Her Passion

She led him to a spaceous kitchen with all kinds of countertops. There were marble, stainless steel, and glass surfaces.

"Sit here." She pulled out a bar stool before the center kitchen island.

On the countertop is a wide teppan surface with spatulas on the side.

As he complied, she strode over the opposite side of the counter and put on her white apron. Then she tied her hair into a high ponytail and washed her hands.

He kept his eyes on her as she moved to get ingredients from the fridge and the pantry. All the vegetables, fruits and meat products look fresh. Only those in sealed jars and cans would be more than a day old.

She started boiling a pot of water over the perpendicular gas stove.

Then she washed rice grains and cooked them in a rice cooker.

On the still cold steel countertop, she mixed dry and wet ingredients to make a dough. Then she kneaded the mixture into the right consistency. Then she went over towwards another counter wherein a metal sheeter was sitting quietly. She turned it on and rolled out her dough into a thin sheet. Then she turned several knobs on it and passed the dough once more. Evenly cut noodles were formed.

She placed them in a bowl and prepared to work on the teppan.

She ignited the flame and began sautéing the vegetables that she swiftly cut, adding each ingredient fresh from under her knife. She transferred them into a bowl.

She also took some baby octopus and stir-fried them in a sizzling red spicy sauce.

Next, she cooked the freshly made noodles in the boiling pot of water.

The rice cooker beeped and automatically turned into warm setting.

She took beef, thinly cut, and sautéed it with some caramelized onion. She then added some vegetable and a cup of cooked rice.

She took some shrimp, de-veined it and tossed it with some mushroom and greens. She then took the chewy noodles from the pot and mixed them in.

Then she took some ground pork, stir-fried with some corn kernels, peas and more greens. She added rice and seasonings to taste. Then performed the dancing egg over her spatula for a bit, before mixing it into the fried rice.

In a short amount of time, Zhao Mingzhe was presented with several dishes. How could he forget that this is her passion? She must have been itching to cook since they landed on City M.

Han Yixin turned off the flame and began setting the edge of the countertop.

There were soon placemats, bowls and chopsticks with some lemon and strawberry infused water.

She sat next to him. "Which one do you like?"

Zhao Mingzhe looked at the mouth-watering dishes. His appetite was heightened by the show and he could not wait to dig in. However, it seemed she was asking which one he would like to try first.

"Uhm...is that...pad thai?" he pointed at the bowl with the noodles.

"Yep." she quickly responded as she reached for the corresponding bowl. She immediately placed a generous amount into his plate.

He grabbed his chopsticks and started eating. As he did, she took the octopus bowl and placed it near his bowl.

"Oh..." He sensed her thoughts and picked up one and directly putting it in his mouth. "Woah!" It was really spicy.

She had a worried look in an instant. "Is it too spicy? Sorry...I..."

"It's good." he cut her off as he tapped on her head.

He reached out to try each of her dishes.

He was about to finish the bowl of the beef clean when he noticed that her chopsticks were still untouched.

"My wife, are you not eating?" He furrowed his brows.

Before she could respond, he began filling her bowl with all the dishes which for some reason survived his hunger.

Then he took an octopus and shoved it into her gaping mouth. He flashed her a sweet smile so he could get away with it .

Han Yixin pouted as she chewed on the food. She was trying to watch her weight. Making her try good food will ruin everything.

She gave him a glare, but he laughed in return.

She had no choice but to eat up all the food her bowl was filled with.

As she did, she noticed that he stood and was walking into the pantry.

In the next moment, he had peaches in his hands and he washed them thoroughly. Then he began slicing them in quarters. He placed them into the blast freezer, if he even knew that it was not a regular freezer.

He grabbed the white wine he took out and popped out the cork.

As if forgetting something, he went to get something from the fridge and came back with a bottle of full cream milk. He transferred a third of it into a glass bowl and returned the bottle into the fridge.

He looked around the kitchen, then reached for the whisk. He began whisking the milk.

At this point, Han Yixin finished half of the food in her bowl.

She stared at him. He seemed silly but she kind of understood what he was trying to do. She chuckled as she tried to finish her meal.

When he seemed too preoccupied in whisking the milk into cream, she cleared her throat.

"CEO Zhao, I don't wanna eat rocks later." she reminded and eyed the blast freezer.

As if coming out of his whipped cream trance, he bolted to get the tray of sliced peaches.

He immediately brought the tray and laid it on the countertop. Another minute in and they would be rock solid.

He heaved a sigh of relief and smiled at her as he scratched his nape.

He took two cobbler glasses and two glass flutes.

Then he continued to whip the milk into the right consistency.

He proudly inverted his mixing bowl and was successful in making her laugh.

Then he placed a slice of peach on each flute and filled it with wine.

Next he placed peach slices, alternating with his cream mixed with some honey, until he could scoop up some vanilla ice cream to top each cobbler.

"M'lady..." he offered her.

She was still laughing as she said, "You actually dare to make me some dessert!"

He sat back on his chair to face her. Then he reached out his hand to caress her cheek. "I would like that smile to be exclusive to me."

"What?"