"Crap!" yells Seyong, stopping at a halt.

I turn around to look at him, and he continues, "Did we get the carrots?!"

Upon seeing my nod, he lets out a relieved sigh, to see me hold up the grocery bag, which contained the said vegetable.

The two of us then continue our walk home once more, conversing here and there. His mother had kindly asked me to head out towards the market to grab a few things, and as I was heading out, Seyong decided to tag along, which was why we were now out and about, with a tonne of grocery bags. Umma had decided to extend her stay in Japan by a couple of more weeks, which meant I was going to be stuck with him for a little while longer...

Maybe it's because he stopped being such a -head, but over the past couple of weeks, I found myself learning to get along better with him.

I know; the world must be ending or something, huh?

Well, it probably is, bit by bit.

I mean, I can tolerate him a tiny bit more now, compared to before, and his insults towards me were dying down. He recently started to offer me help with my maths homework whenever I would be stuck on something, and I found myself giving him tips on the homework in our cooking classes. It's a little scary, (you know, the kind of scary, where you would be laughing with your eyebrows drawn together, because of the uncertainty of the situation) but I was...starting to see him as a friend, and not so much as that 'annoying-jerk-face'.

I don't know, I guess this 'new light' happened, during the time when I was sick. I guess it was nice of him to put effort into helping me get better, so yeah. 

But then again, what if I'm only seeing him like this, because he had secretly drugged my food or something?

"Hey look, a cat!" exclaimed Seyong.

He immediately dashed over towards it, not caring that in one of the bags that he was carrying contained a carton of fragile eggs.

"Yah, calm down, you have eggs in there!" I pointed out.

Seyong ignored me, as he crouched down next to tabby cat. It let out a meow, and then rubbed its head into his palm, liking the attention that he was giving it. Seyong then beckoned me over to pat it, and I do. Placing the bags onto the ground, I then reach out to pat the soft feline, to hear its content purr. For some reason, the cat starts to climb onto my thighs, making me land on my out of surprise. It then begins to nuzzle its head into my chest, causing me to blink and feel stunned by its choice of actions.

You're a really cute cat and all, but out of all the places for you to rub yourself on, why did you pick there?!

A chuckle was heard, and I instantly look up to see Seyong wriggling his eyebrows at me. "Maybe it wants some milk, if you know what I mean."

Ew, how can he think such a thing?!

He continues to snicker away, as I give him a mortified look. As soon as I lift the cat off of me, and place it onto the concrete floor, I grab a hold of the grocery bags, and didn't hesitate to rapidly swing them into a certain -head's direction.

"Ow, Hyeri-ah, stop!" Seyong yelps, as he tries his best to run away. "You have the bag with all the meat, so it hurts!"

"Good!" I snap, "Because you are such a e!"

The rustling sound of the plastic bag being swung around, along with Seyong's yells and wails of apology, were heard all throughout our way back home.

I think I'll worry about the food a little later, but for now, this little ert is going to get what he deserves!

———————————————

Opening the front door, I take a step inside, and watch as Seyong closes it behind us.

He then hollers out for his parents to inform them of our return, as we slip off our shoes. There's still no reply, as we head into the kitchen, to place down the bags.

Hmm, maybe they've already gone out to help set up the party?

I mean, I did remember them saying that one of their friends was having a gathering today, and that they had decided to go over, to help with the preparation. One by one, I start to open up the bags, and place the food into their rightful places, all while feeling surprised that neither of the things were damaged.

Well, aside from a bruised tomato, but that was alright, since it was just one.

"Hey look, cake!" pointed out Seyong.

What the, where did that come from?

"Do you want some?" he asked, while opening the draw for a knife.

I shrugged, "Why not?"

Seyong grins at me, just before sinking the knife into the smooth-looking white cake.

Pieces of strawberries sat on the top, as little chocolate flower patterns, decorated the cake here and there. I pulled out two plates for him to set the delicate slices onto, and then handed him a spoon afterwards. The two of us then begin to eat the treat, and were quite happy for it to be rather delicious. But as we ate, I still found it quite weird how the cake happened to just be sitting there, but Seyong waved it off, obviously too occupied with eating.

Oh well.

Right when I was halfway through my slice, the home phone began to ring, so I got up, and walked over to it.

"Hello?"

"Ah, Hyeri-ah!" came Seyong's mother's voice, from the other line. "Can you please check to see how my cake is doing?"

I blinked for a bit, "Cake? What cake?"

"Oh, I baked a cake for the party. It should be sitting on the kitchen counter, cooling down," she answered.

My eyes widen, as the realisation sunk into me. Oh no, it couldn’t be—?

I nervously swallowed, and hesitantly turned back to the kitchen table just in time, to see Seyong joyfully finish off his slice. He then stood up, and walked back towards the cake, most likely for a round two, and I had to clamp my mouth with my hand, to stop the loud gasp.

"O-Oh," I stuttered out, "it's that white one with the strawberries and...stuff?"

"Yes, that's the one!" said Seyong's mom. "I forgot to take it with me before I left the house, so after I finish helping Eunhae, could you two bring it over?"

"Sure!" I said, feigning confidence. "Uh, when did you want us to bring it...?"

"Oh, in about two hours or so," she estimated, "somewhere around there."

"Okay, then," I forced out a chortle, "I hope you're having a great time."

Because I know I’m not, oh my goodness, we are so dead!

“Thank you dear!” A smile could be heard from her, "Seyongie hasn't been picking on you, has he?"

"No," I said, "not really."

She giggled, "I see. It’s amazing to see how you two have been getting along, so I'm glad. Anyway, I have to get back to helping, and I give you full permission to hit my son, if he does anything inappropriate, alright?"

I snorted at her response, “I probably would have done that with or without your permission, anyway.”

She laughed, and I could imagine her shaking her head at me. We eventually said our goodbyes, and then hung up.

Soon, a sigh came out of me, as I placed a hand onto the wall for some support, and bit my lip.

What do we do now? I can't believe we just ruined the cake and—

Ah, the cake?!

I quickly turned my attention back to Seyong, to see him still eating away. Running over, I skidded towards a halt, and the sight of the semi-eaten cake made me panic.

Seyong turned to look at me, oblivious to everything, and after two blinks, he held up his fork with a smile. "You want some?" he offered.

"No!" I yelled, feeling my stress levels flying off the roof. 

He shrugged, "Eh, whatever." Looking back down at his plate, he was about to place another piece of the cake into his mouth, but I snatched the fork away from him at the last minute. "Hey!" he yelled, with an annoyed look.  

"Don't you 'hey!' me, we're in a mid-life crisis right now!" I shouted, "This cake that we're eating, is supposed to be at the party!"

Seyong's eyes expanded in shock, "You're kidding me, right?"

"Does it look like I'm joking?!" I snapped, "Your mom just called to tell me!"

As an attempt to calm myself down, I placed the piece of cake that I was holding onto, in my mouth, and ate it.

Yeah, that didn't really work.

My panic then caused me to anxiously start pacing around the room, wondering how on Earth this issue was going to be resolved.

We’re doomed!

"When did umma say that we have to bring the cake to her?" questioned Seyong, from out of the blue.

"In one or two hours or something, I don’t know," I hastily replied, “I can’t remember!”

During my hyperventilating act, with me not trying to rip out my hair, I could feel Seyong’s eyes following me back and forth, like a Ping-Pong match. "You know what?" he suddenly said, "I think we're just going to have to wing this."

I stopped in my tracks and looked at him, "What do you mean, wing what?"

"The cake," he says, with a nod towards it. "We're going to have to re-bake this."

My eyes almost fell out of their sockets, "Are you crazy?!"

Seyong rolled his eyes, "Well if you have a better suggestion, now is a good time to let me know."

I narrowed my eyes at his sarcastic tone of voice, knowing that he was right, which made me want to kick myself even more. Letting out a sigh, I then reluctantly began to drag myself into the kitchen, with him right behind me.

And as we started to take out the needed utensils and ingredients, there was only one thought that was running through my mind:

This isn't going to end well.

At all.