It's not really a proper chapter. I just wanted to write about what happened while the boys made cupcakes.

And something happens to Baro. o.O

By the way, I like reading comments. ^_^

On side note...Ren from NU'EST is pretty.

Although I'm totally sure I wouldn't have a crush on him because he's WAY too young. And WAY too pretty. He's prettier than most girls.

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“Mi Ra has a boyfriend!” Sandeul announced as soon as he went back to the house. “I just met him, and I think he has hearing problems. He kept asking Mi Ra things I’ve just told him.” He shook his head slowly. “She should get a new one, with less defects.”

“What does he look like?” Gongchan asked, looking up from the TV.

Sandeul’s lower lip protruded as he tried to recall. “I don’t really remember…but I think he looks thin. He had brown hair and he looked a little pale. I think I look better than him.”

“Which means either the guy’s ugly, or Sandeul’s memory is damaged, ” Baro explained to Gongchan.

Sandeul ignored him. “I heard him tell Mi Ra that I look clueless.”

“Which is a nice way of saying you look dumb,” Baro told him, nodding. “I approve of the guy.”

“There’s something about him though…” Sandeul continued, totally unaffected. “I’m not not sure, but I don’t think he’s a good guy.”

“Since when did you become a fine judge of character?” Baro asked.

“Pretty,” Gongchan randomly commented. He looked at the others, then pointed at the TV. “I think Mi Ra would like those.” He was watching a cooking show, and they featured how to make cupcakes.

“Yeah, Mi Ra would love them,” Shinwoo agreed.

“Then let’s make some for Mi Ra,” Jinyoung said, sitting beside Gongchan. He patted Gongchan’s head, the same way he’d seen Mi Ra do earlier. Gongchan leaned against his hand. “She’ll be tired when she comes home from school, so she would need something to cheer him up.”

“Do we even have the ingredients?” Baro asked.

“Yeah, we do,” Gongchan answered. “I’ve been watching this program, and it’s easy to make cupcakes.”

“Well then, let’s go make cupcakes!” Sandeul yelled, pumping his fists in the air.

“You’re doing it wrong,” Sandeul said for the hundredth time was he watched Baro  dump half a bag of flour and about five or six eggs into the mixing bowl. “It looks nothing like the one on TV.”

“Yeah it does,” Baro countered. “If you look at it from this angle, it looks exactly as they showed it on TV.”  Sandeul gave up and left him alone. “It looks the same. Sort of,” Baro admitted silently.

“It looks strange,” Jinyoung said, peeking at the bowl as well. “Are you sure you did exactly as directed?”

“Of course I did! It looks the same!” Baro insisted.

Jinyoung tilted this way and that, but there was no way he could delude himself into thinking it looked the same as on TV. It was far too yellow, and far too lumpy. He could even see a few stray egg shells swimming in it. He thought it would probably be better to just dump it and start over, but Baro kept on insisting it was fine. They all watched as Baro poured the mixture into a cupcake mold, and waited as it baked. Baro took it out after waiting the appropriate time.

They all sat around the table, with the cupcake right in the middle. They were all staring at it with varying degrees of concentration.

“It looks like an alien life form,” Sandeul said, looking at it.

“Mi Ra would probably get sick if she eats that,” Shinwoo observed.

Gongchan poked it with his finger. “It is just me, or is this thing actually breathing?”

“It’s not just you,” Jinyoung said, staring at the cupcake as well. “It is breathing.”

The cupcake cake out looking not like a cupcake at all, but like some bizarre undiscovered life form. It was a bright shade of yellow, probably from all the eggs Baro had dumped into it. It also had little lumps all over, sticking out like sores. The lumps were filled with air which pulsated lightly, making it look like it was breathing.

“If I were human, I’d probably get duck bumps right now,” Sandeul said.

“It’s goose bumps, idiot,” Baro said.

“I’m a duck. Why would I get goose bumps?” Sandeul retorted.

“It doesn’t look that bad…” Baro said slowly.

“Yeah, it does,” Gongchan said, poking the cupcake again.

You’re right,” Baro admitted. “Let’s dump it and start over.”

“Let’s just make individual cupcakes,” Jinyoung suggested. “I’ll make one, and you guys do the same. That way at least one of us could make something Mi Ra could actually eat.”

“Yeah! That’s a good idea. Let’s make our own cupcakes,” Sandeul agreed.

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They all got to work, aiming to make the best cupcake. Baro hung back, surreptitiously observing the others. He didn’t know a thing about baking cupcakes, but he wasn’t about to let them get away with making great cupcakes while he had none. He decided to spy on Sandeul, since he was the best cook next to Jinyoung, and he was also the one closest to where he was standing. He mainly copied everything Sandeul did, but he must have done something wrong, because Sandeul was now pouring his cupcake mixture into a liner, while he ended up with a solid looking lump of squishy dough.

Well, that was fine with him. What was important was the taste, not the looks. And besides, Mi Ra would never find out how he made it anyway….He molded it into a shape approximating the head of a squirrel. He decided it wouldn’t be a cupcake anymore, but a small cake.

They all put their creations in the oven to bake, then let it cool down before decorating it. It was another dilemma for Baro. He had only a few things left to decorate his cake with. He asked Jinyoung for some of the chocolate icing. He returned to his station and started to ice his creation. He found a couple of marshmallows from Shinwoo’s bowl, and, after asking Shinwoo if he could have some,  used it as his squirrel’s teeth. He melted some to serve as the eyes, and asked Gongchan for two of the mini-cookies he had on his station. Gongchan, being nice, gave them to him. He took a step back and contemplated his work. It was still missing something…but what?

Oh, right! A cute squirrel blushes. He looked around for something he could use.  He saw some strawberry jam beside Sandeul, and decided it would have to do. Sandeul gave it to him, in exchange for cleaning the entire kitchen after they finished. He agreed.

He thought Gongchan’s puppy cupcake was the best. He didn’t know how Gongchan did it, but he had managed to ice the cupcake in a way that made the puppy look fluffy and real. All the others made excellent looking cupcakes. He looked at his own work. It looked sloppy and messy.

“Oh, Mi Ra’s coming.”

They all looked at Gongchan, who had suddenly looked up from his cupcake, looking alert. “How did you know?”

“I just do. I sense it. Don’t you?”

Gongchan and Sandeul ran out, while Jinyoung helped him put all the cupcakes in one plate.. He had to clean the kitchen, so he stayed behind as Jinyoung and Shinwoo stepped out to greet Mi Ra. He quickly wiped the counters and dumped the no-longer breathing mutant cupcake into the trash bin. He stared at his work again, comparing it to the other four cupcakes around it. Maybe he should just dump it too. It looks ugly, anyway. Mi Ra wouldn’t probably notice he didn’t make anything for her.

“Where’s Baro?” he heard Mi Ra ask. Was that concern he detected on her voice? His hands had been poised over his squirrel cake, but decided to leave it there. He felt his lips draw up to a smile as he relayed Mi Ra’s voice in his head. Did her voice always sound so musical?

“I’m—“

BAM!

He gripped the table tightly. It seemed as though a bomb had just went off in his chest. It went all warm, then hot, then just exploded. He looked down. Did he just short-circuit? Probably. But he seemed fine now. He waited for another explosion, but nothing happened. He shrugged it off, then took the plates.

“I’m here!” he answered as he went out.