vanilla, brown sugar, melted chocolate—for a patissier, none of these ingredients are uncommon.

but to jaehyun there’s a sentimental secret within their aroma: each time the scent hits his nose he’s reminded of the girl from his neighborhood with a soft smile and knowing eyes.

not long after his father had died, jaehyun returned home from school to a kitchen full of laughter. the neighbor girl and her mother had come over to help his mother bake cookies for the church bake sale. she noticed him first, greeting him with a cautious nod of her head as she held a mixing bowl and spoon. she was innocently beautiful, covered in more batter than had managed to stay in the bowl.

jaehyun watched as the women moved around clumsily, getting flour and batter everywhere. he hadn’t seen his mother smile in a long time.

the intoxicating scent of chocolate chip cookies. the sound of laughter and gentle conversation. the girl with flour on her nose.

that was the moment that jaehyun learned food could bring people together.

. . .

“jaehyun! you bought my pads, right?”

jisoo runs up to greet him as soon as he steps into the door. he absently nods, nearly dropping the bags of groceries when he sees a familiar face seated on the couch. the ghost from his past looks up from her glass of wine with a nonchalant smile.  

“don’t stare, jae. it’s rude.” chaeyoung admonishes him with a slice of pizza in . she barely finishes chewing before gesturing to the girl on the couch. “this is our new neighbor jennie kim. she moved in today and brought a bottle of wine to greet us.”

jennie kim?

his grip on the plastic bags tighten as he studies her face in confusion.

his roommates don’t seem to notice anything off and instead gleefully stuff their faces with pizza and wine. chaeyoung’s in a bathrobe and jisoo’s in an oversized shirt with inside out boxer shorts. he feels slightly embarrassed but knows that neither of his roommates feel any shame about this.

he wants to say: jennie kim isn’t even your real name.

but he doesn’t.

“it’s nice to meet you.”

he feels a pair of eyes watching him as he awkwardly puts away the groceries. the girls talk in the other room, chaeyoung and jisoo getting increasingly giggly and drunk. he listens to the impostor tell his roommates that she had been raised abroad and only recently returned to seoul.

you’re a liar, he wants to say. but he doesn’t.

he wonders what his mother would say if she knew the nice girl from church was in his living room getting drunk with his roommates—not at her elite university or fancy internship.

. . .

“hello, my friends. did you get lots of sun today?”

the watering can showers the potted plants on the balcony as jaehyun crouches down. he raises his head as the otherwise dark street is suddenly bathed in light.

his mouth drops open at the sight of a canary yellow maserati below. he grips onto the metal bars of the balcony to get a better look, rolling his eyes when a man in sunglasses and a sateen red suit emerges from the car. the man walks around the hood with a kind of confidence jaehyun had only ever seen in the pointlessly wealthy and opens the passenger side door.

jaehyun nearly falls back onto his when he sees jennie step from the vehicle, taking the offered hand of the man in sunglasses. his eyes widen watching as the man places a hand on jennie’s back, dipping her for an exaggerated and overly enthusiastic kiss that leaves a high heeled foot popped into the air.

feeling like a child that’s seen something he shouldn’t, jaehyun turns away and steps back into the apartment.  

. . .

when jaehyun opens the door he expects to see jisoo desperate and late for her night class, searching for the keys she'd left on the kitchen counter. instead it’s jennie standing in the hall, giving him a strange smile that he isn’t sure is quite genuine.  

“hi jaehyun. would you do me a favor?”

his brow knits together as he studies her expression. he expects her to ask if he’ll keep her secret, to beg him not to expose her lies.

“uh, sure.”

but he should know better than to guess what’s going on in jennie’s mind.

she turns around, black curls whipping dangerously close to his nose—he’s hit by a wave of bergamot and ginger. maybe also notes of patchouli. he in a deep breath as the creamy expanse of her back is exposed to him. 

“would you zip up my dress?” she looks at him over her shoulder, false eyelashes casting long shadows on her cheek. he nods despite himself, reaching toward the zipper at the small of her back. he pulls it up with surprisingly steady hands, cautiously lifting her hair out of the way to fasten the clasp at her nape.

jennie swirls around once he gives her another affirmative nod. he isn’t sure what it is, but she seems different than she had the night before. he can still feel the way her body heat radiated onto his sweaty palm.

he takes another deep breath, telling himself to get it together.

“are you going out to see your boyfriend?”

“yes.”