Hyunjin was a nervous wreck. Although he actually had no reason at all, because baking cookies was actually not really difficult and Felix had even practiced with him twice. And yet the thought of baking with Chan and Jeongin made him insanely nervous.

After he stumbled across the kittens twice and almost hit his head on the countertop, he had to pour his coffee over his sweater and had to change clothes and then he had forgotten the sprinkles at home, which meant that he had to drive back home again.

But he managed to get to work just in time, changed his clothes frantically and now watched the residents at lunch.

Yuna stood next to him and watched him grinning, but today Hyunjin didn't let her annoy him.

"And you're sure you are capable to bake cookies all on your own?" Yuna teased, while Hyunjin only had eyes for Chan and Jeongin.

"Sure. Felix practiced with me and the second time the cookies didn't burn at all. I'll get it done. In addition, Julie will bake with us, so nothing will go wrong," Hyunjin declared and watched in amazement as Chan laughed at something Jeongin had said.

Somehow, a lot seemed to have changed in the few days when he had seen Chan little to nothing. And he seemed to have done exactly right when he had suggested Jeongin to make friends with Chan.

With a gentle smile, he finally turned to Yuan when she pushed a finger into his chest. "Is that your merit?" she asked quietly and nodded unobtrusively to Jeongin and Chan.

"Probably."

But before they could continue talking about it, a general bustling broke out, because it was only twenty minutes until the group therapy and the afternoon program would begin.

Again, the nervousness bubbled up in Hyunjin and he hurried to his closet to get the sprinkles. He and Julie wanted to meet in the communal kitchen to prepare everything necessary before the residents would be there.

Since most days were firmly planned and were usually repeated every week, rarely anything new happened. Which was why they hadn't really been able to estimate how many of the residents would really come to the baking workshop.

But at least of two residents, Hyunjin knew very well, would come, because they had told him themselves.

Which somehow didn't lessen his nervousness, but he was looking forward to spending time with them and maybe get to talk with them.

Grinning, Julie handed him an apron on which had printed "BakingFairy" on it. Probably meant more as a joke, but when Hyunjin proudly hung it around his neck and tied a bow behind his back, she laughed softly.

"We should offer workshops together more often. Seems like it's fun to work with you."

"Of course it's fun to work with me," Hyunjin sniffed and filled the sprinkles and chocolate droplets into small bowls. "Have you been able to find cookie cutters?"

"I have. Although I would normally be for round cookies. But maybe someone has fun cutting out cookies," she suspected shrugging her shoulders and layer out the cookie cutters as well.

About fifteen minutes later, everything was prepared and Hyunjin leaned next to Julie on the kitchenette while they waited for the first residents to arrive.

The first two who came were, who could have expected, Jeongin and Chan.

"Hello Hyunjin," Jeongin said cheerfully as he pulled Chan to one of the tables and forced the elder to sit down.

Chan had thrown a confused look at Hyunjin and Julie, but then remembered Jeongin's words that Hyunjin would do the back workshop together with one of the therapists.

"Hello Jeongin, hello Chan," Hyunjin said with a smile and was immediately surprised that more and more residents came into the kitchen.

A short time later, thirteen residents sat in the kitchen around the round tables, which Hyunjin and Julie had divided into three groups of three and one group of four.

The residents were mostly peaceful with each other and had fun making the dough and after the brownies were in the oven, actually cutting out cookies, for which they had changed the recipe a little to get a smoother dough.

Chan and Jeongin sat together next to each other and decorated their cookies, while they were both full of a not inconsiderable amount of flour.

Julie had long noticed that Hyunjin's biggest interest was the table of the two, but since he also took care of all the other residents, she said nothing about it.

At the moment, he sat next to Chan and decorated a cookie with chocolate droplets, without noticing that he was watched by three people.

"Did you... did you had the opportunity to ask about Berry...?" Chan finally asked quietly so that only Hyunjin could understand him.

The younger one almost hit his greasy hand against his forehead. "Oh fuck, no... I didn't even think about it anymore... I'll ask Yuna later when we're done here. Or maybe Julie knows something."

He had answered louder than intended, which was why Jeongin stared at him with big eyes and the third resident also looked at him curiously.

"Sorry. I just forgot something," Hyunjin muttered with red ears and concentrated on the biscuit in front of him again. He carefully lifted his masterpiece on the tray, apologized again and stood up to go to the next table.

Somehow he had far less time to talk to Chan and Jeongin than he thought and it annoyed him quiet a bit. On the other hand, it was also fun to see the residents doing something so normal. How carefree and cheerful they could get involved in the project. Why Hyunjin did his best to support everyone equally.

Almost two hours later, the fun was over and Julie and Hyunjin were busy cleaning up the kitchen.

"Did you knew Chan and Jeongin before you started working here?" Julie asks curiously while they freed the tables of stuck flour.

Uncertain, Hyunjin bit his lower lip and shook his head. "No, I only got to know the two here. I freed Jeongin with Yuna from an unfortunate situation with other residents and since then he has somehow been attached to me. And I can't explain what exactly is going on with Chan. I was there in some incidents where he wasn't doing so well. Apart from that, we sometimes talk."

Surprised, Julie looked at him. She had already had Chan's file in her hands and also worked with him in group therapy, but normally the young man was rather alone and often enough choose not to talk. At least until he was seen more often with Jeongin recently.

"Oh well..," she only said, as she noticed how uncomfortable Hyunjin felt with the topic.

"Can you..., is there personal information in the resident's files?" Hyunjin finally asked at some point, when he managed to gather some courage.

"Why are you asking?"

"Chan's family has a dog.. and he asked me if it would be possible to find out if anyone is taking care of him..." Hyunjin murmured quietly and didn't dare to look at the therapist.

However, she reacted quite differently than he had expected. "A dog? That's wonderful. Maybe he would be better off if he got a visit from his dog. After all, it's somehow the last remaining family member of him."

Surprised, Hyunjin nodded and put the last bowls in the dishwasher.

"I'll take care of it and see what I can find out," smiling, the young woman said goodbye to Hyunjin and rushed away.

Shaking his head, Hyunjin looked after her and then looked around the kitchen again, only to find that everything was clean and he could go in search of Yuna.

He found the older nurse in the garden at the vegetable beds. Sighing, he dropped on the bench next to her and rubbed his hands over his face.

"Tired?"

"Yeah, somehow I was too nervous to be able to sleep well. There all the worry for nothing. Not a single cookie got burnt and they even taste really good. There are some in the lounge if you want to try them," Hyunjin said with a smile and closed his eyes for a moment.

"Hello Hyunjin."

Surprised, Hyunjin opened his eyes and saw Chan standing in front of him.

"Hi..?"

"Do you have a moment? We could go to the pond."

Uncertain, Hyunjin looked at Yuna, who nodded thoughtfully. "Sure, go ahead. There are enough care takers in the garden."

Hyunjin suppressed a sigh, got up and followed Chan. The older one seemed much more balanced than before, which also made Hyunjin feel somehow calmer.

"I talked to Julie. She wants to inquire about your dog and will definitely let you know when she has found out something," Hyunjin explained quietly while he sat down at the pond next to Chan.

The heavy scent of the night bloomers was only weak even now in the evening. Most of the flowers had now faded and Chan looked sad when his gaze fell on the brown withered flowers.

He took a deep breath, nodded gratefully to Hyunjin, but said nothing.

"Thank you... You take really good care of me," Chan finally murmured after a while barely audible.

"I'm just doing my job..." muttered Hyunjin, even though they both knew that wasn't true. "Did you have fun baking?"

Smiling, Chan nodded, dipped his fingers into the pond water and splashed Hyunjin with it.

"Ey," laughing, Hyunjin wiped the drops of water from his face and poked his finger into Chan's arm.

They sat next to each other in silence for quite a while until Chan suddenly started talking.

"I grew up in Australia... The air is very different there than here. Even if it's been quite a while since we moved to Korea. But it was the first thing I noticed. That it smells different. And the snow. Even if we don't have that many snow here, there is never any in Australia. But kangaroos and koalas and cute little quokkas that somehow remind me of my best friend."

Completely frozen, Hyunjin sat there and stared at Chan. He sucked up every word of the elder and had to smile because he had never heard so many words at coming out of Chan's mouth. The memories of the elder sounded so vivid and wonderful as if he had just been there recently.

Only when Chan fell silent again, Hyunjin dared to say something. "That sounds incredibly beautiful. I've never been anywhere other than in Korea."

Chan nodded, but seemed incredibly far away with his thoughts.

When he suddenly reached for Hyunjin's hand and tears rolled down his face, Hyunjin felt hopelessly overwhelmed at first, but then reacted almost as he would if Felix cried.

"I know it's hard..." he murmured and caressed Chan's back with his free hand. "Come on, let's go to your room..."

Unable to say anything, Chan just nodded and let Hyunjin pull him up. Together they went back to the building under the watchful eyes of the caretakers in the garden.

"Do you want... should I stay with you a little longer...?" Hyunjin asked quietly after Chan sat down on his bed.

Sobbing, Chan nodded and finally pressed himself against the younger one. He gently stroked Chan's back and murmured gentle, soothing words.

When Chan slowly calmed down again, Hyunjin moved a bit away from him, but could not stop himself from brushing the older's hair out of his forehead.

"My flowers... they are withered," Chan whispered and a lonely tear rolled down Chan's cheek, but he seemed a little more composed again.

"I'll bring you new ones," Hyunjin whispered and grabbed Chan's hand.

After taking a deep breath, Chan closed his eyes and finally let himself sink onto his bed.

"Rest a little... I'll see you tomorrow," Hyunjin whispered and although he knew he wasn't allowed to do that, he gently stroked through Chan's hair.

"Thank you," Chan muttered and had already fallen half asleep when Hyunjin left the room.

꧁⟢ ⍭〄⍭ ⟣꧂