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»onions

"Chef!" I called, as I pointed towards the catfish. "They look pretty fresh. Didn't you talk about fish for tomorrow's special?"

Chef turned his back on whatever he was looking at and peeked over my shoulder to see the fish. "You think?" He came forward and looked at the amount of variety exposed in front of us.

"Those." I pointed again. Chef nodded slowly.

"It's a good idea. They're pretty easy to cook but there's not much we can do with it if we have any leftovers." Chef's eyes drifted to the side and something caught his attention. "I didn't think about that."

He walked towards the plastic container filled with clams. "Ajumma!" He called, and soon a short lady wearing rubber gloves and an apron appeard out of nowhere.

"Oh, it's my handsome costumer!" She rushed over to chef, pinching his cheeks as he laughed. "How can I help you today?"

"Tell me about your clams, are they from today?"

"Of course they are!" The old lady stepped towards the container filled with clams and looked through them. "They're the freshest in this market, I can guarantee you. I had my husband pick them this morning."

"Okay, thank you, give me a second!" He turned to me suddenly. "What do you think?"

This felt awfully nice. The amount of trust chef was putting into me recently made me very very happy, but also a little suspicious.

"Mh," I tapped my index finger on my cheek, thinking about what we could do with those clams. "Soup! We could do soup with those."

"That's smart. And if we have leftovers we can use the broth for something." I nodded.

"Besides, the lady said they were really fresh." Chef stifled a chuckle.

I smiled shyly, not knowing what chef was laughing about. "They all say that. You have to check the products for yourself." I nodded.

After we got the vegetables and everything that we need chef suddenly stopped in his tracks. "Let's go somewhere before going back."

I turned around. "Mh? Are we missing something?"

"No, but my friend opened this place around here." I nodded and so, we started walking the opposite direction.

(...)

"I know you didn't have breakfast." Chef said as I stared at the plate filled with pancakes in front of me. "Dig in."

I cleared my throat and looked up at chef. "So, your friend doesn't own this place?"

"Oh, no, he does." I nodded. "Eat, they're really good."

"They do look good," I pressed my lips together. "But I really don't think this is necessary."

"Think of it as an experiment, okay?" Chef crossed his arms on top of the table and leaned over as I picked up my fork. "Try and identify the ingredients." I looked at chef and nodded before I cut a piece of the pancake.

I turned the fork around in front of my eyes, analysing the puffy pancake triangle - chef had taught me before that a chef eats not one, but three times.

One with the eyes, other with the nose and finally with the mouth.

"See how thick it is?" Chef looked at it as well.

"Yes, chef."

"You have to put in the perfect amount of baking soda. That will make it easier to flip too."

I didn't need to smell it this time, since the place smelled like pancakes itself. I chewed on the perfectly cooked pancake and identified the key ingredients almost immediately. "It's got flour, milk, sugar...baking soda!" Chef chuckled at my sudden remark.

"Go on."

"It's sort of crispy." I said as I chewed on another piece. "What is it? Olive oil?" Chef smirked and nodded negatively.

"Onions." He cut my thoughts. I lifted my eyebrows in surprise.

"Onions?" I repeated, sort of confused.

Chef nodded. "Onions."

"Oh! That actually mades sense." I eyed chef for a while as he looked around. I turned back to the plate and cut some more, stabbing my fork in it. "Chef."

"Mh?" He turned around to face my again and I put out my hand, still holding the fork. Chef looked at the piece of pancake stabbed on my fork, then back to me.

"Go on," Chef chuckled at my behavior and I couldn't help but smile shyly. He stole the fork from me and ate the pancake, nodding his head as he tasted it.

"It still tastes the same." He sat there thinking for a while, staring into the void, and I don't know how exactly it happened, but I fell a little bit in love with him and his beautiful features.