“No! That does not go there!” You pulled the cheese away from Daehyun’s mouth and glared at him. He gave you a sheepish smile.

            “Just trying to test out the ingredients.”

            You stared at him for a beat too long before realizing that no¸ you should be staring at his stupidity and not at his lips. You shook your head to get rid of any remnants of digressing thoughts and took the egg beater from him. “You can just sit and watch.”

            “I should be the one making this,” he insisted.

            “If you made this, the ingredients would be done before you finish. So no. My birthday, my rules.”

            “And my cake surprise you ruined,” he grumbled. You smiled sweetly at him and proceeded to whip the eggs.

            You gave him the bowl with the cream cheese. “You can mix the cream cheese though. Now that you’re not hunkering to eat it, I trust you enough. Be sure to add two tablespoons of sugar after you do this for five minutes.” You sat down and watched him. “Don’t tire yourself out.”

            Daehyun pouted and started to mix the cheese, looking dejectedly as he did so. “You know, I have better self-control than you think. I wasn’t actually going to eat the cheese. It was one hundred percent for humor purposes, to make you laugh.” When you raised an eyebrow, he looked even sadder. “It’s true!” he insisted. “When it’s your cake, I can refrain.”

            You narrowed your eyes at him. “Are you quoting Len’s tweets again.”

            He placed a hand over his heart. “That girl understands my heart.”

            After beating and placing the sugar, he drizzled in the vanilla and looked at you. “What are you doing?”

            “Watching you.”         

            “Oh. So I’m the one making the cake?” He looked unbelievably happy when you nodded. “Alright! Time to check on the crust then.” He peered into the oven where the graham cracker crumbs he had mixed with butter was slowly smoothing over to form a flat layer of crust. You inhaled.

            “Smells good.”

            He nodded and casually reached for one of the leftover graham crackers and when you looked at him, defended himself with his mouth full. “Therse arm the lefoers,” he mumbled.

            You laughed and took a small piece for yourself. “I know, silly. I wasn’t going to stop you. I was just going to help you add the milk into the filling.” He nodded and allowed you to assist him. But when you wanted to add the eggs, he grabbed your wrist.

            “Let me do it. Ladies and gentlemen, this is how you make a perfect cheesecake. You need, as I have previously shown you, all the right ingredients, tested of course.” You let out a tiny snort. “And then, you need to have a beautiful assistant next to you because they always make the cake better.” You slapped his arm.

            “Be quiet and stop with the Reporter Dae.”

            He squinted his eyes together and furled his lips into a cat-like smile. “This is the Jung Daehyun food channel. And what you’re viewing is the steps to the perfect birthday cheesecake.”

            He carefully lifted the filling and poured it into the crust that he had taken out. You watched him gently smooth things over with the back of a spatula and he placed the cake into the oven to bake. Daehyun looked at you and smiled.

            “Well, I guess that’s it. Once it’s done, we pop it into the fridge for a while, and then we wait for the guests to arrive.”

            You grabbed a bit of the frosting and dabbed it on his nose. “Here, reward for the hard work.”

            He smirked and winked suggestively. “How about I eat that off of somewhere else instead?” The look you gave him had him backtracking. “Okay, kidding!”    

            It was after dinner, and after everyone had settled into the living room that Daehyun asked to turn off the lights. Jongup went with him to help carry the plates and everyone waited. There were small dots coming your way from out of the kitchen and you saw that they were the light from the candles.

            “Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you,” Daehyun sang. “Happy birthday, my dearest, happy birthday to you!” And in front of you, was the large cheesecake that he had put in so much effort to make.

            You looked around you and bowed. “Thank you for everyone. I don’t even need to make a wish because everything I could wish for is already here.”

this is for StephanieBD

and it also happens to be my birthday

haha. I want to thank all of you for standing by me, and for supporting me, watching me grow. AFF has seen me from 16, and here I am, already 19 and getting older :P

I love you all ♥