“Oh, come on now, Mihwa,” The man pleaded, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration as he turned to his daughter. “Why are you making things difficult?”

Both of them stood in resolute silence in the living room of their abode. They’ve been at it for a few hours now – from noon until early evening.

“If you’re not going to help me run this then the least you could do is help me screen the list of incoming interns for the company this summer,” Her father argued.

She stared at him with an unwavering look in her eye. Mihwa seemed so adamant about having nothing to do with her father’s business, especially during the summer. She had just graduated from her alma mater, Korea International School, and she should probably start preparing for the university she chose. Although she wanted to refuse the task, she decided that she would turn the situation around and bargain with him instead.

“Fine,” She spoke firmly, looking cautiously at her watch. She had to finish this petty argument before dinner started. “But if I do, will you stop forcing company matters into my hands?”

“Tsk.”

“Dad, please.” Mihwa whispered. “Mom thinks I should focus more on my studies first. And Chan agrees.”

“Really, now?”

“And maybe concentrating on other things will give me a chance to breathe and contemplate whether or not I want to be in the whole dessert industry.” She added, giving her father a little smile.

“Mihwa,” He said, after a long pause.

“Please.”

The elder took one more look into her imploring eyes before assenting half-heartedly.

“Oh, thank goodness,” Mihwa beamed. “It took a while to convince you but anyway, I love you, dad.”

“I love you too, dear,” He sighed as he approached her. “But really, abusing the love of a powerful man?”

“Dad, you may be Lee Sungil, a hotshot pâtissier-turned-businessman, but you’re still a huge softie for Chan and me.” Mihwa laughed, knowing that her father adores his children a little too much.

“Yes, yes, most people would know that by now,” The elder cleared his throat. “Now to the matter at hand.”

Mihwa groaned but listened anyway, knowing that her father is the type to get things done immediately. She watched him as he pulled out a long, white folder from a nearby suitcase. Handing it over to her, he continued his plan.

“In here you’ll find a list of seven part-time interns that will help out in the Samseong-Dong, Gangnam-gu branch of Le Napoléon. They've applied for a slot for a future job in our company, you see. These are the adolescents that have passed through several tests and are given the chance to experience working in an actual pâtisserie. They're all university students, mind you. Majority of them study in culinary schools.”

Slowly, Mihwa opened the folder and scanned through it. It contained seven faces and names neatly fastened onto a separate bond paper for each intern. Below each picture was their basic information and contact numbers. An evaluation section filled the bottom half of the page, divided into columns for her input seven days a week. Mihwa scrutinized each of the pictures and looked up in confusion.

“Dad?”

“Yes, Mihwa?”

“Are they all male interns? Or was that a female I saw in here?” She asked, looking through the folder again. “And why do they seem familiar?”

“Oh, no, they’re all male. Are you referring to Yoon Jeonghan?” Her father chuckled when Mihwa gave him a face. “Well, they must be familiar because they’re alumni from your school in Gaepo-dong.”

“They’re from KIS?” She paused to read the names again. Her eyes widened when she realized that all of these boys were once her upperclassmen. She recognized some of their names from the choir and performing arts group. Mihwa was even in the homemakers’ club with one of them when she was grade 9.

Him of all people. She panicked inwardly.

“They’re just part-time interns for now so they’d only work for a few hours on different days. Sometime in the afternoon, I suppose.” Her father explained, completely oblivious to her change in mood as she read through a page.

“Oh and one more thing, Mihwa,” He said, clasping his hands enthusiastically and snapping her attention back to him. “Do you remember your good friend Choi Seungcheol?”

“Ah, Seungcheol-oppa?” She replied, reminiscing her days in Le Cordon Bleu-Sookmyung Academy. Being two of the youngest students there, they got along quite well. Seungcheol was her partner when it came to creating group dishes. He was pretty skilled when it came to baking cakes. Even her father acknowledged his talent. Now he works at another branch of Le Napoléon, somewhere around the south, she thought. Mihwa grinned at her memory of him.

“Yes, well, that boy will be transferred to the Samseong-dong branch to help you evaluate them.” Her father smiled. “I know that both of you will be a good team, considering your group work results four years ago.”

Mihwa nodded. Working with Seungcheol again would be nice but the prospect of having to deal with seven older guys seems troublesome. She already has to deal with her younger brother, Chan. Not to mention her two boisterous bestfriends, Hansol and Seungkwan.

“So when do I start?” Mihwa asked quietly as she set the documents down on a nearby table. Maybe running the company with her father was an easier task. She wondered if she could still back out and beg him for forgiveness.

“Around the second week of summer.” He replied with a warm smile. “I trust your judgment, Mihwa.”

She paled at the encouraging statement. Only then did she realize the immense weight of the responsibility given to her. Just as she was about to back out of the bargain, something warm covered her eyes. She heard her father chuckle as she struggled to pull the hands away from her face.

“Guess who?” A deep, familiar voice whispered. Mihwa stopped struggling immediately. She knew exactly who it was.

“Jeon Wonwoo, oh my goodness, let me go or I swear I will kick you.” She groaned. This was such bad timing.

“Wonwoo, don’t take Mihwa’s threats lightly. You know that she packs a punch,” Mihwa heard her father say.

“Ah, samcheon, I know what she’s capable of. But I don’t think she can hurt me. After all, I am her favourite cousin.” Wonwoo laughed confidently, agitating Mihwa even more. She struggled against his grip.

“Alright kids, I have to go now,” The elder said as he checked his watch. “I might be late for a dinner meeting if I stay to watch this wrestling match.”

“Okay, samcheon. Have a good time. Good bye!”

“I'll be home by eleven. Good bye, you two.”

“Wait, dad, no–“

Hearing rushed footsteps, Mihwa may have called out too late. Wonwoo then released his grip on her to turn her around to face him. She looked slightly irritated at the little fiasco but he didn’t take notice. The older boy smirked.

“Hello dearest cousi–“ Wonwoo’s greeting was interrupted when Mihwa punched him on the shoulder. “Ouch, dude, what the hell?”

“I swear you have the worst timing in the world.” She grumbled, walking to a nearby couch and sitting on it miserably.

“Hey, bud, I’m not sure what I did,” Sheepishly, Wonwoo walked to Mihwa and crouched in front of her. “I’m sorry, though. What happened?”

She gestured to the folder on the table. “I have to baby sit seven alumni whom I didn’t know could cook well enough for my dad's company to consider them.”

“Really, now? Our old schoolmates? You've gotta be kidding me right?” Wonwoo asked. He grabbed the file and skimmed through it. “Hey! Mingyu is part of this? Was this the part-time job he was talking about a few days ago?”

Mihwa shrugged as she took a nearby throw pillow and buried her face into it.

“Whoa, Jisoo, Soonyoung and Jeonghan are part? Well, I’m not surprised at Jisoo since, ya know, he was in the homemakers’ club like you but damn, Jeonghan cooks? Dude, I’m gonna text him and Soonyoung about this.” Wonwoo rambled on, seemingly amazed at the hidden talents of his friends. “Jun, Seokmin and Jihoon too? Wow, Mihwa, you’re lucky to be working with these guys the whole summer then.”

Looking up, Mihwa asked. “Why would you say ‘lucky’?”

“I’d say lucky because many girls would kill to be in your place.”

“Kill? Well, sign me up for that and let somebody just kill me please– Ouch!”

Wonwoo hit her with the folder, earning an incoherent insult from Mihwa. “Don’t worry. It’s not that bad, okay? They won’t be that much of a handful... err... I think. These guys are fun. And if you don’t want it to be too awkward, I could drop by sometime and lighten the mood.”

Mihwa gave him a surprised look. “You would do that?”

“Yeah, why not? I bet Mingyu would be happy to see me sometime too.” Wonwoo grinned at his cousin.

“Thanks, dude, maybe then I’d finally befriend one of them, you know, aside from Mingyu.” Mihwa flashed him a grateful smile before returning to sulk on the pillow.

“What? Really? What about Jisoo? You haven’t worked with him at least once?”

Mihwa cringed at the memory of cooking with him. Coughing, she fibbed. “Nah, haven’t tried. I was only there for one year then he graduated, remember?”

“Right. The whole two-year thing. Well, he’s a cool dude, ya know?” Wonwoo said as he returned the documents on the table. Teasingly, he poked her side. “He seems like your type.”

“Okay, no. Conversation over. Good bye.”

“Oh-ho? Seems like somebody’s hiding something.”

“Wonwoo. Stop. ” Mihwa warned him. Disregarding her glare, the older boy smirked at her before turning to leave.

“And by the way,” Wonwoo added, “One of the guys in that folder had a thing for you back in high-school. Just saying.”

“What?” Mihwa asked. She wasn’t sure if she’d heard him right.

“Nothing. I’m off to find Chan. See you at dinner. Don’t forget to make dessert today, okay? I want something with pomegranate in it. Have a sweet summer!” Her cousin laughed as he sauntered out the room, leaving Mihwa in disbelief.

Sighing, she decided to pass the time and go with Wonwoo’s request for her to make some stupid fruit tart. She gave one last anxious look at the white folder and left the room, mumbling to herself.

“Yeah, a literally sweet summer indeed.”

---

A/N:

So Lee Chan aka Dino is her sibling, yes. 

YES THIS FIC IS BACK UP

OKAY I'M BACK INTO THE DIAMOND LIFE FOR BEING INACTIVE FOR LIKE 5 MONTHS IDK

I'm writing two chapters in advance despite having summer class

I also had to edit this a bit for their s to be accurate so