Hoon wants to bake you a cake as a surprise for your birthday. But chocolate cake and secret-keeping are more complicated than expected.

    The month of May brought many changes. The weather became warmer, the flowers sweeter, and the trees greener. And Hoon became increasingly pensive during the first few weeks of May as he struggled to think of the perfect birthday gift for you, his girlfriend. Wanting to seem manly and responsible, he kept his problem a secret from you and all of the members until he finally thought of something. And even then, Hoon did his best to maintain secrecy.

    He thought of it in the middle of an afternoon practice. The group was rehearsing Neverland for an upcoming performance, so there were extra dance practices all week. Hoon was exhausted, but he kept trying to think of a present for you. His moment of enlightenment finally came in the middle of the chorus, and his excitement at the idea caused him to move his hands particularly forcefully. Kevin was less pleased, for Hoon accidentally hit Kevin in the arm.

    “Ow!” Kevin cried, trying to fall back in time with the beat.

    “Sorry!” Hoon paid closer attention to his arm movements and received a very suspicious glance from Soohyun.

    Hoon stopped by the supermarket on the way back to the apartment. He strode out of the store with several bags and a spring in his step. He was going to bake you a cake. And it would be beautiful, he thought. Just like you.

    When he tumbled into the apartment, saving the bags and himself from falling in what was a rather valiant effort, he was met by a freshly showered Soohyun.

    “Hyung!” Hoon gasped, dropping his bags in surprise. “You showered!”

    “Oh,” Soohyun coughed, “I was just leaving.” He grabbed his keys. “I have to run an errand. _____ is coming over later, right?”

    “Yeah,” Hoon set the bags down and removed his shoes without incident.

    “Okay, I won’t be back until late anyway. Say hi to her for me, alright?”

    After Soohyun had left, Hoon set to work putting away all of his baking ingredients. He still had about a week before your birthday, but he wanted to get in plenty of practice cakes before the big day. He had just finished putting the last bag of flour in the cupboard when he remembered that he needed some of the ingredients to practice with at the moment. Hoon sighed. It was going to be a long week, but if it made you happy, he would do it without a complaint.

    The first cake was chocolate. He knew that you loved chocolate, so he had set out to bake you the chocolatiest cake possible. The cake had baked quickly, and now he was left with the question of frosting. Hoon checked the wall clock. He still had an hour before you arrived. It was just doable, he told himself, as long as he hurried and cleaned up in time.

    To Hoon’s dismay, frosting turned out to be much more difficult than expected. Unlike cake batter, which was smooth when beaten, frosting had a tendency to fling powdered sugar everywhere. With a grim expression, Hoon regarded the sight before him. The frosting was finished, but the counters were splattered, and so was he. It didn’t matter what color shirt he was wearing. If the confectioner’s sugar hadn’t nailed him, the cocoa powder would have.

    Hoon checked the clock again. The cake! He needed to hide the cake! He concealed the cake, bowls, and baking utensils in the oven before wiping the counters down, frantically brushing his shirt off, and hoping for the best. He had to keep the cake a secret until May 24.

    The apartment buzzer sounded, and Hoon panicked when he sniffed the air. A chocolatey aroma filled the kitchen. Luckily, he remembered the air freshener spray that Soohyun had bought for the apartment. Dashing into Soohyun’s room, he retrieved the spray and sprayed it all around the kitchen to mask the evidence of his baking activities.

    You tapped your foot, waiting patiently outside until the door opened to reveal a very wide-eyed Hoon.

    “Hoonie, is everything okay?” You asked as you stepped inside the apartment.

    Hoon nodded feverishly. “Everything’s fine.” He took your hand. “I’m glad to see you, especially since it’s been such a busy few weeks.”

    You smiled. “I’m glad to see you too. What’s that smell?”

    “Smell?” Hoon coughed. “What smell? Oh! That’s Soohyun’s. It’s air freshener.”

    “It’s coming from the kitchen,” you said worriedly. “Do you need any help with whatever it is?”

    “Oh, no, that’s alright! Soohyun, uh…actually, you probably don’t want to know. It’s the refrigerator,” he concluded, nodding, as though hinting that you were supposed to believe him.

    You were beginning to suspect that Hoon was keeping a secret, and keeping it very badly at that, but you didn’t press the matter. He had become equally secretive and mischievous just before Valentine’s Day, so you guessed that his strange behavior might have something to do with your birthday. Then again, Hoon behaving strangely was nothing out of the ordinary.

    Hoon took your hand and tugged at it gently until you followed him to the couch. When you sat down, he sat down next to you, immediately wrapping his arms around you and pulling you closer so that you were practically hugging him.

    “What’s all this, Hoonmin?” You asked. You weren’t about to argue about cuddling with him, but it seemed rather sudden.

    “I really missed you,” he murmured, closing his eyes. “Just give me a minute.”

    You giggled and rested your head on his shoulder. “How was practice?”

    “It went well. We’re practicing Neverland for the showcase next week. We needed to practice it all together with Jun.”

    “Neverland?” You asked, excited. “Actually, I…I didn’t tell you, but I was bored a while back and taught myself the dance.”

    “You did?” Hoon’s eyes remained closed, but a broad grin spread across his face. “You’ll have to show me.”

    Suddenly shy, you turned to face Hoon’s neck. It was then that you made a very interesting discovery.

    “Oh?” You saw something on Hoon’s jaw. Intrigued, you reached out to touch it. You were almost certain it was what you thought it was, but you had to ask. “Hoon, what’s that on your jaw?”

    “Hmm?” Hoon was halfway to dreamland due to the particularly long practice that afternoon, and now, with you in his arms, he was finding it more and more difficult to stay awake.

    It had to be what you thought it was. With no doubt left in your mind, your finger darted out, wiped it from his face, and tentatively touched it to your tongue. Your suspicions were confirmed. Hoon seemed to be sporting the latest fashion— chocolate frosting.

    “Hoonie,” you said, furrowing your brow, “it’s chocolate frosting.”

    Hoon’s eyes snapped open and he shot upright, turning to stare at you with a shocked expression reminiscent of that of a criminal who had been caught in the act.

    “Ch-chocolate?” Hoon looked nearly frightened, and you would have laughed at his expression if you hadn’t realized that you had stumbled upon something you weren’t supposed to know about.

    You nodded. “Yes, it’s definitely chocolate.”

    Hoon panicked. You knew about the frosting. The game was up. His only option, he decided, was to clear the evidence, to act like there had never been any chocolate frosting in the first place.

    “Chocolate?” Hoon repeated, forcing a laugh. “There’s no chocolate! Let alone frosting!” He shook his head with an innocent expression. “You must be confused. Here, this will help,” he said, bestowing a kiss on the tip of your nose.

    You raised an eyebrow at him. You knew it was chocolate frosting, but for some reason, Hoon didn’t want you to know about whatever it was, so you decided to let it go. You fell back against him, letting your head rest on him once more, and made up your mind to wake him up when it was time for you to go. Hoon would be asleep in no time.

    The week passed in a flurry of extra dance practices, hidden cakes, and cocoa powder. Hoon had kept a mental tally of the number of cakes he had baked (6), the number of times his plan had almost been discovered (13), and the number of white shirts he had spilled chocolate frosting on (2). Math, Hoon thought. AJ would be proud.

    Aside from the first day, when you had found chocolate frosting on Hoon’s cheek, the most serious incident of almost sharing his secret occurred late one night after a very long fanmeet. Hoon was certain that Soohyun and Hoonbi had gone to sleep; in fact, he had snuck into each of their rooms and waved a hand over their faces to be sure. With the reassurance that no one would walk in on him, Hoon crept to the kitchen and began to bake another cake.

    In went the butter, the flour, and the eggs. In went the eggshells. Eggshells? Oh, no! Hoon panicked and reached into the bowl, trying to pull them out, but the batter was too slippery, and as he tried to scoop the eggshells up against the side of the mixing bowl, the bowl tipped over the edge of the counter.

Crash! The mixing bowl, which was, fortunately, made of metal, collided with the floor, creating a very big mess and a noise loud enough to wake up everyone in the apartment. He could hear a very disgruntled Hoonbi in the other room.

    Hoon weighed his options. He could run, or he could stay and face what he had done like a man. Hoon chose the latter option after glancing down to see that his feet were covered in cake batter. With chocolate footprints, he could run, but he could never hide. It was best to come clean and tell Hoonbi and Soohyun what was going on. And then clean up the cake batter.

    Hoon sighed and shook his head in resignation. The things he did for love.

    “Yah, Hoonmin.” Hoonbi trudged into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes. “What was that-” He stopped when he saw the cake batter. “Oh.”

    Soohyun came up behind him and gave Hoon a look. “You’re baking a cake? At 2 AM?”

    Hoon stared back at them, blushing slightly. He almost denied it, but then he thought of you. If Soohyun ever told you about the incident, he would rather have coolly admitted to baking the cake than making up an unlikely excuse. “Uh…yes. Yes, I am.”

    “Yes, but…why?” Soohyun asked, seeming wary of the answer.

    “It’s okay,” Hoonbi said kindly, despite the fact that he had just been woken up. “You can tell us.”

    “Wait!” Soohyun cried. “This has to do with that random cake I found in the oven on Monday, doesn’t it?”

    Hoon ran a hand through his hair, surveying the mess he had made. “Well, you see, uh…it’s _____’s birthday on Saturday, so I decided to bake her a chocolate cake as a romantic gesture.”

    “Today’s Wednesday, though.”

    Hoon looked down. “I didn’t want to mess it up when it counted, so I’ve been baking a cake every day to practice for the real thing. But I was trying to keep it a secret because I didn’t want her to find out beforehand.”

    Hoonbi nodded sympathetically. “It’s alright. You’re just trying to do something nice for your girlfriend. But you know you can tell us that sort of thing, right, Hoonmin? I won’t tell any stories about it until after her birthday,” he laughed.

    Soohyun chuckled. “You won’t need to tell any stories about it. Hoon has a knack for telling the fans about his own embarrassing moments. We don’t need to do it for him.”

    “Hey!” Hoon exclaimed. “You guys can’t tell anyone! Since our relationship isn’t public, it’ll just seem like I was baking random cakes in the middle of the night!”

    Hoonbi gave Hoon a pointed look. “Well, you sort of were.”

    Soohyun eyed the cake batter, then looked back at Hoon. He took pity on Hoon for the fact that Hoon, being so pure of heart, had somehow managed to make such a large mess while preparing to do something kind for his girlfriend’s birthday.

    “Okay,” Soohyun said, suppressing a yawn, “where should we start?”
 

    From that night, Hoon’s week became easier with the knowledge that he no longer had to keep your birthday surprise a secret from his brother and Soohyun. Soohyun, who was quite trustworthy, kept Hoon’s secret and refrained from telling the other members what was going on when they noticed Hoon’s abnormally suspicious behavior. All this for a cake, Soohyun thought. But he kept Hoon’s secret just the same.

    However, when the members continued to ask why Hoon was so preoccupied, Soohyun had to tell them something. So on Friday morning, Hoon received a perplexing text from Kiseop.

    “Hoonie,” it read, “Seop morning! Let me know if there’s anything I can do, okay? If things get too serious, don’t hesitate to ask for help.”

    Hoon was perplexed. “Serious?” He texted back. “What do you mean?”

    “Soohyun hyung told us that you were preparing for an important life event,” Kiseop replied. “Don’t worry, we support you no matter what.”

    “Soohyun!” Hoon called after texting Kiseop a reassuring thank-you message.

    “Yeah?” Soohyun emerged from his room.

    “Why did you tell the other members that I was preparing for an important life event? Kiseop just texted me, and it sounds like he thinks I’m having family troubles or something.”

    “Oh, that.” Soohyun waved a hand. “They kept asking what was wrong, so I tried to keep it as vague as possible. They all know something’s up from the way you’ve been acting.”

    “I should probably just tell them,” Hoon said. “I guess I’ve been acting strangely because I’m worried. What if she doesn’t like it? What if I mess it up?”

    Soohyun laid a hand on Hoon’s shoulder. “She’s going to love it because it’s something you did for her. She’s perceptive and kind. I’m sure that she’ll recognize all of the time and effort you put into doing something special for her.”

    Hoon was quiet for a moment as he considered Soohyun’s words. All he wanted was to show you how much you meant to him, and he couldn’t let his worries make him lose sight of that. It was Friday, and he had already baked more cakes than he could count, all of which had tasted good. And even if it didn’t taste good, he knew that Soohyun was right. You were the kind of person who would be touched no matter what he did for you.

    “You’re right,” Hoon said, visibly more relaxed. “I’ll try my best, and as long as she knows how much I care about her, I’ll have succeeded.”

    “That’s the spirit!” Soohyun shifted on his feet. “You know, actually…I tried some of that cake I found in the oven. I couldn’t help myself. And it was really good. So I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

    Hoon smiled. “Thank you, hyung.”

    Finally, it was the big day. Your birthday had arrived, and Hoon spent the better part of the afternoon baking in the kitchen. After several hours, he had finally put on the finishing touches. Crossing his arms and stepping back to admire his work, Hoon beheld the  mouthwatering chocolate cake, which he had topped with chocolate frosting. Tiny sesame seeds made an elegant, charming decoration. What he had created was not only a cake, but also a masterpiece.

    Hoon checked the time on his phone. With only a few minutes before you were scheduled to arrive, he wandered around the kitchen, glancing back at the chocolate treasure on the counter every few minutes. The freedom of not having to hide any more cakes nearly overwhelmed him. And his heart raced at the thought of seeing you for the first time in nearly a week.

    When you pressed the buzzer to the apartment, you smelled chocolate and were instantly reminded of the mysterious chocolate frosting from earlier that week. Happiness bubbled up inside you when you realized that Hoon had definitely planned something for you.

    “Hoonie!” You exclaimed when he opened the door.

    Hoon ushered you inside and wrapped you up in a hug before you had the chance to remove your shoes.

    “Happy birthday, _____-ah.” He said sweetly, nearly squeezing the air out of your lungs.

    “Thank you,” you gasped, hugging him back. Pulling away so that you could see his face, you noticed something strange yet not entirely unfamiliar. “Hoonmin,” you said, “is that chocolate frosting?” You gestured to his cheek.

    “Frosting?” He repeated, brushing his fingers against his cheek and then inspecting them. “Oh. Um, yes. Yes, it is,” he concluded, pink-eared.

    You were close to unraveling the mystery of the frosting, but in the end, Hoon did it for you.

    “Come with me,” he said with a grin. He stood behind you and placed his hands gently over your eyes, effectively blindfolding you. “Don’t worry, I won’t let you run into anything.” He directed you into the kitchen, then used his elbows to keep you from crashing into the counter.

    “Hoon? What’s going on?” You still couldn’t see anything, and the only thing you were sure of was his warm hands blocking your vision.

    “Are you ready?” He asked with audible excitement.

    “I’m ready!” You nodded.

    Hoon removed his hands to reveal a magnificent chocolate cake. You were speechless for a second, then turned to him with a wide smile.

    “Did you do all that for me?” When Hoon nodded proudly, you stood on your tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek, an action at which he promptly turned bright red. “Thank you so much, Hoonie,” you said, burying your head in his chest as you hugged him. “It’s lovely.”

    “You really think so?” Hoon asked, obviously pleased. “You have to taste it before you can say that.”

    “Yes,” you said, regarding him seriously, “we need to eat it.”

    Hoon laughed and pulled out a chair at the table for you. “Wait a minute and I’ll bring it to you.”

    You nodded your assent and sat down, peeking over your shoulder at your boyfriend. You couldn’t believe he had gone to the trouble of baking you a birthday cake. And not just any cake- a chocolate cake. You felt so cared for. You were lucky to have such a thoughtful boyfriend.

    “Candles!” Hoon snapped his fingers. “We need candles.” He rummaged through a drawer and pulled out a pack of birthday candles and a matchbox.

    “Would you like some help with the matches?” You were slightly worried.

    “No, that’s alright. I’ve got it under control.” Hoon brought the candles to the table, then set the cake down in front of you. Unbeknownst to you, the second cake of the week had started a small fire, but since then, he had practiced lighting candles on each of the following cakes.

    With practiced technique, Hoon leaned over your right shoulder and struck a match, carefully lighting each of the candles he had stuck in the cake. Once the cake was illuminated, he blew out the match and dimmed the lights.

    “It’s prettier that way,” he explained, and added softly, “like you.”

    You blushed, thankful that it was dark. Hoon had a habit of saying those things at the most random times, but you knew he wasn’t throwing compliments around because he also had a tendency to be painfully honest. When he said those things to you, it came from the heart.

    The candles on the cake burned brightly, and Hoon sat down next to you.

    “Go go,” he urged you, “blow out the candles and make a wish!”

    You took a deep breath, closed your eyes, and blew at the candles with everything you had.

    “How did I do?” You kept your eyes closed.

    “You got them all in one breath!” Hoon declared. “Now, make a wish.”

    You quickly wished for the only thing that could make the already magical evening perfect and opened your eyes to find a plate with a slice of cake in front of you.

    “Hoonmin,” you laughed, “that was quick.”

    “At your service,” he replied, cutting himself a slice of cake. “You have to take the first bite,” he insisted.

    “Is this a trick?” You joked.

    “No!” He shook his head vehemently. “You’re the birthday girl.” He took your fork, used it to pick up a bite of cake, and placed it in your hand.

    Hoon watched you as you raised the fork to your mouth and took the first bite. Your eyes widened when you tasted what was easily the best chocolate cake you had ever eaten.

    “Hoon!” You said after you had swallowed.

    He looked at you expectantly.

    “Where did you learn to bake like that?” You asked, amazed. “It’s incredible. I had no idea that you were such a good baker.”

    Hoon’s ears turned pink for the second time that night. “It took some practice. You really like it?”

    “I love it.” You beamed at him.

    Hoon smiled at you for a moment, then slipped his fingertips beneath your chin, tilting it toward him.

    “Happy birthday, _____-ah,” he whispered, and leaned in to kiss you.

    A swarm of butterflies appeared to have found a new home in your ribcage as you kissed. When Hoon finally pulled away, he looked at you for several seconds more, smiling, until something seemed to cross his mind.

    “What did you wish for? I’m curious.”

    “I’m not supposed to tell you that!” You giggled.

    “Please? I won’t tell anyone!” He protested. “I’m very good at keeping secrets, aren’t I? You had no idea I was preparing something for your birthday, right?”

    “Hmm, I guess it’s okay if I tell you,” you said, evading his most recent questions, “since it already came true.”

    “It did?”

    You nodded.

    “What did you wish for?”

    You looked away. “That you would kiss me.”

    There was no longer any need for words. With a satisfied smile, Hoon playfully dabbed a smudge of chocolate frosting on your nose and passed you another bite of cake.