After what seemed like the longest day at work, we were finally clearing up and getting ready to call it a day. I wiped some sweat off my forehead and focused on scrubbing off a stain on the floor caused by a careless kid who spilled his coffee. Thankfully I had Sooyoung around to share the workload with.

“Funny how our business seems to be flourishing lately. I guess Yoona didn’t resort to any sabotage.” Sooyoung commented with a crooked smile on her face.

I nodded. “I know. She seems to have disappeared for good. I’m sure Siwon is pleased.”

Speaking of Siwon, he had been so quiet the whole day since our conversation in the morning. I wanted to know what he had to say about his dream but we were too busy to bring this up the entire day.

“Alright I have to get going now. Kyuhyun is waiting for me at a nearby restaurant! We’re celebrating our anniversary.”

I gave Sooyoung a big hug and congratulated her before she shouted to Siwon who was in the kitchen that she was leaving. After she left, I dusted my hands and went to take a look at Siwon in the kitchen. He was standing by the oven as though he was waiting for something to be ready.

“Siwon.”

He spun around in surprise and smiled nervously at me. “Hey Yuri.”

“What are you baking at this hour?” I asked curiously as I peeked into the oven.

“Our supper. Why don’t you head back home first? I’ll catch up with you in a while. Don’t want to keep you waiting.” He suggested before heading to the decoration table to prepare some frosting.

Knowing how focused he gets when baking, I decided it was best that I left him alone for now and head back home first. The conversation I had been so looking forward to can wait.

When I got home, I threw my tired body on the couch and closed my eyes. What an exhausting day it had been, both physically and mentally. My body was pushing itself to the limits recently. The crowd that came everyday seem to be increasing so rapidly that it was hard for only the three of us to cope. But I knew that the cafe couldn’t afford to hire another person in the short run, we were barely profiting.

I went to take a shower and when I came out of the bathroom, I saw Siwon sitting by the kitchen bar with a cake box in front of him.

“Yuri, come try my latest creation. It’s made of chocolate, I’m sure you’ll love it.”

I’ll love anything made of chocolate and anything made by Siwon was sure to taste good. Without hesitation I took a seat opposite of him and opened the box.

And then I was speechless. It had to be the most beautiful chocolate cake I ever seen with light pink and yellow frosting interlaced around the t of the cake. Right in the middle of the cake was my name, or should I say the name I now go by, written delicately in white frosting.

“You made this for me?”

I didn’t know what else to say so I asked the most obvious question that came to my mind. But seriously, what’s up with this cake?

Siwon looked at me with the softest eyes I had ever seen before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a gift box.

“Open it.”

I opened the box and gasped when I saw the pair of ear studs I had fallen in love with. He had bought it for me.

“Siwon, thanks so much for your gift. I… really love this. I can’t… thank you enough.”

As I placed the box back on the counter, his hands reached over and held on to mine. I was on the verge of explosion from inside out. WHAT WAS GOING ON? CAN SOMEBODY PLEASE TELL ME?

“I don’t know when but I started to find myself having some feelings for you. When I had seen you with your date at the cafe, I felt jealous and upset but I didn’t have the courage to stop you or let you know what I feel. But after seeing how happy you looked after the date, I really wished that… the one who can give you happiness was me. I dreamt that we had a happy ending together but I know that my dream will only remain a dream unless I took a bold step and let you know that… I like you,  Yuri.”

He paused and shifted nervously in his seat as I looked at him with my eyes wide open. I wanted to pinch myself in the face. This wasn’t a dream, right?

“I know that I can’t give you the luxuries in life that he can give you. All I can give you is this cake I made with all my love and sincerity and the ear studs which you wanted so badly.”

I shook my head vigorously. “I don’t care for those luxury items or expensive dinners at restaurants. I just want someone who loves me as much as I love him.”

Without much thought, I leaned over the counter and kissed Siwon on the cheek.

“I like you too, Siwon,” I mumbled before blushing like crazy. I could feel my cheeks heat up as though I was having a fever. Everything still felt like a dream.

“Yuri… Yuri…”

He started calling my name sweetly as I grinned madly at him.

“YURI!”

He shouted at me out of the blue. Stupid Siwon, you didn’t have to shout my name so loud! I heard you!

“What?” I called out and found myself looking right into Siwon’s face with a baffled expression on it.  We were sitting on the couch together. I look at my outfit and I was still dressed in my work clothes.

“Yuri, you had fallen asleep on the couch. I tried to wake you up but you were so deeply asleep you couldn’t hear me so I had to raise my voice a little. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

SO IT WAS ALL A DREAM. I felt crushed. The dream had felt so real and it was everything that I wanted to happen. I knew it, everything was too good to be true.

“Sorry about that, Siwon. I must have been too tired.”

A small smile crept up on his face as he nudged my arm. “You must have been having a pretty sweet dream. You were smiling in your sleep. Had a dream of your new boyfriend?”

“He’s not my boyfriend.” I snapped at him, perhaps a little too agitatedly as Siwon looked at me weirdly.

“Alright, he’s not your boyfriend. Now buddy, can you help me try out my latest creation? It’s made of chocolate, your favorite.”

He called me buddy. I don’t want to be your buddy. I shot him an uninterested look as he pointed to the cake box he had placed on the coffee table. I shifted forward and opened the cake box. It was a simple, uninteresting, plain chocolate cake. No flowers or Yuri written on it as I dreamt.

“It looks normal.”

I picked up a fork and took a mouthful of the cake. Wow, it tasted so wonderful! The burst of citrus flavor in my mouth as I bit into it was heavenly. Alongside the rich taste of dark chocolate, this cake was a unique masterpiece! 

“It’s my new creation. Lemon lime chocolate cake! This is it! I’m going to use this to enter the Asian cake creation challenge! I spent months working on this!”

That explains why he stayed alone in the bakery after hours a couple of days a week. I had a wild idea that maybe he was secretly dating someone and didn’t want to let me know.

“So this challenge you’re talking about, where is it held?”

He ran into his room and came out with a white envelope.

“It’s going to be held in Tokyo in a month's time. I’m going to register now for it. Bakers from around Asia will be there to compete with their wildest and most unique creations! Remember the travel vouchers we had won? We can use them for this trip. You can be my baking assistant during the challenge! Isn't this great? Everything is working out just right!”

Damn it. So the trip that I had been looking forward to was going to become a business trip. I didn’t look too pleased and he sensed my displeasure.

“Don’t worry, Yuri. I promise you time to play and relax, aside from the competition. I’m not a mean boss!”

“Alright, just make the necessary arrangements and I’ll go along.”

I picked up my bag and headed to my room, before slamming the door shut. 

---------------------------------------------------

A/N:

I actually feel pretty bad for Yuri after this chapter. Would you have rather it not be a dream? ^^