23 Days of NCT

Baking - Jungwoo

"Jungwoo, can you preheat the oven for me?" You asked him as you poured the cake batter in the baking pan.

Days with Jungwoo, your boyfriend for about a year now, were always special times, especially because you couldn't have them often because of the nature of his job, naturally, but whenever these days did come you always made unforgettable memories with each other and, no, you don't mean that in the romantic sense. Sometimes you felt like it was because Jungwoo tried extra hard to make them memorable for you, from getting locked in a mall overnight, having to dodge fans, and even once about having to fish him out of a fish tank, don't ask about any of those, they are certainly memorable. This date, although much less life threatening, was no different.

"Yup," Jungwoo wiped the flour on his hands on his apron and walked over to the oven, setting it to 180 degrees celsius before returning to the bread dough he was kneading, stepping over the ingredients that had fallen to the floor and neither of you have picked up yet for whatever reason.

Now one must wonder, how did the kitchen turn into a disaster scene?

A simple question with a simple answer, really.

You and Jungwoo have been watching a lot of baking shows together as of late, specifically the Great British Baking Show. It looked simple enough so you both figured to give it a try but, needless to say, maybe Jungwoo should just stick to showbiz and you should stick to writing because the process so far has not been sightly. Flour was scattered on the floor and walls, broken egg shells where they shouldn't be, milk and sugar were splattered on the stove, the only thing that would make this worse is if you both somehow got something on the ceiling.

"(Y/N)?"

"Don't say it, babe."

"Yeah I got dough stuck on the ceiling."

"Oh god... why isn't it coming down?"

"I think I over kneaded it," Jungwoo put his hands on his hips.

"No, babe, it looks... under kneaded..." you stared at it on the ceiling. "How'd it even get up there?"

"Taeil told me that the best way to knead bread was to throw it on the table," Jungwoo laughs.

"Wait, so why did you throw it upwards?"

"Fall damage."

"Oh my god," you laughed. "You're cleaning that up, not me."

"Of course I'm cleaning it up I'm the only one who can reach—" you wiped a handful of cake batter on his face before he can finish. "Oh this is war," Jungwoo smeared flour on your face. You took a spatula filled with icing and flung it in Jungwoo's general direction, and he was about to do the same with jam until the door opened.

"Mark! I'm here to pick up the—" Doyoung gasped. "What the hell is going on here?!"

Oh, right, you were at the dorms right now.

"Hi... Doyoung..." Jungwoo waved nervously with a cute smile on his face.

"It was Jungwoo's idea," you pointed the dripping spatula towards your boyfriend and he gasped.

"Why I—"

"I had a feeling," Doyoung sighs, he opens his mouth to say something again, but opts to turn around and pinch the bridge of his nose instead. "I just... oh god, okay, I'm going to leave now, and when I come back, the kitchen won't look like an earthquake hit. Yeah, yes, okay," he shut the door without another word and you and Jungwoo broke out in laughter.

"My idea, huh?"

"You're the one who wanted to bake, so technically yes," you pushed the cake into the oven and closed it.

Ah, leave it to Doyoung to make you laugh. A memorable day indeed, you would say. There was nothing better than spending the holiday season with Jungwoo, of course you couldn't go out like traditional couples, but any time with him is better than none, you would argue. And the way you'd always come home and reminisce in all the memories fondly is what you enjoyed the most about them. You turned to Jungwoo to thank him, but right before you could say anything you were reminded of a rather sticky mess, one that landed on Jungwoo's head.

"Oh god—" you grabbed a towel but quickly realized that under kneaded bread dough is going to take more than just a towel to remove.

"Pfft," Jungwoo stifled back a laugh while he took of the bigger chunks of dough out of his hair before laughing fully again, and you couldn't help but join in.

Now Jungwoo, surprisingly, wasn't embarrassed at all. You've seen so many different sides of him that he can barely remember as much anymore, he was just happy to see you smiling again. He almost never has time to do so much as send you texts as often anymore, which is why he always strived to make these times together memorable, he always finds ways to keep him in your mind somehow because, truth be told, Jungwoo's been rather worried as of late. He hasn't been keeping up with the so-called "boyfriend duties" and, maybe he's just afraid, maybe not. This date didn't go as planned, certainly, he didn't plan to destroy the kitchen, but seeing the way you smiled and had fun with him was enough to make him add today to the memory book. He already knew it, but this Christmas was going to be a little more special.