⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺
When I kiss you, I can taste your soul.
. ✦ .

Yoongi

“This oven is exclusively for baking bread, and these two ovens do the rest of the baking,” I explain to Jang-Mi who has her arms crossed under her chest and looks around impressed.

“Nice,” she smiles, turning her eyes to look at me. “What’s on the menu today?” She asks me when I hand her a spare apron and a fresh pair of gloves.

“Do you have any requests? I’ve already made a batch of chocolate croissants, trifle pudding cups, and pork stuffed buns. Seon-Ho will be making the basque burnt cheesecake in loaf tins and blueberry muffins. And then there’s three varieties of bread—the regular white, olive focaccia, and whole wheat bread with poppy and sesame seeds,” I point to the warmers and bread baskets that hold the already prepared goodies.

“Would it be possible to make something with biscoff?” Jang-Mi asks softly as she fastens the tie of the apron around her waist.

“Do you like biscoff?”

“My daughter wanted me to buy her something biscoff-based, if it’s available,” a fond smile makes its way up her lips when she says that.

“Sure, why not? It’d be an honor to make something for her. Would she like a biscoff cheesecake?” I ask her as I retrieve a fresh pack of cream cheese from the refrigerator.

“Yeah, she’d like that,” she responds, moving closer to me.

“We can make it then. What would you like to have?” I turn around to face her.

“I- I’m not too picky. I only want to be here and work with you,” her cheeks blush a little as she stifles a big smile and looks down at the floor before looking back at me.

Laughing softly, I hand her an unopened pack of biscoff cookies and a few sticks of butter.

“Go ahead and prepare the base. Crush these cookies finely, add in one stick of melted butter that is not too hot, and mix it well. You can then press the base down into these little jars,” I bend down to collect a few glass jars that have already been sterilized for use.

“Okay,” Jang-Mi agrees, nodding.

“The pot is over there, and the rolling pin and other utensils are all lined up here,” I point in the respective directions. “Since we’d be making a small batch, we can get this done fast. I’ll prepare the filling,” my words earn a few big nods of her head.

While I whip together the cream cheese, whipping cream, and the biscoff spread, I side-glance at Jang-Mi who is crushing the cookies and carefully pouring the melted butter into it. She then mixes it all using her hands, and I lose track of how long I’ve been staring at her being immersed in her work.

Her eyes are focusing on the pan with the crumble, and the soft fringes of hair that fall over her forehead are barely concealing her slender eyebrows that are set in a relaxed arch, which tells me how comfortable and confident she is with what she is doing. The apron clinched around her slim waist defines her curves beautifully, and I cannot help but feel lucky to have her working right beside me.

It is only when her eyes suddenly flick to look at me that I realize I’ve hardly been focusing on what I’m supposed to be doing. Sending a sheepish grin her way, I go back to whipping up the filling, which gets done in just a few more minutes.

“Do you want to taste this?” I dip a small tasting spoon into the mixture and collect a bit of it, pointing the spoon towards Jang-Mi thereafter.

“Uh.. sure,” she sends a smile my way as she puts her work aside and moves around the counter to get closer to me.

Once she gets close enough to me, she shows me her hands that are covered in gloves which have bits of cookie and butter crumble sticking to them, and I laugh softly before I bring the spoon to her mouth. With a smile, she takes in half of the contents of the spoon and nods her head in approval; her eyes dead set on mine.

“It tastes great. But you need to make sure the texture and consistency are perfect,” saying so, she takes the spoon from my hand and flips it towards me, making my eyebrows lift in surprise.

“Go on,” she whispers, tilting her head a little in my direction and urging me to try the other half of the filling in the spoon.

Failing to suppress the smile of pure happiness that forms on my lips, I take in a bit of the cheesecake filling present on the spoon and swirl the gob around in my mouth to make sure that the consistency is just fine. It feels smooth like velvet and has just the right airy texture.

But what causes my stomach to flip in place and my heart to hammer like a wildly beating drum is what Jang-Mi does next with the spoon. She puts it in her mouth and brings it out after licking it clean. Her eyes are still stuck on me, and I’m swallowing thickly, not failing to catch the not-so-implicit invitation.

Wrapping an arm around her waist, I pull us closer with a force and urgency like never before, and the sound of the spoon clinking on the floor is the last thing we hear before my lips crash on hers. Jang-Mi’s hands slide around my neck and lock behind me, while I hold her tight against me, cupping her jaw in my other hand.

The ferocity with which our lips meet first soon smooths out, and I begin to move my lips gently against hers, experiencing the tenderness of her soft lips and feeling her heart pounding against my chest. I tilt my head from one side to the other, and Jang-Mi does the same, locking our lips tighter and practically leaving no space between our bodies.

My thumb keeps swiping her cheek, and then I slowly move it down and rest it in the crook of her neck, before I slide my hand to the back of her neck and slip my fingers through the hair at the nape of her neck. Her lips feel full and plush against mine, and I’m unable to contain the growl that erupts from my throat when our teeth clash and when the tip of her tongue touches my lips.

But before things could heat up even more, Jang-Mi pulls away slowly, her eyes opening at the same time as mine as she gradually leans back and puts some space between the two of us. Her hands move around my waist and stay locked behind my back.

“If that’s how we’ll test our new recipes, I’m all in for a totally new menu,” my voice drops to a deep whisper, my hands are still on her, and I trace the outline of her reddened lower lip with my thumb.

“Too bad we’re testing just one recipe today,” she complains with a cute pout, locking her hands tighter around my waist and leaning her torso back further.

Our hips are flush against one another, and I’m doing my best not to press my hips harder against her to let her know what that kiss did to me.

“We still have some time,” I point with my raised eyebrows to the wall clock on my left.

“We still need to assemble the cheesecake, Yoongi,” she teases me, her eyes not straying away from mine to even look at the clock.

“Can I kiss you again?” I ask her for consent, trying to be a gentleman this time.

“I wanted to ask that myself,” she laughs, tugging herself forward and allowing our lips to meet again.

Her hands grip the hair at the back of my head tightly as the intensity and passion in the kiss escalate rapidly, and the tip of my tongue barely grazes the tip of her tongue, sending a spark of electricity running up from the back of my knees to the base of my skull. Jang-Mi moans lightly at the contact, and it makes me want to keep doing it if that would mean hearing more of her soft moans.

Much to my dismay, before anything more can happen, the door to the kitchen flies open loudly, causing us both to flinch and practically throw ourselves away from each other. My eyes squeeze shut, panting as I hold on to the countertop on my right so tight that my knuckles practically lose all their color.

A gasp from the doorway and another gasp from Jang-Mi are all I hear before I hear Seon-Ho clearing his throat and slamming the door shut once again while shouting out a loud apology. All these happen within a matter of a few seconds, and once I’m sure that Seon-Ho isn’t here anymore, I right my posture and open my eyes to look at Jang-Mi standing a little away from me with an embarrassed look on her face.

Turning my head around just to be sure that he isn’t inside the kitchen, I take a step closer to Jang-Mi, giving her a soft smile.

“Don’t worry. He has spare keys, and you don’t have to be embarrassed about anything. It’s just that he must have been surprised seeing me kissing someone,” I gently tuck a few strands of hair behind her ear and move my eyes to read hers.

“Scared me for a moment,” Jang-Mi’s tense shoulders drop, and her expression lightens upon hearing my explanation.

“I’ll introduce you to him. After all, you’ll be my new assistant here,” I send a little wink her way before turning around and making my way toward the kitchen door.

Jang-Mi picks up the spoon from the floor and rinses it in the sink while I return to the kitchen with Seon-Ho who looks equally flustered as Jang-Mi did just moments ago. Once inside the kitchen, he awkwardly bows a few times to Jang-Mi, who also bows back to him in response, and after they each bow a few times, I decide that I must step in to end their bowing battle.

“Jang-Mi, this is Seon-Ho, my assistant in the kitchen. As I’ve already told you, he has been my taste tester in the kitchen for a few years now. Seon-Ho is an extremely skilled baker himself, and his specialty is gourmet-level presentation that makes even the ordinary dishes seem like expensive culinary treats,” I chuckle lightly as I wrap an arm around Seon-Ho’s shoulder and pull him closer to my side.

“That’s an exaggeration. I’m just a helper here in the kitchen,” Seon-Ho smiles shyly, bowing once again to Jang-Mi.

“Seon-Ho, this is Jang-Mi. She’s my girlfriend, and she’ll also be joining us as my new assistant in the kitchen from today. She’s also a home baker, and, even though you’re her senior here, I’d expect you to treat her with utmost respect and be patient in your knowledge transfer sessions,” I keep my steady gaze on Jang-Mi as I explain to Seon-Ho, and then I turn to look at him, his face wearing a glum expression.

“Are you planning to send me off?” He asks me worriedly.

“What?” I laugh a little, my eyes crinkling. “No way. I just thought a new hand might help speed up things, and besides, she’s my girlfriend now,” my eyes drift back to Jang-Mi once again. “So, I wanted to keep her close whenever possible.”

Jang-Mi clears her throat and diverts her eyes from mine in a poor attempt to stop the blush dusting her cheeks.

“It’s nice to meet you, Seon-Ho. I hope I’ll be able to learn quickly and be of some help here,” Jang-Mi bows to Seon-Ho with a wide smile.

“You guys need to stop bowing to each other. There’s no need for any formalities within the kitchen,” I declare, already growing tired of their contagious bowing habit.

“You guys need to learn to lock the door, too,” Seon-Ho states back in defense, but he quickly ducks down before I can blow a punch to his face, and the room is soon filled with laughter.

“We were making biscoff cheesecake jars, and I’m done with the filling. Wrap it and refrigerate it, and think of a cute and simple decoration to go on top of the cheesecake inside a jar,” I relay my instructions to Seon-Ho and move around to help Jang-Mi with pressing the base into the jar to form the bottom layer of the cheesecake.

Together, we set the base layer in about twelve medium-sized jars while Seon-Ho announced that he was ready to decorate the filled-in jars. Jang-Mi helps me by filling a piping bag with the cheesecake mixture. Then, I pipe equal quantities of the filling into each jar, topping up the base layer. Afterwards, Seon-Ho spreads a thin layer of melted biscoff spread on the top and adds a neat sprinkling of biscoff cookie crumble as a finishing touch.

The dessert jar looks delectable, and I’m hoping Areum would enjoy tasting it. I set aside a handful of the dessert jars inside the refrigerator for Areum, Ji-Hu, Seon-Ho, and lastly, one for Jang-Mi and me to share later. Seon-Ho moves the remaining jars to the display counter outside, and Jang-Mi also helps us display the other baked items.

After wiping down the counter space around the coffee machine, I arrange the coffee cups and look around to ensure that all is good before we open up for the day.

Jang-Mi flips the board on the door to ‘Open’, and then she moves to stand next to me behind the counter. Today was indeed a great start to a day, and if having her with me means that all my mornings would be similar to this, then I would not trade anything in the world for all the different ways she made me feel some time ago.

At this point, if there is one person who I want to thank with all my heart, it would only be Jang-Mi’s ex-husband. Though I despise him for the heartbreak he has caused her, I must sincerely thank him for leaving this precious woman so that, someday soon, I could call her mine.

Thank you, loser!

Published on : 12/15/2024