God of Cooking

Chapter 143: People Over The Crossroad (3) God of Cooking
Name：God of Cooking
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 button but lowered it again. She thought that if she deleted it, they may really suspect about it. Jo Minjoon butted 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.

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 pass.”
“Thank you for doing so.”

Jo MInjoon poured maple syrup on a pancake that had butter on top of it. The butter, which was suitably melted because of the warm hot cake, slowly spread that liquid. The aroma of the maple syrup and butter 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 butter 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 flushing.

“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.

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