taste buds | kim seokjin [bts] a.u

dish 15 ;; ramen

minah had been extremely busy the past few days with her company as they had already started selling their fashion line. it was a hard time for her and her employees so seokjin didn't want to make a fuss out of dinner for the night. he opted for some high quality ramen and began to prepare his dish right after texting minah to ask what time she'll be home.

less than a few hours later, the doorbell to apartment 215 rang and seokjin excitedly swung the door open, but it wasn't minah.

"park–" he stopped mid sentence as his eyes landed on a middle aged man, suit and tie, a few inches shorter than seokjin himself. he recognised some of the stranger's features but he couldn't put his finger on it. the man at the door on the other hand, recognised seokjin instantly and scanned him up and down, judgementally.

"kim seokjin?"

"y-yes, that's me," seokjin responded slowly. his palms were beginning to sweat and he didn't know why he felt under pressure from the stranger's gaze.

suddenly, the man let out a short laugh, turning round to look at minah's apartment door and then back at seokjin. "this is unbelievable," he muttered. "so you and minah are neighbours too?"

"m-minah?" seokjin began to feel lightheaded as he realised who the man standing before him was. "chairman park?"

"yes, that's me, chairman park, park jaehoon, park minah's father."

"aah, hello," seokjin bowed respectfully, licking his lips in anxiety as chairman park scanned his outfit and took a quick glance inside his apartment.

"minah doesn't seem to be home yet, so i was going to ask her neighbour about her usual timings, but i'm guessing you know very well enough what time she'll be back." seokjin nodded, not knowing how to keep the conversation going as his appearance was very sudden. "what is this scent?" chairman park sniffed for a few seconds and then pointed behind seokjin.

"r-ramen, i was um, making some ramen for dinner." seokjin widened the door and gestured for chairman park to come inside, "if you haven't eaten yet, i can cook some more."

chairman park nodded, stepping inside the apartment and making his own way to the living room. his eyes dangerously inspected the scene before him. "he seems pretty decent," chairman park whispered, before clearing his throat and taking a seat.

"i'll just be back," seokjin bowed once again and then rushed to the kitchen, pulling out some more ramen and trying to focus his nervous breathing. he splattered water on his face and then went right back to stirring the noodles. "you've got this kim seokjin, do it for minah."

"so," chairman park's voice startled the broad-shouldered man as he turned back to see him standing right beside the pot of ramen. "what do you do?"

almost choking on his saliva, seokjin let out a laugh, "i model, as you already know, and–"

"jin, i'm home!"

chairman park raised his brows at the sound of his daughter's sweet voice. minah happily skipped to the kitchen, inhaling the savoury aroma of seokjin's ramen. when she opened her eyes and found her father standing in front of her instead of seokjin, minah hurriedly shut her eyes again. why am i seeing things, he can't be real, she thought, slowly peeking one eye open.

"are you just going to stand here? your boyfriend made us dinner." minah's eyes widened and she let out a nervous laugh as she pulled her father towards him.

"omo!" she smiled sweetly at seokjin before dragging her father by the arm out of the kitchen. "what do you think you're doing here?" she interrogated in a low voice, looking back every few seconds in worry of seokjin seeing them.

"how dare you ask me that? i came to see how your business was turning out, and... i came in concern of my daughter's wellbeing." chairman park's gaze softened as he admired his daughter properly for the first time in a while. "have you been doing well, minah?"

minah clenched her fists lightly, looking away from her father. "i've been great, dad, everything's going well."

"that's good to hear," he smiled warmly at her, but minah couldn't look up and meet his eyes.

"ramen's done!" seokjin chirped from the kitchen, to which minah straightened up and guided her father to the dining table.

a few minutes later and the three were engulfed in an awkward silence. slurping on her noodles, minah slowly looked across to seokjin and then to her father, both who were just stealing glances at each other. she wondered whether her father would appreciate seokjin's cooking just as much as she did. however, chairman park's annoyance towards seokjin soon melted as he dug into the wheat noodles and suppressed a compliment.

"how's the ramen, sir?" seokjin's voice came out quieter than he had intended it to, but chairman park just nodded in approval.

"just call me park jaehoon, i'm not really one for formalities."

minah let out a forced laugh, trying to lighten the mood, but her father just concentrated on his noodles. "they're good, aren't they?" her eyes lingered on seokjin as they both shared loving smiles and chairman park watched closely.

"you two were planning to eat ramen, here, alone?"

choking on the broth, seokjin took a sip of water and shook his head quickly. "i just prefer making dinner for your daughter at home," he explained. "homemade korean food is always the best for your system, especially if you're working intensively, like minah does."

chairman park nodded appreciatively, his judgement of kim seokjin heavily beginning to open up in a more positive manner.