An August Wedding

Ch. 47 - Back to Work

"Jeonghan found a passionate one this time," someone commented. Jin turned to see a taller young man grinning down at him. "Kim Mingyu, I'm the head chef."

"Chef?" Jin repeated.

"Let me guess, I don't look like one."

"Y-you look too young." He immediately clapped a hand over his mouth. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean--"

Mingyu chuckled. "You're not the first to say that. So, are you the interview I'm supposed to be meeting?"

"You're the hiring manager?"

"A good chef has to have a good team behind him, right? Come on, we can talk over there."

And without waiting for a reply, Mingyu was already walking to a table in the corner of the room. Jin could only imagine these were usually used for customers to wait for smaller pick-up orders. But now Mingyu sat across from him, an expectant look on his face.

"Mr. Kim Seokjin--"

"Jin is fine."

"Jin. You have a family that works in hospitality. You also worked in your father's hotel for a small length of time before switching to become a personal driver."

"That's correct."

"So tell me what sets you apart."

And it had obviously been far too long since Jin had ever been interviewed. Because his response was simply: "What?"

"What is the reason that I want to hire you?"

"I can cook really well so I think I'd be an asset to you."

"It takes more than skill in the kitchen to make this kind of job work. What else?"

"Hard work. I'll take on anything that you can throw at me. Even if it's not cooking, if it's something else entirely. I'll do my best every day to improve."

Mingyu hummed thoughtfully. "I'll be honest with you, Jin. I like you and I think you have a lot of passion. Right now, I'm just not sure we need anyone else on our team."

"I understand--"

"But, one of our guys is about to take a break for a few weeks. I'll take a closer look at your references and if everything seems good, I'll put you to work in his place. We'll consider it a trial run to see if we need to change up our numbers."

"Really?" Jin stood up, bowing from the hips. "Thank you, I won't let you down."

"Thank you for coming by." Mingyu shook his hand. "We'll let you know shortly."

It took about twenty minutes for Jin to remember that the reference he had submitted was Mr. Min himself, not Yoongi.

"Damn it. He doesn't even know I'm quitting."

And so Jin did the only thing he could think of - call Yoongi.

"Why would you put his name and not mine?" Yoongi demanded. "Technically, I'm your boss."

"Sorry Yoongi, but your dad has clout. Even just having him as a reference would help me land a lot of jobs."

"You realize if they call him, he's going to tell them he didn't know you were quitting. And then that will reflect badly on you."

"I know! What do I do?"

Yoongi sighed. "Give me ten minutes."

"Hey, call this number and pretend you're my father's secretary."

You glanced up from your lunch. "Why would I do that?"

"To help Jin get a job."

You took the scrap paper Yoongi handed you and dialed the number.

"Hi, is this Seventeen Catering? Yes, this is Mr. Min's secretary. We understand that Kim Seokjin came in for an interview earlier and you wanted to speak to his references. Unfortunately, Mr. Min is on a business trip and left his cell phone here."

You listened for a second. "Yes, we can connect you through the company number if you'd still like to speak with him. Mr. Min would really hate for this to reflect poorly on Jin."

After giving them your company number, you wished them a nice day and hung up.

You set the phone down and took another bite of your food.

"I guess you really were a secretary," Yoongi commented.

"What do you mean?"

"Your voice did that thing. It got all bright and cheerful as soon as you got on the phone."

"It's called a customer service voice."

"It's called creepy."

"You got my help, now let me eat in peace."

"Fine." He sighed. "Where are we going for dinner?"

You glanced up. "I said you'd owe me if he gets the job."

"Please. Jin's going to weasel his way into their good graces in no time. He's got the job."

"How do you know?"

"That's how he started working for me." He stretched. "Come get me when you decide what you want."

A few days later, Jin was confirmed to start working with the catering company.