Wei Jia now avoided the spot on the counter where Li Shiyan's fingers had brushed against hers. She reorganized her entire kitchen supplies to prevent her hands touching there.
Three days had passed since Li Shiyan's cooking lesson, and Wei Jia had thrown herself into her assigned projects. She had optimized seventeen traditional dishes, documented their molecular breakdowns with precision, and made modifications according to their standards.
She was working on a batch of wontons when Ming came inside the laboratory.
"You look terrible."
"Thank you for that professional assessment." Wei Jia replied, not looking up from her pleating of dumplings. "Very encouraging."
Ming moved closer to her workstation, watching the unusual organization of her tools and ingredients.
"You're avoiding that whole section of counter. Did something happen there?"
Wei Jia's hands stopped only for a moment but Ming caught her.
"It was him, wasn't it?" He whispered. "Was he really a monster? Li Shiyan? I heard he spent hours here the other day, supervising your work personally. That's not normal for him. He usually delegates all the training to department heads."
Wei Jia opened her mouth to respond, then closed it again, realizing she had no idea how to answer his question. Had Li Shiyan been a monster? He had touched her without permission, invaded her personal space, dismantled her cooking techniques. His behavior had been controlling, inappropriate, professionally questionable.
But monster? The word didn't fit.
"I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know? Either he was inappropriate or he wasn't. Either he crossed lines or he maintained professional boundaries. There's not really middle ground with stuff like this."
But that was exactly the problem. There had been middle ground, moments where professional instruction had felt like something else. She couldn't separate her own confused physical responses from what had actually happened between them.
"He corrected my technique. But it was complicated." She finally confessed. "You don't need to worry about me. I can manage myself."
"Okay. If you say so. But I'm always there for you if you want any kind of help." He said and left her alone in the laboratory with her confused thoughts.
Wei Jia was working on something different the next morning. She was working on a broth that required delicate technique which was completely opposite of her usual bold cooking style. The broth was built on delicate ingredients. It required fresh ginger rather than mature root, white pepper instead of black one, the pale sections of scallion rather than the stronger green ones.
Her attention was completely on her dish, when the laboratory door opened behind her. Wei Jia didn't need to turn around to know who had entered. She could feel Li Shiyan's presence now.
"Show me." He said with authority.
Wei Jia glanced over her shoulder to find him standing at the edge of her workspace, maintaining the same distance as during their last session.
"Show you what?" She asked.
"Your range." Li Shiyan replied, moving closer to observe her technique without invading her personal space. "Your resume indicates expertise in bold, flavors like street food, comfort cuisine. But this..." He gestured toward her broth setup. "This suggests technical capabilities that weren't there in your initial presentations."
Wei Jia turned back to her work.
"You think street food doesn't require technique?"
"I think street food requires a different kind of technique," Li Shiyan corrected. "Robust flavors that can compete with noise and distraction. This is something else entirely."
He was right. The broth she was developing required skills that had nothing to do with the bold cooking she was the master of.
"My grandmother taught me that a real chef should be able to make people cry with a whisper as easily as with a shout."
Li Shiyan moved closer, close enough that she could sense his presence behind her.
"Show me." He repeated ignoring her words.
She forced herself to focus on the work rather than him. The broth required her complete attention, any lapse could destroy the balance she was trying to achieve. The finished broth was colorless but complex with layers of flavors.
Wei Jia poured a small amount into a white bowl.
"Taste it." She said, offering the bowl to Li Shiyan
Li Shiyan accepted the bowl with his fingers brushing against hers as he took it. It was not the accidental contact like their last encounter, but something that was intentional.
The electricity was there again. But this time, instead of pulling away, Li Shiyan's eyes met hers. His eyes looked hungry not for food, but for the woman who was challenging him everytime.
Wei Jia lifted a spoon, offering him the broth to taste but Li Shiyan did something that stopped her heart completely. Instead of accepting the spoon or taking the bowl from her hands, he reached out and wrapped his fingers around her wrist.
His touch was warm, and firm, as he guided her hand toward his mouth, using her grip on the spoon for the tasting. His eyes made the moment even more intimate. His dark, intense eyes were locked on hers that made the rest of the laboratory fade. Wei Jia felt her breath stop as he touched the spoon with his lips using her hand.
The broth touched his tongue, and she watched his expression change. His eyes widened. But he didn't release her wrist. Infact, his grip tightened slightly, his thumb brushing against her pulse point.
"The flavor is there which wasn't in previous recipes."
She just nodded in response. Li Shiyan released her wrist, but only to set aside the spoon and bowl. When he looked at her again, there was something different in his expression.
"But it is not enough. I need to understand the full complexity."
Before she could ask what he meant, Li Shiyan dipped his fingers into the simmering pot. Wei Jia watched in fascination as he brought his fingers to his own mouth, tasting her dish which was how she used to taste.
Using his thumb, still wet with her broth, Li Shiyan reached toward her face. She was completely still when he used his thumb to smear a single drop of the liquid across her bottom lip, slowly, deliberately, his dark eyes focused on her mouth with an intensity.
Her breath hitched audibly as his thumb traced the curve of her lip, the contact sending shockwaves through her entire body. The gesture was intimate.
"There. Now it's perfect."
The words had nothing to do with the broth. Wei Jia leaned slightly toward him, drawn by the magnetic pull of whatever was building between them.
She could taste her own creation on her lip where his thumb had touched, but the flavor was complicated now. Because they had just entered into a territory that was inappropriate and undeniable. Li Shiyan's hand was still near her face, his thumb close to her mouth.
Wei Jia moved closer to Li Shiyan, drawn by gravitational force. Then the laboratory door opened. Su Mingyi stood in the doorway, her expressions composed despite the scene she had walked into. But Wei Jia could see the anger burning behind her.
Her gaze took in every detail of the scene before her: Li Shiyan's intimate grip on Wei Jia's wrist, his fingers near her mouth, the charged atmosphere.
"Am I interrupting?" Su Mingyi asked, her voice carrying sweet poison that suggested she knew exactly what she had interrupted.
The question hung in the air transforming the intimate moment between Wei Jia and Li Shiyan into something dangerous.
Li Shiyan's hand dropped away from Wei Jia's face, his expression turning cold again. But it was too late, Su Mingyi had seen everything, and the satisfaction in her eyes suggested she had just gained something so powerful that could destroy whatever was developing between Wei Jia and Shiyan.
The war between them had just escalated.