"A little bit more salt," Karishma spoke, tasting the broth Leo was making. The younger chef nodded as he followed the instruction.
"You've been doing good. Learning fast."
"Thanks, I guess," Leo muttered, clearly not very smooth at accepting compliments. His phone rang, and he was going to ignore it but his boss intervened.
"It's okay, pick it up. Might be important," Karishma said. Leo wiped his hands before stepping away for a minute to answer the call. When he got back, he had a perplexed expression on his face.
"What's up?"
"It's nothing," Leo answered, sighing. "My sister is here along with my parents and my uncles. They were asking if I could come out to the dining room to say hi but I told them I just started working here and I'm not going to-"
"Are you kidding me?" Karishma frowned. "Family comes first, always. Go meet them! The kitchen won't burn down if you're out for a couple minutes."
"But-"
"Seriously, Leo, your family is here to show their support and you're hiding in the kitchen?" Karishma shook her head. "Go before I kick you out."
"It's really okay if I go say hi?" Leo asked, his voice low. Karishma nodded, she could tell that Leo wanted to do it, and had only refrained for the sake of seeming professional.
"Yes. Go."
Leo passed a look of gratitude before leaving to go meet his loved ones. Karishma watched the kid's retreating figure with a sad smile. She missed her mom and her siblings a lot. This was the longest she had been away from them, and she had no idea when she would be able to see them next. Hamen and Hania's graduation was in a couple of months, so maybe she could take time off for that...
But they would have to find someone to take over in her absence. Maybe Roy? But Roy wasn't too good at having people listen to him. Denise might be a better fit. Or maybe all of this was a bad idea. Karishma probably shouldn't take an extended time off. There was no telling what could happen during that.
But she really wanted to see her mom and hug her. She wanted to binge watch her favourite show with Mikey and play cricket with Dallin. She wanted to take Hamen and Hania out for dinner as a gift and maybe she could see her old friends too...
"You have the sweetest heart," Haseena interrupted Karishma’s train of thought, startling her.
The head chef turned back, her cheeks flushing a light of pink at Haseena’s words and at the way that she was looking at the chef. Her eyes were so full of affection that for the first time Karishma wasn't surprised that everyone had assumed the two were dating.
"It's not a big deal," Karishma mumbled, facing the table once again, unable to keep looking at the crime boss.
Haseena chuckled as she walked closer to the chef, until her chest was almost touching her back. She kept one hand on the counter beside Karishma, the other on her waist and rested her chin on top of Karishma’s shoulder. Karishma was shocked. It was as if her heart had almost stopped. The proximity wasn't anything new but... Haseena had never done anything like this in public before.
And they were at work, for fuck's sake!
"The way you value family shows how big your heart is. It's like you... precious," Haseena whispered in Karishma’s ear, sending a shiver down the chef's spine by how low and deep her voice was. "I hope there is space for me in there too."
"Haseena"
"I want your heart to be mine," Haseena continued, her hand moving up and down Karishma’s side as she shifted even closer. "And your body too."
