Page 99 of That Prince is Mine
As though his cousin sensed he was the topic of their discussion, he glanced over at them. A flush crept up his neck when he spotted Sarah—Gabriel felt terrible about how he’d behaved at the mixer. He gave his TA an awkward smile with a nod of acknowledgment.
“I think Professor Laurent just smiled at me.” Sarah waved limply at him. “I wonder if he’s unwell.”
“Don’t be too shocked. Professors are human, too,” Emma teased, then glanced at her mobile with a delicate frown between her brows. “I have another student who said she’d be here. Let’s give her five more minutes before we start.”
As if on cue, a young woman ran into the kitchen and skidded to a stop when all eyes turned to her. She made a little squeak and looked ready to run back out, but Emma said, “Jiyeon, you’re right on time. You’re in the front row here.”
Michel took the station next to the newest arrival. He tipped his head in silent greeting with a polite smile. The woman blushed to the roots of her hair and ducked her chin. He didn’t have time to wonder about her shyness because Emma clapped her hands for attention.
“Thank you for volunteering to be my guinea pigs tonight.” She tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear with a nervous smile. But after a deep breath, she straightened her shoulders, standing taller. “Several of you are already pros at making Korean royal court cuisine, so please help out the novices if they seem to be having trouble following my instructions.”
There’s my Emma. It was bittersweet watching her in her element as he imagined what her life would be like if she stayed in Los Angeles.
“All right, let’s get started.” She clasped her hands together. “The dish we’re cooking tonight is called sinseollo. There’s a fancy story about a mountain god behind the name of the dish, but it’s basically a Korean-style hotpot.”
Laughter filled the kitchen. Michel couldn’t take his eyes off Emma as she taught them to cook the various components of sinseollo with wit and patience. He was excited to learn how to make fish jeon, which was one of the ingredients for the hotpot. He could never forget the picnic she’d prepared for him at USC.
Emma made gungjung yori approachable and fun, but her cooking expertise was undeniable. She showed them how to make perfect rectangular slices of the various vegetables, her hands slow and steady as she demonstrated. But once she was certain everyone knew what to do, her knife seemed to fly over the rest of the ingredients, and they magically reappeared fully sliced and prepped.
She walked the kitchen to look in on her guests’ progress, guiding them through the steps. When she came to his station, Michel’s shoulders tensed. His stacks of vegetables—irregular and misshapen—looked nothing like hers. She put her hand on his shoulder, then let it slide down his back. He couldn’t hold back a shiver in response, forgetting his embarrassment over his disastrous cooking attempt.
“That’s impressive for your first time wielding a knife.” She leaned close and lowered her voice. “But I’ve always known you were good with your hands.”
“If you enjoy my hands”—he turned his head slowly and met her eyes, her face only inches away—“then it might be a good idea for you to move on to your other guests before I chop off a finger. You’re very distracting.”
With a cheeky grin that made him want to slap her arse—and do a number of other things to her—she walked over to the station beside his.
“Jiyeon, that looks beautiful,” she said, beaming at the young woman.
“Are you sure?” She chewed on her lip.
“I’m positive.” Emma nodded for emphasis, then smiled mischievously. “Your mother was right. You do have the grace of a hippopotamus.”
Michel’s gaze snapped toward Emma so fast he must surely have gotten whiplash. Did he hear her correctly? How could she insult that poor girl in front of all these people? The whole kitchen had gone deathly quiet.
“Here.” Emma took out her mobile while Jiyeon watched with a bewildered frown. “Let me show you something.”
Within a few seconds, the young woman burst into tears and threw her arms around Emma. She returned Jiyeon’s hug, patting her back.
“What is it?” Sarah chimed in. “I want to see.”
“Of course you do.” Emma shook her head with obvious affection. “I’ll put it on the flat-screens.”
It was a video of a hippopotamus swimming, its movements supple and fluid underwater. It was hard to believe an animal that likely weighed over three tons could move like a mermaid in a fairy tale.
“Aww,” Marion fawned. “It’s so beautiful.”
“As you can see,” Emma said kindly to Jiyeon, “we should all be so lucky to have the grace of a hippopotamus.”
“You’re right.” The young woman sniffed and drew up to her full height, newfound confidence in her stance. “The next time my mom compares me to a hippo, I’ll just thank her.”
Michel swallowed thickly. Wherever she went, Emma lifted people up, always seeing the best in them. Not only did she own his heart, but it would be a profound honor for his country to have her as their queen. Choosing Emma to be his wife was not a selfish decision at all. It was the best decision he could make for himself and his country—the only decision, really.
“Let’s assemble the sinseollo.” Emma drew their attention back to the task at hand. “Traditionally, sinseollo is made in a special pot that kind of looks like a wide-brimmed hat, where you put hot coal in the center and cook the food in the sunken ‘brim.’ But for the sake of building laws and general safety, we’re going to assemble the casserole in a shallow saucepan.
“Alternating between each ingredient, we’re going to line the pan to kind of look like a giant daisy—a pretty, multicolored one. Once the pan is filled with all the yummy goodness, we’ll fill it to the rim with the beef broth and bring it to a boil on your stove. It only needs to cook for a few minutes before we move on to the best part of this party. Eating.
“I’d be happy to sample your masterpieces. And feel free to come up and taste mine to see if it’s different from yours.” Leaving her sinseollo to come to a boil, she came over to Michel and peeked at his dish. “Just look at that. Isn’t it amazing what you could do with a little jeongseong?”
