The Cool Girl| Kim Taehyung

Sweet

Desiree drowns out the loud hum of chaos in The Restaurant kitchen. Her main attention is aimed only at the chocolate soufflé to-be in front of her. 

Lodging her tongue at the corner of her mouth, her focus bears down on turning and folding the delicate concoction of sugar, butter and dark chocolate.

"Dad I can't do this if you keep looking over my shoulder like that!" she grumbles at her father's looming presence by her side.

"Well I'm teaching you, Des. How am I supposed to assess what you're doing if you don't allow me to observe?"

"Well observe somewhere over there dad. You hovering over me is only making me nervous."

Her father smiles and moves to an adjacent corner of the kitchen before chortling in response, "This good enough?" he asks, gesturing at the newly created distance between them.

"Yes!" Des puffs and continues on with her task determinedly, careful to avoid any fault or error.

She pours the chocolate mixture from the heated pan into a silver bowl, her forehead creased with concentration. 

As it cools down she grabs a heavy silver bowl filled with freshly whipped egg whites and folds it carefully into the mixture. 

Her dad stands there in his chef's whites, arms folded and appraising his daughter with a look of approval at her technique.

"Am I doing it right, dad?" She yells over the noise of whistling steam and the clanging of pots and pans.

"Perfect!" he replies and Des smiles brightly at the praise from her father.

Fifteen minutes later, ten little white ramekins sit neatly in a row on the shelves of the oven and the delicious scent of cocoa and vanilla bean begins to permeate the air as the soufflés rise within the heat  of their chamber.

Des wipes her hands on her apron after clearing away the work surface. 

She peeps anxiously at the window of the oven.

"Don't worry, the kitchen staff will take it from here. I need you to do something for me," he guides her into his office just off the side of the kitchen.

Des furrows her eyebrows, noting the serious tone in her dad's voice. 

"Is everything okay, dad?"

Her father seats himself at his desk and Des throws herself down on a bean bag in the corner.

"I can't believe you brought that ridiculous thing into my office," he shakes his head, snickering with a smile.

"Well its much more comfortable for enduring your long lectures and life lessons, dad...makes everything more bearable, you know?" she yawns, stretching out her long legs and rolling to her side to place a hand under her chin.

"Now, what is it dad?" the father and daughter regard each other. 

He cleared his throat before speaking, "Des, your friends are all gone off to college but you still spend quite a lot of time away from home these days? Why is that?"