Yesung looked up at the clock as he heard the car doors shut outside and headed to the kitchen to give the wayward duo a piece of his mind.  They’d left almost two hours ago for a shopping trip that shouldn’t have taken more than forty-five minutes.  Just as they walked into the kitchen through the back door, he opened his mouth to give them a piece of his mind when he realized they weren’t alone.

            A shy youngster peeked into the room from behind Donghae, his mouth falling open as he glanced around.  He stayed beside the door as the other two walked in and dumped all of their bags on the table. 

            “And just who did you bring home with you today?”

            “We brought home a cook for you,” Eunhyuk said proudly, patting the shorter boy on the head.  “He’s a favorite cook of ours from in town and he happens to be looking for work, so we brought him here to see you.”

            “I guess that’s better than the puppy you found last time.”

            “You just pretend to hate Kkoming, that’s why my brother brings her with all the time,” Eunhyuk replied.

            Yesung ignored him and held out his hand, “Hello, I’m Kim Yesung.”

            “Hi,” he shyly said.  His hand shook a little as he extended it to Yesung.  “My n-name is K-kim Ryeowook.”

            “Same last name?” Eunhyuk said in surprise.

            “It’s fate!” Donghae said, clasping his hands together.

            Yesung shook his hand and looked the boy over.  Donghae and Eunhyuk weren’t among the brightest people he knew and generally couldn’t be counted on to come up with good ideas on their own but they weren’t bad judges of food and Yesung vaguely remembered seeing the boy in town and recalled how hard he seemed to work.

            “Come along with me,” Yesung said, heading out the door and into the hallway in order to interview the boy in peace.  He led the boy into the dining room and waved him into the seat across from him and began going over what kind of experience he had in the kitchen and was surprised to find that he seemed reasonably qualified with the exception that he’d never worked in a household before but he was willing to at least give the boy a chance.

            Before he made any offers to him, he dug into his personal background a bit more and had him explain why he was out of work.  He explained the events of earlier that afternoon and although being fired for theft was usually a warning sign, he happened to know the boy in question, Seunghyun, and was willing to believe the young man’s story over that of the shop keeper’s son.

            Yesung sat back and looked the boy over.  “How about this?  I’m willing to give you a try for a few days, just to see how good you are until we’ve tried some of your food and see how good you are.  I have no doubt that you can cook well but we have a very peculiar boss and he can be very hard to please, so I will hold off on giving you the job until I have his approval, understood?”

            Ryeowook’s face lit up and he thanked him profusely.

            “Don’t get overly excited,” he warned.  “The last cook Mr. Cho approved of had been serving his family for thirty-seven years and knew exactly how to make what he liked.  Everyone else we’ve hired since she retired hasn’t met with his expectations and one of them was an exceptionally excellent French chef.  I was in heaven eating it personally but he outright fired her.  So, even skill won’t necessarily get you the job.”

            “Just giving me the chance means so much to me, sir.  You have no idea.”

            “Just call me Yesung.”

            “Thank you, Yesung.”

            “You’ll be expected to keep the kitchen cleaned, organized, and well-stocked.  Anytime we need groceries, Eunhyuk will be happy to drive you to the store where we have an open account.  You’ll need to make enough food for the master, four servants including yourself, and any guests we have, of which we have none at the moment.”

            “That isn’t nearly as many people as I usually cook for.”

            “But he has a lot of relatives that like to come by and harass us,” Yesung grumbled.  “And frequent visitors, so you may want to make a little extra every day.  Can you start your trial tomorrow?”

            “I can make dinner tonight if you’d like, assuming there’s enough food to work with.”

            Yesung agreed and headed back out of the dining room with the boy following behind him only to find Donghae and Eunhyuk waiting in the hall for them, huge smiles plastered on their face.  “Congratulations!” Donghae said, hugging the boy.

            “Now, now,” Yesung warned.  “If you were listening close enough, you also understand that this is provisional.  Everything depends upon what Mr. Cho thinks in the end.  And you two better get to work now after goofing off all afternoon.”

            “Can I show him to his room first?” Eunhyuk asked, holding up the youngster’s bag.

            Yesung rolled his eyes.  “I suppose.”

            When all three began to walk down the hall, Yesung grabbed Donghae by the back of the collar and drug him back.  “I believe it only takes one person to show Ryeowook around.”

            “But I—”

            “No buts!  Someone needs to put all the cleaning supplies away so we have someplace to eat dinner and then he has a couple of guest rooms to prepare.”

            Although Donghae was disappointed, he followed Yesung back unto the kitchen.  Donghae grumbled to himself but Yesung’s mind was too preoccupied to mind his ramblings. 

            “You know, back in the day, that was just his type.”

            “What was whose type?” Donghae asked, eager to start a conversation to postpone working.

            “Mr. Cho’s type, he always fell for the slightly effeminate petite guys.”

            “Really?  I always assumed he liked guys like his ex.”

            “No, he fell for Eunhyuk’s brother because he was conveniently around all the time and he’s quirky, which intrigued him.  His usual type before that was very similar to our young cook’s.  It makes me wonder.”

            “I doubt it will mean anything to him now.  Mr. Cho hasn’t dated anyone since the accident and that’s been six years now,” Donghae reminded him.  “I don’t think he cares if he ever finds someone.”