As always, Dongwoon went to sit down on the seat in the very back next to the swing door. Jayoo sat down across him and to her shock, Doojoon sat down directly beside her on the seat bench, causing her to reflexively press up against the wall to make space for him. Then he put one arm behind her on the seat rest to be able to turn around and study the menu behind her on the wall. Jayoo clutched her chest tightly and looked down, trying to make the hot rush off blood disappear from her face.

The swing door swung open and the waitress appeared, spotting Doojoon first. She smiled until she saw Dongwoon on the opposite side, washing the smile away straight away. “Hello, Noona” he greeted her eagerly. “Hi Dongwoon-ah” she plainly responded, took out her note pad and wrote down his order without asking. Doojoon turned back around, causing the waitress to smile again. “Oh! Do we have a new face again?” She asked, her pen ready to move: “what can I bring you?” Doojoon ordered a bowl of cold noodles and the waitress went on to Jayoo beside him who still hasn’t looked up.

“Jayoo-sii?” the waitress called “Omo, are you alright? Your face is totally glowing, do you have a fewer or something?”

Dongwoon and Doojoon looked at her concerned. She quickly waved it off: “No, I’m alright, really. Uhm…. Can I get the same as yesterday?”

The waitress eyed her dubiously: “Okay, if you say so.” With that she turned around and left trough the swing door.

Dongwoon starred at the girl, who started tapping her index fingers. “Seriously, you need to tell me if you don’t feel good. Maybe it was too much for you for one day” he said.

Jayoo sighed: “No really, I’m good. I’m sorry to trouble you”

Doojoon observed the girl beside him, looking just as worried as Dongwoon, but seeing how troubled she looked he tried to change the topic. “Your Korean is really good. Where are you from? America?”

“No I’m not!” Jayoo cried, causing the two guys to flinch in surprise.

Why does everybody think I’m from America?!

“I mean, I’m not. I’m Swiss. Sorry” she bowed her head in embarrassment.

“Oh really? I’ve been there once” Doojoon stated.

Jayoo jerked her head around: “really?”

“Yes, while I was in France. Well it was only a short trip through Europe, didn’t really get to see much.” He retorted.

“So you’ve been to all the countries in Europe?” Dongwoon asked astonished.

“Not all, but most of them yes” he answered. Jayoo and Dongwoon looked at him amazed. In that moment the swing door opened again and Yoseob the cook enthusiastically hopped out, literally jumping next to Dongwoon. Amazingly without spilling any of his mixed rice: “Jayoo-siiiiiiiiiiiiii!!” He called, excited to see his self-appointed new friend.

Jayoo smiled affectively: “Annyong haseyo Yoseob-ssi”

“What. Not greeting me anymore?” Dongwoon asked upset.

Yoseob huffed, filling his mouth with a spoon of rice: “Who needs you when I got her now?” he mumbled.

Dongwoon crossed his arms and turned around playing hurt. Jayoo giggled. Yoseob’s attention then turned to the new guy next to Jayoo, who eyed the loud kid with a raised eyebrow. “Who is this?” Yoseob asked, nudging Dongwoon’s side who was still frowning and didn’t answer. So Jayoo answered in his stead: “He’s a new worker at the bakery, he also started today.”

“Another new one?” Yoseob asked, shoveling his mouth with food.

“Yoon Doojoon-irago haeyo” Doojoon said, introducing himself.

“Uhh kurae. Yang Yoseob, pangamneyo.” The cook greeted back eyeing the tall guy from head to waist, where the table blocked his vision. “I hope you’re being nice to my Jayoo” he warned. Jayoo blushed at the sudden comment. Doojoon looked back and forth at them: “Of… course” he answered.

Yoseob nodded his head in approval and continued eating. The waitress came back out with their servings, telling them to enjoy their food and left again. They started eating. Dongwoon had asked Doojoon about his education in France and wondered why he ended up in this small bakery when he had such a career boost.

Dongwoon explained that he liked his job, but he doesn’t want to be a high-ranking chef in a big business where they only care about speed and quantity. So after he got confirmation for this job, he had to look for a place to live in, really fast, as he was leaving France soon after. Ending up in a really old, run down rooftop, since it was the cheapest and nearest place available.

He sighed: “So now I’ll have to get a new door, after breaking this one.”

“You broke your door?!” Yoseob asked incredulously.

“Yeah, well I had to get out somehow, and the only window there is, is too small.” Doojoon explained self-justifying. Yoseob looked at him with big eyes, while munching his food. He then scrutinized the tall man’s arms. “Could you maybe help me with something?” Yoseob finally asked.

“Uhm… yeah I guess, what do you need?” he asked, agreeing to the sudden request.

“You see, we got a new gas cooker delivered this morning. But we can’t build in in, because we can neither move the old one nor put the new one in place. Well my father isn’t the strongest and I can’t do it by myself, either” he explained while grapping his finished plate and getting up. Doojoon got up too and followed Yoseob who steered towards the swing door.

“What about the delivery men? Why didn’t they help?” Dongwoon asked who had gotten up as well and followed them.

“Pha! Those good for nothing people? They just left, saying that that wasn’t their job, they’d just deliver it.” Yoseob complained.

“How rude…” Dongwoon spun around surprised to see Jayoo follow as well. She looked up to him with an “I didn’t want to be left behind” look on her face.

Yoseob led them to the kitchen, where they met a surprised waitress who was just about to carry out and order, staring at the group of people geese marching in. “What the…?” Dongwoon winked at the dazzled waitress when he passed her.

The Kitchen was very small; it was amazing that they had enough space to stand, with all the people that had come in. An elderly man was standing at the stove, stirring a big boiler filled with what seemed like a soup base for kimchee ch’ige. He seemed kind of dreamy as he didn’t even notice the group of people behind him until Yoseob called him: “Dad, I brought some help to build in the new stove” he informed him cheery.

“Annyong hashimnikka Yorisanim” the three bakers said in unison and bowed to the elderly, who turned around. He bowed back startled, having been woken up from his daydream. Then he looked at his son confused: “Didn’t you say you would call the workers after work?”

“No, they are my friends; they said they could help us. So we don’t need to call someone.” He pointed behind his back at the three people who were curiously looking around the tiny kitchen.

“Oh, that’s very generous of you. Thank you very much.” The elderly man bowed deeply. The other three immediately bowed a little deeper. “No no, we are happy to be able to help” Dongwoon said.

“Okay then. Dad, I think you want to save that soup before it gets thrown out together with that greasy old stove.”  Yoseob said, rolling up the sleeves of his cooking uniform. The elderly agreed and tried to lift the heavy boiler of the stove. Jayoo quickly went over to him to assist him: “Let me take this, Yorisanim”

The elderly almost let go when he looked stunned at the foreigner, talking in Korean. Jayoo caught the kettle before the soup could swap over and lifted it over to the counter top at the other side of the room.

Doojoon took off his suit jacket, while Dongwoon rolled up his pullover sleeves. “Where do you want to put the old stove?” Doojoon asked the little cook who was already crouching on the floor under the stove to disconnect various wires and gas hoses. “We’ll need to carry this through the front to the outside” he muttered from under it. He crawled back up again, and together the three young men, lifted the rusty stove at the count of three and lugged it through the swing door to the outside.

Jayoo quickly cleaned the now empty spot at Yoseob’s request and then asked the elderly cook for a knife, so she could start to unwrap the new stove, which had been placed at the back, taking up even more space in the already small kitchen. He, who was still astonished for her being able to talk in Korean, gave her one. She was already removing the upholstery and putting it in a trash bag together with the packaging with the elders help my holding up the bag, when the three guys came back, breathing heavily.

“Dang that sure was heavy” Dongwoon whined, wiping the sweat of his forehead.

“Whoa, you're good Jayoo-ssi!” Yoseob praised, seeing that she had freed the new stove already, ready for in to be built in. “No problem” she said, shyly scratching her head: “I’m afraid that's all I can help with though.”

“You worked hard” Doojoon commended, smiling at the girl beside him who immediately started tapping her index fingers. “Komawoyo Sunbaenim” she blushed.

“What? Sunbaenim?” Dongwoon’s head jerked to Jayoo: “Why do you call him that?”

“Uhm… well he’s older than me and has more experience in baking, so he’s my senior. Isn’t that right?” she looked up at Doojoon: “is it wrong to call you that?” she asked, suddenly worried to have offended him.

“No it’s right. Pretty accurate actually.” Doojoon approved.

“Why don’t you call me Sunbaenim? I’m older that you too.” Dongwoon asked with a hurt tone.

“You said, you didn’t actually study baking, so you aren’t a senior baker” Jayoo countered.

Yoseob laughed out loud, hugging the witty girl, who flinched under his arms at the sudden act. “She sure got you there Dongwoon-ah” he said ecstatically, head knuckling her.

Dongwoon huffed: “In that case you can call me Oppa” he commanded.

“Oppa?” Jayoo rubbed her head.

“Yeah, me too. Call me Oppa!” Yoseob called, excited at the idea.

Jayoo looked at them hesitantly: “I don’t know. Isn’t that something you say when you are really close, or actual siblings?”

“We ARE close” Yoseob declared: “Come on, try it. Call us Oppa”

Jayoo looked at Doojoon, still unsure. He just shrugged his shoulders and nodded lightly, approving.

“Uhm…. Oppa….” She finally mumbled tapping her index fingers.

“Kiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!” Yoseob shrieked delighted and hugged her again tightly, taking her breath.

“I… can’t breathe… Oppa!” she breathed.

The little cook loosened up a little but didn’t let go: “I’m sorry, but you’re just too cute”

Jayoo smiled at his evident affection: “I think you should set up the new stove, or the customers won’t get anything to eat, Oppa” she reminded him.

“Oh, yeah right” he let go reluctantly. Doojoon chuckled, amused by the funny scene. Dongwoon just shook his head in frustration over his overexcited Hyung.

They got to work, lugging the heavy stove in place. Dongwoon read the manual, telling the two older guys witch wires and hoses they had to connect. Working together, they were done pretty fast and they celebrated their successful hard work by lighting the gas and putting the soup base back on the fire.

The elderly cook thanked them deeply and invited them for their next lunch. “I think that’s worth at least two lunches” Yoseob put in and his father agreed.

In that moment Dongwoon’s phone rang and a voice screamed, causing him to hold the phone away from his ear. “Yah, Dongwoon-ah, where are you guys? The lunch break is long over. Get your lazy over here!” the bakery owner scolded.

Jayoo glance at her watch shocked. It was already 2:30, thirty minutes late.

“Oh god, I’m sorry to have held you up” Yoseob apologized troubled.

“It’s alright I’ll explain him the situation, he’ll understand.” Dongwoon reassured after he assured his father that they’d be there right away.

“Well, thanks anyways guys!” Yoseob thanked, waving them goodbye as the three bakers rushed out.

 

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kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk the end of this chappter with the stofe thing is totally different from what I acctually planned on writing. But I was stuck in a writers block not knowing what Yoseobs reaction should be after Doojoon tells them that he broke his door..... and that's what came out.... lol I like how it turned out though. It's a better way to let the people interact with each other, than just letting them have a plain conversation... don't 'cha think XD