N I N E T E E N

Word of the Day – “Ganache”

Everything was in bokeh effect, baby pink and yellow and all the happiest colours clouded her vision. Miyoung was stuck in an endless daze. A daydream. A fantasy. What the … just happened? Was it the lingering side-effects of the lovely sceneries she passed by while she was biking? Was it the can of sweet fizzy Milkis she got from the convenience store before cycling back to the cabin?

Or was it … Kyungsoo’s warm embrace? His pounding heart against hers. His audible gulps. The heavy and shaky breaths he exhaled as if he had nearly lost the most precious thing in the world. Her.

Either that or she was overanalyzing things way too much.

Whatever it may have meant, she had never seen Kyungsoo act like that. He was always cool about everything, chill and uncaring and most of the time, arrogant. He was never the type to freak out on anything. That was the first time she’d ever witnessed that kind of demeanour from him.

He was really frightened out of his wits and even up until now, Miyoung still didn’t exactly know why.

She palmed her flushed cheeks as she got off the bed. She had to come out eventually. She had to eat, for ’s sake. How did she even last this long without ingesting anything? But for some reason, she’d never felt so … full. She guardedly made her way to the door and cracked it slightly open, just enough for her to peek out. From afar, she could see the staff still out in their tent, some of them already seated on the long table that was set up on the center.

She swallowed hard when the stimulating aroma of grilled meat brushed her way. Food. She needed that more than anything. Eagerly shuffling down the stairs, she braced herself to face Doh Kyungsoo once again.

It was between dying of starvation and dying of being around the man who made her feel so many emotions at once today. Her stomach picked the latter, unfortunately.

Kyungsoo was setting up the little buffet table just beside the grill station when she arrived. She caught him glance at her ever-so-quickly but it was long enough for her to feel feathers and fluff invading her gut. The tension, this time, was somehow different. Or maybe, it had always been this way, except… she finally had a clearer idea of what she may actually be feeling for this man. To make things worse, she had shared the most sensual yet purest kiss with him this afternoon—and that was all before the other emotions that consumed her when she got back from her biking. 

“Uh, Miss Miyoung.” A voice grasped her attention which made her turn around. It was Baekhyun. He stood there with his chin kept low, his lips clamped in a weird shape as if he hated everything at the moment.

“What’s up.” She acknowledged, completely facing him while hugging her arms together to keep a decent barrier between them.

The man was about to speak when a familiar warmth launched to her left side. Doh Kyungsoo.

Miyoung held her breath when she realized just how close their bodies were at the moment. So close, she could hug him … just like how he did earlier. Baekhyun’s shoulders drooped as he squinted at the other man. “I was gonna apologize, geez. Relax, dude. Never mind then.” He groaned while throwing his arms up and turning away to leave.

Kyungsoo didn’t let the man go and grabbed him by the collar to spun him back. “Ouch—stop grabbing me. Come on, this is a new shirt!” Baekhyun gritted while breaking away from the borderline choke-hold.

“You’re apologizing, right? Then do it properly.” Kyungsoo coldly said before walking away again, as if he was never even there.

Miyoung only grew even more confused. What the hell was that? What was the problem? She didn’t quite grasp it yet. She looked up at Baekhyun and waited for the man to say something. He fixed his shirt that Kyungsoo had crumbled in his hand. “Okay, uhm, earlier when I told you that—” His gaze flew off somewhere else and he frowned again. “I’m doing it, stop looking at me! Do you want me to do it or not?” He grunted making Miyoung look in the direction he was scowling at.

Kyungsoo, from afar, continued to watch with a vicious glare.

“Okay—” Miyoung pressed her palms on either side of her head. “What the hell is happening here? What is this—why are you two like this? Did something happen while I was away?” She asked, eventually losing her patience at the awkward tension between the two men.

Baekhyun sighed so heavily that she felt the strong aroma of alcohol hit her senses and she had to scrunch her nose while pushing her head back. He flicked his tongue loudly before saying, “Okay, before anything else, I really didn’t know you actually went into the woods earlier. I was already intoxicated and I was actually just joking when I sai—”

An empty crumpled can of soda hovered their way and hit Baekhyun right on the shoulder. “Do it properly or you’re fired.” Kyungsoo threatened from a distance.

Baekhyun closed his eyes shut for a moment, his lips clamping in a tight straight line as if he was close to blowing up.

There was a moment of heated silence before he finally found his words again. “Okay, I lied when I said Kyungsoo was in the woods he wasn’t there anymore when you were looking for him he actually went out with Minseok to buy some stuff and I just wanted to see what you’d do because I’m a stupid drunken moron. I’m so sorry I won’t do it again I’m very glad that you are safe so please tell the head chef not to fire me please please please give me a second chance.” He finally exclaimed in one go; no commas, no periods.

Miyoung slowly nodded in understanding. Okay … so that was what happened then? Did Kyungsoo perhaps force him to say all of these things, especially the stupid drunken moron part? Because it heavily sounded like a rehearsed script to her.

Keeping a straight face, she gave the remorseful man a faint shrug. “Whatever.” She walked away and went straight towards the buffet table to grab herself some food. She deserved it after such an emotionally exhausting day. Eating one’s feelings out had never been more relatable.

Once again, she met Kyungsoo’s gaze when she arrived in front of the buffet. She reached out to the pile of paper plates and was about to grab one when Kyungsoo beat her into it. “I’ll get you your food, go take a seat.” He spoke as he broke the eye contact.

“I ca—I can get my own food.” She declined the offer right away.

Kyungsoo didn’t say anything and proceeded to get exactly what Miyoung was planning to get for herself, as if he had read her mind—once again. She watched in awe as he put decent amounts of beef, prawns and grilled peppers on her plate. He then skipped the big pot of rice and went straight to the large serving bowl containing stir-fry glass noodles with veggies. She never liked rice that much … but she loved all kinds of noodles. He knew that.

“I said … I can get my own food.” Her hand awkwardly tried to reach for the plate but he didn’t give it to her. He went on to squeeze a variety of sauces on the side of her plate. She loved sauces; she could probably put any kind of sauce on anything. He knew that too.

When he was done, he finally passed the loaded plate to her. She stared at it in complete defeat. “Oka—okay.” She managed to say before rushing to the nearest available seat she could find that had good enough distance from the other staff.

“Ugh, right, chopsticks” She cursed under her breath and stood up again to grab herself some chopsticks. But before she could take the first step, a pair of unused chopsticks that were still in its paper packaging swung right in front of her face. She slowly moved only her eyes to the person who gave it to her. Doh Kyungsoo … again. He tore it open and split the chopsticks before setting them down right on her plate. "I could ... do that myself." Miyoung stammered.

Kyungsoo looked down at her with the smallest smile ever but it was enough for her chest to explode with emotions she'd never had to deal with before. "What?" She asked, her voice coming out mostly air. She watched his eyes tour her face as if he was photocopying every inch of her into his brain. "Just—" He propped a hand on his hip while resting the other on the table. "—I'm just really glad you're okay." He replied, his voice suddenly sounding like music to her ears.

Miyoung's shoulders turned rigid but she maintained eye contact. She faked a boastful frown while folding her arms. "And why would I not be okay? I'm always okay. You're not okay, maybe." She snapped back with a sharp tone. He only responded with a lopsided grin. Then suddenly, he pinched the bridge of her nose lightly between his index and middle finger. She flinched from the touch, mostly from the warmth that oozed out of his hand.

Kyungsoo didn't say anything else and just walked away as if he just didn't almost kill her with such a bold and heart-stopp