Chapter Text
After a long flight from China and then another 3-hour car drive from the airport, Sicheng is finally relieved as he parks the moving truck. He decided for some time he wanted to be somewhere else that was not China and decided to come back to South Korea. He was here for culinary school but went back home to start his business, where he was first inspired to become a pastry chef and baker. However, now, he wanted to come back to his second home, where he was able to truly find what he enjoyed.
Stepping out of the truck, he stretches his arms up high and takes in the nice August weather. It is that nice mix of summer rays that isn’t too hot, with a nice cool breeze. Once he is done, he looks up at his new place. It is a two story building, where the first floor will be his new bakery, and the second floor will be his apartment. He can’t help but smile with excitement as he sees the building. It is in a nice area close to the city, where he knows people will come and buy his baked goods, but also far enough where the nightlife won’t disturb his sleep. He starts to unload the boxes from the truck to bring them into his new home.
“So you are the new owner that Ten keeps talking about”
Sicheng hears behind him as he unloads moving boxes from the truck. He turns around to find the owner of the voice and sees all the softest features. He has nice pastel pink hair that matches his pale but smooth skin. Along with that, he notices nice crescent eyes and his cute smile that shows two adorable dimples. He is also wearing a nice white button-up that matches with his tanned color khakis but is also wearing a black apron with an assortment of stains and splashes.
“Y-yeah, and you are?” Sicheng asks, trying to hide his nervousness.
“Oh sorry, let me introduce myself first! I’m Jaehyun, I co-own the coffee shop across the street with Johnny. Ten kept bringing up his friend from China that wanted to expand his bakery overseas, and we suggested this location. I guess it ended up working out since you are here now haha.” Jaehyun explains.
“Oh nice to meet you, I’m Sicheng! Yeah, Ten brought up Johnny’s coffee shop business and the friend that he runs it with. When I called him one night, he wouldn’t shut up about this opening, and when I looked into it, I decided it would be a good change of pace.” Sicheng states as he is finally carrying the last boxes out of the truck into the shop.
“I should honestly be thanking you because it was so hard to find a place where there were liveable apartments above shops in this part of Korea” Sicheng exclaims as he stands facing Jaehyun to properly make eye contact with him.
“No problem at all. I also came by because we would also be neighbors,” Jaehyun chuckles, “Johnny and Ten live together in a different part of the city, so I am the one that takes the apartment above the coffee shop. It's good to see someone that isn’t above the age of 40.”
Out of nowhere there is an intense vibration and ringing. Sicheng notices as Jaehyun reach for his phone in his pocket to silence his alarm.
“Sorry, it looks like my lunch break is over. If you would like, we can exchange numbers, and I can stop by after closing to help you with moving if you still need it” Jaehyun asks.
“Oh yeah, for sure” as Sicheng types his number into Jaehyun’s phone.
“Okay cool, it was nice meeting you Sicheng. Hope to see you later” Jaehyun says as he flashes him with another smile that causes Sicheng to feel somewhat warm.
Now that Sicheng was left by himself, he brought his boxes to the respective floors.
He decided to focus on the bakery first. Setting up the bakery wasn’t too bad because he pre-planned what type of layout he wanted and sent Ten what he wanted. All he had to move was the equipment, tables, and chairs to their proper spots. It is a modern, but homey environment of a bakery. There are multiple wooden displays that create two aisles where the assortment of breads, cookies, and muffins will be. Down the aisles, there is the checkout counter where overhead is a wooden chalkboard aesthetic with beautiful calligraphy of the menu of drinks, and next to the counters, there is a clear display for his cakes and fruit tarts. The bakery is spacious enough for him to have a small section for a sitting area for customers to enjoy their food.
Pleased with the final outcome, Sicheng moved upstairs to his apartment. His apartment is a spacious but simple one bedroom apartment. However, it is the complete opposite of his bakery -- a mess. All there is in there are barely opened boxes and a makeshift table he made with the boxes that weren’t open. The exhaustion from traveling and finishing up the bakery, he looks at his phone, and it is around late afternoon.
“I guess this will be a better time to take a nap” he tells himself.
He rummages for his bedding boxes to find his pillows, bed sheets, and mattress. As soon as he sets up his bed and his body hits the mattress, he instantly feels the exhaustion take over and doze off.
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BRRRNNNGG
Sicheng blindly searches around with his arm to grab his stupid phone, so he can have some more time to sleep. He realizes though it wasn’t his alarm, but a phone call. He picks it up haphazardly without even looking at who’s calling.
“H-Hello?,” Sicheng says in a half-awake tone.
“WINWINNNNNNNIEEEEEEE!” the person on the other side of the line yells.
Sicheng opens his eyes and blinks at the contact information at the phone.
“Oh my gosh, Tennie, hi, what’s happening?” Sicheng says trying to make himself sound more awake.
“I know you just woke up based on your tone Winnie, but I wanted to check up on you to make sure your moving process is going well. You’re welcome by the way for setting up the bakery.” Ten exclaims.
“Excuse me but I carried everything while you just yelled at me where to put stuff” Sicheng hears in the distance from the other end of the call.
“Of course Ten, it came out so well, and also tell Johnny that I’ll repay his manual labor with his favorite cookies” Sicheng giggles.
“Oh good because the only repayment I want from you is to open your apartment door right now. Knowing you, you haven’t even cooked yourself dinner yet. You are such an amazing baker, but when it comes to your eating habits, I just don’t get what happens” Ten exclaims.
“Huh, how long have you been waiting at the door” Sicheng questions.
“Just open the door Sicheng or else I’ll break it down. Johnny is complaining about carrying the fried chicken and we are both super hungry” Ten demands.
Sicheng jumps out of his bed and runs to his door, to low and behold, both of them are standing in front of him with food.
“I’ve missed you so much baby,” Ten exclaims as he jumps in to hug Sicheng tightly swaying back and forth. Sicheng returns the hug swaying back and forth and replies back “I’ve missed you too.”
They stay like that for a couple of minutes until they hear Johnny go “Ahem, I don’t wanna ruin the moment, but like I am hungry and been waiting to eat for a good hour”
After making another makeshift table, the three were able to set up and properly eat on disposal plates that Johnny and Ten brought from the restaurant. As they were munching on the chicken, they were catching up on life. Sicheng asks Johnny more about the neighborhood like how the environment is like for the different businesses. Ten also asks Sicheng about China and how his life after college has changed, but they find out that they both honestly haven’t changed that much. Ten talks about the dance studio and team that he leads, which Sicheng knows about but is ecstatic to hear about it more in detail and hoping to see Ten workings in person. Even though Sicheng graduated with a background in culinary, he still spent his extra time dancing as he used it as his method of escape from academia. By joining the college dance team, he was able to meet Ten and became close friends ever since then.
“Honestly, I am just happy that you and Ten finally got together during our last year,” Sicheng remarks as he looks at Johnny, “he would always go, Johnny, this and Johnny that during practices, and I was about to just come over to your place to confess for him”
Johnny chuckles as Ten blushes out of embarrassment and retorts “Winwinnnnn, stopppp! But if I did anything sooner, then he wouldn’t have had the big confession after our last dance competition.”
“To be fair, I was trying to confess to you years earlier, but you always made me nervous and I didn’t know when the right time was” Johnny exclaims.
“Well you guys have been going for almost 4 years now, and you guys are probably the happiest I’ve seen you guys” Sicheng states.
“Now, speaking of which,” Ten questions, “have you met anyone while you were back home in China.”
Sicheng startles a little bit and makes a slight discomfort in his face “No, not yet. I was super busy with starting my brand and haven’t had the time.”
Ten hums to himself “Okay okay, well maybe you’ll find someone here while you start up this location.”
After that slight awkwardness, they decide to finish up dinner, clean up, and Ten and Johnny help Sicheng finish a lot of his unpacking. Sicheng is a minimalist, so unpacking everything was relatively fast. Ten organized his kitchen and gave each appliance, silverware, and containers a proper place, Johnny was able to handle the living room by setting up all the furniture such as the TV, shelves, and couch, and Sicheng was able to organize his bathroom and the main framework of his bedroom. It was reaching midnight when the couple decided it was time to head back home.
“Honestly, you guys didn’t have to stay and help me unpack. I feel bad that you guys ended up staying so late just to do so,” Sicheng mentions.
“Anything for you, but also on top of the cookies, we would like also some of your famous brownies as well too” Ten jokingly exclaims.
“All right, fine haha, I have to head to the store anyways. I have to place bulk orders for the bakery, and also buy my own food as well” Sicheng says as he rolls his eyes.
Closing the door, Sicheng decides it is time to prepare for bed. He takes a shower and changes into his pajamas. However, since it is his first night here, he decides to soak in the new environment. He lights up a vanilla-scented candle on his bedside table and plays some calming piano music. Sicheng has his bed set up so that he can look out the window. In the distance, he can see the bright lights of the city where he can hear the faint noises of some cars driving. As he looks around at the view, he can see each of the different stores and apartments close by where some are dimly light while others are completely dark. Eventually, he looks up to the sky and notices the moon and stars shining bright, and remembers the earlier conversation.
Sicheng knows that Ten knows what he said is a small white lie. Sicheng has always struggled up with his emotions. He honestly wouldn’t have been friends with Ten if Ten didn’t do the majority of the talking and socializing. He always felt like his independence has been his driving factor for success, but, still, deep down he knows that he wishes he can have someone to be with, someone to enjoy his companionship, someone to listen, and just overall someone to support him for being him.
Sicheng feels himself entering a dream state, and he decides to blow out the candle, turn off the music, and lay properly down in his bed. As he drifts into his slumber, he goes to sleep smiling, reminding himself that he is happy with where he is, and thinks that Ten might be right. This might be the place where he finds that special someone.