God of Cooking

Chapter 174: Chapter 174: Overlapping Shadows (4)

He understood why Kaya told him to hear it in a pure sense. Despite hearing that, he couldn’t help but get questionable thoughts. Cho Min Joon stared at Kaya with blank eyes before slowly opening his mouth.

“… Do I have to listen to it as if I’m a teenager?”

“No. Not even.”

“Boys normally think weird thoughts even before puberty…”

Kaya’s eyes turned cold. Cho Min Joon then backed down and played with the fries. Kaya urged him to make up his mind.

“So? Will you do it for me or not?”

“Wait.”

Cho Min Joon took out his phone. He then texted Rachel. [Me: I’m going to sleep elsewhere tonight.] Kaya stared at Cho Min Joon speechless.

“Are you a kid? You have to tell her all that?”

“She might worry if I don’t tell her anything. What are you going to do? Are you going to call your mother?”

“… I don’t know. Maybe later. I don’t know what she’ll say.”

“Did you say Grace is still in New York?”

“She lived a hard life, but she lived half of her life in New York. I do want to bring her over to California… But we’ll see.”

“Are you going to keep living in California?”

Kaya paused for a moment. She couldn’t answer as of yet. But by saying she could leave California soon, that was like saying she could leave Cho Min Joon soon, and she didn’t want to say that. She didn’t want to do it for her feelings and Cho Min Joon’s. She didn’t want to talk about it until they were going to separate for good.

“What I do know is that I’ll be in California for the next half year. I’ll still have to travel here and there… but they’re even paying my rent here. First, I have to find a place… But why are you talking about this?”

“Then what do you want to talk about tonight?”

“Don’t talk like that. I told you to be pure.”

“Why? All I said was tonight. Maybe you should be the one to be pure.”

“… It sounds weird, okay?”

Kaya then grabbed a handful of fries. She stared at it as if she was contemplating eating them, but she then grabbed Cho Min Joon’s head with her other hand and put the fries to his face.

“Open your mouth.”

“No, agh!”

He wanted to refuse, but in order to respond, he had to open his mouth. Kaya stuffed the fries in Cho Min Joon’s mouth and spoke in an elated voice, “Swallow that teenage boy inside you along with those fries.”

He had a lot to say in response, but he couldn’t say anything. And it wasn’t just because of the fries in his mouth. Kaya’s face was right in front of his. She opened her mouth. Her lips slowly approached and bit onto the fry that stuck out of Cho Min Joon’s lips. Her head turned, and he could hear the sound of the fry cutting off.

Kaya’s face turned red. She rolled her eyes to the side in embarrassment and said, “I’ll swallow my teenage girl with this, too.”

***

Kaya didn’t have a house in California yet. That meant she was staying at a hotel. That also meant that the two of them had to spend the night in a hotel together.

So it was no wonder they felt weird. A man and a woman were going into a hotel together. Even they knew what that normally meant. Kaya sat on the sofa and opened her mouth.

“… Didn’t it look like the employee at the counter recognized us?”

“Her eyes wouldn’t have twinkled like that if she hadn’t.”

“I don’t know… What if she posts something online? Should we sue her?”

“In that case, we should deal with the people at the hot dog place first.”

In response, Kaya hugged her knees with a sad face. Her skinny jeans looked like they were going to explode. Cho Min Joon felt thirsty as he looked away. Kaya mumbled, “I wonder… if he saw.”

He didn’t even have to ask who she was talking about. Cho Min Joon quietly responded, “I’m not sure. I feel like he must’ve searched up everything about you and Grand Chef. It’s possible he even posted mean comments on Tess Gilly’s posts.”

“… Come to think of it, it’s weird. It was Gilly who told me he was looking for me. But the only place she could’ve found that out is that reporter. But why her? She posted so many mean comments on my posts.”

“Who knows? Ask him yourself. You’ll meet him tomorrow, right?”

“If he’s willing to fly over to LA on a plane, that is.”

At that moment, her phone rang. It was a text from her agent. Kaya glanced at Cho Min Joon in fear.

“… Will she tell me he’s not coming?”

“Read it. Don’t worry.”

Kaya unlocked her phone with trembling fingers. She scanned the screen with nervous eyes, and then she sighed and leaned back on the sofa.

“There’s no need to fly in. He lives in Orange County.”

“That’s close. What a relief. If things work out… you can see each other more often.”

“Why do you keep talking like I’ll forgive him?”

“If your father had a reason for what he did, you’ll forgive him. Because people prefer to like others than to hate them. And I’m sure your father had a reason. No, I hope he did, because that’ll help you understand him. Then you can have a father again.”

“… I don’t need a father.”

Kaya spoke in an angry voice. The reason why she was mad was because she knew that what she just said was a lie. She had thought about him many times since she was little. He wished that her father was watching her from somewhere.

She never let it show in case it would hurt Grace, but she always thought about her father deep within. That was why she was even madder. It was because someone that should’ve been that precious… didn’t appear in front of her or her mother in 20 years.

At that moment, Cho Min Joon sat next to Kaya and put his arm around her shoulder. Kaya turned and looked up at Cho Min Joon. She stuck out her lip and said, “I told you to stop being a teenage boy.”

“If I was a teenage boy, I wouldn’t have stopped here.”

“Pervert.”

Kaya glared while leaning her head on Cho Min Joon’s shoulder. Kaya opened her mouth.

“Let’s practice.”

“Practice what?”

“What I’ll do when I meet him. Can you act like him?”

Kaya then got away from him. Cho Min Joon stared at her in a dazed face while Kaya opened her eyes wide and opened her mouth.

“Who do you think you are?”

“… What?”

“Did you think I’d welcome you because you’re blood after all those years?”

“What am I supposed to say to that? I’m not good at method acting.”

“… Min Joon. Don’t say anything. You’re distracting me.”

“But your father won’t just stand there saying nothing.”

“I have to do this so that I can talk without shaking tomorrow.”

“Then calm down a little. If you get that mad, you end up looking more nervous. You want to show your confident side, right?”

In response, Kaya quietly breathed in and out. Like he said, she didn’t want to show him her weak side. Cho Min Joon said, “Thanks.”

“… For what?”

“For not suffering through this alone. But what made you change your mind? You said you didn’t want to rely on me.”

“I don’t. But right now, that’s not what I’m doing.”

“Then what are you doing?”

Kaya met eyes with Cho Min Joon. Dark and blue eyes, normally, the color reminded one of a cold night sky, but Cho Min Joon saw warmth in them.

“I’m sharing this with you. Since this is an important time in my life, I wanted to share it with you.”

***

That night, Kaya continued to practice her meeting with her father with Cho Min Joon. Cho Min Joon didn’t know how useful the practice would be, but he followed along anyway.

Of course, the two of them didn’t spend the night like that. They took a break by lying on the sofa, and by the time they woke up… Cho Min Joon saw the sun coming up. Cho Min Joon turned his head. Kaya was sleeping soundly like a baby bird in his arms.

“… I thought she didn’t want to give me her cold.”

At this rate, the virus probably went deep within Cho Min Joon’s body. Cho Min Joon carefully laid Kaya down on the bed and put the blanket on top of her. Kaya wriggled like a baby bear, and the sight made him smile.

He wanted to keep staring at her face but he couldn’t. Cho Min Joon went to the kitchen. He scanned the fridge and thought for a moment. Normally, he would’ve made her porridge, but Kaya wasn’t Korean. Cho Min Joon wondered what Westerners ate when they were sick before taking out his phone. The fact that the time on the phone said it was 5:43 a.m. didn’t stop him. He pressed call. After a few rings, a tired and annoyed voice answered.

[… What the hell? It’s not even 6 yet. Is something wrong?]

“This is urgent. Listen carefully.”

[Why are you so serious? Is something really wrong?]

In response to Cho Min Joon’s stiff voice, Anderson sounded nervous as well. Cho Min Joon smirked and asked, “What do you eat when you’re sick?”

[… What?]

“Kaya’s sick. She has a cold, but she has an important day ahead of her…”

[Wait. You woke me up at this hour because of her?]

“We’re chefs. If someone’s sick, we should make them food.]

[You’re crazy…]

It was clear he was too tired to even get angry. He imagined what kind of face Anderson had on. Cho Min Joon grinned and said, “Sorry. But I need your help.”

[… Chicken noodle soup. Now piss off. I’m going to sleep.]

“Thanks. I love you, friend.”

[Ugh… seriously. Please get lost. I’m begging you.]

“Sleep tight.”

Cho Min Joon hung up with a smile. He only realized after hanging up that he could’ve just searched it online, but he didn’t care.

He could easily find the recipe online. Cho Min Joon put on his clothes and left the hotel. He considered asking the hotel kitchen, but he wanted to make it himself. He was a chef, after all.

Even after he came back with groceries, Kaya was still asleep. She must’ve been tired, but it would take at least 2 hours to make the broth anyway.

It was a lengthy process, but it wasn’t very difficult. First, he had to boil raw chicken, carrot, celery, onion, and garlic in water. And after a while, he had to add thyme, bay leaves, and pepper.

After that was just patience. Cho Min Joon waited an hour before taking out the ingredients from the water. Once the broth was boiled, he took out the chicken and separated the bone.

After taking out other ingredients from the broth, he added olive oil on a pan, and stir-fried onion, garlic, carrot, celery, thyme, and bay leaves. Just enough to soften the vegetables but not caramelize them. He felt tired after cooking for so long in the morning, but he didn’t hate the feeling.

By the time he started boiling that broth with the ingredients again, Cho Min Joon added pasta. Wide egg noodle, it looked like Fusilli, but it was a little less curly.

He boiled egg noodles for around 5 minutes, and once he added the chicken meat and boiled for 2 minutes longer, it was complete. The score was 7 points, but he was satisfied… since he put love into it. It had been a long time since he made such a meal.

“Wake up, Kaya.”

“… Mm. What? What time is it?”

“Almost 8.”

“Can I sleep a little longer?”

“No. I made chicken noodle soup. Come and eat it.”

“Okay. It smells good… Can you bring it to me? I’m a sick patient.”

Cho Min Joon glared at Kaya without a response. He slowly opened his mouth.

“Your face is bloated.”

“Yeah… What? No! Close your eyes.”

“I already saw it.”

Kaya covered her face and peeked at Cho Min Joon with embarrassment. Cho Min Joon smirked and said, “Your eyes are swollen, too.”

In the end, Kaya went to wash her face and put on her lotion and serum before appearing before Cho Min Joon again. Cho Min Joon spoke in a disappointed voice, “The noodles will get all soggy.”

“… Thanks. It’s so early.”

“Just eat.”

Kaya picked up her spoon. Once she took a bite, a smile melted on her face.

“I’m so happy I have someone to cook me soup.”

“Do you feel better?”

“Not so fast. Who gets better after just one sip of soup?”

“From the sound of it, you’re just fine.”

Cho Min Joon smiled and tasted the soup as well. He was the one who made it, but it was delicious. After a few more bites, he opened his mouth. He had a question.

“When we go see your father today…”

“Yeah?”

“What should I introduce myself as?”

It was a little iffy. Kaya opened her mouth with her eyes fixed on her soup.

“A friend I go to hotels with. A friend who makes me soup in the morning. That should be good enough.”

“… He’ll think weird thoughts.”

“Then should I put it simply?”

Kaya slowly lifted her head. With her makeup wiped off, her eyes looked prettier than usual. Her mouth opened and her voice came out. She still sounded tired and sick… But he heard her words loud and clear.

“The boyfriend that I love. How’s that?”