So the day has finally arrived. After weeks of waiting, sobbing and OTL-ing, she was finally at the National CupCake Competition. Bakers from all over the world lose blood, sweat and tears in order to make it here. It is a place where only the best play, and the kings win.

                Marty was merely an eighteen year old girl with a dream, a best friend, and one hell of a recipe book.

 Round after round, she and her trustie partner, Caitlin, were able to squash the competition one by one to get to the top. It didn’t matter if they were older, younger, experienced or n00bz, their cupcakes would always be second best to the two girls. And as people saw their potential, they were asked to come to Korea to be in the finals. They couldn’t say yes before having the ultimate heart attack.

                It was here where Marty could finally win enough money to expand her bakery over seas. “Sweet Taboo” would be a household name if they won this competition. Plus the trophy is really pretty since it’s shaped like a cupcake and all.

                As their performance ritual, both girls would either wear matching or complimenting aprons. Marty was dressed to impress in her red, polka dot apron and a black bow in her hair. All of her new kitchen tools were gleaming under the hot lights of the stage as she waited for Caitlin to arrive.

                She glanced over to the side of the stage and noticed her best friend’s blue polka dot apron was still hanging on the handle of the tall, shiny cabinet.

                She suspected something was off from the beginning. Caitlin was never late, and she knew this was the most important days of Marty’s life, so why wasn’t she here yet?

                As she was starting to panic, the MC of the competiton, Leeteuk, greeted her.

“Ah annyeonghaseyo” he said while bowing. “I recognize you from the auditions, you sure make pretty cupcakes” he complimented. As the corners of his mouth lifted, that famous dimple of his appeared on his lower cheek and Marty had to stop herself from glomping his gorgeous face.

“Kamsamnida” she said as she bowed, trying to keep her feels inward.

“Fighting!” he said, smiling cutely and giving her a thumbs up.

Leeteuk slightly parted the huge, red curtains so he could walk through and commence the competition. Marty could hear him begin to speak as the audience piled in.

                “Thank you everyone for coming. I hope you are ready as we aboard on the adventure with these four exquisite, young bakers on their journey to becoming THE NATIONAL CUPCAKE CHAMPION!”

                Leeteuk was a wonderful MC. The passion and charisma he gave off was no different from the countless times Marty has seen him on television. He has hosted cooking shows, baking competitions, and radio stations; you name it he’s done it.

                As the audience cheered, Marty began to look around, trying to keep her composure. Her best friend still hasn’t arrived and Leeteuk would be announcing the bakers soon. She had no idea how tough these new opponents would be. And in truth, not having her best friend by her side made her lose some confidence.

                “and these marvelous bakers are-“ was the only thing Marty heard of Leeteuk’s speech as the giant curtains parted and revealed a sea of people, cheering.

                It was interesting to see that she had fans. People had her name on signs with hearts or cupcakes. But she noticed none of the signs had Caitlin’s name on it. Instead it was some Hangul scattered on some of the posters, but Marty made nothing of it since she couldn’t read it. She just kept smiling at Leeteuk’s broken english as he announced her opponents.

                “Coming all the way from Miami, Florida is baker Cho Anna! Anna is eighteen years old and is currently in University to be a pastry chef.  Twenty four year old, South Korean, Cho Kyuhyun will serve as her partner in this competition” Leeteuk announced.

                Marty stealthily glanced over to look at the competiton. Anna had long brown hair and pretty, brown eyes to match. Her shyness was apparent as she covered her face with her hands as everyone cheered. Kyuhyun, on the other hand, seemed perfectly calm standing in front of a crowd. He overlapped his hands and rested them in a confident stance. He was very handsome but wore a smirk on his face as if he had already won the competition. Both of their wedding bands could be seen gleaming under the spot light.

                Leeteuk now directed towards Marty. His eyes widened a little as he read the similarities off the cue cards of the two rivals.

                “Marty is an eighteen year old baker also from Miami, Florida! She currently owns a bakery named Sweet Taboo and is in the process of expanding overseas. She has also been the baker chosen to be partnered with a special guest today.” Leeteuk announced.

                Marty’s jaw almost dropped to the floor. This had been planned from the very beginning. As she fidgeted in place, she tried to stop herself from screaming out of frustration. Caitlin was the only one who knew all the secrets to her recipes. The fact that she was about to be partnered with some clueless baker would be the end of her.

                Leeteuk could practically see the steam coming out of Marty’s ears as he announced her new partner.

                “Heh. The special guest for today’s competition is my good friend, twenty six year old Lee Donghae!”

                The audience basically flailed as the handsome, milky skinned man came out from the side of the stage and bowed. He smiled wide as he waved to the audience. He was wearing a button up, blue shirt and jeans. His tone arms made quite an impression to the women in the audience. But Marty was far from impressed. She sent the boy a scowl as he walked over and stood in front of her, a smirk on his face.

                The audience sharply inhaled as he took her hand in his and gently placed his lips on it. All the women looked as if they were internally sobbing. And Marty had to hold back her reaction as she killed herself to maintain a poker face.

                “Alright, alright enough of that Donghae, take your spot” Leeteuk instructed.

                Donghae did as he was told and stood next to Marty. She didn’t know whether to slap him or just continue in her internal rage that she would be stuck with this cocky bastard for the next six hours.

                Leeteuk walked over to an elongated table with a black sheet covering it from end to end. “Alright everyone, here are the rules. There will be two rounds in this competition. Each round has a special ingredient and theme that MUST be used in the cupcake, no exception. From there, the judges will score the cupcake cased on looks, taste and overall experience. Do we have any questions?” he asked.

                He looked at the married couple as they shook their heads then looked at the other team as they did the same.

                “Alright the compeititon shall now commence!”

ROUND ONE

        Leeteuk dramatically pulled the large sheet off of the table and it revealed every form imagined pertaining to the secret ingredient. But its original form could be easily made out as it stood on a miniature pedastal—lemons. A batch of them were huddled together in a basket above all the other ingredients.

                “This entire table consists of all things lemon. You may use as many as you like, but your cupcake must contain atleast one. And the theme will be-“ Leeteuk said as he pointed to a giant wheel with about twenty themes printed on it. He grunted as he spun the wheel as fast as he could.

                Marty bit her lower lip in anticipation as the black arrow made its choice.

                Summer.

                Donghae let out a chuckle and Marty practically flung her head to his direction. Why was he laughing ?

                “Summer it is! Alright bakers

                 Ready..set..GO !”

Marty’s heart could be heard in her ears as she raced Anna toward the table to retreive the lemon ingredients she will need for her cupcake.

                She would be preparing a pretty vanilla battered cupcake with a yellow frosting and a slice of lemon on top. She decided to spice things up a bit and add a little lemon juice in her batter along with some lemon shedding on top for presentation.

                As she ran back to her station and placed the ingredients on the table she glaced at Donghae. He was searching for an apron to not stain his clothes.

                “There’s one on the steel cabinet” She said.

                “I’m not wearing that” he said after looking at Caitlin’s apron.

                Marty sent him a glare as he found an extra apron hanging on the hooks of the side of the table. As he began tying it around the back, Marty decided he would be utterly useless.

                “I need you to prepare a pitcher of lemonade. Make sure there are slices of lemonade floating on top and prepare a picnic basket to match the summer theme, that’s where we’ll place the cupcakes” Marty instructed.

                Donghae simply nodded and began to work on the lemonade.

                Marty was whisking the yellow food coloring into her buttercream frosting. She looked over to her right to see how Donghae was doing. He was at the far end of the table squeezing lemons. If his arms weren’t amazing before, they were about to practically rip through his shirt. The audience remained quiet as they stared at him, squeezing one lemon after the other and stirring in the sugar. She ripped her eyes away from the toned manliness to check on the competition.

                Anna was preparing her batter as Kyuhyun brought out the cupcake pans and lined the holes with yellow paper. It was then when Marty realized they were wearing couple aprons. On hers, Anna had a female stick figure holding a cup to her ear. It was completed by Kyuhyun’s apron which had a long string and a male stick figure talking into the cup.

                If they weren’t in the middle of a competition, Marty would have walked over and asked where she bought them. Yes, they were that cute. But as Kyuhyun glanced over at Marty she quickly turned and went back to what she was doing.

                There was silence throughout the entire studio. The audience was taking in as much of the eye candy as they possibly could and the competitors were too absorbed in their work to even worry about eachother.

                Donghae decided to break the silence as he saw Marty taking out the cooled cupcakes from their pans.

                “You never told me how you’re going to decorate these” he said

                Marty practically jumped out of her skin as his voice interrupted her thought process. It was as soft as his glossy eyes but there was a hint of hardness to it.

“Um, well I wa-was planning to put the frosting on top and some lemon zest sprinkled for decoration” she said, stuttering a little.

Donghae made a contemplative expression as he stared at the cupcakes. He raised an eyebrow and then faced Marty. She quickly glanced at her toes in order to avoid his eye contact.

“Add a leaf too, it’ll balance out all the yellow” he suggested.

Marty looked up at Donghae. “No” she said coldly.

“What do you mean no?” Donghae asked, a hint of surprise in his voice.

“No means no” she said “You’re not just going to step in and change my cupcakes.”

“It’s a suggestion, and I’m your partner you have to take my opinion into consideration” he argued.

“I don’t have to do anything” she said matter of factly.

Hae’s eyes gave off a glare but immediately went back to normal as he walked away to pick out the picnic basket.

Marty wasn’t about to change any of her plans just because her partner had been switched.

She walked back to her station and began to frost her cupcakes.

“Alright bakers, ten minutes left, ten minutes” Leeteuk announced.

Marty had just finished decorating her cupcakes when she walked over to Donghae.

“I need the picnic basket Donghae” She said.

Donghae non chalantly handed over a blue green, plaid basket with a brown handle. He didn’t even bother to look in Marty’s direction as he walked to the freezer and pulled out the pitcher of lemonade.

Marty raised an eyebrow

“Why did you freeze it?” she asked cautiously as she watched Donghae crack the ice and stir the lemonade.

“On a hot day, what’s better than a lemonade slushie?” he asked, smiling a little.

“..Ah” was all Marty could say. She was too stubborn to compliment her partner on his good idea.

“I have to finish up over here” she said, walking towards the cups to prepare the lemonade.

After a few moments Donghae was by her side and handed over the picnic basket.

“The cupcakes are already inside” he said with a slight smile.

Marty simply nodded and moved her creation to the presentation table which was located in front of the panel. Anna and Kyuhyun were already waiting for them to arrive. Marty was a little disapointed that their cupcakes were covered by a shiny, metal lid.

Anna was swaying back and forth, and her face was a little worried but Kyuhyun placed his hand on her shoulder and gave it a reasurring squeeze, causing her to smile. He then leaned down and quickly placed his lips on his wife’s cheek, causing Anna to blush.

“They really are adorable” Marty mumbled, causing Donghae to look in her direction.

“Hey, focus” he said lowly as he reached over and turned Marty’s chin toward the panel.

She let out a huff and pouted cutely. Donghae couldn’t help but look the other direction and put his hand over his mouth, hiding his bright smile.

“Alright everyone, Round One has officially concluded. Both teams have their cupcakes on the presentation table and will be judged by our special guest judges!” Leeteuk announced happily.

“Oh great, MORE special guests” Marty said while rolling her eyes.

Donghae scoffed and crossed his arms.

Leeteuk chuckled lightly to try to shake off the awkward atmosphere.

“Anywaaaay, the judges for this round will be another one of my good friends, twenty six year old Lee Sungmin !” Before Leeteuk could announce the second judge, the crowd began to scream again at the handsome, chocolate-haired man that appeared from the side of the stage. He bowed to the audience and greeted his hyung and Donghae then gave Marty a sweet smile before taking his seat at panel. Marty wa happy to return his smile.

“He’s so cute!” she said

“He’s alright” Donghae said

“What, jealous?” Marty chuckled

Donghae remained quiet and waited for Leeteuk to finish.

“First off, I appreciate the audience giving such enthusiasm for our guests today” he said while the audience gave one last, loud cheer for the four gorgeous men on stage. Some waved their banners and signs while other screamed their lungs out. They were all on their toes as their expectations had the better of them for the next judge.

“Now, the second judge for this round will be Marty’s good friend, eighteen year old Caitlin!” Leeteuk said and began clapping.

The audiences’ clapping was obviouslyless crazy this time as a girl with dark hair and dark eyes walked up to hug Leeteuk and sat next to Sungmin at panel. Sungmin eyed the girl, looking as if he wanted to greet her. But she was too busy eyeing her best friend standing across from her, who looked as if she was about to strangle her.

“You knew about this ?!” Marty said a little too loud.

Caitlin merely nodded and smiled a little.

“Heh..surprise!” she said, trying to save her head by injecting a little humor in the situation.

“You’re dead when we get home” Marty threatened.

Donghae came over and put his hands on Marty’s shoulders in order to calm her.

“Hey come on, we have a competition to win” he soothed

Caitlin couldn’t help but smile at what she was seeing, she was officially satisfied with her plan.

“I like your shirt” Sungmin suddenly complimented.

Caitlin furrowed her eyebrows and looked down at her short, white dress and black leather jacket.

“Uhm..thank you?” she said then turned to Leeteuk to hear how the judging will proceed. Sungmin looked like he was mentally face palming.

“Both judges have a clipboard on the table and will rate the cupcakes presented from one through ten. Remember the categories are looks, taste and overall experience. I’ll also be trying the cupcakes cause..well the perks of being the MC right?”

Everyone chuckled at Leeteuk’s little joke.

Anna was first up to present her cupcake. She walked up nervously to the judges and placed a shiny, covered plate in front of both of them. She let Kyuhyun do the honors of dramatically lifting the lids, revealing two adorable burger cupcakes. The bread was made of vanilla cake, the patty out of chocolate cake and the lettuce and tomato were made of frosting.

Caitlin smiled at the creativity.

“I don’t wanna ruin it!” she stated and hid her face in her hands as she giggled.

Sungmin had stars in his eyes as he stared at the laughing girl and his lips curved into a pretty smile.

“We have to judge them though, say awe” he said sweetly and used his fork to bring a piece up to .

“Wow, that’s delicious” Caitlin complimented at Anna.

Anna was smiling wide and jumped up and down, causing Kyuhyun to chuckle who gave Caitlin a thumbs up.

Marty knew that even though Caitlin was her best friend, there would be no bias decisions. She would pick the cupcake that she liked the most. And that’s exactly how Marty wanted it. She didn’t want to be crowned the best because her best friend was a judge for the round.

“Alright the judges wrote down their scores, off to Round Two!” Leeteuk exclaimed and the audience began to cheer.

As Caitlin and Sungmin stood up from their panel and began to walk out toward the exit, Marty could faintly hear Sungmin’s voice as he walked beside Caitlin.

“You’re really beautiful”

***

Round Two

Leeteuk spun the wheel and the theme revealed a rather odd category—misc.

“Ah, things just got interesting” Leeteuk smirked.

Everyone made confused expressions waiting for Leeteuk to explain.

“In this category, the bakers will have to put their heads together to construct a cupcake that represents them both. it must have a piece of your personality in it, such as favorite color or flavor, etc. And there will be no special ingredient, that’s what’s so interesting about this category. This will be the last round for the day.” Leeteuk announced.

The crowd let out a groan of disapointment and Leeteuk let out a chuckle.

“Now, now ladies. You were a beautiful audience and I’m glad you could be here today” he said as he gave another of his million dollar dimple smiles. Marty swore some girl was going to pass out from all the compliments.

“He really is enjoying this” Donghae chuckled.

She looked over at Donghae and smiled a little at him.

“I like your laugh” She said before covering quickly.

There she goes again, speaking before she thinks.

Donghae looked back at her a little wide eyed, then looked away in embarrasment. His cheeks had the faintest hint of pink as he scratched the back of his head.

“The round is going to start soon” he said as he reached for his apron.

“Ready..set..GO!” Leeteuk yelled and lifted the cloth from another long table which revealed an array of fresh cupcake ingredients.

Marty once again raced Anna to the table as they both picked out their ingredients. She glanced over and noticed Anna’s primary ingredient was chocolate.

After debating for a few moments, Marty decided she would be doing a red velvet cupcake with white, marshmallow frosting. Red was her favorite color, so that’s her part of the personality in the treat.

She rushed over to Donghae and laid her ingredients on the table. Donghae nodded in approval and he began to walk over to the vast amount of designed glass plates they would be using for their presentation.

Marty quickly got to work and brought over a mini cupcake pan. She thought it would be a nice twist to present three mini cupcakes to each judge instead of a large one.

As she mixed the red velvet batter, she couldn’t help but whimper at her aching arm. She didn’t know what was wrong, her record was a dozen batches in one day yet she can’t get past round two. Her frustration began to develop but just then Donghae walked over and took the whisk from her hand. He lightly pushed her aside with his hip and began mixing the bowl with smirk on his face.

“I got this, you go work on the icing” he said and slightly smiled.

“Hmph, oppa since when did you become leader of this team?” Marty asked with a pout.

Donghae leaned in and kept their faces two inches apart.

“Ever since I wanted to” he said and and stuck his tongue out in a kid like manner.

Marty turned quickly to the icing in order to stop her face from getting hot.

After a few minutes both of the teams had their cupcakes poured and in the oven. The frosting was complete so now all they had to do was wait for a few minutes before decorating.

Marty decided to have a chat with Anna while waiting.

“So..how long have you been married?” she asked Anna.

“Only a year, we met when I was in high school.” She said with a smile.

“Ah, that explains the lovey doveyness I see” Marty teased and poked Anna’s arm.

Anna immediately blushed and hid her hands in her face.

Both girls giggled while the boys were both at their stations..with poker faces. Women clearly got along quicker than men.

As the cupcakes finished baking, the girls went back to their partners. Kyu pulled out the hot pan for Anna as she brought over the icing; ofcourse they didn’t hesistate to make contact and give themselves dreamy smiles.

Marty glanced over at Hae and took the hot pan out of the oven for herself. She sighed a little and placed the pan on the table.

“Wow, these look great” Donghae said in a cheery voice as he admired the bright red color.

“Mmhm” Marty said simply and brought the other pan out.

“Is everything okay?” Donghae asked, worry clear in his eyes.

“I’m fineeee” Marty answered and pulled out the cupcakes from the pan. However, she didn’t realize the cupcakes needed more time to cool and she burned her index finger on the pan, letting out a yelp.

“Hey are you okay?” Donghae said and quickly took her hand in his, inspecting her finger.

“Your finger’s turning red” he said as he gently grazed it against his lips.

Marty let out a whimper and shut her eyes.

“Does it hurt?” he asked worriedly

“Heh no no I’m fine” she said and pulled her hand away.

She walked toward the sink and ran her finger under cold water, wincing a little. As expected, she didn’t whimper because of the pain.

As she returned, Donghae had already iced the cupcakes and prepared them on a pretty glass dish.

“These look perfect” Marty complimented with a wide smile.

Donghae beamed at the compliment.

“Guess we’re ready for panel” he said and began to untie his apron.

Marty furrowed her eyebrows.

“Donghae..this doesn’t have anything that represents you” Marty noticed.

Donghae looked at her and shrugged.

“You said you didn’t want your cupcakes changed, it’s no big deal” he said smiling softly.

Marty shuffled uncomfortably in place. She hated going back on her word. But being mean to Donghae was wrong. Despite it all, he really was trying his best to help her win. She swallowed her pride roughly and walked over to Donghae.

“Look..I know what I said but I think your input can only make these cupcakes better. Besides, it’s a good way to say thank you for helping me so well.” She stated.

Donghae chuckled.

“That’s how you say thank you?” he said with a smirk.

Marty made a poker face, then forced herself to smile.

“Ahem, so what do you like?” she asked.

“Well..chocolate’s really good” Donghae said as he put his hand on his chin as he thought about the question.

“Okaaaay, elaborate on that. What kind of chocolate would be good on these cupcakes?” Marty asked.

“Hmmm, chocolate syrup!” Hae said excitedly.

Marty chuckled a little.

“Do you always act this kiddish?” she asked.

“What do you mean?” Donghae asked, clear confusion on his face.

“Oh nothing” Marty said smiling as she walked towards the ingredient table for chocolate syrup.

“Alright bakers, three minutes left, three minutes left” Leeteuk announced while holding up his hand with three fingers out.

After the syrup was on the cupcakes, Marty felt something was missing.

She quickly scanned the table of ingredients for a an extra decoration.

“Donghae help me.” She said

Donghae had already moved the cupcakes to the presentation table and quickly picked up some edible glitter from the table to sprinkle on the cupcakes. Just as he finished the timer had counted down to zero and the loud buzzer could be heard throughout the studio, indicating the competition was over.

“Alright everyone, ingredients down!” Leeteuk exclaimed.

Marty couldn’t help but hug Donghae out of pure excitement and happiness. He picked the perfect final decoration and did not let her down one bit. Ofcourse after she realized what she was doing she immendiately pushed him away and cleared .

Donghae was noticeably smiling wide since then.

“Alright everyone, I will not announce the judges for this round” Leeteuk said and the audience was once again on their toes expecting more eye candy.

They weren’t disapointed when twenty six year old, Kim Jaejoong came up on stage along with nineteen year old, Gong Chan-shik.

It was Marty’s turn to flail and drool as the two gorgeous namjas sat side by side at panel.

Donghae was somewhat serious as they came out. His arms were crossed and he could be heard huffing several times.

They each tasted Marty’s glittery mini cupcakes and Anna’s pretty chocolate cupcake with a peanut butter frosting and reeses cup on top, then walked out of through the exit. The audience were practically begging them to stay as they bowed and said goodbye.

But before he left, Gongchan walked up to Marty and gave her a pretty eye smile. Marty became shy and covered her face with her hands at the handsome boy.

Donghae glared at Gongchan and put his arm around Marty’s waist, making her even more embarrased.

“I will now announce the winners of this competition!” Leeteuk said and waited for the crowd to quiet to build the anticipation.

Marty was rubbing her hands together in anxiety and was about to chew her lip raw. She glanced over at the married couple and they were hand in hand, waiting for the results.

She glanced over at Hae who had taken his arm off of her waist.

“Oh well” she sighed quietly and shrugged.

“Cho Anna and Cho Kyuhyun overall received thirty two points for both rounds.” Leeteuk said, earning a clap from both him and the audience. They both bowed and proudly smiled at their high score.

“And now Marty and Donghae received-“ Before Leeteuk finished, Donghae grabbed Marty’s hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, they looked at eachother for a second as Leeteuk announced their score.

“THIRTY SIX POINTS. THE NEW NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!” Leeteuk said and the crowd went wild.

Marty didn’t hear any of it, infact she forgot anyone else was in the room as Donghae pulled her and placed a sweet kiss on her lips.

“I guess we make a pretty good team” he smiled as he held her face and kissed her once more.