Bang!!! Culinary War Story

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Chapter 2: 'Dear Love...'

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4 Days before the competition. Lunch period.

Finishing the last remnants of her lunch with a last and satisfying gulp, Hyewon took a napkin nearby to wipe clean before chugging down a half empty can of Coke. Beside her were Chaewon and Eunbi, conversing about anything and everything as their time winded down. The current topic of course was the Summer Contest that was coming up soon.

"Are you getting nervous?" Chaewon asked, leaning on the palm of her hand while bringing small pieces of food into every now and then.

Eunbi was staring at her food for a bit before raising her head to meet her eyes.

".....maybe?"

Hyewon chimed in, finally getting into the conversation after silently stuffing her face for the past 20 minutes. "Don't worry too much unnie, you're going to stress yourself out if you keep overthinking things."

Eunbi turned back to her food, slowly picking at it for a bit with the ends of her chopsticks.

“I know…...I know….it’s just because I tend to overthink things sometimes. I guess it’s because this is my last year and I want it to be memorable and exciting. Like, I wonder what Chaeyeon got up her sleeves this year….” She reflected a bit, pressing her hands to her cheeks as her eyes glazed from thinking about her memories within the school. Chaewon finally finished the late few bites of her meal and started to clean up, peering at the nervous looking Senior in front of her.

“Whatever it is, I’m sure she’s hard at work in trying to keep her streak from Spring.”

“That’s her alright. All in all, I just want it to be a fun yea-oooOooo....it’s her.” She glanced up and saw a familiar feisty student with a can of Coke and meatbun in her hands as she walked to a section 2 tables away from them by the outside window. The student sat down and crossed her legs, popping the lid of the can with a satisfying fizzle before taking a sip.

As the three looked over to her, Chaewon wondered why the subject changed to Sakura. “.....what about her?”

“I noticed that she always sits there every now and then….” Eunbi answered.

“And?”

Eunbi kept her eyes on the subject as she finally stopped playing with her food and resumed eating it. “Sometimes she eats after people leave...usually like 10 minutes before the bell rings.”

“Some people are like that.” Hyewon responded as she focused on the woman also. Sakura took a hefty bite of the meatbun, showing love to the taste with just a simple expression of her body. “Hehehe….”

Chaewon looked at Hyewon, questioning why she giggled. “What are you laughing about?”

“Sometimes she brings her shoulders up and shakes her fists in front of her when she eats something delicious…...I think it’s cute……..just saying.”

“....yeah.” Eunbi agreed and whispered without thought.

Chaewon shot stares at both of them, also turning to the subject in question before looking back at them. “Ummm….are you two spying on her or something?”

“No?” “N-no!” they answered in unison. The short haired brunette narrowed her eyes in suspicion….they definitely were she thought. “.........sure.”

The oldest ignored her and continued munching on her food while still surveying on the student. “She’s always looking out the window towards the sky for some reason….you think something's bothering her? Her face always looks so serious...contemplating some unknown unknowns.”

“Maybe she just likes how the sky looks….or maybe she’s thinking of Aliens….or maybe its because 2 girls keep staring at her so she has to look elsewhere.” Chaewon reported with a smirk on her lips. She waited for a bit for a response but none came since the duo didn’t look at her or answer, causing her to pout. “Aiiiiish….you two. But still, everybody has a story to tell right? Mysteries aren’t mysteries if you talk to her…..just saying. Also, are both of you done yet? Wonny and MinMin wanted to meet up at the other building.”

They both nodded, cleaning up their respective areas and picking up their lunch trays to leave. As they went nearby to place their used utensils away, a certain student came and intercepted them as she stood in their way. She took a last sip of her Coke and tossed it into the recycling bin without looking. She glanced at each and every one of them before anchoring her attention to Hyewon. The student gestured her finger for them to follow her outside as she began walking. They all looked at each other for a moment, wondering what she was up to and wondered if they should follow her. By the time they turned to look at her again, the door leading outside was already closing shut. Considering that they were going to the same destination as she was anyway, they proceeded to the door soon after with Hyewon leading the 3 of them. With a push of the door handle, she was nowhere to be found in front of them until a voice called to them from the left side of the building.

“PSSSSST.”

There she was, leaning on the building as she waited for all 3 of them to come out. She took out a single individually wrapped piece of gum from her pocket and started chewing on it as they finally came in front of her. The 3 lined up in front of her as she led them in with a rather suspicious smile.

"Hello Raven…."

"Raven?" “....Raven?” the other 2 looked at each other with questions in their head. Did the two know each other?

"I see you have some lovely company with you today…...though I do say, how was it?" she quizzed with a smirk on her face whilst still smacking on the gum in . They all tilted their heads in confusion, not sure what she meant.

“How was what?” Hyewon asked as she came a little bit closer.

“The show.” Sakura giggled as she wiggled her brows up and down.

Hyewon tilted her head again, still unsure what she was talking about. “.......what show?”

Sakura pushed herself off the wall and he pointed at herself, flashing a devilish grin as she saw their reaction change and knowing exactly what she meant.

”Y’all were watching me right baby? By that, I mostly mean you 2.” She aimed her chin at both Hyewon and Eunbi. “Dinner and a show…….but I don’t blame ya’ cuz I’m the best drama show around here.” The confidence in her voice was even more so than in the promo video. She was definitely cocky and this was their first hand view of it.

Eunbi nervously ran her hand through her hair, stepping up to the woman and placed an open hand towards her, hoping to change the subject from getting a little embarrassing after getting caught watching her.

"Sakura-san was it? I look forward to our match in a few days." Sakura took her hand and shook, noticing Eunbi had a pretty firm handshake.

"Why yes, I also look forward to the match. Hopefully ya don't see me as a lesser competitor than Chaeyeon and bring your A-game against moi….” Sakura held her grip and pulled her a bit closer. “....cuz I won't hold back." Eunbi didn't expect the bold actions from her but kept firm.

"I respect all competitors of course but Chaeyeon is my main focu-..........." A single finger landed on both Eunbi’s lips, stopping her from finishing her sentence. Her eyes grew tenfold as it blinked rapidly in view of the Japanese woman coming closer in front of her.

"Don’t." She smiled devilishly at her doing, wanting to prove a point to the Senior.

"You said that you are the last flame….am I correct baby?" She lowered her eyes to Eunbi’s hair and began playing with the tips of it like a feathered cat toy as the other two watched. Hyewon narrowed her eyes as they grew a bit stormy from watching their interactions, clenching her fists unconsciously. She didn't know why but she felt her cheeks beginning to flush as bubbles started tap dancing in the pit of her stomach.

Sakura finally took her finger off of her lips as Eunbi let a held breath flow out like a river that broke from a dam. Her eyes followed Sakura’s wherever they went, which soon shot back up to her own. Her breath hitched between her lungs and , getting caught in places it shouldn’t be as the corner of her eyes blurred, focusing only on the woman in front of her.

"Then be wary of passing winds such as I….."

Sakura leaned in closer to the side of her head, causing Eunbi to flinch the closer she got. ".....as they can extinguish a fire instantly….”

She giggled and lowered her voice more. “....or if you’re lucky......”. She was now just inches from Eunbi's ear, her breath tickling the latter’s neck.

“......it can even fan them to become bigger....brighter than they were once before." She whispered low enough so that the other 2 couldn’t hear. She finally finished and backed away slowly, now with narrowed playful and mischievous eyes. She slid one finger from under Eunbi’s chin anr raised her head up.

"I'll see you at the competition…..Eunbi-chan."

Leaving a giggle in her wake, she slinked away from Eunbi, who was a bit dumbfounded to what just happened.

She patted Chaewon on the shoulder as she circled around her towards Hyewon. “.......Kawaii Baby Cheetah-chan.”

Chaewon gasped as a confused expression grew on her face, stopping Sakura's movement in an instant. It caused a fit of laughter to break from the Japanese woman’s chest as she doubled over to hold her stomach from bursting.

“K-Ka….Kawaii Baby Cheetah-chan? Me?” She shot up an eyebrow and wondered if she really did look like one. Sakura stopped her giggling fit and gave her a friendly pat on her shoulder again to acknowledge her question as she shot her head towards Hyewon.

“......this is fun, isn’t it Raven?”

Now passing Chaewon, she homed into Hyewon who stood firm but still wondered what Sakura's motives were. The Japanese woman went behind her, grazing her fingers along the trailing ends of Hyewon’s hair as she came out from the other side.

“By getting into one’s skin and driving their nerves wild with a sudden curiosity...” she by wiggling a few fingers in front of the raven-haired woman's face. Sakura soon landed it on Hyewon's closest shoulder and made her fingers walk from one end, all the way to the opposite shoulder, ending it with her arm resting around the latter’s neck. Hyewon saw it: The sparkle in Sakura’s eyes spelled mischief as her eyes never left Sakura’s teasing face.

“....of making one’s emotions flare up because of a sudden unknown encounter….”

Sakura’s other hand came, slowly tracing Hyewon’s jaw from the bottom of her ear, all the way to her chin before holding it up. This kicked Hyewon’s heart up a notch, causing her to hear it thud loudly against her chest suddenly.

“That’s me.......I am the unknown.....and I'm here to blow your mind." She slowly caressed her chin a bit as a tease. "But not yet of course.....no no no.”

She finally ended it by poking Hyewon's nose with a soft boop before slipping her arm away from her neck, leaving a short but warm feeling afterward. Walking past all of them to head to destinations unknown, she turned back to them and began pacing backwards.

“I said it in the video riiiiiight? I’m here to spice things up a bit….to stir the pot if you will. So don’t you all forget it...."

She stopped about 5 meters away from them and cupped her hands like a microphone.

“It might not be Spring anymore…..but it’s Sakura Season baby.”

She turned around and left them, waving a hand goodbye with a peace sign and not looking back.

They watched her as she kept walking, finally entering a building at the far side of the school without another action for them to see. Needless to say, she left them a disease of being speechless, unable to think of what just occurred. For Hyewon, it was a rather different encounter than her first and left open ended thoughts in her mind while the other two finally met the infamous ‘Feisty 9th Chan’. Chaewon was the first to talk as she first cleared .

"She’s…...uhhh.....she's really…..really really eccentric isn't she? She called you Eunbi chan and this was your first meeting…….and me…..I’m a Kawaii Baby Cheetah? Is that true?" she questioned softly as she looked to the both of them. None replied. She then poked Eunbi on the arm, finally waking her up from her thoughts.

".....unnie…?"

“Huh?”. That was all Eunbi left as a reply as Chaewon shook her head in embarrassment. She looked at Hyewon and she was in a similar state, staring at the ground even though nothing was on it. The short haired brunette let out a tired