Chapter 224 - Icing on the cake (3)

Anderson looked a little upset, but Min-joon didn’t care.

Janet next to him asked with her arms folded, “It looks like they are pretty close to Chloe Chong. They came here last time. Oh, are they here for the dishes of Rose Island this time?”

“I think they have come here to enjoy our dishes here. They are close to each other. I think we’re close to her, right? No?” said Min-joon, looking at Janet.

However, she looked at him coldly and said, “Do you know you are trying to flatter her a lot?”

“Oh, sorry, I think I do. Let me reflect on it.”

“Don’t just reflect on it. Don’t do it. There are a lot of guys in the kitchen who can’t use their hands and feet properly because of you.”

Honestly, he had nothing to say.

When Min-joon scratched his face with an embarrassed expression, Anderson looked at Janet and said, “Hey, Janet, why don’t you try changing your tough attitude? You know, when Min-joon gave our guys a hard time, Garrick was very much stressed out because of you.”

“Well, I don’t think you deserve to point it out to me.”

As a demi chef, Anderson too was not nice to his assistant cook, Antonio.

When Janet blamed him, Anderson could not retort because it was true.

After the mealtime, Min-joon and Anderson headed to the table where Chloe and her guests were seated.

Min-joon said hello to them with a smile, “Hello, Martin, Chloe. Oh, I think it’s my first time seeing you, too. How do you do?”

“Oh, we have come here, dragged by Martin and Chloe. But I think it’s good I came here,” the female MC answered playfully.

Martin looked at Min-joon and said with a happy expression, “Min-joon, Anderson, it’s very nice to see you guys working as a chef like this. How do you feel? Do you think the work here fits your aptitude?”

“No other job suits my aptitude better than this one.”

“Anderson, are you?”

“Of course, I like it. As you know, I’ve been doing it my whole life.”

Anderson replied in a sullen voice. Min-joon stared at him, nudging him in the ribs.

“Hey, why are you so mean to your customers?”

“You know there are mean chefs like me.”

“That’s fine, Min-joon. That’s Anderson.”

“You guys are still the same as before,” said Chloe with a gentle smile.

Min-joon shrugged and said, “It’s only fifteen days ago when we last met, right?”

“You know what? 15 days is pretty long in Hollywood. Lot of things are happening during that time,” said Chloe with a sigh.

Except for Martin and Chloe, the other two left, saying they had a schedule.

Min-joon and Anderson took their seats instead.

“By the way, how about your dish with pomegranate these days? So far, so good?”

“Well, I thought it was well made, but Master Rachel didn’t approve it.”

“Why?”

“She didn’t tell me the reason specifically. She seems to think I can grow more if I can find the reason myself.”

“Hmm, that makes sense.”

Chloe nodded. Martin looked at Min-joon as if he was curious.

“How about showing it to us, Min-joon. We can comment on it as a guest. As you know, we just ate the Rose Island course.”

“Is it okay with you? I’m worried that I might disturb your aftertaste.”

“Well, I know. But we can come here later. Min-joon, can you arrange the table to test your dish?”

“Okay. Let me try. Wait a minute.”

Min-joon went into the kitchen and came out with pomegranate candy and jam he had made. Shortly afterward, Chloe uttered admiration after breaking the candy.

“Wow. It’s so pretty and amazing.”

“You can pour jam here like this,” said Min-joon while pouring the jam.

When they saw him serving with decorum, the two guests felt that they were treated properly as a valued customer. Chloe closed her eyes beautifully after putting jam and ice cream in her mouth with pomegranate toffee. She looked like she was trembling then praised the dish, “Wonderful, Min-joon. Your skills have improved enough to make me jealous.”

“Now, can you figure out why Rachel could not accept it?”

“No. I’m not sure…”

When Min-joon looked at Martin, he looked the same, not knowing how to answer.

While Min-joon was sighing, Chloe kept putting ice cream and jam in her mouth.

At that moment, she tilted her head and said, “That’s strange…”

“What do you mean?”

“What I mean is the more I eat, the more it tastes different. It looks like I feel the taste becomes more and more bland.”

“Hey, if you keep eating the same food…”

Min-joon shut up while trying to continue. Shortly afterward, he muttered in a low voice.

There was something like exhaustion and frustration in his voice as if he was shocked by something.

“As they say, there is no end to learning. Thank you, Chloe. You have saved me.”

“Why? Have you hit upon any clue?”

“Yes,” Min-joon replied calmly. Chloe looked at his face blankly.

She felt her thrilled expression was pretty much promising.

“Got it. I’ve found it!”

With a smile on his face now, he often glanced at the kitchen. Obviously, he wanted to run to the kitchen to revise the recipe, based on the idea that he just hit upon.

Chloe said with a bitter smile, “Just go!”

“Uh?”

“You want to cook right now, right? It looks like you get sick while hanging around here with us.

I don’t want to hear that you are sick because of me. So, just go ahead and cook.”

“Oops! Did you already notice it?”

“You really can’t lie. That’s the way you used to be all the time.”

Sometimes, he regretted he could not tell even an honest lie, but he stood up from his seat anyway while she was murmuring something to him.

He looked at Martin and Chloe, feeling sorry for them.

“I’m sorry I have to go like this. I wish I could talk with you more, but what’s in my mind is urgent at the moment. Let me come back with a more perfect dish a little later. Can you wait?”

“Well, we’re not free all the time, but we don’t want to disturb your inspiration. So, go ahead. We’re going to wait for you gladly,” Martin responded with a nice smile.

Given that Min-joon gave him a nice gift in the past, he should be waiting more than happily.

Of course, Martin also gave him lots of gifts. But what was the point of counting the gains and losses at this moment? Life would be bleaker for him if he did that.

“There’s one thing that hasn’t changed even for a bit about you until now. You seem to be the happiest when cooking, Min-joon.”

At Martin’s words, Anderson shrugged silently. He wanted to tell Martin that if he saw what Kaya and Min-joon were doing at home, he might change his perception of Min-joon a bit, but he found it rather hard to mention it in front of Chloe.

Chloe said with a soft smile, “Don’t you think so? When one devotes one’s soul to something one likes, one seems to be complete.”

“Chloe, I guess you’ve been influenced a lot by Hollywood. It’s amazing you can say such a thing!”

“Don’t make fun of me. Sometimes, I can come up with great quotations.”

“I’m not teasing you, Chloe. I just wanted to say you’re now pretty much accustomed to Hollywood.”

Martin laughed playfully. Anderson checked her look then said gently, “How about your broadcasting career?”

“Uh? Did you ask if my career is okay?”

“I already told you about my broadcasting career when we gathered at the Grand Chef restaurant last time.”

“Oh, that stuff…”

Chloe made an awkward smile.

With a fork, she tapped a plate of a mix of pomegranate toffee and ice cream powder. She leaned forward, and her hair waved. She looked at the corner of the table where nothing was raised.

“I’m getting over it in my own way. I think what you told Kaya at that time was right. There are people who need me, and there are people who love me. And I don’t hate this job. If I have to say it, I like my job. I think it would be rather funny if I stopped the job I enjoy because of a sense of duty for cooking.”

“… I’ve never heard of it. Have you been agonizing over it for a long time?”

Martin stopped being playful and asked Chloe with a serious expression.

She was rather embarrassed by his sudden seriousness.

She laughed it off casually as if nothing had happened.

“Everyone in the world has their own worry, be it big or small. Sometimes, the person involved is so worried that he or she wants to feel like dying. I think I was like that. But don’t worry.”

“You just said it with your own mouth. Even if what you are worried about is small, it might be big to the person involved that they might feel like dying. I don’t think if you have any worry, you can just ignore it as if it’s nothing to trifle with.”

“If you say so, I don’t have anything to say. In my case, I’ve found an answer of my own, and I’m less hesitant than before. I have wonderful guys like you who are pursuing a great life like this. Isn’t it natural that I look back at how I am living?”

“Thank you for saying so, but if you ask people to pick the most successful of us, most of them will pick you, I guess.”

In fact, the number of Starbook fans of Chloe had recently surged, almost equalling that of Kaya. Given that when the Grand Chef competition was just over, she was far behind Kaya, Chloe must have grown very fast.

In fact, Chloe was already famous enough to be on par with Kaya who appeared in numerous events with the name of the Grand Chef. There were quite a few netizens who even said that Chloe was the hidden winner of the Grand Chef competition.

‘The problem is that I have not succeeded as a chef.’

For some time, this kind of fact tormented Chloe a lot, but she wasn’t bothered by that at least for now because of what Kaya had told her. Kaya reminded her that when a certain chef worked in the kitchen, another chef could stand before a camera.

That was what Kaya, who was her close and beloved friend, told her. Even if everyone in the world told her she was not a good chef, she thought she could get confident as long as Kaya, Anderson, and Min-joon recognized her.