puzzle piece | jeong jaehyun

5

"Where was I?" She huffed, hands on her hips as she tied the apron around her body.

"Cookies!" Minhyuk said excitedly from beside her, his own blue apron tied against his body

"Right, cookies. Can you break the chocolate into little pieces?" She asked and he nodded happily before grabbing it from her hand before flinging onto the floor making the jump

"What are you doing?" She asked with wide eyes as she watching him attempt to stop on the plastic wrapped chocolate bar

"Breaking it" he said simply and she groaned

"Why did it have to be a boy?!" She cried, rubbing her temples before dragging the boy away from the dented chocolate bar

"I meant, open it and break it into pieces using your hands. Remember these things? Hands, they're really cool. Try using them" she said, showing him how it could be done. Maybe deep down it really was her own fault for always doing every little thing for him that the boy simply didn't knowing how to do things himself.

"Oh" he said simply, watching her work with his mouth slightly open, his mouth almost watering at the smell of it

"Say please" she said, looking at him cutely. He was like the cutest little clueless puppy to her.

"Please" he said with a very persuasive smile. She smiled down at him before popping a small piece of chocolate into his mouth.

Chocolate was like Percocet when given to small children. And soon enough, he got a high from the sugar rush and decided to start practicing the piano with a newfound burst of energy.

To parents, when their kid makes small mistakes they think it's cute and adorable. They gush about it again and again because what could their little bundle of joy possibly do wrong? But to others...that wasn't the case.

"Alright, cookies are done!" She said with a happy smile, more relieved that she could finally sit down now as she spent the last two hours baking and cooking dinner

"Can I have one?" Minhyuk asked excitedly, and her relief didn't last much longer as she noticed her son had climbed up the barstool and attempted to grab a freshly baked cookie.

"No! Minhyuk that's—" the sound of her kid's wailing caused her to spring into action, helping him off the bar stool and quickly inspecting his little fingers that were beginning to turn red

"Minhyuk why did you touch it? It's piping hot!" She said, the feeling of how worn out she was catching up to her

"You told me to use my hands!" He cried, and as much as she didn't mean to laugh in this situation she really couldn't help it

"I'm sorry, it was my fault" she cooed, rubbing his back to calm him down

"You said hands are cool..." he mumbled against her chest

"So it would cancel out how hot the cookies were?" She asked, piecing the kid's thought process together

"Yeah" he sniffed and she bit back a smile before planting a kiss on his head

"I really need to check if you're on the spectrum" she said with a sigh, forgetting that kids were incredibly quick to pick up certain things

"What's the spectrum?" He asked and she squeezed her eyes shut in regret

"It's nothing. It's for really smart people" she said before making him turn to face her

"Listen, cool doesn't just mean cold okay? You can say cool instead of saying 'awesome' or 'okay'" she explained and he nodded slowly

"What about hot?" He asked and she smiled, rubbing his head

"You're too young for that" she said and he pouted

"No I'm not!" He whined, and she knew her it would turn into a cry fest if she didn't give him a meaning

"Like...if someone looks really good" she said sheepishly

"But don't ever say that to you're teacher or friends okay, save that for a special person" she said, believing she was the best parent ever

"Mom, you're really—

"Don't even say it me, especially me" she said, wishing the ground could just swallow her up whole at this moment

"Let's go pack the cookies and give them next door, okay?" She said and he nodded

"Can we keep some?" He asked excitedly and she nodded, placing a few aside for them before placing the others on a plate in a very specific way. It wasn't long before the two were standing outside of 4b and waiting for the door to open

"What's a surprise" Jaehyun said with a growing grin on his face as he opened the door to meet his new enemy. His daughter in his other hand looking like she was close to falling asleep

Seems like his own kid wants some sleep at this point

"Hi...we made you guys some cookies. Welcome to the neighbourhood" she forced out and he hummed

"Cookies, they smell great. Did you poison them?" He asked, whispering the last bit and she rolled her eyes

"Wish I thought of that earlier" she said back with a forced smile, watching him pick one up and take generous bite before humming

"Yeah I know, they're grea—"

"A little salty" he said, cutting her off and she scoffed

"Salty? They're cookies. How the hell can they be salty?" She asked with annoyance growing on her

"I don't know...they're just...not good" he shrugged, clearly lying and only trying to get a rise out of her as he took another bite before passing a smaller bit to Jinah

"Not good?" She scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest and he smirked at her reaction—the reaction he wanted

"What? You can insult my daughter's singing but I can't insult your baking?" He asked, raising an eyebrow and she sighed

"I was trying to apologi—"

"Nice try neighbour." And with that, he had taken the plate of cookies from her hand and used his foot lightly slam the door in her face

"Does he not like them?" Minhyuk asked with a small pout, feeling as if their hours of hard work had been wasted

"No, he loves them. He's just got an ego the size of whale" she muttered, ushering them back inside

"Whales are huge!" Minhyuk said, racing to his room to find the whale plushie he got at an aquarium once and eventually forgot about

"I know" she sighed, locking the front door so they could settle down for dinner finally