Bring It On! HAECHAN

03 | reject cupcake for an e-boy reject

The smell of freshly-baked goods is enough to lure Donghyuck out of his studio for a well-deserved mid-day treat, but the smile on his face soon drops when he realises who is behind the makeshift buffet table placed conveniently outside his door.

"Jaemin, what the fuck?! Why are you helping the enemy?" Donghyuck marches towards his bandmate, who doesn't even so much spare him a glance as he occupies himself with sorting muffins in a tray.

The hair net over his scalp makes him look ridiculous, not to mention the fact that he sticks out like a sore thumb among the girls he's standing with in a line like they're workers at a factory. Plastic gloves protect his calloused fingers as he boxes up a muffin before thanking the customer with a wide grin, followed by an enthusiastic "don't forget to vote for Ko Chaerin!"

An incredulous scoff escapes Donghyuck's lips as he crosses his arms, turning around to look for the culprit herself. Chaerin is quick to appear with a wide grin on her face.

"Why, thank you, Jaemin! Ah, Donghyuck, there you are!" She chirps, as though she hadn't already been expecting his presence. "Really, I've been meaning to thank you. When you mentioned Jaemin's crush on Oh Sera the other day, I just thought, hey, maybe I could put in a good word for him- and won't you look at that! They seem to be hitting it off pretty well, huh?" Chaerin smiles wistfully as she stares at the two, red hues on their cheeks as they converse with each other shyly. "You see, you're not the only one who can play dirty, Hyuckie."

Despite his prior annoyance, it quickly washes away at the nickname. He wiggles his eyebrows, bending down to reach her height. "Aw, Hyuckie? You wanna kiss me so bad."

The sickly-sweet smile on her face drops instantly when he blows her a kiss, causing Donghyuck to cackle. Ko Chaerin, always so easy to give in.

"And to think that I was considering giving you a free cupcake," she mumbles.

"Please," Donghyuck scoffs. "You think I'd be dumb enough to believe you didn't poison it?"

"You really believe I'd go out of my way to make a separate batch just so I could give you a cupcake laced with rat poison?"

"Rat poison? That's oddly specific, Cherry, almost as though that was what you used to taint my cupcake!"

"Hey, hey, calm it guys, jeez," Jaemin drawls as he steps out of his station, though to no effect at all as one, he doesn't really look like he wants to intervene and two, the hair net is making it difficult to take him seriously. The drummer clicks his tongue. "Here. Since you're being so difficult, take this random cupcake from me."

"Thank you, my love," Donghyuck accepts it gingerly as he tears the wrapping to take a bite. "See, Cherry? How easy it is to be ni-" he doesn't get to finish his sentence when he starts to choke, spitting out the half-chewed cake mixed with saliva from his mouth as a burning sensation envelops his tongue. "What the fuck! What the hell did you put in there?!"

Chaerin giggles, and for a second Donghyuck wonders how absolutely bat-shit crazy one has to be to laugh at someone's misfortune like that. "Oops," she merely says, clearly not remorseful at all. "I must have mixed up the green icing with something else. What else is green but spicy?"

Still panting, he shoots Jaemin a glare, who's already looking at him with parted lips. "Bro... I swear it wasn't me."

"Oh, no, no, it actually was all you, Nana," Chaerin interjects. "Remember the reject pile?" She grins gleefully when she sees Jaemin's face morph into one of horror.

"You're a monster."

"I knew you were going to offer him a cupcake because you felt bad for accepting my offer." She shrugs, turning to Donghyuck. "I explicitly told him to take one from the reject pile if he really had to," she even explains, albeit unhelpfully.