“Sunny, help.”

“I told you to get a job to make your father happy for the time being. Look at what you’ve gotten yourself into now.”

“You’re not helping.”

“You’re not helping yourself.”

Taeyeon turned to Hyoyeon who waggled her hands violently.

“Don’t look at me. I can’t make an omelette to save myself.”

“Yuri?” Taeyeon asked her raven-haired friend in desperation.

Yuri winced. “I can fry an egg but I don’t know anything about omelettes.”

“Oh no,” Taeyeon groaned. “What am I going to do?”

A futile dinner date later, Taeyeon went home dejected. She mulled over the possible solutions deep into the night and ended up in a state of insomnia. Frustrated with herself, Taeyeon reached for her smartphone and browsed YouTube videos to give her mind a rest.

The videos were entertaining and she felt better after having a good laugh at the antics of the YouTuber. Thumbnails of suggested videos popped up as usual at the end of the video and that was when one particular thumbnail caught her eye. An egg. A thumbnail of an egg. And not just any egg. It was a thumbnail of an omelette egg.

Curiosity piqued, Taeyeon tapped on the thumbnail and watched the video. It was an omelette making tutorial. Eyes widening upon realization, Taeyeon clutched her phone and watched the entire video carefully. A sense of relief flooded her after that.

Making an omelette isn’t that difficult. It actually looks pretty easy. In fact, I should film the whole thing and show Daddy how good I am at helping out. What an idea!

omo

Buttoning up a fresh new sunflower yellow blouse, Tiffany stared at herself in the mirror in her bedroom.

It’s okay. The last lesson was only my first try. I will do better today. I will.

With an affirmative nod at herself, Tiffany took a deep breath and picked up her bag. “One omelette at a time, Tiffany. One at a time.”

It was also comforting to know that the culinary school had arranged for an extra session just before the actual class to help her. What a good culinary school this was. It was a good thing she chose this school even though Sooyoung had suggested others.

As she turned into the corridor leading to Kitchen Lab 3, Tiffany saw a petite figure standing beside the door ahead. The figure straightened up as she drew closer and upon seeing her face, she smiled.

“Hi, Taeyeon,” Tiffany greeted the intern she had met before.

“Hi, Tiffany,” Taeyeon said in reply, wearing a wide smile. “I’m here to help you today.”

“You’re helping me . . .?”

“With the cooking.”

Tiffany frowned. “But didn’t you say you aren’t good at cooking?”

Taeyeon’s eyes widened and her jaw fell open. But a second later, she was grinning and waggling her hands. “I’m not good at it but we can learn together and I’ll film all of it so we can see where we went wrong after.”

“Film it . . .?”

“To document our success,” Taeyeon said with a bright grin.

Tiffany thought about it for a moment. Things seemed a little unusual but this was a reputable culinary school after all. And it would be great if this method worked . . .

Fifteen minutes later, they were standing behind the counter in Kitchen Lab 3, camera rolling as they attempted to make the perfect omelette.

“What do you use to crack the egg?” Taeyeon asked Tiffany, egg in hand.

Tiffany picked up the knife she used the first time. “This?”

Taeyeon’s eyebrows lifted in doubt. “A knife?”

“You use a knife to cut things up, right?”

“But an egg . . .?”

Tiffany shrugged. “It worked for me the last time.” She placed an egg on the chopping board and gave it a good whack with the knife. It cracked open and she emptied the contents into the bowl with haste. “There. See? It worked.”

“I guess so,” said Taeyeon, following suit. “What’s next?”

“We have to beat the egg.”

“Oh, that’s easy.”

Tiffany smiled at Taeyeon as they beat their eggs. It was nice to have someone as bad at cooking as she was beside her. This was definitely less stressful than the lesson where everybody moved at a pace she could not keep up with. And Taeyeon was such good company, sweet and nice and friendly and kind and pretty and—

“Opps.” Taeyeon’s fingers were on her lips. “We missed a step.”

“We missed a step? What step?”

“We were supposed to add a three-finger pinch of salt first.”

“Oh no . . .” Tiffany groaned. “I totally forgot.”

“Don’t worry. We can add it now and beat the egg some more. It’ll be fine.”

“Right, so. Three-finger pinch . . .” Tiffany stuck three fingers out from the middle and dipped them into the little bowl of salt. “Do you know how to pinch with three fingers?” she asked Taeyeon. “I can’t seem to get it done.”

“Three fingers . . . three . . .”

Tiffany watched as Taeyeon stared at her hand, frowning in contemplation. Then her eyes lit up in new light.

“What if . . .” Taeyeon pushed her ring finger down and pulled her thumb up, “you used these three?”

The revelation struck Tiffany like a bat to a ball. “Oh my, you’re a genius. How did I not think of this earlier?”

Taeyeon grinned, eyes turning shy. “Nah, I’m not a genius.”

“Yes, you are. You solved the problem that plagued me for the entire lesson the last time.”

“Ah, I got lucky that’s all. I’m not this smart usually.”

“You seem pretty smart to me.”

“If only my father would think the same. I wouldn’t have to be here if he thinks like you.”

“What do you mean? Don’t you want to be here?”

Taeyeon looked into Tiffany’s eyes just then and Tiffany felt a jolt of electricity zipping through her body from head to toe.

“I’m actually a YouTuber.”

“A YouTuber? Aren’t you an intern here?”

Taeyeon shook her head and explained the series of events that led to this.

Tiffany was stunned. “Do you mean I wouldn’t have been accepted into this school if it weren’t for your recommendation?”

Taeyeon nodded.

“And now you’re in charge of helping me to graduate?”

Taeyeon nodded again.

A surge of warm, fluffy feelings pulsed through Tiffany’s body and she found herself flinging her arms around Taeyeon, drawing her into a massive hug. “Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.” Arms wrapped around Tiffany too, returning the hug she was giving and they stayed in their embrace, locked in a moment of comfort that neither wished to part with.

At last, they let their arms drop and smiled warmly at each other. Tiffany was even more determined to make a good omelette now. “I’ll do my best. I’ll make the best omelette any chef apprentice has ever made in this school.”

Taeyeon nodded, eyes b with faith. “I believe in you.”

“But what about you? What about your Youtube channel?”

“I’ll bring up the enrolment somehow. That’s all I have to do to convince my father.”

“But don’t you have to upload regularly to keep your channel going? You might even lose your forty-eight subscribers if you stop uploading videos.”

The sadness in Taeyeon’s eyes was heart-sinking. “But I don’t have time to make videos. This job is taking up all my time.”

“Why don’t you upload this video?”

Taeyeon stared at Tiffany. “This video?”

“Why not? It might not be interesting but at least it’ll keep your channel going.”

“Well, I’m not a cooking channel . . .”

“Your subscribers will be happy to get updates from you about your life right now. And who knows, you might even get new subscribers this way.”

“You’re right. I should. But you’ll appear on the video. Are you alright with that?”

“I’m alright with it as long as it’ll help you. We’ll help each other.”

Taeyeon’s grin was stunning in that moment. “Let’s get this omelette going!”

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