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“Where is it?” Hyunjin mutters to himself as he opens and closes drawers and cupboards in a kitchen that is definitely not his own. In the dining room, he can hear Seungmin chatter to Minho and Jisung about their plans for New Years Eve. The soft sounds of a piano melody are playing in the background, and the room is filled with the smell of delicious spices that evoke childhood memories, nutmeg and cinnamon and oranges.
Seungmin is rambling on about how they’re planning to go down to Busan on December 31st, spend the evening exploring the city before counting down to the New Year together on the shore by the ocean. Sometimes he’ll take a short break, undoubtedly to eat one of the cookies that Minho had placed on the table earlier, ones he baked proudly with the secret recipe that has been in his family since his great-grandmother.
The secret recipe that Hyunjin is currently trying to find.
There’s no doubt about it that Minho’s cookies are the best Christmas cookies in existence. Hyunjin was never big on cookies, but a couple of years ago, when Minho and Jisung first invited them over for a dinner leading up to Christmas, Hyunjin tried one out of courtesy and…
and he fell in love. With a damn Christmas cookie.
He’s tried everything since to get his hands on that recipe, because only eating them once a year is simply not enough for him. He tried asking for it. He begged for it even, going down on his knees. He offered money, and tried to call the recipe in as a favor when Minho owed him one. But he never succeeded, so this year he’s bringing out the big guns. This year, he’s going to steal the recipe.
Hyunjin knows for a fact that Minho doesn’t mind handing out the recipe. He happily handed it over to Felix when the other asked Minho for it, on one condition: to never pass it on to Hyunjin. Hyunjin knows that at this point, Minho only keeps the recipe away from him just to spite him. And Hyunjin is determined to win this stupid Christmas cookie recipe battle that they have going on between them.
Seungmin is in on the plan, because of course he is. He’s Hyunjin’s decoy. Hyunjin feigned a stomach ache after Minho had brought out the cookies, and excused himself to the toilet. Instead, he snuck into the kitchen, where he’s desperately trying to find Minho’s stack of cooking books. Seungmin was instructed to keep their hosts occupied until Hyunjin would return, hence his blabbering on and on about their upcoming plans - something decidedly unlike Seungmin, who rarely leads a conversation and prefers to sit back and listen. He had rolled his eyes at Hyunjin’s plan but he hadn’t objected because quite frankly, he loves Minho’s cookies too, and it is quite unfair to be at a disadvantage of getting them just because of Hyunjin’s and Minho’s squabble. The two of them are the best of friends, but they always bicker with each other for no reason.
“It’s gotta be somewhere here,” Hyunjin murmurs, and he lets out a small squeal of happiness when he opens a drawer and finds a recipe book that looks well-used, flour on its cover and clippings of recipes in newspapers sticking out over its edges. Now he just has to find the cookie recipe, snap a quick picture, and then he’ll return to the dining room as if nothing ever happened. And tomorrow, he’ll ring Minho’s doorbell, and present him with a plate of freshly baked Christmas cookies. He can already picture the look of confusion on his friend’s face. It will be glorious.
Of course, afterwards he’ll delete the picture of the recipe from his phone to respect Minho’s wish to keep it private unless the other allows him to keep it. He might not win the war of cookies, but he’ll be happy enough to have won the battle.
Too gleeful about finding what looks to be the recipe book, Hyunjin leafs through it without realizing the scraping of a chair in the dining room and footsteps approaching.
“Hwan Hyunjin, what are you doing in my kitchen?”