Citrus

Chapter 30

The fragrance of burnt chiffon cake filled their kitchen as Nayeon pulled out her seventh failed attempt of her self-made cake.

"Goddamn it! Failed again!?" She grimaced.

"Nayeonie, Jeongyeonie, I'm hom— huh?" Mrs. Im was stunned when she smelled something burnt from their kitchen and immediately hurried to go there, only to find six burnt failed cakes on the dining table and Nayeon holding the seventh one. "What is all this?"

"O-oh. Welcome home, eomma." Nayeon had lost her energy to greet her mother cheerfully like she always did. She carefully placed the seventh burnt cake on the table and kissed her mother's cheek.

"Why are there burnt cakes here and why is it so many?" Mrs. Im asked as she placed her hands on her hips and raised her left eyebrow while looking at Nayeon.

"God, why is it so hard to bake a cake, eomma!?" Nayeon whined.

"I would have bought one if you asked." Mrs. Im chuckled on her daughter's recklessness.

"No!" Nayeon suddenly exclaimed that startled her mother. "I decided to make it from scratch this year!" She added, eyes filled with determination. Mrs. Im sighed when Nayeon ran to their kitchen again to check the procedures to where she got it wrong. "Hmm... it has to do with the temperature, right? Maybe I need to preheat the oven more? The measurements should be right, but am I mixing it wrong?" She mumbled to herself.

Mrs. Im smiled as she watched Nayeon do what she wants and let her be. She looked to her left where she found Seunnie clad with silly props and Yeonie sitting on the big teddy bear's lap. "Sounds like we're going to have a blast of Christmas this year." She chuckled and went inside her room to change as she left a confused Nayeon trying to figure out how to perfectly bake her cake.

They didn't notice Jeongyeon was still not home.

~~~~

"Finally! It's done!" Nayeon exclaimed after putting the bear-shaped icing on top of her perfectly baked cake. It was a two-layered cake with strawberry filling, strawberry-flavored icing, and topped with freshly sliced strawberries and the bear-shaped icing she bought earlier with the other ingredients.

"My, my! That looks so cute!" Mrs. Im squealed as soon as she saw the finished product.

"It turned out well, didn't it?" Nayeon asked.

"You did a great job, Nayeonie! Maybe I should stop buying them at the store and ask you to bake our cake from now on!" Her mother teased her.

"God, eomma, you're overreacting!" She chuckled. Well, it's my first Christmas after becoming Jeongyeon's unnie... I hope she enjoys the cake I baked. She thought.

"The decoration is nice and festive, too!" Mrs. Im added. "By the way, what's this bear for?"

"Good, isn't it? Well, I went around to different stores with my good friend, Sana, and picked out one that I thought Jeongyeon would like. I'm sure she'll—"

She stopped when she heard the door click open, revealing Jeongyeon herself, who happened to be listening to Nayeon as they talked about the cake's design with their mother before going in.

"Welcome home, Jeongyeon-ah!" Nayeon greeted and went near the younger girl.

"Welcome home, Jeongyeonie! How was student council?" Mrs. Im asked. Jeongyeon remained standing on their living room as Nayeon approached her.

"We we're getting ready for Christmas, as you can see! Is there something you would like to eat?" Nayeon proposed. "If there's something you'd like, I can pick that up on the way—"