“Woohyun, where are you taking me?”

I questioned curiously as I tugged on Woohyun’s hand, stopping him from dragging me further towards some unknown place.

“You’ll see.” Woohyun simply stated, staring straight ahead with an excited smile.

“But I want to know now.” I halted in my footsteps, slightly pouting.

Woohyun smiled and shook his head, continuing to drag me by the hand down the street.

It was well advanced into the morning when Woohyun had knocked on my door, eager to take me somewhere. I had stayed up late Skyping Jonghyun about our next assignment for our lecture, and Sungjong decided to crash my house at an even later time to rant about his misfortunes with the musical, and of course, this new cute guy who was working backstage.

“I think I like him, Hyung.”

“Jongie, you say that about every guy you see.”

“Right. Yeah, yeah fine. Okay maybe I don’t, but he is cute. Not in like a me kind of way, but like a manly ho-“

“Right, cute guy. Got it, Jong. Now go to sleep.” I had to finally silence him by kicking him off my bed, to which he complained and whined like a girl until I let him under the doona covers.

When Woohyun walked in, ready to wake me up from my slumber, he nearly flipped the tables when he saw someone else in my bed. It was quite hilarious the way Sungjong cowered in fear at the glaring man staring down at him. I had to pat Woohyun’s hand away before gave out a chuckle and loud sigh of relief.

He ran his fingers through his hair and patted Sungjong’s head,

“I don’t know if I’m supposed to be jealous or annoyed that you’re in my boyfriend’s bed, Sungjong ah.”

Sungjong grinned and shrugged his shoulders,

“Maybe a little bit of both?” He gave me a loud kiss on the cheek and ran away before Woohyun could catch him.

I wiped away the spit that remained on my cheek in disgust and gave Woohyun a guilty but teasing smile,

“So were you jealous?”

Woohyun stared at me in surprise before tackling me onto my bed, he looked at me squirming and stuck inside the twisted doona before kissing me lightly on the lips,

“No.” He said flatly, before getting up and throwing some jeans and a jacket into my face.

“Get dressed, someone’s expecting us.”

I observed the surroundings and noticed that we were near the area around Woohyun’s apartment. There was the usual Chinese takeaway at the corner of this street, and a really nice ice cream shop right over to my left. Ah and of course, the famous Ddeokbokki stand with Woohyun’s favourite ahjumma who knew our names by the time we bought our 5^th wooden stick full of the spicy rice cake.

“How’s your father feeling?” I asked, the thought of the elder coming into my mind. It had been almost a couple of weeks that Mr Nam had been up and running around, even more active than he was prior to his health scare.

“He’s back at the office, signing papers here and there. You know, the usual.” He waved his hand in slight disregard.

“Boohyun must be relieving him of a lot of work though?”

“Yeah, he’s loving every second of it though. It seems that America did him some good.” Woohyun chuckled as we turned the final street corner.

We stopped in front of a fancy restaurant with a French name I didn’t even want to try pronouncing and I nearly stumbled over the pavement in awe at the beauty of the place.

It looked expensive, complete with beautiful leather seats and glass tables. Bright lights shone around, immersing an atmosphere of liveliness and well, classiness, into the restaurant.

Woohyun smiled at me before pushing open the doors, and giving a slight nod to the waitress who stood in front of the counter with a set of menus.

“No, we’re meeting the big guy today.” I heard Woohyun smile at the waitress, who slightly blushed in reply and placed the menus down back into its stand.

“Is this Sunggyu?” She said excitedly, reaching out to shake my hand.

I nodded with a slightly confused look and accepted her handshake, before she giggled behind her hand,

“This guy here doesn’t stop talking about you, that’s why.” She said as she teased Woohyun, who simply stood there with his eyes slightly narrowed.

“Oops, said too much. Well, it’s nice to finally meet you, Sunggyu-Shi.” She laughed before turning away to usher in a new group of customers.

I looked at Woohyun with a serious look before breaking into a wide smile, surprised at how much Woohyun had actually told other people about our relationship. I guess that’s a good thing then, right? I smiled to myself.

He gave me a light squeeze of the hand and led me to the back doors of the restaurant, into the kitchen.

I gasped at the enormous size of the place and at the amount of chefs and trainees working out to produce the best dishes for each and every customer. Orders were being shouted around the large enclosed area, and dishes slid around on bench tops down to the front opening where it was to be taken by a waiter to their respective tables.

“So are you the reason why our next-best-chef-in-training is always zoning out when he’s supposed to be working hard in my kitchen?” A loud, commanding voice boomed next to me.

I turned to the broad shouldered and slightly chubby man with a nervous smile. He reached out and gripped my hand tightly in a tight shake. He gave Woohyun a curt nod before smiling warmly at me.

“I’m sure Woohyun complains about me all the time, but I’m Jung Saewon, the guy who runs everything around here.” The older man smiled, a little smug with his chin slightly angled upwards.

I bowed and gently shook my head,

“Only good things I hear, sir. I’m a big fan of your cooking.” I smiled as I looked around at all the busy men and women dashing around, eager to get a plate out on time.

“Well then, today’s your day, because you’re going to get a little taste of what our restaurant stands for.” The chef said as he gave me a playful wink, before excusing himself to shout at a trainee who had dropped a plate by accident.

“Told you he’s a handful.” Woohyun whispered in my ear as I looked in surprise at the man who was so warm to me who suddenly started scolding the young chef.

“Don’t worry, he’s only like that to make sure we’re too scared to make any more mistakes. Once he was in a good mood so he baked us all rhubarb cupcakes with chocolate ganache, we’re all still waiting for another one of his positive mood swings.” Woohyun chuckled as he wrapped a white apron around my waist.

“You are quite the lucky one today, I’m teaching you myself how to make one of my best desserts. You ready?” Woohyun smirked as he got out a metal mixing bowl and led us towards the back of the kitchen, where there was an empty bench prepared with the right ingredients.

“Did you plan this?” I asked him as I placed a hand on his arm to prevent him from walking off.

“Yeah, I had to make our dates a little bit more exciting, right?”

I laughed and slapped him lightly on the arm,

“No matter how boring you are, I’d never trade our dates for any other. But thank you, Woohyun, I love this.”

He nodded with a big smile and stood there for a couple of seconds before looking at me with a confused, slightly outraged look,

“Wait, did you just call me boring?”

I laughed and shook my head, walking away from the stunned man and grabbed a wooden spoon from the drawer, already feeling comfortable in the crowded environment of men and women in white hats and red aprons.

“Here. This might be helpful.” The stern looking man from before handed a silver metal object to me with an amused smile.

A blowtorch, exactly what I needed to complete the chocolate lime meringue tart that I had spent the past hour working diligently towards. Woohyun, of course, led me through every step and helped me perfect even the smallest of details.

The egg whites couldn’t be whipped too much, nor could it be too grainy from the unmixed caster sugar. It had to be just right, dripping down from the wooden spoon like a thin piece of pale ribbon. The chocolate was to be melted over a glass bowl over a saucepan of water, the water not too hot, to prevent the dark brown mixture from drying out or losing its richness in flavour. Not to mention the crust pastry that had to be perfectly smoothed on the cold surface, and even the ripeness of the lime juice that was to be mixed into the chocolate, needless to say; the list goes on.

So here it stood, the layered pastry dessert in all its glory, absolutely perfect standing lone in the middle of the white ceramic plate. I gave a content sigh as I prepared to finish the meringue off with a golden brown tint with the use of a small flame from the blowtorch.

Woohyun leaned on the counter opposite me, watching my every move with a content and amused smile, yet cautious and ready to step in if I needed any help. He flicked on the switch for the blowtorch as I held the metal tool in my hand, slightly nervous as I could nearly feel Mr Jung’s breath down my neck in anticipation for how I would perfect this dessert.

I outlined the flame around the meringue mould and gave a sigh of relief as I saw the blue flame touch slightly onto the white, colouring it a light golden brown. Woohyun gave a low chuckle and clapped his hands together, before grabbing a handtowel to wipe down the sides of the plate, a precaution that had to be taken before serving every plate. He stood back and wrapped his right arm around my waist as he looked up at the head chef, with an arrogant tilt of his head.

“So what do you think, chef?” He smirked as he awaited the chef’s reply.

I smiled slowly and looked at the blank expression of the head chef, anxiously hoping I didn’t make a mistake that was visible for the human eye.

He lightly hummed in thought and rubbed his fingers on his chin, before looking up at me with a bright smile.

“Woohyun, I think I have found a replacement. There will be no need for you anymore.” Mr Jung laughed before giving me a light slap on the back,

“Wonderful. You managed to pick up every single detail, some chefs in my kitchen wouldn’t even be able to do that. I’m thoroughly impressed with your work, Sunggyu. And I’m not just poking fun at you, if the right opportunity arises for you, I must assure you that my offer will still stand.”

“We could use a perfectionist like you around here.” He nodded with great approval before handing me and Woohyun a fork.

He gave me a pat on the back before walking away, leaving me and Woohyun alone at the back kitchen with a smile.

“How do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“How do you manage to get the most ill tempered and controlling man in the entire world to kneel at your feet and worship you?”

“Oh please, he did not, he was just being nice-”

“I can assure you, Sunggyu, Jung Saewon does not just simply ‘be nice’.” Woohyun laughed as he lifted his fork into the air.

“Maybe he just sees you as a threat, that’s all.” I said as I poked his nose, teasing him with a smile.

“Then I must be a pretty damn big threat then.” He huffed as he leaned down to look closer at the dessert.

“This is just perfect, Gyu. It took me years before I could perfect details like this.” He said as he pointed at the distinct line of where the chocolate mousse separated from the solidified lime curd.

I smiled widely at the compliment, feeling proud that my hard work laboring in the café all those years did pay off for something. I nodded and stuck my fork into it cutting the crumbly tart into pieces.

Woohyun gave a gasp and looked at me in disbelief as he saw me destroy the dessert, seemingly not as impressed at my own work as I should’ve been.
“What?” I questioned as I tilted my head to the left side, I lifted the fork to place it into my mouth.

A perfectly balanced , sweet yet slightly sour tang greeted my taste buds and I gave a loud sigh of satisfaction as I savored the taste in my mouth.

“I can’t believe you just mutilated your own art work- just like that.”

“I could always just make it again, you know.”

“Yeah, but as a chef you’re supposed to take pride in your wo-“

“But if we spent all day staring at each detail of how the mousse carves in perfectly in the crisped tart, along with the curd balancing oh so perfectly on top of the chocolate, then we wouldn’t have time for this.” I mocked him slightly as I placed down my fork with a mischievous smile.

“Time for what?” He took one step forward as I turned towards him, bringing us closer and closer until our chests made a soft impact upon each other.

“This.”

 

I whispered softly as I leaned in to place my lips gently onto Woohyun’s. The sweet flavor of the dark rich chocolate, and the light tangy lime taste getting mixed in between both of our taste palates as we exchanged slow, gentle kisses.

Woohyun softly nodded his head in contentment as he leaned deeper, slightly leaning me back with his arms gripped tightly around my waist. I smiled as I felt his eagerness and impatience. I placed my hand on his chest before pulling back slightly, brushing a piece of hair out of his face.

“So what do you think about the taste?” I asked, my breath resounding onto his as we barely moved an inch apart from each other.

“Perfect.”

He whispered, before closing the gap between us once more.

"Valentine’s day is coming up yeah?" Woohyun asked me as I leant back against his chest, relaxing my tight muscles from the hard yard of working in the kitchen earlier that day. I honestly don’t know how Woohyun does it, cramped up in that restaurant all day.

"What do you want to do?"

"Ah I don't mind, we could have a quiet dinner at home?"

"Or we could have a nice romantic dinner at the restaurant?"

"That sounds much better."

"Great, I'll make reservations."

I hummed in reply, with a small nod as I closed my eyes, letting Woohyun’s warmth surround me and the television lightly buzz in the background.

“Where?”

“Hm, I’ll surprise you.” I felt Woohyun grin cheekily behind me.

I laughed and gave a small nod.

“Alright, I’ll have to trust you on this one then.”

I sighed before snuggling closer into my boyfriend’s arms as he wrapped them more securely around me, planting light butterfly kisses upon my neck on his way.

Not that I was complaining, of course, not one complaint at all.

“Noona, you do know I'm a guy right?”

“Yeah but you're gay, so you might as well be a girl.”

“Now hold this for me while I try this one. Oh my goodness it's leopard! Gyu, should I get the pink or the black one? Oh I have such a great dilemma."

"Why don't you just try both?" I asked as I felt like I was in one of them Mexican taco adds on television.

"Best input you’ve made all day, I dare say.” She gave me a look of excitement and happiness as she literally, skipped into the change room, closing the red velvet curtains behind her on the way.  
 
Yes, I was indeed made prisoner by my sister in a lingerie shop. She dragged me here as soon as I had woken up, in her eagerness to pick out something 'special' for Valentine’s Day, which was coming up in a week. I cringed just at the thought of what the newly married couple would get up to.
It had only just been a week after their long honeymoon away in Paris, and when I say long, I literally mean months of travelling around Europe, and unfortunately for the rest of the world population, they came back as lovey dovey as ever. Yeah, it was indeed possible.
 
I sat down on a large matching velvet couch as I relaxed my feet, I knew this wasn’t going to be the end of my sister’s shopping trip. Hm. Valentine’s Day. I thought to myself as I wondered what I should plan for Woohyun. Chocolates were too simple, a candlelight dinner was too cliché, plus he already made reservations somewhere, and roses were for girls. Man what do guys normally give each other on Valentine’s Day? This was a hard one.

 
"Why don't you cover yourself up in cream and meet him in his apartment door?"

I looked up from my Matchalatte and glared at Sungjong who was excitedly bouncing in his chair.

"Or like borrow one of your Noona’s bras and dresses. Maybe he likes the whole role playing thing?" Dongwoo chirped as he inputted into the conversation.

Hoya sat quietly and placed his knee on Dongwoos thigh,

"Baby I think that's just us." He muttered under his breath, but I had already caught it.

I cringed and nearly spat out my coffee.

"Guys, you are absolutely terrible. I'm going to call Sungyeol and see how they plan their romantic dinners, god I think I’ve lost my appetite."
 

A loud squeal echoed through the speakers of my mobile as I moved the slightly vibrating electronic device away from my ears.

"Yoboseyo?" he yelled happily into the phone.

"Yeol, you need to realise that I can hear you perfectly fine without you screaming into my ear." I said in a gentle, calm tone, slightly rubbing my ear to soothe my damaged eardrums.

"Ah sorry Hyung, my mistake. What's up?" he asked in a whispered tone.

I laughed and cleared my throat. Oh that chodong.

"What do you get Myungsoo for Valentine’s Day?" He paused before taking a sharp intake of breath and spelt out every single Valentine’s Day experience they’d ever had.

"Oh once I filled his whole bathtub with soap bubbles and roses... But that didn’t really work because he was allergic to the chemicals in the soap...” I hummed in reply as I played with my hair with my free hand.

"Then three years ago, we went to an amusement park and ate ice-cream. We got stuck in the Ferris wheel for hours. It was quite funny seeing Myungsoo squirm like that for two hours straight and holding onto me as if I were a lifeguard. I don't think Woohyun’s scared of heights though. Hmm." Sungyeol paused as he thought back to his previous experiences with a laugh. I could imagine his glassy eyes looking up at the roof and his legs shaking in excitement as he reminisced over his memories,

this sure was fun for him.

"Oh and last year I dressed up as a girl and pretended to cheat on him. But like with myself. That kind of failed though, but he did say I looked pretty as a chick." Sungyeol’s giggle rang through the speakers as I laughed in outrage.

"Sungyeol, you're just as bad as Sungjong and Dongwoo! What am I supposed to do?" I sighed in defeat as I ran my hand through my hair in distress.
"Just be yourself and do something meaningful for the both of you. There's nothing Woohyun could ask more of you anyway." he said wisely into the phone.

I nodded, unconsciously unaware that Sungyeol couldn't see me.

"-oh and the year before that I just wrapped myself up in ribbon and yelled sur-"

"Kay, thanks Yeol!" I quickly hung up as I thought about what Sungyeol suggested. Something meaningful...
 

I nervously twiddled around with a pencil and a slightly faded parchment tinted music sheet in front of me. I tapped my foot anxiously as I stared at the clock, it had been an hour already and I had done nothing but write my name at the top of the piece of paper. Piles of paper, of my previous assignments and recently composed songs lay about on my desk and on the floor, scrambled and crinkled all around as I looked around for ideas desperately.

I thought about what Sungyeol had said and I realised there was really nothing more than I could do than to be myself. And I was a musician, I had a music major to prove it and a voice that Woohyun loved, and what more could I do than to do what I did best. But unfortunately for me, no grand ideas had popped into my mind, no random strings of chords, or even the slightest hint of a melody.

I groaned and threw my pencil in a random direction before combing my fingers through my hair in distress. I breathed a few silent breaths before reaching for my mobile, idly sitting on the side of my wooden desk. I fumbled around for a number and gave a small smile as I found the right person I needed.

I waited anxiously for the reply of a low male voice as a light click rang through the line, signifying that a call had been reached,

I took a deep breath before giving a light sigh,

“Hyung, I think I need your help on something.”

#
 

so sorry for the late update :( final year's killing me urgh, anyway hope this little bit of fluffed lightened up your day!

leave me a comment if you have time! :)