As soon as Delia responded, she apparently realized that she said something wrong.
She hurriedly raised her head and opened her mouth.
“Nope! I’m not a stalker!”
“What the heck? You just said you’re a stalker.”
“Well, it seems that the stalker Min-joon mentioned was me, but I am not a stalker.”
“Don’t you think you’re talking bullshit now?”
“Ah…” Delia sighed with a frustrated look. She was at a loss, not knowing how to respond.
‘Wait a minute, why should I be so anxious to persuade her like this?’
Suddenly, Delia thought she didn’t have to stay down for Kaya. So, she raised her chin, pretending to be resolute, then said, looking at Kaya, “Anyway, you have come to find out everything about me. So, you didn’t intend to work with me from the beginning? You have been fooling me until now?”
“No. Do you think I’ve brought you here to make fun of you? I’m not that rude. And that’s why I’ve taken your offer seriously.”
“Are you serious? So, you mean you are interested in my offer?”
Surprised by Kaya’s positive response, Delia looked at her curiously.
Kaya giggled at her then looked at her as if she was cute.
“Well, your offer’s conditions are good regardless of the reason. And the way you treat me, I think I can make some additional demands.”
“Uh, um, yeah, my offer’s conditions are good,” said Delia uncomfortably.
Kaya took her coke back into an empty cup and opened her mouth.
“Why do you like Min-joon? As a chef or as a man?”
“You have no reason for liking somebody. I just like him as a fan.”
“How come you are stalking him as an ordinary fan? You have come here to meet me, his girlfriend. How persistent you are!”
“Alright. Keep on blaming me. If you want to harass me when you don’t want to accept my offer, just stop it here. I don’t want to talk anymore.”
“I clearly said that I was not interested in your offer. It looks like you have been taken in so many times before.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen so many swindlers approaching me,” said Delia confidently.
Kaya looked at Delia for a moment and thought she would feel the same if she had been born as the daughter of a rich tycoon.
‘But I think I can act more decently and politely than her,’ Kaya thought to herself.
After putting the last piece of the burger in her mouth, Kaya said, “Min-joon is not going to work with you.”
“No, you never know.”
“Well, if you stop stalking, he might change. But if you want to win over his heart through me, it’s a very stupid idea.”
“Why?”
“Because he is not that reckless to decide his next move because of me.”
Of course, Min-joon had always said that he wanted to work with Kaya. However, if he decided to work at a certain restaurant, it was because the conditions and environment of that restaurant all satisfied his needs. In other words, he would not go to a restaurant just because Kaya was working there.
For Min-joon and Kaya, cooking was more than their lives. Even if they worked together, they would think their lives as chefs would be far from satisfactory if they didn’t have cooking as the main pillar of their lives.
“Believe it or not, it’s up to you. But I’m just telling you the truth about him. I think I feel guilty if I want some other useless conditions in your offer.”
“Then, can I reduce the condition a little?”
“Do whatever you want. But if you give me the same conditions as other hotel restaurants, I would go to a different restaurant. Of course, I’m not going to ask you unreasonably.”
“What do you mean? Why are you so mean?”
“If you didn’t like that, you shouldn’t have shadowed Min-joon from the beginning, you stalker!”
Delia looked sullen at Kaya’s cynical remarks. She wished she had Terry with her right now.
She clenched her fist and opened her mouth.
“You clearly said if the conditions were right, you would seriously consider working at my hotel restaurant, right?”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
“Okay. Sooner or later, I’ll give you a final offer. So, you can expect it.”
“But are you still trying to hire me because of Min-joon? In fact, I don’t care what you think about it. As long as I like your conditions, that’s it. But I don’t have any intention to help you if you want to use me to win over his heart.”
“Do you think I’m that dumb? It isn’t just because of Min-joon that I want to hire you. I think you are pretty good as a mascot of our hotel restaurant.”
“Wait a minute!” Kaya said calmly. “If you’re going to use me as the mascot of your restaurant, I’m not going to take your offer. You have to give me total authority over the kitchen staff, and you should not interfere with my management. Put that in the terms of conditions.”
“Okay.”
“Do you have anything more to say? Oh, let me ask this. Are you still willing to hire me when I have clearly told you I’m not going to be your mascot?”
“Yes, of course,” Delia answered without hesitation.
Kaya was also a bit surprised by her resolute reply.
This time, Delia smiled with a provocative tone, “I’m going to make you work for me.”
“Then, add this one to the conditions.”
“What?”
“You and I are equal. You should not interfere no matter how I run the restaurant. This is an essential clause. If you want to come back to me with a contract, make sure you put that clause in it. Okay?”
Delia didn’t smile anymore. Then she said in a sullen voice, “Okay.”
***
“So, do you think you’ve learned quite a bit in Paris?”
“Yes, more than I thought.”
“You mean lots of stuff to learn?”
“Well, more precisely, I could understand better what I was lacking in.”
“Now I think you are financially more stable. So, what are you going to do in the future?”
Rachel didn’t bother to beat around the bush.
As he was expecting such a question, Min-joon replied calmly, “You promised the sous chef position, based on the results of this competition. And I won the contest. To be honest, I think I’m the most qualified for the job subjectively or objectively.”
“Yeah, I think so. But at the same time, I wonder if I have to keep you as the sous chef here.”
“I’ve learned quite a lot about cooking from you, but I still have a lot to learn in terms of leadership. As you know, you can’t run the kitchen staff simply by cooking well. I think I have to get the know-how on that. Don’t you think so?”
“So, do you want to be the head chef of Rose Island’s main restaurant?”
Min-joon couldn’t answer that question right away. Of course, he wanted to be the head chef of this prestigious restaurant, and he wanted to stay with her. He wanted to make her cooking style his own and embed it in his soul. But at the same time, he felt strongly against it.
Min-joon glanced at the office door, imagining Anderson, Janet and Javier over that door.
“Other chefs here got good results in this contest, too. Of course, I stood out because I won, but as demi chefs, they survived until the semi-finals, which was never easy for them. Even head chefs, as well as sous chefs, took part in the contest, but they all failed to advance to the semi-finals and went back.”
“Why are you talking about them all of a sudden?”
“Are you going to give them the sous chef position?”
“Well, someday they will get one. But I think you deserve to be the first to get the job. It’s not just because of your outcome. As someone who has been watching you, I’ve made the conclusion that you’re the one for the job.”
Min-joon gently smiled at her words because she recognized him anyway. He kept silent for a while. He actually enjoyed the silence, but Rachel didn’t. It seemed that she wanted to stop this meaningless war of nerve with him as soon as possible.
She said, “Let me ask you once more. Do you want to stay here at the main store?”
“Yeah, I do. But…” he didn’t finish his words.
But he couldn’t just keep hesitating, so he bit his lips, then slowly continued, “I feel like I shouldn’t only do this for you but also for myself. I think it would be better for me to stay away from you for some time. What do you think?”
“Well, I think you will because that’s reality.”
“I’m sorry, Rachel.”
“No, it’s me who should say that. I’m foolish enough to make you worry about me. I’ve never imagined that I would grow old as a pathetic old woman like this…” she could hardly finish what she was saying.
Then she took pains to smile and said, “There are lots of people who want you. Especially June, she wants you very much.”
“Oh, come to think of it, what happened to Chef Dobby?”
“Since he is a runner-up at the Paris International Cooking Contest, he is fully qualified as the head chef of a local branch. I know his abilities, and you do too. If he is capable enough, he can land a job befitting it.”
Min-joon felt she seemed to have said that to him, not Dobby.
With a smile, she looked at him and said, “In fact, I have a gift for you.”
“Gift?”
“I can’t show it to you right away. You know it, too. It’s in Venice, our former restaurant.”
When she said that, Min-joon was stunned, opening his mouth blankly. It was clear what she was talking about. The old Rose Island main store in Venice, which had been burned down some time ago.
He opened his mouth with a trembling voice.
“You want to give it to me?”
“Not now, of course. Your cooking skills are as good as any head chef, but running the kitchen requires a completely different sense. You can learn it step by step over time, so you can establish yourself firmly. So, it’s not just because of formal procedures that I want you to take over the sous chef position here.”
After she said that, he still couldn’t figure out how to respond. Actually, he wanted to be the head chef of the Rose Island main restaurant, but after it was burned down and a new main restaurant reopened downtown, he gave up the idea of being the head chef. But she had now revived his old dream.
“So I want you to grow as quickly as possible. It is my wish that you can run the restaurant much more beautifully than I think. Of course, if you accept my offer.”
“Of course, I want it, but…”
“If you want to go to a local branch of Rose Island, you’d better work as June’s sous chef.”
“Pardon?”
“June is excellent. In my mind, she is the best of all of my students. I have most of what Dave has, but I don’t have lots of what she has. I think it’s good for you to learn what she has on this occasion. Of course, if you don’t like to work with her or if you are not satisfied with any branch…” she murmured for a moment. “You might want to leave Rose Island for some time.”
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