Couples. How enviable. Of course, there'll be more of them during this time of the year. Always flaunting their couple status like a badge earned by enthusiastic boy scouts and girl scouts proudly displayed on their merit badge sashes. 

Holding hands, matching winter coats, kissing in front of me...eww, get a room! That's not for the public to see!

Tch. Young couples nowadays no longer have the decency to limit their public displays of affection. But...it must be nice to have someone beside you in this cold winter weather. Brrr! My coat doesn't seem to be enough. Good thing I'm finally near our meeting place.

***

I've been craving for my favorite tiramisu which can only be found at a flower cafe just along Nonhyeon Road in Gangnam. It's a fresh herb tea shop called Arriate by La Maison de Fleur. The shop front speaks for what is to discover inside: a quaint interior lavishly decorated with a variety of fresh and dried flowers and herbs. It's Instagrammable and perfect for selfie addicts so it has recently become awfully crowded.

Luckily, Minho and I have to meet early,  so I can still enjoy the place peacefully, at least until the influx of visitors begins even before its peak hours. I arrive ahead of him so I order the decadent tiramisu, which is, thankfully, a staple in their desserts menu.

We will be shopping ingredients for the cookies to use on the gingerbread house decorating contest for our Christmas party tonight. He says he wants to accompany me because he feels sorry that the members insisted I take charge of this activity. Anything related to cooking, baking or preparing food is always assigned to me.

To be honest, I'm not familiar with baking desserts, but since I have the most experience in the kitchen being able to cook a few dishes, the members feel I'm the most reliable. Anyway, I found some recipes and a list of ingredients online. If worst comes to worst, we'll just use those DIY gingerbread kits as backup. I'll just grab some later.

While taking a picture of my tiramisu, I see a familiar tall guy wearing all black from head to toe by the entrance excitedly waving at me.

"Bummie!" His smile stretches from ear to ear as he walks towards me. 

Ah, Minho. Always the charmer. Every time I see him though, I have this uncontrollable urge to smack him for no apparent reason but, oftentimes, he catches me gawking at him instead. He must have thought I'm deeply into him, bloating his ego, when I'm just trying my best to hold back from unintentionally hurting him. I can't let him see through me and figure out that I've been crushing on him ever since we first met at the company.

"Hey, you got cream here." He points to where it is on my face and, without warning, grabs a tissue to wipe the corner of my lips.

I try to stop him to save myself from an embarrassing situation but it's too late. I feel a strange warm sensation on my ears. They're probably red by now. I grimace to let him know help was unwanted. "I can wipe it on my own."

"Always cheeky, huh, Bummie?" He reaches to squeeze my cheek but I dodge by moving my head backward successfully avoiding him.

"Just sit. I need to finish my tiramisu."

"Arasseo, arasseo. Can I try?" Again, he just does as he pleases without my permission. He uses the only fork provided, take a small chunk and put it in his mouth. "Mmm! It's good."

"Yah! That's mine. You should've asked for another fork." I scowl at him. He gets the message but decides to tease me more by taking another bite and deliberately the fork clean. It almost seems like he's inviting me to do naughty things with him. "Hey!"

Smack! I hit him on his shoulder. However, he only chuckles, not even wincing once. He slices a piece and feeds it to me but I hesitated, making him a little impatient. "C'mon, open your mouth. I'll help you finish this faster."

"Choi Minho, let me enjoy my tiramisu in peace-Mm!" As soon as he sees an opening while I speak, he stuffs it in my mouth, muffling whatever I still have to say to him. By now my face may have completely gone beet red for imagining something inappropriate. Plus, it makes me think about the indirect kiss we just shared through that poor little fork.

"Hurry up, Bummie. We can't waste time. You know full well how the holiday rush is. I won't wait an hour just lining up the counter." He offers me another bite but, this time, I grab the fork from him.

"Ok, ok. I get it. I can eat by myself."

 

---

 

We finally arrive at the apartment after tirelessly going around the supermarket, completing our to-buy list in a breeze. Having Minho around really halved the time I usually run errands. We have the baking ingredients, cold cuts and cheese, some snacks and beverages, and of course, bottles of soju. Can't have a party without getting drunk.

Minho takes out the groceries and carefully organizes them in the pantry and fridge while I scold my fighting fur babies. Garcons has been hyper lately and he keeps attacking Comme des.

Minho's dedication to help me today has only made me fall harder for him. Sure, we often disagree with each other but the moment we set aside our differences and work together, we're unstoppable. It's like we're perfect for each other. Opposites attract. Or so I think. I wonder what it would be like to have him as a boyfriend...but, I guess I'm the only one who thinks we can make it work.

Realizing I just wasted time thinking about the unimaginable, I dismiss my thoughts and get back to Minho. Garcons scurries away after a good scolding so I get up and head to the kitchen area.

"And that's it." Minho brushes his hands together then turns to face me. "Hey, Bummie. Want some chocolates? I brought them here since it's just been sitting untouched at the dorm." He goes to his bag and takes out a box of Royce Nama Chocolate, one of the most popular chocolates from Japan. "Manager-nim says they're delicious but Jinki-hyung and I haven't got the time to try it."

"Good thing you brought them here! They have a short shelf life, you know, but they're perfect for making hot choco." Always a classic on winter, especially during the holidays. A sip is all it takes to warm one's heart, kicking the holiday blues away.  "Want some? I'll make one."

"Uhm, sure."

"Ok then. But before that," I poke a piece of the fancy chocolate snack with the small spatula they include in the box and pop it in my mouth. "Mmmm!" I miss these sinfully delicious chocolates.

"It's the original flavor. Masisseo! Here, try it." I take another and offer it to Minho but he takes it by his mouth instead of taking the spatula with his hand. I hurriedly look away hoping he didn't catch me blushing.

"Masisseo." He nods in agreement as he chews.

Going back to what I needed to do, I take out a saucepan and milk from the fridge. I pour in enough for both of us, then turn on the stove. While I wait for the milk to very slightly bubble, I take out a pack of large heart-shaped marshmallows from the pantry. "Want some marshmallows on top?" 

"Hmm...just give me the best you got." He winks teasingly. Is he flirting? Because if he is, it feels like Cupid shot one of his love arrows through my heart, dead center. Choi Minho, pleasestop that or I may not be able to hold back from kissing you.

Despite the racing heartbeat in my chest, I try my best to keep a straight face while I make the best hot choco I can offer. As the milk reaches just the right temperature, I turn off the stove then put in slices of Royce Nama chocolates, stirring until they are thoroughly melted. Then, I open the pack of marshmallows, take the fluffiest among them and place one in each cup. Sprinkle a dash of powdered cinnamon for a homey aroma and flavor. 

"Tsaaan! My specialty hot choco, hashtag key to your heart~"

"Sounds cheesy but I'll take it." He shoots me another wink which instantaneously causes my cheeks to burn in embarrassment. I scowl at him as a defensive stance in a futile attempt to hide it.

"Mmm! This is delicious." He pauses, his brows furrowed as he focuses on something inside his cup of hot choco. "What's with the heart-shaped marshmallow though?"

While I am still entranced with the way his y Adam's apple moves up and down as he swallows the drink, he looks at me with his huge doe eyes with such curiosity. "Are you in love, Bummie?"

"Heck no way!" I vehemently deny. YESSSS! Tell him! My brain screams otherwise.

"Really? It doesn't seem that w- Ouch!" He deserves the hard smack on his shoulder.

"Shut it. They're the only ones available. Don't you dare or I'll slap you on your forehead this time."

Still recovering from the pain, Minho could only respond, "Arasseo, arasseo. But I saw other marshmallows in there." Then he smirks.

He's really pushing it now. Testing my patience. But, I cannot waste precious time. I still need to figure out this gingerbread dough mixture.

"Give it up, Choi. Aren't you supposed to be leaving now? Don't you have a basketball game or something?"

"I figured you might need help so...I can give you a hand." I notice him second-guessing himself but completely ignore it.

"Clingy much? Suit yourself then. Let's begin." Without wasting time, I show him a list of ingredients he needs to gather.

Going with the easiest, he grabs the oranges from the bowl on the counter first. Then, he goes to the pantry to get the rest of the dry ingredients on the list: flour, packs of a various ground spices, baking soda, brown sugar and salt. He takes the bottles of vanilla extract and molasses. Finally, he goes to the fridge for the butter and grab the tray of eggs.

"Hmm, fast. You might be helpful here after all. Ok, so..." I check my phone for the steps to follow. "We combine the dry ingredients together first."

He holds the glass bowl and sieve while I pour in the measured scoops flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg. I gently mix them together with a whisk but even so, puffs of the flour mixture escape the bowl.

Minho checks my phone and prepares the mixer for the next step. He makes sure the parts are securely assembled and plugs it in.

"Next, we beat the dough...Mwoya?" I hear Minho snickering beside me. "Who the hell wrote this recipe?! We're not making bread, so punching the dough is out of the question." 

Minho bursts out laughing so I stared at him with narrowed eyes. "What?"

Instead of a reply, I only see him leaning on the counter as he struggles to stop wheezing. Finally, he regains composure and explains with chuckles in between. "I just imagined you straddling and beating up that poor dough."

"Yah!" I try to calm him but instead I giggle when the funny visual popped up in my mind.

"See? You find it funny too."

"Ok, ok. Let's get back to work." I unwrap the bar of softened butter, scoop brown sugar.l and put them all in the mixer bowl. I turn on the mixer to cream the butter and sugar together until they are thoroughly combined.

Bringing the speed down, I drizzle in molasses, add eggs one at a time and slowly pour drops of vanilla extract. I then add flour mixture in batches making sure they're mixed through. All throughout the procedure, Minho just observes me while I make sure I've done all the steps carefully. Somehow, I can sense him stealing glances making me a bit self-conscious that I can feel a current of goosebumps run up and down my spine.

After a few minutes, I stop the mixer and take the bowl out so it's easier to take out the dough. Minho helps me set cling wrap on the table. I place the dough at the center and we wrap it together, our hands brushing against each other. I feel my cheeks warm and blush a bit - hopefully he didn't see - so I pull my hands away and let him finish the wrapping instead.

"That's it?" Minho takes the wrapped dough and puts it in the fridge to chill. We will cut and bake it later together with the other members.

"Yes. I guess all that's left is to clean the apartment and set up some decor. I guess it's time for you to leave?" I regret asking that but I prefer he doesn't see me sweaty and all while cleaning up.

"Are you sure you really want to push me away?" Minho narrows his eyes as if questioning my sincerity. "Weren't you staring at couples a while ago when we went shopping? I'm available right now so use me." My heart skips a beat when I realize that somehow he must have seen through me.

"I'm leaving then. See you in a bit."

He throws me a tempting offer but doesn't wait for my reply?!

"Wait Minho!" I try to stop him but he doesn't look back as he closes the door. He annoys me so much that it's completely ruined my good mood.

I hate myself for actually falling for him despite knowing he might not reciprocate my feelings for him. But, I hate him more for leading me on today making me almost believe he's found out that I've been secretly wanting him to be mine. I almost believed he'd also want me to be only his...but...

I hear my phone ring from the kitchen counter where I left it a while ago. Still feeling a bit under the weather, I drag myself to the kitchen to pick up the phone. To my surprise, I see Minho's name on the screen so I answer it immediately.

"Feeling sorry for what you did, huh?"

"What? Anyway, will you open the door for me please? I'm carrying a pile of boxes."

"Seriously, Minho. What are you up to?"

"Hurry, my arms are aching. I brought decors for the party."

With eyebrows furrowed in confusion, I hurriedly head to the door to check what he is up to. "You said you're leav-"

"Surpriiiise!"

I almost stumble backwards when the the rest of the members surprised me.

"We came here early to help you set up the place." Jonghyun speaks in behalf of the rest of the gang. Hearing this, I sense tears welling up the corner of my eyes. I've forgotten that I was in a awful mood a while ago. I'm grateful to have them as my team mates, my brothers.

"You guys...thank you."

From behind, carrying a tall pile of boxes, Minho tilts his head so he can see me and winks with a smirk. I can't quite comprehend what he's been up to but I'm glad he didn't really leave.

As each of them enter my apartment, carrying shopping bags and boxes, I head to Minho to help him by taking some boxes at the top. Oof. These are heavy!

"Careful, Bummie. We still have a Christmas party to celebrate." He warns me gently, concerned I might accidentally sprain my muscles or something.

"I can manage. Don't worry."

 

---

 

"Are we all set?"

Jinki, being the leader, gets chosen to be the host and judge for the decorating contest since we decided to go by pairs.

Taemin gets to choose his partner as maknae privilege. To my surprise, he chooses Jonghyun. Normally the kid would want to choose me to ensure his win. I stare at them with narrowed eyes scrutinizing if they're up to something but it seems like I’m just overthinking things. I guess no clingy Taemin with me this time. That means... no no no! I get to be paired with Minho?!

Speaking of the devil, he looks at me, excitement apparent in his eyes and a beaming smile plastered on his face. I may have secretly hoped for it but now I feel like my nerves might get in the way and we could lose. You know very well how Minho deals with a loss. I need to focus or it will be chaos in my apartment.

"I trust you, Bummie." Wink. An obviously teasing wink and a smirk.

Seriously. He has to stop or my fingers will be shaking while decorating the gingerbread house later. "Stop that!" I snap at him but my fingers keep fidgeting on the edge of our workstation.

"Yah!" Jinki bellows, his voice rumbling which startled everyone. "Are we all set? We're running out of time." I can see Jonghyun and Minho failing to suppress their laughter at our leader's unusual way of calling our attention.

"Yes, hyung!" comes Taemin's eager response in our behalf. He seems to have set his eyes on the prize, which is a set of delicious Hanwoo beef for barbecue later.

Jinki checks his watch then begins countdown, "3...2...1...Start!"

The gingerbread house panels and cookies of various shapes and sizes we baked earlier are displayed on a separate table for teams to select. I grab the roof panel with a floral boho pattern with an idea in mind I want to try, thanks to the many Youtube videos showing step-by-step guides in building construction grade gingerbread houses I watched earlier as I went astray. You know how one video leads to another.

Minho grabs a snowman and some pine tree cookies. He says he'll ice them while I assemble our gingerbread house. Without wasting time, he fills his piping bag with royal icing and begins decorating the cookies as soon as we got back to the workstation. As one can expect from a passionate man like him, no task is daunting that can hinder him from winning. He efficiently delivers when it comes to competitions.

Somehow, Minho inspires me to step up my game as well. His overflowing passion is somewhat contagious. With the first task at hand, I fill the holes on the panels with melted glass candies, careful to fill each with a color matching the pattern I had in mind. Surely, this will secure us a higher score in the creativity criterion.

"Key-hyung! We need you. Please help us over here." Hearing Taemin's desperate plea from a short distance, I look over to their workstation only to find them struggling with keeping their gingerbread house upright.

I head over to them without hesitation to help. Plus, the maknae won't stop pleading anyway until I respond, which is, quite annoying to be honest, so it's best to do it as soon as possible.

"Thank you, Kibummie." Jonghyun steps aside the moment I excused myself to assist them. I catch him quietly scold Taemin beside me, piquing my curiosity. What are they up to, seriously?

"Alright, so, you'll need something to keep the panels from falling apart or sliding down, in the case of the roof, so you must use some of these," I show them bottles of my spices I grabbed earlier from the cupboard, "to hold them in place hands free while waiting for the icing to dry. You can’t just hold them up by yourselves for 30 minutes.”

Both hyung and Taemin are observing and nodding while I explain and share them more tips. Once they seem ready to be on their own, I head back to our workstation where I see Minho experimenting with the edible dyes to achieve certain colors on some icing here separated earlier. He really looks like he's done his research as well.

"Your glass candies seem to have hardened already. Need help assembling them?" Minho informs me as soon as I’m back. How he sensed me without looking leaves me baffled. Something's really amiss.

"Yes, please. Are you done with the cookies?"

"Just a few more but I can leave them there for now. The gingerbread house is more important."

Minho notices the boho pattern roof, now with a beautiful stained glass window effect, thanks to the glass candies. "That looks cool! Bummie, you're a genius!" His smile reaches from ear to ear.

"Yah, let's get back to work." I can feel my cheeks flush so I distract him by handing him the pieces to ice together.

"Right. We can't lose to Jonghyun-hyun and Taeminnie." He immediately shifts his attention to the panels to work with. Hopefully, I've made him look away just in time before the pinkish tint appeared.

While Minho keeps the roof panels in place putting the taller spice bottles on each side, he turns to me, politely asking, "Bummie, could you please grab another pine tree cookie for me? I feel like I need to add more.."

"Really? You already have five with you. Don't you think it will be a little too crowded?"

"Just trust me. You'll see what I mean later." He sound impatient.

Hmm?"Alright then. But my opinion still stands and you know I'm always right."

"Just go."

Geez, why's he pushing it? I reluctantly head to the cookies table but as I get closer, I notice a jewelry box. Why is there...that was never there a while ago!

"Jinki-hyung?" It might be our leader's. He may have forgotten it there. "Is this yours?"

"Hmm?" Jinki only keeps watching the television. He's so engrossed at the episode of a series he's watching right now...or he pretends to be..?

I shake my head and move closer to the tablet instead. As soon as I was about to grab a pine tree cookie, I notice a square panel with a familiar iced handwriting catching me off-guard.

"Choi Minho, what are you up to?? You're taking your teasing too far this time!"

My outrage may have startled Minho because now he's facing me, his already huge eyes became even bigger. "What do you mean?"

"What's the meaning of this?? I love you, Kibummie? Have you been playing with my feelings ever since you accompanied me to do the groceries this morning? Or even before that, when you volunteered to accompany me? Explain yourself because you are responsible for my unrequited feelings."

It seems I now have caught everyone’s attention. Jonghyun, probably being one of Minho’s accomplices, comes over, giving us both back and forth puzzled looks. “What happened?”

He didn’t know? For real?

“Hyung...” Minho seems worried.

“Oh, c’mon, hyung! Just spit it out already! I even gave up my chance of winning for this. Don’t mess up.” An impatient Taemin shouts from the other end of the room, a filled piping bag in hand. Amidst all these, Jinki goes back to watching his show remaining unbothered. “Deal with this yourselves. Don’t forget, time is ticking.”

“Minho.” Jonghyun now stares at him as if prodding him to admit something.

“Alright, alright. I confess.” Huh?

He goes to the cookies table and grabs the jewelry box and the panel cookie with ‘I love you, Kibummie’ in his beautiful yet difficult to read Hangul handwriting. “I didn’t expect you to overreact. Here.”

He hands me a gift bag. Confused, I check the contents and find, aside from the jewelry box, a somewhat tacky Christmas card inside. I take it out and read what’s written inside.

Damn boy, he wrote the whole lyrics of The Duty of Love!

“What’s the meaning of this?”

“That’s what it is.”

“What is?”

“My confession, Kibummie. I know you wrote this song about us and...”

“...and?”

“Ah, dammit!” I almost drop the gift bag and card when he hugged me. “My feelings...it’s what the cookie says.”

“You’re not making any sense, Minho. Tell me. Say it out loud.” He has to admit it verbally like he’s admitting defeat that I finally captured his heart.

He whispers in my ear the very words I’ve heard many times from him which I thought  were only for fanservice. He pulls back from the hug and takes the jewelry box. He opens it and presents it to me. “I hope you like it.”

It’s a plain silver ring but inside it is engraved ‘like an old married couple’ and their initials MH + KB. Heck, even after confessing his true feelings, it still seems like he’s just teasing me.

A kiss on the lips distract me from my uncertain thoughts making me almost fall backwards but Minho is quick embrace and catch me. “Let’s get back to winning the gingerbread contest.”

“About time! But hyung and I won’t lose to you love birds!” Taemin challenges them while he’s been icing the cookies instead of waiting for the cheesy romance to unfold.

“Bring it on!” Minho, being one who never lets anyone win against him, accepts the challenge.

- end -