Chapter 22 - Picnic Flop

Kyungsoo stared at a cornered Baekhyun with slit-like eyes from a good distance.

Sehun—who was towering over him alongside Jongin—grabbed his collar. “You what?”

“I said what I said,” Baekhyun huffed haughtily, pride dripping out of his pores.

“I don’t believe you,” Jongin who had his arms crossed shook his head.

Baekhyun who felt offended by his words snapped his head at him and scowled. “You don’t believe me? Ask Ji Eun!”

“Fine! I will!” Jongin retorted in a child-like voice, unknown if he intended to act childish or to mock Baekhyun.  

“And if she says that I did accompany her as her date for the reunion party, what will you do?”

“I’ll shave my head bald!”

“DEA—“

“Not so fast, you worthless freeloader,” Suho pushed both Jongin and Sehun effortlessly with his two arms before grabbing a fistful of Baekhyun’s shirt and tugged towards him.

This was when the two younger ones quickly retreated behind Kyungsoo who had been watching them calmly.

“When did he appear and why is he mad?” Jongin whispered.

Kyungsoo shrugged at his question. “I don’t know, maybe because—“

“You stole my fudging card, didn’t you?”

Kyungsoo heaved a sigh. “That—that’s why,”

Baekhyun tried to keep a calm expression, but the shaking of his legs were unstoppable. “Now, hyung… it’s not good to have high blood pressure—“

“Tell me why I shouldn’t toss you out in the recycle bin right now. Oh wait—you’re not even recyclable!”

“I didn’t technically steal it! You there lying on your bed, then I came in and asked if you’re okay with me borrowing some cash, but then I checked your wallet and only your card was there. I asked for permission, you didn’t said no, so I took it with me!“

“I was SLEEPING you senseless dog,”

Kyungsoo sighed at them before turning around to go to the kitchen. Rather than being upset about Baekhyun going out with Ji Eun, he’s more worried about not making any significant progress. Baekhyun’s close with her to begin with and then he got that chance. Suho is close business-wise, but he actually took a step forward and Ji Eun has no choice but to acknowledge him. Chanyeol isn’t that close to her, which makes things easier for him, but not Jongin and Sehun. Those two boys are probably as close as Ji Eun is with Baekhyun or probably more. Sehun always have late night snacks with her after work on several occasions, and Jongin always brings her out to watch movies with him.

What does he do? Bake, bake and bake. Sure, you can bond with that, but it’s not enough.

“Think, Kyungsoo. Think,” he pressed himself, pacing around the kitchen while Chanyeol who had just finished cooking in the kitchen stares at him with question in his eyes. “Low on blood sugar, Soo?” Chanyeol chuckled. “Very funny,” Kyungsoo replied a second after, his voice monotone. “Sit down and eat,” Chanyeol gestured at him to come and sit as he set everybody’s meal on the table.

Even though he wanted to reject his offer, Kyungsoo hasn’t eaten lunch and he was malfunctioning already. Kyungsoo sat down while Chanyeol went out to call the others—mostly to stop Suho from murdering Baekhyun—and Kyungsoo picked up his chopsticks.

“How—why are they all so small?” Kyungsoo frowned at the small slices of meat, finely chopped vegetables and tofu. Kyungsoo snorted, “These are so small, they’d fit better for lunch instead of dinner—“

Then it hit him.

“That’s it—a picnic!”

“Picnic?!” Ji Eun literally hopped when she heard Kyungsoo’s offer. “I love picnics!”

“Great!” Kyungsoo blurted a little to high-pitched. The devil quickly dropped his smile and cleared his voice before chuckling dryly at her. “Great,” he repeated, his voice toned down this time. “I-I’ll arrange the time and place. I’ll tell you when everything’s done,” Kyungsoo told her with a smile, practically holding his grin.

Ji Eun smiled widely, covering her face to cover the excitement in her face. “The last time I’ve been in a picnic was during my elementary years,” she mumbled loudly, but mostly to herself. “I can’t wait to cook everything for the picnic!” she hopped again, which Kyungsoo found amusing and cute. “I can make sandwiches, have tea in my thermos, I can make lunchboxes too, and I can make some juice as well! Let’s see if I have everything we need—H-How many people are going to come?”

Kyungsoo hummed in thought. “Well