Sonata for an Angel

Chapter 2

The kitchens you see on TV are all chaos and shouting.

To no surprise, Shen Wei's kitchen is brutal efficiency and calmer kind of controlled chaos. Every chef was working at a designated station with the expected urgency but they seemed focused, with only one or two swapping crisp words loudly. You couldn't call it shouting. It was almost disappointing.

He left the young chef that had brought him into this world of stainless steel, bold creations and incredible scents, the man obviously leading him into some kind of locker room. Which would be sexy if it was Shen Wei but...no. Why miss the opportunity to see this world, instead of simply asking to see the Head Chef, which he would probably be denied?

Da Qing after all had just looked at him, when he had said that Shen Wei didn't answer his phone and he was busy, so he would tell him tonight. "So, you don't know how to find Dixing? The place where your man works for like... most of the hours in a day? The same place where you met him? He would react that badly if you went to see him?"

Trust Damn Cat to be cruel.

He moved nimbly between the rows of highly focused men and women in white, all gloved as they worked with careful hands, tipping stock into a giant pot, flipping a wok with practiced ease or slicing vegetables in a way, that was at least comparable to Shen Wei's death defying speed.

Passing them quickly, he moved to the back where there was an archway and steel doors. This was the pastry section, kept well away from the savory and with a second set of doors that allowed them to send dessert directly into the main area or up to the rooftop garden. It looked like a storage room, but from the stories of the renovation of Dixing, Zhao knew that this was where the true magic occurred and where he knew Shen Wei would be, readying his artistic marvels for High Tea, starting in half an hour.

A few chefs noticed him but no actually tried to stop him until he opened the door to Shen Wei's section. Then a guy dressed in black, grabbed his arm with a triumphant expression like a villain in a action movie, forgetting that momentum was an important part of physics. They ended up inside the door, with Zhao easily breaking his hold, twisting free and shoving the guy back out the door. He hadn't survived adolescence with a mouth and mind like his, without gaining quite a few skills.

"I'm here to see Shen Wei." He informed the door and room at large, uncaring about the chaos he was causing, but here was slightly more...stressful than in the main room. Chefs were rushing in a strange, controlled fashion, plating or decorating, moving trays of photographic desserts and filling piping bags with colored frosting. No one really noticed the scene at the door, because the world was louder here, slight clangs of metal and the sounds of scraping, ceramic clatters and heavy pots being moved off the stoves.

He straightened his jacket and moved into the room, eyes searching for Shen Wei. Ah. There he was.

He loved seeing Shen Wei in public, so perfectly pressed and nearly expressionless as he worked, a piping bag in his left hand, and a abstract chocolate wave, dipped in gold held in his right. It was only the intense look in those eyes as he angled the wave with fast, precise movements, calling out orders in that calm, decisive tone beloved by all successful drill sergeants. He looked like a man unfazed by anything, balancing urgency and efficiency with deftness and professionalism, pressing one wave into a miniature cake after another, so they lined up, all nearly identical.

Only Zhao saw the way his right eye twitched when he discovered curry-flavored instant noodles in Zhao's cupboard or that shy little smile, when Zhao suddenly held his hand. They certainly would never see him, like Zhao did last night, on his knees on the living room rug buried deep within Zhao. A red flush spread over his ivory skin, those sharp teeth worrying the back of Zhao's neck, hips thrusting so hard Zhao had been fighting for breath, a death grip on the coffee table and Shen's thighs, all while loudly egging him on. No. But he could feel still feel the impression of that bite and knowing that this distant man was his and he would be able to see all the sides to that complex personality in a few hours, made his lips rise in his trademark smirk.