December

A polite answer came out of Kim Shin’s mouth. Even so, no one responded right away, and the chef laughed awkwardly.

“Uh, of course. we’ll see…Since Yeonwoo is from the same school as you, he can guide you through the nitty gritty of working here…”

“No, I, I will let him know.”

The sous chef interrupted the chef and said quickly. The sous chef interrupted and glanced at me, but I didn’t notice it because I was looking at Kim Shin. Instead, I definitely saw Kim Shin looking at the sous chef. It was unfamiliar because the gaze felt exceptionally cold.

“Yeonwoo put the dishes in the dishwasher.”

I turned my head at the words of the kitchen assistant calling me, but as I headed toward the dishwasher, I was concerned about what was happening behind me. So, while cleaning the dishes, I perked my ears to the conversation.

“Let’s see how well you can do it.”

Following the disapproving voice of the sous chef, the two entered the food storage room.

“Ugh, what else is the sous chef trying to do?”

“A military discipline?”

The kitchen assistant nodded at my question.

“Yeah, he’s pretty strict. There’s a small sink near the food refrigerator that’s bent over there, isn’t there? When I first came, I only peeled and sliced onions for a month in front of him. Fuck, back then I cried more than when my grandfather passed away.”

I didn’t know because I didn’t have to go through such military discipline. Surely he wouldn’t make Kim Shin just peel the onions, right?

I was accustomed to the hectic kitchen after working part-time for more than a week, but everyone became gregarious and active when there were clients. Since we usually handle fires and knives, I would get scolded even for a small mistake.

Normally, I would have been alert and continued working so as not to make mistakes, but on this day, all of my nerves were pointing toward the food refrigerator. Kim Shin was really peeling and slicing onions there. When I first heard that he would be working in the kitchen, I was worried about how not to be conscious of him, but now that I couldn’t see him, I became more conscious and concerned.

Unexpectedly, I started getting restless, especially when I heard the sous chef reprimanding him. Although he was one of the most powerful Alphas I had ever seen. The voice answering the sous chef didn’t sound hurtful or impolite, but I kept feeling sorry for him. Those worries only grew larger and pushed the boundary that I built about how I shouldn’t be involved with a dominant Alpha.

So, after a busy period passed and I had some time to spare, I headed toward the food refrigerator, pretending to go get something I needed. Just 2m from around the corner. But I couldn’t turn the corner and stood there for a while as if I was standing in front of a cliff. The urge inside me increased in size as if it were desperate at the moment. I wanted to see how he was working.

I never dreamt that I would have something to worry about for Dominant Alpha. But since he was so quiet and did everything the sous chef ordered, I wanted to take care of him. I pushed my boundaries and stepped out. The wide back hunched over the sink was the first thing I saw. His presence filled that narrow space. I couldn’t walk any closer and stopped. I saw him raise his arm to rub his eyes and quickly stopped him.

“The more you rub it, it will only sting. Better just to cry.”

He paused, then removed his arm from over his eyes and turned to me. He couldn’t open one eye properly and blinked.

“I don’t want to cry.”

I couldn’t hold back a smile at the dissatisfied remarks. What if I cry because of the onion?

“But it stings less if you cry.”

But as if he really didn’t want to shed tears, he threw his head back and closed his eyes tightly before opening them. The stinginess seemed to go away. Without realizing it, I took a handkerchief out of my pocket and dipped it in cold water in the sink.

“If you press your eyes with this, it will feel a little better…I…”

I’ll press it for you. I could barely hold those words back. What was I trying to do? Realizing what I was doing, I lowered my raised hand in bewilderment. But I couldn’t pull back completely. His hand quickly grabbed my wrist.

“Please.”

A large hand squeezed my wrists as if they were of a different species than me. However, I did not feel the pain because I was trying to hide my gaze in embarrassment. Fortunately, his eyes were watering, so he closed his eyes again and said softly.

“Fuck.”

I tried holding back my chuckle at his grudge with the onion and I succeeded. Instead, the boundaries that remained until a moment ago completely disappeared. When I came to my senses, I was already bringing a wet handkerchief to his eyes before I knew it. He even bowed his head toward me like an obedient child.

I put one hand on the sink and leaned more toward him, and his face came closer in an instant. I put a handkerchief on one eye, but luckily he closed both eyes. So I was able to observe his face up close. Of course, I held my breath to avoid being caught looking at him. Thin but long lips and how cool it looked when those lips curved a wide smile.

A high, thick nose, a face perfectly symmetrical around it, and closed eyes. When the neat eyelashes that sit on the skin opened, I could see his almond-shaped eyes. He didn’t have double eyelids, but his big eyes had the power to attract people. One eye slowly opened. When I saw those black eyes, my heart sank heavily. A question came out of my mouth as if I was trying to hide something.

“Did you catch the Alpha high school student?”

“No.”

The guilt only increased. I quickly moved the handkerchief to the other eye.

“I was a bit busy with other things. But I will catch them with you.”

“Are you going to keep going to the library?”

“Yes.”

He didn’t ask me if I would come again. So I felt even worse. But I couldn’t show my emotions on my face. This time his other eye stared at me. The distance, which had only made my heart pound when I furtively stared at him, was now choking me with the burden.

“How did you come to work here…”

“What have you been doing… … .”

We spoke at the same time and laughed awkwardly at the same time. It was a very awkward moment, lasting only a few seconds. But I didn’t know why his nervous laugh made my heart beat so much more. I looked away to relax and licked my lips with my tongue.

“I was really surprised. I never imagined you coming here to work part-time.”

How did you come here? I assumed he would have noticed my hidden question. But there was no such answer. I turned my gaze to him, but his eyes were looking down slightly. It felt like he was looking at my lips, so I couldn’t even swallow my saliva. But soon black eyes came up and met my eyes. Did I misunderstand something?

“I live around here.”

House? I see. It was close. Well, it was only because his house was close. Hearing a good reason, a strange feeling of disappointment welled up, but I swallowed it down.

“Yeonwoo Sunbae, how have you been?”

“Well, I was fine.”

“How?”

“Just, same as usual.”

I thought I gave the right answer, but he looked at me like ‘Is that it?‘ That expression looked like that of a child, and without realizing it, I smiled.

“How precious and wonderful a drama-less life is.”

I answered playfully, but his eyes sank in an instant. My heart skipped a beat because of the illusion he gave. It was as if he knew about my past. I removed my hand from his eyes and backed off.

“It’s just that the world is rough. All sorts of incidents happen. Of course, I can easily protect myself. I protect myself very well, you know.”

I emphasized it even more.

“I also run very fast.”

I said it seriously, but he lowered his head and spouted a low ‘ha’ chuckle. It was true. I was really fast. However, it was not something to brag about to the dominant Alpha. There was a brief silence as I kept my mouth shut. I rolled my eyes, and he kept looking down. Normally, if the conversation cut off like this, it was time to break up, but I wanted to ignore it and stay a little longer. Even the tension of this awkward silence was a pleasant thrill to me. As if forcibly searching for a topic, I lowered his gaze and saw his hand.

“Oh, hand. How is your hand?”

He held out the back of his hand as if to answer. Fortunately, he had no visible scars. I heard that Alpha’s recovery is quicker than Beta or Omega’s, but seeing him recover so cleanly made me happy. Still, I grabbed his hand to take a closer look just in case, but he flinched, and the big hand I was holding wriggled. Without realizing it, I quickly let go of his hand and smiled awkwardly.

“Bill me for the treatment.”

“Can I?”

“Sure. You were hurt while helping me.”

“Then not with money…”

Not with money…? But even after waiting, nothing else came out of his mouth. Instead, he stared at me and turned his head to the side as if to hide his face. He mumbled.

“No. Nevermind.”

What was it? Did he want gold or something? I was determined to set a large budget for treatment, but he took a deep breath and looked down at me again.

“Yeonwoo Sunbae, the reason I came here to work…”

“Yeonwoo!”

In the kitchen, the sous chef called out to me. It sounded angry, so I quickly glanced toward the kitchen and then asked.

“The reason you came to work…”

I didn’t get an answer, so I looked at him and saw that he was staring at the kitchen with an expressionless face. Then he smiled at me.

“Go.”