Five Star Michelin | Lee Taeyong x reader

Sugar Rush

"I fell by the wayside, like everyone else

I hate you, I hate you, I hate you

But I was just kidding myself"

~

You hated it.

It scared you because it was like your opinion had changed. You didn't hate him anymore, you hated the fact you didn't. It was infuriating, the way that he almost haunted you. His eyes seemed to follow you every time you did something.

He sent you the picture of you from the day you went to Café Bul, with your eyes wide, almost popping out of your head, nose red, and hair messed up. You looked like the epitome of panic, hands flying around mid-air.

The next picture was you holding a glass of water, sipping it in desperation. You could almost hear the picture, with Taeyong snickering in the background.

You didn't hate him, you really didn't. He was okay, infuriating, but okay. Infuriating because sometimes he could drive you up the wall, like now, when he insisted tules would look much classier on the parfaits that the sugar flowers you suggested, and had already begun making.

"These look fine as they are Taeyong," you said for the third time as he continued to tell you why tules were a much better option. "Tules would impress them! Elevate the presentation."

You turned to him, just about ready to strangle the man, "And? Sugar flowers are pretty, and they sparkle when the light hits them! They'll add colour to the presentation."

You continued to spoon out the sugary syrup mixture onto the trays, letting them set before you could assemble them into flowers. It was just sugar syrup and food colouring, simple, yet tricky enough to impress someone with.

"It's time-consuming", he nagged, picking up one of the purple petals that had dried and inspecting it.

"And tules aren't? Taeyong, don't shit yourself, but tules are really fucking hard, and if you don't roll them in time, you end up with a sweet cracker."

"But you have to make each petal, then attach them together and let them set all over again", he popped the petal in his mouth, reaching for another, but you smacked his hand away, "They wouldn't take as much time if you stopped eating them. And besides, we can store these for much longer than tules."

He ignored you, taking another petal and biting into it, the satisfying crackle of the sugar making you smile, "this is literally just sugar and water"

"Make yourself useful and start assembling the ready petals", you instructed, "and don't be so bitter about your rejection about tules."

He muttered something under his breath, taking a dropper of sugar syrup and carefully placing the base petals down, building it up from the bottom of the flower. You smiled slight;y, shaking your head at him and started molding the yellow petals, until you looked back and almost had a heart attack.

"TAEYONG WHAT THE FUCK THE FLOWERS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE SMALL NOT MASSIVE,", you dropped the spoon, walking over and snatching the dropper out of his hand, staring at the huge flower he had constructed. It was pretty, yes, but far too big for a single parfait that was going to be in a small glass cup.

"But I thought it was supposed to cover the parfait's top completely-"

You pinched the bridge of your nose in exasperation, "Do you want to give people a sugar rush you idiot? They're supposed to be small, simply for visual taste."

"Oh", he said, giving you a lopsided smile, as if that would make up for it, "I'll just remake it then.", he shrugged, peeling off the petals and taking the dropper back from you. You sighed, "actually, never mind, just start on the prep for your dish."

"No, I can-"

You reached up, but he held the dropper above you, "Dude, let me try again."

"We're already wasting time, and I have work at Weishen too, just give me the dropper"

"No-"

"Give me the dropper", your fingers grazed the bottom of the dropper, before you lost your balance and fell into Taeyong, who dropped the dropper in surprise to catch you. "You okay?", he asked, helping you steady yourself again.

His eyes met yours, as he studied them, in a mix of bewilderment and amusement. Taeyong liked your eyes, they were inviting, but somehow closed off at the same time.

"Sorry", you mumbled, realizing how close you were to him, before taking a step back, "Yeah I'm fine, " you averted your gaze, looking back at the petals, "Um", your train of thought had been completely pulled of track, "Just, let me do the flowers, I'm almost done with the Ravioli prep anyways."

He gave you a small smile, before nodding, "okay then, have fun I guess", he wiped his hand on his pants and walked back to his own prep. You liked his smile.

You see, you didn't hate Lee Taeyong.

You hated this feeling.