The CHEF from Burhan & Sons

Chapter 3 - Liam

I can't get her out of my mind. I've been thinking about her the whole weekend and it's driving me crazy. She's so perfect, her lips and the way her tiny body fit perfectly against mine made me shiver. "Fuck!", "Are you ok Liam?", Mia asked, I guess I must have cursed louder than necessary. "It's nothing", I said hoping she would ignore me and go back to her prepping but I was so wrong. "You're coming to Joe's with me later", she said as a matter of fact. "You do know it's Monday, right?", I asked raising a brow in surprise. "So?", she said then finally focused on her station. We prepared the food and as usual, we were ready to serve at 12:30 p.m.

It's been an hour and I haven't seen her. I kept looking at the entrance but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Hi Chef Liam, she's not coming today", a calm voice said making me turn to see the other trainers who were usually with her. "I didn't... I wasn't", I found myself struggling with words. A smile decorated her face and I gave up. "I just wanted to apologise", I said nervously. "I know, she's having a bad day, I think you should wait until tomorrow", she said picking up a plate and heading to the buffet.

I followed her, "What happened?", I asked making her smile. "I could have sworn you weren't interested, what gives?", she said with a knowing look. I guess they are closer than I thought. "Nothing, I just... never mind", I said then rushed back to the kitchen.

Claire was looking at me weirdly again. "What?", I asked standing right next to her. "She's less bubbly today. Do you have something to do with that?", she asked without looking at me. "No... Yes... Sorta", I said suddenly feeling my head itchy. It made her giggle.

"Liam, I know about you and Valerie, and don't bother denying it. Even though it's none of my business, Miss Dwyer seems to be a wonderful woman, and am sure she feels the same way you do. I suggest you do something about it before you get competition. Women like her are hard to come by, which makes her admired by many. Stop dwelling on what could have been", she patted my shoulder and then walked away. It was a lot to process so I just settled with indulging Mia. I needed to let loose.

"So, what's up?", Mia asked after our fourth shot of tequila. "I kissed the consultant", I said then took a huge swing at my beer. "What? When? Which one?", she asked looking like she could not focus. She did that when she was excited, I rolled my eyes. "Liam!!", she said smacking my shoulder, urging me to tell her more. I drank my beer the second time. "The short one", "The one with grey eyes? She's cute. So, what next? Are you taking her on a date? How come I haven't seen her today?", she said rubbing her index finger on her chin as if trying to recall if she saw her.

"That's the thing, I kinda messed things up. I found her at the front on Friday. She was trying to get an Uber but she kept cursing so I figured I'd offer her a lift", I said releasing a breath.

I've never talked about my love life with anyone from work, not that I had anyone to tell outside of work anyway, I'm always alone, just how I like it. "You're so not making sense right now", she said looking more confused, I knew I had to trust her and start from the beginning.

"Look, what I'm about to tell you, you cannot tell anyone ok?", I asked looking at her in the eyes. "Of course...", she said with all the seriousness she could master after drinking a couple of shots.

"I've had feelings for Valerie ever since I met her, but as you know she's head over heels for Zain. I've tried to move past it for a while now but I just couldn't. It's hard to stop having feelings for the person you work with. Seeing them every day just... complicate things, or they did.

Now that I've met the consultant things have gotten complicated. When I dropped her off at her house, I just lost it and kissed her and then I found myself wishing that she was Valerie so I pulled back and ran away, leaving her stranded in her driveway and now she doesn't want to see me... I've been thinking of her the whole weekend and it's driving me crazy. I don't know what to do" When I finished, I felt lighter.

"That felt good huh?", Mia asked with a smile, I smiled back and clicked her bottle with mine. "Ok, first of all, I knew about you and Valerie ages ago and second, I think what you need is to move on. Amy seems nice if you ask me. What do you have to lose?", the way she said it reminded me of Claire. Maybe it was time for me to move on. Plenty of fish in the sea or maybe one in this case. "You're right. I'm gonna apologise then ask her out first thing tomorrow", I said confidently making Mia cheer for me.

"Hi, Amy. Can... can I talk to you for a second", I asked nervously as she was about to walk away from the used utensils assembly table. She didn't look happy to see me but waited for me to talk. When she raised her brow, I knew she was waiting for me to start speaking.

"I'm sorry about the other day. Can we start over?", my question surprised her, I didn't know if it was a bad thing or good. "Why? So, you can run away again?", she asked looking pissed. It turned me on and I don't know why. When I didn't answer, she started walking away. I pulled her by the wrist gently making her turn and glare at me.

"Let go of me", she demanded. "I will if you agree to have dinner with me", I said and her eyes went wide."You're kidding right?", she asked looking at my hand that was still holding her wrist. "No, I'm not. Please say yes, I really want to make it up to you", I pleaded. She looked into my eyes, whatever she saw made her face turn soft.

"One date, if you mess it up, you forget I even exist. See you at the reception after work", she said walking away. I could have sworn she was swaying her hips just to make me stare. "She's something isn't she", I turned to see Rayan looking at Amy too.