Chapter 521: Glimpse of One’s Back (2)
It took Jefferson almost a month or so to run an additional production line for Kaya’s new recipe. However, Min-joon and Kaya could not wait until then without doing anything. Why? It was because Lisa’s time-limited life was also running out.
That was why Min-joon, Kaya, and Chloe took time off to fly to Los Angeles in a hurry. Janet whose baby b.u.mp was clearly more visible than before greeted them. Min-joon hugged Janet once and looked at her stomach as if he couldn’t even say anything.
Janet glared at him and said, “Why are you looking at my baby b.u.mp so hard?”
“I wasn’t looking at it, but my nephew.”
“How come my baby is your nephew?”
“Then, it’s not?”
When he was cracking a silly joke like that, Kaya stared at her baby b.u.mp with twinkling eyes. After all, as if she seemed uncomfortable about her glance, she pulled her cardigan over her baby b.u.mp.
“Stop looking. I’ve gained weight these days.”
“How do you feel?”
“Gosh, I’m so tired.”
“But you are still happy, I guess.”
Min-joon felt strange, watching Kaya glancing at Janet’s baby b.u.mp curiously.
So, he opened his mouth to change the topic.
“By the way, is it okay for a pregnant woman to come out as far as here? We could have gone to your place on our own. Or you might have sent Anderson here.”
“Do you think a pregnant woman can’t drive? I can’t stand staying put at home. Anderson is working now. It’s me who is pregnant, not him.”
“Oh, I see…”
“Where shall we go? Lisa’s house?”
“Yes, please.”
Janet gently escorted Min-joon, Kaya, and Chloe to Lisa’s house. Marco, who was keeping an eye on the bakery, smiled brightly at them and waved his hand.
“Come on! You are here early.”
“We flew here on a night flight. How about Lisa?”
“She’s waiting for you, guys.”
“I’m sleeping inside for a while… I’ll get up soon.”
“What to wait.”
Min-joon and Kaya stepped into the house, shrugging. There were quite a few customers inside the bakery. Min-joon felt good to see them, but at the same time, he felt empty. Obviously, Lisa’s touch was missing in the bread since she didn’t make it like before, but they probably didn’t know the difference.
Come to think of it, Min-joon felt just empty, but now was not the time for him to dwell on it. He needed to take care of Lisa first.
A little later, Min-joon, Kaya, and Chloe were speechless, startled by Jack’s appearance.
“Jack, are you okay?” Min-joon asked with a voice as if he suppressed his feelings.
When Jack came out with Lisa, he looked so shabby, compared with her. Of course, Min-joon could understand why. Jack, who had been weak for a long time, was faced with the stark reality that his daughter might die, which must have made him consumed with worries everyday.
“I’m not okay,” Jack replied in a slightly exhausted voice. He spoke with some phlegm in his throat. Lisa looked at him sadly for a moment, then made a faint smile at them.
“It’s been a while. Congratulations, Kaya! Your Six Meat menu is very famous these days.”
“Thank you.”
As if she didn’t want to dampen the atmosphere, Kaya smiled without expressing her shock.
But everybody there already felt her end was near. The more they didn’t want to feel it, the more clearly they felt it.
Her parting with them forever was approaching fast.
Everyone felt it, but they didn’t say it. They could not say it because they were afraid what they tried to forget would come out in reality the moment they said it.
At that moment, Jack looked at Min-joon wistfully. Min-joon could now realize instinctively that Jack was now chasing Daniel’s shadow through him.
Normally, Min-joon would feel uncomfortable about it because he was feeling a strange sense of inferiority to Daniel. No matter what he did, Min-joon always heard people saying he was a second Daniel. As a matter of fact, the chefs of Rachel’s generation mentioned Daniel every time they saw Min-joon. Whenever he heard it, Min-joon thought that Daniel was great, but he felt upset deep down. He was angry because he had to be trapped in the shadow of a chef who he had never seen before. He admitted that people regarded Daniel as a great chef, but he didn’t want to recognize Daniel for that reason.
When he thought about it now, he felt a bit strange because he had never felt jealous about the chefs who were better than him, even though he respected and liked them. Even if he was jealous, he quickly changed his mind and forgot it, just like he did to Kaya.
But he was different when it came to Daniel. As time pa.s.sed by, Min-joon’s love and hatred of Daniel became more and more painful.
And all of a sudden he felt like he peeked into the solution to his problem.
‘Because he was the best chef.’
Daniel was the best. Kaya was also the best among the chefs he knew, but Min-joon hadn’t seen Kaya’s heyday yet. Kaya, which he would see in the future, would definitely be the best chef, but compared with Daniel, she lagged behind him.
However, it wasn’t just because of that why Min-joon wanted to surpa.s.s Daniel. All the chefs didn’t even think of surpa.s.sing Daniel just like ordinary people watching the great actors in the movie. They literally could not imagine they could get close to such great men, which made Min-joon so frustrated.
So, Min-joon didn’t want to think there would be limits to his capabilities. He didn’t want to believe that there was somebody that he could not surpa.s.s. He wished he could become such a great chef someday if he kept trying harder.
In short, he wanted to be the best chef in the world.
‘Yeah, that’s why I’m a Korean…’
While cooking, he believed he wouldn’t care about comparing him with other chefs, but he found himself greedy like others. There was no end to one’s greed.
He wasn’t greedy because of June. In fact, he had this kind of greed in his mind for a long time. It was just his circ.u.mstances and abilities that prevented him from trying to think about competing with Daniel.
He wanted people to stop thinking Daniel was the best chef. He knew he was far behind Danile for now, but he wanted to catch up with Daniel as soon as possible. And he was convinced he could.
‘Well, I don’t have to focus on it now.’
Shaking off his idle thoughts, Min-joon looked at Lisa. Honestly, he was not sure if she got better or not. In fact, she always looked tired, so it looked like she had a more healthy complexion than before because she had been taking a break since she had surgery.
“How’s your condition, Lisa?”
“I’m not talking empty words. I feel really good. My tumor size has decreased a lot, and its metastasis has stopped. I think I can live healthier for decades if I am in this condition.”
“What a relief! Even when I get older, I think I’ll always want to eat the sandwiches you make, Lisa.”
“Yeah, you can,” she said with a smile. As if he felt light-hearted by her cheerful response, he also smiled at her. At that moment Ella stuck out her head from behind her legs, with cute expressions on her face as ever.
“Ella!”
Chloe smiled at her brightly, then squatted and opened her arms. However, she just looked at her and Min-joon awkwardly, but she didn’t approach them readily.
Stroking her head, Lisa said, “It looks like she feels awkward because she is meeting you after a long time.”
“You don’t have to feel awkward,” Chloe said again, looking sad. She opened her arms once more. But Ella checked her mother’s mood, then held her legs tightly again. While watching her, Min-joon wondered whether Ella could not approach them easily because she was so scared about this situation rather than feeling awkward. He wondered if Ella wanted to grab her legs or anything about her because she was afraid her mother might part with her forever.
Min-joon smiled warmly and kindly at her.
“Ella, you have been taking good care of your mom, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Good job. I’ve brought some jelly for you.”
He handed Ella a bag full of jelly. He wanted to give it to her, so he made jelly flavored with a variety of fruits and sauces one day before he flew here. With a bright smile, she received the jelly bag, then grabbed a handful and gave it to him.
“Eat this, uncle.”
“Thanks.”
When he opened his mouth, Ella put a handful of jelly in his mouth. It was a mix of various tastes because she put various jellies in his mouth, but it still tasted great, given its cooking score was 7.
With jelly full in his mouth, Kaya opened her mouth.
“What do you want to eat, Lisa? I can make anything for you.”
“Well…” Lisa replied. “Anything that’s just warm is good.”