Taeyeon and her brother, Suho got out of the car as soon as we arrived at the airport. Suho insisted that I stay in the car while he wanted to bid her farewell. I agreed with him, thinking that it would be too awkward for me to step out of the car anyway since I’ve just known Taeyeon for like... close to an hour. It would be extremely awkward to be honest.

I sat quitely in the front seat of Suho’s car as I watch Suho hug his younger sister to bid her farewell which she gladly hugged him in return with a huge grin plastering on her face, closing her eyes as she embraced him in her arms warmly. They seem to have a light conversation before she shifted her eyes to look at my way—her smile disappearing as she gave me a scornful stare.

I decided to play with her a bit so I smirked at her, making her gape at me with wide eyes—scrunching her eyebrows together to make it seems like she’s angry and rolled her eyes at me. I chuckled at her reaction and smirked again in victory.

Oh, she can’t win my heart that easily. I can’t simply make her name tattooed in my heart just because I was extremely attracted to her beauteous appearance earlier. Honestly, throughout my whole entire life, I used to not believe in love at first sight because that just sounds way too cliché and unrealistic. She changed my perspective on love at first sight from ‘not believing it’ to ‘yes, I totally believe it’s real.’

But, isn’t falling in love with a person’s appearance not really real love? Because, what’s the meaning of love if you only fall for her appearance, right? She doesn’t have the most brightest personality that I could fall for either. I could tell from the first impression she had given me earlier that she gets irritated easily and does not find lower-class citizens very appealing. These kinds of people are the people whom I truly despise in my life and would love to evade anytime.

I do not like her at all... anymore. My feelings went from a hundred to a zero real quick. She was just way too superior to begin with and these kinds of girls does not have the kind of guys like me as their ideal man. Not that I’m truly bothered by it, but that kind of hurt me a little. Just a little. 

Hey, you can’t simply blame me for being hurt about a girl’s expectations for a man. I’m a man and a man does have his own pride even if he doesn’t show it to anybody.

I shrugged out of my thoughts as I see Taeyeon giving her brother a kiss on the cheek and bid him farewell for the last time. She dragged her small, leather aqua-colored luggage along as she paced, putting her branded sunglasses on before I stared at her figure fading away instantly in a crowd of hundreds inside of the airport. I sighed in relief, knowing that the girl had made me suffocate throughout the whole entire car trip due to her discourteous attitude against me earlier. Goodness, she was extremely impudent.

Suho opened the door by the driver’s seat and closes it, turning the gear to D (Drive) and drove us away from the airport as soon as the car started roaring from its engine. 

“You like her, don’t you?” Suho asked teasingly after what seems like ten minutes being away from the airport, popping the question that I had been meaning to avoid ever since Suho witnessed myself laying my eyes on her earlier today. I chuckled and turned my head to look outside my window as I glanced admiringly at the modern skyscrapers in front of my vision. There is no way I’m letting him know that I almost fell in love with her at first sight because honestly, the feelings had gone completely mutual now. 

“Nah man, it’s nothing like that.” I confessed and he raised one of his eyebrow at me in response, not believing a single word of what I just uttered to him. Well, once you have a best friend, he or she basically knows every one of your motives so you gotta pick up strategies on how to hide from them easily. 

“..It’s just...” I added and he remained silent, indicating for me to continue speaking. “She’s beautiful, you know. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only guy who had noticed that her beauty was too appealing.” I explained to him professionally, making sure that I didn’t hint him any nervousness in my tone of voice.

Suho nodded and I hope he would drop the subject soon because I’m not feeling anything towards her anymore. “I agree.” He said, making me blow the strands of my hair hanging on my forehead out of boredom. 

“...She’s very likable by many for her appearance indeed. Her personality on the other hand... Eh, how do I put it in words?” I smiled at his statement about his sister, agreeing with him about the rude personality that she possesses. “She’s also taken... which means, her boyfriend is legit super overprotective of her. It’s hilarious to me.” He added, making me chuckle at his not-very-supportive remark of Taeyeon’s boyfriend.

“It’s okay.” I mumbled, feeling a slight bit of heat rushing through my cheeks due to an unwanted jealousy. “I’m not the type to judge someone directly anyway. No problem.” I said and he agreed with me, accelerating the car faster after I told him that I needed to get to work as soon as possible. Anyway, let’s get Taeyeon out of my thoughts right now since I’m really late at this point and there’s no doubt that I will be yelled at either way. I mean, what’s the worst thing my boss can do to me anyway?

I’ve been behind those grills for about two years now, but this year was a bit of a mess due to an unexpected financial issue. Especially with my first wreckage with my motorbike that happen to be too costly to repair, I surprisingly managed to pay the price with half of my insurance without my mom’s, sister’s or even Suho’s help—remembering how dreadful that day really was. I remembered when I suffered to gain the money back, working nonstop overtime and being pressured by my boss due to the ‘lack of effort’ I put in from his own point of view. My parents did not have enough money to pay the rest of my sophomore year’s tuition fees in my old college that time, so I dropped out earlier than expected, marking that date as an enormous tragedy of my life. 

Some people had dropped out of college and became a very successful businessman, but I wasn’t one of them. In my opinion, they were surrounded by nothing but being plain lucky. Instead, the only talent I have is cooking, so I decided to become a cook at a western restaurant that my sister had gladly suggested me two years ago.

Back to my boss, I don’t know what he sees in me. In fact, I no doubt indeed put a lot of effort as a cook for his western restaurant. Learning more recipes that they had put in the menu made me exceedingly pressured but it’s not like I had a choice. Obedience is key for me because I would rather please others first rather than pleasing myself. Money is the reason why I’m here in the first place to support myself and my family, but I never had a time where I would face my boss and complain about the mistreatment and my wages for the past few months. I’m grateful for what I have but at the same time, I feel like there are massive boulders hanging on both of my shoulders due to the extra effort I put in during my cooking and grillings’ shifts.

It was nothing but an exhausting experience. 

Well, on the bright side, I’m doing what I do best for years... and that is, cooking a massive variety of meals.

I shrugged out of my deep, ‘working experien