Alpha Culinary Love

Kang raised his hands defensively, his face a picture of remorse—or as close to remorse as Kang could muster. "It was an experiment! How was I supposed to know flour dust is explosive?"

Jiyeon\'s eye twitched. "Oh, I don\'t know, maybe from every basic safety training we\'ve ever had? Or from the literal warnings in every cooking class?"

Yura, who had been quietly observing the drama, snickered. "To be fair, Jiyeon, I did say hiring Kang was like willingly inviting chaos into your life."

Kang crossed his arms, looking hurt. "I\'m not chaos! I\'m… creative!"

Jiyeon pinched the bridge of her nose, muttering under her breath. "Creative, right. Like how a tornado is creatively rearranging people\'s lives."

Kang opened his mouth to argue, but Yura interjected, her tone syrupy sweet. "You know, Kang, I\'m starting to think you should rebrand yourself. \'Kang: Culinary Arsonist Extraordinaire.\' It has a nice ring to it, don\'t you think?"

Kang puffed up like an indignant pigeon. "I prefer \'Kang: Visionary of Experimental Gastronomy.\'"

"More like \'Kang: The Reason We\'re Always Five Minutes Away from a Health Inspector\'s Heart Attack,\'" Jiyeon muttered, earning a snort of laughter from Yura.

Before Kang could launch into another one of his passionate self-defense monologues, the door burst open, and in walked Chef Kang\'s unofficial partner-in-chaos, Sous Chef Hana, holding a sack of something that looked suspiciously heavy.

"Got the emergency flour!" Hana announced, dropping the sack onto the counter with a resounding thud. "It wasn\'t easy. I had to bribe the supplier with free dumplings for a month."

Jiyeon\'s jaw dropped. "You what?"

Hana grinned. "Hey, desperate times call for desperate measures. And besides, what\'s a month of dumplings in exchange for saving this restaurant from total disaster?"

Kang looked impressed. "I always knew you had a rebellious streak, Hana."

Jiyeon threw her hands up. "Oh great, now we have two culinary criminals in my kitchen. Next thing I know, you\'ll be smuggling truffles from a black market."

Hana\'s eyes lit up. "Wait… that\'s actually an idea."

"No," Jiyeon said firmly. "We are not turning my restaurant into some underground smuggling operation."

Yura, who was now genuinely entertained, chimed in with mock seriousness. "I don\'t know, Jiyeon. Think of the branding opportunity. \'Flavor of Seoul: Where the Food\'s So Good, It\'s Practically a Crime.\'"

Jiyeon glared at her wife, who met her gaze with an angelic smile. "I hate how you make that sound almost plausible," Jiyeon said.

Yura shrugged, her smile never wavering. "I have a gift."

"Yeah, a gift for driving me up the wall," Jiyeon shot back.

Kang, ever the optimist, clapped his hands together. "Okay, so now that we have the flour, can we finally get back to making the signature dishes? I have a brilliant new idea for kimchi-stuffed profiteroles!"

Hana\'s eyebrows shot up. "That… sounds disgusting."

Kang looked affronted. "It\'s a flavor revolution!"

Jiyeon sighed deeply, as if she could feel the last remnants of her sanity slipping away. "Kang, if your idea of a flavor revolution involves kimchi-stuffed anything in the realm of pastry, I\'m going to stage a very different kind of revolution. Against you."

Yura leaned forward, resting her chin on her hand. "Ooh, can I get front-row seats to that?"

Hana whispered loudly to Kang, "Maybe we should stick to the safer stuff. Like, you know, things that won\'t make Jiyeon consider committing actual crimes."

Kang pouted. "Where\'s the fun in that?"

Jiyeon, feeling her patience hanging by a thread, grabbed the sack of flour and started delegating tasks, trying to wrestle her kitchen back into some semblance of order. "Alright, Kang, if you\'re so desperate to experiment, make sure it\'s edible this time. Hana, I need you to watch him like a hawk. And Yura—"

Yura raised an eyebrow. "Yes, my stressed-out, gorgeous wife?"

Jiyeon paused, her irritation giving way to a reluctant smile. "You… just stay there and look pretty."

Yura grinned. "Gladly. It\'s what I do best."

Jiyeon shook her head, feeling a mix of exasperation and affection. This kitchen was a circus, her staff were borderline insane, and her wife was a snarky instigator—but somehow, it was all worth it.

Jiyeon took a deep breath and tried to center herself, mentally counting to ten to avoid doing something drastic, like launching a wooden spoon at Kang. "Alright, everyone, let\'s try to stay focused before this kitchen turns into a complete dumpster fire."

Kang, ever the master of selectively hearing things, perked up. "Speaking of fires, remember that time I accidentally flambéed an entire chicken? That was spectacular, right?"

Hana\'s groan was almost musical. "Yeah, spectacularly traumatizing. The smell haunted me for weeks. I couldn\'t look at roast chicken without breaking into a cold sweat."

Yura\'s chuckle drifted across the kitchen like a lazy breeze, laced with enough smug satisfaction to make Jiyeon\'s eye twitch. "You know, Jiyeon, if you wrote a memoir, you could call it Surviving Culinary Warfare: A Wife\'s Tale."

Jiyeon slammed the bowl of batter onto the counter with perhaps more force than necessary. "Hilarious. Truly. At this rate, I\'ll have enough material to publish a trilogy. And maybe a survival guide."

Yura sipped her coffee, the picture of calm. "You\'re welcome for the inspiration."

"I don\'t know whether to thank you or put you on dish duty," Jiyeon shot back.

Kang glanced between them, eyes wide with glee. "I love how you two flirt. It\'s like watching a rom-com with knives."

"Do you want me to introduce you to one of those knives?" Jiyeon deadpanned, pointing a spatula in Kang\'s direction.

Kang clutched his chest dramatically. "Jeez, so violent. I\'m only here to bring joy and questionable culinary ideas."

"Yeah, the kind that could give a health inspector a coronary," Hana muttered, eyeing the pile of flour like it might explode at any moment. "I\'m still not over the fact you tried to create a \'spontaneous combustion dessert.\'"

Kang wagged a finger at her. "It was a scientific marvel!"

"It was an insurance claim waiting to happen," Jiyeon corrected. "And I swear if you so much as look at the stove wrong today, I will personally escort you out with a ladle."

Kang feigned horror. "Not the ladle! Anything but that!"

Yura, who was now watching with the interest of someone thoroughly amused by the chaos, leaned over the counter. "You know, I think your threat loses effectiveness when you look so adorable trying to sound menacing."

Jiyeon turned to her wife, exasperated. "Adorable? I am terrifying, thank you very much."n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Yura smirked. "Mhm. Terrifyingly cute."

Hana let out a laugh. "She has a point, boss. You\'re about as scary as a mildly irritated kitten."

Jiyeon groaned. "Great, this is what my life has come to. I\'m running a kitchen full of pyromaniacs and comedians, and my wife thinks I\'m a kitten."

Kang gave Jiyeon a mock salute. "Captain Kitten, reporting for duty!"

Jiyeon rubbed her temples. "Why do I put up with any of you?"

Yura, eyes sparkling with mischief, leaned forward. "Because you secretly love the madness."

Jiyeon opened her mouth to argue, but the words caught in her throat. Because, annoyingly, Yura was right. This whirlwind of a kitchen, with its unending antics and questionable decisions, was hers. It was wild, exasperating, and absolutely wonderful.

"Fine," she grumbled, rolling her eyes. "But if anyone sets off an explosion today, I\'m calling a professional exorcist."

Kang beamed. "Promise we\'ll only summon good spirits! Maybe ones that can bake?"

Hana made a noise that was somewhere between a laugh and a groan. "God, please don\'t. The last thing we need is a haunted kitchen."

"Honestly, with the kind of luck we\'ve had, I wouldn\'t be surprised if we\'ve already got a ghost lurking somewhere," Jiyeon muttered, eyeing the pantry suspiciously.

Yura\'s eyebrow quirked. "Do ghosts get Michelin stars?"

Jiyeon looked at her wife, deadpan. "You are not helping."

Yura raised her hands in surrender. "Just trying to lighten the mood."

Jiyeon let out a long-suffering sigh. "Okay, enough. We have customers to feed, chaos to manage, and my sanity to preserve. Kang, stop plotting. Hana, keep Kang from plotting. Yura… stay pretty, I guess."

Yura winked. "My specialty."

Kang looked over at Hana. "So, babysitting me, huh? Does that come with hazard pay?"

Hana rolled her eyes. "Only if I survive the shift."

Jiyeon shooed them both toward the prep station, a small smile tugging at her lips despite herself. No matter how wild things got, there was a strange comfort in the chaos. Maybe it was the laughter, the banter, or the way they all somehow kept this unpredictable ship afloat together. But it was hers, and that made all the difference.

As Kang and Hana got to work—under varying degrees of supervision—Jiyeon caught Yura watching her with a soft, amused smile.

"What?" Jiyeon asked, a touch defensively.

Yura set her coffee down and walked over, leaning in close. "I was just thinking how lucky I am to have married someone who can command a kitchen full of lunatics with just a look."

Jiyeon tried, and failed, to suppress a smile. "And here I thought you married me for my cooking."

Yura\'s gaze softened, her voice dropping to a whisper. "That, too. But mostly, because you\'re you."

Jiyeon\'s heart did a little flip. Trust Yura to make her weak in the knees even amidst utter kitchen chaos. "You\'re not playing fair," she mumbled.

Yura tilted her head, her lips curving into that smile that drove Jiyeon crazy. "I never do."

Before Jiyeon could respond, a loud crash echoed from the prep station, followed by Kang\'s shout. "Uh… slight mishap! Totally under control!"

Jiyeon pinched the bridge of her nose. "I take it back. I\'m marrying an exorcist and a demolition expert."

Yura laughed, her eyes sparkling with mischief. "And I\'ll be right there, front and center, watching it all unfold."

Jiyeon looked at her, exasperated but undeniably fond. "You\'re incorrigible."

Yura\'s smile was pure mischief. "And you love me for it."

Jiyeon sighed, her heart full despite the madness surrounding them. "Yeah," she said softly, "I really do."

And with that, Jiyeon braced herself for whatever chaos the rest of the day would bring. Because somehow, amidst all the flour explosions, haunted kitchens, and playful insults, she had everything she needed—and maybe a little bit more.