Forelsket

Ch 1

"Here you go Mrs. Shin," The tall, lanky boy grinned as he handed the brown paper bag filled with freshly baked cookies to the old lady.

"Thank you for coming here and buying from us. I hope you have a good day!"

"Ah, Yeollie~ you're such a sweetheart." Mrs. Shin smiled and holding the package close to her heart, she left with a happy face.

The boy, Chanyeol, watched her walking out the exit, a content smile plastered on his own face. He loved it whenever a customer would leave the bakery with a smile. A simple, yet a powerful gesture that showed he was doing a good job. Three years ago, the young baker absolutely had no idea of how to even cook ramen but here he is today, creating new, enticing flavors every now and then that was appreciated by the people and made his family's small bakery house quite famous in the town. His sugary inventions tasted so incredible that the number of customers increased just in a few weeks since his joining and their income sky-rocketed. But Chanyeol never cared about any of it. All he cared about was to watch those lips curl up into a tilting smile when as they take a bite of his hard work. It made his heart swell with happiness and pride just thinking that he was one of the million reasons why the people were smiling.

("It's not you doofus, it's your diabetic stuff." His best friend had once deadpanned while munching on the orange and vanilla muffin he had handed him to taste.)

Okay, maybe not him exactly but it was mainly the sugary things he baked but you get the point right?

Ding!

Sliding the glass door of the newly designed display shut gently, Chanyeol walked over to the oven, put on his gloves and carefully took out the fresh batch of cookies. Their aromatic fragrance overpowered every other scent that lingered in the small kitchen. Its delectable aroma pervaded the air- a mixture of honeydew, tutti-frutti preserves and dabs of almonds. So very tempting to grab and simply indulge in this pleasure, or to merely inhale the gorgeous scent it emanated from its baked, warm depths. After appreciating his creation for one last time, Chanyeol placed them gently on a plate for cooling and started with another set only to stop when he saw a hand sneaking a cookie- which only meant one thing.

"Kim Jongdae, don't touch them." The said boy, however, ignored the words and picked up the one which looked kinda bigger than the others. How did he manage to find the differences in their size still amazed Chanyeol.

"Good morning to you too, Yoda." Jongdae greeted with his mouth full only to earn a scowl from his best friend.

"Why are you so early today? We still have an hour before we leave for school."

"Mom and Dad are not back yet and you know I hate to eat alone." The boy reached out for another cookie only for his hand to be swayed away by Chanyeol. There were protests and silly pout on his camel-like face but it went ignored as the young baker continued with his work.

"Just go upstairs already! Breakfast is ready."

"See, it wasn't that hard right?" Jongdae cheeked and dashed upstairs to the Park household. Chanyeol joined a little later after he was done with the baking and putting them on display. It has kind of become a ritual since time immemorial. Jongdae came from a rich family and most of the time his parents were out of the country for meetings. They loved their only son from the core but work was inevitable. His mansion had a lot of servants who lived to please their Young Master but still couldn't fill the void in his heart. That's when he met Chanyeol during their elementary school and the rest became history. Chanyeol's mother was a very kind lady and she accepted Jongdae every morning when he showed up at their door with his cheeky smile. They would have breakfast together and then leave in Jongdae's BMW after wishing her goodbye. This morning, like all the previous ones, was just the same and Chanyeol may or may not have prayed for this routine to change ever.