Wolves and Bread (COMPLETED)

Special: A surprise for the birthday pup

The soft tinkling of the bell by the door sounds, introducing a new customer to the bakery. 'Welcome,' I greet the visitor as I walk through the kitchen door with a baking tray full of golden brown croissants.

'Scarlet, you need to help me.' Taehyung desperately strides over to the counter, his attitude betraying his great distress. He places his big hands on the top of it to support himself as his puppy eyes regard me. What has him so worked up?

Oh no, please do not tell me somebody saw their wolf forms.

'Did you get seen?' I ask, suddenly incredibly concerned about the boys. My body stiffens at the horrible thought.

'No, no. Not at all.'

I lower my shoulders in relief and sigh deeply. 'Thank goodness. Then what is it, Tae?' Filling in the empty display with the baked goods in my hands, I listen to his reply.

'Kookie's birthday is tomorrow and I forgot the cake you put me in charge of. I am so sorry, but I was so busy lately with my studies,' he rambles, nervously tapping his slender fingers on the glass.

Jin told me about the plan of throwing a surprise party for Jungkook's twentieth birthday and each of us has our own task to take care of. Jin is responsible for the dinner we will be having together, Yoongi is putting together a CD with his favourite songs, Jimin and Hoseok are creating a montage of all the performances they did at various festivals, and Namjoon is the one to distract the maknae of the group as we continue to prepare the festivity. We asked Taehyung to take care of the cake, so that I could take the time for my own little secret project: a photo collage of all the memories we have made together thus far.

'Okay, calm down. It's going to be fine. Studying is important too and university is crazy with the start of the new semester.' I put the now empty metal tray on a cabinet behind me, dust off my hands in the apron and approach the human puppy. 'We'll figure something out. Go take a seat somewhere and I'll be there in a sec to see what we can do. Do you want a drink?'

'Do you have a latte macchiato?'

'Yes, of course. I'll go get my notebook and then we can get started.' He nods and turns towards the bakery to search for a place to sit.

I place a tall glass under one coffee machine and press the button for the requested warm beverage. For myself I put a small cup beneath the other machine to make a cappuccino. Just as I head in the direction of the kitchen, the person I need to speak walks out of it. 'Mom, can you take over for a minute? I have something to do.'

Mom's eyes search the faces in the shop, noticing Taehyung's on whose visage they linger a brief moment. 'My guess is that it has to do with that handsome friend of yours over there,' she remarks and points nonchalantly in the direction of the orange-haired youth.

I nod. 'He forgot the cake, so we have to cook up a last-minute plan.'

She whistles. 'How can you forget such a thing for a birthday? Good luck. I'll man the cash register.'

'Thank you.' I run to the stairs leading to our apartment to pick up my notebook with baking ideas. Somewhere in the mess of other stationary I find the small light blue volume and with it in hand I head back, pick up the coffees and join Taehyung at one of the tables by the window.

'What to do, what to do,' I mumble, pouting my lips and looking at the man across from me, who looks just as puzzled.

'He does like your carrot cake,' he remarks, reminding me of the visit he made last year to get another piece of that same sweetness due to his flatmate eating it all before he could get to it.

'That's a good start.' I note the sort of cake down and Jungkook's favourite colours: red, black and white. Time is not on our side, so although I would love to do something incredible for our good friend, we cannot do so with our tied hands. 'Maybe we can do something simplistic.'