Chapter is unedited

Enjoy! -K.L

The next few days of school, Luhan didn't show up. Chef Cho had given the class a weekend to prepare for the final on monday and Kyungmi was partnerless which meant she wouldn't be able to get any practice at all.

"Kyungmi... Kyungmi wait up." the weekend had passed and Luhan had returned to school the following monday with nothing but a few scratches on his face. It only proved to her the fact that he really wasn't human to begin with.

"And you still have the nerve to show up to school after you went missing for 5 days?" Kyungmi angrily buttoned her chef coat and tied her hair into a neat ponytail. Kyungmi threw a couple of clean towels on the kitchen counter as Luhan buttoned his own chef coat.

"Well what was I suppose to do, put more things on your platter?" Luhan cornered her with a comeback. Kyungmi rolled her eyes and pushed him out the way, " you, Luhan." 

"Okay class! Lets get the competition started!" Chef Cho sits herself behind the judge table along with 2 other special judges. At the sound of the bell, Kyungmi and Luhan grabbed everything they did exactly the way they practiced. The results were phenomonal as the two cooks naturally constructed the piece of art.

"Time?" Kyungmi asked as she was watching the bisque in front of her, simmer. Luhan eyed the timer in the corner of his eye, "We got less than an hour." Luhan says as he sears the steak. "We gotta make the Key Lime Pie.. It needs time to cool. The graham crackers are in the oven aren't they?" 

With Luhan's confirmation, she grabbed the oven mit and placed the piping hot pan on the counter. Chef Cho had walked around observing everyones kitchen when she stopped in front of Kyungmi's counter as she was electrically beating the creme. "Kyungmi.. Key Lime Pie is known to be custard and thick like because the cooling time is very long. It takes several of hours, how will it cool in time?" she asked.

"U-uh.. We'll pop it into the freezer if we can. It'll turn out great." she stuttered as she she poured the custard into the pan. Chef Cho nodded and walked away without another word. "I'll make it work somehow." Kyungmi mumbles under her breath. Luhan glided over to her side and pressed a damp towel over the side of her face which startled her.

Luhan gave her his usual angelic smile, "Dont overwork yourself, partner" Kyungmi blinked several times to register how close they were before she snatched it away from his grip. "Get the plates." she demanded before she placed the Key Lime Pie into the fridge. 

With only 10 minutes left of the competition, the young cooking prodegies hastly grabbed plates to start plating. "Oh yeah baby. Perfect." Luhan praised as he cut open the perfectly cooked sirloin into slices and lined them on the rectangular piece of China. He grabbed a silver spoon and drizzled the pan sauce he had created from deglazing all of the fonds with a bottle of red wine, on the slices.

"." Luhan fixed his gaze onto the cursing Kyungmi with her Key Lime Pie. She looked up to him before she received a mental suggestion. She nodded at him before she grabbed the pan in her hands and worked her magic. "Nice and cool.." she smirked before cutting the slices of pie. Luhan let out a small chuckle before he scanned all of the plates in front of them.

"Okay everythings in place." Luhan said as he garnished the entree with a few pieces of minced up chives onto the scoop of mashed potatoes. Kyungmi zested the peel of a key lime, beautifully on top of the accurately sliced pie.

"10 seconds, Chefs!" Chef Cho announced. "Wipe the edges on the bisque!" Luhan shouted from across the kitchen. Kyungmi looked around for a clean towel before the heavens Luhan answered her desperate call. She wanted to ask questions when the towel was thrown into her hands but due to the limit of time, she quickly cleaned the edges with whatever she got.

"Time! Hands off!" all of the Chefs stepped back and raised their hands into the air. Luhan and Kyungmi leaned against the counter with exhaustion, sweating from head to toe.

~~

"Luhan and Kyungmi! You guys are the team to be evaluated, lets hope we saved the best for last!" Chef Cho spoke wth enthusiasm. "The appetizer please, Chefs." Kyungmi brought the dishes of mussel bisque to each judge. "This is a simple mussel bisque topped off with a few chives. I chose to leave the shells on their for a bit of decoration. Enjoy!" she bowed to the judges as they took their first bite.

"This is beautiful. It's rich and creamy. The mussels weren't too tough nor chewy. Very well done." the first judge said.

"I have nothing else to say, since he had taken everything I was gonna say haha. Well done Chefs." the second judge generously smiled. Chef Cho was the last person to evaluate, making the two young chefs anxious. "I've.. I've trained you well. Next course please." she said with a grin. Luhan brought the dishes of steak onto the judges table and explained the dish.

"This is a common American dish and its really simple. There a mashed potatoes and tossed greens that have a bit of arugula, kale and other leafy greens. It does have a light vinaigrette that I tossed it with. Most importantly the sirloin is cooked medium well and the sauce on top of it is a pan sauce that I crafted. Enjoy your dish." Luhan bowed respectfully before he stepped next to Kyungmi.

"They're taking awhile to evaluate.. did you put something in there that I dont know of?" Kyungmi whispered in his ear, earning her a soft snicker from Luhan. "Ani..They're gonna love it. Relax."

"Luhan is it?" the first judge spoke as he placed his fork down. Luhan's deer-like eyes looked straight into the judges eyes. "You haven't spent a very long time here in South Korea.. But wherever you were on the globe.." Luhan gulped nervously before his stern face slowly turned into a beam. "They taught you how to make one hell of a steak!" he praised. Luhan bowed multiple times as if it was a bad habit.

The second judge cleared his throat before he announced his evaluation. "The sauce is phenomonal. It's delicious. Is it your first time making mashed potatoes, my boy?" 

"Uh, yeah.. " Luhan nodded. "It's a bit bland, make sure you put more seasoning into it. Other than that, I thought it was clever that you infused it with rosemary and garlic. Beautiful combination. Everything else was great."

"I'm really surprised, Luhan. This steak is more than I expected. Dessert please." Chef Cho advised. The less words Chef Cho's comment had, the more nervous they got. Next, Kyungmi served them her slice of Key Lime Pie and fiddled with her fingers after they picked up their forks. "This is just a basic Key Lime Pie with a homemade crumble crust. Please enjoy."

After the judges had let out moans of pleasure from the pastry, Kyungmi and Luhan were on the edge of a cliff, waiting for their words to come out. "For the small amount of cooling time, this is uh.. Really unbelievable almost. What did you do? Buy time?" the first judge joked.

"You could say that" Kyungmi rubbed the back of her neck. "All I really did was put it in the fridge with some ice cubes on the bottom of the pie. I didn't know it would turn out this good to be honest." she convinced them

"Very good and impressive for such a short amount of time in the fridge." the second judge said as he scraped every bit of the pie left on the dish. "The crust is very delicious."

"We didn't really go over pies, but I'm glad you picked up natural instincts, Kyungmi. Very good." Chef Cho said before she gathered the rest of the class. "The winner of this competition put out a very impressive dish under the limited amount of time I gave you. The judges and I have decided that the winner of this competition.." she spoke slowly to build up the nerve-wracking tension in the room.

"A pair that I couldn't be anymore proud of. A pair that left me speechless. A pair that made real food from the heart." she softly spoke. Luhan saw that Kyungmi's hand was shaking uncontrollably from nervousness and decided to place a hand on her shoulder to assure her that everything would be alright.

"Luhan and Kyungmi!" the two of them widened their eyes in surprise before they registered the fact that their names had been called. Luhan and Kyungmi raised their hands in victory before Luhan got caught into the moment and scooped her up in his arms. Luhan twirled her around in happiness before he set her down leaving her frozen by his sudden embrace.

"We decided to give you guys a gift for such a great meal" the first judge broke their buffering before he handed them two tickets. "This is a meal to one of my restaurants. As you know, I do own a 5 star restaurant in Apgujeong. Great view of the Han river. See you guys there!" he congratulated