Chapter 144 - Chapter 144: People Above the Crossroad (3)

Even after Rachel gave a long explanation of her upcoming restaurant, a long chat continued between them. By the time it was late into the night, Allan got up.

“I should get going. Thank you for a great time.”

“Oh, wait. Let’s go together. I’ll walk you to the parking lot.”

Emily quickly got up. In response, Allan smiled and then fixed his face. Everybody began to get up afterward. Anderson spoke to Rachel while Jeremy chatted with Sarah. After that, Cho Min Joon was left with Kaya.

Kaya’s eyes were on her phone. It wasn’t because of the text she got from her so-called biological father. She didn’t know if it was real, and even if it was, she didn’t want to respond. A father who hadn’t called her a single time until she got famous… She was worried he wanted something from her.

‘Maybe he just didn’t know how to contact me… No, Kaya, don’t be weak. Get a hold of yourself.’

Kaya focused on the words on her screen in order to talk herself out of it. It was a chat between netizens after the broadcast.

Allison Raskin: Italy, huh? I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed Italian food that much. Of course, there’s pizza, but I don’t know about Italian pizza because I’m American, I prefer American pizza

Sarah Rubin: Italian pizza is delicious! They add 10 times the cheese.

Adam Jones @Allison Raskin @Sarah Rubin You’ll all get sick at this rate.

Lynda Q: Min Joon caught four rabbits all at once. A Michelin restaurant, job, money, and Kaya.

Kaya Reuters: How are you so sure about the last part?

Lynda Q: @Kaya Reuters Isn’t it obvious? Anyway, I like your nickname.

Jonathan Rowling: @Lynda Q Who knows? Maybe that’s actually her. In a recent interview, Kaya said she looks at all the comments about her.

Kaya went to delete her comment before taking her finger off. She figured it would look more suspicious if she deleted it. Cho Min Joon leaned in and coughed.

“Why do people like talking about others so much?”

“I like it, too.”

“You don’t really do it in front of me… unless it’s about Anderson.”

“People have sides that they don’t want to show. No matter how you try to package it, it doesn’t look good to badmouth other people. I didn’t want you to think less of me.”

There was no need to add that since that only applied to him. Cho Min Joon looked at the photos on Kaya’s screen. They were from the live broadcast. Among various photos, there were some of Kaya and Cho Min Joon looking at each other. They didn’t realize it at the time, but seeing the photos made them feel strange.

Kaya turned her head. As soon as their eyes met, they felt even more awkward. Cho Min Joon looked toward the kitchen and asked, “Do you want to make a snack?”

“S-sure. Good idea.”

Her agent told her to diet for her next photo shoot, but she completely forgot about it. As soon as they got up, the others looked at them. Kaya spoke in an awkward voice.

“We’re going to make a snack. Would you like anything?”

“Hm… I feel like something with bread. Is there an oven here?”

“No, this is a hotel. If we use the frypan… we can make pancakes or crepes. We’ll try.”

Just as Kaya walked toward the kitchen, Anderson opened his mouth.

“Do you need help?”

“Wow, thanks for the offer, Deok Sam, but that’s okay.”

She responded in a friendly voice, and that was the problem. Kaya never talked to Anderson in a friendly way. On the other hand, her eyes were glaring at him to leave them alone, so Anderson leaned back on the sofa with a smile while Kaya mumbled, “Anderson’s always such a jerk.”

“Why?”

“Don’t you know why he offered to help?”

Cho Min Joon glanced back at him. Kaya grumbled, “That sly bastard” and opened the fridge. She didn’t know if the hotel provided it or the producers did… But there were many ingredients inside. Eggs, cheese, canned meat, and pancake mix. Kaya opened her mouth.

“What should we make? Pancakes? Crepes?”

“Hm… neither sounds good for a night snack.”

“What’s a good night snack? Just pick something.”

“Let’s make both. I’ll make the crepe. You make the pancake. It looks like there’s enough room for both of us.”

Kaya glanced over at the stove and nodded. It was a little tight, but she didn’t care.

Kaya took out the pancake mix from the pantry. Cho Min Joon looked at it and asked, “Are you really going to use that as a chef?”

“Why can’t I?”

Cho Min Joon took out batter materials from the fridge. The ingredients were simple—flour, eggs, and milk. All he had to do was mix the flour with egg and loosen it up with milk.

Normally, it was best to let it sit for 30 minutes to an hour, but he knew that would be too late. Cho Min Joon melted some butter on the frypan and smirked.

“When I open a restaurant, I’d better hire a breadmaker.”

“It’s hard even if you have a high breadmaking level. I heard head chefs don’t even have time to do that.”

“That’s why I wondered why such experienced people didn’t work in the frontlines before.”

“I guess you’ve changed your mind?”

“Yeah. Thanks to Rachel.”

“Rachel, huh…? It sounds like you look up to her.”

Kaya glanced over at Rachel. Her eyes contained a little bit of jealousy. Cho Min Joon glanced over at Kaya’s frypan and said, “Flip it. It’s going to burn.”

“Oh yeah.”

Luckily, the pancake was cooked just right. The yellow pancake had a layer of brown, making it look more appetizing. After making four pancakes, Kaya made a pancake the size of her hand. After cooking one side, she applied jam and cream on the other side and placed cherries and blueberries on top.

Cho Min Joon’s crepe was simpler than Kaya’s. To be exact, it was short because crepes were thinner than pancakes. It didn’t take long to cook, and all sorts of ingredients went on top of the cooked crepe. He added cheese, ham, and basil pesto… as well as banana, chocolate, strawberry, and fresh cream.

Aside from having to make the batter, there was nothing simpler than crepes. Most people felt burdened by the batter part… But it was actually the easiest snack to make.

“… We’re finished.”

Kaya mumbled in disappointment. The fact that they were finished meant that their time together in the kitchen was also over. Cho Min Joon glanced at Kaya and remarked, “We need to do some resting.”

“… This isn’t steak or anything. You want to rest crepes and pancakes?”

“Why not? Chefs create better results with creativity. Let’s taste it first. What if it didn’t turn out right or the ingredients were bad?”

That wasn’t for Cho Min Joon to say, who had a system notifying him of the freshness. Kaya looked at Cho Min Joon in awe before sitting down on the chair.

“Fine. Do what you want.”

“Thanks.”

Cho Min Joon poured maple syrup on top of the butter on the pancake. The melted butter slid down the warm pancake, and upon meeting with the butter, the maple syrup flowed down all over the pancake. Kaya stared at it and said,

“My mom never really cooked for us. She normally made us eat cheese or ham on its own, but that’s not because she was a bad mom. She was tired, so the only thing she actually cooked for us was pancakes because it’s simple.”

“Did you like pancakes?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe I hated it. I felt like my life was like a pancake. But seeing the pancake now… makes me feel all choked up. I miss my mom.”

Kaya then put a pancake on her plate. After putting a piece in her mouth, she felt the sweetness melt within her. She then smiled.

“Try it. It’s good.”

“I just realized. This feels weird.”

“What does?”

“The fact that I’m sitting at a table with Kaya Reuters. Do you remember when we first met? When we first talked, you were so on edge.”

“Why are you reminding me of old times? So lame.”

“I just thought about it. Just like how you’re thinking of your mother, I’m thinking of our old times.”

Kaya scratched at her pancakes with her fork. Cho Min Joon sliced a pancake with cheese and ham in it and gave it to Kaya.

“Eat the cheese before it gets hard.”

“I thought you wanted to rest it.”

“Nah, forget it.”

“Ha, good.”

Cho Min Joon smirked and put the crepe in his mouth. 6 points. It wasn’t impressive, but it was decent seeing how he stuck to the basics. It tasted good too since the cheese was of good quality. While the cheese scent spread throughout his mouth, he tasted the ham clearly. The crepe was chewy. Cho Min Joon watched Kaya eat the stringy cheese and opened his mouth.

“Let me know if you have a hard time.”

“… What do you mean?”

“You can tell me anytime. You said there was a problem last time.”

Kaya looked down at her crepe and cheese. Kaya slurped the cheese as if she was kissing it. She then shook her head with a sad smile.

“When isn’t life hard? If I go venting to you every time, that’s too much. Like I said last time…”

“I’m not telling you to tell me everything. Just tell me when it’s too hard to handle.”

“Okay. I’ll tell you then but not now. It’s not that hard right now. I’m a little tired, but that’s because I couldn’t get much sleep.”

“I couldn’t sleep either. I’m sleepy too.”

“Do you want to sleep? Wait, what’s with that face? Don’t get any weird ideas.”

In response to Kaya’s gaze, Cho Min Joon turned around and coughed. Cho Min Joon quickly opened his mouth with a flushed face.

“I-I’m not. Forget it. Just tell me about your plans. What are you going to do after your Grand Chef schedule?”

“I don’t know. Rachel’s offer is one of my options. What should I do?”

“… Duh. I want you to come with me to Rachel’s restaurant. It’ll be a good experience for you. Rachel… is an impressive woman.”

“Seeing how you keep talking about her like that, she must be really impress…”

Kaya trailed off. She was looking behind Cho Min Joon with awkward eyes. He turned around. He then gulped. Behind them was Sarah and Anderson staring at them in awe. Anderson asked, “How dare you eat without us?”

***

They didn’t make a big deal out of Kaya and Cho Min Joon’s alone time. It wasn’t because it wasn’t a fun story to tell. Emily, who left to see Allan off, didn’t return until morning.

“Did you have a good time?”

“Ugh, don’t make fun of me! Nothing happened.”

Emily answered like that to every question. It was a similar situation to when Cho Min Joon spent the night out with Kaya.

But Cho Min Joon and Kaya didn’t have much interest in Emily’s situation. It was almost time to go to the airport. They didn’t have much time left together, so they stayed together on the bus ride to the airport as well as at the airport.

Still, they wanted more time. Kaya’s flight was sooner than the rest of them, so Cho Min Joon had to see Kaya off at departure customs. He spoke in a choked-up voice.

“See you.”

“… When do you think we’ll see each other again?”

“Who knows? Let’s hope it’s sooner than later.”

“There’s something I wanted to tell you. Something I have to tell you, but you probably know what it is.”

Kaya started off that way, and it wasn’t difficult to know what she meant, not just for Cho Min Joon either. Even a kid would have known what she wanted to say if they saw the affection in her eyes.

“But this isn’t the right time. I’ll tell you when things are more stable. Maybe I’ll get a chance next time I see you.”

“Then do I just have to sit around and wait?”

“I don’t know. You don’t have to sit around, but you’ll need to wait.”

Kaya answered with a smile.

“Okay.”

After that, Kaya hugged Cho Min Joon. The cameras were filming them, but they didn’t care. They already showed them everything. She knew she would be too sad if she didn’t at least hug Cho Min Joon.

No words were exchanged because the hug said it all.

“See you.”

Those were her last words. Kaya disappeared through the doors. Cho Min Joon slowly turned around. Kaya had to walk her path. The same went for him. Cho Min Joon took out his plane ticket and looked at it. Hunger Trip. He saw the final destination of his trip.

Japan…