taste buds | kim seokjin [bts] a.u

dish 13 ;; japchae

"what's the secret?" minah questioned curiously. she was sat comfortably on her side on seokjin's couch whilst he was sat opposite her. "how is every single dish you make so... magical?"

"i have my own recipes for some of the dishes, but other than that, it's nothing special, really." seokjin answered, scooting closer to minah on the couch.

she scrunched her nose, "that has to be a lie, your food is so rewarding!"

seokjin shook his head and placed the palm of his hand against his heart. "my secret is just putting my whole heart into what i cook, with every single ounce of sincerity." minah smiled shyly at his thoughtful answer. she thought for a moment before clicking her fingers.

"let's make something together, right now."

seokjin raised a brow. "you want to spend the afternoon of your day off, cooking? with me?"

minah nodded eagerly, grabbing hold of his hand and dragged him to the kitchen. "what can we make?"

ten minutes later and the two were still deciding on what to make when seokjin pulled out rib fillet from his fridge. "lucky i went shopping yesterday," he grinned, placing the meat onto the kitchen counter.

"what are we going to make with that?"

"japchae!"

minah's lips puckered up in happiness as she thought about the glass noodles that would be going in her mouth within the next few hours. "teach me," her lips separated into a cute smile and she flashed her teeth at seokjin, who nodded, pulling out two aprons from his cupboard.

"carrots, peppers, mushrooms, spinach and... onions. check!" minah hummed, placing all the vegetables on the table. she picked up a knife and worked her way through each, cutting them into thin, long slices as seokjin had demonstrated.

"you're doing pretty well, park minah," he chuckled as he soaked down the rib fillet pieces. seokjin worked on the beef marinade and minah finished up the vegetables before placing them on the corner of the counter. "okay, now you have to marinate the mushrooms in the noodle and mushroom marinade mixture, one tablespoon would do." minah followed seokjin's instructions, dropping one tablespoon of the liquid into the bowl of mushrooms, she mixed them around before picking up one piece and slyly placing it in her mouth.

"yah, i saw that," seokjin sang slowly, sending her a playful glare. "no eating until it's all done." minah pouted but placed the mushrooms aside nonetheless.

"shall i do the egg now?" minah asked impatiently, taking hold of one egg that was lying on the counter. she took out a pan and splattered some oil on it before cracking the egg open.

"wait, the egg whites and yolk need to be fried separately." minah almost let the full egg slip into the pan but seokjin quickly held her arm upright. her cheeks turned a soft pink as he guided both her hands slowly on how to separate the egg. "like this," seokjin murmured against her neck, quickly pulling away once the egg was sorted.

throughout the rest of cooking, minah's eyes would linger around the kitchen until they would land on seokjin. he was too busy engrossed in his work of art to pay attention to the sneaky glances minah took at him. she didn't mind if he caught her out though, his facial expressions of concentration were admirable and minah wondered if he had ever decided to take cooking as a job, rather than a hobby.

"i'm almost done, so you can set up the dining table if you want or we can sit comfortably on the couch?" seokjin spared minah an affectionate glance as he pointed towards the table in the corner of the living room.

"the couch is better," minah let out a tense laugh, hoping he didn't get the wrong idea.

seokjin nodded, "the couch it is then."

"i'll just go use the washroom and freshen up," minah rubbed her hands nervously, making her way out of the kitchen.

seokjin hurriedly finished frying the stir fried noodles and set them in two plates with a perfect garnish. just as he bent down near the couch and placed the plates on the coffee table, minah's phone began vibrating uncontrollably. "minah your pho–" he stopped when his eyes fell upon the flashing screen. they were messages from chairman park. seokjin rubbed his eyes, hoping that his eyes had deceived him, but when he looked down again, the messages were still there.

minah, are you not going to even try to understand your father?

you won't get anywhere with that model, think about your future!

he's just a pretty face, you have so many successful men lining up for you, all you have to do is pick one!

"hmm? jin, what is it?" seokjin swiftly jumped down on the couch, turning his head away from the vibrating phone. he raised an arm near his neck and rubbed his nape softly as minah grabbed her phone. carefully, he watched as she maintained her expressions when reading through the messages and then simply placed her phone back down on the table. "let's eat!" minah dug right into her bowl of japchae, letting out a content sigh after her first bite. "definitely a bowl full of kim seokjin's genuine love," she giggled, to which seokjin responded with a weak smile. he swirled his chopsticks around the noodles slowly, the hunger disappearing at the memory of the text messages.