~Chapter 19 – Sweets Royale (Stage 6/9 Pie)~

            Being stationed in the middle of the competition hall this time around, Luhan didn’t have much complaint ‘At least I’m not close to the front; I just hope this round will go quickly. There are only five of us left, including myself there’s Sehun, Baekhyun, Suho, and DO.’ Luhan peered down the aisle trying to see if any of his friends were close by, he managed to make eye contact with Suho who was stationed down just a bit further from his own.

            Suho, having noticed Luhan, smiled and waved towards the older, with Luhan returning the gesture right before the room began to quiet down once more for the entrance of the Headmaster and the five judges. Luhan only kept his eyes lowered to the table top of his station, completely avoiding the stage ‘I’ll continue what I have been doing before, I’ll focus only on my dessert maybe Hyo will just take the hint and stay away…’

            The Headmaster headed to the podium and proceeded with the sixth stage, “Hello students of SMACSE, I congratulate you all on being the ones to advance into the next stage. Now for the Sweets Royale stage six all participants are required to create a pie based on the theme of childhood 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 six.”

            ‘Okay I got this, if the theme is childhood then I can make banana cream pie, Granny and I used to make it every holiday we spent together so she’ll definitely recognize it when she sees it,’ thought Luhan as he began the preparations for the base crust by using the same base recipe he had used for the fruit tart project. After setting the crust pan aside, he put a saucepan on the stove and combined sugar flour and salt into it while gradually pouring the milk in as he stirred the mixture to dissolve the solid items. Once the mixture began bubbling on the stove, Luhan removed it from the heat and set it aside for a moment, getting eggs and separating the yolk to use for tempering once again. After finishing the tempering of the eggs, Luhan also added a bit of vanilla, banana flavoring, and butter to the filling mixture and stirred the entire thing until it had a smooth consistency.

            Setting the now finished filling mixture on the table for a moment, Luhan took out a bunch of bananas and began cutting them into even slices, layering the bottom of the base crust with the sliced bananas. After the layering, he took the filling mixture and poured it into the pie crust and placed the entire pie into the quick chiller for a few moments. As the pie chilled, Luhan cut up more banana slices to add as decorations on the top, as soon as the pie finished chilling he took it out and began arranging the banana slices in a childish way rather than a neat and professional appearance to show the theme of childhood through the decoration, finishing just as the bell rang indicating that the sixth stage of the Sweets Royale was completed.

            “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 cake based on the theme of elements. 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.

            When it was finally Luhan’s turn to walk outside he saw Sehun, DO, Baekhyun, Kris, Kai, Lay, Tao, Chanyeol, Xiumin, and Chen standing in the hallway again waiting for everyone.

            “Luhan! You’re finally out, now we just need Suho, so how do you think the round went for you?” asked DO.

            “Yeah, Suho was actually pretty close by my station in the competition hall so I think that he’ll be out soon and I think this round was alright…” replied Luhan ‘At least well enough since I was still able to avoid Hyo.’

            “Oh, there’s Suho!” said Tao happily pointing towards the other boy approaching the group.

            “So how’d you do, Suho!?” asked Baekhyun.

            “I think I did okay or well at least well enough to get to the next stage,” said Suho worriedly.

            “I’m sure you did great, besides the next round is cake! And you’re the best at making cake!” reassured DO.

            “Mmm I suppose… But I think I should actually start practicing for the next stage too even if it is my best skill,” replied Suho.

            “If you think so, practice can only help improve your skills,” said Luhan thinking of all the time he has been practicing for each round of the Sweets Royale.

            “Yeah, I guess I won’t be heading back to the dorm this time,” said Suho.

            “Okay, we’ll meet here like usual to see the scores later, good luck on your practice,” said Chanyeol as the group began moving towards the direction of the dorm.

            “Kris! Wait! I wanted to ask you to help me with something!” proclaimed Suho as he grabbed on to Kris’ jacket sleeve to prevent him from leaving with the others.

            “Wha- What is it?” asked Kris with a slight stutter and a tint of pink coloring his cheeks, looking towards the shorter who was clutching his sleeve.

            “I need your help with the frosting, I know you’re really good at making it and I was wondering if you could help me with mine, if you don’t mind of course,” asked Suho with a pleading look as his lips jutted out slightly in a cute pout.

            “Er, uh, yeah, okay,” answered Kris unable to resist.

            “Thank you so much! I definitely owe you one,” exclaimed Suho as he threw his arms around Kris’ neck stunning the taller to where he stood “Let’s go to the kitchen classroom in the candy building to practice.”

            Kris’ brain didn’t seem to work for a moment as what Suho said began to process slowly in his mind, seeing that Kris needed a bit of help Luhan elbowed him slightly on the side, effectively snapping Kris out of the frozen state he was in “Huh?” Kris asked.

            “Kitchen classroom in the candy building, practice frosting and cake?” repeated Suho.

            “Oh yeah, okay, I’ll see you there, I just need to go back to the dorm real quick first because I forgot my wallet there and I don’t want another incident like the game arcade one to happen again,” replied Kris trying to slip back into his cool image. At hearing this both Luhan and Sehun let out a muffled “pfffft” as they turned around in attempt to hide their laughter.

            Suho having not noticed the two laughing only smiled and nodded in understanding “Okay! I’ll meet you there then” as he began walking off the same time Kris nodded and walked towards the dorm.

            When the two were out of sight, Luhan couldn’t help but let out the laughter he was holding in “I can’t believe Kris still thinks it’s because he left his wallet back at the arcade that his forty bucks went missing.”

            Sehun let out a slight chuckle “It was a great revenge plan.”

            Luhan nodded in agreement with a smile still on his face, he asked “So you want to go plan out the next stage in my favorite kitchen classroom in the baking building? I would offer to practice with Suho but those two need the alone time, maybe they can finally get together already.”

            “Hnnn, you’re right, I can’t tell who’s more oblivious,” replied Sehun nonchalantly but as he was about to continue, his sentence was cut off by the ring of his phone. Taking it out and checking the caller ID Sehun could only barely restrain the look of annoyance that flashed across his features.

            “Is it your parents?” asked Luhan quietly as his smile faltered and a feeling of disappointment filled his chest ‘I guess he’s not going with me now…’

            Sehun only nodded returning his face to the usual stoic expression and said monotonously “I’ll meet you later if this ends quickly; you’re going to be in the kitchen classroom for sure right?”

            “Yeah, definitely, I guess I’ll see you later then?” replied Luhan ‘I hope everything works out well for you Sehun…’

            Sehun nodded, picking up the call as he began walking towards the exit to answer his call. Luhan sighed as he saw Sehun disappear out of sight ‘Why is it I always feel so… disappointed when Sehun can’t go with me?’ Luhan shook his head as if to clear his thoughts ‘I’m just worried for a friend that’s all… Especially with that creep Hyo on the loose and roaming the halls… I should get going.’

            Eventually making it to the kitchen classroom, Luhan sat down at the usual place and took out some paper and a pencil that he kept near the station. ‘The next stage… cake with the theme of elements… three more stages left… I hope everyone will be able to pass to the next round… But the threats Hyo gave… I don’t know what to do…’

            Luhan ended up getting lost in his own thoughts as everything began to swirl around in his mind, but when he suddenly heard the door of the kitchen classroom swoosh open, he turned around with a smile on his lips ready to greet the person he was waiting to see “Seh-”

            The smile was instantly wiped off of Luhan’s face and the friendly greeting was left stuck in his throat as he took sight of the thirty year old man in a formal black suit standing in the doorway who also had an unfriendly smile on his face.

            “Is this where you have been hiding?” asked Hyo grinning evilly.

            Luhan couldn’t speak at the serious shock he just received, ‘No, how did he even find this place?’

            “You don’t seem too happy to see me, what happened to that smile you had on your pretty face a few seconds ago?” asked Hyo questioningly.

            ‘I would never smile towards you! Just get out!’ thought Luhan vehemently as he remained quiet watching Hyo wearily.

            Hyo approached Luhan, “I must admit though even with such a pretty face, you have quite an impressive file on yourself at this school as well.”

            ‘File?’ thought Luhan confused wh