A/N: This chapter (and the next) both mention food. I don't think they are anywhere near as mouthwatering as the breakfast empanada chapter but I just wanted to put a quick heads up in case you might find them that way regardless of my personal impression.
Just like the past few nights, last night didn't end the way I was expecting it to. After we had finally made our grocery list Jin walked me to my bedroom door as if we had just gone out on a date, and he was escorting me home. I couldn't keep the smile from my face when he had shyly taken my hand to walk me in that direction.
If I had expected him to want to stay the night with me I would have been disappointed. But he did stay around for a bit. We talked about nothing in particular, but yet even that little discussion felt like everything to me. He offered me some more of his tentative sweet kisses and after an hour or so decided it was time he went back to his own room. I nodded in acquiescence. I didn't want this time together to end since it was so rare that he chose to seek me out himself, but I couldn't exactly keep him here if he was ready to leave nor did I want to push him into staying.
When I walked him to my door he ended up surprising me by pulling me tightly against his tall frame. "I'm so happy we have found you, Daisy." He smiled brightly.
I grinned back at him, but before I could utter a reply his lips were on mine. This was unlike any of the shy kisses that he gave me before, yet still entirely sweet like him. He kissed me in a way that left tingles throughout my whole body. His tongue tentatively touching my own in an exploration that told me he was hesitant yet still ever so willing to progress to this step. All too soon it was quickly over. "That should give me some very sweet dreams tonight." He smiled at me lovingly while cupping my cheek.
"Me too," I had replied somewhat shyly.
This morning, at this minute, I am simply staring at the ceiling of my room and reliving those brief moments we had together last night. It's Hobi knocking on my door asking to use the bathroom that finally gets me rising out of bed. I should have probably been downstairs sorting out breakfast hours ago.
I snag a quick kiss from him before deciding to go ahead and make my way downstairs to see if anyone has taken the chore of cooking breakfast from me. I'm somewhat surprised by the duo I find in the kitchen that are making more a mess of the countertop than actually properly mixing the batter in the bowl. Jimin and Jk are both completely covered in the dry pancake mix and it has me laughing out loud at their appearance.
"Do you need me to take over that for you?" I ask them mischievously.
Jk rolls his eyes. "The only reason we made a mess is because Jimin is being stubborn."
"Ya! You were the one insisting I was 'mixing' the batter wrong." He frowns at Jk. "How can you mix a batter wrong?!"
"Do I need to remind you of the meringue incident?" Jk mutters.
"Meringue incident?" I ask curiously.
Jk quickly explains the 'BTS Run!' episode to me where Jimin had unintentionally created a new hair conditioner apparently. I chuckled of course, but when I immediately saw how self conscious it was making Jimin I gave him a hug. "We all make mistakes in the kitchen. Trust me I have had some doozies myself."
"But, you're an amazing cook." Jk arches an eyebrow at me.
"Sure, but a lot of my recipes I have made up myself from ideas that just came off the top of my head. Sometimes said ideas should have never been attempted because they definitely didn't turn out as well as I expected." I shrug my shoulders.
"What?! What's this mess?" Hobi comes in, looking somewhat stern. "You two had better clean this up." He pointed at the countertop.
"And since Hobi is back I am going to use that as my cue to get ready for the day." I peck the trio each quickly on the lips before heading back up to my room.
While in the shower I get a clever idea. I'm not sure I can get it to work out, but that's why once I am out of the shower and ready I go to hunt down the leader of all my soulmates. Er, is that really correct? Leader of BTS yes. Leader of my soulmates? That just sounds weird. I push myself out of my momentary mental argument to get back on task. I know I need to run this by Joon to see if it's feasible.
"You want to record your food preparation?" He asks.
"Just the steps before cooking. I figured we could start the Vlive with the actual cooking, although I know whoever is manning the camera will have to float between two spots for that. But, I thought maybe we should consider it just in case there is enough generated interest in the recipes. Also, perhaps as a backup in case haters don't believe I was the one actually cooking the recipes." I propose to him.
He nods, then grins. "You know who you need to enlist to help then. Don't you?"
I grin widely and run off to find my bunny. Who is just finishing up the last batch of pancakes. Go figure. I quickly relay my plan to him, and I'm not surprised he is excited by the idea himself. "I will have to edit them before they can be posted though." He kindly reminds me.
I nod. "I will announce the possibility of posting said videos before ending the stream. Will that give you enough time to edit them?"
"Other than my camera equipment I am pretty much already packed, so yeah I think I should have enough time to do that between the end of the Vlive and bedtime." Jk nods in agreement.
"Crap! I didn't think of the fact that we were leaving tomorrow! Are you sure that isn't too much of a time crunch?" I ask hesitantly.
"It doesn't take me that long to edit short videos, Daisy. I promise it's not a big deal." I'm still apprehensive despite his sweet bunny smile trying to convince me of the contrary. He brings me to him and gives me a lingering kiss that I feel all the way to my toes. Well, that's one way to reassure me I suppose.
Not long after that the groceries for tonight are being brought in, I quickly scurry to sort the items in different piles so I know I can easily locate the items for each separate dish. I then run back upstairs. Because while I did get ready for the day I didn't bother with makeup yet, and I know that appearing in front of a camera sans makeup while haters potentially judge me fiercely is the last thing I want to do.
Once I come back down is when the nerves really start kicking in. This makes me realize that I can't completely just wing it like I had initially planned. I at least need an outline of when I am going to do what. I must be outwardly showing my nerves because the next thing I know two sets of arms are wrapping around me and that buildup of unease begins to evaporate away, being replaced with happy tingles and butterflies. "We will help you plan together, Honey." Yoongi reassures me.
"You aren't in this alone." Jin makes a statement that isn't usually uttered for something so trivial. I look up at him to see if he made a translation error. I'm greeted with a very warm expression on his face, and in that moment I know he isn't strictly referring to now. He means that I will never be alone again. Is he telling me also that he has moved past his fear and reservations? I definitely hope so.
Despite my nerves the recording of the food preparation goes off without a hitch. I honestly highly doubt Jk will even have to do much editing. Also because of the preparation I don't have as much work to do tonight with the food.
The cheese pastries have already been sealed. Some of them just have cheese inside and the rest either have broccoli or cauliflower inside as well. So, all I have to do in regards to cooking them is fry them.
Regarding the sausage and bean casserole, which according to the recipe is called feijao tropeiro, I still have to cook the beans. The recipe suggests soaking them overnight, which I don't have the time for so I am soaking them as long as I can, but I'm also planning on following a quick soak suggestion I found online where later on I will bring the water to a boil on the stovetop and then let them soak in that water for another hour. I was kind of scared to precook the eggs, unsure of what that would do to the texture, so I decided to hold off on that idea. But, I did precook the bacon, sausage, and onions.
I smirked at the bowl of cut corn on the cobs. That particular preparation video was probably going to be the most entertaining since I struggled quite a bit with shucking the corn and brushing away the silky hair-like strands. Yoongi and Jin eventually ended up pitching in for that one, even though they were trying to maintain a hands off approach. I would have to cut the potatoes for the broil later. And the shrimp were already deveined. Thank God! So, all the hard stuff was already done. I mostly just had to line the cooking sheet with aluminum foil, place the items, season them, and put them in the oven.
Since the rice dish said to immediately serve it when it was done I realized other than cutting up the onion for it there wasn't much else I could do. This had me fretting a bit since that particular recipe says it would take sixty minutes. "I don't think we should have that long of a Vlive! It's going to take an hour to cook the rice, and then probably close to an hour to eat everything too."
"Then you start that dish before we start the Vlive." Yoongi suggests.
"But--"
"It's not something worth worrying over." He attempts to soothe my heightened agitation.
I find myself nodding, because he is right. I'm fretting over little things.
We quickly task ourselves with the dishes and countertops. The 95s make an appearance offering to do the dishes, and Joon takes the wash cloth from me when I try to clean the countertops myself.
"Okay, we're done with the stressful stuff and cleaning. Let's make something simple like sandwiches for lunch, and enjoy the Brazilian weather while we still have access to it." Joon announced after everything was finished.
"Did I hear someone say Brazilian weather." Hobi peeks around the doorway.
I immediately arch an eyebrow when he hands me another gift bag. I don't even have to peek in the bag to know what's inside of it. "Um. Hobi, exactly how many bikinis did you end up purchasing me?" He shrugs with a mischievous smirk on his face. "It's barely Spring, Hobi. I won't have the opportunity to wear these for a few months when we get to Seoul."
The others share an expression with each other that I can't quite read, and of course they make the matter worse when they start speaking in Korean. I glance at Tae. Yup, it's definitely about time I sit with him and discuss learning their native tongue.
They scurry around the kitchen quickly making everyone else's sandwiches. Instead of making my own they ask me what I want on mine. Somehow making my sandwich becomes an assembly line task. Jimin and Tae each spreading mayo on a slice of bread. Joon adding the spinach. Hobi adding the sliced tomatoes. Yoongi adds sliced avocado, only after he eats a slice himself. Jin adds the meat. Jk finishing it off with the cheese. It's the silliest and sweetest thing I have ever seen. I thank them before I take my sandwich to the dining room table to eat.
Once done I run upstairs and open my most recent gift from Hobi. When I unveil it I find myself wondering if he just purchased all of the designs of this particular style the store had available in my size. The top on this one is a mix between a seafoam green and mint color, not quite dark enough to be a true teal nor light enough to be aqua. The bottoms are a pretty mix of blues and greens with a paisley print. I might be a tad annoyed that he keeps doing this, but I can't help but smile regardless. He didn't know how much I liked paiselies but he is about to very shortly.