<TTRING!>

The elevator doors opened with a soft chime as they reached their destination. Ein held the door as the both of them alighted. The hotel employees looked and greeted them as they shuffled through the hallway.

"Good morning Miss Monique and sir Ein." A middle-aged woman donning a pair of red-framed glasses and her hair up in a ponytail greeted Ein and Monique as they entered their office.

"Good morning Seori!" Monique gave the woman a pat on the shoulder. "You should dress up more! I'm getting tired of seeing you wear the same white suit for the past year." Monique then gave Seori pat on the back. "Don't be too uptight, you'll get older if you do that!"

"Says the woman who is older than me but doesn't act like one," Ein mumbled and smirked at Monique.

"Hey Ein, I can hear you talk shit about me." Monique lightly smacked Ein's leg with her bag. "Don't pull punches so early in the morning." Monique pouted. "I haven't even taken coffee yet! You should brew me a cup since you seem to have a lot of sass this Monday."

"Why don't you just buy from the cafe beforehand?" Ein raised his eyebrows at Monique. "To think that Hotel Citron's assistant manager is becoming a barista. Wow, I should get paid extra for this, Monique." Ein sneered at Monique.

"Or how about I report you to HR for talking shit to your supervisor then?" Monique's face had a smug smile. "Hand-brewed coffee sounds better than an HR case."

"Haaaaah, they're at it again." Seori sighed as she observed Ein and Monique bicker like college flatmates.

Seori Avery was Hotel Citron's Deputy Manager, five years ago, she and Ein entered the company as management clerks, they were consistent at being the top-performing members of the team, eventually, Monique saw their competencies and steadily promoted them for four years.

When Monique was appointed as the GM last year, she opted for Ein and Seori to take key positions as her assistant manager and deputy manager.

Seori is probably one of the few employees who could deal with Monique's eccentricities and tolerate Ein's pretentious behaviour. It had been a ritual for her every morning to see two of her bosses duking it out with each other since last year.

"Sir Ein, Miss Monique, sorry for interrupting but, aren't you both supposed to meet the new kitchen manager?"

Seori groaned.

"It's already 9:05 AM, please arrive on time, they have agreed for us to meet at the conference room later." Seori then fixed her glasses and left Monique's office.

"Hey Ein, how fast can you brew coffee?" Monique snickered and gazed at Ein with a mocking expression.

"I won't brew coffee, but I've already ordered it online."

Ein brandished his phone's screen, it displayed a confirmed order for a two-litre serving of Americano from a well-known coffee chain. It also displayed the delivery time which was under 10 minutes as the cafe was just across their building.

"That should be good for our coffee chat later too. Assuming that chef Emery and his successor will be in attendance as well as some of the kitchen personnel."

"Wow, Ein, I'm impressed with your competence to the point that I'm speechless… sometimes I wonder if you weren't my assistant, you would be my personal barista or a butler." Monique giggled as she taunted Ein.

"Stop bullshitting me, Monique, it won't work," Ein replied in a monotonous voice, he also stared at Monique with a flat expression. "Also, please ensure to study and sign some of the papers due today." Ein took out a heavy file folder from his work bag and placed it on Monique's desk.

"I'll prepare for the coffee chat. I'll see you later in the conference room." Ein then took his leave and left Monique's office.

***

Ein plopped his bag under his desk and sat down to quickly check his emails on his workstation. He rapidly searched for email threads related to Emery, the retired kitchen manager of Hotel Citron.

He was able to pull up two email threads, 1st one was Emery's farewell email and the second one was the copy of the employee data form that HR received a week ago. Ein immediately opened the latter.

"Hmmm… Henry Rivers, 30 years old, former chef de cuisine..." Ein massaged his creased brows. "Monique wasn't really kidding about his looks, he really looks more like a model than a chef."

Ein gazed at Henry's portrait photo, his T-zone was well defined, his golden irises had a luminescent glow and his platinum blonde hair looked soft. 'It was the face of a total lady killer.' Ein thought, he then Gave out a resounding sigh.

"Looks like this kid would be a handful in the near future."