God of Cooking

Kaya snuggled her arm around Chloe’s shoulder. Chloe looked at Kaya with an awkward expression for a moment. She then looked at Catherine and Janet again.

It was about that moment when Rachel arrived. It looked like she hurriedly came here as soon as she got contacted, given her pretty untidy hair and dress.

Why did Min-joon feel something strange in Rachel’s eyes when she was watching Catherine?

There was something deep, warm, but sad in her eyes at the moment.

It was only a moment later that he discovered why.

“Daniel didn’t want to have a baby,” Rachel muttered in a low voice.

Min-joon wasn’t particularly surprised at what she said, for he knew from the beginning that they didn’t have any children. He wondered if one of them didn’t want to have a baby or if she had problems getting pregnant. Anyway, he thought it was because of one of the two reasons that they didn’t have a baby.

“Why do you think I didn’t have a baby?”

“Well, I don’t think the reason is important. Perhaps you don’t want to have a baby. For example, I wouldn’t be very happy if somebody told me and Kaya to have a child right now. Of course, I think I’ll be happy if Kaya delivers a baby. But that’s a different story.”

“Gosh, if you have a dream, you are bound by it, so you can’t lead a life worthy of human dignity.”

“Of course, you can live a life worthy of human dignity, but the problem is you can’t live just like an ordinary citizen.”

Having said that, he looked at her. Honestly, he could understand Daniel’s feelings about why he didn’t want to have a baby, for his cooking journal didn’t contain his thoughts about cooking alone. In fact, it was something like his scribble book and daily journal rather than a cooking journal. For example, there were pictures of a unicorn that had nothing to do with cooking and some idle thoughts about various things.

Based on his miscellaneous scribbles in the journal, this guy named Daniel was obviously too liberal to get married to a woman and have a normal family with children in happiness. Even if he had had children, Daniel would not have wanted to sacrifice himself and invest his life for his children and invest his life for that child, for the most important thing for him was his life.

‘If I were in his shoes, I would probably be the same.’

Of course, Min-joon thought that if he had children, he would be different from now, but he thought he would walk the same path that Daniel had pursued. In other words, even if he had a lovely child, he felt he would put priority on his own ambition and cooking rather than Kaya and his child. Kaya might think differently, but that was what he thought for now.

Rachel said, “Well, my life might have been a little different if I had a child. I might not have collapsed so easily just because Daniel had left me. Of course, it’s so frustrating and stupid for me to think about such assumptions right now.”

“I understand how you would feel, Rachel. But it’s always scary to raise children for people like us…”

“Jack is preparing for his death,” she said.

When he heard such an unexpected bombshell announcement from her, he couldn’t respond because he was so emotionally charged. Since he was also aware of that, Min-joon could understand what she was trying to say.

Rachel said with a bitter smile, “Nonetheless, Jack doesn’t look scared because he believes Lisa will overcome cancer, and he thinks she will survive and carry on his legacy after he is gone. In other words, he is not afraid of his death.”

“Yeah, I can understand that very clearly. You must feel sorry for him, though.”

“No, I don’t because I’ve got somebody who can carry on my legacy, too,” she said, looking at him.

Min-joon opened his mouth with an awkward smile.

“Well, I think the chef who can carry on your legacy is Dave or June, or the head chef of other Rose Island branches…”

“I told you about it already last time. Of course, they can take over my restaurants, but they can’t take over my cuisine.”

“Why? Because the chefs have different styles? But that’s the same for me. All my dishes are different from yours or Daniel’s.”

“It’s not a matter of their dishes looking like mine. The thing is whether they can make my dishes.”

Min-joon made a weird expression as if he still could not understand her point. But she didn’t feel frustrated by his reaction because her expectations of him were too high for her to be impatient with him.

“Your cooking style may be a little different from mine, but I have passed on all my thoughts and ideals about cooking to you one by one. All the things I had taught you are kept in your cooking.”

“But that’s the same for other Rose Island chefs, right?”

“And there is one more thing.”

She raised her finger right away when he asked. Then she said with a serious expression, “Daniel was the best chef that no one in the world could deny.”

“Well, isn’t that too vague?”

“Who told you it’s vague? No matter what they said, they can’t deny the fact that Daniel and I were the best chefs. Not only chefs in the United States, but also other chefs in the world dared to argue over it after they tried our dishes. You should be like us.”

“I have a long way to go.”

“Yes, I know. June is trying to help you take a shortcut, but you still have a long way to go. Min-joon, this is my advice to you. Try to get as much as possible from June quickly. Then, come back to Los Angeles.”

She smiled at him, then continued, “The main store of Rose Island or our Venice store is prepared for you. In that restaurant with all the footprints and memories of me and Daniel, I hope you can create your own legacy next time.”

“My legacy?”

“Yeah, that’s my little wish.”

Min-joon couldn’t laugh for some reason.

She said, “It used to be the best restaurant in America, so let them keep believing it’s still the best because of your presence there.”

He felt a sense of responsibility because of her high expectations of him.

“Let me make the best environment for your work, so reward me by making the Venice restaurant the best in the world.”

Interestingly, he didn’t hate her offer now.

***

Catherine was lovely. Perhaps it wasn’t just because her looks were lovable. Perhaps she was lovely because she was a child of Janet and Anderson. As a matter of fact, she was a nephew to him, and she was the first baby that Janet delivered among her friends. And she was the source of their only happiness and their future in their daily lives that had been consumed by sadness and anxiety.

Kaya, Chloe, and even Min-joon had a crush on her attraction, after all. Whenever they had a chance to do so, they grasped her cute little fingers, and whenever they stopped before the big window of the newborn baby room, they were so excited to see her face.

But they could not see her for long, of course, because they had to go back to New York.

This time, Ella didn’t cry perhaps because she was used to being separated from them or because she was so excited to see Catherine. Maybe the deteriorating health of Jack and Lisa might have made her more mature.

That was why Min-joon greeted Ella so warmly and kindly at the airport. He squeezed Ella’s cheek with her hand with calluses here and there over it.

“Ella, you have bought a mobile phone this time, so if you want to see my face, just call me anytime. I’m going to answer your call if I’m not busy. Got it?”

“Yeah, I got it.”

“Don’t be sullen, okay?”

“Okay,” she responded briefly, nodding at him. Her adorable voice and gestures were so cute, but at the same time, he felt sorry for her because of the situation where she and her mother Lisa were in now. He looked at Lisa. He wanted to read what was on her mind, but he couldn’t. Since she was cunning, she hardly showed her weakness to others. Although he felt sorry he could not read her mind deeply, he felt relieved he could not see it in some respects.

He didn’t like the fact he was feeling relieved at the moment, so he said, avoiding her gaze,

“I’ll come back soon.”

“You don’t have to see me so often like this. You will keep coming back to see me anyway in the future.”

“Sure, that’s right. But let me come back soon because I feel comfortable in this city and people here.”

While Min-joon was chatting with her like that, Chloe and Kaya were playing with Ella by pinching her cheeks and hugging her. At first, she was held in their arms tightly, but she was now struggling to get out of their hands.

Watching her struggling cutely, Lisa said with a smile, “Alright, come back if you want. We’ll wait for you, as always.”

That was their last conversation.