You gulped before slowly nodding your head. "Brilliant! Then we shall see your Crème brûlée in three days time, if you fail you know what happens". Mr Chanyeol said grinning and told Mr Hugo " See Seonbae! that resolves the matter completely, I'll be looking forward to Thursday". With that being said, the giant cleared out of  kitchen on a much happier note. 

Mr Hugo and i were left in the now chillingly silent kitchen. 

" ____ah, are you sure you want to do this?" He looked at me with a worried expression, " we both know that Crème brûlée are no joke". 

That's right i knew that perfectly well. Crème brûlée though look simple and easy to make, are actually one of the trickiest desserts to prepare for a beginner.

It overcooks easily and the surface of the Crème brûlée is extremely fragile. Worst of all, when using the blowtorch to remove the air bubbles you have to juggle between identifying the brown caramel color, making sure there isn't any burnt spots and try to avoid the burning splatters of burnt sugar. It was clear suicide and i guessed Mr Chanyeol initiated the idea of this dish to make sure i would lose.

" Its fine, I'll definitely convince him". I tried to reassure him with a half assed smile, but Mr Hugo saw through it and said warmly, " You'll be all right" and gave a pat on my shoulder. 

The next two days were spent staring at instructions on how to make the brulees and vomiting a load of failed Crème brûlées that i made in the cafe and my own kitchen. The kitchen staff heard of the news. I knew they wanted to help me but Mr Chanyeol instructed that i wasn't allowed to get anyone's help or advice. Still they tried giving me bits of advice by making amusing stirring actions ( stir slower!) or shaking their heads like those solar dolls, to hint i was doing something wrong. I felt appreciative of their effort and it motivated me to try harder and stuff. 

However,the night before the deadline, i stayed back in the cafe's kitchen as the previous nights, to make more brûlée. But 4 hours later, i was staring at charred tops of Crème brûlée, cracked surfaces of brûlées with its custard ozzing out and basically, failure right in front of me. I was dead tired, my forearms were spotted with burnt marks from the scorching burnt sugar and i was covered in dribs of custard and vanilla bean seeds. I just couldn't manage to achieve the perfectly smooth and luscious brown surface on the brulee and i HATED the stinging pain of the burnt sugar whenever i used the flame torch. I squeezed my eyes shut and balled my fists on them, as i felt tears slowly forming. 

My mind was blank.

Something disrupted my pathetic sobbing session. While i tried to wipe away the globs of muscus and salty tears , i glanced up to see Mr Chanyeol! Surprisingly, he had a concerned look on his face and maybe looked a tad guilty? It seemed like he had came from home as he was dressed casually in a beige sweater lined with black stripes and denim jeans. Anyhoo! he made his way towards me but i couldn't look him in the face. I felt ashamed as i couldn't make the dish and furious at him as i was under the impression that he was glad i couldn't so he could get rid of me. 

I thought he would laugh at me or something, but Mr Chanyeol slowly grabbed one of my arms. He slid down the sleeve of my uniform to reveal the kaleidoscope of scorch marks. " Sit on the scullery counter" He said curtly. Are we going to have in this empty kitchen?! Wait! I probably shouldn't have thought that O_O..

I did as i was told and was about to question him but i saw Mr Chanyeol retrieving a tube of medicinal paste from his pocket. He bent down to reach my arm easily and started applying the paste. I had to admit it did felt good.. the soothing cold cream did on my burns and i couldn't help staring at Mr Chanyeol's face when he was doing my arm. The ceiling bulb was directly above us and casted shadows on the contours of his face. I could see the curve of his lips and how long his eye lashes were. I could see the slim but strong arms that he had when rubbing my arm. My heart beat probably accelerated to 100km/h.

But he interrupted my thoughts by saying softly, " I know i have been.. a bit mean when dealing with you but girls definitely should not get this kind of scars, be it in the culinary expertise or anywhere else". 

He probably saw i was shocked from hearing what he said. I tried stuttering," i-i was under the impression that you.. maybe despised me and wouldn't care two hoots about anything of me". 

He scoffed and looked at me with a wide grin, " Psh! yeah i do even now, but i guess you aren't that bad of a twerp as i imagined you to be".

" Wha? Why am i a twerp?!" I gasped.

" But.. it's endearing to know you at least try hard unlike the useless i met in my school". He added and i couldn't help breaking out in a sheepish grin.

  Mr Chanyeol noticed, " You're such a er for compliments". 

" Well your vocab balls". 

He shook his head and laughed. It seemed that the tension between us had eased loads and I'm glad it did. 

" Whatever, come here youngling, imma show you how to use this". He points to the flame torch.  He sprinkles a generous pinch of brown sugar on a spare creme brulee and aims the torch on it. " First of all, never aim it directly over the brulee unless you want to be shot with flying sugar". He then tilts the torch lower, " Aim it at a 45 degrees and try to flame the centre of the brulee so the heat distributes evenly". " Finally, stand back at least a metre and torch until the surface reaches a golden brown color".  Mr Chanyeol backs me behind him and i watched as the top of the brulee transformed to a gorgeous crown color and like a caramel sea, bubbles slowly disappeared into the depths of dark brown and a delicious Crème brûlée surfaced.

I tried after his demonstration and produced a perfectly formed brulee. I was so elated and grateful that i barely managed to thank Mr Chanyeol. He was like yeah " herp derp" and said, " I'm guessing you're going to practice a few more times, so I'm going to just go back ". I nodded and when he left, grabbed the ramekin ( small porcelain bowl to hold Crème brûlée) of the dessert. I  scooped the brûlée and tasted the crunchy bitter surface with the smooth custard cream. Tears ran down my cheeks and i soon polished it off.

All i could remember after that was dragging my weary body back home and falling into a deep slumber, filled with the anticipation that tomorrow was going to be just awesome.

Hi, you probably would have noticed that i changed from a "you" to "i" perspective for the fanfic. I thought it would suit it better and in my opinion, felt more personal. Aside from that, thanks for reading and bearing with the super long introduction and I'll see you next week :D