by Con Template
And as Chae Young held her hands, her knowing eyes staring into Yoori’s tentative ones, it was then that Yoori knew that Chae Young saw what it was she was feeling. It was a girl thing so to speak, a non-biological sisterhood bond that they shared. She doubted that Chae Young knew exactly what was happening in her mind, but she knew that Chae Young knew enough. She knew that Yoori had just realized how important Tae Hyun was to her – how much she wanted to be with him.
“We’ll make sure you bake the best cake for him,” Chae Young whispered, her voice dimmed so that only Yoori heard what she said.
There were countless fears running through Yoori as she nodded, countless fears running through her as her guests left, countless fears streaming through her as she helped Tae Hyun clean up, and countless fears tearing through her as Tae Hyun continued to sweep her off her feet while they spent an hour together before he left for the initiation. Despite the fears, she still wanted to give him a great birthday. She still had a few more moments of borrowed time with him and it would be silly to let the moment pass her by without making more good memories.
“What are you thinking about, Brat?” he asked, pressing his forehead against hers.
He stood in the doorway, preparing to leave for the initiation that would change the course of his life forever.
After this, he’d be one step closer to becoming the revered Lord of the Underworld. He would also be a step further from being with her. This was how “love” and “power” worked in the Underworld. It worked inversely…never moving in the same direction.
“How much you fail at life,” Yoori joked, smiling innocently at Tae Hyun.
He scoffed in disbelief at her unwarranted insult. She hoped that her stupid little insult would mask the pain that inhabited every nerve in her body. She had never felt so naked and so vulnerable in her life.
“You know how to kill the mood, don’t you?” he asked playfully. Walking past her, he proceeded to the door. He gave her a smile before walking out. “Remember, I’m still firing you tomorrow. Better get the tissues out and ready.”
“Yes and I’m excited to kill the mood even more when I quit before you fire me tomorrow!” Yoori replied coyly, already excited about surprising him with the birthday cake.
All pain coursing through her aside, Yoori knew his birthday would be a great night for them. She was determined for that. The world owed them that much. They deserved at least one more great night before the world stepped in and pulled them apart. Yoori was bound and determined to make the most out of all the borrowed time she had left with Tae Hyun because in her heart of hearts, she knew it would all be over soon.
It would all be over and everything occurring now would merely be a distant memory in the future.
“And become human again.”
23: Birthday Cake
“Do you think Tae Hyun would like this?” Yoori asked the following evening.
She settled herself over the counter in the kitchen diner and cast her gaze down to the circular red cake before her. Having informed Tae Hyun the night before that she was planning on hanging out with Chae Young for the majority of the late afternoon, it was a pretty easy task for Yoori to escape from the apartment, especially because Tae Hyun had gotten in really late and was still sleeping in. It was luck that the birthday boy couldn’t find time to snoop around and find out what she was up to. Yoori was grateful for this. She was never too good with holding in secrets and she doubted she could hold many secrets from Tae Hyun if he really wanted to know something from her.
“He’ll love it!” Chae Young exclaimed, pushing the black birthday gift bag to the side so she could get a better view of the cake. It was sitting between Yoori and Kang Min.
The birthday present was one of the hardest gifts that Yoori had to purchase to date. She was extremely thankful that Kang Min was there to help her buy it. She was also thankful for him as he ran around the grocery store with her, making sure they found all the ingredients for the cake before they went to the diner where Chae Young awaited them.
“Are you kidding?” Kang Min answered, helping Yoori as they frosted the red cake together. “He’ll love anything you make him.”
“You make it sound like Tae Hyun’s freaking hypnotized by me. Do you not know how blunt he is?” She distractedly spread frosting over the cake. “Homeboy would be more likely to criticize me to death and make me eat it before he’ll ever put it in his precious mouth.”
It was a true story. Everyone kept telling her how much Tae Hyun would like anything she gave him. Although Yoori knew this too, she also knew that Tae Hyun wouldn’t let any opportunity to make fun of her pass him by – even if that meant teasing her about a possibly poisonous birthday cake.
“Well, we tasted the sample we made!” said Chae Young. “It tasted good!”
Yoori was still skeptical. “Yeah, but what if only that sample was good and the rest is just shitty?”
“Then I guess you offer him your body instead,” Kang Min suggested jokingly. “Should we pack a cup of frosting in your bag in case you need to resort to Plan XXX?”
He quit laughing when he received a scolding smack from Yoori, who nearly fell off the counter when she put all her force into that hit.
He was wearing a navy blue hoodie with blue jeans. Yoori was sure she left a flour handprint on his hoodie when she smacked him. Because he made her bitter, she made the executive decision to not tell him she vandalized his clothes.
“You dare speak to me like that?”
Kang Min made a bitter face at Yoori. He ceased with the frosting and shook off the pain of her smack. “It’s not perverted because you’re like my big sister.”
“Just disturbed,” Chae Young pointed out, sticking her hands in her apron. She was wearing black jeans and a red turtleneck top underneath the white apron. On typical occasions, it would be unusual for Chae Young to hang out in the kitchen, but since there were no customers and the kitchen staff had left early, Chae Young was able to help out more so than Yoori could imagine.
To a degree, it made Yoori feel bad because Chae Young shared with them that the diner hadn’t been doing so well in terms of business. There were always just a couple of nights where the diner didn’t have any customers. Yoori recalled this trend when she worked here. Due to this fact, the diner closed early on certain days. Tonight was one of those nights where it worked in Yoori’s favor.
“Ew, that’s true,” Kang Min conceded after hearing Chae Young’s thought-provoking argument. He shook his head and returned his attention to frosting the remainder of the cake. They were almost done. “I gotta tell you, I feel a bit girly right now. How was it that I got stuck with the shopping and cake duty?”
“Jae Won hates shopping and he would’ve taste-tested the whole cake if he was here,” Chae Young replied with a big smile when reminded of her boyfriend. “Plus, he’s busy helping Tae Hyun with some Underworld stuff from what I heard.”
“Okay, done!” Yoori announced when the cake was completely snowed in by the frosting. She motioned at Chae Young to approach the counter with the red icing. There was no way she was writing the message herself when she could get a talented person to do it. “Chae Young, go!”
“Okay, what do you want it to say?” Chae Young asked, standing in front of the chubby frosted cake. “Happy Birthday, Tae Hyunnie? Happy Birthday, Sweetie? Happy Birthday, Hun?”
“Happy Birthday, Snob,” Yoori said proudly.
Well, she was proud until a boisterous round of laughter emitted from Kang Min and Chae Young.
“Good one!” Kang Min and Chae Young laughed at Yoori’s joke, or what they thought to be a joke until they realized she was serious.
“What?” Yoori asked, her expression utterly offended. She thought it was cute.
“Yoori, you’re such a loser-face,” Chae Young criticized bluntly. “Do you not have a single romantic bone in your body?”
Yoori wanted to huff and puff at her friend’s critical words. She controll
ed herself. She was still grateful that Chae Young was kind enough to help her with Tae Hyun’s birthday surprise.
“Um, did you not see me bake this cake,” Yoori began defensively before muttering under her breath, “under your supervision, and buy him the birthday gift, under Kang Min’s supervision?”
When the unimpressed gazes remained on their faces, Yoori silently added, “It’s…it’s our thing.”
“And sometimes I get annoyed when Hae Jin calls me ‘Suga Bear,’” Kang Min voiced, shaking his head at how unromantic Yoori was.
Yoori’s mouth twitched. Suga Bear? There was definitely not enough time to make fun of that.
“Oh, just do it!” Yoori instructed to Chae Young, who began to carefully place the icing on the white frosted cake. “Hurry! I need to go before the storm comes and it snows!”
“Okay! Okay!” said Chae Young, steadying herself. She quickly wrote the message. “Here! I did all the hard work.” She handed Yoori the icing. “Just write ‘Snob.’”
Yoori eyed the icing apprehensively. She didn’t want to mess up the cake. “Why?”
“It’ll be like your signature on the cake,” Chae Young explained, stuffing it in Yoori’s hand.
“Oh…okay, good idea!” Yoori acknowledged, trembling as she wrote “Snob” on the cake.
Kang Min nodded in amazement. “Damn Chae Young, you’re like an expert on everything, aren’t you?”
“You better recognize, Suga Bear,” Chae Young mocked in a falsetto voice. She laughed while Kang Min gave her the death glare. Apparently no one but Hae Jin was allowed to call him “Suga Bear.”
“Okay, done!” Yoori declared, breaking up an argument that would’ve commenced between Chae Young and Kang Min. “How does it look?”
“Oooh, looks delicious,” they approved.
“Okay, hurry before the storm comes,” Chae Young urged, grabbing a white to-go cake box from underneath one of the shelves. She placed it on the counter as Kang Min helped Yoori pick up the red plate beneath the cake. She carefully deposited it into the to-go box. Once the cake was safely inside, Yoori shut the box and tucked it into an awaiting shopping bag that Chae Young had held out for her. As she did this, Kang Min ran to the side to grab his keys.
“Thank you!” Yoori cooed, jumping excitedly to hug Chae Young. “Thank you so much for helping! I lub you!”
“You’re welcome.” She pushed Kang Min and Yoori out of the diner. “Now go! Seduce the hell out of birthday boy!”
Yoori heard that snow was falling tonight and she was determined to see Tae Hyun before it fell. Maybe if it worked out well, she could have him blowing out the cake just as the first snowflake fell. That would definitely be romantic.
“Oh crap, it’s cold!” Yoori cried once a puff of cold air slammed against her, causing her long black hair to fly all the way to one side. She wore a black zip up hoodie and baby blue lounge pants and now, she was paying the price as the cold seeped through her clothing and molested her skin.
After hearing Kang Min unlock his BMW, which was parallel parked right beside the diner, she instantly pulled the passenger door open and threw herself in.
“Yoori seduce someone?” She heard Kang Min joke after he ran into the car. “I’d pay to see that.”
“Hey, I flirted on the bridge,” Yoori argued.
The car started and she waved appreciatively at Chae Young, who ran back into the diner to get ready to close up.
Darkness had crept over the city since she was last outside and Yoori was more excited than ever to see Tae Hyun. She felt silly admitting it, but she missed him.
“Didn’t the bridge fall apart afterwards?” Kang Min asked with humor.
“I hate you,” was all that Yoori could muster out when Kang Min placed his BMW into gear and sped through the streets, swerving left and right, cutting through thickening and then thinning traffic that led back to the apartment.
All the while, as the nightlife of the city passed her by, Yoori’s full attention was placed on the cake box that was sitting quietly on her lap. Her heart was beating loudly against her chest as she sat patiently in the car. It continued to pound as she ran out of Kang Min’s car and sped into the apartment complex. It was hyperventilating against her chest as she stood in the elevator with Kang Min, waiting to be whisked up to the apartment. Smiling proudly, she pressed the cake box closer against her thumping chest.
You better appreciate it or I’ll cake you, she threatened telepathically when Tae Hyun’s face came into her mind. She was so excited. She couldn’t wait to give it to him.
“I can’t believe you tripped,” a soft voice meandered through the hall when the elevator doors slid open. “You’re such a loser.”
Stepping out of the elevator with Kang Min, Yoori curiously craned her neck to see who was in the hall with them. In the further end of the bright hall, she found Hae Jin walking out of the apartment with Jae Won, who was limping beside her. He was hissing in annoyance.
“You think your ‘Suga Bear’ would’ve done better if he was walking around in the dark?” Jae Won grunted in pain.
“What’s going on?” Yoori asked, approaching them in curiosity.
Like drapes in the wind, Jae Won and Hae Jin turned at the sound of Yoori’s voice. Hae Jin was wearing a long maxi pink dress and Jae Won was in a blue jacket and dark jeans. A big smile spread across Hae Jin’s face while a smile of agonized pain took over Jae Won’s.
“Yoori!” Hae Jin greeted happily, rushing over to Yoori.
Jae Won limped pathetically behind her.
“Boss,” he grunted, struggling to stand up straight once they reached the still curious Yoori and Kang Min.
“What’s wrong?” She was unable to take her eyes off Jae Won and his overly tormented (and dramatic) face. “What happened?”
Hae Jin groaned like she thought Jae Won was being such a drama queen. “The electricity in the apartment somehow went off when I was having dinner with my brother. Oppa called Jae Won here to go and buy candles and help brighten the place up.” She sharpened her eyes on Jae Won. “Genius here, while helping set up the candles, couldn’t handle the darkness, tripped and knocked over a candle, nearly setting the apartment on fire. Oppa got pissed, thanked us for our help, and kicked us out.”
“Way to go, smart one,” Kang Min voiced to his brother. He reached out for Hae Jin’s hand and pulled her to him. “It would make sense that you would be the one to ruin boss’s birthday with his girlfriend.”
“Nothing caught on fire,” Jae Won defended sullenly. “Plus, he’ll be fine.” His eyes caught sight of the cake box in Yoori’s hands. “Especially when little boss here walks in with that little present.”
Little boss? If she had the energy, she would’ve smack his head for calling her “little boss” like she was a neighborhood elf. Instead of voicing her anger, she moved on to more important matters at hand.
“So he’s not in a good mood?” Yoori asked tentatively, a bit pissed off that Jae Won may have ruined Tae Hyun’s mood on his own birthday.
“He’ll be fine once he sees you,” Hae Jin answered. She glanced at the cake box. Her smile grew wider in approval. It was a smile that Yoori realized mirrored that of Kang Min and Jae Won’s.
Yoori eyed them oddly, suddenly feeling the suspicious nerve on her skin spark up.
“Why are you guys smiling and smiling so much?”
Kang Min became suspiciously panicky at her observation. “Alright, stop wasting time. Go in, Yoori,” he ushered, pushing her toward the door.
“Wait, what’s going on?” Yoori’s eyes were wide as she stared up at the three musketeers, who were now gawking at her as if they were watching their kid go off to prom.
“TaeRi Fighting!” Hae Jin encouraged with a raised fist.
Yoori blinked at Hae Jin.
“What the eff is a TaeRi?” Yoori asked with confusion.
No one answered her. Instead, Jae Won merely gave a stiff nod to Kang Min and Hae Jin to move ah
ead.
“Actually, before you go in, can I talk to you for a minute, boss?” Jae Won requested, already pulling Yoori to the side.
Kang Min and Hae Jin had already walked into the elevator. They stood inside it, their hands stretched out to keep the elevator door from closing. They waited for Jae Won.
“What is it?” Yoori prompted. Tae Hyun’s cake box was still pressed with care against her chest.
Jae Won glanced his eyes over to Kang Min, who was still waiting patiently inside the elevator. His silence was a hint that he was listening to everything with approval. Yoori involuntarily followed his gaze before refocusing her attention to Jae Won.
“Jae Won?”
He looked at her, his eyes veiled with something that was along the lines of a brother’s approval of something.
“I just wanted you to know…for what it’s worth…I trust Tae Hyun too.”
“Come again?”
She heard what he said, but she couldn’t believe what she just heard.
“That night, when we were in the limo, Kang Min and I told you that we weren’t sure if Tae Hyun could be trusted,” he reminded quietly, his voice purposely soft so Hae Jin wouldn’t overhear them. A gleam of approval continued to touch his eyes. “I just wanted you to know that for what it’s worth, I trust him too. I trust that he truly cares for you and that he’ll do anything to protect you. And that’s enough for me and Kang Min.”
“What brought on this change?” Yoori asked, already feeling a rock lift off her chest.