Baekhyun's POV

I turned the lights on as we got in, before taking my derbies off and putting my slippers on.

"I'm going upstairs," I spoke before stepping onto the stairs.

"Hurry up, I'm hungry," Park commanded as he lied onto the sofa.

I glowered at him before starting climbing. I then got into my room. I took my blazer off and started unbuttoning my shirt but got interrupted by a vibration coming from my pants' pocket. It was a text message. I unlocked my phone before reading it.

From Sehun to Baekhyun 10.10 pm

So, how did it go? 👀

I sighed before starting typing.

From Baekhyun to Sehun 10.10 pm

Not bad, now just pray he doesn't want to have another date or else u're a dead man

I threw the phone onto my bed before taking my shirt off. I changed the tuxedo to something comfy and stretchier.

I took the stairs four at a time and joined Chanyeol, still laying on the sofa with a novel in his hands.

"So, what do you want to eat?" I asked.

He nonchalantly turned his head a bit, before laying his eyes back on his book.

"I don't know, it depends on your skills in cooking I guess?" he taunted as he flipped a page.

I crossed my arms. Actually, I wasn't that bad at cooking. I was capable of making appetising and low-calorie dishes. However, since I had been living alone in Korea for several years, I was not used to cooking for others. So I was hoping that Park wouldn't be too mad at me if my cooking didn't match his celebrity tastes.

"Well, I cook pretty well, so just ask me, and I'll see if I can do it," I shrugged.

He put his book down before lifting an eyebrow.

"Alright, but I might be a little bit judgmental," he smirked.

I rolled my eyes, tired of all this sarcasm and his constant cynical look was starting to get on my nerves.

"Why can't you just eat what I'm going to cook you?" I asked as I sighed.

"Because you owe me a meal, and a delicious one considering the restaurant you've invited me to was a three-stars one," he grunted as he got up, "plus, my parents own a restaurant and my father is a chief since I was born, so, my palate is rather experimented and my taste buds relatively developed."

This man's cockiness was going to make me angry again, but I swallowed it all up before nodding. It was his house, after all.

"Alright, your highness. Then I hope you're okay with a kimchi stew?
- I want rice and kimbap too," he commanded, before smiling, proudly showing his dimple. "Thank you."

How come the devil in person has such an angelic smile?

I shook my head before heading to the kitchen.

"Well, let's go baby."

I put an apron on, and grabbed the huge bag of rice before putting it onto the counter. I poured some in a huge bowl and started rinsing them. Then, I put water in a large saucepan and brought it to a boil before adding salt. After a moment, I gently poured rice in, and covered the pot in order to let the rice simmer.

"Alright, What should I do next?" I scratched my neck as I grabbed a wooden spoon. "The kimchi stew."

I took a bag of fresh pork belly meat out of the fridge and started slicing them. I knew this recipe quite well since it was one of my parents' favourite dish.

I then let the pieces of pork belly marinate in rice wine. At the meantime, I put kimchi in a skillet and started cooking them, waiting for it to soften.

Since the rice was cooling down, I decided finishing cooking the kimchi stew first.
I put the marinated meat into a pot, before adding the other ingredients, including the softened kimchi, and the base sauce.
Once the meat was totally cooked, I added green onion on top and turned the heat off.

It honestly smelled and looked so delicious. I had missed cooking this a lot.

I opened the saucepan and grabbed a spoon before putting some rice in a bowl.

"Hope it will be enough," I said as I looked at the bowl. Park was really hungry. "Let's add more."

I put the hot pot full of kimchi stew and the bowl of rice on a wooden tray, before adding chopsticks and a glass of water.

I grabbed the tray and went into the lounge, ready to give it to Chanyeol.

"Well, Park, it's ready," I said as I put the tray on the coffee table.

He doubtfully looked at me and got up before rolling his sleeves up.

"Smells good," he said as he grabbed the silver chopsticks. He picked a piece of meat with some kimchi and put it all into his mouth.

He started chewing, as his black eyes were staring at me. Then, his face enlightened, and I felt so reassured and satisfied.

"Tastes good," he said before eating some rice. He then glanced at me, sat in front of him. "Do you want some?" he asked as he raised an eyebrow.

I smiled a bit, before actually hearing my stomach growl a bit.

"Well, I've eaten a lot with Luhan, but well, looks like that stew is teasing me," I remarked.

"Come here," he said before picking a huge piece of meat with some tofu.

I got up and sat next to him. He then blowed on the hot meat. I opened my mouth as his chopsticks got closer to my face, and devoured it all.

"Thanks," I said, as I covered my mouth.

I was honestly quite full, and didn't want to have two dinners in one night, so I got back into the kitchen, leaving Park alone in the lounge to let him eat.

I opened the freezer and took an ice cream. That was what I needed, a nice dessert.

I leaned against the kitchen counter, as I licked the vanilla ice cream, while thinking of a sentence said by Park that surprised me quite a lot.

"Love isn't just between a man and a woman. He said it so naturally. So does that mean that he's into men too? Has he ever dated a man before, or is he quite busy because of his acting career and all? I really don't know much about his life, maybe I should investigate a bit for the show."

"The top is going to fall off," I heard.

It was Chanyeol, who had come in the kitchen. I looked back at my ice cream and bit in it.

"Oh, my teeth..." I mumbled.

It was indeed quite painful, but still sweet.

"You're such a twit," he spoke as he put the tray with the emptied bowls on the table.

"Hey, it's too cold," I frowned as I started eating the biscuit.
"Maybe if you weren't daydreaming you would have noticed it earlier. And I had asked you to make kimbaps, where are they?" he grunted, as he crossed his arms.

Shit the kimbaps.

I finished eating the ice cream and wiped my hands on the black apron.

"Wasn't that enough? Why do you need kimbap too? Is your stomach really that big or are you a sadistic who loves exploiting people?" I hissed.

He raised an eyebrow before grabbing a chopstick and threatening me with it.

"Make kimbaps. It's my favourite dish," he demanded.

I ruffled my hair before joining him.

"I don't know how to make kimbaps. They always turn ugly.
- That's because you're not talented. You have to learn how to make kimbaps," he barked.

I glowered at him.

"My kimchi stew was great! So why does it matter that I can't make kimbaps? That's only one dish," I bellowed

His jaw clenched as he grabbed a spoon.

"As long as you live in this house, which is mine, you'll have to know how to make kimbaps," he dictated.

I hollered before untying my apron's bow.

"But I suck at making them!" I groaned.

His lashes fluttered a bit, and he grabbed a cutting board and a knife, both left on the counter.

"Then I'm going to teach you."

•••

I was putting some cooked rice into a mixture made of sesame oil and sea salt as Park was seasoning and cutting the vegetables.

"Okay look, they're all the same length and width," he said as he put the carrot stripes onto a plate.

We then gathered all the ingredients before proceeding to assemble it all.

"Alright, so now, place the seaweed sheet on the bamboo mat. Careful!" he said as I was gently covering the mat. "Alright," he continued, "now spread the rice. Not all of it! Only the two third."

I glowered at him as I put the rice spoon on the table and grabbed the plate with vegetables.

I started putting them on the seaweed, before grabbing another plate with the rest of the filling ingredients.

"This is such a mess! It should be straight. Why are they like this?" he said as he pointed at them.

I blowed at my hair, before continuing.

"Alright now roll the seaweed."

I put both hands on it and starting rolling it carefully.

"No, it's not even," he sighed, "let me do it," he said before putting his hands on top of mine and helping me rolling it.

"Like this, see?" he spoke.

His fingers were gently helping mine, which startled me a bit. He wasn't squeezing my hands nor forcing them, just softly guiding them. He then took his hands off, leaving mine clueless.

"Alright now cut it," he ordered as he rested against the counter.

I took a knife and started slicing it, as precisely as I could.

"Not bad, but not perfect either. Try redressing the knife a bit. Good," he articulated before grabbing one.

"It's actually quite tasty, good job," he stated as he chewed.

I finished cutting it and put them all on a plate.

"It indeed looks good," I said as I picked one.

Chanyeol beamed proudly before sitting.

"I'm full though, so I can't eat them now," he sighed.

I glowered at him.

"What? Are you kidding me?" I belted, furious and extenuated. "You made me do this at midnight!"

He shrugged before smirking.

"At least you've learned how to make kimbaps, right? I'll take them to work tomorrow, if you don't mind."

┉┉┉┉┉

Despite being quite tired, I was in the living room, with my MacBook on my lap, ready to write another chapter for my dystopian novel.
It was during the night that I was the most inspired, because more than music, silence was what could help my imagination best.

"A zombie was about to bite me. He was so close to my neck. His monstrous smell was making me gag and his limbs were full of bruises, his teeth were all red, —maybe his victims' blood."

I was typing quite slowly since my eyelids were getting heavier.
I couldn't let my inspiration go, though. That cooking night with Park had actually inspired me for some reason. He had gone upstairs a few minutes after cooking the kimbaps, and hadn't gone into the lounge ever since, so I guessed that he was most certainly asleep.

I yawned, before resting my head on a pillow, and kept writing.

"His mouth was so close to my skin that I almost fainted, but then, I heard footsteps. I was probably dreaming, hallucinating. But I suddenly felt the immense half dead body getting thrown out. A guy had hit the monster's head with a baseball bat.
It was him. The guy that had left me. That I hated so much for having betrayed me. He had saved my damn life."

┉┉┉┉┉

Chanyeol's POV

I got out of the shower cubicle before grabbing a towel and wrapping it around my waist. I looked into the mirror, ran a hand through my wet hair and grabbed a toothbrush before putting some blue paste on it. I started brushing my teeth, then spat, before rinsing my face and quickly going into my room.

I quickly put on my pajamas, eager to lie down in my big and soft bed, which was probably my favorite place on earth.

I raised the top right corner of the white blanket, ready to melt into this wonderful and warm cloud, but noticed with disappointment that I had forgotten to bring my usual glass of water into my room.

I whined before heading to the door and nonchalantly walking down the stairs.

I noticed Byun was there too. I walked passed him and got into the kitchen, approached the fridge, grabbed a huge glass before activating the water dispenser.

I walked out of the kitchen, and was proceeding to walk up the stairs until I noticed that Byun had fallen asleep on the couch, with his laptop on his lap.

"His work seems quite boring," I giggled before putting the glass of water on the coffee table.

I went into the piano room, which basically consisted in couches and decoration, and grabbed a blanket before going back into the lounge. I closed the laptop, before putting it elsewhere and gently covered him with the blanket.

He looked so peaceful when sleeping, whereas he was a human battery when he was awake. I chuckled as I took a look at his relaxed face.

He was indeed really good looking and had fine features, with a perfect skin that complimented them so well.

What was he doing to end up that tired when working?

I pursed my lips as I covered his feet.

"Please don't overwork. It's the worst thing. Just keep enjoying what you are doing but if you ever feel forced to do anything, then stop. Trust me on this," I whispered.

I grabbed my glass of water, turned the lights off before dizzily going upstairs.

┉┉┉┉┉

Baekhyun's POV

A whole week had elapsed since the rememberable date with Luhan and Park's cooking lesson and the day of the redoubtable shooting for the reality show came, too fast for our taste.

Jongdae had called a taxi for us to be at the set quickly. Park and I, both dressed quite simply since outfits were waiting for us there, jumped in the black car, in sync.

I took my phone to check my face out since I had worked almost all night long for KBD, without thinking about the dark circles that might appear under my eyes the next morning.

I had had a quick shower and put some cream to hydrate it all, but something seemed quite off.

"Don't worry, they'll have makeup with them," said Park.

I glared at him before unlocking my phone. He was reading a thick script while taking bites of a red apple from time to time.

Since they would ask us questions as we would be cooking, I decided to search a few infos up about Park and his family.
He barely told me anything about his past or his friends, and I really didn't want to disturb him, since he was the grumpy type during the morning.

I googled his name and found tons of photos and websites dedicated to him. I first went on Wikipedia and read all the information about his career and his prizes. I then clicked on a link directing me to his official fan site.

He had so many fans, all around the world, from dedicated and sweet ones, to obsessive and perverted ones. It was just so crazy how many people knew that man and actually cared for him, till everything he did or said.

I scrolled through all the facts about him, and tried to quickly memorise a few.

As we got out of the car, Jongdae welcomed us with a huge smile, as he handed us both iced coffee.
I gladly took it before thanking him and heading to the huge studio.

Jongdae started giving us a few instructions. We would be cooking a dish together, before doing an actual mukbang while reading tweets and answering a few fan questions.

The stylists and the makeup artists gave us clothes and got us ready. We were given microphones before being thrown onto the set.

It was decorated like a kitchen, and there was a table with two chairs a little further.

"Action!"

•••

"Hello! This is Korean stars' second life, and I am actor and singer Park Chanyeol," he said before bowing and clapping.

"So today, I was invited on this set for a celebrity special, with someone really important to me. Please welcome my best friend, Byun Baekhyun."

I smiled before bowing.

"Hello. And we're here for, er, quite a special episode, right Chanyeol?
- I guess yes," he said before smiling to me, "we are actually going to cook something.
- Cook? Oh god," I said before faking a laugh.

Chanyeol handed me an apron before patting my back.

"It's okay Baekhyunnie, it won't be that bad. We will be cooking your worst nightmare, though," he said before tilting his head a bit and giving me a dimpled smile.

And I guess my smile at that moment was quite genuine, unlike our fake enthusiasm.

"What is it? I'm getting scared," I beamed as I stared at the camera.

A woman brought us a bunch of ingredients on the set's counter before leaving us quickly. And I knew what he wanted us to cook.

"Kimbap," he teased.

I raised an eyebrow before looking down.

"I'm screwed."

•••

We made a quick pause as the shooting crew were preparing the table for us to eat after.

Jongdae congratulated us, saying that we did an excellent job for the first part and that it really looked realistic.
Because it kind of was. I really was struggling and I guessed it stole one or two genuine smiles or chuckles from Park.

My phone rang, and the contact's name made my heart lose a beat.

"Good morning, Mr. Choi?"

It was my boss.

"Alright, so I thought about Korea's style's case quite a lot, and I discussed about it with a few people, and well, I'm going to go straight to the point, we want to keep working with them."

It was so unexpected to receive a call from him, especially to tell me this. But I smiled and got excited, already guessing what he wanted to ask me.

"Alright, Mr. Choi, that's a good decision," I said as I tried to stay as calm and serious as possible while mentally screaming.

"You're the one who advised this, Mr. Byun. And this is why I want you to find a quick solution for us to help that brand raise its purchasing rate. We don't want this company to collapse. Understood?
- Received loud and clear. I will find a solution.
- Alright, I trust you. Good luck.
- Goodbye!" I replied before hanging off.

Those were good news. It was so relieving for me to hear that Mr. Choi indeed trusted me,