She said teasingly, “Hey, don’t mess with me, will you? I’m serious now.”
“Don’t worry. You don’t have to worry, Kaya.”
“Because of my taste sensations?”
“No, not necessarily.”
He glanced toward the window of the airplane. He saw the airplane flying under the clouds. Even though Min-joon got aboard a plane so many times, the scenes he was looking down from the window made his heart beat unlike before.
“Let’s assume you find a chef who is attractive enough to win over your heart. I think even that attractiveness of his is part of his cooking.”
“Don’t you think it’s pure sophistry to say that?”
“It’s not sophistry. That’s how they see it. Just think we’re not judges, but customers. Do you think that chef’s attractiveness who swayed your mind can’t win over a customer’s heart? After all, even that customer will make a judgment similar to yours, and that means it’s very reasonable and fair that you were not immune to his charm.”
Having heard that, Kaya frowned. Even though what he said was complicated most of the time, he had a point, after all.
She said with a sigh, “You’re always good at persuading me with nonsensical sophistry.”
“Well, our ancestors were as good in sophistry as the old Greeks,” he replied with a smile.
Their plane landed in Chicago.
Now they were supposed to serve as the judges of the Grand Chef final.
“Wow, it’s the final! Peter, are you listening to me? It’s the final!”
“Of course, I’ve been listening to you from the beginning!”
Gwen bit her nails at Peter’s calm voice. She knew she was fully ready for the final match. She kept trying to make her dish perfect until the final match, but she still felt uneasy.
But he was such a contrast with her. Of course, it would be a lie if he didn’t show any nervousness or uneasiness for the past week, but he tried not to be consumed by nervousness. She felt it strange that he was unusually relaxed in this situation. When she saw him participating in the Grand Chef competition first, he was clearly nervous. He was immature, weak-hearted, and timid.
What on earth had made Peter what he was today? Was it his ordeal or people’s hatred of him? Gwen wondered if she needed to be hated by people around her if that was the case with him.
He glanced at her quickly and said, “Hey, lighten up! I’m scared, Gwen.”
“I’m going to win by all means.”
“Sure, I’m going to win, too.”
“Nope. Both of us can’t win,” she said in a heavy voice.
It was funny. She was cheering for him, even though she wanted to win because she knew if he won in this contest, he would undergo lots of positive changes in his life. Since she knew how much he suffered, she wished he could no longer repeat his suffering by winning this time.
But she had no choice but to find herself unhappy if he would be happy by winning. Of course, she would not necessarily be unhappy if she failed to win. Nonetheless, she wanted to win. She wanted to prove that she could be a hero in this world just like Min-joon or Kaya.
She didn’t remember exactly how much she would receive for the 1st prize if she won, not to mention her potential reputation as the winner of the Grand Chef competition for the next one year. After all, what she wanted was just one thing—that she could be the best chef, too, and that she could make people around her envy her. Above all, she wanted to reassure herself that she was not a worthless woman.
Recently, there were no people who put their fingers at her, saying she was leading a worthless life. Actually, they praised her positive change and gave her a thumbs-up sign. But she had never applauded herself for some reason.
Of course, if she won the victory trophy, it would make her applaud herself, at last.
She wanted to clap her hands not for someone else, but for herself.
“I have something to say,” Peter said.
Gwen looked at him with a somewhat provocative glance.
In fact, she didn’t want to look at him like that, but she felt that she needed to steel her mind for she felt like she might collapse, overtaken by tenseness and fear.
However, what Peter said next was enough to make her forget even her nervousness.
“Well, I wanted to tell you about this for a long time, but at the same time, I decided not to tell you for a long time. But I thought I might not be able to tell you for the rest of my life, if I didn’t today.”
“What do you want to say?”
“I like you,” he said calmly.
At that moment, she looked at him, gasping for a moment. She saw him frowning. So much so that this guy was the same Peter who confessed to her a moment ago. How could he make such a distressed expression while confessing to her?
She asked in a dumb voice, “Why?”
Peter answered, “Because your life is so pathetic…”
“What the heck?”
Her face hardened quickly.
Only then did he realize what he said to her and waved his hand with an embarrassed expression.
“Oh, I didn’t mean it, Gwen. What I wanted to say was…”
“Peter.”
She interrupted him. He stopped and looked at her awkwardly.
But she was not swayed by what he just confessed.
She said firmly enough to make him feel she was cold-hearted, “I don’t think we’re in a mood to talk about it now.”
He felt her reply seemed to reject his confession indirectly. No wonder she said so because she knew she would get more confused if she didn’t stop him now.
Above all, this was not the time to talk about their love. To be honest, she wasn’t in the mood to appreciate his confession. It didn’t matter if she liked him or not. She could think about his confession later.
But he differed from her because this was the last opportunity for him to confess. Regardless of whether he or she won, it would be funny if he confessed to her after the competition was over. She would not be swayed by his confession even after he confessed to her because she might feel he was flirting with her, overwhelmed by his victory.
Of course, she understood his feelings. Nonetheless, it was not the right time for her to accept his proposal. She was simply preoccupied with winning this competition. Compared with Kaya when she first participated in the Grand Chef, she was much more desperate to win. So much so that it was just ridiculous for her to pay any attention to his courtship in this situation.
“… I’m sorry.”
In the end, Peter had no choice but to express a humble apology. Watching him, she felt sorry for him, which even made her feel upset because he created this kind of situation. She knew she was being too selfish at the moment, but she could not help it.
“I’m going to win this competition by all means, Peter.”
“I know.”
“I’m really determined, this time.”
She looked at him with a serious expression. He also looked at her.
He confessed to her a minute ago, but she virtually rejected it. It was a very embarrassing situation for him, but he could not run away from this place. If she didn’t even care about his confession, he would not have to.
She said, “If I’m in the quarterfinals or semi-final now, I can give up without any big regrets. But this is the final match. Everything will depend on how hard I push at the last moment. That’s the same with you. I don’t want to live with regrets that I have made the wrong move.”
“You don’t have to put everything on it, do you? You are telling me as if the Grand Chef is your last step, but over the long run, this is only your first step. Even if you don’t take your first step perfectly, you don’t get behind others or you don’t have to feel scared.”
Actually, that was what he felt keenly while watching Min-joon. In fact, when Min-joon was eliminated from the semi-finals, he thought Min-joon could end up being one of the ordinary chefs. Even though Min-joon drew people’s attention with his love affair with Kaya and his perfect palate, groundless gossip about him would disappear over time anyway.
But what happened to Min-joon after the Grand Chef?
In terms of popular reputation, Min-joon was clearly ahead of Kaya. This was really fantastic, given that she was the winner of the Grand Chef. The benefits of the Grand Chef winner were really fantastic. First of all, all the media reported about her intensively, mentioning her name, and she had the privilege of touring world food competitions to get widely known.
Although Kaya didn’t like such promotional events, what she gained during that time was incomparable to the reputation that a typical chef would have earned in his or her restaurant.
Besides, Min-joon overtook them all only through his own efforts and abilities.
‘Well, winning the competition rather than doing his job would have been much easier for me.’
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