Chapter 31
“A potato-peeling assistant? You must have suffered quite a bit under Chef Nam.”
At Taeha’s comment, Nam Taeyoung replied with a bitter smile.
“It’s a waste of talent.”
“……”
“She’s in a place now where fancy dresses suit her better than skill. She’ll probably forget the heat of the kitchen soon.”
Taeyoung’s tone carried both criticism and regret.
Sorim bit her lip without thinking.
Nam Taeyoung was silently protesting the idea that she might abandon cooking and choose a comfortable life instead.
But what hurt Sorim more was Taeha’s reaction.
“In a way, that’s only natural.”
“……”
“She won’t need to hold a knife anymore. It’d be troublesome if she got a scar.”
Taeha smiled as he offered Nam Taeyoung a glass of wine.
To him, Sorim staying as his perfect decoration mattered more than her wounded pride.
Leaving behind the quiet tension between the two men, dinner began.
When Taeyoung tasted the French steak, chateaubriand, he slightly frowned.
“As expected from a hotel kitchen, the sauce’s acidity stands out. They should’ve added more butter and monter-ed it. What do you think, Vice President?”
Taeha chewed the meat casually before replying.
“I don’t think it’s bad. I’m not a refined gourmet.”
Sorim stared quietly at the plate in front of her.
She could tell just from the smell.
The shallots had been cooked too long, making them overly sweet, and the red wine vinegar was poorly balanced.
Something surged up inside her.
It was the pride she had suppressed for so long—the pride of a chef she had learned from Nam Taeyoung.
“……It’s because the shallots were overcooked.”
At Sorim’s low voice, everyone at the table turned to look at her.
Naturally, Taeha’s gaze also fixed on her.
“What?”
“The heat was too high when they sautéed the shallots, so a burnt flavor settled at the base of the sauce. I think they added more balsamic to cover it, which is why the acidity stands out.”
Sorim looked straight at Taeyoung.
His eyes widened for a moment, then shimmered with something strange.
“If you monter with butter like you said, it might taste smoother at first, but once it cools, the burnt flavor will come out even more. The base itself is wrong.”
Silence fell over the table.
But Nam Taeyoung was different.
Instead of feeling insulted, he smiled faintly, as if he were seeing again the stubborn apprentice who once endured his kitchen.
“You’re the same as ever, Yoon Sorim.”
At his quiet mutter, Taeha’s eyes darkened.
He set his glass down on the table with a sharp sound.
“Yoon Sorim.”
Sorim snapped back to reality at his call. His voice was low, but the warning was clear.
“……I overstepped. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
She hurriedly apologized and lowered her head.
Taeyoung took a sip of wine, never taking his eyes off her.
In them, relief and regret were tightly intertwined.
On the way back, Taeha didn’t say a single word.
In the back seat of the sedan, he stared out at the city lights.
Beside him, Sorim clenched her fingers tightly.
As soon as they arrived at the penthouse, he threw his jacket onto the sofa and shoved Sorim against the wall.
“Ah….”
Her back hit the wall.
Taeha trapped her with his arms and leaned in close.
Cold anger and strange excitement mixed in his eyes.
His dark gaze locked onto her.
“Interesting, Yoon Sorim. Did you want to be the star tonight?”
“……I only told the truth. The chef was wrong.”
“Whether it was true or not doesn’t matter.”
“……”
“What you were supposed to do there wasn’t correct Nam Taeyoung. It was to smile quietly at my side.”
Taeha’s fingers gripped her chin hard and lifted it.
“I didn’t put you in a dress worth tens of millions and wrap diamonds around your neck so I could hear food critiques from you.”
“To you… am I just a doll?”
After a brief silence, Taeha chuckled lightly.
He buried his nose into her neck and inhaled deeply before speaking.
“For a doll, you’re too warm, and you smell too good. That’s why you’re annoying.”
His lips brushed her ear and moved down to her collarbone.
Each time his hot breath touched her through the thin dress, Sorim’s body trembled.
“Because of what you did today, investors will start talking again. They were reminded that my wife used to be a kitchen assistant.”
“……Is that really so shameful?”
“No. It’s just inefficient. I spent money and effort erasing that past, and you dug it up yourself.”
“……”
“If you act like that again even once, I can’t guarantee what I’ll do.”
Sorim tried to push his chest away, but he didn’t budge.
He grabbed both her wrists and pinned them above her head.
“Don’t make me angry, Yoon Sorim.”
“……Ugh.”
“I really hate it when my possessions act on their own.”
Without warning, his lips crashed down onto hers.
It was a rough, controlling kiss with no tenderness at all.
The scent of vintage red wine and his cold body scent numbed her senses.
Sorim bit her lip, but Taeha pressed in relentlessly.
After a long while, he finally pulled away and looked down at her.
“Haa, haa….”
Her lips were swollen and red, and tears clung to the corners of her eyes.
Taeha gently brushed her cheek, looking satisfied.
“Be good. Like this.”
“……”
After staring at her for a moment, he returned to his usual indifferent expression and headed to the study.
Left alone, Sorim slid down the wall.
The diamond necklace pressed coldly against her collarbone.
Darkness trapped inside brilliance.
In Taeha’s arms, Sorim felt herself slowly disappearing.
In the study, Taeha sat at his desk and roughly loosened his tie.
The moment Sorim had challenged Nam Taeyoung’s opinion wouldn’t leave his mind.
She looked tired of people’s shallow interest in her, yet came alive the moment cooking was mentioned—those flame-like eyes.
Taeha felt a strange churn in his chest.
He couldn’t tell if it was anger or some unknown hunger.
“……Yoon Sorim.”
He murmured her name and rubbed his dry face.
He was sure he held her completely in his grasp, yet it felt like she kept slipping through his fingers.
A vicious urge rose inside him—to force everything about her, even her soul, to kneel beneath his feet.
The arrogant man did not yet know that this was the beginning of a disaster.
From the day after the banquet, Taeha’s control became more cunning and blatant.
He assigned a secretary to follow her whenever she left the house and summoned house staff, ordering them to report her every move.
But what suffocated Sorim the most was the kitchen ban.
“I told you not to get your hands wet.”
The first thing Taeha checked when he came home was her hands.
His gaze, searching for knife marks or signs of heat, was nothing more than inspection disguised as care.
Sorim clenched her hands and avoided his eyes, but he stubbornly searched for any trace left on her palms.
But Sorim couldn’t endure it anymore.
Nam Taeyoung’s rebuke had become an unextinguished flame burning deep inside her.
