13

She mentally smacked herself, and looked around, then brought her hand up slowly and waved at him while she forced out a smile and laughed nervously. "Haha, hey."

"Sohyun! Don't just stand there! They're your colleagues after all, go out and serve them. The kitchen is under control." Her sister pushed her out of the kitchen, and she pouted, then turned her attention to Kris and Tao.

This was already the fifth time she was being pushed out by her sister for today, and she has seriously nothing to do.

She quickly cleared the mess she made on the table, and her grandfather shouted from the kitchen. "Help yourselves! Dinner's almost ready."

Tao peered around, looking as he narrowed his eyes at her. "Ah yes, where's your brother? Why isn’t he here today?" he asked, while Sohyun shook her head."When did I have a brother?"

"Oh, you know, curly hair, always wearing a dark green jacket, quite handsome, like me." He tried describing Baekhyun. "I saw a man the other day on the second floor when I was tidying up my room," he murmured, tapping his chin, while Kris just nudged him. "Are you crazy again? How can Sohyun have a brother?"

She clasped her hands together and it finally rang a bell. "Oh. You're talking about Baekhyun?"

Just as Kris wanted to ask, her grandfather and sister came out of the kitchen, holding onto the dishes and walked into the dining room. "Dinner’s here! Let's eat!" her grandfather chirped, and placed the food on the table, sitting down.

Kris could only nod and slot himself beside Tao, while Tao smiled at himself, and rubbed his hands together. "Let's eat! Thank you Sohyun's grandfather!" he exclaimed, and immediately dug into his food, then sighed contently. "Your food is the best, Sohyun's grandfather! It's been such a long time since I had home cook dishes." Tao smiled, while Sohyun's grandfather just waved it away, flattered. “Don’t call me that, call me BT.” He grinned.

"BT? Trendy name! Cool!" Tao exclaimed once more, and BT nodded his head, proud that someone would appreciate his name unlike Sohyun who just kept shaking her head in amusement.

"Ah yes Tao. When was the last time you enjoyed a home cook dish?" BT asked as he dug into his food, and Tao shrugged, unable to stop eating. "Four months?" Tao then placed his chopsticks down, looking straight at BT then grinned. "Actually, we as lawyers are really pitiful," Tao pouted as he said, acting pitiful in front of BT, while he softened, slightly frowning.

Kris gawked at him and scoffed, shaking his head and continued eating.

"That's sad.." BT frowned, and Tao couldn't help but nod his head vigorously. "Yes yes. When we reach home, it's already late, and plus we need to burn midnight oil, we don't even have time to cook dinner for ourselves," Tao said, with his hands waving around as he spoke, and BT frowned, worried.

Tao sighed and his shoulders slumped. "So what do we do? We eat cup noodles for almost every single dinner," Tao finished and pouted, then quickly grabbed his chopsticks and added dishes to his bowl.

BT nodded his head, then shaking his head. "Poor thing. Lucky Sohyun has me to cook dinner for her. Hmm, what about this? Whenever you're free, come over to have dinner with us. The more the merrier, right?" BT smiled, while Sohyun's head whipped towards his direction, shaking her head vigorously, disagreeing.

She spat out her food and gawked at her grandfather. "BT! Are you serious? It's so obvious that-"

Both her sister and grandfather nudged her and smiled at Tao, while Tao smiled back. "Really? Thank you BT! It will be super duper fun!" Tao exclaimed excitedly, while Kris glanced at him, gawking.

He slowly looked back at his food and chewed on his chopsticks.

"Ah yes, Kris you can come too if you want. After all you're Sohyun's mentor, you need to take care of her," BT said and Kris looked up, then nodded his head. "Thank you, BT." BT scooted nearer to Sohyun as he whispered into her ear. “Doesn’t you mentor smile at all?” he asked and Sohyun stifled a laugh, cocking her head to one side. “He’s, strict.”

"See? I told you that you can get free home cook dinner now, you should thank me," Tao said with clenched teeth, smiling as he nudged Kris, while he elbowed him. "More like a freeloader."

--

Tao slumped back in his seat, and he sighed contently, smiling at the ceiling, then looking at BT. His smile widened. "Thanks! Home cook dishes are still the best, especially yours BT," Tao giggled, and BT nodded his head, satisfied. "One of my best dinners so far."

Tao stood up, and bowed. "I'll get going then BT. I still need to study the case for tomorrow," Tao said and went up, while Kris followed him. "Freeloader," he mumbled under his breath, while Tao shot a look at him. "Ahem. Excuse me? We can get to interact with BT. And he's one great guy, we should really go over for dinner," Tao explained and tapped his chin, while Kris cracked a smile and went into his car.

"I can't be bothered with you. I'm going back home," Kris said and drove off.

Even when he reached home, he still thought of that man. Byun Baekhyun. He wondered, who is he related to Sohyun.

It wasn't jealousy that was overwhelming him, but more like, curiosity. Curiosity towards his protege, because after talking to Tao for a great five minutes made him realize how Tao could actually know so much of Sohyun even though they are just mere colleagues while Sohyun and him are mentor and protege relationship. And yet, he knows nothing about her.

He really needs to do some reflection as a good mentor.

Tao went back into his house, then plopped himself on the sofa, sighing.

He quickly reached for the file that was on the coffee table, and lay on the sofa, flipping through the pages. "I'll deal with you tomorrow on trial," Tao muttered and wrinkled his nose at the file, then stuck out his tongue.

He closed his eyes, then smiling at himself. *Tomorrow is gonna be good, I hope.*

-----