A Recipe for Love | P.jm

CH2 : A Clash of Flavors

Opening up a new day at Park's Bakehouse was always Jimin's favorite part of working here. He loved the scent of bread and flour that would fill his nose as he stepped into the bakery kitchen. He also enjoyed kneading dough into weird shapes before squishing them back into a huge pile; like a toddler with clay. Maybe this was what gave the Park's bread a special taste. A kind that you get nowhere else.

As the first batch of bread has been baked and set out on the table, and his helpers have arrived and cleaned up the space for the morning, Jimin goes near the front door to flip the closed sign to open.

That's when he sees her.

Kim Soomin, the current manager of Kim's Kreme, the bakery just opposite his family's. According to Jimin, Soomin was the best manager Kim's Kreme has ever had. But that was his opinion alone. Kim Taehyung, his best friend and fellow worker at the bakery would never agree to this statement.

He hated the Kim family with a burning passion as if he were a member of the Parks. Jimin had always tried to reason with his friend but failed due to Taehyung's extreme stubbornness. "Have you tasted their bread, Chim? They taste like shit." Taehyung would say that Jimin responded by justifying that they specialize in cakes and not bread. "Even their cakes taste bad." Taehyung would counter.

Jimin's family members adored Taehyung for his hatred towards the Kims. They appreciated how he would always try to come up with new dishes and recipes to put up a competition against the Kims.

However, this always resulted in a mixture of the world's most random ingredients, making the food turn out to be a disaster. Like the time Taehyung decided it was a good idea to add mustard, ketchup, and smashed sausages with flour, baking soda, sugar, and eggs to make a hot 'cake'.

Although the idea was innovative it resulted in almost every member of the Park family (Jimin included) bent over the sink trying to wash out the horrid taste from their mouths. Jimin loved Taehyung but the boy was a little too much to handle sometimes.

~~~

It was a little late into the evening when Min Yoongi, one of Jimin's other friends came into his shop.

The little bell on the door chimed as he came in which caused Jimin's attention to be diverted from decorating cupcakes with whipping cream.

"Yo, Chim!" Yoongi called out, "You might want to see this." Out of nowhere, Kim Taehyung appears, wide-eyed and full of curiosity.

"Tae, you're going to hate this," Yoongi begins. "The Kims just dropped a new dessert." A look of fury clouded Taehyung's face. "WHAT?!" He hollered. "I'm calling Mr. Park this instant."

"Taehyung, why are you calling my grandpa?" Jimin asked full of confusion, while snatching the phone away from Taehyung's grasp.

"How dare they drop a new dessert? This is going to affect our business, Chim, are you not worried?"

"You've always had a flair for dramatics, Tae. Can you calm down? It's not even your business at stake but you've gotten all riled up."

"You do not understand, Jimin. We MUST release something soon. I must let Mr. Park know." Taehyung made out in a hurry before reaching out for the phone in Jimin's hand.

"No. You are not calling Grandpa right now. All they did was release a new item. We've still got quality." Jimin faced Yoongi asking, "Hyung, how did you know they dropped a new dessert?" "I went there of course. How else would I know?"

"YOU TRAITOR!" Taehyung lunged at Yoongi. "How dare you go into the enemy territory?!" Jimin sighed. Taehyung is never going to understand. The boy has always been this dramatic when it came to things concerning the Kims.

With a violent Taehyung and a shaken-up Yoongi, who was now questioning his choices, Jimin went back into the kitchen. The unfinished batch of cupcakes now discarded on the countertop.