Chapter 94 - Four people, four dreams (1)

The night Cho Min Joon couldn’t fall asleep, someone else couldn’t either. It was Chloe. Chloe lied in her bed, opening her eyes, closing her eyes, and opening her eyes again, and then it was morning. She put on her exercise outfit and headed out to the garden. She thought sweating out could help her clear her head.

But she was only half right. After exercising until her heart and muscles hurt, her clear mind pulled in even more useless thoughts.

Chloe looked up at the blue sky and thought further. ‘Is it middle of the night or morning?’ She wasn’t sure if it was before or after dawn.

And that thought soon led back to herself. What was she committing to? As a chef and as a woman. There wasn’t a single clear answer. It was iffy. She then remembered what Ivanna said before she left.

‘Don’t be scared, Chloe. I’m cheering for you.’

She didn’t need to think about what she meant by that. It was clear. She was surprised by how much she understood her. She was definitely iffy. She was indecisive. Both with cooking… and Cho Min Joon.

Why couldn’t she say anything last night when Kaya volunteered to stay the night with Cho Min Joon? ‘You go and rest. I’ll do it.’ She wanted to say those words, but she couldn’t. Did she believe that Kaya was better suited for the job? That Kaya had to be there since she was the one who hurt him?

‘… I’m such an idiot.’

Being considerate of others meant that she was making sacrifices, and that also meant that she was losing something of hers every time. Chloe was used to living that way since she was little. She was always considerate and lost things to others.

It was possible that her environment made her personality that way. Being nice meant that they were minding others. Chloe had to do that since she was little. The Asian blood in her and the appearance that produced made Chloe feel different. Chloe was a foreigner.

She wasn’t white or Asian.

If she wasn’t as pretty, she would have gotten bullied. But luckily, Chloe had a very pretty face. She also knew how to mind others. She didn’t let anyone around her feel uncomfortable, and her image was favorable since she was always considerate. People who didn’t know her just thought she had a good personality, but that was her way of struggling. A struggle not to be hated.

Once she no longer felt tired from living that way, she felt like she had lost her sense of self. She didn’t know what she wanted or what kind of life she wanted. People liked her for being nice, but Chloe didn’t like herself.

She didn’t want to lose this time. She didn’t want to have something stolen from her. Of course, she couldn’t be robbed of something she never had… But if the opportunity was still there, she wanted it for herself. That was how she really felt. At that moment…

“Are you done working out?”

She turned around to see Anderson. Chloe wiped the sweat off her forehead.

“I’m pretty much done. Why?”

“We should go see Min Joon and Kaya.”

“… Okay. Let me wash up first.”

“Hey.”

Chloe stopped. Anderson stared at her with dry eyes.

“If you’re going to look so miserable, why don’t you just go for it?”

Chloe looked back at Anderson’s eyes. She had a feeling she knew what he was talking about. Chloe showed a sad smile.

“I tried to hide it, but I guess everyone found out. Is it that obvious?”

“Yeah. You’re always smiling like crazy when you’re with him, so it’s obvious. Unless it’s fake, people will find out eventually. That’s just how it is.”

“I wish it was fake… No, never mind. Pretend you didn’t hear that. I hate being fake.”

Chloe smiled. Anderson looked at her in pity and then spoke in a sharp voice, “Then stop looking so miserable. Why are you acting like a loser already?”

“… Do you think I can win?”

Anderson grimaced.

“Why are you asking me?”

***

He was finished with his overnight stay in the hospital, and Kaya stayed by his side the whole time. She might have felt responsible or guilty. No, she probably did. Whether it was directly or indirectly, it was because of her that he got burnt.

He told her not to feel sorry and that it wasn’t anybody’s fault, but Kaya didn’t answer to that, and at this moment, Kaya grabbed onto Cho Min Joon’s arm. Cho Min Joon spoke with an awkward face, “I got burnt on my neck, not my legs. You don’t have to help me walk.”

“… Oh yeah. Do you have enough energy?”

“I don’t even need that much to walk. My stamina’s fine.”

That was when Kaya finally let go of Cho Min Joon’s arm. Anderson, who drove over to the parking lot, waved his hand. Chloe was in the passenger seat. Cho Min Joon spoke with an apologetic face, “You didn’t have to come all the way here.”

“Shut up. Patients shouldn’t talk.”

Anderson answered in a cynical voice. Cho Min Joon smiled awkwardly. Chloe lowered the window and stuck out her upper body. She was smiling.

“Get in! Let’s go on a picnic.”

“… A picnic?”

“How long do you think the four of us will be together for? Let’s have fun while we can. It’s hard to get out of the Grand Chef House if not for times like these. We packed lunch.”

Cho Min Joon smiled in response to Chloe’s explanation. He realized the four of them didn’t have much time together. They had survived up until this point, but that also meant they endured a lot of frustration as well. Of course, they felt more satisfaction and joy, but that didn’t mean they didn’t experience sadness either.

As soon as Cho Min Joon got in the car, he looked out the window. At that moment, he felt something cold on his neck. When he looked around in shock, Kaya’s finger was on Cho Min Joon’s neck.

“What are you doing?”

“Checking the temperature. The doctor said to change the gauze and put a cold pack on it if it gets too hot.”

“I’m fine.”

“Stop acting tough. Who’s okay after getting burnt? You don’t even have muscles. You’re so frail.”

“… I’d better start working out and prove you wrong.”

Kaya looked away from Cho Min Joon’s sad face. She looked at Chloe.

“Where are we going anyway?”

“Michigan Lake. We’re going to go somewhere without many people.”

“… Hm. What about food?”

Chloe showed her hand in response. Inside her hand was a lunch box. Kaya nodded.

As soon as they parked near the lake, they noticed that there really weren’t many people there. There were some people here and there, but they were far enough not to notice them.

June. The weather was warm. Cho Min Joon took off his shoes. The warm sand in between his toes felt nice. Thanks to the sand and sun, he didn’t feel cold even though he only wore a shirt over a t-shirt.

“I hate how the sand feels.”

Kaya frowned and grumbled. Chloe opened her eyes wide.

“Doesn’t it feel good? I come to places like this just to step into the sand.”

“I don’t know. I feel like bugs are crawling all around my feet.”

Kaya shivered, but there wasn’t much grass around the lake. It almost felt like a beach more than a lake. In the end, they had no choice but to sit in the sand.

As soon as they opened the lunch box, Cho Min Joon dropped his jaw.

“It’s… kimbap.”

It wasn’t norimaki. Seeing from the smell of sesame oil, it was Korean Kimbap. Chloe smiled and answered, “I figured you’d miss food from home once you woke up, but I don’t know how to make Korean food, so I got help from Anderson and made this.”

“… Thanks.”

Cho Min Joon sincerely looked touched. There were many other things other than the Kimbap. Sandwiches, Japanese fried foods, salad, and fruits. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it was a great lunch box. The sandwich containing ham, cheese, and avocado was nothing fancy, but it was delicious, and he could tell that the fried Japanese food was made with love. Kaya chewed on the dumplings and said, “How did you… make…”

“Finish chewing before you speak.”

Cho Min Joon scolded Kaya. Kaya glared and swallowed the dumpling.

“How did you make all of this? Wasn’t it hard? It must’ve been a lot of work.”

“It’s fun getting ready to have fun.”

Their conversation deepened as their tummies filled up. Cho Min Joon asked, “What kind of restaurant do you want to open later? Anderson, would you just take over your parents’ restaurant?”

“I’m not sure. I thought about doing that, but I’m starting to change my mind. It’d be meaningful to take over my parents’ restaurant… But you know how people can be. We all want to start something of our own.”

“I know what you mean.”

Chloe nodded. It didn’t mean to replace someone else, but there was something exciting about starting a restaurant from scratch, but then again, some people probably found more meaning in continuing someone else’s tradition.

She looked at Cho Min Joon.

“Min Joon, what kind of restaurant do you want to open?”

“… The truth is, I’ve never thought about that. I’ve always wanted to become a chef, but I’ve never decided what kind of chef I want to be. I don’t know if I want to go for fusion, Italian, Spanish, or Korean. I still don’t know, so it’s hard to say. But…”

Cho Min Joon scratched his nose.

“I have thought about this much. I want a restaurant with around 5 tables, and once they order, I want to cook the dish right then. It’s romantic, isn’t it? I like the idea of having more regular customers and enjoying a more quiet time, but there’s no way I’ll end up with a place like that.”

“… Why not?”

“Because that’s just romantic and nothing else. I might sound materialistic… But I want to go as high as I can in life. I’ll be honest. I want to become the chef of a high-end restaurant. Just like Rose Island’s Rachel Rose. Just like Joseph. The highest of the highest.”

Some chefs just focused on making delicious food. That was important, too. But it was a matter of satisfaction. Chefs in cheap restaurants weren’t less skilled than that of high-end restaurants, but it did mean that their ingredients were of different tiers.

For that reason, customers were more sensitive when they went to expensive restaurants. The same went for households. Parents didn’t stop children from cooking with a cheap egg, but if they tried to make something with ingredients that top stars used, they would stop them because those ingredients were too precious to waste.

Cho Min Joon wanted to be a chef of a restaurant that could use any ingredient he wanted. He wanted to be in a place where no single person would doubt his abilities.

At that moment, Kaya opened her mouth.

“I don’t want that.”

“… Want what?”

“To separate high-end restaurants from cheap ones. How different can they be? I… just want to have a restaurant where people like me can go. Not the ones that you admire but can’t eat at… A restaurant that anyone can go to. Somewhere both rich people and poor people can eat at together.”

That was hard to do in real life. Considering the operation, ingredient, and service costs, she had to give up on setting up a high-end restaurant, but that was a waste of Kaya’s talents. Chloe coughed.

“I recently got an idea.”

“About what?”

“About what restaurant I want to set up. The thing is…”

Chloe fumbled her hands as if she was embarrassed. Sand got stuck to her flushed hands. She looked at Cho Min Joon and then at the lunch box.

“I want to be like Anderson’s parents. A couple restaurant, right? I… want to set up a restaurant with someone I love.”