Absinthe

"So Jeremy's your brother, huh?" I asked as Jiwoo and I hauled the groceries out of my car and into the elevator.

"Let me get that," he said as he grabbed the shopping bags I was carrying.

I keyed in my door code and let Jiwoo enter.

"Wow, this place is something."

"You can take your shoes off and use one of these," I said, pointing to the fluffy indoor slippers I kept in a shoe cabinet by the door. We went inside, with me leading the way toward the pantry. "The groceries can go in here. I'll just take a quick shower before doing the preps."

"I'm helping out," Jiwoo declared as he carefully placed the bags on the kitchen counter.

I nodded to quietly thank him. "So we just passed the living room," I said as I pointed to the sitting area near the door. "If you go further there, you'll run across Derrick's room."

"You guys live together?"

"Temporarily, yes," I replied. "Derrick's house is under construction. He's staying with me until all that's finished."

Jiwoo nodded and brought his gaze to the opposite hall. "And this leads to your bedroom?"

"Uh-huh," I said. "Just past the kitchen is our entertainment area. There's a couch there, too, if you'd rather sleep with the TV on or something. You can see the dining area from here. The first room to the left is the library. The one on the right is my bedroom."

Jiwoo continued to study the walls and corners of the condominium, seemingly lost in thought.

"There's a shower room inside the utility room. That one was meant for the house help, but mine comes and goes every day. It's already stocked with towels and toiletries. You can use it right away."

Jiwoo nodded and flashed me a smile. "Thanks. I'll take a shower then."

I went to my room, showered rather quickly, and rushed my skin care routine, too. But when I got to the kitchen, Jiwoo was nowhere in sight. I hadn't expected him to take a longer time to shower, but I decided to go ahead and start cooking breakfast and snacks for tomorrow.

We had gotten some fresh chicken thighs earlier as I'd thought it would be nice to make some roasted chicken sandwiches with caramelized onions. I preheated the oven while seasoning the chicken with a generous amount of salt, pepper, and paprika powder.

I started making some brioche next, and when the molds were in my bread oven, I proceeded with the slow process of caramelizing white onions without sugar. I had to make sure the onions would become extra creamy as I was not using any other sauce to dress up the chicken filling for the sandwiches.

After that, I moved on to baking some chocolate and banana muffins. I figured that amount of food was more than sufficient for the eight-hour ride to Benguet. As I was about to pipe the muffin batter, I noticed I didn't have the muffin liners with me. I went to the utility room to get them, but dear Lord, what I saw cause me to literally fall to the ground.

Jiwoo was standing there, half-naked, drying his hair with a small towel. And I know that being a Scorpio meant that my libido was on the higher side, but the sight of Jiwoo standing there with all of the lines in his torso and the way his chest redefined the word "art" made me feel like I hadn't been that thirsty my entire life. And to think that I'd had my fair share of hot ex-boyfriends.

"Sorry," I managed to say. "I just need some muffin liners."

"Where are they?"

in that cupboard over there." I pointed to the

muscles became prominent with every movement. And his tattoo! And his arms when he started to reach for the liners! I was totally debating

handing me what I had

for the kitchen. I felt my entire face turning hot, so I poured myself some ice-cold milk. I pressed the cold glass on my neck to try and lower my temperature. I was definitely sleeping with Robert the

fully dressed in a plain white shirt that did nothing to conceal the lines of his body

would be good for brunch. I see you

a smile. "That should

need some coffee in tumblers, and

can wait until tomorrow morning, before

he had other ideas. "I think cold

"What's that?"

for a type of Korean bread called soboro,

soon as I heard the name of the bread. So that was the recipe for the

and leave it for Derrick

I honestly missed eating that kind of bread. "Sure. Let's

the ingredients we needed: flour, yeast, sugar, and everything

he watched me activate the yeast with warm

he

sugar daddy," Jiwoo interjected

said,

asked as I alternated between quickly and slowly

flour hydration. Quick kneading will let the dough become more oxygenated and

look of keen interest etched clearly on his face. "I found out about Jeremy and

sorry about that," I

are you apologizing for? It's not like you're

to him, so I just kept my mouth shut and focused on the dough for my first-ever attempt at coffee

I mean. If he weren't the materialistic asshole that he is,

a bad person," I managed to say. "It's a pity that your brother has

Mowcah. I just know for a fact that

makes it more unfair for Mowcah,

"That's why

the dough into smaller balls and placed them neatly on a baking sheet. I covered them loosely

Jiwoo asked.