The rich, warm, buttery aroma wafted through the air and tingled Mark’s sense of smell, prompting him awake. He made an automatic beeline to the kitchen and was greeted by a extremely focused Donghyuck frosting trays of chocolate chip cookies. His nose was scrunched up and his eyebrows were furrowed adorably in an attempt to focus on getting the chocolate icing nicely decorated on the cookies. Mark grinned foolishly at the sight, content on leaning on the doorway of the kitchen, watching Donghyuck so concentrated on minute things such as cookie frostings. That was, until Donghyuck noticed him and got shocked out of his living senses.

“Damn it, Mark Lee! At least give a warning that you’re going to be standing there,” gasped Donghyuck, clutching a hand to his chest. Mark chuckled, and headed to the kitchen counter to inspect his masterpieces.

“Woahhh, looks fun, can I help?” he said eagerly, eyeing the chocolate frosting in Donghyuck’s hands.

“No way. The last time I asked you to help me crack eggs for baking, you fried them instead, and nearly sat the kitchen on fire,” Donghyuck retorted, the harrowing incident still fresh in his mind.

Mark held up his hands in defeat and remained in that position as he exited the kitchen. Donghyuck chuckled at the comical sight and called him back.

“Come here, you. Try one.” he beckoned to Mark as he popped one cookie into the latter’s eager mouth. He so resembled like an innocent puppy waiting to be given treats, Donghyuck couldn’t help but boop a flour-stained finger on his nose.

“Now go to the living room and behave,” he laughed as Mark let out a wall-shaking sneeze upon contact with the flour.

***

“You’re walking there all by yourself? In this weather?” queried Mark incredulously as he watched Donghyuck fumble with the keys while cradling two boxes of cookies in his underarm. The latter was bundled up in layers of clothes and a red scarf that covered half his face, in preparation for the unforgiving snow outside.

“It’s alright, it’s only a ten minute walk. I’ll be okay.”

“No, you’re crazy, you’ll catch your death in the cold,” said Mark concernedly, his brows knitting together. “Let me drive you there.”

***

“You are such pop trash,” Donghyuck snorted as he looked through Mark’s stash of music albums. Chris Brown, Justin Bieber, Eminem dominated his collection as Donghyuck sieved through his trough of albums, looking for something suited to his taste.

“You say it like its something wrong,” Mark pouted, eyes constantly flickering from the road to Donghyuck, who was seated beside him.

“I’m not, I’m just saying, don’t you have anything a little more RnB, or soul in here?”

“Don’t kid yourself, I heard you jamming to MJ the other night, and he is called the King Of Pop. Think before you diss,” Mark retorted, recalling the night whereby he walked into Donghyuck passionately singing his own rendition of ‘Man in the Mirror’.

Donghyuck, taken aback, conceded defeat to a very smug Mark next to him. He leaned against the car door and pressed his cheek against the warm window, enjoying the view outside. He never really had the opportunity to explore Toronto outside the proximity of their house, or Jeno’s apartment. He let the beautiful sights consume him, as though filling him with a breath of fresh air, and kept his eyes wide open til tears started to form.

“Enjoying the view?” Mark smiled as he observed the captivated Donghyuck beside him as he drove.

“It’s beautiful.”

“You haven’t even seen the best of it yet. I’ll take you around someday, you’ll see what I mean.”

Donghyuck paused, and turned from the window to look at Mark. “That would be wonderful,” he smiled appreciatively.

Suddenly, Mark braked, and the car slowed to a halt with a screech.

“We’re here. Should I follow you upstairs?”

“It’s okay, I won’t take long, I’m just passing the cookies over to him. He says they would be busy studying the whole day, I don’t want to distract them,” Donghyuck replied, getting ready to leave the car. He took one look at Mark’s eternally worried and stressed expression, and burst into a hearty laugh. He shoved him slightly.

“Don’t worry okay, I’ll be about 10 minutes. Anything longer than that, would mean I’ve fallen and broke my neck or something, then you can come rescue me,” he chuckled, and winked mischievously. He waved a quick goodbye and hurried up the steps into the building.

***

Knock! Knock!

Donghyuck’s heart started beating a little more quickly in his excitement in looking forward to Jeno’s reaction to his little surprise visit. He had been unable to meet him up for days now, and given the time he had left in Toronto, was a lot of precious days wasted. Too bad that university examinations were around the corner, making it harder for Jeno to spare free time after his classes to see Donghyuck. Donghyuck could only hope that his surpris