taste buds | kim seokjin [bts] a.u

dish 7 ;; kimchi-jjigae

minah held the toothbrush up against her mouth before raising a brow. "why have i never seen assistant manager lee in the building before?" she questioned herself in memory of their meeting last night. "god, how awkward will it be seeing his face at work now."

quickly brushing her teeth, minah then grabbed her folders and left the house. she jogged to her car and threw everything in the back seat before taking the driver's seat. "deep breaths, minah," she mumbled, panic starting to settle in the pit of her stomach. today was the deadline for their concept, and as proud as minah was of her own ideas, she had to persuade every single person that was working for her to take interest in her concept.

"do you think director park will be okay?"

"aish, if only she wasn't so stubborn and accepted our concepts."

"what if we fail this project?"

"i better start looking for another job."

manager kwon rolled her eyes at the offensive comments being made about her best friend. "why don't you just take over her role of being the director, huh," she remarked, and the staff became silent.

"right," minah made a swift entrance into the meeting room and took her seat. "is the model here yet?" she inquired, earning a response by seokjin himself who was sat at the far end of the table.

"i appreciate the effort you all put in to think of the concepts, but if we want our brand to be at the top of the market, we need something different, something the public haven't been exposed to before." seokjin watched minah give her presentation, her persona changing from a cold boss to a hardworking and intelligent woman. seokjin was in awe of her dedication. unconsciously, he leant his elbow on the table, resting his chin on the palm of his hand. "so this concept's focus is home. we want the public to see our model in our brand and feel the need to buy some of what we have to offer, as well as please their families. and i thought the perfect way to do that would be to use seokjin's cooking skills to our advantage. as long as that's okay with you, kim seokjin?"

"jin?" jaehwan nudged his friend, breaking the man's stare away from minah.

"huh," seokjin sat up straight, confused.

"is it okay for you to cook some meals for our promotion ads?" minah repeated, everyone's eyes on the man now.

"oh, yes, yeah," seokjin responded quickly, sending her a small smile.

grabbing her files, minah let out a deep breath. "now that we've decided the concept, i look forward to working with you all on our promotion, from tomorrow." she sent seokjin an appreciative smile and left the room.

"i warned you," jaehwan smirked, but seokjin raised his brow. "that our director can be really sexy when she's in full focus mode."

seokjin sent his friend a soft glare at his vulgar choice of word. "but you're right, she doesn't seem so distant when she's focused."

"how about once this project is over, we all go out for some chimaek (chicken and beer), it'll be on me." manager kwon raised a few cheers from the staff, but all seokjin had in mind was his neighbour and the meal he was going to make for her once he finished work.

"you going to stick around, or are you heading home?" jaehwan asked, ready to leave the conference room.

seokjin thought for a moment before shaking his head, "ill stick around for a while, maybe tour the building."

a few hours later, seokjin had noticed most of the employees leave for dinner, but he hadn't seen minah since the meeting. grabbing a coffee and some sandwiches from the café, he went up to her office, knocking lightly.

"come in," minah called, surprised to see seokjin walk in with a concerned smile on his face. "what brings you here?" she questioned as he helped himself to a seat. seokjin placed the food and drink onto the table, minah raising a brow.

"i didn't see you leave for dinner, so i thought you might be overworking," seokjin explained. "you still need to eat though, no matter how much work you have to get through. i would have bought you something more traditional since korean food at its freshest is always the best, but this is all i could find."

minah's eyes were glued to the food, a smile creeping up on her face. "thank you, seokjin," she looked up at the man. "but i leave early from work today so i was going to head home for dinner."

embarrassed for doing much more than needed, seokjin scratched the back of his neck, letting out a nervous laugh. "aah, yes, ill just take this and–" he started picking up the coffee, but minah softly snatched it away from him.

"it's okay, ill take it home and have it later tonight, thank you once again." she left her office with a small chuckle. he's cute when he's embarrassed. 

minah's drive home consisted of glancing at the sandwiches every few seconds. seokjin had bought her one of her favourites, whether it was knowingly or not, minah had started taking interest into her model.

reaching home, she slid the coffee and sandwich into the fridge before changing into some comfortable pyjamas. minah had yet to finish all the preparations for the ads tomorrow so she jumped into her warm bed and continued to work. up until she fell into a slumber.

the doorbell ringing twice woke minah up but she struggled to get up. the third ring brought her back to consciousness and she made her way to the door only to find a warm bowl of kimchi stew sat by her doorstep with a sticky note. patting down her messy hair, minah picked up the tray and grabbed the sticky note, reading it through.

hey neighbour~

i rang your doorbell twice an hour ago but then i came out to see you hadn't taken the jjigae in, so i took some fresh stew out again. sorry if i woke you up, but food tastes best at its freshest. enjoy the stew!

"food tastes best at its freshest..." minah lingered out. "where have i heard that before."