Right Here

At five in the afternoon, Su Yang glanced at the time and stood up, saying, "Wow, it's already five. I'll go make dinner."

Qin Su followed suit and stood up, saying, "I'll help you out in the kitchen."

"No need, just sit and relax."

"Come on, let me help. It'd be awkward for me to just sit around while you do all the work."

"Alright then, let's go."

The two walked into the kitchen together. Su Yang first put some rice on to cook, then took out the ingredients he'd need for later.

He picked up a bunch of garlic sprouts and handed them to Qin Su. "Can you wash three of these garlic sprouts for me?"

Qin Su took the garlic sprouts and said, "How hard can that be? Leave it to me."

"Wait, there's more." Su Yang took out a piece of ginger and a few cloves of garlic, placing them in Qin Su's hands. "Clean these too. Peel the garlic and chop it into minced garlic, and slice the ginger into thin strips."

"Got it, no problem!" Qin Su beamed as she took the items and walked over to the sink to start working on them.

Su Yang, meanwhile, took out a bag of live shrimp and began deveining them, planning to make stir-fried shrimp later.

The two chatted while prepping ingredients, the atmosphere light and pleasant.

Qin Su had never actually cooked by herself in her entire life.

Girls from families like hers were raised in indulgence since childhood. Though her parents weren't the type to let her do whatever she wanted, they'd never had her help out in the kitchen either — because their family had always hired a cook to make meals, so there was never any need for her to do it herself.

So this was also the first time she was doing something like this in a kitchen with a guy.

She wasn't very skilled at it, but her heart felt warm and fuzzy.

After washing the ginger, she came over to the cutting board, picked up the knife, and got ready to slice it.

But looking at the ginger on the board, she had no idea where to start.

She cut the ginger in half with one chop, then picked up one half and split it down the middle again.

Su Yang, who was busy deveining shrimp, heard the noise and turned to look, startled. "What are you doing?"

"Aren't we supposed to cut the ginger into strips?"

Su Yang let out a helpless chuckle. "Yeah, into strips — but that's not how you do it."

"Then how?"

Su Yang washed his hands and walked over to stand beside Qin Su. "You have to slice the ginger into thin rounds first, then stack them together and cut them into strips."

"Uh... how does that work?"

"How does it... forget it, you go peel the garlic and I'll handle this."

"No way, you have to teach me, otherwise I'll look really dumb."

"Well... fine, let me show you." Su Yang took the knife, picked up the other half of the ginger, and skillfully sliced it into thin rounds, then flipped and stacked them, chopping them into fine strips with a few rapid strokes.

Qin Su stood beside him, watching in awe. "You finished that fast?"

"What else?" Su Yang smiled. "See how it's done? I don't need you to cut them that thin. Just get them into strip shape and that's good enough."

"Let me try then." Qin Su took the knife and began slicing clumsily.

Su Yang watched from the side, his brows furrowing more and more. "Maybe we should just forget it. Another minute and you'll turn it into ginger paste."

"Argh, I refuse to give up!" Qin Su put the knife down, grabbed another piece of ginger, washed it clean, and returned to the cutting board to keep slicing.

Su Yang scratched his head. "You really don't need to keep going. Just peel the garlic."

"I'm determined to cut it into strips!" Qin Su pouted, puffing out her cheeks.

Su Yang shook his head with a smile. "Fine, keep at it. But watch out for your fingers."

"Okay..." Qin Su said with a nod, then suddenly thought of something and turned to call Su Yang back.

"Wait, can you teach me hands-on?"

"Hands-on?"

"Yeah, like that. I think I'd learn a lot faster."

"Uh... sure, why not." Su Yang walked up behind Qin Su. "I might end up touching you a bit. That alright?"

"No problem, go right ahead."

"Okay." Su Yang stepped closer to Qin Su and reached his hands around from behind her to grab hold of hers.

But since there were still about ten centimeters of space between them, Su Yang found it hard to maneuver.

"With you this far away, it's hard to work properly. It's fine if you hold me." Qin Su worked up her courage and said.

Hearing that, Su Yang stopped hesitating. He stepped forward and pressed his chest against Qin Su's back.

Qin Su gave a slight shudder, then forced herself to stay calm and said, "Alright, like this. Let's begin."

"Okay." Su Yang held her left hand to press down on the ginger, and gripped her knife-holding hand with his right, starting to slice.

Because Qin Su was in front, a subtle blush crept across her face, but Su Yang didn't notice.

Although she was supposedly cutting ginger in that moment, her mind had long since turned into a pile of mush. There was no way she could focus on actually learning how to slice ginger.

Su Yang, on the other hand, was teaching with full concentration — mainly because he was afraid that if he got distracted, he might lose control and get caught, which would be rather awkward either way.

He guided Qin Su's hands, quickly slicing through the ginger, then quickly stepped aside.

"Okay, done. Did you learn it?"

"Um... I... uh, I don't think I quite got it." Qin Su lowered her head and lightly brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

Su Yang thought to himself: 'This girl's playing with fire, damn.'

"Whatever, it doesn't matter. We've got enough as it is. Go peel the garlic."

"Okay." Qin Su softly agreed and walked over to the sink to peel the garlic.

She finished quickly and came back to the cutting board, ready to chop the garlic into minced bits. That, at least, didn't require much skill.

Just a bunch of random chopping and you were done. But Qin Su's heart was racing. She stole a glance at Su Yang, who was still dealing with the shrimp, and said, "Su... Su Yang."

"What's up?"

"How do I chop this garlic into minced pieces?"

"For garlic, just chop away randomly. As long as it turns into bits, that's all that matters. No technique needed."

"Can... can you teach me again?"

"What?" Su Yang turned around, puzzled.

"I mean, could you teach me how to cut strips again? Then I'll turn them into minced garlic. It's mainly that I still don't quite have the hang of cutting strips."

'Seriously, she's doing this on purpose, isn't she.' Su Yang squinted his eyes, thinking to himself.

If that's the game, then I can't be blamed for it.

Su Yang washed his hands and said, "Alright, I'll teach you once more. This time, you really need to pay attention."

"Sure!" Qin Su bit her lip and nodded.

Su Yang dried his hands and came up behind Qin Su again, wrapping his arms around her to resume the lesson.

The first time, he really was just teaching, focused and proper. But this time, things were different.

Standing behind Qin Su, he leaned in slightly, and suddenly felt something stir. Naturally, Qin Su felt it too. She softly bit her lower lip, letting out a nearly inaudible sound.

At that distance, it wasn't just Su Yang who could hear it — any normal person would have.

That sound was enough to make anyone lose composure.

Su Yang took a deep breath. "Watch carefully."

Qin Su nodded lightly, though she had no intention of actually watching carefully. Gaining her courage, she shifted her feet slightly backward, pressing herself even closer to Su Yang.

"Hoo!" Su Yang let out a breath, put down the knife, and firmly grabbed her shoulders, turning her around to face him.

"What are you doing?"

"Mm? N-nothing." Qin Su didn't dare meet Su Yang's gaze, but her flushed face had already given her away.

Su Yang stared at the stunning beauty in front of him and swallowed hard.

"Can you focus on cutting?"

Qin Su lifted her head and met his eyes. "I want to, but."

"But what?"

"But I..." Qin Su couldn't finish her sentence before her emotions got the better of her. She rose on her tiptoes and gently kissed Su Yang.

But that single kiss lit the fuse completely. Prep ingredients? Who cared about that? Pause.

Su Yang lowered his head and pressed his lips to hers, switching into full blaze mode.

All the feelings Qin Su had bottled up for Su Yang erupted in that instant. She stopped caring about anything else and simply savored the moment.

Every word Hong Ran had said to her was already thrown to the winds.

Without realizing it, they had drifted to the kitchen doorway. Qin Su's hair was tousled, her eyes dazed, as she took a step back and said, "Let's go to my room."

Su Yang pulled her back into the kitchen. "No — right here!"

......