Chapter 101: The Mirror Recipe (4)
Chapter 101: The Mirror Recipe (4)
The meaning behind those words was unmistakable. Jo Minjoon’s eyebrows twitched. He could only grow more confused, because he had never imagined that something like this could happen.
He had always thought Chloe’s gaze was strangely warm and gentle. Yet he had never considered that there might be romantic affection behind it, because Chloe was kind to everyone. He had not wanted to become one of those dense men who misunderstood a woman’s kindness.
In the end, I was the dense one.
In trying so hard not to misunderstand, he had failed to notice something that had been right in front of his eyes. His heart pounded. Was it simply because he was surprised, or did he harbour feelings similar to Chloe’s? He could not even tell. The entire situation was too unfamiliar to him.
“It’s not as though I want us to do something right away,” Chloe said carefully. “Whatever answer you give me, there’s nothing we can do immediately anyway. That’s just the reality of it. I’m sorry. But this is the only thing I can do. If we parted without me saying anything, I know that would really be the end. But if I at least told you…” Chloe trailed off. An awkward silence settled between them.
Jo Minjoon merely looked at her face. Exercise had made her body firm, but that did not mean her heart was equally strong. Chloe was, at her core, a soft-hearted person. It would be a lie to say he did not want to protect her.
Jo Minjoon’s lips trembled. In his mind, he opened his mouth several times and said all manner of things, yet in reality, there was nothing he could bring himself to say.
It could not have been easy for Chloe to confess this. Without his knowing, she must have agonised over it, afraid and hopeful at the same time. Thinking about how long she had carried those feelings, about what must have been going through her heart, Jo Minjoon could not give her an easy answer.
“…I once dated a girl.”
It had not been love at first sight. He had met her through a friend. She was a university student majoring in violin and, like many music students, had grown up without lacking refinement.
“She was pretty, nice and smart. Honestly, she was exactly the kind of woman most men would consider ideal. I thought so too. She was great. I didn’t feel my heart burning for her, but I thought that kind of thing only happened in dramas or novels anyway. But I was wrong. Unlike me, she really liked me. Sincerely.” Jo Minjoon’s expression tightened painfully as he continued slowly. “Lovers are more sensitive to each other’s feelings than anyone else. Just as I knew she was sincere with me, she must have known that I was only pretending to feel the same way. No… I did like her. She was the kind of person you couldn’t help liking. But the way I felt about her back then probably wasn’t very different from the way I feel about you. That’s why we broke up… and it was really messy.”
Then Jo Minjoon said clearly and without evasion, “It’s because I like you that I don’t want to make the same mistake with you.”
In the end, it was a rejection.
Chloe tried to keep her expression calm, but she sniffled and swallowed hard. She opened her eyes wide, clearly trying to hold back her tears. Clasping her hands together as though in prayer, she covered her mouth and nose before speaking. Her voice was weak and trembled as if she had caught a cold.
“There are so many things I want to say… but I think I’ll fall apart if I say them. Me, and this relationship.”
“…Whatever you say, that won’t change.”
“It’s not about you. This… is about my feelings. So I’ll only say one thing. No, I’ll ask you for one thing. Maybe I’m begging you.” She did not let the tears fall. She seemed desperate to avoid looking that miserable, and her wide-open eyes gleamed brightly. Of course, perhaps they only looked that bright because they were full of tears. It was Chloe’s final bit of pride, her refusal to let Jo Minjoon see her completely break down. “Just once. Can I hug you? No… can you hug me?”
How many people could refuse after hearing that? Jo Minjoon, at least, could not.
Perhaps if it had been someone other than Chloe, he might have said no. But Chloe was precious to him too. Not as a woman, perhaps, but as someone he wanted to remain beside for the rest of his life.
Jo Minjoon slowly moved towards her. Sitting down beside her, he looked at her face. Her tense expression trembled as though she might burst into tears at any moment.
Jo Minjoon hugged Chloe.
He wrapped his arms around her small, firm shoulders, which somehow still felt soft. Chloe’s breath brushed the right side of his neck, where his injury was. The heat that spread through him at the sensation—was it really only because of her breath?
Chloe felt small, though not in height. She was not as tall as Kaya, but she was still about average for a woman. Even so, she seemed small.
There was only one reason for that.
Right now, she was neither Chloe the dignified chef nor Chloe who was gentle with everyone.
Chloe wrapped her arms around Jo Minjoon’s back. His body was neither especially broad nor heavily built, but it was lean enough to make a woman feel secure.
Only because they could not see each other’s faces was Chloe finally able to let the tears she had been holding back fall. Of course, Jo Minjoon was not so dense that he failed to notice the wetness reaching his shoulder. But what mattered was that he could not see her crying.
She had wanted this embrace.
She had wanted to become the person who would remain inside his arms as time passed. Those feelings made Chloe hold him even tighter. She had just been rejected, yet her heart pounded harder at the feeling of Jo Minjoon’s hand gently patting her back.
Jo Minjoon rested his cheek against Chloe’s hair. Even through it, he could clearly feel her—the softness of her skin, her pulse, the warmth steadily rising from her body.
It hurt.
He wanted to comfort her, but all he could do was pat her back.
No one could know exactly what the two of them felt as they embraced. Perhaps it was pain and regret. Perhaps there was also peace, or even hope, within the warmth they shared.
The one thing that was certain was that when they finally let go of each other, neither of them looked relieved.
Jo Minjoon handed her a handkerchief. Chloe hurriedly wiped away her tears. “I’m sorry. I look really pathetic, don’t I?”
“There’ll never be a day when you look pathetic to me. If anything, I…”
“No. I feel the same way, so don’t say it. Actually… if you had accepted me, that would have become another problem in itself.”
Jo Minjoon could vaguely understand what Chloe meant. She had already said it herself: even if they felt the same way, they could not simply be together.
They did not even live in the same country. Just meeting each other would be difficult. Even if they tried to continue the relationship, it would hardly feel like they were truly together.
Jo Minjoon lay back on the sofa without changing his position much. The two of them stared at the blank ceiling, and Chloe murmured, “Life is really difficult. You do one thing and it’s hard, then you do something else and that’s hard too.”
“Yeah.”
“Do you think it’ll ever become easy?”
“Maybe once you have everything you want.”
“There are exactly two things I want. A restaurant. And…” Chloe paused. “But right now I don’t even have a restaurant, and I’m not even a proper chef yet. I want both of them. No, I’ll have both of them. You, and cooking. I promise.”
“…Don’t be unreasonable.”
“I’m not. It’s my dream. Dreams always seem far away at first. As long as I don’t stop, that day will come too.”
Their conversation ended there.
For a long time, the two of them stared at the fluorescent light on the ceiling as though they were looking up at stars in the night sky.
When Kaya came back in, breathing hard after kicking Anderson in the shin, she frowned at the sight of the two of them.
“What are you doing?”
“Photosynthesis.”
“Photosynthesis requires sunlight. Even I know that much.” Kaya noticed that Jo Minjoon was sitting closer to Chloe than before, but she did not mention it. Instead, she spoke irritably. “That bastard Anderson. He deliberately lied to me just to make fun of me. I already knew he was an idiot…”
Anderson appeared behind her, limping. Chloe conveyed both gratitude and apology with her eyes, but Anderson simply sat down with an innocent expression, pretending nothing had happened.
Jo Minjoon could more or less guess what had gone on as well. “Anderson. So you were the sly fox?”
“At least I’m not a bear like someone else.”
At that, Jo Minjoon lowered his head in embarrassment.
Kaya narrowed her eyes. “What’s this? It feels like there’s something only I don’t know.”
“Nah. It’s nothing.”
“You’re leaving me out? What is it? Tell me.”
“I told you, it’s nothing like that.”
“…I’ll let it go today, only because of Chloe.”
They did not have much time left together. That was why no one could say much. Rather than filling the time with this and that, they simply spent it looking at one another’s faces.
Then Kaya noticed something strange.
Chloe’s gaze kept drifting towards Jo Minjoon. There was a warmth in her eyes that could not even be compared with the way she looked at the rest of them.
…No way.
Kaya forcibly pushed the thought from her mind. Surely it could not be that.
And why Jo Minjoon, of all people? That weird guy.
Of course, his face was decent. His personality was dependable, and he did have a surprisingly fierce, manly side to him…
Kaya shook her head.
Just then, a member of staff called out, “There isn’t much time before the flight. You need to leave now.”
The words were heartless, but there was nothing they could do about it.
They all headed out into the garden. The car parked right in front of the entrance had never looked more hateful.
Chloe clicked her tongue and looked at the others.
“So this is where we say goodbye. Everyone… thank you.”
“…Chloe.”
Kaya suddenly threw her arms around Chloe, and Chloe stroked her back.
“Take care, Kaya. I’ll be cheering for you,” Chloe whispered calmly.
“Yeah…” Kaya answered in a voice that sounded close to tears.
After hugging Anderson as well, Chloe looked at Jo Minjoon and smiled faintly.
“Now that I think about it, I never said the most important thing.”
“…What?”
Instead of answering, Chloe embraced Jo Minjoon. Rising onto her toes, she rested her chin on his shoulder and whispered, “I really like you.”
Her voice was so quiet that only Jo Minjoon could hear it, yet the words sounded clearer than anything else.
Chloe took two steps back, then smiled sweetly. “A lot of things will change with time, but at least that much won’t.”
Jo Minjoon said nothing.
Chloe climbed into the car. The window rolled down, and she leaned her head out with a bright smile.
“I can’t tell any one of you to win, but your cooking was the best. Keep it up.”
“Cooking… you’re going to keep doing it, right?” Kaya asked.
At the question, Chloe looked at Jo Minjoon for a moment before slowly answering.
“I realised this time that life doesn’t go the way you want it to, and dreams don’t come true simply because you want them to. But right now, my dream lies in cooking. Even if people throw away everything else…” Chloe smiled. “…they can’t throw away their dreams.”