“Why are we doing this again?” Jongin sighed exasperatedly as he eyed each and every ingredient needed to bake cupcakes. He cringed at the sight, automatically thinking about how he would clean up the mess afterwards. He didn’t want his parents to come home to such chaos.

“Because,” Sehun began, sensing Jongin’s dilemma. “You owe Luhan for setting you up with Kyungsoo.”

“I can always just buy him cupcakes, you know.” Jongin enlightened his best friend. “Why cupcakes, by the way?”

“It has to be special, and Luhan likes sweets.”

Jongin raised an eyebrow. “And you know this how?”

Sehun grunted in annoyance. “I’ve seen him eat cupcakes occasionally.”

“Stalker.” Jongin coughed. He smirked as Sehun shot him a threatening glare. “Okay lover boy, do you actually know how to make these?”

Sehun, deciding to ignore Jongin’s teasing, replied, “No.”

Jongin shook his head in disbelief. “You,” he said, jabbing his index finger on Sehun’s shoulder. “Are impossible, Oh Sehun.”

“Let’s just get this over with.” Sehun said, smacking Jongin’s hand away.

He started to gather all the ingredients and placed them on the kitchen counter. He instructed Jongin to take out all the utensils from the cabinet, as well as his mother’s cookbook. Sehun tried to convince himself that baking was easy. He’d seen his mother bake a couple of times and she didn’t seem to have a hard time.

But boy was he wrong. Little by little, Sehun was starting to realize how amazing his mother was. Baking was most definitely not an easy task. How could his mother bake something that tastes a little like heaven so effortlessly?

Sehun ruffled his hair in exasperation. “We will never finish this on time. It’s hopeless!”

Jongin eyed Sehun skeptically. “Sehun, why are you so stressed out about this? I’m sure Luhan would be okay with us not paying him back for the favor.”

“You don’t understand!” Sehun exclaimed in displeasure. “These cupcakes have to be perfect for Luhan.”

“Oh, I see what’s going on here.” Jongin nodded his head in understanding. He put down the bowl he was holding and twisted his body to face Sehun. “You’re starting to like him, aren’t you?”

Yes. “What? NO!” Sehun scoffed as he pushed himself off the counter. He brushed pass Jongin and settled with fumbling through the stacks of cupcake ingredients.

“You do know you can’t hide anything from me, right?” Jongin smirked and tilted his head to the side.

Sehun pursed his lips as his brows knitted together. “I think we put in too much flour.”

Jongin sighed. “You’re hopeless, Oh Sehun.”

Sehun waved him off and continued to pour all the components into an empty mixing bowl. Jongin chuckled lightly, knowing he got under Sehun’s skin. The pair continued to bake in silence until they eventually came out with an edible batch of colorful looking cupcakes.

“Aw, these cupcakes are so cute!” Luhan clapped his hands as he jumped up and down excitedly. He grabbed one that had the face of a cat designed on top. He squinted his eyes as he examined the details of the design. Sehun tugged on his collar, afraid Luhan might insult his creativity. “And you even got the nose and whiskers right!”

Sehun found himself smiling at Luhan’s words. “I just hope it tastes as good as it looks.”

Luhan grinned and instinctively pinched Sehun’s cheek. “You’re so cute when you worry.”

“Tch,” Sehun bowed his head as he rubbed the spot where Luhan had pinched him. He didn’t want Luhan to see him blush.

As if purposely trying to make Sehun nervous, Luhan took his sweet time in eating the cupcake. Sehun held his breath as he scrutinized Luhan’s facial expressions. When Luhan cracked a wide grin, Sehun finally let out a long and steady breath.

“Oh my, this tastes heavenly! You seriously made these? All by yourself?” Luhan took another huge bite.

Sehun rubbed the back of his neck shyly. “Jongin helped me make those. It’s uh, it’s to thank you for helping him with Kyungsoo.”

“Ah,” Luhan said with a nod. “You didn’t have to put in so much effort, Sehunnie.”

“I wanted to.” Sehun replied a little too quickly.

“That’s so sweet of you.” Luhan’s eyes glistened with happiness as he finished the rest of his cupcake.

Sehun made him a whole bunch of those, so Luhan had enough to share with whoever he pleased.

“Thank you for this.” Luhan said, holding up the box of sweets.

“Don’t mention it.”

Just as Luhan was about to speak, a tall, brown haired girl shoved pass him and  sent him tumbling on the ground.

“Luhan!” Sehun cried out in surprise as he bent down to Luhan’s level. He inspected Luhan’s limbs for any signs of injury. “Are you okay? Does it hurt anywhere?”

Luhan opened his mouth to speak, but the girl cut him off.

“Sehun-ah!”

Sehun gritted his teeth as he recognized the voice. He refused to look her in the eye and continued to help Luhan to his feet.

“Was he bothering you? It’s a good thing I happened to pass by.” Jessica ignored Sehun’s cold shoulder treatment as she tapped him on the shoulder. “Sehun-ah, don’t be like this. I hate it when you ignore me.”

“Luhan-ah, are you hurt?” Sehun still ignored Jessica.

“I-I’m fine, Sehun.” Luhan stuttered, lowering his head to avoid eye contact.

Sehun unconsciously frowned when Luhan didn’t call him by his usual nickname.

“I-I have to go. I’ll see you around.” Without waiting for a response, Luhan vanished among the crowd of students.

Sehun sighed as he let his gaze follow the pink haired boy. Once he was out of sight, Sehun’s expression turned dark as he turned to glare at Jessica.

“What was that for?”

Jessica merely shrugged. “I thought he was bothering you.” She flirtatiously trailed her hand across Sehun’s chest.

“He’s not the one who’s bothering me.” Sehun replied coldly as he swatted Jessica’s hand off of him. “You are.”

“Don’t be so cruel.” Jessica said with a small pout. “I was just trying to help.”

“You can help by leaving me alone.” Sehun shot her one last glare before leaving her standing in the middle of the crowd, all alone.