Chapter 20 - Cooking A Meal

Sitting down on the sofa, under the warm orange lighting, Sato clamped his legs together tightly as he avoided eye contact with Gray. Ever since lunch, he started to notice that Gray always had a keen eye on him. Regardless of when they were eating their food or when they were on the car, Gray tried to not break eye contact with him.

His eyes were like an undying flame that was trying to engulf the poor Sato. Why was he doing that? Is Gray testing my ability to look at people in the eye? Sato thought curiously.

"Uhh, Gray," Sato tilted his head up and looked at Gray in the eye, his eyes was trying to imitate the fiery passion from Gray's. "I have a question regarding the condition you set for me."

When seeing Sato copy his actions, Gray broke into a light laugh as he thought about how adorable the young man was. It was like a young cub trying to imitate the roar of it's lion father. Sato was clueless why he was laughing.

"Go for it." Gray rapported.

"After walking around your compound and house, I realised that you do not have a lack of staff to help clean the house. I am also quite certain that the housemaids that work here are able to cook at a very high level." Sato pointed out a burning question in his head. "Why would you need an extra helper like me - who probably can't cook as well as them, maybe even clean as well as them- in your house?"

The question posed by Sato had actually stump Gray really hard. It was lucky of Gray that he wasn't drinking tea at that moment or else he would choke on the water. He showed no emotion or reaction as he quickly thought of a suitable response.

"Well, one of my staffs, Mdm Sarah, is going to retire tommorow and with her gone, I required an extra hand on the cleaning of the house. She was also in charge of all my meal preparations at home, so you will be stepping in to do her job." The answer that Gray gave was probably the dumbest thing that the nearby housemaids have ever heard.

How could the employees that work under the Tobion family not be equipped with a large variety of life skills. Things like cooking and cleaning of the house was a mandatory skill to work here. In fact, all of the employees here have some form of martial arts background. In addition, who is Mdm Sarah? When did this person start working here? Why is their master creating a random person for this unknown young man?

"Oh, that makes sense i guess." Sato was slightly doubting his boss's words, but since he was the one that wanted his service, he would see through to it. "Don't have too high hopes for the food that I cook though. It may not suit your taste buds."

"Anything you cook will be delicious to me." Gray said to Sato earnestly. This statement left Sato speechless. How would you know when you have not even try my food?

"Well, theres around half an hour before dinner, I guess I shall try to whip up something simple for you to try today." Sato swiftly stood up and walked to the kitchen. Gray followed behind like a loyal follower.

As Sato stepped through the door that seperated the living room from the kitchen, he noticed a couple of things. The kitchen was way too advanced! There were no gas stoves to cook using, but the latest model of induction stoves. The heat can be controlled down to the decimal place and takes only a few seconds for the stove to heat up. There were modern looking ovens embedded under the counter top. Above it, was things like the air fryer, steamers, an actual oil fryer and many other technologies. There even is a glass display freezer and two large refrigerators that were filled to the brim with fresh ingredients.

The island in the center of the kitchen had fresh fruits and kitchen tools that could be swiftly picked out to be used. The whole place was large and easy to walk around.

"This kitchen is a little bit big for me." Sato sighed as he resigned to his fate that he would probably have to up his cooking game. How could he not make use of all these machinery when it is available infront of him. He made a promise inwardly that he would improve his cooking so as to make more delicious and unique food for Gray.

Finding the ingredients he needed in the fridge, Sato took it out and prepared to wash the vegetables cleanly before cutting it up.

"There's no need to wash the vegetables, Sato. The refrigerator has an automatic sanitary function that will kill the harmful bacterias and clean off the dirt on the vegetables." Gray interrupted his action, to which Sato sighed again. When did technology advance this much?

Looking through the drawers, Gray found the hardwood cutting board and started to help Sato cut up the vegetables.

"I shall cut up these vegetables for you. Carry on with your other prep-work." Gray had folded up his sleeves as he started to help Sato out. The man look extremely handsome as he focused on cutting the vegetables with ease. His muscular biceps were squeeze tight due to the folded sleeves.

"I... Okay." Sato gave in to his persistent boss.

"How finely would you like the vegetables to be?"

"Diced please."

"Alright." With that, Gray immediately got to action and chopped up the green and red peppers, followed by the onion. He then placed it into the glass bowl and stood by Sato. "What's next?"

"Uhh, I guess help me sauté the vegetables." Sato was surprised at how faster Gray was working. He never knew his boss was that good at knifework.

Gray turned on the induction stove. Placing a fair bit of olive oil, he sautéed the vegetables for 2 minutes, while constantly moving it around by flicking the pan. He adds some salt and pepper in the midst of cooking. It didn't take much common sense to know how good a cook Gray was.

When Gray started on the vegetables, Sato started preparing the fresh shrimps that he found in the fridge. The shrimps were large yet supple. Removing the shells off the prawn and deveining it took a short while. Sato then stood beside Gray and started to cook the shrimps on medium high heat. He flips the shrimp over at constant intervals.

While Sato was cooking, Gray kept watch over Sato and looked at him adoringly. He smiled as he was glad that the young man was by his side. From behind, it looked like a sweet loving couple that was cooking together.

When finished cooking the shrimps and cutting it in half, he instructed the idle Gray to shred some Monterey Jack cheese for the dish. He was making shrimp quesadillas.

Heating up the tortilla shells that he found in the fridge, Sato watches over it to prevent the shell from burning. He then removes the tortilla from the pan and places the sautéed vegetables in the shell and tops it off with the half shrimps. Following which, Sato adds more salt and pepper and lastly, the cheese to accentuate the flavour.

Moving towards the oven, Sato then makes use of it help melt the cheese down, yet not overdo it by burning the quesadillas.