Collateral Love | Tao

Chapter 5

On Saturday I was working late with my mom and Sehun.

"CJ! You're not frosting them right!"

"What do you mean? They look exactly like yours, mom," I looked between the cupcakes I was frosting and the ones my mom was frosting. Mine were messy, to say the least.

"Tell Sehun to come help me, you work the register."

I moped out of the kitchen, "Mom says she needs your help frosting the cupcakes."

"Okay."

"Freaking Sehun always getting the fun jobs because he's better at everything than me," I muttered under my breath.

The doorbell rang, signaling that somebody had entered, "Welcome to Cutie Cakes...oh, it's you."

"Do you welcome all of your customers like that? Why are you pouting?"

"Because I'm not good at frosting cupcakes and Sehun is."

He laughed and lowered his voice, "That's because he's gay."

"That's stereotyping," I laughed anyway, "What can I get for you?"

He looked up at the menu, "A large caramel macchiato," He gazed at the cupcakes behind the glass, "Which one is your favorite?"

"I like the peanut butter chocolate one."

"Then I will have two of those."

"You're going to make yourself sick," I typed everything into the cash register, "$6.23"

"I don't get a cool guy discount?" He joked, I ignored him and started making his drink.

"Hi, Mr. Huang," Sehun peeked his head out of the kitchen. Oh no, my mom probably heard him. This is exactly why I didn't want him to come here.

"Mr. Huang?" My mom pushed Sehun out of the way, "I'm Choi Nabi, I'm CJ's mom," She shook his hand and bowed excitedly.

"Huang Zitao," He smiled, "Jisoo gave me one of your cupcakes, I decided I had to try them all."

"CJ, did you give him a discount?"

"No."

"Sorry about her, sometimes she has no respect," My mom thumped my forehead.

"It's okay," Mr. Huang smiled.

"Mom! Can you help me!" Sehun called from the kitchen. He must've not been super mad at me if he still called my mom 'mom' and just saved me from further embarrassment.

"It was nice meeting you," She rushed back into the kitchen.

"You see why I didn't want you to come now?" I handed him his drink and cupcakes.

"She seems like a fun mom," He took a sip of the drink and smiled, "I like it. Good job."

"Thanks, how about the cupcake?"

He took a bite, "I like this too. You were right, this one is very good."

"If only I was good at making cupcakes."

"You'll get better, just like you're getting better at Chinese, right?"

"I guess so."

He scooted the second cupcake in my direction, "This one is for you."

"For me?" I was confused at his sudden niceness.

"Now it's a fair trade."

"No, it's not, you paid for this, I can't accept it."

He unwrapped it and fed it to me. I took it from his hands because if anyone saw us right now we'd probably be in trouble. Our hands touched for a moment and our eyes met. We both looked down.

"See you in class, Jisoo," His voice was suddenly softer.

I waved goodbye, partly because there was a cupcake in my mouth, and partly because he rendered me speechless.

I shoved the rest of the cupcake in my mouth and wiped the frosting off of my lips before going back into the kitchen.

"Sehun?" My voice was suddenly shy and quiet.

"Huh?"

"Can we be best friends again?"

He smiled and hugged me, "Thought you'd never ask. Why are you blushing so much?"

"Because mom embarrassed me."

"I'm right here," She rolled her eyes.

"Mom, can we be done for tonight? It's already nine," I asked, "I will lock up."

"Okay, you lock up," She handed me the keys, "Sehun, help me with this last batch."

I locked the doors and turned off all of the lights in the dining area, then ran into the kitchen, "Can you stay tonight, Sehun?"

"I would but I already have plans, sorry, CJ."

"Oh," I felt a little disappointed, "That's okay."

"CJ, why don't you go wash up and get ready for bed."

"Okay," I hugged Sehun goodbye and ran up the stairs to our small apartment. I wished Sehun could've just hung out with me tonight. I really needed somebody to talk too.

My mom knocked on the bathroom door, "You're going to dissolve if you stay in there any longer."

"Sorry, I'll get out," I put my pajamas on and plopped down on my bed. I decided to check my notifications before I fell asleep.

Jongdae: Hey :)

Ignore.

Yugyeom: Are you and Sehun ever going to make up? It's making me kind of sad.

Me: we did, don't worry :)

A new notification popped up on my screen as I was texting Yugyeom.

Instagram: hztttao started following you.

I audibly screamed. Why did he follow me? Did he do it by accident?

"What's wrong?!" My mom burst into my room.

"There was a spider, it's dead now."

She sighed as if she was regretting ever birthing me and left my room.

After she was gone I immediately got back on my phone to stalk his Instagram again. There was only one new post since I last saw his Instagram. He took a selfie with the drink I made him!

"It's good to have something sweet and refreshing at the end of my first week. Thanks @ cutiecupcakes"

I felt my heart beating out of my chest. This was no longer a "Hey, you're cute" crush. This was serious. This was a "Hey, my hot teacher kind of just made a move on me and I'm not objecting" crush. I followed him back and liked his post. I liked his post from the bakery's Instagram that I managed too.  I liked him.