Of course, Min-joon didn’t want to include Cho Reggiano and Six Meats in the menu for fun. Actually, he chose the two menus for a strategic reason. At the same time, he was considerate of the customers. Any fan of Min-joon and Kaya was curious about the taste of their signature dishes.
It was certainly wrong if Min-joon showed only Cho Reggiano and Six Meats to his customers, expecting their continued support of their signature dishes. But it was not desirable for him to exclude their signature dishes loved by the customers just because of his determination not to stay stagnant as far as developing new recipes were concerned. So Min-joon and Kaya decided to include Cho Reggiano and Six Meats in the chef’s recommendation list for only two months after opening a restaurant.
With her chin resting on her hand, Kaya said, “As for butter, is it alright to use plain butter? Of course, we can make it ourselves. But I don’t think we don’t have to mess up the taste by adding herbs.”
“Yeah, if we are obsessed with bringing out a special taste, it often ends up ruining the taste. What’s important is the condition of the bread…”
Depending on what kind of bread was served, the type of butter to accompany it was supposed to be different.
Kaya raised her head and asked, looking at Min-joon, “Have you not heard from Marco yet?”
“Well, he says he needs some more time.”
“Gosh, how long is he going to keep us waiting? We’re going to open our restaurant quite soon.”
“He said he’s going to get back to us before we hire chefs. So let’s wait.”
If Min-joon placed an ad for patissiers, lots of them would apply, but he wondered if there was anybody as competent as Marco because talented patissiers already had their partners.
In that respect, Marco who had a gentle personality and good baking skills were ideal to be their patissier. But the problem was Lisa. Marco’s help was almost essential to her, given that she ran her own bakery while serving as the patissier of Rose Island.
‘Hope Lisa can recover as soon as possible and run her bakery again.’
He felt heavy, thinking about the sick woman, but he shook it off quickly because he would feel more depressed by worrying about her.
He looked at Kaya and asked, “People have been asking me if we’re going to rate our restaurant in the Choters Guide. What do you think?”
“Absolutely, we should.”
“Can you judge and rate our restaurant objectively? I think it’s going to be a bit hard.”
“Do you think we were impartial in rating the restaurants? Our rating was quite subjective. So let’s just give our restaurant 100, to be on the safe side.”
“Man, what a great conscience you have!”
He shook his head as if he couldn’t help it. He quickly checked her expression.
Then he quietly opened his mouth.
“After all, we ended up opening a restaurant like this.”
“Uh, so what?”
“In the future, we’re going to have the same worries, same workplace, same house, and the same family. I’m going to worry about what you are worried about. And when you are happy, I’m happy, too.”
“Hey, don’t beat around the bush. What’s your point?” she asked impatiently.
He looked at her without saying a word. He remembered the first time he met her. Back then, her smokey makeup, which was thicker than now, seemed to show her strong soul. Looking back now, her makeup was bad. Her soft and gentle makeup was much more mature, compared to her rustic makeup back then.
Kaya grew up and became an adult like Min-joon. Their love deepened. They held hands, kissed, and had sex. The couple went through all the routine processes like all normal couples except for one thing.
“Remember I told you this before? I feel like I can gain confidence when I have a restaurant of my own. Finally, I have it like this.”
Kaya nodded superficially. It seemed that she could not understand what he was trying to say. To be honest, she wasn’t interested in what he said because she heard him talking nonsense lots of times.
So Min-joon was determined to show her by deeds, not just words. He grabbed her hand. But she immediately flinched at the cold touch of her fingers.
He put a ring on her finger, which was in the shape of gold surrounding the rim of platinum. A beautiful diamond shining brightly in the center.
‘Uh?’
She stared blankly at it. It was a ring on her finger. It was Min-joon who put it on her. Why was it put on her finger now?
He said, “Well, I think I proposed to you rather haphazardly last time.”
He grinned at her and said, “So I want to do it again.”
Of course, she thought the way he was trying to propose was pretty clumsy.
Nonetheless, she found her heart throbbing at his clumsy proposal.
<hr />
Summer in California was usually sunny. It was a city that didn’t fit the word ‘gloomy’ in many ways. The people there were lively, and many of them were from all over America and the world, who didn’t sneer at those who devote themselves to realizing their dreams.
Such liveliness could also be found even in the most depressing places. Seeing people in wheelchairs or chatting pleasantly at the lounges under the windows of the patients’ wards at the hospital, outside visitors often wondered if this place was really a hospital housing so many sick people.
“It’s just amazing. It seems like everyone is having a hard time here, but there are people who are smiling broadly like that.”
Many of them had their legs amputated or their bodies were wrapped in bandages. Of course, Lisa’s illness was as serious as theirs, but their sickness would probably not be as threatening to their lives as Lisa’s.
But their illness was deep enough to make them feel they were unhappy. That was why Lisa felt their happy smiles and happy moods were unfamiliar.
Lisa’s doctor cast a glance at the direction that she was looking at then nodded.
“It’s not just drugs and surgery that cure patients’ illness. Their hope is also important. Their bright attitude brings about good results. The reason why they insist on mostly white and bright interiors at the hospitals is because they want the patients to look at the bright side visually. Lisa, do you have any hope?”
“Well. Having hope means you are more concerned about your problem, right? I’m trying not to be conscious of it…”
Maybe she was looking for an escape. The doctor looked at her quietly.
As a doctor, he had no choice but to get used to the death of patients. He saw many patients. He shared their sufferings, and each time one of them died, he drank alone after work.
Of course, he fell into something like inertia for a long time. Even if Lisa died, he would drink.
If she sought his advice on her concerns, he would be happy to respond even by taking time out. But he would probably feel nothing even if he did, for he knew that all of these things couldn’t stop their eventual death.
He told his patients about hope, but some survived even when they had no hope, and some died even when they had hope. A doctor should be perfect. Lisa’s doctor was somewhat a perfect doctor. But he was so tired now that he could not afford to rev her up.
After all, his conversation with patients tended to be perfunctory.
Clearing his throat, the doctor said, “Your condition is not that bad. Fortunately, the tumor doesn’t show any signs of getting bigger. Are you taking your medications regularly?”
“Yeah, even though I don’t feel the tumor, I just can’t shake off the feeling that I’m suffering from sickness. My body and mind don’t feel like mine. My body feels heavy, and my mind has become dull. Day by day, I feel like I’m not alive. I just feel I am extending my life day by day.”
“You will feel better over time…”
Of course, he lied to her. He could not stop treating her until she was healthy again after her tumor completely disappeared. And her body would get worse due to his treatment.
After all, it was a race against time. Lisa had held up well until now. She fought hard to survive even with the reduced possibility of survival. That was why the doctor respected her. Originally, she was told by the doctor that she would survive half a year, but she was still alive even though one and a half years passed. That was pretty hopeful for her.
Feeling somewhat miserable, the doctor shut up.
As if she felt awkward about the brief silence, she opened her mouth.
“Do you have anything else to say to me?”
“No, nothing. You already know when I am going to see you, right? So let me stop here today.”
“Alright. Thanks. See you next time.”
Having said that, Lisa grabbed her bag and stood up from her seat.
At that moment, the doctor opened his mouth while tapping the desk rather nervously.
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