Chapter 261
A Healthy Flavor (5) >
“You don’t have to go this far…”
Rachel came over to Minjoon and Kaya’s place on the morning of their trip. She was holding a bag of ingredients in her hand. Minjoon quickly took the bag of food and put it on the table. Rachel sighed exhaustedly.
“I’m a cook. I make food for tens, hundreds of people every day. If I can’t even cook once for my disciple when he’s sick… I’d be a horrible cook, no?”
“…Thank you. But I’m not sick anymore. To begin with, I was just tired. Please don’t worry too much.”
“You should’ve told me that before you collapsed.”
“I have nothing to say to that.”
Minjoon spoke with an apologetic tone before closing his mouth tightly. Rachel started taking out the ingredients from the bag she brought with an emotionless face.
“I told you to rest well. Are you doing that?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Cooking? Have you been doing that as always?”
Minjoon didn’t know how to answer that. It felt like she’d scold him regardless of what he said. In the end, he decided to just be honest about it.
“…I don’t cook often, but I cook my own food or help out when I can. I don’t go overboard, though.”
Rachel looked at Minjoon silently. Why did those eyes of her look so stressful to him right now? When Minjoon turned away to look at the carrot on the table, Rachel opened her mouth.
“Why did you start cooking again?”
“Um… I think it was my respect towards good food, and I think I was charmed by the way chefs cut their vegetables on TV. I think it was a combination of a lot of things.”
“Do you know when you start hating the job you used to love?”
“I don’t really know.”
Instead of responding, Rachel took out her sword. Watching the carrot get cutaway like tofu under her was pretty beautiful to watch. The sound of the knife hitting the cutting board, the sound of the carrot getting cut, and the sound of Rachel’s sleeves sliding up and down her arm. As Minjoon started listening to the noise of the knife, Rachel whispered at him silently.
“It’s when painful memories get a.s.sociated with your work.”
It was clear what Rachel meant by those painful memories. Minjoon didn’t know quite how to respond. Rachel didn’t say anything more than that. Instead, she asked a question. Her knife didn’t stop moving, and her voice still carried a hint of worry in it.
“Where’s Kaya right now?”
“She’s bringing her family over. They’ll be here soon.”
“Good. I know I’ll just make myself look like an old woman if I keep talking, but the world needs old people like me at times. It looks like I’ll unfortunately have to take that role today. Don’t make Kaya like me. If you collapse in the kitchen, then Kaya would start hating the kitchen. You know what I mean, right?”
It was a warning. A warning that told Minjoon that his health was very important to others. Minjoon thought for a second. How would Kaya live without him? Of course, Minjoon knew of Kaya in the world before he returned to the past. But that Kaya wasn’t one that lost Minjoon. That was just the Kaya who didn’t even know of him. If Kaya ends up leaving the industry for a decade because of him, like Rachel did…
“…That’s an advice I would never be able to forget. Thank you.”
Minjoon responded seriously. Rachel nodded. As far as she knew, Minjoon would keep his word no matter what. He’d probably worry a lot more about his health from now on after this. That was good enough.
“Would you like to help?”
“…Can I?”
“I have a higher probability of collapsing from overwork compared to you right now. It’d be odd if I was the one to collapse after telling you not to overwork, wouldn’t it?”
“Where should I start? No, what were you thinking of making?”
“Zucchini soup, salsa salmoriglio, and a Caponata on top of that. Don’t have dessert. It’s unhealthy.”
“Ah… It’s simpler than I thought.”
Rachel turned to stare at Minjoon, making him wave his hands hurriedly.
“N-no, I just thought you were going to make something huge. Like a big meat dish. It was just cleaner than I thought.”
“Maybe if you collapsed just yesterday. I don’t see the need to do that right now, though. You might just end up getting a stomach ache if you eat too much now.”
“Mm… Which one should I do?”
“Prepare the ingredients for the zucchini soup, please.”
“Yes, chef.”
Minjoon calmly lifted his knife. Just when he was finished with cutting the onions and garlic, Kaya and her family arrived at the house. They all looked at Rachel confusedly, making Minjoon smile lightly.
“It looks like my teacher really wanted to feed us well before we left.”
“Oh my… Thank you, Ms. Rachel. Should I help…?”
“It’s fine, mom. Just stay still, you’ll ruin the ingredients.”
“Do you trust me that little?”
“Yeah, why do you think I’m telling you to sit still?”
Kaya put some water to a boil, as if she was trying to help. Grace looked at Kaya disapprovingly for a bit before showing a smile to Rachel.
“I used to read a lot of magazines where you appeared, Ms. Rachel. I always thought about cooking your dishes to my kids, but I always ended up getting too busy.”
“It’s always difficult to start anything. It’s still not too late. Please tell me if you ever get interested in cooking. I can’t tutor you, but I can give you a few tips.”
“Really? Thank you so much.”
As the two of them talked, Jemma watched the three of them cook quietly. It was an everyday lunchtime, where a family cooks food together. But this time, the members who were cooking were Minjoon, Kaya, and Rachel. The smells coming from the kitchen were quite something to behold.
“Minjoon, wat are you makin?”
“Ah, I’m making zucchini soup, salmoriglio, and a Caponata.”
“…I know what the soup is, but I don’t know what the others are.”
“They’re all Mediterranean. Caponata is a dish that has stir-fried vegetables with fish or octopus served with a wine-based sauce. Salsa salmoriglio is a fish dish eaten with a salmoriglio sauce… Here, look.”
Minjoon showed Jemma his bowl. He was pouring lemon juice into a cup of olive oil with his mixer turned on.
“I make bubbles like this while mixing in lemon juice. I can’t add too much at once.”
“Why not?”
“It’s simple. If I add too much, it’s going to separate. Oil doesn’t mix well with water, so it’s the same as making mayonnaise. Anyway, I mix like this and… Want to try it? Add some oregano and parsley here for me.”
“…U-Uhm, is this much okay?”
“Perfect. Yeah, you got it. Two leaves of oregano and two stalks of parsley. Can you add a spoon of boiling water over here too?”
Jemma carefully added a spoon of hot water into the sauce. Minjoon seasoned it with some salt and pepper before grinning.
“Grats. You made this dish with me.”
“…Me?”
“Yeah. You helped, didn’t you?”
Jemma looked at the bowl dumbly for a second before smiling. Her smile was a little awkward, but it was pretty nonetheless. Looking at that smile hit Minjoon hard. If he were to collapse, that would mean he would be breaking that beautiful smile. He didn’t want to give the same pain Rachel had to experience to other people.
Rachel had the role of cooking the fish. Minjoon volunteered for the role, but Rachel didn’t give it to him.
“I want to be the one who at least finishes the food. And…”
Rachel didn’t finish her sentence. But after a few more minutes, Kaya and Minjoon were able to tell what she wanted to say.
“So that’s… how you handle fire.”
Rachel’s skill with the fire was stunning. Kaya got a lot of praise in Grand Chef for her skill with the fire, but Rachel was something else. It seemed like Rachel was aware of even the drops of fat that got rendered from the fish. She moved the grill away from the fire before the drop of fat hit the fire, and as a result, the fish was able to cook without even a single burnt bit.
The group looked at the food like a bunch of hungry wolves. Rachel’s food made even full people feel hungry. Right then, Kaya opened her mouth confusedly.
“Why do we have six dishes, by the way? Ah, is it Anderson’s?”
“No. He went to the restaurant earlier this morning.”
“Whose is it, then?”
Minjoon coughed awkwardly. Right then, a sound of an engine humming came from outside the house. Kaya looked out the window, and froze right up. She recognized that expensive Sedan outside. Kaya, Jemma and Grace all turned to look at Minjoon, making him cough again awkwardly.
“I invited him.”
“…You should’ve told us.”
“I thought that would complicate your feelings too much.”
They didn’t say anything to them. Indeed, they did need to improve their relations.h.i.+p with Bruce. It just didn’t happen. In the end, Minjoon was the one who thrust that issue onto their laps. Minjoon headed to the door calmly, before smiling tiredly. Bruce looked even more stiff compared to the three inside.
“Welcome, Bruce. Have you been well?”
“…I don’t really know how to answer that. Can I come in?”
“Of course. This way, please.”
Bruce quietly took his seat at the table. Rachel ended up being the first one to break the silence between the group.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Bruce. Are you joining them on the trip?”
“Ah… Yes. That’s what ended up happening.”
“Bruce really wanted to join. He even got rid of his schedule for a while because of this.”
Bruce scratched his head awkwardly as Minjoon started cutting the fish. The fish Rachel decided to use for the salsa salmoriglio was a snapper. The rich taste of the fish, combined with the olives and lemons, made it feel almost dreamlike. Minjoon’s eyes trembled in joy.
“Why aren’t you guys eating? Try the fish, it’s stupid how delicious it is.”
That’s when the rest of them started eating. Jemma’s eyes widened the moment she tried a spoonful of the soup.
‘It’s too good…!’
It’s not like they used any special tools or a special recipe. But it was amazing. The taste of the cheese and the zucchini in her mouth melded amazingly well. Jemma wasn’t the only one who felt this way, of course. Everyone on the table got charmed by the food, enough to almost dissipate the nervousness between them. Grace opened her mouth first.
“It’s good. It’s very good, Ms. Rachel.”
“Thank you, that feels great to hear.”
“How do you like it, Bruce? Is it good?”
Grace tried her best to talk calmly to Bruce. Bruce widened his eyes for a second before replying with a trembling voice.
“Ah, eh, yeah. It’s good. It’s great. I love it.”
“…I can’t make food like this. I lived too busily to be able to cook.”
“I’m very sorry.”
“You don’t have to think that way. My daughter became a great chef thanks to it. Our family ended up becoming happy one way or the other, despite our hards.h.i.+ps. How were you? Were you able to eat?”
“…N-not really.”
“I wonder why that feels so relieving to hear.”
Grace smiled bitterly, making Kaya speak to him quietly.
“Let’s eat a lot of delicious food when we go to Korea.”
“Yeah, let’s.”
The conversation was awkward. But it was still filled with worry, curiosity, and love. Minjoon smiled inwardly as he put more fish into his mouth. He couldn’t experience familiar love like this in a restaurant. That’s what made this meal between them right now so healthy. No, that’s what made it so beautiful.
End.