God of Cooking

Hearing Kaya murmuring, Min-joon silently looked at the door Ella closed a little while ago. He thought that Ella would feel a sense of alienation more intensely in her room. Considering her sullen feelings, he could not rebuke that little girl.

Min-joon opened his mouth with a sigh.

“Hey, you should have gone easy, Kaya. You know Ella was sulking.”

“There’s nothing worse than giving a false hope to a child,” she said in a quiet voice.

He felt what she said was true because she actually experienced it. As a matter of fact, she was always exposed to somebody’s vague hopes and outright despair during her childhood.

She dreamed that her life would improve, and she hoped that her father would return.

Of course, all her wishes had come true now, but she thought until a few years ago that that was impossible. Back then, she had to look at what she dreamed of with cynicism and pessimism, which was really a terrible thing beyond description to her as a teenager.

So, she didn’t want to make Ella experience the same thing. It was something no one needed to experience. When she kept silent, lost in thought, Chloe mumbled with a sullen expression.

“Well, you may not give any vague hope to her, but you may have hurt her feelings.”

“Hummm…”

“Go and comfort her. You said you don’t want to give her false hope because you don’t want to hurt her feelings. I think you have every reason to go and heal her mental wounds.”

When Chloe pointed it out, Kaya hesitated a bit.

Min-joon said with a sigh, “Just go and comfort her.”

“Got it.”

After all, Kaya stood before Ella’s room door. Suddenly, her gaze stopped at the picture hanging on the door. The picture showed lots of people standing, with some in chef suits and some in patisserie suits. If they had anything in common, they were smiling lightly.

‘Yeah, she is a kid.’

Kaya opened the door without knocking at it. At that moment, she heard some strange sound and noticed Ella jumping on her bed and pulling the blanket over.

Kaya turned on the lamp and let out a sigh.

“Ella.”

“…”

“Ella, are you sleeping now?”

Ella didn’t answer her obvious question. Did she really think Kaya could fool her if she didn’t answer? Or did she really want to show her firm determination that she would not talk to Kaya? Knitting her brows, Kaya pulled the blanket down a bit. Or she was about to do it, but Ella was holding the blanket with all her might.

“Let me pull down the blanket, so I can see your face.”

“Bag your face, Kaya!”

At that moment, Kaya let go of her hand holding the blanket with a blank expression. She never imagined that Ella would spit out such abusive words. She thought Ella was a child, so she had never thought Ella would hurl such abuses at her.

When Kaya didn’t say anything, Ella seemed to think she went too far, so she pulled the blanket down a bit and revealed her eyes. As soon as her eyes met Kaya’s, Kaya didn’t care.

“Ella, we should leave for New York.”

“Yeah, go there! I didn’t say anything!”

“What you are doing shows all that. You pulled the blanket over, you wouldn’t see my eyes, you wouldn’t talk to me. Do you think you’re not doing anything to me right now?”

“I really hate you, Kaya.”

Although Ella murmured under the blanket, Kaya could hear it.

Kaya glanced at the bottom of the blanket. Since she pulled the blanket over hurriedly, her bare feet under the yellow pajamas were exposed.

Kaya held one of her feet. Stunned, Ella pinched her toes, but she couldn’t get her foot out of Kaya’s hand.

Kaya said quietly, “We’re not parting with you forever.”

“People at my bakery said that when they parted with me. They said they would meet me again, but we never did.”

“It’s not that you haven’t met again, but you haven’t met them yet. You didn’t part with them a long time ago. Only recently, right?”

“I haven’t seen them for more than 100 days. Isn’t that a long time? If you and Min-joon go to New York, you are not going to see me for more than 100 days, right?”

“Then, why don’t you follow us?”

When Kaya said that casually, Ella stopped whining immediately.

Kaya asked in a quiet voice, “Why? Can you follow us?”

“Well…”

“See. You’re not following us either. But we don’t think we hate you. But you’re misunderstanding us. Don’t you think you are so mean?”

“You and Min-joon are adults! I’m an elementary school student! It’s unfair!”

“Yeah. We’re adults. Ella, adults are like that. No matter how much they don’t want to leave a place, they have to sometimes. Ella, I like you. Min-joon likes you too. But that doesn’t mean we don’t like you. So, Ella…” said Kaya with a depressed voice as if she was about to sob.

“Show me your face. Are you going to hide inside the blanket like this?”

After all, Ella had no choice but to pull down the blanket at Kaya’s begging.

Ella slowly revealed her head. Looking at her wet eyes, Kaya kissed her cheek.

“You’re pretty. Now, let’s go back. Min-joon and Chloe are only thinking about you right now.”

“I hate you and Min-joon.”

“I know.”

Ella hugged Kaya, repeating, “I really hate you.”

***

“Alright. Let me try.”

It didn’t take long for Chloe to respond to Kaya’s proposal.

Kaya said with a smile, “Oh, you decided faster than I thought!”

“Well, no matter which restaurant I go to, I will feel strange anyway. If I have to, I think I will feel more comfortable being with you anyway. What bothers me is…” said Chloe, chuckling awkwardly.

“I mean Delia. I heard she’s a little weird.”

“Yeah, she is, but she is cute in a way. So, you don’t have to worry about her. If she gives you a hard time, let me deal with her.”

“Well, I hear she has a violent temper.”

“I thought she was docile when I met her in person.”

An ordinary person would not describe Delia as docile, but Kaya was different.

Come to think of it, it was natural that Kaya felt Delia was docile, compared with her.

In the cooking and broadcasting world, Kaya was notorious as ‘Grand Bad Mouther.’

She would ignore anything that she didn’t like, but she hurled all kinds of abusive words at anything she thought was unreasonable. So, there were few who could stand it.

“By the way, if I join you, what’s going to be my title?”

“Uh? Didn’t I tell you about it?”

“Nope.”

“You accepted my offer without knowing it? How innocent you are!”

“Well, because I trust you, Kaya,” Chloe said, laughing with her face blushing.

“Hmmm… Your job title is a waitress.”

“Waitress?!”

“Gosh, you are surprised again! I was kidding. You will be working as the head chef like me. So, we are co-head chefs.”

“You want me to share the head chef title?” Chloe replied uncomfortably.

Honestly, she felt Kaya overly treated her. She thought most of the good clauses in the contract were applied to Kaya, not her. So, she didn’t feel comfortable playing second fiddle to Kaya.

Kaya said, watching her hesitate, “Don’t take it too seriously. Just think there are only two chefs, you and me at the new restaurant. Of course, there are assistant cooks.”

“What kind of restaurant are you thinking of?”

“Well, something like one where the poor can eat as much as they want.”

“You’re going to run such a restaurant in a hotel? Unless you offer a buffet style, it’s going to be hard. The price will be high for buffet, too, I guess.”

“Of course, it would be difficult to run a restaurant that perfectly suits my description. But I think I can compromise to some extent. When you think about a place called a hotel, the price is basically high, but considering several characteristics of such a restaurant…”

Kaya now began to harangue her about her plan with her eyes twinkling. Chloe looked at her in a calm surprise. It was the first time she saw Kaya so excited except when she was with Min-joon and when she was eating delicious food. Feeling her enthusiasm, dreams, and hope in her passionate words, Chloe wondered why Kaya was still staying here instead of flying to New York right away.

Chloe realized that Kaya had been pondering over this kind of restaurant plan to realize her dream for a long time.

When Kaya finished talking, Chloe murmured, nodding blankly, “Maybe you can really make such a restaurant to some extent, if not perfectly.”

“You think so, right? That’s why I’m also thinking positively about working for Delia at her hotel restaurant this time. Of course, if the new restaurant is not as good as I think, I will have to modify my plan. I’m the same even if the restaurant I work at is different.”

Kaya had confidence that she could succeed anywhere as long as she had her own skills and intention. Chloe envied her, and she wanted to imitate her endless confidence.

‘What are my shortcomings?’ Chloe wondered.

She thought about how she could close the gap between Kaya and her, and how she could not lag behind her in the kitchen at the new restaurant.

Of course, she didn’t think about it for a long time because she would find it out soon. She was determined to learn Kaya’s merits on this occasion. At least in Chloe’s eyes, Kaya was the most perfect woman in the world, and she had everything Chloe wanted and longed for.

“Are you guys done talking?” said Min-joon, coming into the living room.

Kaya smiled and nodded.

“Yeah, she is coming with us.”

“Good. I was afraid I wouldn’t have many friends in New York. At least I have one more friend to talk to when I’m bored.”

“You didn’t ask Anderson yet?”

“He said he was going back to his parents’ restaurant. And he doesn’t fit into my plan anyway. It’s better for us to go there.”

“By the way, I’m curious what Havier is doing. They have become sous chefs except for him. I would feel uncomfortable working as a demi chef in Rose Island,” said Chloe, as if she was very worried.

But Min-joon recalled Havier for a moment, then answered quietly, “Well, I don’t think he will feel uncomfortable at Rose Island.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, he is doing his work well. What’s the big deal about a sous chef? The thing is he is faithful to his work and keeps moving forward.”

Of course, Min-joon knew that Havier would not be satisfied with his current status. Watching those in the same age getting promoted to sous chefs or even head chefs, he would not feel good. That was why Min-joon respected him. Although Havier seemed weak, he was stronger than any of them. It was not difficult for anybody to pretend to be strong when one was strong, but it was really hard for anybody not to stay weak even when one wasn’t strong.

“Alright, let’s do our work, guys.”

Now it was time for them to move on to New York and the world and succeed.