~Chapter 17 – Sweets’Royale (Stage 4/9 Cookies)~

            ‘This was definitely not where I wanted to be stationed!’ thought Luhan as he anxiously looked around from his assigned station in the front close by the stage once again ‘Of all places, really!? Ugh I just hope the fourth stage passes by quickly so I can just make a run for it!’

            The morning of the fourth stage was about to begin as the Headmaster headed to the podium once more, “Hello students of SMACSE, I congratulate you all on being the ones to advance into the next stage. Now for the Sweets Royale stage four all participants are required to create cookies based on the theme of nature within the time limit of two hours. Once again your creation will be graded upon three categories of visual, taste, and theme. Now I am elated to finally announce that this begins the Sweets Royale stage four.”

            ‘I will not look on that stage no matter what, I will keep my focus on my desserts only,’ a constant chant that Luhan kept playing in his mind as he got out the ingredients that he needed. Starting first by lining the cookie sheets with parchment paper so the cookies wouldn’t stick to the sheet, he then took out a bowl and put butter and sugar into it as he creamed the two with a mixer until it became light and fluffy. Luhan mixed in egg yolks, vanilla, and salt until all the ingredients were a smooth consistency before slowly adding in the flour. As the dough mixture formed with the addition of the flour, Luhan began to shape the dough by splitting and rolling the pieces of dough into small round spheres. Taking the cookie dough spheres he dipped them in a bowl of the leftover egg whites and then rolled them in the chopped walnuts he had taken out and put those to the side, placing each sphere he made on to the cookie sheet with at least one inch apart from each other. Luhan then took a small circular spoon and pushed down the middle of each cookie so that it left a dent that would later be used to put filling in.

            After that was done he placed it into the oven to bake and began preparing a thicker version of the strawberry jam sauce that had been used in the fruit tart project before. Once the cookies were finished baking, Luhan quickly removed them and set them on the cooling rack and took out a plate to place his dessert on. Once cooled he placed all of the cookies on the glossy white plate and began filling the center dents of the cookies he made earlier with the strawberry jam, making the entire cookie look like a flower with a red center.

            ‘Done, now I just need to get the heck out of here,’ thought Luhan as he felt the dark stare coming from the stage, directed straight at him. Quickly setting his dessert in the center, the bell rang once more indicating that the fourth stage of the Sweets Royale has finished.

            “All participants stop and place everything down at once; you may now begin to place your dessert in the center of the counter of your kitchen station alongside your assigned number. Please wait to be dismissed and do not move from your station until told to do so by a staff member. You will be able to see your score on the screening board outside of the competition hall on the monitors around noon make sure to check if you will be advancing to the next round. All participants must now listen carefully, in the next stage all advancing participants are expected to create a mousse based on the theme of darkness. That is all and we once again wish you the best in your endeavors,” as the headmaster finished his announcements the staff immediately came forth again and began ushering people out of the doors. This time with the dwindling number of contestants due to the past challenging stages Luhan was able to quickly escape the competition hall and he couldn’t have been happier as he managed to avoid looking at the stage and making eye contact with the sinister man.

            Luhan sighed in relief as he made it through the doors ‘Finally out of there…’

            “Hey! Luhan, you did well right?” asked DO as he waved over the older to where everyone else stood; even Kris, Lay, and Kai were there to show their support for everyone for this stage despite them not being able to make it to the next round.

            Luhan approached the group while answering, “Yeah, I think so…”

            “That’s good, you probably did way better than I did, I tried experimenting for a new flavored cookie that could wow the judges and I really think it came out badly…” sighed Chanyeol dramatically.

            “What new flavor was it?” questioned Baekhyun worriedly.

            “…Oatmeal dried fruit flavored with a green lime candied coating,” replied Chanyeol receiving many dubious looks from the others.

            “Ew, why did you do that?” asked Chen with a grossed out expression.

            “I was feeling a bit ambitious and I guess I took the nature theme too far and the flavor seemed to work out in my head…” answered Chanyeol shrugging.

            “Dude… just… no” said Chen as he tried imagining a green lime candied oatmeal dried fruit cookie.

            “Yeah… Oh well! It’s the judges who just don’t appreciate originality when they see it, at least I blew them all away in the last round with my amazing candy,” replied Chanyeol grinning as the others smiled at his optimism in an amused way.

            “The Sweets Royale is starting to really become intense; I bet at least more than half of the participants have already been eliminated so far and this is only the fourth stage, who knows how many more will actually be able to go on to the next stage,” observed Baekhyun as he took note of how the hallway that was once filled with many participants had dwindled significantly.

             “Well I know that I passed this round without even putting in any effort, cookies are always my forte,” said Xiumin confidently.

            “Your cookies are always the best out of all of us!” agreed Tao happily.

            “cough biased cough,” joked Chen as the others laughed along.

            Tao poked his tongue out childishly “I know I am,” as he hugged his boyfriend, “I wished that I was good at making cookies like Xiumin though, I think I left mine too long in the oven and it became too hard…”

            Xiumin patted Tao’s head “It’s okay, practice makes perfect anyways.”

            “So does this mean two more join the unappreciated baking skills team?” asked Kai teasingly.

            “The results aren’t up yet! I still have a chance!” replied Tao.

            “Suuuuuure,” replied Kai.

            “I do!” insisted Tao.

            “Alright, alright, we won’t really know until the results are posted anyways, let’s just head back for now, we spent so much time here that all the other participants already left,” said Suho trying to stop any arguments from breaking out and began leading everyone outside.

            “Okay…” answered everyone else as they followed Suho towards the dorm.

            But on the way there, Luhan who was walking close to the end of the group was suddenly squeezed in a tight hug, giving him the biggest fright as he jumped in surprise; he turned around only to see none other than his Granny. “Granny! What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be judging the desserts right now?” asked Luhan with a hand over his heart trying to calm down form the shock ‘For a second I almost thought I was going to get kidnapped! Ugh I’m becoming really paranoid thanks to that stupid creep.’

            The other eleven boys stopped and turned around to also greet Granny with smiles and hugs. “What kind of question is that, Xiao Lu? I wanted to see you all since it’s been a while and since many of the participants have been eliminated so far to only about forty percent left the judging has been getting much quicker!” replied Meili after giving her last hug to the boys.

            “Only forty percent left?” said Suho with widened eyes.

            Meili nodded in response “Yup, many of the desserts were of course delicious but there were those that had lacked in certain areas as well, I’m not really able to go into detail about how we did the judging though because it’s confidential.”

            Everyone nodded, “It’s okay Granny! We understand,” said Tao.

            “Yeah, let’s head to the dorm, it’ll be more comfortable to talk there than just standing here,” said Lay.

            As everyone entered the dorm, they all sat around the living room with Granny sitting on the couch in between Luhan and Sehun since she insisted quite stubbornly. “Ahhhhh, it’s been so long since I was able to talk to all of you, how is everything going so far?” asked Meili as she looked around the room at the boys expectantly while they all began chattering at once in an attempt to tell Granny everything she’s missed since her last visit.

            Luhan smiled quietly ‘I missed doing these things so much, just sitting around with everyone and Granny telling stories and cracking jokes. Now it’s even better with Sehun and Kai included too. I don’t want this peaceful time to stop…’ Luhan’s expression faltered to one of fear for a moment as he recalled his previous encounter with Hyo in the hallway ‘Only five more stages to go… I can handle that ri