Disclaimer

This story is a piece of fiction based on the author's imagination and has nothing to do with the actual life of characters mentioned in the story. I have casted Ashwin Kumar and Sivaangi Krishnakumar as leads.

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Ashaangi TS Oui, Chef

Part One | B |

Ashwin walked in and clapped his hands gaining everyone's attention. He was fully dressed in his chef suit with aprons and hats on. Sivaangi hid the smile that threatened to escape her lips as she wiped her wet hands with towel. He looked amazing. Her eyes fell on her fellow chefs who stood stiff.

'Yenna ivanunga ipdi build up kudukuranga?' Sivaangi wondered to herself and then looked at Ashwin dreamily, 'Avara paru, yepdi irukaru nu! Cha! Amsama irukarey'

"Guys, hope we cleared everything when I got here. Do stick with my rules and kitchen will run smoothly. Enaku perfection romba mukiyam. I believe in giving best. Service table ku if I get food that's less than my standard then I'll discard it. You have to do it again from the start. Nyabagam vachukonga. I have given list to Parthiv. Follow and stick to it" Ashwin said as he placed both his hands on the service counter and leaned on it.

"Yes Chef!" Everyone yelled in unison.

Ashwin's eyes fell on Sivaangi who stood with her breath hitched before he averted his gaze.

"Kitchen la careful ah irukanum. Be attentive. Don't make mistakes" Ashwin said, "I have a burning temper once I'm in my kitchen and I don't go easy on those who make mistake. Nyabagam vachupinga nu namburen"

"Yes Chef!"

"Hmmm, velaya parunga" Ashwin nodded at Parthiv and walked inside head chef's room.

Sivaangi released the breath she didn't even realize she was holding. Phew! He was scary when he used that stern voice. She had to give him that. They weren't joking. But remembering his warm base voice, a smile crept on her lips automatically.

'Kitchen la matum dhan apdi pola. Head Chef na ipdi irundhu dhaney aganum' Sivaangi thought and convinced herself.

Shaking her head, Sivaangi quickly gathered the ingredients she needed and spread it over her work space. She peeled garlic and chopped it finely before working on other ingredients for the sauce.

Sivaangi was too lazy to walk into the freezer to get few ingredients and so, she walked over to Pugazh's counter and stole what she needed. She didn't get caught thanks to Pugazh who was eyeing at Pavi.

For the day, Sivaangi has to prepare base sauces for pasta. She was done with most of it quickly like base tomato sauce, pesto, agio olio base and started to prepare white sauce.

As she started to prepare white sauce, Sivaangi's mobile buzzed continuously. Worry itched her face when she got constant calls from home. She was adding seasoning at that time. She added seasonings with a calculation that's standard and switched off the stove.

Sivaangi walked inside the chef locker room as she conversed. When she hangs up, she groaned and buried her face into her hand. Couple of seconds later, heaving a deep sigh, she stood up and opened the chef locker room door to go out but halted on her tracks to see Ashwin on the other side, his hand half raised in air, indicating that he was about to open the door.

'Meendum meendum ah' Sivaangi's subconscious laughed at her.

The annoyance on Sivaangi's face replaced with a smile as she saw Ashwin who greeted her back with a small smile before stepping aside paving way for her to go out. Her shoulder brushed against his arm unintentionally as she walked and her heart raced with excitement.

Dazed, Sivaangi came back to her work space. Thinking about him, she took garlic powder and onion powder in hand and added it to the sauce before giving it a stir. Her smile turned into worry when her mobile rang again. She groaned and picked the call as she walked out again.

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Ashwin Kumar who previously worked at an Italian restaurant in Mumbai took up the job offer at Chennai on the insistence of his mother to come back home and to honour the word he gave to the previous head cook Kani Thiru whom he fondly calls as Kani akka. To top it off his friend Rakshan works as manager here. So, this was a solid deal.

Ever since he came back, Ashwin's mother kept bugging Ashwin to get married. He's thirty-three and she wants to see him settle with a family. He never showed much interest in any girl but he also wanted to settle with a family and so, he agreed to meet the girl his mother chooses.

One of Ashwin's major conditions is that the girl should be flexible with his work timings. His mother was so eager to get him married that she wanted him to meet the girl on the very day he joined his new job and that's why he's meeting her tonight in an all-night café that's attached to a club.

Ashwin was actually looking forward for the night until a girl bumped into him knocking him off his senses. She was short compared to his 5'11. She was cute and beautiful at the same time.

Thinking of her, Ashwin couldn't wipe the smile that touched his lips. He was sitting at his office and staring at the CCTV footage of his kitchen. The way she stole Pugazh's ingredients, if it were someone else, he would have scolded but her cute expressions made him let loose and enjoy for once.

Ashwin's mobile buzzed with his mother's call. Groaning he attended the call. His mother told him about the girl and he was partially listening to her. She then asked him about his card details and when he searched for his wallet, he realized that he left it inside chef's locker.

So, Ashwin hanged up the call and went towards the chef locker room. There he met her again and gave a small smile before getting his wallet. He sent his mother the detail she wanted and went back to his work.

An hour later, Ashwin was checking with the ingredients, soups and sauces prepared for the night. Just as he was about to taste sauce section, a waiter called him aside informing that Rakshan called to meet him.

Clapping his hands, Ashwin gathered the chefs.

"Its opening time. Get to your stations. I'll be back in ten. Parthiv (sous chef), take my position" Ashwin instructed Parthiv before he removed his chef hat and walked out of the kitchen, "I'll be back ASAP. I'll prepare the first order"

Ashwin walked outside the kitchen and walked inside Rakshan's cabin.

"Machan, sorry da. Bangalore la irundhu flight delay. Athan vara late agiruchu. Nee settle agita la"

"Athellam oru prachanayum ila da, machan. Pona velai success dhana?" Ashwin quickly greeted his friend with a hug.

"Ama da, athellam fine dhan. Nera kitchen ke vandhrupen aana opening time la. Athan unna pathu wish panlam nu kupten" Rakshan said breaking the hug.

"Seri, wish paniyachu la. Ipo naan kelambatuma?" Ashwin asked adjusting his chef coat.

"Seri, seri po. Pasanga lam pavam. Romba kathiratha" Rakshan requested.

"Try panren" Ashwin waved off.

When Ashwin came back everyone were working. He threw a quick glance at everyone before taking over from Parthiv. He saw the first order. It was mushroom pasta, one of his specialities.

"Alright everyone, Parthiv will assign your orders. I'll make the first one" Ashwin said.

"Yes Chef!" They all yelled in unison.

Ashwin walked over to his work station. He closed his eyes and prayed to his god before staring the work. He started preparing mushroom pasta. As he was preparing, he added white sauce to his pan and added freshly chopped capsicum and mushrooms.

As Ashwin stirred the veggies along with the sauce, he added little cream before adding boiled pasta to it. He stirred the pasta along with sauce. He tasted the sauce so that he can add seasoning to it. Just as the sauce touched his tongue, his taste buds caught the distaste feeling making his face cringe.

The pleasant look on Ashwin's face changed when he walked over the white sauce pan and he tasted the white sauce. His face twisted when he tasted the white sauce and anger started bubbling inside him. When it comes to food in his kitchen, everything takes a step back in his mind.

Pouring the white sauce in a soup bowl, Ashwin walked over to the service counter and placed the soup bowl down before removing his chef hat. Parthiv moved aside giving him space.

"White sauce ku yaru incharge?" Ashwin yelled banging his hand on the service counter making everyone jerk.

Sivaangi's breath hitched when she realized she was the one in charge of sauces. Her heart beating rapidly on seeing Ashwin's glare. Gone were the warm eyes and gentleness that she thought she saw. Gulping, she raised her hand and came front. She kept her face straight as she faced an angry Ashwin.

"Taste this!" Ashwin said sternly.

"Sir?"

"Taste pannu nu sonen" Ashwin yelled making Sivaangi jerk.

Sivaangi composed herself as she looked around before staring at an angry Ashwin. She stepped forward and tasted the white sauce. Her face twisted in distaste as the sauce touched her taste buds.

"Sorry, sir, I ju-" Sivaangi stepped back and tried to apologize but Ashwin cut her off in middle.

"Yethana varshama Italian samaikura?!" Ashwin glared at Sivaangi; his tone harsh.

"Three" Sivaangi said curtly as she fisted her chef coat while kept staring at Ashwin.

"Oru sauce olunga pana theriyatha?!" Ashwin spat.

"Si-"

"The key to any good pasta dish lies in the perfect balance of pasta and sauce. Rendum equally important. FIKA ku nu oru reputation iruku for our authentic Italian dishes. Indha sauce ah serve pana kaari thupuvanunga!"

Sivaangi tried to calm the anger that bubbled inside her as she breathed through her nose deeply, trying not to react.

"Moonu varshama yennatha samachu kilicha? Indha sauce ah serve panrathuku anupirundha customer kuptu yaara kilipanunga, unna ya ena ya?!" Ashwin said banging his hand on the service table.

"Chef!" Sivaangi gritted her teeth.

"Coat ah kalatu" Ashwin said harshly, "You're not cooking in my kitchen tonight!"

Sivaangi wanted to voice out how unfair that is. But heaving a deep sigh, she removed her coat buttons as she glared at him who glared back at her. Removing her coat, she stormed out of the kitchen towards chef's room, opened her locker, shoved her chef's coat inside, grabbed her coat and stormed out of the restaurant.

"Inga yenna padama katranga? Get back to your work station! We have orders to finish!" Ashwin banged the service counter before yelling the next order.

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Hey everyone, hope you all are doing good. I hope you enjoyed what you read. Is the story line interesting? Thank you for your response on the previous chapter. Have to finish transferring old chapters of Entwined to new book and once done, I'll focus on new chapter.

Super excited about ESP. Listening to Chellama's Neethanada on loop. What a voice! Please do stream Adipoli and respective projects of AK and SK whenever you have time. If you can then please do go watch ESP on theater, of course with proper safety precautions.

Thank you for reading.

Nan ~