"Remind me to never listen to your stupid ideas ever again,"Jian said sighing and dusting the flour of her hands on the cooking apron she was wearing.

"Come on, it's gonna work, don't give up so quickly. We got this," Baekhyun said, staring intensely at the cake baking video on Jian's phone and trying to figure out where they went wrong.

"Give up easily? Baekhyun, we've been trying this for a whole damn hour,"Jian said,"It ain't gonna work. It would be so much easier if your stubborn ass just admitted that we both are shit at baking and had gotten a real, edible cake from a bakery."

"Listen, we are not shit at this. If others can do it, we can too," Baekhyun said still staring at the video of the cake they were trying to bake, for grandma's birthday which is today. Baekhyun had this amazing plan to bake a cake for grandma and surprise her in the morning as he thought a handbaked cake would hold more emotional value than a store bought one. Jian doesn't know how he convinced her to be a part of this atrocity when both of them didn't have a single idea about baking and according to Taehyung Baekhyun had sat their kitchen on fire once. But here they are now, baking a cake at 2 in the morning, trying to make the minimum amount of sounds to not disturb grandma's sleep and ruin the surprise.

Today when Jian was in school, Baekhyun had gone to get the necessary ingredients for the cake, thinking the two of them could pull it off. The video makes it look so easy but they are on their third attempt of making the cake batter, Baekhyun knows that it's far from easy.

Even though he has looked at the video so many times, he really doesn't understand where they went wrong, why does their batter look so so so not like the video. Are they messing up the measurements or something?

Jian sighed again loudly and sat up on the kitchen counter, not caring about how the flour was everywhere on the counter, her clothes were covered in flour anyway. So was Baekhyun's clothes, face and even the whole kitchen floor.

"Cleaning this is going to be a nightmare,"Jian said looking at the kitchen floor. Then she looked at Baekhyun, who seemed to not take the fact that he can be bad at something.

"Can't we just give up and get a cake in the morning?"

Baekhyun shook his head,"Giving up is not in my dictionary, Jung Jian. Shouldn't be in yours too. I'm teaching you a life lesson here."

Jian shook her head,"That wasting your time and energy on stupid crap is okay?"

Baekhyun glared at her and turned back to the screen. He looked so engrossed in the video which was a little bit endearing. He looked like a stubborn child, unable to accept defeat.

Jian's lip curved up in a small smile even though she was really annoyed about this whole ordeal.

"There's definitely some problem with this recipe. It's definitely a clickbait,"Baekhyun finally said while handing her phone back to her.

"Yes! Finally. So now can we clean this shit up and go back to slee.."

"It's time to consult an expert!"Baekhyun said not letting her finish.

Jian sighed, she should've known he isn't going to give up until he's made a cake. He's not letting her go to sleep either. Jian cursed herself in her mind so much for getting herself involved in this mess. Her bed and video games her calling her. After a long day of school, this is unacceptable. It's like she's getting punished again after her suspension.

Baekhyun got his phone out from his back pocket and was calling God knows whom. After a few rings the person finally picked up, Baekhyun's face lit up.

"Kyungsoo-ah? It's been long.."

Jian couldn't hear what the person on the other side was saying, but seemed like curses for waking them up in the middle of the night.

Baekhyun laughed nervously,"Kyungsoo-ah, how about greeting instead of threatening to kill me for once instead? It's been so long since we talked."

Looks like Baekhyun was cut of by the other person's threats again, Baekhyun was trying his best to keep his dignity in front of Jian and make it seem like Kyungsoo was saying some friendly greetings.

Jian was trying his best to not laugh at Baekhyun's poor attempt at hiding how his friend was cussing the living daylight out of the high and mighty Byun Baekhyun. Jian even sneakily took a few pictures of Baekhyun whose nose and cheeks were covered in flour and was nervously laughing at the phone. The scenery was just too funny.

I like this Kyungsoo guy already.

Baekhyun finally was about to tell Kyungsoo what he was up to and what a mess both of them created while trying to bake a cake. Kyungsoo was hella annoyed by the fact that Baekhyun decided to do this when his previous cooking attempts were almost murderous and decided to wake him up from his precious sleep because of this when he barely gets any. But he finally gave some advice.

After Baekhyun finally ended the call he looked at Jian who was pretending to browse through her phone but in reality she was looking at the pictures she took of Baekhyun.

"Well...calling my friend Kyungsoo in the middle of the night while he was sleeping was a bit of a risk, taking into consideration that he might hold this grudge and kill me in my sleep in the near future, but the risk paid off!"Baekhyun exclaimed,"He gave me a brilliant idea."

Jian looked up from her phone and raised her brows.

"Cake mixes! Rather than making a cake from scratch, we can use a cake mix to make this process easier. Kyungsoo is texting me how to make a cake with a mix as easily as he can. I'm finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel."

"Okay?"

"So I'm gonna go to the nearby convenience store and grab a cake mix. Till then you can..clean this mess?"

Jian shook her head,"We both made this mess, I won't clean this up alone. And we can do the cake mix process in the mo.."

"No,we can't. We are doing this right now. I'm gonna get the mix and you rest or do whatever in the meantime, Okay?" Baekhyun said while dusting off his clothes and face and taking his apron off.

Jian also got down from the counter,"I'm coming with you."

Baekhyun looked at her for a second,"You can't Jian. It's 2 am. It could be dangerous."

"It's gonna be okay. I need fresh air, I have been breathing flour for a whole hour. I can protect myself, Baekhyun,"Jian said while taking off her apron and dusting herself up.

Baekhyun didn't seem too convinced,"But.."

Jian sighed while looking at him,"And you will be with me, won't you? I will be okay. So let's go. Or are you too scared that your Kyungsoo may attack you out of nowhere?"

With that she got out of the kitchen and  headed towards the front door. Baekhyun shook his head in disbelief. He should've thought calling Kyungsoo through. God knows for how long this girl is gonna tease him about that.

The convenience store was close to their house. It was about to four or five minute walk. The streets were lonely as expected. No one in this small area is trying to stay awake so late at night like Seoul. The walk was quiet. Jian was scrolling through her phone and Baekhyun was trying to be wary of everything because Jian is with him now. He was not trying to make it obvious but Jian could tell.

At one point of walking Baekhyun's stomach growled loudly. The street was dark and Jian hadn't looked up from her phone but she could tell that he was embarrassed and his face was turning red. Jian couldn't blame his stomach. They had dinner so many hours ago.

Jian knew Baekhyun was embarrassed about his stomach growling and his classy image being ruined. So Jian pretended like she heard nothing at all and continued to walk while scrolling through her phone. That relieved Baekhyun a bit.

The cashier at the convenience store welcomed them tiredly. They soon found the rack that stacked the cake mixes. Thankfully there were a lot of different flavors of cake mixes. Arguably a bit too many cause Jian and Baekhyun soon got into a fight on which flavor their cake should be. Jian wanted it to be chocolate while Baekhyun wanted it to be strawberry. After fighting a bit the two of them decided to go for a completely different flavor, funfetti to avoid fighting anymore because the two of them were already too tired to continue.

While Baekhyun was at the cash register and the cashier was ringing up their mix, Jian suddenly came and added two cup ramens to the counter. Baekhyun looked at her, confused.

"What? I'm hungry,"Jian said as causally as possible.

"Oh,"Baekhyun said and looked at the cashier,"Ring these two too."

After the cashier ringed the ramen, Jian took them and poured hot water in them and sat at a bench of the store. Baekhyun came and sat beside her after paying. Jian slowly slid one of the ramens towards him and said,"This one's for you."

Baekhyun was too hungry to say no to that offer. Who knew eating ramen at a nearby convenience store at 2 in the morning and discussing about the text Kyungsoo sent Baekhyun and planning about their baking adventure would be so healing and peaceful for both of them?

After a lot of bickering, a lot of troubleshooting and a lot of hours of cleaning, Baekhyun and Jian had finally managed to bake a what seems to be edible and somewhat presentable funfetti cake. When they presented it to grandma in the morning, she was so touched, she got teary eyed. Grandma thought Jian would forget her birthday but that the two of them did this for her made her so happy. It was unbelievable to her that Jian could do something like this.

That day Jian didn't want to go to school and spend time with grandma but grandma didn't allow her to stay. She told Jian to go to school and her tuition academy and after that invite both Jaemin and Chenle to their house and that they would order food from outside and have a small birthday party. Grandma had to go to the doctor so they wouldn't be able to spend much time together anyway. Jian really didn't want to go to school but she couldn't help but go.

The evening rolled in, Jian came back home with Jaemin. Chenle was in a different school, so he came by himself. Ever since Jian told Chenle to take Daegal to the vet and that turned out that she was right about her infection, he has been handing out with Jaemin and Jian more. He even comes to her house with Jaemin sometimes and grandma likes him. It also seems like Jian doesn't mind him to be around. They don't talk much but they have similar point of views.

And Taehyung also showed up with a huge smile and hand full of ice creams. Baekhyun was shocked to see him but turns out Jian also texted him to come if he's free because grandma likes him as well. According to grandma the more cheerful people they are surrounded with, the better.

That night they all played around, had food and had a lot of fun. Their house was louder than it ever was. Grandma though Jian would be on her phone the whole time, annoyed at everyone but Baekhyun somehow managed to keep her off her phone and get her to take part of their conversations. She mostly threw glares and sarcastic remarks but it still was a huge improvement.

Grandma felt so happy that night. She was feeling sentimental seeing her grandchild slowly taking steps towards improvement. What better birthday gift could there be?

After eating Jian went to the kitchen to do the dishes. Jaemin went to help her and Chenle, Taehyung sat on the couch watching a drama. Baekhyun was sitting with grandma at the dining table also watching the drama. That's when grandma out of the blue said,"Thank you, Baekhyun-ah."

Baekhyun was a bit surprised at the sudden thank you. He looked at her anc she smiled and said,"From the first day I saw you I knew there was something very special about you, that your cheerfulness would light up our house and my Jian. And I was right."

She paused and smiled,"She's changing for the better. The Jian she portrays herself as always isn't the real her. But she is slowly letting herself go. Please keep it up, Baekhyun. It would mean the whole world to me."

Baekhyun was speech but he slowly nodded.

"Thank you once again, Baekhyun-ah. I know it's only been a few months since we've known each other, thank you for doing more than even our family."

Baekhyun shook his head,"It's really not a big deal."

Grandma smiled.

Baekhyun slowly looked at her, contemplating whether or not to ask her,"Grandma?"

"Yes?"

"I don't know if I'm overstepping my boundaries with that question. But I know Jian isn't an emotionless robot that she portrays herself as but may I know..what happened to her that made her turn this way?" Baekhyun had this question for so long but no matter how much he digs, he can't seem to find the answer.

Grandma sighed. It seemed to be really hard for her. She took a long pause. At one point Baekhyun thought she doesn't want to answer, he was about to tell her it's okay, she doesn't have to tell him but that's when she opened her mouth.

"Baekhyun-ah, losing a really loved one is always hard for people."

Baekhyun frowned. He doesn't understand what that meant? Whom did Jian lose? Her mother passed away when she was rally little, is that what she means?

Talking more about the topic was putting grandma into an emotion turmoil too. That's why Baekhyun stopped her,"You don't have to tell me more, grandma. It's okay. I'm sorry for asking that."

"No don't be sorry..."

That's when Jian came into the dining room while frowning and looking at Baekhyun,"There you are! Shouldn't you help me with dishes? I'm the only one stuck with doing dishes while Jaemin is happily leaning against the counter and texting his amazing Minhee,"Then she looked at both of them and saw their unusual expression,"Is something wrong?"

"Absolutely not!"Both Grandma And Baekhyun shouted.

Jian looked at both of them again and said,"Sus. But I will think about that later. Now come and freaking help me you lazy ass,"and she grabbed Baekhyun by his elbow and dragged him to the kitchen.

Even from the dining room, grandma could hear Baekhyun and Jian's bickering. Grandma smiled wiping a tear that managed to roll her eyes.

Bringing Baekhyun home was the right choice.

___________________________

A/N:

I really had fun writing this chapter guys!!!

And..

OH MY GOD YIXING IS GONNA BE IN THE COMEBACK YASSSSS.

*cough*

Anyways guys don't forget to vote and comment if you liked the chapter❤️✨