Ch.7070. How We Prepare for the Festival

Back at the dessert shop.

We entered the store with our arms still linked.

“There aren’t many people here.”

“You’re right, what day is it today?”

This place is supposed to be a popular spot in the neighborhood and normally crowded, but today the interior was quite empty. Could it be because of the time of day?

It was a bit strange, but I guess it’s for the better. With fewer people, we can browse comfortably without feeling self-conscious, which is actually nice.

“It’s comfortable this way. Should we grab a seat first?”

“That table we sat at last time is empty, let’s go there.”

“Sure, I’ll get the tray and tongs.”

After quickly dividing our roles, I approached the display counter, exchanged a nod with the employee, and grabbed a tray and tongs.

Now, which dessert should I check first? As I was holding the tongs and contemplating, Hwa Nabi came up beside me and tapped my shoulder. She must have already secured our seats.

“That was quick?”

“It’s right in front of us, isn’t it? Anyway, have you thought about what you want to try first?”

“Well, there are so many options.”

This shop doesn’t just sell cake slices; they offer various types of desserts. For example, homemade cookies, pies that are similar to bread in form, puddings, and so on.

To exaggerate a bit, there are dozens of different desserts on display. Since we can’t possibly taste every type unless we’re planning to take just one bite and throw the rest away, we need to choose wisely.

“What do you think would taste good?”

“Everything looks delicious to me. What about you, Siwoo?”

I asked hoping for an opinion, but didn’t get much help. Well, I suppose asking someone who can’t resist sweets wouldn’t yield meaningful results.

“I’m not sure either. Maybe we should just try them ourselves?”

“Yes, there aren’t many left that we haven’t tried. That would be faster.”

I opened the display case and selected a few desserts that Hwa Nabi pointed out, placing them on the tray. While at it, I added a few cookies for myself and returned to our table.

“What should we eat first?”

I asked while scanning the tray with my eyes.

Tiramisu, waffle, pie, macaron, pudding… We only took one of each type, but there were already five items. Just thinking about tasting all of them made my head start to ache.

“Shall we try the apple pie first?”

“Sure, I’ll cut it for you.”

It’s quite large, which would make it difficult to eat by hand. When I put the knife to the strip-shaped apple pie, it slid in smoothly like cutting tofu. I cut two pieces, placing one on Hwa Nabi’s plate and the other on mine.

I took a bite of the pie, avoiding the part heavily spread with jam. She followed suit, popping the pie into her mouth.

Munch, munch. Her eyebrows curved like half-moons as she tasted the pie, delicately covering her mouth.

“Wow, Siwoo. This is really sweet, isn’t it?”

I can taste the sweetness even though I avoided the jam-covered part. I put down the piece of pie I had bitten into.

“Yeah, but pie doesn’t taste good when it gets cold.”

“That’s true. Should we prepare snacks rather than bread then?”

“Pudding and tiramisu taste better cold, so those would be fine to buy. Let’s add a few types of cookies to that.”

So refrigeration becomes an important factor? We should look into this more carefully.

“How many cookies should we prepare?”

“I can’t be certain since I haven’t seen it myself, but they probably don’t have an oven, right? If they can’t make more, we should buy a bit extra.”

If they’re serving large ones rather than small ones, preparing about two hundred should be enough. It might sound like too many, but they could run out surprisingly quickly.

Our class alone has about twenty students, and if each person takes just one, that’s twenty gone already. Having leftovers is fine, but running out would be a problem.

“Two hundred cookies plus other desserts… that’s going to cost quite a bit, isn’t it?”

“We’ll cover it with the support fund first, and if that’s not enough, we can each chip in. If that still doesn’t work, I’ll pay for it.”

After dismissing the concern, I picked up a black cookie and put it in my mouth. Crunch—the rich dark cocoa flavor hit me as soon as I bit into it. It was dry and bitter, a cookie I could eat without discomfort.

Crunch. As I took another bite of the cookie, Hwa Nabi stared at me intently.

“Siwoo, can I ask you something?”

“Sure, what is it?”

“You don’t really like sweet things, do you?”

“Huh? Ah.”

Our gazes met in mid-air as I was about to reflexively say “no.” And then I realized. She wasn’t just asking; she was asking with a certain conviction.

I paused mid-sentence and looked at Hwa Nabi. As my jaw stopped chewing the cookie, confidence settled in her eyes.

There was no proper answer, but my inability to answer was an answer in itself.

“…How did you know?”

There was no point in trying to deflect. Giving up on making excuses, I swallowed the remaining cookie in my mouth and asked honestly.

In response, Hwa Nabi smiled slightly and picked up a piece of cocoa cookie, holding it out to me. When I hesitated in surprise, she made a “ssseup” sound, as if telling me to hurry up and take it.

“I’ll enjoy it.”

I obediently accepted and ate it since she was offering. Only then did she nod with satisfaction. At that precise moment when I was about to swallow the cookie, Hwa Nabi began speaking.

“To be honest, I was just suspicious until now. But watching you eat that cocoa cookie just now, I could tell right away.”

“Was it that obvious?”

“When the difference in your expression between eating sweet things and bitter things is so dramatic, who wouldn’t notice?”

No matter how I tried to phrase it, she was saying my acting wasn’t convincing. Hmm, I guess I can’t fool Hwa Nabi after all?

Although she often shows a careless side in everyday life, she’s actually very perceptive about these things and notices them with uncanny accuracy.

“I wasn’t trying to hide it, but it just turned out that way.”

“Do you get headaches when you eat sweet things or something like that?”

“Yes, how did you know?”

“I had a friend like that. She said she’d get headaches from eating things like chocolate, so she avoided them… I never thought you’d be the same case.”

“Sorry, it’s just my constitution.”

“You don’t need to apologize, Siwoo. It’s not like you can change your body’s makeup.”

Hwa Nabi sighed deeply mid-sentence. Then she picked up another cocoa cookie and held it out to me. The atmosphere didn’t allow for refusal, so I quietly accepted it and watched her reaction.

With her hands cupped under her chin, she said:

“Why did you stubbornly endure it? If you had told me earlier, I wouldn’t have made you eat them.”

“I ate them because they were tolerable, not because I was forced to.”

I have a low threshold for sweet foods, but it’s not that I can’t eat them at all. However, Hwa Nabi shook her head.

“Still, that won’t do. I can’t bear to see you in pain, Siwoo.”

“Why not?”

I asked out of sudden curiosity. A faint blush appeared on Hwa Nabi’s cheeks as she looked at me. While maintaining eye contact, she reached out her right hand and tapped the back of my hand.

“Do I really need to say it out loud for you to understand?”

“…”

Could it be that she’s worried about me? If my guess was correct, I couldn’t help but feel pleased. She has such a kind disposition.

Her considerate nature shows even in these small gestures.

“Thanks.”

I took her hand that had been tickling the back of mine and expressed my gratitude. Having her true feelings exposed, she seemed embarrassed and couldn’t meet my gaze directly, turning her head away.

“…A-anyway, no sweets for Siwoo. I’ll eat the rest.”

“Will that be okay?”

“What choice do we have? We need to check them, but you can’t eat them, so I have no choice but to handle them all.”

She seems to be saying this out of consideration for me, but it’s impossible for one person to eat all these desserts. I stroked the back of her hand with my thumb and asked:

“There is one other option, would you like to hear it?”

“You have a suspicious look on your face… but I’ll listen. What is it?”

Now that I had her permission, I shared what I had been thinking.

“Well, I don’t know if you knew this, but we actually have a resident pastry chef at my house. And they’re incredibly skilled. If we ask them to make some bread or cookies…”

“…Siwoo?”

Hwa Nabi squeezed my hand tightly, cutting off my words. Then she looked at me with an incredibly incredulous expression.

“This is supposed to be something for students to enjoy together. If you do that, wouldn’t it go against the purpose of the festival?”

“Hmm, is that so?”

It seemed like a good idea when I thought of it, but hearing it now, I see her point. Other classes will obviously be working hard together, and if only our class brings in a professional pastry chef to raise the standard, it would look strange.

The quality would also be compared. All things considered, it would be right to match the level that other classes are preparing.

“Then how about this? We can prepare things in advance, but as long as we don’t sell them, it should be fine.”

After I asked that, Hwa Nabi thought deeply for a moment before speaking.

“So you’re not saying we should sell them, but share them with our classmates?”

“Yes, we can give some to the teachers first, and then to the students. Wouldn’t they be happy? If we say we’ll give extra to those who work hard, the students will be more motivated.”

It might seem like a simplistic idea to boost morale with food, but it’s different when you actually taste it. Desserts made by a first-class pastry chef are in a completely different league from mass-produced items sold in neighborhood stores.

They’re so appealing that even I, who gets headaches from sweets, endured the pain to eat them.

“Okay, that sounds reasonable.”

“Right?”

It seemed to end on a good note, but the fact remained that Hwa Nabi would have to finish all these desserts by herself. Still, I could probably eat the less sweet ones, couldn’t I?

As I was roughly estimating with my eyes, Hwa Nabi cleared her throat and asked in a subtle voice:

“By the way, Siwoo. How delicious are the desserts made by this pastry chef that you speak so highly of them?”

“They’re incredibly delicious. You’d be amazed if you tried them.”

“…R-really?”

As they say, a sparrow can’t just pass by a mill. I knew someone like Hwa Nabi, who has a weakness for sweets, would be interested.

I said, half-jokingly and half-seriously:

“Want to come to my house to eat sweets?”

Hwa Nabi’s face turned bright red.