Chapter 27

"Are those from your fans?" Jaehwan's manager asked him from the driver's seat. The idol had been staring at the contents of the lunch boxes for a while now that his manager could not help but notice from the van's rear view mirror. "I know that you love your fans but you shouldn't just accept whatever they give you especially if it's food. Who knows what they've put in there? You may find the lunch boxes' designs cute but there's a limit to what you can accept," he told Jaehwan as he returned his attention back in the road now that the lights turned green.

"No," the idol said, shaking his head. He still did not stop staring and comparing the two lunch boxes that he had on his lap. Compared to the lunch box that N prepared for Leo, his was full of side dishes that were similar to what he had from the morning. There were cookies in there too and he liked that N did not forget about him even when the cookies were really just intended for Leo. That aside, Leo's lunch was filled with nothing but cookies that looked exactly the same as what was in his lunch box. The cookies were not burnt this time around, but he was anxious about what Leo might say about them.

Jaehwan took a cookie from Leo's lunch box and took a bite from it. He chewed on it for a while and he thought that they definitely were an improvement from the last time. They did not seem to taste burnt either and that was made the idol waver even more because he would love to have all the cookies to himself knowing full well that N made them. But he also knew that he had to give them to Leo like he promised. Jaehwan allowed a sigh to escape him –

"You're on a diet, Ken," his manager reminded him.

And his words were all Jaehwan needed to hear to make his decision. He took out his phone and sent a message to Leo if he would like cookies. Jaehwan even took a photo of the lunch box and attached it to his message just so Leo could see. However, hours, minutes, and seconds had passed and Leo had yet replied to his message. It even came to that point where Jaehwan was already in front of the Leo's door and there was still no answer from him. His manager told him that he would be picking him up again after an hour so it meant that there would not be enough time for him to stay and chitchat with Leo. Nonetheless, the idol would rather talk to him than to do nothing in an hour. So, Jaehwan knocked on Leo's door three times like he usually would.

The door creaked open a minute after and it was Leo's cat that welcomed Jaehwan first. Milk pawed on his legs and he chuckled. Just as Wonsik did earlier, the idol crouched down to the cat's beautiful soft white fur and she mewled in return. "How have you been, hyung?" Jaehwan asked Leo as he played with the cat. "Do you want to come with me and meet the CEO yet?"

"I don't have the time," Leo said bluntly. He shut the door close and walked past the idol when he almost tripped because of Jaehwan's bag that was on the way. Leo hissed and was about to scold Jaehwan for it. But once he saw that the idol abandoned Milk altogether to check the contents of his bag made him curious. He heard Jaehwan cursing under his breath repeatedly and digging stuff inside his bag.

"Hyung... Could you..." Jaehwan shook his head. "Do you have paper towels? The sauce spilled in my bag..." He finally said after he had rummaged through his bag. He showed the contents of his bag to Leo, and as he was told, Jaehwan's things covered in sauce were all that the latter saw. The idol even handed some of what he could salvage to Leo but he only grimaced. Unable to take the stench, Leo went straight to his kitchen to fetch what Jaehwan had asked from him. Yet, when he came back, he caught a glimpse of the idol's utterly gutted expression. It was Leo's fault and he knew that but somehow, the apology just stayed at the tip of his tongue. He offered the paper towels to Jaehwan and the idol seized them as soon as they came to his peripheral view. Jaehwan took out what Leo made out to be two lunch boxes. One was yellow and one was white – Ah – he recognised that one that had cats. There was some dark brown sauce and some red sauce that was flowing over at the edges of the yellow lunch box. He could not quite tell what they were but they  just smelled too strange and foreign to him.

"Go to the kitchen sink. I don't want my carpet stained," Leo reprimanded the idol before his fears could happen. But Jaehwan did not listen to him and handed him both of the lunch boxes. He gave the idol an insulted look and was going to complain when Jaehwan spoke over him,

"They're from my... They're from my mother," the idol sighed. "I told her that I was meeting you today so she made you some food."

Leo's eyebrows creased when some of the sauce got on his hands, missing what Jaehwan just told him. He checked what was inside both of the lunch boxes and rolled his eyes in annoyance. "This?" He scoffed. There were a lot of things that he wanted to say about everything that the idol just told him. Leo had grown tired of hearing lies that he would not believe a word unless he saw it himself. Especially with an idol like Jaehwan, how could he possibly believe that it was his mother who gave him a Spongebob and cat lunch box? Leo speculated that it might be from his fans but he did not stand there to think of all the possibilities