticed the tears that were streaming down his face.

“Don’t try hard if you don’t want to.” Minho assures.

“Remember, there are people who care about you.”

Taemin shuts his eyes tightly, swallowing the pieces of delicious pie. He nods slowly, his body shaking slightly.

“Yeah…” Taemin answers, his voice hiking slightly. “It’s really good…” He puts a more pieces of pie into his mouth, letting it all out.

Minho smiles and rubs Taemin’s head soothingly.

“Thank you Minho…Thank you so much.”

IT’S SO TOUCHING I CAN’T

TAEMIN LET ME HUG YOU OMG <3 Lol Okay I’m good, hope you liked this Chapter. I love Peach Pies so much ;w; They ARE the ultimate comfort food. Let me know what you think of the chapter down in the comments~ Aaannd I’m gonna go, PEACE!