Chen POV

Great. Is she another one of Dad’s charity cases?

How annoying.

She looks like she’s been zapped by a taser or something; the mixture of shock, dismay, and confusion plastered on her face is actually a little funny.

But I suppose I don’t look any better, either. My expression probably reflects the whirlwind of bewilderment that's brewing up in my head. 

“Oh… do you two know each other?” Dad asks, glancing back and forth between me and the girl. 

“No,” I say just as she says, “Yeah.”

We shoot irked glares at each other.

“Well.” My dad looks totally lost. He’s not the best with dealing with these kinds of situations. “Er, Sunmi, this is my son Jongdae. Jongdae, this is Kim Sunmi. She’s applying to be our chef while we’re on my world tour.”

I eye Sunmi up and down. She’s cleaned up from yesterday night; in fact she actually looks kind of cute. Her black hair is artfully arranged around her shoulders, her eyes are a warm brown.

But as I examine this girl some more, I notice that she’s only an inch shorter than me, she's a little gawky, and she’s a B cup at best. 

Yup, definitely not my type. 

“Jongdae? Jongdae!” My father’s voice snaps me back to reality. “I was just saying that Sunmi should cook lunch for us today, so we can see how her food fits our taste.”

I narrow my eyes at Sunmi. “Cook us lunch? Her?”  She’s some low-class girl that sleeps on streets. She's not qualified enough to work for us. 

“Yes.” Dad beckons a servant over and says, “Will you show Miss Sunmi to the kitchens?”

The servant bows deeply and leads Sunmi out of the room. She shoots me a final nervous look as she follows the servant.

“Dad. We can’t hire her.” I say as soon as she’s left the room.

“What? Why not?” he replies confusedly, scratching his head. "She seemed pretty nice to me-,"

“She’s-,” I cut myself off. Am I in any position to tell Dad about Sunmi sleeping on the streets yesterday? It looks like she really needs the money anyway… but still! I don’t want her cooking food for me!

“Jongdae, is she one of your ex-girlfriends?” Dad groans. “I don’t really care about that. If she’s good, I’m going to hire her.” And he walks out of the room, leaving me sputtering in indignation.

This won’t do. I storm downstairs to the basement level, where the kitchens and supplies closets are located. Hurriedly rushing past the multiple doors I find a large silver entrance with a red sign that reads “Kitchen” in bold white letters. Through the windows I see a slim figure tying her hair up in a bun.

“There she is,” I mutter, and kick open the door.

Sunmi whirls around and gasps, staring at me with wide eyes.

“Oh my god,” she whispers, clutching her chest. “Who- who are you? You're the guy from last night but-,”

“Kim Jongdae." I cut her off coldly. "SPAZ’s son.” I stride up to Sunmi until we’re face-to-face and I'm staring right into her eyes.

“What do you want?” she asks nervously. She tries to back away from me but she hits a stainless steel countertop.

“Why are you here?” I hiss, banging my hand down on the countertop next to her. “You think you can just become a chef at a rich man’s house, just like that? Please. I doubt you even know the names of half the things we eat. What are you going to make? Kimchi?” I snort. “Get lost before you make a fool of yourself.”

To my shock, Sunmi laughs humorlessly. “You think you’re so great, huh?” she smirks. “We’ll see what I can do. Now get out.”

So she won't relent easily. In that case, neither will I.

"Make me.” I cross my arms and push my face even closer to her's. We glare at each other murderously until she finally breaks eye contact.

“Fine. Stay here. I don’t care.” Sunmi shoves past me and heads towards the refrigerator, where she takes out a few onions, carrots, and stalks of celery. “Just stay out of my way.”

It takes her 3 hours to make 4 dishes. I lean against the countertop as I watch her slice and dice vegetables with extraordinary speed, prepare salmon, separate egg yolks from egg whites, and simultaneously stir a thick stew on the stove while placing another item in the oven.

I have to admit, it’s impressive. Sunmi knows what she’s doing. As she carefully garnishes a meat dish with a few sprigs of rosemary, her eyebrows furrowing, I can see that she takes cooking seriously.

Unfortunately, it probably won’t be enough for someone like her to work for us.

Finally, she clears .

“I’m done.” Sunmi says in a steady voice. “Call your family. Lunch is about to begin.” 

A/N: I HAVE MISSED YOU ALL SO MUCH. These past few weeks, right after the End-of-Course Exams and AP Exams, our teachers immediately started piling on the projects, the homework, and the tests. Sigh. But I finally got time to update! YAY! I probably won't be updating very consistently for another week or so, but I'll try my best, I promise!

How'd y'all like the chapter?

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