It was Tuesday afternoon, and Kyuhyun had just gotten out of school. Unlike usual Tuesday afternoons, where he'd go home and do homework, he had somewhere important to be.

He felt a tap on his shoulder and someone whispered, "Kyu, be careful."

He turned his head to the side. It was Ryeowook. "What do you mean?"

He chuckled lightly. "I know where you're going."

If anyone else had said that, Kyu would've thought that he was the star in a horror film. 

"Okay. . .what do you mean?"

"God, you're slower than ever today." Ryeowook groaned with mock-annoyance. "You are going to help Seohyun bake stuff for your mom's party, right?"

Oh. 

He must have passed by in the morning. . .What if he picked up the wrong vibe?

"Oh, um, yeah. . ." he stuttered. "Why do I need to be careful? We're going to bake, that's all."

There was a moment of silence, which Ryeowook eventually broke.

He cleared his throat. "Look, I don't want to be the one to tell you, but--"

"My cooking skills ?" He already knew.

"Good, you know!" Ryeowook patted his head, grinning heartily. Kyu shot him a glare.

"She'll be doing the baking, but I'll be there to help," he stated, "that is, if she needs it. Which she probably won't."

"So basically, the only reason you'll be there is to watch her?"

"Not true!" 

Memories of their childhood arguments replayed in his head. He could have sworn that they had this one before. Ironically, the two most prestigious students in the entire university never grew up. 

He lifted his wrist and checked the time. If he didn't leave now, there wouldn't be enough time to, er, help Seohyun. Besides, he didn't deserve her patience.

As usual, Ryeowook practically read his mind. "You should get going. Don't keep Seohyun waiting."

He nodded. "Yeah, I should. I'll tell you how it went tomorrow. Bye!" With that, he waved and began walking off.

"Kyu, wait a minute!" Wookie shouted and sprinted over to him.

He turned around. "What? You're holding me up."

"Maybe you should invite her to the party!"

That was  a really. . .wonderful idea. 

"Hyung, I think I will." He smiled and continued walking. "I'll give you a recap of everything later. Bye!"

Seohyun sat on a stool, reading. She couldn't concentrate, thanks to agitation. In just a few minutes, she would be cooking with the one person who was clouding her mind for the past week. The minutes seemed to drag by like hours. If he came around now, they would have about three-and-a-half hours to get everything done. He wasn't late, but if only he could come sooner. . .

The door swung open.

"Sorry I couldn't come sooner. . ." 

She closed her book and smiled cordially. "Actually, you came sooner than I expected."

"D-Did I disturb you?" He asked.

"No, not at all!" She stood up. "So. . .should we start now?"

"Sure. About how much time do we have?"

"Maybe three hours. Is that okay?"

"As long as it takes." He replied. "Where's the kitchen?"

"Oh! Follow me."

She led him to a door at the back of the room and opened it. Instead of leading to an alley or outdoors, it lead to a kitchen. The scent of freshly baked goods and frosting filled the room. He took a deep breath.

"So what should we do first?" 

"What would take the longest?" He figured that she would have the answer to that question, not him.

"The cake probably will. . ." She mumbled. "Let's work on the cake."

"Just so you know, I'm not any good in the kitchen."

Seohyun laughed. "That's completely okay. Hm, can you preheat the oven at 350 degrees? I'll grease the pans."

That was probably the only thing he could do. He walked to the oven, and simply turned the switch to the appropriate level. "Done." 

She was still greasing the three pans. "Good! Now get me the flour, please." 

He did as she told, and coated the pans with the flour. 

"I already made the batter, so that will save us some time." She walked over to the fridge, and took out a metal bowl. It looked heavy. 

"Need help with that?" 

As he took the bowl, their hands touched. She immediately let go, but he already had a grip on it. While placing the bowl on the counter, he could see a tint of pinkness on her cheeks. He hoped that he wasn't blushing. 

"I-I'll pour the batter." She took the bowl and tilted it slightly, so the batter would come out in just the right amount.  When she was done, there was still plenty left.

"Seohyun," he began, "can you really get sick from eating that?" 

She shrugged. "I'm not sure...When I was younger, I would always eat it all."

"I would, too." He laughed. "Well, now what?"

"Can you open the oven for me? Be careful."

He nodded and slowly opened the oven. The heat from the inside crept on his skin in a pleasant way. She brought over the pans and carefully placed each of them in the oven, then closed it.

"How long do we wait?" He asked.

"Forty minutes."

"And what can we do meanwhile?"

Seohyun shrugged and dipped her index finger inside the bowl, then it. "Mmm!"

Kyuhyun did the same. His eyes widened. "Geez, that's good..."

"So...how was school?" She asked, dipping her finger again. "Oh! I hope you don't mind..." 

"It was alright. Um, Ryeowook says 'Hi'." He stuck his finger in the batter. For some reason, everyone always made the biggest deal out of "double-dipping". To Kyuhyun, he couldn't care less. 

For the next forty minutes, they made small conversation. Once the oven went off and Seohyun took the pans out, they cooled for ten minutes. 

"Can you get me one of the big knives?" She asked, and Kyu brought it over. With the knife, she cut three perfectly rounded circles, each smaller than the other. 

She let out a breath of satisfaction. "We're done!"

"It looks awesome." He said, and gave her a thumbs-up. Baking the cake was quicker than he expected, and the best part was that he barely had to do anything! 

"But now we need frosting. Can you get me sugar and a measuring cup? They're both in that cabinet." She pointed to a cabinet that was on top of the oven. Meanwhile, she went to the refridgerator and took out a carton of milk and vanilla extract. While adding the ingredients into another bowl, she took a quick glance at the time. They had only wasted an hour!

"Kyuhyun, do you have any experience with blending things?" 

He shook his head. "No. I'm terrible in the kitchen. Remember?"

"You can't possibly be that bad, but all right." Seohyun put the bowl in the mixer and turned it on. "I'm not very good at this either."

"I bet you're amazing at it." He scoffed.

She rolled her eyes and giggled. "No, I'm not."

How could she be so modest? It's like she didn't realize how adept she was.

"Seohyun, you're good at nearly everything. Or at least--"

In an instant, the mixture was everywhere. All over the walls, the floor, maybe even on him. 

"O-Oh my gosh..." She stuttered, cowering behind the counter. "I'm so sorry! I-I told you I was terrible..."

He wasn't angry, though. At all. In fact, he was laughing.

"It's okay!" He chuckled, and she got up. "You have some on your nose."

She wiped it off with a worried expression on her face. "But now we have to clean up, too! What if we run out of time?"

"We won't run out of time. We've only been baking for an hour, and I plan on staying until we're completely done," he said, sternly, "now let's clean up quickly. I doubt it'll stick onto the walls or harden anytime soon."

Seohyun got a mop and rags, and together they cleaned. To their relief, it only took a few minutes and no damage was done on the walls.

"So....do you want to try this again?" He asked reluctantly. There was no point in asking--she was already pouring the ingredients into the bowl again. 

"Of course! I can do it this time, I promise." 

As soon as she turned the mixer back on, Kyu ducked behind the counter. Minutes went by, and there was no explosions. Wow, she really kept her word...

"Kyuhyun, you can come out now." She giggled nonchalantly. "Want to help me spread it on the cake?"

He shook his head. "No thank you."

"You'll never improve if you don't try. Please?"

He shook his head again. He planned on marrying someone who could cook well. That way there would be no trouble.

"Fine..." the smile that she previously wore faded from her face as she decorated the cake. He desparately wanted to put his arm around her and tell her to smile, because the cake would come out better if she were to do it alone, but he couldn't. 

"Wow, it really looks great." He said, and patted her back gently. He needed at least some sort of contact. 

"Thank you!" Seohyun left the room and quickly came back with a giant box. "Can you help me put it in here?"

Kyuhyun lifted up the cake and the piece of cardboard that it was laying on and hesitantly carried it to the box, sliding it inside. He closed the box and put it in the freezer. "Alright, now can you do the cupcakes?"

"Oh! Those won't take me very long at all. Actually, I baked thirty cupcakes this morning. Would it be okay if we use those? They'll be fine by tomorrow, too."

"Great, and what about the muffins?" 

"Those we have to make...but they won't take long. Get me two muffin pans, please."

He did as she said, and placed the pans on the counter. 

Seohyun took the butter and sugar that she had used before and stirred them together in a bowl. "Do you know how to crack eggs?"

"Yes, well, no. Not properly." He felt like an idiot. 

"Want to try?" 

"No thank you." 

She sighed and cracked two eggs by herself, dumping the yolk into the bowl. Then she got the flour and milk that was used previously, and mixed that into the bowl as well. "Pass me the blueberries. They're in the fridge."

Kyuhyun handed her a box of blueberries, and she plopped half of it in there. "Would you like to stir it?"

"Sure." Stirring? What could possibly go wrong? He took the spatula and stirred, not making any mess. "Is this alright?"

"Yeah!" Her face lit up. "You see? You aren't as bad as you think." 

He shrugged, and she laughed at his reaction. 

"Y-You have a cute laugh." He accidentally blurted out.

"Oh, thanks!"  Her eyes widened and she giggled nervously. "Can you help me carry this?" She asked, while taking the bowl and tilting it.

He held onto the bowl, and their hands touched. But neither one of them pulled away as they poured the batter into the pans. 

Kyu let go slowly, against his will. "I'll preheat the oven."

After they put the pans inside the oven, they waited awkwardly. Twenty minutes later, the muffins were baked and packed inside two boxes.

Seohyun cheered. "Yay, we're done! And it really didn't take that long...So, I guess you can go now, if you want."

Suddenly, he remembered what Ryeowook had told him earlier. "Seohyun, there's something I think I should ask you..."

She tilted her head. "Yes?"

"Well, um, I really appreciate that you baked so much for my family and...would you like to join me tomorrow night?" He felt relieved as soon as he said it. "Um, I mean, Ryeowook will be there too, so..."

"Sure! I would love to!" 

Was this a joke? I got invited to a party...a party held by the richest family in all of Seoul...and to add to that, I got invited by the guy I...No, she didn't like him. She barely knew him! But he was so...likeable. 

"Awesome." He grinned stupidly, thinking about spending quality time with her. "Oh, and I guess I should pay you."

"But you already paid me yesterday!"

"And I'm going to pay you again." He took out his wallet and gave her one-hundred dollars. "Thanks a lot."

"I don't want the money, Kyuhyun!" She protested, but took the money anyway.

"Wear something pretty," he advised, "and I'll pick you up around seven. Does that fit with your schedule?"

"Yes, that'll be fine." Concealing her smile was becoming an issue.

"Well, I'll see you then."

Seohyun led him out of the kitchen, and held the front door open for him.

"Bye!" 

"Bye!" he waved, and walked out. 

This would be a real date, wouldn't it? He smirked at the thought.