SM Avenue was famous among the residents of the area.

Unlike the vibrancy and energy that downtown is known for, it offered a rather quite and peaceful oasis to the suffocating busy of city of Seoul.

It was a well hidden jewel that had all the necessities needed for a small suburbia.

Like most of eventless afternoons, a slower pace follows the lunch rush as the sunlight slowly shines through the tall oak tree casting patterned shades on the ground.

Some of the commerce’s' staffs have came outside to profit of the warm weather and light breeze, even the white Persian cat of the fish shop owner started stretching his legs and roaming around after his nap.

In the middle of a woman's fashion shop and a Starbucks, stood one restaurant that stood out for its exotic decor despite its modern surrounding.

A young man with bright red died hair that appeared especially vivid under the light was leaning against the window.

One hand resting his chin as his other long and slim fingers taping on the glass, his eyes were wandering around the view yet his mind has way far beyond this street.

Yet the silence didn't last long enough before a voice shouting across the street as the owner of it sprinted inside the restaurant.

"Guys, guys, apparently the pet shop in front of us just sold their building to someone else!"

Doyoung couldn't help but sighed a little; it was quite a lot to ask to have a little alone moment with those bastards around him.
"Awn, I liked them" complained Mark emerging from the kitchen, mouth still busy chewing on something "we could always go play with puppies and harass kittens during lunch break"

"Good for them" Doyoung congratulated carelessly before adding "I hated it anyway"
"You only hate us cuz you ain't us" Ten sneered and gave him one of his greasy smirk that Doyoung want to grimace.
"In the alternative, we could harass Doyoung instead" added Ten as he approached and waved a carrot in front of the said male "come on Do-bunny, jump, jump"

This vain attempt to be funny ended with Doyoung mashing napkin into a ball before smacking unto his friends and Taeil forced to quit his kitchen to stop a childish fight of paper balls between grown-up men.

If Doyoung was ever giving the chance to go back in time, then he'd go back to Freshman years and give the young himself a long and tedious talk or two.

He has been friends with Taeil ever since high school and continued unto the same university. They both met Ten during student orientation week in college and Doyoung has found a soft spot for the shy Thai boy that couldn't even form a sentence without stuttering and blushing. He has willingly taken him under his protection and gladly helped him with Korean. It turned out Ten was nothing of the sweet and timid boy that he first appeared to be; he could be the devil impersonated and Doyoung would not be surprised.

After long and boring three years of university, Doyoung did not know what to do with his diploma in literature that clearly wasn't in much demand in such capitalist society they lived in. Another person stuck with the same problem was none other than Ten. Taeil, on the other hand, has finished his computer science program yet he didn't yet want to practice such profession.

Therefore when Ten came up with the idea of starting their own Thai restaurant during their weekly bar meeting and add that to five beers, it sounded like a wonderful solution to Doyoung. Ten insisted on calling it Aroi, smile in Thai, that he is certain will put a smile on everyone that come in.

How dead wrong he was, Doyoung couldn't help but think everyday, yet that smile on his lips gave away each time he tried to lie to himself he didn't enjoy seeing customers appreciating his food.

A week later, the information that Ten brought has been confirmed once Doyoung came in one morning as two trucks arrives in front of the now empty pet shop.

His curiosity grew even larger once more trucks and construction workers arrived to the building across the street in the next weeks. A large black cover was laid on top hanging from the roof with thick curtains on the windows blocking all their attempts to peek at the work in progress.

Ten has even started spreading conspiracy theories that the new owners were probably some kinds of mafia underground house that is used to trade and grew weed.

Their growing doubt of illegal activities lead by their soon to be neighbors was debunked around a month later when the curtains were finally pulled to unveil a completed unrecognizable renovated building.

The exterior walls were repainted in a chic creamy colors with two tall brilliant white marble pillar supporting the front porch.

The new sign on top could be read "Savore" in large italic gold letters. Through the tall and many windows, dark wood table could be seen with matching chairs and velvet curtains of red wine color adorned the whole scene.

Everything about the new transformation screamed restaurant to Doyoung who squints his eyes at the thought of the opening of a second dinner in their street.

His doubts were validated when Mark arrived at work the next day with a copy of the local newspaper

"They are opening a restaurant in that place that used to be the pet shop!" yelled excitedly Mark as he walked in.

"Another family restaurant that tried once and abandoned after three months?" asked Taeil.

Mark shook his head and said:

"Nop, apparently it's an Italian place"

"And the owner is an international award winning chef!" added Ten raising his eyes after scanning through the newspaper "We should give it a try, he's got even a Michelin star in his last restaurant, whatever a Michelin star is."

Mark gave his Ten hyung a high-five at that idea and tagged along: "That's the most action that this area has gotten a while!"

In contrast of all the merry aura surrounding his friends, Doyoung lectured as he set the clean plates on each table:

"I remind you that we are running a restaurant ourselves and there is nothing to be happy about getting a competitor."

Doyoung came in next Friday with a huge line of people in front of the new restaurant that has now set a notice board with the words grand opening gorgeously written on them.

"How posh" grumbled Doyoung under his breath. Couldn't they just banner like everyone else? He thought.

The line persisted through out the day from the lunch rush up to late in the evening.

There were still a few customers that chose their restaurant instead to Doyoung's relief.

The next few days go on as so and less and less customers will show up and more and more people would be lining outside of their neighbor in the front.

Doyoung tried reassure himself that it was just the novelty and publicity of the moment that lead people to the other restaurant. Once they grew tired of it, they would realize how much better Doyoung's cooking is.

The fuss about the "Savore" grew up to even appear on TV news that Doyoung happened to watch one evening. Most people interviewed described the place to candies for the mouth and the eyes for its delicious food and absolutely stunning handsome chef and sous-chefs that some female fans even have nicknamed them F4.

There is nothing to worry about, Taeil comforted him, based on past experiences, non of the restaurants trying on this street has lasted long enough to become a threat.

"Have you noticed something is off?" asked Ten in the middle of the day as he sat in Aroi's dinning hall addressing to nobody in particular.

"Yeah, I fell odd too, is it the table cloth?" agreed Mark nodding along "The last time I saw it I remember there was stain there"

"No Sherlock" Doyoung came out of the kitchen dragging Taeil by the arm "Look around you"

"Hum..." Ten hummed as if he's trying his best to think "So Doyoung you think the table cloth is weird too?"

"I'll give you a hint" Doyoung stomped closer "There-is-nobody-else expect-of-us-here, and-it-is-noon."

"Can I get another hint?" asked Mark innocently.

"Where did all the customers go?" pointed out Taeil eyes skimming through the tables.

"Thank you Taeil hyung!" Doyoung gave the elder a grateful look before continuing "the only customer we have gotten all day is Donghyuck"

Doyoung shouted swinging his hand to the young high school boy sitting in front of a piles of empty plates: "And he's not even a customer, he eats here for free!"

"Like the old proverb says, the best food are the free food" reasoned philosophically Donghyuck then he nodded to approve his own words.

"Relax Doyoung" brushed off Ten "They might have a super star chef with a six-packed abs, but you got pretty cute bunny teeth too. If I was a customer, I'd choose you"

"It's not time to joke!" scolded Doyoung "We haven't made any profit this week and if it continues like so, I am cutting down on your allowance"

Ten reacted at the last mention and stood up before clapping his hands two time: "Alright, the situation is serious everyone, come, gather around"

"We need a plan to defeat the enemy!" Ten asked "Any suggestion?"

"Well, first of all, we need to find out what's so different between them and us so we can tackle the problem" proposed Taeil.

Doyoung nodded, he could always count on Taeil for some actual useful insight and said: "We should send someone there then"

"Like a spy?" asked Doyoung raising one brow before smirking "I volunteer myself"

"No" cut plainly Doyoung "You don't even work here!"

"How about we play rock-paper-and-scissors among our staffs and the loser goes?" suggested Ten that got approved by everyone else.

Doyoung look at down at his rock as all three others were played paper. As the ginger male was to curse about his luck, his eyes were caught by Mark's faint attempt on swallowing back a laughter and then it clicked in his head.

"You guys cheated!" accused Doyoung pointing towards all the culprits

"Oh come one, Doyoungie" reasoned Taeil "if we send Mark, he'd spill everything out before he even got sat down, and Ten has an even louder mouth. I am not good at distinguishing ingredients with my palette, so you are the only candidate fit for our mission."

Doyoung hated to admit it, but Taeil was absolutely right. The anger in his eyes soften that wasn't missed by Ten and Taeil who exchanged an look, before Ten broke the silence again:

"Please Doyoungie, do you really want to see the fruit of our hard work close down like that?"

"Fine" groaned Doyoung "When should I go?"

"Right now" smiled Taeil showing his phone "I just booked you a table"

Ten stopped Doyoung as he stood up from his chair:

"All we are missing it a team name now, since they get to be called F4, how about Tom Yum Goong?"

Ten added pointing towards Taeil "Tom" and then to himself "Yum" and last Doyoung "Goong"

"That's the dumbest name I have ever heard" mocked Doyoung directing his feet towards the exit.

He could hear Ten and Mark who yelled a loud: "Good luck Goong!" before the door shut behind him.

Doyoung took a deep breath, then another just to make sure and walked towards the imposing new building.

The inside was even more impressive than the exterior, from the expensive looking cashmere rug at the entrance to light brown wooden floor, from the crystal chandelier to the fresh cut of floral arrangement on each table, everything was tastefully chosen and decorated. He was greeted politely once he stepped in by a server in a suit that looked more expensive than his entire closet. After mentioning his reservation, he was quickly directed and seated to a table.

Before Doyoung had time to admire the silver tableware along since its fine china, the server came back with a warm hand towel and the menu. With limited experience in Western food, the ginger male was to be say quite confused of all the fancy jargons. The young man seems to have noticed his turmoil kindly suggested the tasting menu. Once the server walked away, Doyoung took mental note of his soft spoken voice and elegant manners that he’d to make sure Mark greet their customers next time as so as well.

The table of woman sitting next to him seemed to have noticed it as well and started gossiping between them how it was worth their trip just with the amount of gorgeous men employed as staffs. He didn’t have the time to eardrop longer before the appetizer arrived. Doyoung frowned the food to plate area ratio, customers must feel cheated to receive such a small amount of food for such price. He nevertheless grabbed his utensils and cut a small piece of the brown square that he assumed to be meat. When that piece touched the tip of his tongue, the reason of their popularity all became clear. In his twenty years of existence, Doyoung has never tasted such a delicate flavored beef, not only it was juicy, it has a light yet addictive fragrance to it.

Doyoung devoured every following plates that were presented to him. His mind was so submerged in the heavenly taste on his palette that he almost missed the sudden gasp and squealing of the table of women just to him. Doyoung followed the ladies’ gaze and his eyes were met with a tall figure with well built muscle under his white shirt. His dark raven hair was pushed back to reveal a splendid forehead and right above, were a pair of soft and engaging brown eyes. His slightly chubby cheeks and cute dimples that appeared whenever he smiles only complement his charms further more. He was a moving piece of fine work of art created by God. The women continued on whispering to each other that they finally saw the popular chef in question and commented that it should be illegal to be that handsome that Doyoung fully agrees.

The masterchef version of Choi Siwon seemed to have noticed his not so subtle stare and when the latter smiled at him, Doyoung thought he was going to faint.

Overwhelmed by mixed emotions, Doyoung didn’t even notice the was now standing next to his table and started with a mesmerizingly pleasant deep voice: “Good Evening Sir, my name is Jung Jaehyun, the chef of Savore”

Doyoung couldn’t form a response knowing his face probably was burning red like fking flamingo and wanted to do nothing but punch that gorgeous face and melodic voice. Fortunately, the other didn’t seem to notice (or at least act like he didn’t) and continued on:

“I apologize to disturb you. Since we are newly opened, I was wondering if you have any feedback that you would like to mention to us so we can improve further the quality of our menu.”  

Feedbacks? Of course he had some, Doyoung thought. Why the fck did he choose to open a restaurant here out of all places in the Republic of Korea? Also, what kind of sorcery is this cooking and who does he have to sacrifice to learn such skills?

Yet Doyoung could only keep those complaints to himself before he cleared his throat and said:

“I do have a few comments” and pointed towards a small piece of paper like substances “This thing is incredibly hard to chew and it tasted disgusting”

“Oh…” The smile on the latter’s lips grew wider as if he was suppressing a chuckle and added “It’s not meant to be eaten, I’ll note to pretend non-edible decoration next time.”

The red on Doyoung’s face deepened another shade, yet he persisted:

“Everything was bland and flavorless. The meat is overcooked. The salad was too salty.”

A few people turned their head at their exchange and Doyoung took advantage of it to rise his voice:

“That being said, I think the restaurant in front of you guys, what was its name again? Aroi I believe, tastes far superior to yours”

A mocking grin drew unto his lips once the latter heard it and commented coldly:

“I wouldn’t even step into that restaurant without taking antibiotics. By the look of it, what they offer is barely edible.”

Being stuck with two partners one of which could burn the kitchen down when he cooks ramen and another one that has a taste for weird food, Doyoung has always been the only cook in their commerce that actually kept the business going.

Doyoung can tolerate Masterchef version of Choi Siwon, or Jaeju, whatever the heck his name is insult the owner in the restaurant in front, but he cannot tolerate someone insulting the food!

Furious, he raises from his seat and yelled out: “What did you just say about my food!? I dare you to say it again!”

“Your food?” A confusion grew inside the other’s beautiful pupils until it turned into realization.

Doyoung realizing he messed up the whole plan, quickly gathered his items and left a few bills on the table before rushing to the exit. As he reached the door, he was stopped on his tract as a strong hand grabbed his arm.

In panic, Doyoung tried to shake off to free his arm yet once he noticed the insurmountable difference in physical strength, he raised his other hand and swing it as a fist out of reflux to that bastard’s face.

Before he knew, Doyoung was out of the door sprinting towards Aroi leaving an entire restaurant dumbfounded of the whole scene. Jaehyun absent-mindedly passed a caressing hand to his now red and slightly inflamed left cheek as the door swing shut in front of him.

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Can't believe I actually finished a chapter...