"Two threes! Eight ones and six fives!"  Namjoon, the expeditor for the night screamed as he dispatched another set of tickets to the kitchen. 

"And I need two scallop apps on the fly!" 

The hurried and demanding tone drove the already dancing chefs to work faster. Tonight, there was no rest for them, no small breaks even as the restaurant was tight due to the Summer season. Orders were thrown feverishly since late evening and as the night drew upon, they seemed never-ending. The whole kitchen was in a state of chaos, code words booming from time to time and the concept of personal space long forgotten. The chefs didn't care about the sweat, stench, or blood but only focused on cooking the dishes up to perfection and on the clock, trying their best to live up to the stellar image of the restaurant.

 And Xi Luhan was no different.

Picking up the chopping knife, he cut the vegetables into perfect matchsticks in the time it took most people just to peel them. Every motion was precise from intense repetition and he prided himself on the machine-like perfection of his shapes. Everything was uniform, perfect, just like how he had wanted them to be. Throwing them into the pan along with his fresh salmon, Luhan cooked it till GBD before placing it on the plates with great finesse. 

Two done, five more to go, he noted as he began with another dish. Namjoon had given more tickets which led to a rise in their speed and gradually, words. An argument broke out between the head chef and one of the sous chefs on something and while everyone was listening to what it was about, they didn't stop their work. These things were common at workplaces, especially when you work somewhere with great pressure and ultimatum. Nights like these were exhausting and draining. There were times when you could not even feel your fingers because of the tiredness and there were moments of outbursts and explosions due to the frustrations.  On occasions, they would call a war on each other and the whole kitchen would get hotter than an oven, grilling everyone in its heat. But at the end of the day when you are admired for your work, you realize that everything is worth it.

After another long five hours of jazz, the restaurant finally closed down for the night, allowing the employees to breathe freely. The manager, Kris Wu entered the back of the house and appreciated and thanked them for their hard work, a ritual that he performs every night before leaving. There was no day when the man would leave without praising the employees and wishing them a safe and good night. He was a kind and wise man with the ability to leave a positive impression on anyone he met. As soon as Kris took his leave, the rest of the employees proceeded towards the locker room to get changed and head to their homes as soon as possible.

"Ah~ so tired!" Yixing, the patissier, and Luhan's cousin whined as he stripped off his chef whites and tucked them nicely into his locker.

"Me too! I just want to go home and crash out!" said Luhan while stuffing his uniform in his bag which badly needed a wash after fighting another kitchen war. It has been three years since he had started working here and yet he hadn't learned how not to get your chef whites dirty almost every day. He wondered how Yixing and the others managed to keep theirs clean. 

"Want to grab a coffee?" Yixing asked, locking the restaurant doors. It was his turn to close tonight and Luhan being the good cousin he was, stayed back.

"Nah, I'll pass. All I need for now is my bed." replied the station chef cutely with a yawn. Yixing chuckled and ruffled his cousin's hair gently.

"Hey! Not the hair ge!"  Luhan grouched and tried his best to fix the now messed up honey-brown bush. He has lost count of the times he had pleaded, begged not to touch his hair but Yixing never listened and would do it often to annoy him, that guy.

"Okay, okay." Yixing laughed. "Will see you tomorrow Lulu." 

"Yeah, by-ooff!" The young chef almost fell on his if it wasn't for the hand's tight grip.

"Are you okay?" Luhan's eyes rounded in shock. His heart went into overdrive. Before him stood the ever-so-handsome Kim Jongin, the y sous chef on whom Luhan had been crushing since the day he saved him from being roasted alive by their head chef two years ago. Almost everyone in the kitchen knew about his massive crush on Jongin except Jongin himself. Because if he did, he wouldn't be helping Luhan stand up and touch him like the way he was doing right now.  And did he just put his toned hands around his shoulders?
 

Oh, dear Lord. 
 

"Are you alright?" The tanned male asked again but Luhan couldn't understand what he was saying. His mind only focused on those red, plump, kissable lips parting animatedly. The musky scent was dizzying his brain, short-circuiting it with a dangerous spark. He must have looked like an idiot, ogling Jongin like that but he just can't help it. His heart was thumping and pumping and jumping and it seemed like there was a marathon of elephants going on inside his guts.  It was only a miracle that Luhan was still alive and breathing after being this close to the walking Greek God. With his feelings all over the place, he continued to admire the gorgeousness of his crush until Yixing cleared his throat making Jongin release Luhan from his hold and eventually ending the spell he has cast upon his cousin. The younger Chinese pouted at the loss of the warmth and mentally cursed Yixing. 
 

"Still here?" asked Yixing.  
 

"Yeah." The sous replied with a smile before he turned his attention to the pouting chef. 
 

"Umm, I was, uh...wondering if you'd go out to have coffee with me," Jongin said shyly, scratching the nape. Luhan stared at the man open-mouthed. Was this really happening? Like, really happening in the physical world and not in the realms of his imagination kind-of-real. Well, Jongin's sole existence was some kind of fantasy because damn, Luhan has never met someone so perfect. Every time he lay eyes on the tan male, he could feel the familiar melting of his insides. He couldn't help it, not when Jongin looked back at him and smiled like the way he was doing right now.

"Luhan?" The way his name rolled on Jongin's lips did amazing things to Luhan's body. It felt like he had climbed up on cloud 9 and he hoped to never come down. He felt like he had found his heaven!
 

"Huh?" Luhan answered still dazed. 
 

"Coffee?" Jongin asked again.

Luhan tried to keep his cool and