Even after Rachel talked about things related to her restaurant for quite a while, conversations kept coming and going between them. When the night deepened and was about to become dawn, Alan stood up from his place.
“I will have to go now. It was a nice day.”
“Ah, wait. Let’s go together. I will accompany you to the garage.”
Emily stood up hurriedly. Alan smirked for a moment but then fixed his expression. With the both of them leaving, people started to talk among themselves. Anderson stuck to Rachel, and Jeremy and Sera were talking together. As the situation turned like that, only Kaya remained next to Jo Minjoon.
Kaya looked at her smartphone. It wasn’t the message that came from the person that claimed to be her father. In the first place, she didn’t even know if it was real. And, even if it was, she didn’t want to answer it immediately as if she had been waiting for it. In addition, to be a father that hasn’t called you in all his life and called you after you became famous…… she was worried that he may be a brute with a human face that appeared frequently on the news.
‘Perhaps, he just couldn’t get in contact. …….No, that’s not true. Kaya. Get a hold of yourself. You can’t become weak.’
Even for trying to shake away that thought, Kaya had a need to fix her eyes on the words that filled her smartphone. Most of them were conversations by people after the live broadcast.
Allison Raskin : Italy. Honestly speaking, I don’t think I ate Italian food that deliciously. But of course, there is also Italian style pizza cooked in a stove……I wonder if it’s because I’m American but I like the American style the most.
ㄴSara Rubin : Italian pizza is also delicious! To the point that they pour ten times more cheese.
ㄴAdam Jones : @Allison Raskin @Sara Rubin You will get sick like that.
Lynda Q : Minjoon grabbed four rabbits at the same time. Michelin restaurant, job, broadcasting fee, and Kaya.
ㄴKaya Lotus : Are you sure about the last one?
ㄴLynda Q : @Kaya Lotus If you had eyes, wouldn’t everyone be certain? Your nickname is good by the way.
ㄴJonathan Rowling : @ Lynda Q @Kaya Lotus You don’t know if it is really her. Last time Kaya was interviewing. She took a lot of attention on internet reactions.
Kaya hurriedly placed her finger over the delete b.u.t.ton but lowered it again. She thought that if she deleted it, they may really suspect about it. Jo Minjoon b.u.t.ted his head next to her side and cleared his throat.
“I don’t know why people like what others say this much.”
“I also like it, words of other people.”
“You didn’t say that in front of me……. Although you did curse Anderson a bit.”
“You have sides you don’t want to show to certain people. However, you try to decorate it, talking about others doesn’t seem right. And I don’t want to be seen that way.”
There would be no need to add words such as at least in front of you. Jo Minjoon slightly looked at the photos that appeared in Kaya’s phone. They were screens taken in the live broadcast. There was one that Kaya and Jo Minjoon were looking at each other softly in the middle of the pictures taken by the staff. They didn’t realize it at that time, but they felt weird looking at it through a picture.
Kaya turned her head. As their two awkward eyes met, only a bigger awkwardness remained. Jo Minjoon turned his eyes to the kitchen and said.
“Do you want to eat some night snacks?”
“Ri-right. That’s good. Let’s go.”
Although her agent had certainly warned her to diet because she was about to take some pictures for a magazine, those words were soon erased from her head. As the two of them stood up, the others also looked at them. Kaya said in an awkward voice.
“We are about to make something simple, do you have any orders?”
“Mmm…….It would be good if it’s bread. Do we have an oven here?”
“We don’t as it’s a hotel. What can you make with a frying pan……is it only about a pancake or a crepe? I will make it once for now.”
It was when Kaya talked like that and was about to leave. Anderson opened his mouth.
“Want some help?”
“Oh, Duksam. I really appreciate your thought. But I will only receive that.”
It was a gentle tone, but that was rather the problem. Because there was no way that Anderson would talk to Kaya in a gentle tone. And actually, she was glaring at him with cold eyes as if she wouldn’t leave him alone if he stood up. In the end, Anderson smirked and leaned his back on the sofa and Kaya put back that Anderson and grumbled.
“That Anderson is always detestable in weird places.”
“Why?”
“Are you really asking me that because you don’t know?”
Jo Minjoon turned his head away. “How naughty,” Kaya smirked and mumbled and then opened the fridge. You wouldn’t know if it was a basic option of the hotel or if it was prepared by the staff….. But there were quite a lot of ingredients. Eggs, dairy products, cheese, canned food, hotcake powder, etc. Kaya opened her mouth.
“What shall I make. Pancake? Crepe?”
“Hmm….Aren’t the both a bit… to eat them at night?”
“Is there something good to eat at night? Pick quickly.”
“Let’s just make one each. I will make the crepe, you do the pancake. It seems like there is a place for the both of us to stand.”
Kaya looked at the burner and nodded. She wondered if it was too small for the two of them to stand together, but it didn’t matter.
Kaya looked through the cupboard and then came with the hotcake mix. Jo Minjoon looked at that with a strange expression and asked.
“You are a chef, so can you use that?”
“Is there a rule that says that chefs can’t?”
Jo Minjoon took out the ingredients to make the dough from the fridge. Even if it was called ingredient, it was quite simple. Flour, milk, eggs. After beating the eggs you put flour to the point it melted down thickly, and if you poured milk slowly over there the dough became complete.
But of course, if you went with the original method, it was good to let it rest for an hour or at least half an hour. But honestly speaking, it was obvious that it would become burdensome to eat it by then. Jo Minjoon melted b.u.t.ter on the frying pan and smirked.
“When I run a restaurant, later on, I will have to get a separate baker.”
“Even if their skill is good, it’s normally like that. When they become the head chef, they don’t have the leisure to make things like that.”
“That’s why I was a bit taken aback. You know. Why is the person with the most acc.u.mulated experience doesn’t work at the front.”
“As you said before, it seems like you changed opinions.”
“Yeah. Thanks to Teacher Rachel.”
“Teacher Rachel…….You really started admiring her.”
Kaya looked at Rachel. At the end of her sight, there was a small bit of jealousy. Jo Minjoon glanced at Kaya’s pan and said.
“Flip it over. It’s burning.”
“Ah, yeah.”
Fortunately, the pancake was quite smoothly cooked. The side that was cooked with a delicious brown color had a yellow chick color on the inside, so that was why it was more charming. After cooking four pancakes like that, Kaya cooked a pancake that was half the size of a palm this time. She just cooked one side and on the other, she placed some kind of jam, cream, etc and folded it like a half moon and then placed small fruits like cherry and blueberries.
Jo Minjoon’s crepe was simpler than Kaya’s. Precisely speaking, it was shorter. First, it was much thinner compared to a hotcake. It didn’t take long to cook it, and over the crepes that were cooked like that, several ingredients were put in. Cheese and thin slices of ham, and basil and pesto…..or banana and chocolate, or strawberry and cream, etc.
Excluding the fact that you had to do the dough, there was no better dish than a crepe to eat a meal deliciously. Normal people would feel burdened by the fact that you had to do the dough so they didn’t make it that frequently…..but honestly, that was the most suitable thing to eat as a snack in a family.
“…..You already made everything.”
Kaya mumbled with a regrettable voice. The meaning of it was that the time of them which they could spend together in the kitchen had also ended. Jo Minjoon glanced at that Kaya and said while slightly stepping back.
“You also have to rest it.”
“……..It’s not a steak, but you want to rest crepe and hotcakes?”
“Why can’t you? The more absurd the creativeness of a chef is, the better results it brings. No. Let’s try it us first. The flavor may be weird, and the ingredients may not have been good.”
It wasn’t something Jo Minjoon, who could know the freshness of the ingredients and the dish through the system, should be saying. Kaya looked at Jo Minjoon as if he was helpless, but soon loosened her expression and sat on a chair.
“Fine. Your sophistry, I will let it pa.s.s.”
“Thank you for doing so.”
Jo MInjoon poured maple syrup on a pancake that had b.u.t.ter on top of it. The b.u.t.ter, which was suitably melted because of the warm hot cake, slowly spread that liquid. The aroma of the maple syrup and b.u.t.ter faced the aroma for a moment, and then flowed to the entire pancake. Kaya looked at that with vague eyes and said.
“Mom didn’t cook for us that much. She normally made us eat cheese or ham in its normal state. It wasn’t because my mom is bad, but because she wouldn’t have the strength. How tired would she have been? But one of the dishes that mom of mine made for me was a pancake. It’s easy and simple.”
“Did you like it? The pancake.”
“I wonder. I don’t know. Actually, I may have hated it. Sometimes it seemed like my life was reflected on top of that pancake. But I understand it now. I’m looking at this pancake now……..I feel sad for nothing. I want to see my mom.”
Kaya talked like that and served one pancake to her dish. As she sliced the pancake as if it was meat and put it in her mouth, the aroma of the b.u.t.ter and the unique sweet flavor of the maple syrup was felt as if it melted inside the pancake. She smiled brightly.
“Try this. It’s delicious.”
“It’s something I just thought of, but this is quite unfamiliar.”
“What is?”
“That I’m at the same table as Kaya Lotus. Do you remember when we first met? No, when we first spoke. Back then we were standing on edges.”
“Why are you talking about the past. So boring.”
“I just got that thought. Just like you think of your mother when looking at the pancake, I can also remember the past in this table.”
Kaya scratched the part of the pancake that was a bit scorched with her fork and without saying anything. Jo Minjoon sliced the pancake that had cheese and ham in it and gave it to Kaya.
“You have to eat cheese before it hardens.”
“Where did the person that said that we should leave it to rest go?”
“That was the Jo Minjoon of a few minutes ago, and not the Jo Minjoon right now.”
“Ha, how comfortable. Those words.”
Jo Minjoon smirked and put the crepe in his mouth. Six points. It wasn’t particularly outstanding, but even so, the score was quite fine just by being faithful to the basics. And it was also delicious. First, as the quality of the cheese itself was good, while the aroma of the cheese spread stickily the flavor felt of the ham was sensed more clearly. There was nothing to say about the elasticity of the crepe. Looking at Kaya slurping the stretched cheese like noodles, Jo Minjoon opened his mouth slowly.
“If there’s something difficult, you can tell me anytime.”
“……Why are you telling me that so suddenly?”
“I can say it whenever. There’s the thing I heard through the phone last time, that you had some troubles.”
Kaya just looked at the crepe and the cheese that was stretched between her mouth. Slurp. Kaya cut off the cheese with a kissing sound. She shook her head with a bitter smile.
“How many difficult moments are there in the world? I don’t want to say it all to you every time. I already told you last time.”
“I didn’t tell you to tell me everything. If it’s really hard to endure, I would like it if you told me only then.”
“Okay. I will if it gets really difficult. But now is not the time. It’s not that hard yet. It’s a bit exhausting physically. But it’s because I couldn’t sleep all night because of someone.”
“Weren’t you the only one. I also feel sleepy right now.”
“Do you want to sleep? ……..Ah, I know that expression of yours. You thought of something weird.”
At Kaya’s sleepy eyes, Jo Minjoon turned his eyes away and coughed as if something got stuck in his throat. Jo Minjoon hurriedly opened his mouth while flus.h.i.+ng.
“Th-think what? Leave it, just tell me what you have planned from now on. What are you planning to do after the schedules of Grand Chef ends?”
“I don’t know. For now, Rachel’s proposal will be one of my options. What do you want me to do.”
“……It’s obvious. I would like it if you came with me. To Teacher Rachel’s restaurant. It will certainly be a good time for you too. Teacher Rachel….She’s someone that’s not easy to grasp.”
“Looking that you keep calling her teacher, it does seem that she’s somewhat amazing…..”
Kaya dimmed her last words. She was looking at Jo Minjoon’s back with awkward eyes. Jo Minjoon followed her eyes to his back. And then gulped down immediately. Behind them, Sera and Anderson were looking at them as if it was absurd. Anderson asked.
“Is it delicious when you eat between yourselves?”
–
Kaya and Jo Minjoon talking alone didn’t become the topic of the group. And that’s not because it wasn’t funny. Emily, who went out to escort Alan, didn’t return until the sun rose.
“Did you spend a good time?”
“Ugh, don’t tease me! Nothing happened.”
Emily flushed at that one question and answered. It was similar to when Jo Minjoon spent the night with Kaya.
But in Jo Minjoon and Kaya’s case, they couldn’t put much attention to Emily’s incident. The time for the airport was close. And the time they could be together wasn’t that long. That’s why while they were on the bus that was going to the airport they stuck close to each other as if they were lovebirds and didn’t separate.
But even so, you couldn’t tie down the flow of time. Kaya’s flight was faster than theirs, and Jo Minjoon could only send her off in front of the departure control. He said with a deafened voice.
“Have a nice trip.”
“……When will we be able to meet?”
“I don’t know. I just hope to meet faster.”
“There’s something I want to say. And it feels like I have to. Although you may say what it is already.”
Kaya tried her luck like that. It wasn’t difficult to grasp what that meant. But it wasn’t only about Jo Minjoon. Looking at Kaya’s worried expression, you could know what her mouth wanted to say even if you were a 3-year-old kid.
“But I don’t think this is the right situation. When our situation gets organized a bit more calmly, then……I want to say it then. And I think that will be the next time we meet.”
“Then, do I only have to hold my hands together and wait?”
“I wonder. There’s no need to hold your hands but I think that it would be good to brush your teeth.”
At Kaya’s words, Jo Minjoon replied with a smile.
“Well, I will also whiten my teeth then.”
When he finished saying that, Kaya hugged Jo Minjoon. Although the camera was recording, she didn’t mind. As they had shown everything to show. If they didn’t have that moment’s hug, they felt that the regret in their hearts would become too deep.
There was no conversation. Because everything you couldn’t express with words was done by that hug instead.
“I will leave then.”
Those were the last words. Kaya walked to the departure control and then disappeared in the line. Jo Minjoon slowly turned back. Kaya kept walking her own path. She had to. Jo Minjoon took out his flight ticket from his chest and looked at it. Hunger trip. The last destination was written in hard handwriting.
< People over the crossroad (3) > End
(PR Note: OMGOMGOMGOMG relations.h.i.+p Rank 8!)
TL: Had to post it myself because the one that had to do it wasn’t doing his job lol. Sorry for the late post and enjoy
Translator : Subak
Proofreader : Saihikawa