[scene] Henry, Hankyung and Kibum

Henry slipped into the kitchen and tentatively approached the sous chef’s station in the kitchen. Kibum, who was inspecting his knives, glanced at Henry before turning his attention back to his knives,

“Why so cautious?” Kibum asked,

“Well… for one, you’re holding knives, and for another, I didn’t recommend you for the head chef position,” Henry admitted,

“It’s fine,” Kibum said easily as he placed down his knives. He turned to face Henry, leaning his hips against his table, crossing his arms loosely about his torso; “Hankyung-sshi makes a way better chef than I could have hoped to be.”

Henry blinked then smiled, “You’ve grown, hyung.”

Kibum shrugged, but a smile tugged at his lips all the same. “Have you met Hankyung yet?” Henry shook his head in a negative answer. Kibum called to the head chef. Tall and lithe, Hankyung came over to them, “Henry this is Hankyung, Hankyung, this is Henry; he was the former head chef.”

“Are you Chinese?” Hankyung asked as he searched the other man’s face,

“Yeah,” Henry replied simply. “Are you and Kibum good friends?”

Hankyung smirked, “More than friends… lovers.”

“Eh?” Henry blinked, glancing from Kibum to Hankyung, “Really?” Hankyung gave a simple shrug with a smile and Henry laughed, “A lot has changed since I left!”

Kibum glanced between the two before fisting a hand and punching Hankyung’s arm, “You told him!”

“How would you know? You don’t know Chinese,” Hankyung brushed him off,

“Two can play this game,” Kibum scowled when he turned to Henry, “How was France? Did you meet a lot of beautiful women?”

“You speak French? How?” Henry gasped, easily slipping into French from Mandarin,

“When I was in high school, I studied in England and France. I never told you?” Kibum asked casually, smugly noting Hankyung’s confused looks.

“No, you didn‘t,” Henry crossed his arms with a raised eyebrow, “France is… magnificent and yes, I did meet a lot of beautiful women. Very beautiful. Jealous?”

Kibum glanced at Hankyung who stared at him with a displeased look. Kibum turned back to Henry and shook his head, “No,” He smiled, “I love him. Love him a lot.”

Henry felt a little pain in his chest, “Ryeowook… is he here?”

Kibum shook his head, “Not today… He… He took today off work…Sorry.”

Hankyung sighed heavily, “If I promise not to speak in Chinese with Ryeowook, will you stop speaking in French?” Kibum nodded, “Thank you,”

“Shouldn’t you go prepare your usual glass of wine for Shiwon?” Kibum asked, a mischievous smile on his lips,

Hankyung said nothing. He turned on his heel and stormed off.

“What was that?” Henry smirked,

“When Hankyung first started, within a few weeks of each other he managed to cause two major food critics to storm out and be escorted out - respectively,” Kibum laughed but interjecting solemnly, “I’ll admit the first time was in my defence… and the second time was because the critic was targeting Hankyung for failure. Either way, since then Shiwon made Hankyung promise to always bring him a glass of wine and he’d forget those… mishaps.”

Henry smiled as Hankyung glanced over at them threateningly, presumably knowing what they were discussing, “What are the usual desserts? Have they changed since I left?”

“Yes… We have desserts now - that’s the change,” Kibum laughed lightly, “But now that you’re here, we can have a bigger dessert menu than just ice cream and the occasional cake.”

“That’s all we have?” Henry gaped,

“We never had a pâtisier before and it’s not like desserts were ever a big demand,” Kibum reminded, “Whenever someone asked for it, Hankyung would make it.”

“Well, I plan to make Suju the place to go for desserts,” Henry smiled at him,

“If you’ve become as good a pâtisier as you were a chef, then I don’t doubt that,” Kibum smiled as he returned to his knives,

“I’ll start thinking up a new menu for tomorrow,” Henry ran a hand through his hair, “Ah… I’ll be back, I forgot my lip chap in my locker.”

Kibum chuckled, “Still use lip chap?”

“My lips are sensitive,” Henry defended as he began walking away.

“Raspberry-flavoured?”

“Naturally!”

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