Chapter 2
The Real Beauty
It hadn't been that long since they had lunch, yet Sori was craving for dark chocolate already, salivating just at the thought. The problem was that she didn’t want Jungkook to notice she was sneaking downstairs to grab some just to make fun of her for being fat afterwards, and there was no way he wouldn’t notice a square missing from the chocolate bar if he were to check. Sori had tried to talk herself into eating something else or, even better, nothing at all, but she felt like she’d die if she didn’t eat it soon, so she tiptoed in the kitchen as quickly and silently as she could manage. She took the chocolate and ate it as fast as she could while looking around her suspiciously. The house was quiet, maybe even too quiet for her liking. It was almost time for Jungkook to come home, albeit it was still a bit early, thus she had to be careful around snacks and food.
Just as she was munching happily, Sori remembered that it had been almost a month since the last time she had baked muffins. She usually baked them quite often because Jungkook loved them and since his favourites were the dark chocolate ones, her favourite too, it made an amazing cover to hide the fact that she ate his chocolate... not that a 21 year old needed to justify what she eats, but whatever. Since it’d been a while, Sori thought that she could do that instead of going out for her usual run.
Sori paced around here and there in the kitchen, grabbing all the tool and the ingredients she need, and in the mean while she imagine what it would have been like to bake together with the man she loved, maybe even someone she could call her husband. She giggled at the idea, knowing well she was acting silly, but since fantasizing didn't hurt... at least as long as no one found out about it... Well, in the end she was baking them for a man she loved. Just not her boyfriend. Or anything at all.
A tiny voice in Sori's mind was telling her not to get her hopes too high, because there was no way Jungkook would have finally recognized her skills and complimented her, yet Sori wanted to believe he would have. For once Jungkook could at least compliment her instead of praising Minyoung even just for having eaten everything she had on her plate and still keeping a nice body. Duh. Minyoung, being a born-werewolf, had not the tiniest problem with keeping her shape. Moreover, it was not like by recognizing Sori had some talent he was declaring his love or something in front of the whole pack. Just for once Sori really wanted to hear him praising her in front of Minyoung instead of the other way around. Just because.
When she was done, Sori set the timer and washed the tools, just relaxing before she had to take the muffins out of the oven. Seeing that she still had to wait for a while, Sori decided to bring her laptop in the kitchen, so that she could keep an eye both on the oven and on the last episode of the anime she was watching. She had picked a funny and easy anime, just perfect for the times when she had too much to think about and too little will to actually focus on anything.
From time to time Sori checked the time, making sure the muffins would be ready before Jungkook got home, knowing he liked to eat sweet things as a way to rest after his working day was done. It was quite stupid in Sori's opinion, because usually as soon as he was done eating Jungkook changed in his wolf form or just hit the pack's gym, but whatever, who was she to judge other people's weird habits, right?
Just as she had hoped, the muffins were ready five minutes before the time Jungkook usually got home. Clumsy as ever, there was no way Sori could have managed to take the muffins out of the over without burning herself at least a little. Thankfully this time it was only one finger and she probably wouldn't have to dress the burning. Not that she would have had the time to do it at the moment. If there was one thing she had learnt from having spent four years in this pack was that everyone had a sweet tooth and if you weren't quick enough to grab your share of food before the rest was done eating, than you would be left with no dessert. She was running out of time, and she still had to grab a muffin for her and Hoseok and Sori could hear Taehyung's excited stomping coming from the stairs. She grabbed two muffins in a flash and shoved them inside the cupboard making a mental note to bring them to her room later on, saving one for her and one for Narae. Now that the hardest part was done, Sori could slow down a little as she plated the rest of the muffins in a cute way despite knowing that no one would even noticed it in the rush of the moment. It only took Jimin and Taehyung a moment more to appear in the kitchen sporting matching grins on their faces. No way this time she would have let them get to her.
Had it not been the possible cause of a new fight, Sori would have found it comical how they stepped from side to side to try and find a way to get to the muffins before everyone else. But, yeah, no way she was going to allow them to get their dirty hands on her muffins this time. The last time it had caused a week long fight and she was not up to that kind of stress again if she could easily avoid it by just standing there. Also, if anyone had the right to eat before anyone else that would have been her, who was the slowest eater in the pack. Usually, by the time she was done eating, the rest had left already with some exceptions now and then from the members of the pack who wanted to keep her company or just chat calmly.
The battle lasted a couple of minutes before they finally stopped and resorting to using words.
“C’mon, Sori, give me just one”, Taehyung begged while kneeling in front of her.
“Yeah, Sori, we’re hungry! We need to grow more”, Jimin said while shaking his body.
“I don't think that's how it works, Jiminie. How many cases of people suddenly growing taller after having had a couple of muffins?”, Taehyung joked, “It's time to accept you won’t grow anymore, buuuut”, Taehyung dragged the vowel, pretending not to have seen the glare Jimin was sending his way, “we can still count on our right as older pack members. We have a right to those muffins also because we came down way before the others”, he reasoned.
Just as Sori was starting to worry she wouldn't have been able to defend the muffins from those two, Yoongi and Namjoon started making their way downstairs. Finally Sori could let her guard down and sigh in relief. Now it was their duty to make sure everyone got to eat at least one muffin.
Unfortunately the calm and peaceful atmosphere only lasted for a couple of seconds, then Jungkook opened the front door and the race for the muffing started. Sori barely managed to hear him sniffing the sweet scent that permeated the house before he rushed to the kitchen and grabbed two muffins. Same as usual.
Pigs.
It didn't take long for them to start eating as if they hadn’t eaten in years, not even bothering to munch their food with their mouths closed. Sori silently left the kitchen, knowing well that staying there for too long was like asking for Jungkook to mock her. She had made sure to hide two muffins, so she had no reason to stay and take part in the fight. She trusted the fact that the screams of the fight that was going on would be enough to cover up the sound of her steps, and it would also distract them enough to make sure they wouldn't try and steal the muffins she had saved for the others.
It was a while later, when the house was quieter, that Sori decided it was safe to leave her room and go eat her own muffin. It was close enough to dinner time to use her hunger as an excuse, anyway. The guys were still in the kitchen, spread around the room, talking lively and drinking. The room seemed calm enough for Sori to follow up with her plan although Jungkook was still there. Unfortunately, before she could even reach the cupboard, Sori noticed and empty plate, the same one she had used to hide the muffins in the cupboard. As childish as it was, Sori felt her eyes prickling a little at the sight.
“Sori, you ate at least one...right?”, Yoongi said and he munched on his last piece of muffin. Soon all the eyes of those present in the room were on her. Namjoon gulped the piece of muffin he was chewing, the last bite of the last muffin he’d grabbed from the basket, and guiltily glanced at her.
“Tell me you ate yours before we arrived”, Namjoon said.
“Ok, I ate them before you arrived”, Sori said with a small smile. The list she could do was to look less pathetic than she actually felt.
“Really?”, Namjoon said, his expression brightening up.
“Nope”, she replied.
“Oh. Oh, gosh, I’m so sorry, why didn’t you tell us to stop? We would have left you at least one!”, the alpha said whining. “Now I have to feel guilty. You know how much we love your muffins! You should have said something...”, he complained.
It was true, they liked her muffins even better than Jin’s, which was something Sori was truly proud of, since Jin was a chef. It was funny how often he got annoyed by this tiny little fact, still Sori didn't deny it. It was good to have just one thing in which she was the best.
“Well, as you can all see she doesn’t need to eat more, right? No need to feel bad. I’m afraid she’ll have problems walking through the doors if she gets any fatter.”, Jungkook intervened before she could replay to Namjoon’s statement. “If she was dumb enough not to take one before we got here, than the joke's on her”, he shrugged. Sori could only hope the ground would swallow her and put an end to her suffering. This was exactly what she had been trying to avoid.
Silence fell into the room. No one dared to say anything, not wanting to start a new fight. She could feel the eyes of the guys on her, yet they all kept quiet, and Sori didn't feel brave enough to raise her head and meet their eyes... in the end it wasn't like she hadn't heard things like that before. The smirk on Jungkook’s face only darken a little when Narae's loud steps could be heard coming towards the kitchen. She must have heard Jungkook’s statement, which would have only meant another fight was about to happen in the house because of Sori.
And, just as Sori had predicted, Narae’s cheeks were red with anger as she appeared in the kitchen. Not only had they taken all the muffins without waiting for her, but she had also heard Jungkook’s slurs. No way a fight wasn't about to happen, and Sori knew she would be the one to be blamed for it. Sure, not by everyone, but she would eventually notice the typical glares in her direction.
“Jungkook, do you want me to order you to the toilet again?”, she growled. And all of them knew she would and she could do it since she’s the female alpha. It actually was one of the best memories of the pack. It never failed to bring laughters in the pack whenever someone brought it up again, although it happened two years ago. That was THE punishment, and Jungkook completely deserved since it he’d said they could sell Sori for for some hours a day, so that they didn’t have to work anymore and she could pay them back for the money the pack had to spend to feed her. He’d also added that it was tiring to work to buy groceries, when the person who ate the most was at home, relaxing and lying down, and then Jungkook had said that she wouldn’t mind since people like her were only useful like that. It was a well-known fact that turned-werewolves had been slaved and used as slaves for centuries before the government decided to bring the situation under control, as the number of attacks on humans had been increasing too much in certain areas where big pack resided, and people were starting to realise something was up. There had been multiple times when Sori had wondered whether Jungkook thought of her that way when they were having too.
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