⤷ 🧁 ----- CH. TEN
CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS
JAMIE'S FACE TWISTED at the sour taste of the biscuit. "Just a wild guess, but is there lemon in this?"
"You want to spit it out, don't you?"
He shook his head, disagreeing. "That would be rude."
Kate pushed the bin towards him, and he spit the rest of the biscuit out anyway.
It was after business hours. Baked With Love was closed and clean, save for the single tray she'd prepared for Jamie to try out. He finished only the mugwort gyeongdan (sweet rice cake ball) and left single bites in both the peach habanero doughnut and the persimmon galettes. And clearly, the lemon biscuit was too sour. She could work with that.
"Rebecca's been asking about you," Jamie said, hopping off the front counter and helping Kate clean up the tasting tray. He followed her to the sink. "She's mad about your matcha strawberry shortcake and black sesame rice cakes."
Rebecca had quickly grown to be a loyal customer of Baked With Love. She had a major sweet tooth as it would seem (with a palate of a teenage girl).
"Tell her I'll swing by to drop off a basket later this week. I'll pack something for the boys, too."
Kate had grown accustomed to the palates of the Richmond team. Bumbercatch often chose the sourest thing in the group, saying it prepared him (for what, he never specified). Sam and Colin liked anything with chocolate, but Sam despised all combinations of orange and chocolate. Isaac, on the other hand, loved fruit tarts and leaned towards Korean flavors compared to Kate's English creations.
Even the office quintet had their preferences, and she noted them all. Ted accepted near all pastries with the exception of tea-based flavors and anything he deemed 'too' English. Trent had a particular taste for custards and cremes, and Leslie rathered he save the desserts for his wife and kids. Roy would usually sneak something while everyone was distracted. And both Beard and Will (funnily enough) precariously picked only things with alcohol.
"You're spoiling them," Jamie said, washing the tray while she tossed the garbage bag outside.
She tsked at him. "Says the one who sneaks jam tarts when he thinks I'm not looking."
He paused, placing the tray in the drying rack. "You saw that?"
"Every time. Now, let's get out of here. I have plans," she said. She sent a quick message to Evan and Darcy that she was on her way before setting the store alarm.
"And where I am dropping you off tonight?" He asked, jaw tightening unconsciously. They walked outside, and he opened the passenger side door of his car for her.
Once they'd both settled in his car, she answered with a teasing lilt despite her rushing heartbeat. "Jealous, are we?" She laughed when he didn't say anything. "The pub, you grump. Evan and Darcy are waiting."
Jamie turned up the radio to drown her out when she began laughing at his blushing cheeks, but he couldn't deny the warmth that bloomed in his chest at the sound.
Darcy set down her Guiness on the pub table with a thud, beer sloshing over the sides and onto the wooden table, much to Evan's chagrin. "So you and Jamie are okay? And you're okay with being just friends with him?"
Kate, mid-sip, tipped the rest of her drink back. Already raising her hand to order another, she nodded. "Never better. Plus, we still have a contract to fulfill."
"Screw the contract," Evan said.
It'd been a week of back and forth with them. Kate would say she was fine. Evan or Darcy of the both of them would say she's not. And then at the end of the day, they'd end up at the pub.
The barkeep set down another Moscow Mule on the table.
"Yeah, you look totally fine," Evan said, sarcastically to which Kate took another long sip of her drink. "Jesus, slow down. You're gonna have a nasty hangover tomorrow. Customers are going to complain you're green."
"I'm not the one drinking whiskey like it's water," Kate shot back. She hated whiskey.
"Yeah, well . . ." Evan looked past her, shrugging.
"Blah, blah, blah. Let's get back to task," Darcy said, thudding her glass against the table again. "In what world is staying friends with your ex-boyfriend ever a good idea? Mind you, an ex-boyfriend you have feelings for."
"I'll be fine," Kate said weakly.
Her head was starting to spin, and all the warmth in her chest was beginning to feel like it might turn to tears soon because Darcy and Evan were making sense. She was just in denial. Ugh! Everything was a mess, and all she could see when she closed her eyes was Jamie. Her head hit the table with a bang! Maybe, if she drank more alcohol, eventually she'd forget the color of his eyes.
"You okay there, little miss unrequited love?" Darcy asked.
"I feel like I'm living the plot of a novel," she answered, face still smushed into the wood.
"What?"
She lifted her head, shaking her hair out of her face. "I said, I feel like I'm living the plot of a novel! I mean, what's next? It's been something crazy after something crazy for the past few months."
Evan's eyes hardened, finally nodding his head toward the sight he'd been eyeing for the past few minutes. "Yeah, well, speaking of books and something crazy . . ."
"Jiyoon?"
Kate turned at the sound of her name. Though she didn't use her Korean name so often or so casually, there were a select few who preferred her birth name to her English name.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Darcy muttered under her breath, a smile brewing.
Hwang Minjoon was like sunshine after rain. He'd always been kind and with enough love in him to overwhelm a crowd. He was a children's book illustrator when they first met at a coffee shop a few years ago, and by the time he and Kate split up, he was a published author himself.
"I thought I was imagining things, but it is you. You look great as per usual," he said, looking far more put together and effortless than she.
Like a fish, Kate opened and closed her mouth. With the buzz she had going, she couldn't seem to form a coherent thought that didn't begin with 'Holy' and end with 'shit.'
Minjoon approached the table, taking the time to smile at Darcy and Evan. "Wow, the whole gang's here! Hi guys, it's been a while. How've you been?"
Kate downed the rest of her drink and then Evan's. She would have gotten Darcy's too, but Darcy was just a tad faster.
"You're getting married?" Kate's eyes brightened at Minjoon's engagement pictures.
After three glasses of water and throwing back up Evan's whiskey, Kate had finally sobered up. Minjoon, ever understanding as he was, even held her hair back as she vomited into a trash bin outside. And upon waving them away, saying she was fine, Evan and Darcy went back inside to drink more while Minjoon and Kate took a seat on the curb.
"Yeah, I took her to Paris last month. She loved it, and she loved it even more when I got down on one knee," he said excitedly, swiping his phone to show bits and pieces of the rest of their trip—romantic dinners, tourist traps, and silly selfies.
Kate zoomed in on the ring, and her eyebrows shot up. "Your recent release must be doing pretty well."
Minjoon laughed. "That, and I had some money saved up for this. What can I say? She deserves the best."
"Is that her kid?" She pointed at the young girl sitting between Minjoon and his fiancée, Hana.
He nodded. "That's Julie, her daughter from her first marriage. Maybe one day you can all come around and meet them?"
"Yeah, that sounds nice."
She could see the way he warmed even at the sight of Hana and Julie, and her heart tugged (with happiness for him). He was so in love, and it was clear now that in his life, she was just a stop that had to be taken before he found 'The One.'
So what the hell was the deal with Jamie?
Minjoon slipped his phone back into his jacket pocket. "So what's going on with you? All good in the world of Baked With Love?"
She scoffed. "God, I wish. Everything is so complicated right now. My world is in absolute disarray."
"Does it have to do with that guy?"
"What do you mean?"
Minjoon nudged her. "Come on, you know . . . the guy. The one you clearly weren't over when we got together."
For the second time tonight, she was left speechless, and he was quick to continue. "I'm not upset about it. Not anymore at least because God knows I was a grouch for weeks after we split. I mean, why do you think we broke up?"
"Because our personalities didn't match," Kate answered, reciting what he'd told her when he dumped her all those years ago.
She remembered it vividly.
"Jiyoon, I think we should stop seeing each other. I . . . Our personalities just don't match. We should stop while we're ahead."
Minjoon was shocked. "Jiyoon, I broke up with you because even though I really liked you then, I could see your heart belonged to someone else. And I had the tact to take a step back."
"Oh . . ." Kate wondered if the ground would open up and swallow her right then.
Before she could apologize or trip over her words to cut the silence with something anything, Minjoon began to laugh. "Don't get all in your head. I said I'm not upset. I'm just curious now. Tell me about him."
"He's a football player," she started. She took out her phone and scrolled until she found a half-decent photo of the both of them—from one of their late-night ice cream runs. "But honestly, his title should be Professional Dipshit with the way he's pulling around my emotions."
"So you like him?" He asked
"He doesn't like me," she answered.
Minjoon shook his head, a knowing glint in his eyes shining already. "That's not what I asked, but judging by your answer, I take it that you do?"
Kate sighed. "I'm pathetic, aren't I?"
"Absolutely, but who hasn't been hung up on an ex?" He dodged her hand chasing him for a smack. "You know, I never did get to hear the entire story between you and this guy. What happened?"
"It's . . . a lot."
"I've got time."
🧁 ━━━━ END OF CHAPTER NOTE
Long ass chapter I know . . . Surprise, shawty! I know adding an ex to the plot is cringey and over-done, but I was reading a webtoon, and honestly, it's the perfect plot device. Also, I wrote Minjoon with Kang Tae-oh in mind. He's literally a sunshine baby!! Feel free to imagine whoever you please, but I've included a mini moodboard below ↓
Until next time!
XOXO,
LONDON