Apron....... check.

Headband....... check.

Whisk........ check.

Spatula......... che....wait.....spatula?! *throws it away* *places one hand on hip while the other holds a whisk*

Killer chef  Yibo is here, all ready to do some baking.

Today, as of 5th October, is his lovely, honey pie, cutie, sweetie, bunny,.....well...you get it.... it's his boyfriend's birthday. Aaaaaand Yibo is going to bake a cake for him!

There's just a teeny-tiny problem : ............ (☞ ಠ_ಠ)☞ Yibo cannot cook.

This problem was actually not as teeny-tiny as some may think.
The last time Yibo made something was a cucumber salad, in which the cucumbers were mercilessly butchered..........Rest in peace, cucumbers 🙏.

Luckily, his boyfriend was a really good cook and he bakes whenever he had time. An entire cupboard in his kitchen was dedicated to baking ingredients and vessels and today Yibo was going to make full use of it. Zhan was out for shooting his upcoming drama. And when he comes back, he will be surprised by Yibo with a birthday cake.....Yayyyy!!

So all the things needed to bake a cake were there. As for the cooking part, when will his UNIQ hyungs be of use, if not now. Yixuan ge, being the mom of the group, can cook well. He couldn't ask the Day Day Up brothers as they must be shooting the show right now. Yibo had taken a day off. Why?..... because he had to bake a cake, people!!

And so he dialed Yixuan's number which soon was picked up.

"Hey, Yibo. How are you?"

"I am fine, ge. I need a favor. Guide me on how to bake a cake." Yibo demanded.

"Huh? Why do you want to make a cake?"

"You don't need to know, ge."

"Is that Yibo?" Someone screamed in the background on the phone. Yibo knew to whom that hyperexcited, high pitch voice belonged to. That voice was followed by 2 more annoying voices.

"Put it on speaker." The 3 other members came rushing to the phone near Yixuan.

"Why do you want to cook? What calamity is gonna happen?"

"Hahaha, baby Yibo is baking a cake!"

"We know, you don't like sweet stuff. Which special person are you making it for? And can you even cook?"

"Are you making it for your girlfriend? Do you have a girlfriend? Since when?"

"Is it someone's birthday? Then why do you want to make a cake? Answer your Senior brothers, Yibo!"

Yibo was habitual of this bombarding of questions. "Not telling you." He got annoyed.

"Ohh, what a coincidence, some famous celebrity in China also has his birthday today." Seungyoun was in full teasing mode. "What . A . Freaking. Coincidence!!"

One thing Yibo knew about this hyperactive hyung of his, is that he was very smart in catching up with things.
Yibo sighed."Please, let me hear the recipe. I need to start baking."

"Aww, our little Yibo is getting impatient." Seungyoun teased. "Just admit it that He's your......Ouch!"

"Stop teasing him." Yixuan had whacked Seungyoun's head, who pouted and retreated, messaging his head.

"Okay Yibo. Let's start, shall we?" Yixuan's voice was gentle was a mother to her son.

"I am ready." Yibo said confidently, keeping the phone on speaker mode, placing it on the kitchen counter.

He grinded his knuckles and snapped his head from side to side as if he was going for a battle. "Let's do some baking today!"

"So first of all, preheat the oven at 350 degrees." A voice came from the speaker.

Yibo did as he was told. "Done."

"Now, take a bowl."

He took a bowl and placed it on the counter. "Done."

"Take two cups of refined flour and put it in the bowl."

He searched for the refined flour and put 2 cups of it into the bowl.

"Okay done, next."

"Blow into the flour." A voice came from the phone.

"What...But why?"

What Yibo didn't know was, on the other side of the phone, Yixuan's mouth was shut by Seungyoun, Wen Han and Sungjoo who were dead set on pranking Yibo. Since their maknae lived far away, this was their only chance to harass him.

"Don't ask questions, we know baking better than you. Just do it."
"It's a good omen to do so. It's necessary that the flour should feel happy. Only then it will transform itself into a nicely baked cake."
"Yes, Bo. It's like a secret ingredient. All chefs do that. You won't know because you usually don't cook. But we know"

The 3 of them were stifling their laughs, imagining what face Yibo must be making.

"Hyung, are you sure that it is necessary?" Yibo had his doubts but the elders coaxed him into believing their lies.

"Yes, Yibo. You must do it or else the cake flour will get angry and it would refuse to bake itself resulting in a disastrous cake."

"Okay, as you say." Yibo, as the innocent didi he was, decided to comply.

He took a huge breath and emptied all of lungs out.

*Poof.*

The floor rose in the air spreading itself in all directions and particularly in the direction of Yibo's face, smearing it white.

*Cough cough*

The four boys on the other side where trying so hard to control their laughter which was a very difficult task.

"Hyung, the flour blew up everywhere." Yibo complained with a pout.

"Oh, you must have not done it properly. We always did it while baking." Sungjoo held back a snort.

"Let it be. Now take another portion of flour in a bowl." Yibo did as he was told.

"Do I have to blow on it again?" He asked innocently.

"No, not this time. One time is enough. The flour knows that your sentiments are pure." Wen Han added and the trio left to another room to laugh their asses off.

Yixuan straighten up and threw a glare at the retreating trio. Then turned to Yibo to continue their recipe. "Okay, next add 3 teaspoon of baking powder and 1/4 th teaspoon of baking soda to the flour."

Yibo searched for them and put them in the bowl.

"After you put them, mix it well."

Yibo mixed it with a spoon, spilling some on the counter and the kitchen floor and on the apron.

"After you are done, place this bowl aside and take another large bowl."

Yibo took it.

"Crack 4 eggs and beat them till they are fluffy and pale."

Yibo went to the fridge and took 4 eggs in one hand. And while coming back to the counter, as maybe luck wasn't on his side, two eggs decided to slip of his fingers and fall on the floor.

"Shit!"

"What happened?" A concerned voice inquired over the phone.

"Nothing, ge."

He went back to the fridge mumbling 'I'll clean it afterwards' and took two more eggs, this time carefully holding them so that they wouldn't fall.

He then cracked them one by one and beat them till they were fluffy.

"They look fluffy, ge."

"Good. Now add any essence that is available."

Yibo searched for the cupboard in the kitchen. There they were the various flavours and essences. His eyes scanned them one by one.

Strawberry- pineapple- lemon- pistachio- saffron- vanilla - almond.....

Wait .....Vanilla!

This scent reminded him of his Zhan. So he picked it up smiling widely.

"I am choosing vanilla." He chirped happily over the phone.

"Oh, that's nice. Add 1 tablespoon of the essence and mix it."

Yibo added one tablespoon of essence, but he was not satisfied with the colour or the smell so he added one more tablespoon and some more and a bit more, till half of the essence in the bottle was gone.

'It's not like a little bit of extra flavour matters anyway, right?'

"Are you done?" Yixuan inquired.

"Yes ge."

"Okay, now add sugar to it. We need 1 and 1/2 cups of sugar."

"Okay." Yibo went back to the cupboard to look for sugar. He saw three containers of sugar.

"Yixuan ge, there are three types of sugars. One is large cubes, one is regular sugar and one is the powdered sugar."

"Take the powdered one. That's castor sugar."

Yibo looked in front at the phone on the counter, "Okay." and reached out his hand to take the jar. But instead of picking the sugar jar, he picked up the jar beside the powdered sugar one ...... the contents of the jar looked really similar to the castor sugar..... Except the fact that it was actually......salt.

"Okay, I got the castor sugar,what to do next?

"Add 1 and 1/2 cup of the castor sugar to the batter."

"Okay, I added it."

"Um....Bo, that amount of sugar was suitable for us all as we don't eat much sweet stuff. So the cake will medium sweet. Does the person whom you are making it for like sweet things?"

"Actually they like spicy things but can handle sweet stuff well."

"Okay then you can put more sugar in it."

"As you say."

Yibo picked it up and emptied the entire jar into the bowl containing batter.

"Ok, done."

"Mix it well."

Yibo mixed it vigorously, spilling it on his apron and and the counter till the castor sugar (actually, salt) disappeared in the batter.

Yibo was quite happy with himself. "Done. Ge, we are doing well. And here I thought baking was difficult."

"Yes, MasterChef Yibo. It's easy as long as you follow everything." Yixuan was also proud of Yibo.

"Next, add one teaspoon of oil and mix again."

He added the oil and mixed well.

"Done. What's next?"

"We had kept aside the bowl of flour, right?"

"Yeah."

"Take that and pour half of it into the batter and mix it."

Yibo mixed half of the flour. The batter had thickened."Ge, the batter became thick."

"That's how it should be. Take half a cup of milk and add it slowly to the batter while mixing."

Yibo went to the fridge and as luck was not on his side yet again. He slipped on the eggs fallen near the fridge and fell down splashing the milk all over.

"Aagghh!" He winced.

Hearing the sound of crashing Yixuan asked,"What's wrong, Bo?"

"Nothing, ge." Yibo managed to inform. He stood up brushing his clothes. It didn't hurt much. He had seen worse while skateboarding.

"Where were we?

"Did you put the milk in the batter?"

"Not yet, I am on it."

Yibo then again, went for the fridge, this time cautiously, dodging the fallen eggs and spilled milk. Too busy, in keeping himself safe from falling, he forgot the quantity of milk to be used and brought a whole glass of milk.

"Done yet?"

"I am doing it ge."

He poured the entire glass of milk and started whisking again.

"Isn't this better too thin?" Yibo was perplexed as he raised the whisk from the batter to see a few watery strands.

"No, it alright, we have taken the proper measurements of all the ingredients so the batter must be of proper consistency. Don't stress over it much."

"OK then what to do next."

"Put the remaining half of flour and whisk."

Yibo did that.

"Now the batter is ready. Take a tin can of proper size and oil it a bit and pour the batter. After that, dab it a few times to release the trapped air bubbles."

There were quite a few tin cans. Yibo grabbed the nearest one that was actually smaller than required. He poured the cake batter which filled up more than 3/4th of the tin can. He then dabbed it a bit to forcefully, spilling some on the kitchen counter.

"Done, ge."

"Now place the container in the preheated oven."

Yibo picked the container gently and placed it in the oven.

"That's it Yibo, take it out after 35 minutes. Don't forget to use mitts while taking it out or you'll burn yourself."Yixuan reminded him as he knew Yibo may get clumsy in the kitchen.

"Thank you, Yixuan ge."

"You are welcome." Yixuan replied before his phone was snatched by the annoying trio.

"Oohhooo!! Yibo's special someone is gonna be impressed." Sungjoo cooed.

"Tell us later, how was the cake, okay?" Wen Han added.

"Enjoy today, Bo! And wish him happy birthday from us." Seungyoun yelled at the end.

"BYE BYE!"

The call ended and Yibo sighed.

A few moments later, Da Zhangwei, a co-host of Day Day Up called Yibo.

"Hello, why did you ask for a day off, huh, Yibo?"

"Its nothing, Da ge."

"Haha, no need to hide. Everyone knows it's his birthday today. You must have wanted to surprise him, right?"

"You caught me. I am planning something for him." Yibo took a look at the oven. "I hope he will like it."

"He will. He will. No worries. Do you know what happened on today's shooting? A chef from Chongqing came on the show ........."

Da Ge narrated all that happened there, while Yibo was listening to him and laughing when any funny incident came up.

He got too caught up with the talking to notice black fumes coming out of the oven.

".........okay then we'll meet tomorrow afternoon. Bye ge." Yibo ended the call that's when a smell reached his nostrils, " What's this burning smell?"

That's when realisation hit him.
"THE CAKE!!" He gasped and ran to the oven. He was about to open the oven when he remembered Yixuan's words 'wears mitts while taking it out.'

He got for the mitts and wore them, taking out the said birthday cake.
He took a look after removing the cake in a plate. It's sides were burnt.

"Hash, Good thing it didn't burn completely."

Meanwhile, the cake........

He then applied cream on it which he has bought in the morning when he arrived here and also placed a few candles. He'll light them once Zhan comes which will be anytime soon as it was 4 p.m. and his shooting schedule for today had ended.

Click.

The door of the posh apartment unlocked and its owner was welcomed by a burning smell. He went to the kitchen, worried.

"WHAT THE HELL !?!?" He gaped in horror.

Flour splattered everywhere, milk was spilled, fallen eggs were a mess on the flooring, utensils dumped on the counter and on the floor, various cooking ingredients scattered in all directions.

"What the hell happened here?"

Zhan was about to lose it when......

"Tada!! Happy Birthday!" Yibo came from behind the counter, smiling sweetly with his flour-laden face.

Zhan was startled and took a step back , but then realised it was Yibo. He sighed in relief.

"Thank you, Bo. But what happened to you? Why are you covered in flour?" He asked dusting Yibo's cheeks and forehead softly with his muffler.

Zhan then again looked around the kitchen. "Did a stormed hit my kitchen?" He asked.

"No, I baked a birthday cake for you." Yibo replied.

~Stunned~

Zhan froze on the spot.

"Y-you...b-baked?"

Yibo nodded.

"A birthday cake?"

Yibo nodded.

"For me?"

Yibo nodded again.

"In my kitchen?"

Yibo nodded again. "Now come on, let's cut it."

'My poor kitchen!' Zhan screamed internally, taking a last at all the mess, before Yibo dragged him to the dining table where he had placed the cake. But how can he get angry when Yibo had worked so hard to make something for him.

"What are you thinking about, Zhan ge?" Yibo asked pulling out a chair for Zhan to sit.

"No...nothing. Let's cut it." Zhan sat and Yibo pulled his chair near Zhan ge. He lighted the candles.

He prayed for a few seconds and blew out the candles. Yibo started singing the birthday song.

Zhan took the knife to cut the cake......well he tried cutting the cake. He really did. But the cake won't budge. Yibo stopped singing and looked at him innocently.

"Haha." Zhan laughed nervously and rotated the plate so that a softer side comes around.

When he tried cutting the cake again, the knife luckily went in this time.

Yibo continued singing the happy birthday song and clapped.

"Wish you many many happy returns of this day, Zhan ge!"

"Thank you." Zhan replied and they shared a kiss.

Now that Zhan had cut a piece, Yibo picked it up and was about to feed the entire piece to Zhan."Say aaaaahh."

No choice, Zhan obliged.

The worst decision of his life.

The cake was rock hard, Zhan felt like he was eating rocks; salty flavoured rocks, to be precise. The burnt cake was indestructible, the extremely salty taste stung his tastebuds and the powerful punch of vanilla numbed his senses.

'I am going to die!'

"How is it?" A shiny eyed puppy asked him.

Should he tell the truth and spit out the killer cake? But look at that smile on Yibo's face!

'If me eating this keeps the smile on your face then never! I will eat this killer cake.' Zhan had made his decision.

He showed a thumbs up to Yibo and tried to smile his best though it was a labourous task to do given the explosion occurring in his mouth.

Yibo clapped his hands in joy. He had succeeded in baking a birthday cake for his boyfriend and he liked it. Hoorraayyyy.

'But why is Zhan ge only chewing and not swallowing?
Aah, he must have been immersed in the delicious taste of the cake so he must have forgotten about the swallowing part!'

He poked Zhan's cheek to gain his attention and gulped himself, motioning Zhan to do the same.

Zhan got the cue. But if chewing this unchewable material was this difficult, then swallowing it would be a death penalty.

Yibo did the gulping again, hinting Zhan to swallow it.

Forcefully, very forcefully, Zhan tried swallowing the lump in his mouth, which got struck in his throat. The salty taste was burning his oesophagus; his eyes started watering. Somehow, with great difficulty, he managed to swallow it without dying. And showed a sloppy smile when he did it.

"Aww, Zhan ge, is it so good that you are crying?" Yibo patted Zhan's head.

"Then let me try it, too."

Yibo was about to cut a piece for himself, when Zhan abruptly held his hands.

"NOOOOOO, you can't eat it!" Zhan screamed out of the blue and Yibo was confused. "Why?"

"Because.....um.." Zhan was thinking hard for an excuse. ".. um..... because it's mine! I want to eat it all."

"You liked it that much?" Yibo asked smiling.

Zhan nodded. He felt guilty for lying but....things you gotta do to make your boyfriend happy!

"If you liked it that much, then I'll bake more cakes for you!" Yibo was super excited.

"NOOOOOO." Zhan screamed again and immediately regretted seeing Yibo's fading smile. "What I mean to say is.... you don't need to do anything. I'll do all the cooking for us both. You can just relax, okay?"

"Okay, as you say." Yibo's smile was back.

After that they clicked a few photos. Yibo took a lot of pictures of his cake so that he can boast about it to all his senior brothers. After they were done, the atmosphere around Zhan changed a bit.

"Yibo?" *Zhan smiles*

"Yes, baby?" *Yibo smiles*

"Make sure to clean up all the mess in the kitchen...........now." Zhan's smile was frozen as he looked at Yibo with icy cold eyes conveying,
'Nobody dares to mess with my kitchen and get away with it without cleaning!'

Saying this, he left an expressionless Yibo and went to put the remaining cake in the fridge, carefully dodging the fallen eggs.

Yibo got up too and followed Zhan. "Now? But Zhan ge, it will take too long and I will have less time to spend with you."

"You are not entering the bedroom until you finish cleaning." Zhan said after drinking water. His decision was final and Yibo knew that he can't change it.
Zhan got a broom and sponge and handed it over to Yibo.

"Good luck, baby." He kissed Yibo on the lips, giving him a sympathetic smile and went to the bedroom while Yibo was heard groaning, left behind alone in the kitchen with the mess he made.

"Aaaaaggghhhhh!#!" Yibo screamed (silently).
"I am never ever baking again ...................................................................................................... until his next birthday. Well, he loved the cake so why not? I'll bake it again next year and don't worry, I'll share it with you guys too."

"Then let's do some baking again!"

.

.

.

                        ~~~The End~~~

.

.

Author's note:

Hi guys,

This story was again given as a challenge to me by my fellow author friend Kawaiisakura1993

Please check out her story too.

I have also written another story as a challenge, the name is "Who cares?/I do!"

Give it a try if you haven't.

Take care. Stay safe.

Bye bye ♥️.