Revolving Orders

The cacophonous sound of idle chatter and the occasional smell of oil filled the air as the excitement and impatience of waiting to be served was palpable within the wooden walls of the Dumpling King. It was voted as the best district dumpling store last year, which gave rise to the frightening number of new customers. It was lunch hour and the place was filled with salarymen and other office workers, some of whom had a disgruntled look plastered on their faces due to the long wait for their order.

" Excuse me waiter, but did that table just get served ahead of me although we arrived first?" someone raised his hand in annoyance. Misaki heaved a sigh under her surgical mask and hurried over with a bamboo steamer filled with pork gyoza.

" Sorry for the wait sir as we are understaffed today but please enjoy the meal," Misaki lowered her head and hurried back to the kitchen.

Her amber orbs skimmed through the pile of receipts at the counter as she mentally memorised each table's order. She worked at the Dumpling Store five days a week to enable her to afford the tuition fees as well as accommodation at Tokyo University. Misaki carried another bamboo steamer to the table at the corner of the shop while squeezing through the seated patrons. She had no complaints about her job though- she had a good boss and the pay was above average for a part-timer.

" Excuse me but could you take our order please? I've been waving my hand for a good minute or so!" a portly customer frowned at Misaki who rolled her eyes and approached him with her notebook in one hand.

" The downside is that I have to deal with the occasional rude tourists who can't seem to comprehend that I don't have eyes at the back of my head," she thought to herself and forced a smile at the man.

It was a relatively mundane job to say the least but she needed the money and this job offered flexible working hours as well as a good salary hence she didn't mind looking like a pseudo pharmacist with her surgical mask, white coat and latex gloves. She was jolted from her reverie as someone tapper her on the back. She shook her head and turned around to face the person behind her.

" Do you have a table for just one?" the young man flashed Misaki a small smile. Her eyes widened as she was met with two emerald orbs staring into her own. The handsome, blonde young man cocked his head and surveyed the crowded store. Misaki felt her heart skip a beat but she shook her head and reminded herself of her undying hatred towards men.

"Probably just another one of those flashy young salarymen," she thought to herself and politely showed him the way to a small table at the entrance of the store. She handed him the menu and broke out her notebook and pen. The young man just leisurely studied the menu and turned it front and back repeatedly. She felt her eyebrow twitch in irritation as he had already spent a good five minutes admiring the menu without saying a word.

" Excuse me sir but are you going to order any dumplings or have you not gone past the first row on the menu yet?" she snarked and took a deep breath as he looked up at her with an amused look. She glared back at him and tapped her foot. "There are other customers who need to be served and apparently, you can't seem to make up your mind even though we only have six different items on the menu," she snorted as he chuckled and put the menu aside.

"Sorry for the delay but I kept being distracted by how cute you looked in your uniform, Misaki Ayuzawa," he grinned as she gawked and fixed her crooked name tag. She harrumphed and jabbed a pen at the menu sitting in front of him. "There is nothing cute about what I'm wearing, you pervert. All you can see are my eyes, nose and hair!"

He hummed and ordered a steamer of pork dumplings with a side of garlic oil. She quickly jotted down the order as his eyes were still riveted on her. She calmly ignored him and gave him the evil eye but that only contributed to his amusement. "Is that all sir? Or do you want me to come back in another twenty minutes when you've decided on your next order," she replied sweetly as he leaned closer and beckoned to her. She sighed and bent over to listen to his order.

She was taken aback as he gently pulled down her surgical mask and smirked at her. " As I thought, you really are hiding a beautiful face behind that mask. As for my next order, I would like for you to be on my bed tonight…." He didn't get to finish his sentence as Misaki violently stuffed a discarded dumpling into his mouth and narrowed her eyes.

" Shut up, you perverted man! "

" Pet names are unnecessary, Misaki. Usui would suit me fine," he spit out the dumpling and pulled a face.

She closed her eyes and turned her back on him. "Men like you really are the worst. Have some respect for a woman who works her ass off, serving bastards like you with a perpetual smile on her face!" she said calmly and made her way back to the kitchen. Usui's grin slowly disappeared as he watched her disappear into the kitchen without a second gance at him.

"Please enjoy the food, sir," Misaki returned and set the bamboo steamer on his table while crossing off his order on his bill. He caught her hand as she was about to leave which caused her to stiffen. He pulled her towards him and gave her a small smile. " I apologise for those previous remarks if you felt offended by them. I assure you that they bear no malice and I genuinely think that you're a beautiful girl."

She felt the heat rise to her cheeks but she smacked his hand away and averted her gaze from his. " Whatever, mister. It's not the first time that a customer has disrespected a waitress in this store. I don't really care if you apologise or not, as long as I'm getting paid, I'm willing to put up with all this shit," she muttered.

Usui gave her hand a light squeeze and offered her a dumpling from his steamer. She frowned and shook her head but to no avail. " Misaki, I can't finish all twelve of them so I need a little help," he looked innocently at her but she smacked her forehead.

" In case you didn't know, that is against the store's rules and I could get fired!" she hissed as he popped a dumpling into his mouth and closed his eyes.

" These dumplings are excellent and if you don't take one, I'm never coming back to this store again. I'm pretty sure that your boss wouldn't like that idea too," he chomped on another dumpling. She grumbled and bent down towards him. She proceeded to pull down her mask and pop the dumpling into her mouth. She was stunned as she slowly chewed the pork dumpling, savouring the marinated flavour and the spices.

" I told you, didn't I?" he chuckled as she closed her eyes before swallowing the last tasty morsel. Before she could pull up her mask, she felt a light brush of his lips against hers, much to her surprise. Her eyes fluttered open as she found him drinking his cup of tea, looking as if nothing happened. She gingerly touched her lips before pulling up her mask.

" Thank you, Usui. Please enjoy the rest of the meal," she coughed to hide her growing embarrassment as the blonde gave her a small wink before waving her away. " That idiot kissed me! I'm sure of it!" she raged to herself. " Not only did his breath stink of garlic but that was supposed to be my first kiss" she choked and retreated to the counter.

He wiped his mouth after finishing his meal and signalled to Misaki to bring him the bill. She grit her teeth and marched up to him. He whistled and handed her a twenty- dollar bill as she glowered at him. " I hope you're happy because that was my first kiss and I'm still reeling from your putrid breath," she said dryly as he stood up and gave her an apologetic shrug.

" My apologies, Ayuzawa but allow me to erase your memory of that unromantic first kiss tonight."

Her face flushed and she threw a wad of paper at him in frustration. " I don't need you to rectify things and I certainly won't be following you home tonight!"

" Oh, we don't have to go back to my place if that's what was in your mind," he smirked. We can just go out for dinner since most first dates end with a goodnight kiss, do they not?"

She resisted her urge to strangle him but she relaxed as he ruffled her hair gently and flashed her a smile. "Will it help if I order two steamers of dumplings instead of just one, tomorrow?" he teased her as her boss gave her an excited wave from the counter.

Misaki sighed and pushed him away gently. " I'm actually not free tonight but some other day would be fine. Let's just exchange numbers and we can talk about it some other time because I have to get back to work."

" I honestly don't know what you see in a dumpling store waitress for me. Fair warning is that I'll kill you if you try any funny stuff on the first date," she warned him but he broke into a big grin and poked her.

" So you do acknowledge that it's a date! To answer your question, you were the rudest waitress that I have ever met in my life. I'm actually hoping for a preferential discount if I date you because the dumplings here are amazing. See, it's a win-win," he wagged his finger and slowly backed out of the store as she swatted him with her clipboard.

" I think I prefer the pairing of Ayuzawa and dumplings over sake and dumplings," he teased and stole a kiss on her cheek before disappearing back into the crowded street. She grumbled and stuffed the bill that had his number scrawled on it, into her pocket.

She thought he was a weird pervert who had no idea how to eat dumplings properly but somehow, she couldn't help but smile as she silently appreciated the lone disturbance in her usually mundane working day.

A/N It's good to be back in this fandom after a five year absence and this story was inspired by true events XD Don't forget to leave a review and let me know if I should continue this story as my original plan was for this to be a one-shot.