Back To You

“Hello?”

“Congratulations Jinjin!”

“Hang on a little bit”

Jin excuses himself from his staff and quickly walks out of the kitchen towards the hallway to continue his phone call, that took more than three rings before he finally picked up.

“Hoseok?”

“Yeah it’s me, so we’re on tonight?”

“Yes tonight is good.”

“Finally! we should’ve celebrated earlier. How long has it been?”

“Just a week, I’m still new to this.”

“Pfft! I’m sure you are doing well and will continue to do so.”

“Hopefully…”

“You’re finally a sous chef! Congratulations Jinjin! really proud of you!”

“Thank you Hoseok-ah”

“I already called Yoongi, so see you later?.. wait did Namjoon already call?”

“Yes Namjoon already congratulated me a few days ago. I’ll call when I’m off.”

“Okay later then”

“See you”

Jin’s bestfriends have been persuading him to go out and celebrate since the day he told them he got promoted, but he’s been very busy with the new position that it has even taken his personal time. He can already imagine the fun they will have later tonight, he can’t wait, but for now back to work.

He puts his phone back to his pocket and straightens his uniform before entering back inside. But before heading back to the kitchen, he goes and checks the event hall again. Though he already did earlier, he just wanted to be sure everything is ready. This is Jin’s first event without the head chef and he wants everything to be perfect for the party later.

As he arrives in the hall, he sees the hotel staff doing some finishing touches to the flower arrangements and place cards in each table, with the hotel manager herself personally supervising them. It’s expected really, for almost all of the staff to be assigned to this event, after all it is for a VIP. One of the hotel directors is having his engagement party tonight.

When the manager notices Jin in the entrance, she smiles at him and does an ‘ok’ sign, Jin takes it as everything is done and ready on schedule so he nods and smiles in return.

Everything seems to be perfect.

Until he noticed one of the waiters already delivering a glass of drink that he can’t identify because of the distance, to this one guy comfortably sitting on the far right of the main table. The guy is wearing a white button up casually rolled at the sleeves, with a tie loosely draped down his chest.

Who is he? He’s too early, the party hasn’t even started yet but most importantly Is he even invited to the party?

Maybe he is, Jin thinks he is probably one of those arrogant chaebols. The guy looks young though to be a friend of the VIP so he’s probably one of the second generation heirs.

Jin suddenly realized he’s staring after one of the hotel staff passed by him, so he snaps out of it and hurries back to the kitchen.

When he arrived, Jin called the attention of his staff.

“Who among you here authorized that drink I saw in the hall just now? The event hasn’t started yet and you all know anything that goes out of this kitchen needs my approval” Jin says calmly, arms crossed on chest. He was very clear when he instructed his staff that they can’t serve any drinks yet, at least until the celebrants themselves popped the first bottle, “And someone please tell me that wasn’t champagne because if it was…”

“It wasn’t chef” his patissier speaks up in defense of everyone “It was whiskey, and it didn’t come from this kitchen. The waiter said it was from the bar but the guest wanted it to be served to him here, in a wine glass. We just provided the glass.” The rest of the staff nods in agreement.

Jin is confused, but he didn’t push the issue any further as his staff looked as confused as he is with that particular guest. “Well, we can’t do anything about that now. Back to your stations.”

"Oui!" his staff answered in chorus.

Jin straightens his white chef's jacket and puts on his toque. The party is going to start soon.

- - -

The event ended successfully, Jin is glad. There were few minor mishaps like one of his cooks almost forgot to add geranium to the white asparagus that one guest specifically requested, and almost ran out of caviar but fortunately he personally handled the inventory the night before so he was prepared with reserves. The VIP couple also complimented the main dish that was his own steak with bearnaise sauce. All in all he considers it a success.

The guests are starting to empty the place. Jin and his staff are also tidying up the kitchen when the hotel manager calls for him, letting him know the VIP couple wants to talk to him, so Jin follows her out to the hall. There he saw the couple standing by the main table as they bid farewell to some of the remaining guests. Not wanting to interrupt, Jin waits for his turn on the side. As he was looking around, he saw the guy again from earlier. He had gotten so busy in the kitchen that he only noticed him now with the place almost empty.

The guy is leaning by one of the stand tables, Jin couldn’t read his expression whether he was bored or tired after the event, or both. He can see from a closer distance than earlier that he was holding a glass of champagne, sipping it every now and then. The way he held the glass lightly with his long delicate fingers, Jin thinks he must really be a chaebol, one whom hasn't done a single hard work in his life because he was born in a wealthy family. Working in a famous hotel, Jin has seen his kind many times before and they are not his type of people. Though he tries really hard not to stereotypically judge them, he just can’t help it. The guy was alone for a moment until two girls came to him. From afar, he looked like he was not enjoying the attention given by the ladies and would rather be doing something else anywhere but there. Though Jin thinks the attention was expected, because aside from his probably wealthy background, he is stunning as well. The guy’s got that typical pretty boy look, brown eyes, pretty nose and chiseled face. He was handsome, the kind that you just can’t take your eyes from. And somehow Jin feels he is oddly familiar, had he seen him in the hotel before? Maybe.

Jin realized he was staring again, this time not by anyone disrupting him but by the guy himself. The guy just turned his head and faced his direction. Jin immediately looked away, ashamed to have been caught staring. Seeing an opportunity to get out of the embarrassing situation, Jin walked towards the couple who are now alone in the main table. They expressed how they especially liked the sauce of his dish to the point they are considering him to be part of their all chef team for their wedding. That was the reason they wanted to talk to him. Jin was flattered and grateful.

Not bad for his first event as the person in-charge.

- - -

Jin’s staff had already left after making sure the kitchen was spotless, while he chose to stay back after changing to his casual clothes to check the storage room for the last time before leaving. After confirming everything is good in the dry area, he swings the exit door and moves on to the cellar. After making sure every bottle was accounted for and everything is set for next day’s work, he gets ready to leave. Thinking he is the last person in the place, he puts down the record book and was about to turn the lights off and be on his way when he heard someone say…

“Leaving again without saying goodbye?”

Jin stops in his tracks and turns around expecting to see one of his staff come back, but the person he sees is one he didn’t expect. It was the handsome guy from the party earlier.

“Excuse me?” Jin asked.

“No you won’t be excused for tonight” the guy said.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about?” Jin is genuinely confused. Looking directly at the guy, he is positive the person is not that drunk to mistake him for someone else.

“You should be, almost a year of looking for you” he says as he moves from the door frame and walks inside the cellar “You don’t remember me do you?”

“Have we met before… s-sir?” Jin asks as he tries to remember the clients his team has worked with before. The guy did look familiar to him ea