(Khun)

‘Morning Chef!’

‘Morning Chef Khun!’

I smiled and nodded at my fellow chefs, acknowledging their greetings before heading straight into my office. Upon entering the room, I looked up and saw my table. I squinted and frowned. It was all neat and tidy, everything was organised and categorised. To simply put it, it was too neat for my liking. The last I remembered of my office was stacks of boxes of cook books lying around, papers and even more papers strewn all over the desk and countertops.

‘Morning!’ a greeting from behind chimed, filled with an unknown sort of energy.

I turned my head a little to the left, only to see Tiffany there, flashing an exotic smile at me. I sighed a little and turned my body, half facing her, half facing my office.

‘I know that my desk is very messy,’ I stated, ‘but there’s a system in my mess. This way, I know where to look for my stuff and information. But you…’

She smiled gently and walked into my office, effectively cutting me off.

‘I arranged all of your information already,’ she began, ‘on the top of these cupboards, I stuck labels to classify them. Like, these are every season’s report. I used different colours to categorize them. This little trays over here, contains the documents that you use on a frequent basis. Memo is pasted right on top, you can just take a look at it. The things in your drawer, because I didn’t get your permission, so I didn’t touch them.’

I sighed and walked into my office, taking a look or inspecting at how… organised this place looked like. Brushing my fingers over my desk which most of the time I could not even see due to the mountainous piles of paperwork, I was actually contented. Maybe it wasn’t going to be as bad as I thought it would be.

‘Oh and yes,’ she continued, placing a large ring file on my table and moved nearer to me, my pulse subtly increased. ‘I have also already prepared these documents. These are the different types of food we need to source out today, and then, there’s the quantity aspect, that you must take note of. Like there are some of the ingredients that are coming from two suppliers and all that. And, their stocks are written on the top. If you have any questions or doubts, you can just ask me, okay?’

I smiled awkwardly and nodded. ‘Thank you,’ I mumbled, signalling her to leave my office.

She leaned in a little closer, close enough to feel her curves slightly pressed against my body and said, ‘you smell really nice.’

My eyes widened slightly, heat and blood surged to my cheeks.

‘Er thanks?’ I coughed.

She made her way out of the office, I took a quick sniff at myself and frowned. I smelled the same as always.

‘Right, Khunnie?’ her angelic voice sounded again.

Khunnie? My head jerked up suddenly and I turned, probably looking really red right now.

‘Can I go with you to take rounds when you check out the suppliers?’

I stared at her and managed a nod. My heart was stuck at my throat, both of embarrassment and from intoxication.

She smiled again and left.
 

*

‘When we check with our suppliers, we usually check the goods right at the bottom or the middle of the stock that comes in,’ I explained. ‘Most of the suppliers, especially the new ones would deliver the good-looking goods on the top, so we would wanna double check and make sure if they are of quality.’

She nodded in response.

‘And also, when we plan our menu for the week, we would usually check two things, the weather forecast and if any of our frequent customers are having any sort of celebrations or events that week. If it’s a raining week, our restaurant would order more stocks for jjigae-related dishes. If it’s a sunny week, we would order more, cold dish related ingredients. And as for the frequent customers, we would ask the reception to call them up to see if they would like to hold their events of any sorts here in our restaurant.’

She stared at me as though I was speaking alien language.

I let out a chuckle and nodded in agreement at what she found weird. ‘Yes,’ I agreed, ‘the approach is a bit more peculiar and time-consuming but that’s what gets our name out and have customers regularly coming back for more.’
 

*

‘There’s something I still don’t quite get about you even though you’ve been here for some time already,’ I sipped my all-time favourite mocha Frappuccino and placed it on the table.

‘Hmm? Like what?’ Tiffany’s eyes met mine before she looked back down at the mug of hot chocolate her fingers firmly gripped.

‘You…’ I paused, mentally searching for the right way to clarify what was puzzling me, ‘you, have the potential to be a head chef. Why did you settle for a sous chef? With your current abilities and qualifications, you can already be a head chef.’

She bit her lower lip, seemingly slightly nervous and placed her mug on the table, ‘that’s because, I have a motive. Of course, I intend to be a head chef one day, and open up my own restaurant. Hence I want to build a strong foundation, learning from as many top-class chefs as possible.’

‘Besides…’ she sipped from her mug and placed it back down. ‘You really taught me a lot.’

I leaned back into the chair, not really ready to receive such a compliment from a beauty, and smiled to myself.

‘Did I say something wrong?’

‘Nope, I just feel that you have the motivation to strive.’ I reassured her.

She let out a giggle. ‘Thank you.’

If she wasn’t sent by Taecyeon, then she must be a god-sent gift to me. She was definitely the person that could win me my bet. And maybe, with some luck, be my happily ever after.

*

(Taec)
 

The sound of the bustling crowd at the airport always gave me the jitters. Why? I don’t really know the reason myself. Perhaps it was a reflex reaction? That, there were many people who would be checking in at the counters and things might just crop up.

As I stared down the row of colleagues, all seated, frantically typing and booking seats for the clients who are checking in, I couldn’t help but notice Woo. His face pale, lips almost white and he frequently rubbed his temples. But he never stopped smiling and kept on working.

‘Hey,’ I approached him and placed my hand on his shoulder, my thumb gently rubbing his back. ‘You alright?’

He looked up, looking paler than ever and gave me a weak smile. ‘Yeah, just a migraine.’

‘You sure it’s just a migraine?’

‘Mhmm…’ he nodded and continued to attend the client.

*

(Woo)
 

My head was throbbing, the world was twirling and I felt like puking my entire gut out, could my day get any worse? I sprawled on the table top, savouring every single second of my break trying to get rid of the migraine. Just as I was about to drift off, a soft thud on the table startled me. I tilted my head slightly and saw a mug with a box of painkillers.

‘Pop a pill or two,’ a low husky voice instructed.

I slowly sat up and took a glance at the kind soul. Oh? It’s Taecyeon hyung. He nodded at me and signalled me to take the painkillers as he took a seat next to me. I reached out for the box and pulled the mug closer to me. Swiftly swallowing two painkillers, I gulped down the warm water.

‘Thank you,’ I whispered.

Taecyeon smiled, ‘no need to thank me. I’m just doing what I should be doing as your supervisor since I can’t let you take urgent leave.’

‘If you keep showing me so much care and concern, I might get the wrong idea you know.’

I bit my lips and could feel my cheeks heating up immediately. Since when was I so bold? What if I scared him away? This was so embarrassing.

He let out a low chuckle and stood up. ‘You’re really adorable you know?’ he said and pinched my cheek hard. ‘Enjoy the remaining of your break, we still have a battle to fight later,’ and he walked away.

My hand slowly reached up to my cheek, though it was slightly stinging but I was absolutely mesmerised. He touched me… and he called me adorable. And the best part? He didn’t deny about me saying that I might get the wrong idea. I turned my body a little, just to catch the last glimpse of his back view before he left the staff lounge. My heart was fluttering and I had the usual butterflies in my tummy. I sound like a teenage girl but I think I really do like him. Or maybe, even more than that. 

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A/N: Sorry for the rlly short chapter & for taking so long to update, school semester just started and all. But hopefully the next update would be up in a couple of days? Comments are golden! Tell me what do you think & how you want the story to be like (-: