Calm down, Jinyoung scolded his heart. Stop thumping right this instant!

   Your hand felt so petite and warm underneath his – you felt so petite and warm.

   Swallowing and his suddenly dry lips, Jinyoung stared at the back of your head. He liked the way your hair tumbled past your shoulders. He liked how soft it looked, and how every time you moved, a light scent of something – he didn’t know what it was, but it was good – would waft around you. He liked how tiny you were in comparison to him; the top of your head barely scraped his chin. He liked how you didn’t jerk your hand away when he tried to smoothly wrap his around it.

   He liked you.

   His heart thumped unevenly, threatening to speed up as that one thought spread like a seed through his mind. Don’t you dare give me away, Jinyoung silently screamed at his heart as if it could hear him.

   Despite his mental warnings, his body betrayed him, exposing his nervousness. His breathing turned shallow, his heart thumped wilder and wilder with every passing minute. To distract himself, he started humming along with the familiar ballad which was playing on the laptop.

   I can’t believe I like her. I can’t believe I like her this much.

   Jinyoung wanted so badly to wrap his free arm around you, to feel you snuggled tightly against his chest. The urge to do so was so sudden and so strong that it almost scared him.

   He wondered how you were responding to how bold and close he was being. Did he scare you off? Were you too shocked to react? Was there even a slight possibility that you were enjoying this as much as he was?

   His humming broke off briefly when he felt you slowly lean back against his chest. Taking a gulp, he had to viciously fight the smile which wanted so badly to spread itself across his face. He continued humming, more than content to just stir the batter with you.

   He wasn’t sure how much time passed with the two of you being peacefully quiet. All he knew was that the batter had long past the point where it was fully mixed, but he kept on mixing anyways. He made sure that he was using all the strength, but he didn’t even care if his arm felt tired. He didn’t want to stop.

   “J-Jinyoung,” he barely heard you whisper.

   “Y-yes?” He stuttered out before clearing his throat.

   “I think it’s done,” you said quietly.

   “Whatever you say,” he murmured in your ear, taking one last whiff of your delicate scent before letting go of your hand and backing away. “You’re the expert here.”

   He sat back onto a chair, looking at your face for the first time since he “helped” you mix the raw cookie dough. At first, Jinyoung was surprised at the light pink that had flushed onto your face and the slightly-heavier-than-normal heaves that your chest did. He smirked, happy that he had at least some effect on you.

   He suddenly remembered what Myungsoo had said: “Why don’t we just let her choose who she wants to be with?”

   “Let’s go watch some TV while it bakes,” he heard you say. Realizing that he had been spacing out, he switched back to reality, giving you a gentle smile.

   “Sure thing.”

   He didn’t regret basically agreeing to battle against Myungsoo for you. He wasn’t afraid of Myungsoo. He was afraid of how much he liked you after only a couple of days. He was afraid that you wouldn’t choose him.

---

   It took me quite awhile to stop being flustered. Tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear, I the TV to a comedy movie that was on and sat beside Jinyoung on the couch.

   I wasn’t sure what I wanted – part of me wanted to snuggle next to him, but the other was thinking of Myungsoo. I knew that we had agreed to start out as friends, but he did talk about second chances…

   “How’re you with Myungsoo?” Jinyoung abruptly asked, startling me.

   “Do you know how to read minds?!” I blurted, surprised. How did he know that I was just thinking about Myungsoo?!

   “Huh?” he looked confused before letting out a short, equally surprised laugh. “What’re you even talking about?”

   “Just now! I was thinking about – about…and you just…never mind,” you said, laughing also. “We’re alright. We met up yesterday, actually.”

   “You WHAT?” Jinyoung, who was leaning against the couch, straightened up immediately.

   I widened my eyes, “We made up, I guess. We had a long talk.”

   Clearing his throat and trying to regain his composure, Jinyoung relaxed against the couch again. “That’s uh, really good. You – are you two…?” He drifted off, looking embarrassed.

   “Are we…what?” I urged, laughing.

   “Are you two going out now?”

   “Oh, no, no! Myungsoo and I…agreed to being friends.”

   Jinyoung looked surprised again. “Just friends? He really didn’t ask for anything more?”

   “Well, he said that he’d be happy just starting as friends and frankly I – wait a minute,” I stopped abruptly. “How do you know that he asked for something more?”

   Jinyoung looked like a deer caught in headlights. “We might’ve talked, maybe. Slight possibility.”

   I frowned, wondering when they could’ve possibly met up to talk. I was with Myungsoo yesterday, and Jinyoung was here now…which means that they talked while I ran off at the studio?

   I shook my head, smiling. “I guess you already know, then! He wanted to try again, but I’m…not sure. So we’re friends.”

   Jinyoung nodded thoughtfully, before grinning and scooting closer to me. I returned his smile, glad that things weren’t awkward between us after what happened in the kitchen. If anything, I felt even closer to him now.

   “Forget about it, let’s watch the movie,” he said happily.

---

   Jinyoung wasn’t watching the movie at all. He was too preoccupied with his own thoughts – without realizing it, he had started spacing out.

   The fact that Myungsoo tried to ask for a second chance and you were hesitant made him feel strangely relieved, plus perhaps also a little bit happy. Okay, he admitted to himself, it made him happy.

  For a short moment, he felt kind of guilty. He was essentially being the bad guy, keeping you two old lovers apart. Yet at the same time, you and Myungsoo had already tried at the relationship thing, right? Myungsoo had lost you. Jinyoung was determined to keep you – but he’d have to get you first.

   That short moment of guilt was cut even shorter when he felt something lightly thud against his shoulder. He flinched, surprised, before seeing the top of your head. Leaning his head forward, he saw that you had somehow dozed off.

   This time, he doesn’t even try to fight his feelings as he slowly leans back, careful of your head. This time, he doesn’t even bother to wipe the goofy grin off his face.

---

   “I’m hooooome!”

   I jolted awake at my mom’s voice, hollering down the hallway. I heard the door slam, and I was momentarily confused. Why was it dark out the window? Why was – oh my God, Jinyoung was still beside me.

   I stared speechless at him, realizing that we had both fallen asleep. I gaped at how his head lolled to the side, his red hair so bright against his dark shirt.

   “________? What’s that smell? Is something burning?” I heard my mom, still at the door, probably taking off her shoes.

   Jolting out of my sleepy state, I noticed the smell too. The smell of something burnt.

   Something like burning cookies.

   “Ohhh NOOO!” I cried, shaking Jinyoung’s shoulder quickly. “My mom’s home!” I hissed, “Pretend to be awake!”

   He jolted awake, his eyes wide. “What? I – oh Jesus, did I fall asleep?”

   “Be good!” I pointed a finger at him before running into the kitchen.

   Sure enough, the cookies were burning, filling the kitchen with a light screen of smoke. “Oh god, oh god, oh god,” I panicked, quickly turning off the oven and opening it. Bad idea, because it released some more smoke. I quickly opened all the windows in the kitchen, grabbed a magazine and started flapping it around the room, trying to blow away the smoke.

   “H-hello!” I heard Jinyoung stutter loudly in the living room. “I’m Jinyoung, _______’s friend…”

   “Ohoho! ______! You didn’t tell me that we were having guests or I would’ve bought more food!” My mother boomed happily. “How’re you, young man? Sturdy looking boy, ain’tcha?”

   “Uh, “ Jinyoung laughed, “I’m great, it’s nice to meet you, Miss.”

   “Look at chu, so polite! It’s men like you that should rule our country!”

   I stopped my rapid flapping, rolling my eyes even though nobody could see me. “Mom! Please stop being so embarrassing!”

   I looked disappointedly at the burnt tray of cookies, black and crumbled. I dumped them wistfully into the trashcan and returned to the living room pouting.

   “What’s wrong?” Jinyoung and my mom asked at the same time.

   “The cookies are burnt,” I sighed.

   “That’s what the smell was? I can’t trust you in the kitchen!” My mom said goodheartedly.

   “I’m sorry, mom,” I said meekly. “Windows are open; the smoke will clear in a bit.”

   “Nevermind that, how come you didn’t tell me we were having guests?!” My mom said pointedly.

   “It was last minute,” I started, “we just needed somewhere to bake and – ”

   Suddenly, everything went pitch black.

   There was one beat of complete silence.

   Two beats.

   “AM I GOING BLIND?” I squealed, horrified.

   “________?!” I heard Jinyoung’s voice somewhere near my right. “AM I SUDDENLY BLIND TOO?”

   “Umma? Mom?!” I cried out.

   “You kids are hilarious, it’s just a blackout! Happens all the time,” my mom said somewhere off to the left.  

   I flinched as a small bright light flickered, and I saw my mom holding up her lit up cell phone. Jinyoung and I took out our phones, doing the same.

   “Don’t panic, you hear me?” she said sternly. “I’m going to go light some candles around the house.” She waddled off carefully to the kitchen, with her phone guiding her.

   “Jinyoung?”

   “_______?”

   I blew out a breath, getting scared already. “I’m afraid of the dark.”

   “You are?!”

   “Yeah, funny, right?” I let out a nervous laugh, but stayed rooted to the floor. I was afraid that if I moved even one bit, a ghost spirit would pop up and drag me into oblivion, never to be seen again.

   As if on cue, I felt something graze my shoulder, and I screamed.

   “WHOA, IT’S JUST ME!” Jinyoung said defensively, illuminating his face with his phone.

   “That just makes you look even scarier, don’t do that!” I cried.

   “Come help me with the candles!” I heard my mom’s muffled yell.

   “Oh gosh, I’m sorry,” I laughed again to Jinyoung. “C’mon,” I said, leading him embarrassedly into the kitchen as he chuckled.

   “Looks like the entire area is out,” my mom said, peeping out the window. The view, which was usually lit up by windows and small shops was completely black.

   She had lit up around 10 large candles on the table, and I picked up two. “This hasn’t happened in years, why now?” I said, handing them to Jinyoung.

   “We’ll survive,” my mom sighed. “Put those around the house, okay? I’ll light a couple more.”

   Jinyoung and I obediently placed them around the house, in all the rooms and even the bathroom. When we were done, the entire house was very dim, but we could make each other out now.

   “I should go home,” Jinyoung said worriedly.

   “Go home?!” I cried.

   “Go home?!” My mom squawked loudly. “Young man, you stay right here! I’m the guardian and I will not have young children walking home during a black out!”

   “Please don’t worry,” Jinyoung said politely, “I’ll be fine, it’s a 10, 15 minute walk –”

   “NONSENSE!” My mom boomed, surprising both Jinyoung and I. “I will not be responsible for anything that happens!”

   “I certainly wouldn’t hold you responsible,” Jinyoung started, but never got to finish.

   “Enough! You’re staying over tonight and that is that!” My mom patted him on the back while Jinyoung stared at me, begging for help by the look in his eyes.

   I burst out laughing, “Give it up, you’ll never win against my mom!”

   My mom smiled proudly before heading towards the kitchen. “Today is your lucky day, guess who bought take-out?” She hurried into the poorly lit kitchen, saying, “Come, come!”

   I looked over at Jinyoung, who still looked slightly traumatized. I lightly put my hand on his shoulder, giggling. “We won’t bite, I swear.”

   Shaking his head, Jinyoung got over the shock and smiled. “Your mom…is really something,” he started to walk towards the kitchen, and I followed. “Sorry for intruding ~” he called as he stepped in.

   This was going to be a hectic night.