Taemin & Hyerin were just staring at the sun going down silently for the last 15 mins.

“Eomma was really curious about you when I told her I learnt to make the cake from you” Taemin came up with words trying to end the awkward silence as he remembered his mom’s compliments when the sweetness of the croissants was still lingering on his tongue again, when he was back to his senses.

“Oh!” Hyerin turned to his side, interested to know more, “Did she like it?”

“Hmm” Taemin hummed looking up in the air with a smirk coming up on his lips now, “I messed up the icing for sure but it was ignored as the taste was good” “Everyone did liked it” he was a bit proud of it now that he was done with it for once.

“Nobody could believe that I learnt it in one week” he was excited now thinking how his mom was so happy about his gift & was touched by his efforts.

“Well” “Cake is an easy thing” “But yeah it can’t be done that easily if you’re bad in the kitchen” she looked at him with teasing eyes as he pouted cutely in response.

“I’m atleast not that bad” he was sulking lightly to in return, “I managed to complete all the procedures today” He was really proud of his work though he did all the steps as Hyerin instructed, “You saw it right?” Hyerin couldn’t help but laugh at his cute attempt to prove that.

“How did you know Eomma likes princesses?”

“She liked the macaroons more because you drew those tiny princess items over them” he looked at her curious about her answer himself.

“You talked to me a while ago” “That you still feel like your mom has a youthful energy to her”

“That’s why I took a guess that maybe she would feel fresh if I drew something from her young life”

“How can you know to take such guesses from words?” “It’s hard enough to interpret what people even talk to you directly” he was more intrigued now because of her unusual answer.

“Well!” “I believe people’s stories are very much connected with their personality & emotions”

“I don’t know I can often know a lot about someone listening just to their stories” she explained and he was listening carefully.

“That’s a unique quality” he said out of blue & Hyerin didn’t had a response to it, as she stared at him blankly.

“I thought it was quite natural response of everyone to people around them” she replied

“I don’t think so” “People rarely even bother listening to others stories that often” he was serious & calm & was speaking with conviction now which made Hyerin look for herself in a new light.

“I never thought of it that way” she was into a deep thinking, watching the orange-blue-purple sky filled with random flocks of birds for a while.

“It will be great if you do it for your customers”

“I bet everyone likes their wishes to be interpreted this way” Taemin was thinking something while speaking at the same time himself not knowing what-what he had in his mind right now.

“Huh?” Hyerin looked at him to get the sense of his words as he was literally blabbering at the point.

“What you did for my mom you can try it for your customers in the café?” he looked at her repeating what he said again in a more sensible way.

She was staring at him with her mind filled with too many ideas suddenly, “You are right!” She was overwhelmed & excited, her eyes had a bright glint in them.

“Why didn’t I think of this ever before?” She looked in the space now, everything getting to her in the form of a plan.

“I mean I've tried customized baking for some of my customers who requested it but-”

“You’re absolutely right, emotions & baking can be connected really well in this way”

“ I can do it as a whole new section for my cafe” the light in her eyes was so different that his heart was blowing with the pride that he brought something like that to her.

“I never gave it a serious thought before this”

"I thought it won't be that special to do such kind of experiment" She was loving the idea.

"I'm sure it's rare" "I am sure not many people have the ability to pull off such ideas"

"You should definitely take a shot" he looked like the elder one now, she never thought of him to be the one in front of her, when they always had this nonsense joke sessions before whenever they were together.

“Thank you, oppa!” She held Taemin’s arm in impulse for the short moment, startling him but she herself was lost in her own mind now, hardly capable of reading his reaction for the time.

He was happy for her!

She looked full of life at the moment which was the flip side of how he had seen her in the past two weeks.

The passion in her eyes now had that light because of the re-ignited fire in her, it was too cool to see it from his place.

He had never felt so happy after seeing another person this happy.

She was busy drawing her own mind-maps now, when his phone started ringing.

Disappointed to take the call, he pulled his phone from his jean’s pocket reading the caller name, ‘Minho hyung’

“Hello” “Hyung?” he walked away from Hyerin to a distance she couldn’t hear them.

“Where are you?”

“We decided to meet up today”

“Everyone’s here already”

“We are at kibum’s place right now” Minho filled him with all the necessary information.

“Oh!” he exclaimed & looked back at Hyerin who was still peacefully staring at the sea sitting on the porch.

“But I’m in Jeju-do” “for work” he had to lie for the sake of his own peace or his hyungs would not go easy on him after knowing he traveled to Jeju-do for a girl.

“Jeju-do?” “You didn’t have any schedule today, right?” why Minho knew everyone’s schedules when he himself was just back from the military to sort his own, but he was the kind to keep such information.

“It’s something personal” he was still worried if there would be a counter question, but luckily a silence was followed by a simple ‘Okay’ before he heard some noises through Minho’s phone on the other side including Ryujin’s voice blending with Key & Jonghyun.

“Whom are you calling?” Ryujin asked

“Taeminnie” Key answered instead, “He was the one not informed”

“He would have sulked for not calling him again” Key continued in his complaining tone, when Taemin heard him in background, “Ahh!” there was Ryujin's short exclamation heard.

And there was a long silence with no response from Minho.

“Hello” “Hyung?” Taemin tried to communicate but there was a lack of response from the other side.

“It's fine” “We’ll meet again after you’re back” this time Jonghyun was on the phone suddenly, confusing Taemin, who took away his phone from his ear to check the caller.

“Hyung! Is Ryujin with you?” he knew now something was up on that side, something happened in that silence for Jonghyun to take the phone from Minho.

“Yeah” Jjong replied, passing the phone to Ryujin now.

“Yes” Ryujin pressed her lips, she was holding to not spill away that she messed up here, making everyone suspicious about Taemin’s absence now.

“I will not spare you if you spill out a single word out there” she gulped hearing his serious threat.

"I'm still holding back" "You want me to tell them everything?" she said trying to hold back her outburst when the four were already watching her like hyenas waiting to attack.

“I have the videos of drunk Ryujin, remember?” he did kept them for the moment like this.

“And I think you may regret if I expose them” he smirked, trying not to laugh aloud knowing Hyerin's presence, “So careful!” “I won’t go easy on you”

“This is not fair” Ryujin whispered, grunting softly, trying not to let others catch her reaction but as everyone was still watching her it was hard to hide.

“You can decide for yourself” he ended the call immediately before Ryujin could respond.

---------------------

He walked back to Hyerin after ending the call.

He went to sit beside her on the porch again & followed her gaze at the sky, where few of the stars appeared dim because of the slightly-bright sky after the sunset.

“I haven’t felt this exhilarated since the day I told appa that I wanted to pursue baking as my career”

“He was as excited as I was that day” her eyes softened.

“He was the one who kept me going all these years for my uneasy passion” her voice was heavy but calm.

“I miss him!” Hyerin was looking down, tears flowing down from her eyes, as she choked trying to laugh it out wiping the one tear that came out, feeling guilty that she changed the whole mood.

It was hard to go back to normal when her thoughts were filled with his memories now, making her burst into heavy tears suddenly as memories were flashing in front of her eyes nonstop, which was beyond her control.

“I’m so sorry”

“I do-n’t kn-ow” “Why-?” “Suddenly-” she was stuttering trying to speak between the sobs.

“You don’t have to explain” he interrupted, moving closer seeing her wipe her tears one by one from either eye as they were coming down in trails now, not letting her breath even for a moment.

“Ah!” “Why can’t I stop?” She looked exhausted already, but she was trying to push them back forcefully now.

“Shh!” “It's okay” He extended his arm around the back of her shoulder as she was holding her neck looking up when tears fell from the corner of her eyes.

As she felt the support she gave up to the warmth of his embrace, and her shoulders fell back on his arm, as her tears continued to flow down as she palmed her face.

He pulled her close, patting her shoulder on the other side as she cried for a while & letting out her longi