patisserie d'amour | seungin | stray kids

5. boyfriend

JISUNG

"Babe, I'm really worried about Seungmin. It's your luck you didn't see what happened or else shit would've gone down," I tell Minho as he opens up the shop. We were pretty early so we could hang around for a bit before getting to work.

"I'm at my last straw, to be honest. Our reviews have been going down recently and I'm starting to think it's because they're too busy with other things. None of them are actually interested in their jobs and they're more of a liability to us than help," Minho rants.

"That's true. You know, ever since Seungmin came the only things that are selling well are either what you or he made. The staff aren't doing shit and they're still getting paid. What are you going to do?"

"I sent in a request to the higher committee to see if I can switch out the current roster for a fresh batch of grads from France if they're able to do better. Seeing our performance this month, the only thing they can do is say yes. In the meantime, I'm gonna have to speak with them again."

"Wait, won't that affect Seungmin? They'll think he told you and it'll be the same thing all over again," I point out, and he nods.

"I'm gonna give them a week to change their attitude. If they don't, they'll be having some real big problems with me," he says, folding his arms.

"You know you're really hot when you're angry, right?"

"Even if it's with you?" He says in a teasing manner, wiggling his eyebrows.

"You know that's not what I mean," I reply to him, connecting our lips together. He smiles as I throw my hands around his neck, deepening the kiss.

Suddenly, the entrance door chimes with someone's entry. We get out of the kitchen to check who it is, only to find Seungmin yawning and making his way inside.

"Morning guys," he says lazily. Minho rushes to him.

"Oh my God, are you okay? Did they hurt you really bad? I'm gonna give them a piece of my mind," he says, examining Seungmin's bruises. I laugh a little from the side, catching their attention. Seungmin raises his eyebrows at me as if to question why I laughed.

"I'm sorry it's just...Minho acts like such a helicopter mom around you," I say with a chuckle.

We catch up over little things before the rest of the staff piles in slowly, driving us apart again.

A week passes by in anticipation of change in the staff's behavior, but to no avail. They kept trying to find a chance to pick on Seungmin, who stayed as close as he possibly could to Minho so that he wouldn't get hit again. I felt bad for the boy because he looked so sad the entire week, and I wanted nothing more than to just punch the life out of those oldies.

"Alright everyone, get ready for a surprise bake off!" Minho says, walking into the kitchen with great enthusiasm. Everyone stares at him in horror, trying to understand whether he was joking or not.

"Damn, is the kitchen door that funny? Why are you smiling so creepily?" Seungmin says, appearing at the reception desk where I was sat.

"You'll be smiling with me once you know why," I reply to him, the look of satisfaction evident on my face. "By the way, you really need to cut down on your bathroom breaks cause you keep missing stuff like this. Do you have diarrhea or something?"

"Why am I not allowed to take my time to offload?" He says, and I look at him in disgust. "Anyways, what's this big happy thing about?"

"Right, about that. A bunch of fresh graduates from Paris are coming in today and they'll be competing with the current staff to make whatever stuff Minho asks them to. They'll give them out to the public and make them choose the better one, and once all of that is done we'll find out if they're gonna be keeping their jobs or not. You'll obviously join the graduates since you're their same batch."

"About damn time they actually got tested for their worth. But how did the higher ups allow this?"

"Oh, the staff dug their own grave for this so it was simple. Minho showed reports from the past few months about declining sales and whatever big brain stuff and they agreed that the current staff might be a liability to the bakery. They want to test out the grads since they seem to have a lot of potential and are looking for jobs anyways," I finish, stuffing a cupcake into his mouth. "I know you haven't eaten. Now go inside before Minho blasts your brain off."

"You know he wouldn't do that," he says, giving me a sugary smile.

"You're right about that."

*

"Damn, I need to kiss the hands of the person who made this," the boy sitting in front of me says as he relishes a piece of brownie topped with vanilla ice cream. It's like, the most basic thing ever. Does he not eat deserts or something? I sit at the register with my finger placed on my chin in thought. Where have I seen this guy before?

"Hey, you're Seungmin's friend from his story last week, right?" I say, the realization finally hitting me.

"Friend? I'm his boyfriend," He replies, and I gasp really loudly. That bitch had a boyfriend and didn't bother telling me?

"Well, you're in luck, cause your traitor of a boyfriend is the one who made this," I say, pointing at the tray of brownies. His eyes lighten up at his mention. I peep into the kitchen, motioning to Seungmin to come outside.

"Care to explain this whole boyfriend situation?" I ask, folding my arms.

"What boyfriend situation?" He says, dusting his hands covered in flour on his apron.

"You didn't tell me you have a boyfriend."

He looks at him and sighs, exasperated. "Why would you even tell him that?"

Jeongin flashed him a toothy grin. "Just because I can. He totally fell for it, didn't you?" He says, turning to me.

"Hey, that's not fair!" I say. Why am I such a gullible idiot?

"What are you even doing here anyways? Don't you have classes today?" Seungmin asks.

"Meh, I bunked again. I wanted to see you," he says, and I catch Seungmin blushing. They may not actually be together, but I already ship it.

"You guys should date for real," I tell them.

"We should. Anyways, I did say I'd kiss the hands of the person who made this," Jeongin says, bringing Seungmin's flour coated hands to his lips. When he retracts his hands, his mouth is dusted with white particles of flour. We burst out laughing at his appearance.

"You're such a dumbass," he says, laughter subsiding. "Okay, I need to go now. I'm busy."

"The fuck you are. Sit your ass back down here, all your work is done for today," I say, pulling him back to where he was standing. I'm not letting this Jeongin guy miss his shot with him.

"I still need to make Hyunjin's birthday cake. I'm going to the hospital since he's working a night shift." I mouth a big 'O', genuinely having forgotten about his roommate. I notice Jeongin wearing a sour expression which I knew all too well : jealousy. This guy was definitely whipped for him.

"Alright then, I'll see you later," he says, rolling his eyes and leaving.