“The Flirt” was originally all one chapter, but I decided to split it, and overlap their confession scene so that I could add Jimin’s POV. Enjoy our confused fox 🦊 

Ever since Minjeong had kissed the fox in her drunken mess after dinner on Friday night, Jimin has felt deeply confused by it.

The gumiho knows that under her influence, men kiss her because they find her pretty, and she allows it for two reasons: One, seduced men are easier to pull apart given their weakened state. Two, so that she can force her yeowoo guseul into their mouths to draw out their souls.

But why would Minjeong willingly perform an action like that of her own accord?

She wants to ask Minjeong about it. She likes talking to the human and always feels at ease asking the baker any question that she ever has. However, Jimin doesn’t get a chance to speak alone with the girl until after work on Saturday night.

But by the time that Jimin is alone with Minjeong for dinner, she becomes distracted by how the blonde isn’t touching any of the microwaved japchae that Yoona had provided them with.

“You’re not eating?”

Minjeong’s head jerks up, startled from having almost fallen asleep at the dining table. “Uh, no I’m not really hungry today.”

Having only seen Minjeong eat a small slice of cake for lunch, Jimin’s utterly baffled by the human’s lack of appetite. “Not hungry?” she asks, as the concept is pretty much foreign to her.

“I think I’m just tired. I drank way too much last night,” Minjeong groans.

Speaking of last night, Jimin opens and wants to ask the baker why she had kissed her yesterday, but Minjeong speaks first.

“Hey, I think I’m just going to shower, and then go to sleep,” she tells the fox, sounding incredibly exhausted. “Night, Jimin.”

“Okay…goodnight,” the fox replies as she watches the blonde leave the table to head to the bathroom.

The fox has a couple of opportunities to ask the human her pressing question, like after Minjeong finishes showering and is blow drying her hair with the bathroom door open; when she is brushing her teeth; when she finally goes over to her bed to plop down onto. There are certainly no walls to stop Jimin from approaching the baker at any of those given opportunities, but the fox finds herself…uneasy about asking for some reason.

She herself doesn’t understand why she’s hesitant, but instead of prying for any answers, the fox goes to bed with uncertainty plaguing her mind.

***

Even with the bakery closed on Sunday, Jimin naturally wakes up with the rising sun as she usually does. Though what’s odd about this morning is that she notices Minjeong’s still asleep. Just like every day, the fox goes to brush her teeth and shower, but to her surprise, the blonde baker is still fast asleep when she exits the bathroom.

For the first time in a while, Jimin doesn’t know what to do with her day. The fox’s schedule is normally filled with decisions made by the blonde baker, who is currently so unconscious that Jimin briefly worries if the human has died. Luckily, she can hear the slow, resting pulse of Minjeong’s heart. She hovers in the girl’s room, near the foot of the baker’s bed, and even coughs to clear to hopefully politely wake the girl, but Minjeong remains fast asleep.

Eventually growing bored, the fox leaves the loft and goes downstairs to the bakery kitchen to occupy her free time. There’s some dough that’s been fermenting in the fridge overnight that she decides to use to save herself some time.

So Jimin does what she’s been doing for the past two weeks: bake.

While she works, she reminisces about how yesterday was…strange. Something was off and very confusing about Minjeong. Sure, Jimin got to witness first-hand just how different the baker could be after consuming a bottle of soju (or was it two?) on Friday night, but even though the human didn’t reek of a drop of alcohol on Saturday, why was her behavior still so abnormal?

It seemed as though Minjeong was deliberately avoiding the fox around the bakery and Jimin didn’t like it one bit. She’s grown used to blonde’s lavish care and she didn’t realize how much she liked it until it was suddenly gone. It’s upsetting for the fox to not feel like the center of Minjeong’s attention.

As Jimin pours whipping cream and a bit of white sugar into the stand mixer, she wonders just how exhausted Minjeong must have been to render her in the state that she’s in this morning. Jimin goes on to sprinkle in cinnamon and cuts a few cubes of cream cheese to toss into the mixture. It’ll be nice for Minjeong to have something to eat as soon as she’s awake. The girl barely ate anything yesterday so she must be hungry.

The gumiho has a couple of hours to herself this morning. She fills most of the time pondering about Minjeong while the milk bread bakes, then cools, followed by the steady whirl of the mixer whipping the heavy cream. Eventually, the fox perks up when she hears clumsy feet stomping about upstairs, and then proceeds to hear the loft door open briefly before closing again.

“What is she doing?” Jimin whispers to herself, wondering why the sounds seem so frantic.

When the blonde baker finally makes her way downstairs, far past sunrise, Jimin finishes preparing breakfast just in time. “You slept in late,” she tells Minjeong.

“Morning. Yeah, I guess yesterday really tired me out,” the baker replies before walking over to join Jimin. “It’s Sunday, why are you baking?”

From her seat on the stool, Jimin looks up to proudly say, “I wanted to make breakfast for you.”

She watches as the blonde’s eyes jump open in surprise.

“Why?”

“Because,” Jimin starts to say, suddenly feeling uncomfortable about admitting how Minjeong’s behavior has been troubling her. “You seemed upset. You barely talked to me yesterday. You didn’t even tuck me in last night.”

“Y-you…like that?”

“Yeah,” Jimin replies. Ever since the first night that Minjeong had taken the time to gently lay the fox to bed, Jimin’s been rather fond of being coddled like that. “It always makes me feel…warm. Comfy.”

Minjeong however quickly changes the subject. “S-so, what’re you making?”

The fox grins before excitedly turning around on her stool to show off the breakfast that she’s prepared for the human. She goes on to introduce her version of a cinnamon bun created with milk bread and cream instead. However, she’s suddenly worried about how it actually tastes. Jimin quickly takes a bite for herself first and only once she’s sure that she’s pleased with the flavor does she hold it out for Minjeong to try too.

As Minjeong leans in to take a bite, Jimin watches with careful eyes. She’s eager for a positive reaction, so she anxiously waits while the blonde chews the food.

“Jimin…this is really good,” Minjeong says after she swallows her mouthful.

That makes the fox practically glow with excitement when she receives approval from the baker, who has mastered her craft for a few years now. “Do you like it?” Jimin asks, fishing for another compliment.

“Yeah, it’s delicious,” Minjeong says as she gives the other woman a bright smile.

To Jimin’s delight, the baker takes the remainder of the bun from her hand and polishes it off. That really the fox’s pride and makes her excitedly grin.

But as Minjeong looks down at Jimin, she suddenly sighs, “You’re so messy.”

Minjeong grabs a wet paper towel to help clean the fox’s face of any crumbs or cream. And Jimin really likes it. She likes being taken care of, likes being pampered by the baker, and likes feeling that she’s important to Minjeong. She also likes their relationship enough that she definitely does not want to have a repeat of yesterday again with the blonde baker barely interacting with her.

That kiss had changed the blonde’s complete demeanor towards her and Jimin deeply disliked that transformation. Curious about the human’s intentions, the fox finally asks, “Minjeong…why did you kiss me the other night?”

Almost instantaneously, she hears the baker’s heart start to pound inside her ribcage.

“I-I’m sorry about that. I shouldn’t have done it.”

Minjeong starts to pull away, but Jimin won’t have it. She rushes out to grab the baker when she needs a proper answer. “You didn’t answer my question. Why did you kiss me?”

The blonde is awful fidgety and keeps looking at the floor rather than the fox. And it takes her a while before she finally answers, “B-because I like you and I thought that maybe you felt the same way.”

There are many things that the fox likes. Things like food, sleep, and attention. Before this hunting trip though, she’s never thought about liking another living being, but she can definitely admit that she likes all of the bakers that she has met so far—Minjeong, her gracious host, especially, of course.

However, Jimin scrunches her brows and frowns, confused about the answer. It’s not like they disliked each other since they met. “Did you not like me before?”

“Huh?”

“Did you not like me before you kissed me?” Jimin repeats.

Minjeong scoffs, but Jimin likes the small smile that’s now on the girl’s lips. “Jimin, I’ve liked you since I met you. I just grew to like you a lot…more as we got to know each other.”

More?

The fox can feel the frown on her lips starting to curl upwards. She really adores the kind of attention that Minjeong showers her with. “What do you like about me?” she eagerly asks.

“I…I like that you’re so considerate. You’re…cute, smart, sweet, and you make me feel good about myself.”

Jimin can feel the apples of cheeks start to hurt from smiling too hard. She’s been praised many times for her good looks before, but never about all of the other things that Minjeong has just said. “Is it also because you think that I’m the prettiest woman that you’ve ever seen?” the fox asks, trying to coax more sweet words from the baker’s mouth.

Minjeong uncomfortably shifts her weight around, still trapped by Jimin’s grasp on the front of her shirt. “, you remember that, huh?”

“So you find me attractive and you also like me?” the gumiho repeats for clarification.