Everything is better fried. Vanessa Harper firmly believed this, but she hasn't allowed herself to eat anything fried for seven years. She wasn't going to start now. Not even if it was her favorite snack offered to her fresh by her crush with his megawatt smile. Maverick Evangelista volunteered to man the class booth for the Multicultural Food Festival. Any excuse to show off his cooking skills and eat his favorite after school snack, okoy, really. He knows it's a foolproof recipe-Filipino crispy deep-fried fritter made with various vegetables, who can resist? Apparently, Vanessa Harper. They've sold out two batches and she has not tried a single bite. Will he be able to break her out of her shell and get her to take a bite? Written for the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month Contest hosted by WattpadAsianFiction, WattpadAsianFantasy, WattpadFusion, and WattpadMulticultural, using YARomance's prompt. Submitted on May 11, 2023 Word count: 2,497