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22. That Guy

Yuna sat back at her spot near the window with her book in her hand. Though the pages were wide open in front of her, her eyes grazed over the words and she found herself continuously glancing over the edge of the book at Taeyong. He stood behind the couch leaning over Doyoung's shoulder as he furiously typed away at the keyboard of his laptop. Taeyong's lips pressed into a line and he squinted his eyes in concentration as he looked at the screen.

The atmosphere was definitely tense. Ten had left in a hurry not long before and Jaehyun paced back and forth between rooms as he talked on the phone. Yuna was thankful to Winwin for occupying Da Reum with League of Legends, but her mind was still floating freely between the quiet restlessness of everyone else. She wished she could be useful in this situation, or at the very least divert their attention for a little while.

She felt a twinge in her abdomen as her body called out to her for sustenance. Maybe food was the answer. They'd have to break away and eat at some point, anyway. She put her book down and something in her memory clicked. Even more than eating, the effort needed to make something seemed like a better distraction.

"Taeyong..." She called for his attention.

"Hm?" He hummed a response without looking up.

"We've been staying here for a while now and I'm a little sad that I haven't got to eat anything you've cooked." Her words hinted at her request. He looked up at her and his eyes softened.

"Are you hungry? You want me to cook you something?"

She nodded with a hopeful gleam in her eye. The others looked between them in confusion.

"Ok, I'll make you something." He chuckled as he stood and walked to the kitchen. She grinned happily.

The three other men stared after him with their eyes wide and their mouths open in awe. Their sudden lack of movement caught her attention and she looked back at them questioningly.

"What? Is he too important that he's not allowed to cook? Should I not have asked?" She asked, having forgotten the unfamiliar and strangely formal dynamic of the residents of the house.

"No...well, kind of. But more importantly, hyung! You can cook?" Doyoung asked as though some unbelievably shocking news had just been revealed. Taeyong nodded casually. "Since when?"

"There was a time where I didn't have people taking excessive care of me, you know."

"Haven't you all lived together for a while? How is this news?" Da Reum called from over his shoulder without letting his eyes part from the monitor in front of him.

"They don't really let me do anything. Like I said, it's excessive." He frowned at them. "They're good kids that listen well for everything else, but around here they basically decide everything." He chuckled as he prepared ingredients. Doyoung rolled his eyes and focused his attention back on his laptop.

Yuna crept into the kitchen and stood behind Taeyong as he meticulously cut vegetables into neat and uniform pieces. Her palms pressed on the sides of his waist and smoothed over the the front of his stomach to meet in front of him and latch together. She closed the distance between them, melding her body to his back. She rested her head on the broad planes of his shoulder blades for a moment before leaning to the side and peeking around his arm.

"Can I help?" She asked.

He set down the knife and spun around within the circle of her arms to face her.

"Mhm." His lips hummed an affirmation. "But first, since I am agreeing to bestow my amazing cooking talents upon you, you have to give me something."