You thought over Jinki’s advice over the next couple of days and finally decided on something where even Taemin’s advice would be useful. But you still needed more help from them if you were to pull off his birthday surprise successfully. You went online but saw that JInki wasn’t so you had no choice but to send him an email instead.

~~~~

To: Lee Jinki

Hello Oppa!!

I came online and wanted to chat with you but you weren’t online, so you’re probably busy with training right now. Hwaiting! ^^

Anyway, after thinking about what you and Taeminnie told me the other day, I’ve finally decided on what to do for Kibummie’s birthday but I still need your help. Can you tell me what Korean food Kibummie likes to eat? And does he like chocolate cakes?

Thanks again for the advice and help me thank Taeminnie too :)

Aja!

<3, -------

~~~~

You checked your email early in the morning the next day after Kibum had left and got a reply from Jinki.

~~~~

To: Lee ------

Mian!! We had a really long day yesterday so I was too tired to go online. We trained even more today so I’m tired now too but after reading your email, I feel much better! Your words filled me with strength! You’ll always cheer oppa on, right?

Kibummie likes dukbokki the most. He can’t resist that but he also likes soybean paste stew, kimchi pancake and japchae.

I know you didn’t ask me this, but I shall just tell you. Kibum loves Italian food and even though he mostly makes sandwiches in the morning for breakfast, he like to eat pancakes and doesn’t mind other things too (he’s just too lazy to make them. SHHHH!). Taeminnie already said this but he LOVES chocolate and hamburgers too but he doesn’t eat them cause he’s afraid that he will gain weight.

I can’t remember anything else already but when I do, I’ll let you know!

Take care and take pictures of everything, we want to see everything!

<3, Jinki oppa

PS: I know you didn’t ask this too but I LOVE chicken! :D

PPS: Oh, and Taeminnie wants me to add that he loves to eat all kinds of food (he really eats a lot because he’s still growing) but he especially likes banana milk!

~~~~

You read the email and a silly grin spread over your face. Jinki was as happy, kind and warm as he looked and you could picture his smile when he typed the last part of the email. You typed a quick reply as you still had to plan out Kibum’s birthday, from finding recipes to making sure that you would be able to get all the ingredients you needed. You had a long day ahead.

~~~~

To: Lee Jinki

Thanks for the quick reply oppa!! And don’t apologise!! You’re training to become a singer, of course you’d be busy! Don’t worry, I’ll always be oppa’s fan. I’ll be your group’s number 1 fan! ^^

Thanks also for telling me all that about Kibum. Now I know and can surprise him next time. Oppa jjang! I’ll make you lots of delicious chicken next time when I go back to Korea :) And I’ll make Taeminnie whatever he wants to eat too!

Take care, oppa (and Taeminnie)! Do well in training! And yes, I’ll take plenty of pictures and send them to you! :)

<3, ------

PS: How come Kibummie doesn’t have to train as well?

~~~~

After you sent the email, you quickly got to work, searching for recipes for a chocolate cake. There were so many that you hardly knew which to choose. You settled for one that looked simple enough to make. You never really had many chances to bake cakes or pastries yourself, only watching your fellow colleagues do it at the café that you used to work at in Korea. You would have to test out the recipe as well as your baking skills at least once before Kibum’s birthday. The other food wasn’t too much of a problem for you since you had been cooking all the time before you met Kibum and you were pretty sure that you hadn’t forgotten anything.

You quickly copied down the recipe and all the ingredients that you would need before you left the house and headed to the supermarket. At the store, you decided that you would buy only just enough to make one cake. You had to see if you could bake a cake that was edible first before deciding if you would make Kibum a cake as planned or switch to plan b, which was to buy one. After buying everything that you needed, even down to the milk, eggs, and butter – you were sure that Kibum would notice if a couple of eggs and a whole stab of butter were to disappear in one day, he was just that observant, you slowly made your way back home.

The trip to the supermarket had worn you down more than you expected but you didn’t want to give up. You only had 3 more days before Kibum’s birthday and you wanted it to be perfect. You put everything down in the kitchen, strapped on the belly belt and plugged in the mp3 player before you got to work.  You preheated the oven and followed the instructions of the recipe closely and not before long, you had something that resembled a cake batter. You poured the batter out into the baking tin, coated with butter and lined with baking paper, and slid it carefully into the oven.

You let the cake bake for about an hour before you started to check on the cake every 15 minutes. During that time, you prepared the ganache for adding the finishing touches to the cake later. When the cake was done, you let it cool before carefully sliced horizontally to level the top of the cake off. Then you sliced the cake into  two layers and spread a little of the ganache in between before covering the outside with the rest of the ganache. You admired the cake when you were done. It actually looked pretty good but you still hadn’t tasted it yet.

You carefully sliced a wedge slice of cake and placed it on a plate to taste. It was surprisingly good! You felt proud of yourself but immediately realized that you had another problem now. What to do with the rest of the cake?! There was just no way you could finish the entire cake on your own and you didn’t want to throw it away so you decided that you would share it with your neighbours.

You divided the cake into 4 portions and put them in plastic containers before heading out of your house to deliver the cake. You neighbours were all pleasantly surprised when you greeted them with cake and even chatted with you for a bit before thanking you for the cake.

Later that evening, when Kibum came back home, he sniffed the air and said, “Something smells sweet. Smells like chocolate.”

“I don’t smell anything different.” You shrugged and tried to pretend that you didn’t know what he was talking about.

Thankfully, he just brushed it off any went to his room to put his things down. You prayed that you hadn’t forgotten to keep or wash anything that you had used.

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I'm back!!!! It's good to be home again :D

It's 6am now. I'm really exhausted and I need to head out for last minute Christmas shopping in a few hours. I hope you don't mind the lack of a double update! I'm practically asleep now. 

Have a wonderful Christmas eve everyone :)

It's Goodnight for me now!!