THIRTEEN( I officially hate you)

Christian let out an exasperated sigh then slowly began,

"…I said you'll be working morning shifts for now while your colleague; Ashley will be working evening shifts. Since she's already here today, she'll show you how things are done here. And also, you have to be prepared at all times--"

"I don't quite understand, Sir—"

"Well there'll be days when we need extra hands out there." He pointed at the door leading to the restaurant, "And you should be prepared, it doesn't have to be in your job description…Any questions?" He grinned.

"…Y-Yes, can I have a word with someone first?"

"Yeah, but you—"

Before he had the chance to finish his statement, she stomped off to Miss Lin's office, muttering and cursing under her breathe.

"Miss Lin!" She called out as she barged into the office.

"Are you already feeling exasperated, Mia?" Miss Lin scoffed,

"…I can't, I can be a waitress, it's like putting a solider on the battle field without an armor, I'm going to out there mess things up and get myself fired." She told Miss Lin.

"…Mia, did I forget to mention that I am no longer in charge of your affairs? From now henceforth, all your grievances will be directed to the head chef, the sous chef when the head chef is absent…He's new right, you should try and get on his good side, what's his name again, Christopher?"

"It's Christian." Mia murmured,

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite get that, what did you say?" Miss Lin blinked twice,

"…It's nothing. Miss Lin."

"…Oh that's great, everyone's happy, now if that's all, I'd like for you to leave my—"

"Miss Lin! I don't want to work with that head chef! He literally hates everyone!—"

"Unfortunately, I didn't employ that person, Mr. Fisher did—"

"But—"

"And c'mon, a change of scenery won't hurt you Mia, you've gotten so used to your job that you've forgotten that there could be other prospects."

'This woman!' Mia thought.

"....You know what they say, never despise your humble beginning. There's absolutely nothing wrong with working as a waitress, who know, greater things could come from there or not…Do you know how many young ladies would die work with him, I've already started hearing gossips about him from every angle in the staff station. But I choose you Mia, do you want to know why? It's obviously because you couldn't keep your mouth shut! "

"Figures." Mia let out a small sigh,

"…I heard he comes from a very wealthy family of surgeons. Both parents are surgeons but then he decided he wanted to become a chef." She said in a dramatic tone. Mia rolled her eyes as she continued,

"...How can a person be so sexy, handsome and rebellious at the same time?" Mia gagged, her words were cringe worthy.

"I'll take my leave now Miss Lin." Mia murmured as she stomped out and slammed the door behind her.

"Take it easy Mia!"

Mia returned to the busy kitchen and at the same time, one of the random chef suddenly yelled,

"Hey! Dish girl! I need plates!"

"On it!" Mia replied as she quickly went to get some plates. After a while of walking aimlessly and getting in the way of others, she made her way to the cupboard. While she was searching for the right plates, she was interrupted by a small push.

"Okay Newbie, rule number one, if you're going to work with me, then you need to learn to ask questions." A random girl snapped as she got the right place with ease.

"Okay, alright." She threw his hands up as if to surrender, "Don't get too worked up about…You must be Ashley." She smiled as the girl walked away,

"…No more questions Newbie." She murmured instead.

After that, Mia tried her best to make herself useful by helping out, but Ashley did most of the work while Mia observed. Few hours later, Mia snuck off to answer a call from Betty who had been blowing up her phone. Just before Betty had the chance to pick up, Ashley grabbed Mia 's phone and ended the call.

"…This is a work environment, Newbie! You can't just sneak off and call everyone on your contact list like this is your living room, have some respect for the system at least!" She gritted her teeth.

"…Sorry." Mia quickly apologized,

"…Whatever Newbie." She murmured as she returned her phone and walked off,

"By the way Ashley, it's Mia." But there was no reply, although Mia was sure she had heard.

After that, there was an awkward silence between them till it was the end of Mia's shift. She offered to get Ashley something to eat, but she declined.

"I'm not hungry." She coldly told her while her eyes were glued to the dishes she was doing.

---

After Mia finished her shift, the only spot she knew she could reward herself was at this local diner that was just few blocks away from the hotel. It was a popular for most of the staffs since the menu was very affordable.

She grabbed a sit next to her friends and greeted them, but there was no reply instead, their eyes where glue to a phone, it seemed like they were under some kind of spell.

"Hello?? Earth to Betty and Trace!" Mia waved her hands in front of them,

"That amazing hair, those grey eyes…" Betty drawled,

"…Hmm He's so handsome." Tracey added. Irritated by their attitude, Mia eventually grabbed the phone to see who they were staring at, surprisingly, it was Christian Oh.

"Shit!" she cursed as she quickly looked away.

"Seriously?! Not you two, he's the one you two have been staring at??"

"What," Betty grinned, "he's handsome---"

"And freaking exasperating!" Mia snapped,

"Chill out Mia, what's your deal, everyone's talking about him; the hot head chef."

"The hot head chef?! Ugh! That's so cringe worthy!"

"Cringe worthy?! Mia, what exactly is your deal?" Betty asked,

"Yeah, I heard Miss Lin suddenly transferred you to the kitchen, you should consider yourself lucky." Tracey told her,

"Lucky?!" Mia chuckled, "There's nothing lucky about this whole situation." She whispered,

"Why the sudden transfer then, did you piss her nephew on your date—"

"No Betty! This is much more complicated than that…" She paused as she lowered her voice, "Remember the insider from Sir Colin's review—"

"No way!" Tracey chuckled, "You're the loud mouth from the review!" She laughed,

"This isn't funny guys, I could get kicked out if the higher authorities find out…Miss Lin decided to cover for me, but my punishment is working the kitchen now—"

"So you're like the dishwasher/garbage girl/ cleaner—"

"Well Tracey, it's better than getting fired altogether." Mia grinned,

"Yeah and on the bright side, you get to see Mr. Oh's handsome face every single day." Betty said,

Mia sighed,

"I just feel like I'm in high school sitting at the nerd's table gossiping about the hot new guy." Tracey added,

"Mia's totally the shy nerd who has a giant crush on him—"

"I do not, and by the way, his name is Christian!" She snapped, causing everyone in the diner to turn and stare.

"Yeah…this totally feels like one of those cafeteria moments in high school." Betty whispered,

"Yeah… So cliché," Tracey whispered back.

---

The following day, Mia arrived at work quite early with a feeling of enthusiasm to begin her work without Ashley's assistance.

She began by sweeping the floor, and few minutes into it, the head chef's office door opened and Christian poked his head from inside,

"Good morning Mr. Oh!" Mia greeted excitedly,

"Oh, Mia you're here already…Could you come in here for a sec?"

"Me?" Mia pointed to herself as she blinked twice,

"Yes." He said then walked back in.

Mia walked into his office. The office had a different atmosphere from the rest of the kitchen, it was cool and the air was free too. Mia stared around and realized the place didn't have a lot of details, just an enamel desk set at one corner and a stall stack of files sitting on the shelf in the opposite corner. Christian was going through some files at the shelf.

"Yes Sir?"

"Yes, those flowers on the desk." He murmured without looking up,

Mia's heart suddenly fluttered,

"What about then Sir?"

"Oh I found them in here this morning from an anonymous admirer…Throw them out."

"Oh." Mia found herself saying.

On the desk were a bouquet of daisies and a lovely note, but unfortunately, Mia had a serious pollen allergy and totally forgot about it until she reached the desk and began to—

"At-choo!"

"Are you—"

"At-choo! At-choo! ATCHOO!" She cried, as she managed to construct her sentence.

"What is wrong with you!" he snapped,

"I'm really sorry, I-I didn't mean to." she stuttered, as she immediately removed the flowers from his desk.

" She sobbed as she ran to the bathroom with her red face, itchy and runny nose.

"Christian Oh." She sobbed in front of the mirror, "I officially hate you!"