Ricotta Cheesecake

Chapter 1

There are three things that Kwon Eunbi would never do in her life:

1. Skip work unnecessarily,

2. Stand outside a shop suspiciously, and

3. Hire a random stranger to talk to her younger sister, Nako.

And yet here she was, doing those exact three things. On any other day, Eunbi would have laughed at herself, finding her act quite ridiculous. She was a successful businesswoman, for goodness' sake, with too many things on her plate and not enough time to complete them. So why was she awkwardly hovering outside a bakery a good distance away from her office?

The answer to her question was standing at the bakery register, arranging breads and cakes in carry bags while conversing with said random stranger that Eunbi had paid on a whim. In her defense, though, it wasn't as if she could just waltz into the bakery at this time of day. Nako would throw a fit if she knew Eunbi went out of her way just to observe her on Nako's first day of work.

Which was exactly why Eunbi was hiding outside the bakery in her business suit, peering in through the display window. It was amazing how cute Nako looked in her simple uniform - a grey button-up shirt and a straw-coloured apron with the bakery name monogrammed on it - and with her light brown hair tied up in a neat ponytail. But then again, it was impossible for Nako to not look cute. She was just born that way, born to be the most adorably precious human ever.

Her gaze drifted to the female customer talking to Nako. Just minutes ago Eunbi had spotted her staring at the cakes on display from outside the bakery and recklessly attempted to persuade her to "make friends with the petite girl standing there, you see, over there at the cash register".

Of course, the woman instantly it turned down, convinced that Eunbi was some kind of weirdo. "Who even are you?" the woman asked.

"I'm Eunbi." She grinned at the woman in an attempt to be friendly. "And you are...?"

"Suspicious of you, lady." The stranger stared at her with dark, soul-searching eyes. "How do I know you're not some criminal or creepy stalker trying to get me to also creepily stalk someone?"

"Because..." Eunbi fished around in her wallet and came up with a couple of ten-dollar bills. "I'll pay for whatever cakes or breads you want?"

The stranger's eyes widened at the offer. "I'll take it," she immediately said, grabbing the cash and rushing into the store. "Be right back."

As she waited for the stranger to exit the shop, Eunbi quickly checked her phone for any new messages. There were twenty new texts, but they were all from her personal assistant who, if she was being honest, had a tendency to panic when Eunbi wasn't around during her specified hours. She supposed she should give her PA a call, since by the looks of it, the stranger wasn't coming out of the bakery any time soon.

"Hey, Sian, what's up?"

"Kwon Eunbi!" her assistant screeched from the other end of the line. "Where are you? Did you forget you were supposed to have a meeting with one of your distributors ten minutes ago?"