Kitchen Confidential [Jin]

7.

Compared to yesterday, today is a picnic. Today, you are more than willing to spend the entire day laying on your couch, leg propped on two pillows, a bowl of popcorn on your belly and watching episode after episode of The Office. Today, life is good. Yesterday, you were a pain in Jungkook's ass. Perhaps even Namjoon's, too.

Did you call Jungkook more than ten times? Yes. Did you have the best intentions and simply wanted to check that he is doing okay and is not under pressure? Kind of. You also wanted to check if he didn't manage to blow the kitchen up (you knew he did not, but you had to check). Namjoon, on the other hand, was the target of your persuasion as you reassured him, multiple times, that you can totally come to work even though you are still very much hurt. You can stand and you can walk, but you feel like dying with every step you take. Yeah, you can totally work. Namjoon did not buy it.

In fact, it wasn't until he threatened to fire you if you call him one more time that you decided to drop it and just hope for the best. You've told yourself repeatedly that Jungkook will call if he needs you and that you need to trust him and the rest of your team and let them do their thing.

Today it truly is a picnic. You did not call them once, you did not spend half the day worrying if Jungkook ordered salmon for tomorrow and if he ordered enough or perhaps too much. Nope, none of that. You've spend your morning writing down recipe ideas and the afternoon laughing at Michael Scott's antics. Originally, you had a plan to actually try at least one of the recipes you've thought of earlier, to see what you should change, take away or add to it and just test it out and make yourself dinner at the same time. But that would mean you'd have to go to the market and that would mean you'd have to walk and you really don't want to prolong your injury. The pain is almost completely gone and you don't want to go through that all over again.

Reaching for your bottle of beer, you nearly choke to death on it – lying down and drinking is not a good idea. Begrudgingly, you change your position, sitting up and moving the pillows on your coffee table, resting your leg there. With a sigh, you sit back and take a proper sip of the beer, this time not having a near death experience.

You don't even have a chance to put the bottle down when your doorbell rings. Confused, you look at the time – it's 7. You thought that maybe Jungkook dropped by for a visit after closing up to get some free beer from you and maybe bring you some food. But it's 7, there's no way he left in the middle of service. And he'd most likely call first.

Did you order dinner and don't remember it? You did contemplate ordering barbeque, but you decided not to. Or maybe you're experiencing very specific memory blanks. Regardless, you don't have time to check because the doorbell rings again.

"Coming!" you yell, not sure if they can even hear you. When you were buying the place, the real-estate agent had promised that the place is very much sound proof and that no one could hear what goes on in your apartment. You just nodded, more interested in the kitchen layout than anything else. No longer wobbling, but simply walking slower than usual, you make your way out of the room and down the hallway, freezing immediately when you open the door and see who's on the other side.

On your doorstep, with a goofy smile and his hands full of bags, stands Kim Seokjin. Dressed casually, he stands in front of you like you were expecting him, like you had plans for tonight.

"Hi," he beams at you and you could swear you see some nerves behind the smile. Lo and behold, you see his ears turning red, a tell-tale sign that he was feeling a bit uncomfortable. You probably shouldn't be aware of that, but it's something you noticed happening whenever one of your mentors in school was about to taste his dish.