Chapter 2 The cook.

"Finally done with all the food. On time as well." Sorata looked at the clock on the wall and the time was 1:30. 5 minutes before the reservation. The waiters started setting up the table while getting the plates on the table. Hiroshi had gone and slapped Sorata back and told him to rest so Sorata went to the break room.

"Hello Mr. Takanashi. Mrs. Takanashi, and the little princess." The first to come were the Takanashi group. The father was dressed in a suit with his hair combed while the daughter and wife were both dressed in dresses. Alice in a black dress and emi in a light blue dress. Hiroshi greeted them with a smile and stuck out his hand for a shake.

"Yes, Mr. Hasegawa, I want to thank you for letting us eat here. I'm aware this restaurant is a very busy one so I'm glad that I can occupy the time here." Mr. Takanashi greeted Hiroshi and shook his hand. The reviews on this restaurant were very high, so the two presidents wanted to eat here while talking about a partnership.

"Don't worry about it. You have already paid me enough to warrant you having this restaurant for 3 hours." Hiroshi smiled at him. Just like that the waiters had taken them to their seats and they sat down. Just then the other company's people showed up. This company had been led by a man called Kiyoshi Yamamoto. He walked in with his wife Akishino and his cousin Takshi. They also greeted Hiroshi when the waiters came over to sit them down.

"It's been a while since we last sat down like this hasn't it, Daiki." Kiysohi had greeted Daiki and the others as well. While Daiki did the same.

"Yes it sure has been a while."

"If I'd known you'd bring your daughter I would've brought mine. Well maybe I could've brought my son as well don't you think?" Kiyoshi smiled at him, his son is going to the same school as Emi and he knew this. Daiki smiled back at kiyoshi it was very clear he was trying to spark talks about an engagement between the two but Daiki quickly shut it down.

"I'm sure I've told you this kiyoshi but I don't wish for my daughter to have an arranged marriage. She'll find her own husband." Daiki smiled politely even while refusing the subtle offer. Kiyoshi had nothing to say; he believed that the rich should marry the rich and the poor with the poor, and Emi's family was the closest to his in terms of wealth.

"Very well I shall give up for now." Just as Kiyoshi had finished, the waiters came out carrying all the food and settled it down on the table. The smell was intoxicating and everyone at the table was almost drooling. It had almost every type of food, to western, and traditional Japanese.

"Well before we begin, how about we eat? I told my daughter not to eat lunch today so I want her to eat before we begin talking." Daiki had said. The others agreed and they started eating.

"Wow! It's so delicious!!" The one who said that was emi. She was already salivating over the food smell but the taste blew her away.

"Emilia remember to use proper table manners." Alice admonished Emi though she had to admit the food was incredibly delicious she valued her cooking skills but she had to admit this food was better than anything she'd ever made. Everyone was eating quite quickly and they almost forgot why they were here.

"Well my daughter appears to be quite hungry and I've had my fair share so how about we let the women eat for now and talk gentlemen." Daiki had said. The other two agreed and talked about a partnership between their two companies. The Takanashi company was basically a tech giant. They created games, computers, consoles, and even household appliances such as washers and dryers. The Yamamoto company was a company that developed products to help make the lives of people easier. Like a chair that was able to help someone's back pain or a washer that was able to do everything like put detergent and soap in without the need of a human doing it.

That's why they sought out the Takanashi company. They needed their technology and minds and were willing to even give them 60% of the profit. The talks continued and finally the women stopped eating and joined in.

3:20

"I see then we'll accept the partnership." """Please treat us well.""" Daiki said along with his wife and daughter.

"I see I'm glad we can do business with each other." Kiyoshi and his group also said the same. Hiroshi had come over seeing that they were getting ready to finish. He had the waiters take the plates before asking if they wanted to bring any of the food home.

"Hmm it's not very appropriate to take the food home but it was so good that I feel like I need more." Alice had said as she thought back to the food, Emi clearly wanted her to bring it back especially the fried shrimp and omurice. She could eat that all day if she was able to. Seeing his daughter like that Daiki asked if he could get a box to go and the waiter quickly went over and got it. Kiyoshi didn't appear to have the same desire and declined.

"Now that talks are over, may I ask who is the cook of this restaurant? He certainly is a great chef and I must say my thanks." Daiki had said whilst sipping his tea.

"If you would like I could bring him out here. Also he's the best cook I've ever met. I'd been refusing to hire another since I doubt anyone can make food like him though it does restrict our business hours and the amount of people we can let in here." Hiroshi quickly tried to acquiesce to Daikis wishes and told them about the cook.

"Actually Miss, Emilia, he's your age." Hiroshi decided to add.

"He's 15 and he's this good of a cook." Daiki looked plain shocked as did everyone on the table.

"Hmm I too want to meet this young man. Can you please bring him out? Perhaps I could even offer him an offer to work for my family." Kiyoshi was somewhat uninterested but seeing was curious since the boy was apparently well a boy.

"Yes I'll bring him out quickly." Hiroshi bowed and walked quickly towards the employees room.

'Why the hell is she here!!!!!' Sorata, who had finished his break, looked out since he was curious as to who the people who reserved the entire restaurant were. He saw some old handsome men and beautiful women but his eyes stopped on the girl. Even though she wasn't wearing the flashy clothes and the makeup he could easily tell who that was.

'Out of all the people to visit this restaurant it just had to be her!!! Since when the hell was she rich? I thought she was just a slutty gyaru like the others.' Sorata's had thought. He had made a big mistake after all he had hit this girl earlier he didn't know she was the daughter of this big shot. Sorata regulated his breathing and began to calm down. He heard his idiot boss say he was going to bring him so he needed to calm down.

'Just calm down me . Just pretend you don't know her. Just go out and greet them, that's it.' He took deep breaths while thinking calming thoughts and finally his boss had come in through the door.

"Sorata I need you to go greet them. Your food was a success! We're going to be rich!" Hiroshi had a smile on his face thinking of the money they were going to give him. They had decided they'd pay hiroshi 250 million yen beforehand and the other 250 if they liked the service and food and it was a hit with them.

"Okay." Sorata had already calmed himself down and kept a calm and stoic face. He walked with Hiroshi and went out of the employees room.

"Okay Sirs and madams. This is our head and only chef, his name is Sorata Suzuki." Hiroshi had introduced Sorata while also trying to suck up to them. They were all stunned, especially Emi. They had thought he was surely joking about his age but they were proven wrong.

"Thank you all for your kind words. I'm very happy you've enjoyed the food." Sorata gave a business-like smile and bowed to them. Naturally he was very handsome, he had some maturity but his face still contained boyishness with feminine contours.

"I see. So you're our cook. Thank you for the meal. I'm sure it was pretty hard cooking for all of us." Daiki bowed towards Sorata prompting everyone else to do so.

"You don't need to bow. It is merely my job and I followed orders." Sorata was weirded out by having people bow to him so he tried to get them to stop. Everyone seemed to keep talking praising his food but Sorata noticed something. Alice was looking at him without blinking; it was as if she was trying to look through his soul.

"U-Uhm Ma'am what is it?" Sorata was a little flustered after all she was a very beautiful woman and she was staring intently at him. This brought everyone to look at her till she finally spoke.

"Sorry it's just that you look very familiar." She said, still looking at him.

"I'm pretty sure we've never met Ma'am." Sorata has a great memory and he could count back to moments when he was 4 or even 2 years old but he couldn't remember this lady.

"That's not what I mean. I'm saying your face reminds me of someone I've known." She was still looking at him but she couldn't find the answer. Daiki had told her to stop since it was rude so she gave up.

"Sorry for my wife. Again young man, thank you for the meal. It was very wonderful." He bowed once more showing his gratitude before walking out of the restaurant. Sorata was glad since he didn't have to deal with Emi or have her say something.

"Hey boy. Do you want to work at my house as a personal chef? I'll pay you well." Kiyoshi had quickly made his move and made an offer to Sorata.

"I'm sorry I will have to decline. I actually like it here and the workers. I'm sure it's a very nice position but one that I don't want." Sorata kindly refused his offer while bowing. Kiyoshi still tried to get him but Sorata kept refusing and he finally gave up since he needed to get back to his office to make the partnership official. Finally it was only the workers left in the restaurant.

"Wooooooooooooooo!!" The one who yelled was of course Hiroshi he was over the moon. They had paid him the other 250 million. He already knew what he was going to do. The moment summer came around he was gonna renovate the restaurant with the state of the art appliances and replace all the furniture. He of course paid the workers their cut and he had 250 million yen left. 100 went to Sorata and the other half went to the other waiters which were 6 of them.

They continued their day and opened the restaurant so that they could get more money.

8:30 Takanashi residence

"That's who it is!" The Takanashi residents were all sitting on a couch watching tv when Alice yelled out loud. Their house was very modest and seemingly average. They were startled by her sudden outburst, something she never did but before they were able to ask her she ran upstairs to her and Daikis room. Emi and Daiki followed her to see her digging through a box.

"Alice. What are you doing?" Daiki asked his wife. She was frantically looking for something in an old box that she kept full of pictures and her time as a high schooler in England. She finally found a picture that was from an old camera that her mother used to have.

"Remember that boy? I finally figured out who he looks like . I knew I saw his face before, not only that his purple eye and that beauty mark are all things he got from her." Alice kept speaking fast and she was somewhat excited. She showed them the picture, on it was Alice as a 17 year old girl with a bunch of other girls.

"Look at the girl on the far right." She pointed with her finger at the girl. Daiki and Emi were both stunned. She was a very beautiful girl. She had pure white hair, purple eyes and a beauty mark underneath her left eye. She was the spitting image of Sorata. Sorata was basically the boy version of this girl.

"Her name was Alicia. She used to go to my school. She was very popular but I lost contact with her after I met your father." Alice was rambling on about her apparently they were friends. They weren't that close like Alice's best friend who she kept talking to even now but they talked a lot and even hung out on most days.

"So you're saying he's the son of this woman." Emi had said. Certainly they looked almost identical there was no denying that.

"He has to be. There's no doubt in my mind. His purple eyes are the same as hers." Alice was confident that he was Alicia's son.

"Who'd Ever think I'd meet her son. I thought she'd still be living in England." Alice kept prattling on to Emi and Daiki about Alicia and what she and Alice used to do back when they were in high school.

9:00

In a very high end apartment building that was 23 stories high was Sorata walking into the building. He was very tired. He had a long day and all he wanted to do was take a bath and go to sleep. He had the day off tomorrow since the restaurant was always closed on Saturdays. He went into the elevator and pushed in floor 16. The elevator finally reached his floor and he walked towards his door.

He grabbed his keys and opened the locks and proceeded to enter.

"I'm back." He announced though no one answered back. He walked over and put on his indoor shoes and went to the fridge to get a drink. He started the bath and he got a vase full of flowers and lit some candles. He then went over towards a room that was a closet that he never used and set the vase of flowers and the candles down next to a picture of two people..

"Hey mom, dad." The picture portrayed a beautiful woman with white hair and purple eyes and a handsome man with blue eyes. These were Sorata parents. Sorata began talking to the picture telling them about his day before he stopped and cleaned it up a little and went to the bathroom to take a bath. Sorata was very close to his mother, not so much his father since he was always working. He had always been by her side learning from her and even learned English before he learned Japanese. His father had finally gotten stable when Sorata had turned 12 so he and his family started to go out more. His father and mother decided to go out on a date for their anniversary and Sorata said it was fine. That was the day they died. They had been driving to a hot spring when a drunk driver had hit them head on, killing them both.

Sorata was the first to get the news and he couldn't believe it until he arrived at the hospital. His whole world had shattered; he didn't know what to do. The other family members couldn't make it. His mothers side of the family were all in England and his father had no relatives. They had gone through the funeral and his aunt had volunteered to take him in but he didn't want to. His aunt was his legal guardian but Sorata had decided to stay in the apartment. So his aunt had to regularly check up on him until he was an adult.

"Hahh" Sorata soaked in the bath relaxing his muscles that were aching from how long worked lasted. 'I skipped class again. Oh well I'm the number one when it comes to studying.' Sorata, thinking back on his day, lamented the fact that he skipped class again. He finished his bath and got his phone and texted his aunt that he was okay and what he did throughout the day. Sorata threw his phone down and laid down in his bed; he nearly fell asleep just from that. He finally closed his eyes and fell asleep.