the married life [paused]

17

unedited

--

The cheering, the background music, his heartbeat that he could hear, he drowned everything out. He was halfway done with his dish, which leads him to enough time for plating. Jinyoung tasted the sauce and he paused. He tasted it again and he blinks twice, looking at it. "Why is it bitter?" He asked himself before inhaling deeply, looking around his station, the heat from the stove and the sun made him sweat. He wiped it off as he squints, looking for something that might help. At the audience, Minhyuk and Hyungwon looked at each other. "Something's wrong." Jaebeom states when he noticed Jinyoung looking around.

Mark exhaled shakily, biting on his lip before shaking his head. "No. Nothing's wrong. He can handle it." He states, giving them a glance before looking back at Jinyoung. Jinyoung lets out a breath before laughing, taking the snack that Mark sneakily put in when he thought Jinyoung wasn't looking; makgeolli. "What was he even thinking." He states while laughing and opening it while looking at his friends who had confused faces while Mark was smiling widely. "Is he going to drink that?" Taeyong asked looking at Mark expectantly.

"Is he stressed?" Youngjae asked, looking at him as well. But Mark only pointed at Jinyoung to tell them to watch him instead. They turn their attention back to him to see Jinyoung pouring a good amount of makgeolli on the saucepan before stirring it. "I told you he'll handle it." Mark says as Jinyoung moves to the meat, checking if it was cooked wall. "What happened?" Youngjae asked. "It might've been bitter. You put something sweet to your dish to fight off bitterness." Mark answered, giving them a smile. They nodded in understanding before returning their attention to Jinyoung.

"Five! Four!" The crowd counted down as the the contestant's finish their plating. "Three! Two!" Jinyoung finished cleaning his station and checking his dish. "One!" The crowd yelled. "Hands up chefs!" The host called out and the chefs followed, raising their hands. "Alright! We've finished the dishes and now it's time to bring the plates to the judges' table." The host continued. "As you can see, there are five rows of chefs, we will go in this order. First row, please bring your plates to the front." The host adds.

The first five chefs brought their food at the front and the judges stood up from their seats to taste it. Jinyoung looks at Minhyuk who gave him a big smile, waving at him and Jinyoung breaks into a smile despite being nervous. The taste of the sauce that he poured on the meat was slightly different from the one he made, his knees were wobbly, but then he sees Mark smiling at him as well, noticing that Jinyoung was worried.

Mark points at the sky and Jinyoung looks up, the sun was at its peak, but the cool air from the sea beside them made it less hot than it should be. Jinyoung inhales slowly and exhaled just as slow. Jaebeom switched with Youngjae to talk to Mark and because Youngjae was talking to Johnny in broken English. He's practicing. "Are you really sure about this?" Jaebeom asked and Mark nods without a second thought.

Last night, Mark had called Jaebeom after he texted Jinyoung because he couldn't sleep and he decided that, that night, he would tell Jaebeom about how they started a real relationship. Jaebeom figured it would end that way anyway because of what he witnessed that night. "Does Jinyoung know that we know?" Jaebeom asked, waving a bit to Jinyoung before looking at Mark who was already looking at him with questioning eyes.

"We?" He asked and Jaebeom stopped breathing, tapping Youngjae repeatedly until the younger turned to face him. "What?" Youngjae asked and Jaebeom chuckled nervously. "I slipped." He states and Mark looks at Youngjae who realized what his husband was talking about. "Oh." He says, smiling sweetly at Mark. "Hyung~" Youngjae says sweetly, keeping his smile. "You told him?" Mark asked his best friend, looking at Jaebeom again and the other chuckled.