Chapter 173: Overlapping Shadows (4)
Chapter 173: Overlapping Shadows (4)
Jo Minjoon finally understood why Kaya had told him to listen innocently and purely. Even with that warning, however, he could not stop his thoughts from wandering in an inappropriate direction. He stared at her blankly for a moment before speaking slowly.
“…Am I supposed to interpret that like a teenage boy going through puberty?”
“No. Take the puberty part out.”
“Even boys before puberty normally—”
Kaya’s expression immediately turned cold. Understanding the warning, Jo Minjoon shut his mouth and, with a miserable expression, began crushing an innocent French fry between his fingers instead.
Kaya pressed him for an answer. “So what’s it going to be? Are you staying with me or not?”
“Hold on.”
Jo Minjoon took out his smartphone and immediately sent Rachel a message.
[Me: I’m not coming home tonight.]
Kaya shook her head. “Are you a child? Why do you have to report every little thing you do?”
“She might worry if I stay out without telling her. What about you? Are you going to call your mum?”
“…I don’t know. Maybe later. If I call her now, I don’t know what I’m supposed to say.”
“Ms Grace is still in New York, right?”
“She’s had a rough life there, but she’s still spent half of it in New York. I’d like to get her away from the rough East Coast and bring her here to California someday… but I’ll have to see how things go.”
“What about you? Are you planning to keep living in California?”
Kaya hesitated. Nothing had been decided yet, so she could not give him an answer. But acknowledging that she might leave California also meant acknowledging that she might have to leave Jo Minjoon again in the near future, and she did not want to say that aloud.
For his sake and for hers, if the farewell was still uncertain, there was no reason to bring it up before they had to.
“I’ll be living in California for at least the next six months. Of course, I’ll be travelling around a lot, but since they said they’d cover my rent, I might as well find a place here… Wait, why are we suddenly talking about this?”
“Then should we talk about the night we’re going to spend together instead?”
“Don’t phrase it like that. I told you to be innocent.”
“What? All I said was ‘the night’. Maybe it’s your ears that aren’t innocent.”
“…The way you said it was completely weird.”
As she spoke, Kaya grabbed a fistful of French fries. Jo Minjoon wondered whether she intended to eat all of them, but instead, Kaya suddenly grabbed the back of his neck with her other hand and thrust the fries towards his face.
“Open your mouth.”
“I don’t—ah!”
He had intended to refuse, but opening his mouth to speak gave Kaya exactly the opportunity she needed. She stuffed the entire handful of fries into his mouth and spoke triumphantly.
“Swallow that puberty-stricken teenager inside you along with those fries.”
Jo Minjoon had plenty he wanted to say, but he could not say any of it. It was not only because his mouth was full. Kaya’s face was suddenly right in front of his.
She opened her mouth and slowly leaned closer, biting down on one of the fries still sticking out between Jo Minjoon’s lips. Her head turned slightly, and the crisp sound of her teeth snapping through the fry seemed strangely loud in his ears.
“The puberty-stricken teenage girl inside me,” Kaya murmured, “I’ll swallow her with this too.”
Kaya did not have a home in California yet, which meant she was staying at a hotel. Naturally, that also meant the place where the two of them would spend the night together was a hotel.
It was impossible for the atmosphere not to become awkward. A man and a woman entering a hotel room together carried an obvious implication, and both of them knew it.
Kaya dropped onto the sofa.
“…The woman at the front desk looked like she recognised us, didn’t she?”
“If she didn’t, I doubt she would’ve been staring at us with eyes that bright.”
“Oh my God… What if she posts about it online? Do I have to sue her?”
“If you’re worried about that, you’ll need to start with everyone at the hot dog shop who took pictures of us.”
At Jo Minjoon’s answer, Kaya hugged her knees with a depressed expression. Her tight skinny jeans stretched so snugly over her legs that they looked as though they might burst.
Jo Minjoon suddenly felt awkward and turned his gaze away.
Kaya muttered, “Do you think… that person saw those pictures too?”
There was no need to ask who she meant.
“I don’t know. But one thing I’m sure of is that he probably looked up every video he could find of you and Grand Chef. Maybe he was even the one who encouraged Tess Gilly to speak up.”
“…Now that I think about it, that’s strange. Gilly was the one who told me that person was looking for me. The only person she could’ve heard that from was that reporter. But why did it have to be her? She used to write all those nasty things about me.”
“I don’t know. Ask him yourself tomorrow.”
“If he cares enough to get on a plane and come to Los Angeles.”
At that moment, Kaya’s phone rang.
A message from her agent.
Kaya stared at the screen, suddenly nervous, then looked towards Jo Minjoon.
“…What if it says he’s not coming?”
“Stop worrying and open it.”
With slightly trembling hands, Kaya unlocked her phone and read the message. A moment later, she let out a long sigh and sank back against the sofa.
“He doesn’t need a plane. Apparently, he lives in Orange County.”
“That’s practically next door. That’s good. If things go well… you could see him fairly often.”
“Why do you keep talking as though I’m definitely going to forgive him?”
“If your father had a good enough reason for what he did, I think you would. You’d rather like people than hate them. And I hope he had a reason, Kaya. I really do, because that’s the only way you might be able to understand him. It’s the only way you might actually get to have a father.”
“…I don’t need a father.”
Kaya’s voice carried a trace of anger, but what made her angriest was knowing better than anyone that the words were a lie.
She had thought about her father countless times since she was young. Somewhere in her heart, she had imagined that he might be watching over her from some place she could not see. She had never spoken about those feelings because she feared they would hurt Grace, but the word father still carried a deep resonance inside her.
That was precisely why she hated him even more.
Someone who should have been that special, someone whose place in her life should have mattered that much, had failed to show his face to either Kaya or her mother for twenty years.
At that moment, Jo Minjoon moved closer and quietly wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
Kaya tilted her head and looked up at him, lips scrunched.
“Didn’t I tell you to get rid of the teenage boy going through puberty?”
“If I were really a teenage boy going through puberty, I wouldn’t be satisfied with just putting my arm around your shoulders.”
“…Pervert.”
She glared at him, but slowly leaned her head against his shoulder anyway.
After a moment, Kaya spoke.
“Practise with me.”
“Practise?”
“For tomorrow. Pretend you’re him.”
She straightened up and moved away from him. Jo Minjoon looked slightly confused, but Kaya’s eyes had already sharpened.
“Who do you think you are?”
“…What?”
“You really thought I’d be happy to see you after all these years just because your blood runs through my veins?”
“How am I supposed to answer that? I’m not particularly confident in my method acting.”
“…Minjoon, just don’t say anything. You’re ruining my concentration.”
“Your father isn’t going to sit there silently tomorrow.”
“I need to practise so I won’t freeze up when I see him. I want to say everything that’s on my mind.”
“Then try saying it more calmly. If you start yelling immediately, it’ll make you look more nervous than confident. You want him to see that you’re doing fine without him, don’t you?”
Kaya took several deep breaths at his words. He was right. Whatever happened tomorrow, she did not want to look pitiful or shaken in front of the man.
Jo Minjoon watched her for a moment, then asked quietly, “Thank you.”
“…For what?”
“For not suffering through this alone and for coming to me. But what changed? I thought you didn’t want to rely on me.”
“I still don’t want to rely on you. And I’m not relying on you now.”
“Then what are you doing?”
Kaya met his eyes.
Her eyes were dark blue, a colour that could easily appear cold, yet Jo Minjoon could feel the warmth inside them.
“I’m going through it with you. This is an important moment in my life, and I wanted to go through it together with you.”
Kaya continued practising the conversation with Jo Minjoon late into the night. He had no idea how much the rehearsal would actually help, but he stayed with her and played along.
Of course, they did not spend the entire night talking. Eventually they decided to rest for a while, leaned back against the sofa, and closed their eyes. When Jo Minjoon opened his again, sunlight had begun creeping across the floor towards their feet.
He turned his head.
Perhaps because she was cold, Kaya had curled against his chest in her sleep like a small bird seeking warmth.
“…I thought she didn’t want to give me her cold.”
At this rate, the virus would not simply visit him; it would build a house and move in permanently.
Jo Minjoon carefully lifted Kaya and carried her to the bed. After laying her down, he pulled the blanket over her. Kaya squirmed beneath it like a sleepy bear and tugged the covers higher around herself.
Watching her made him smile.
He would have liked to stand there and continue looking at her sleeping face, but he had something else to do.
Jo Minjoon headed towards the kitchenette and checked the refrigerator. After examining what was available, he frowned thoughtfully. His first instinct was to make porridge, but Kaya was not Korean, and he began wondering what Westerners usually ate when they were sick.
He took out his phone.
5:43 a.m.
The hour did nothing to stop him.
He pressed the call button.
After several rings, a sleepy, irritated voice answered.
[…What the hell? It’s not even six. Did something happen?]
“It’s urgent. Wake up and listen.”
[Why do you sound so serious? Did something actually happen?]
Jo Minjoon’s stiff tone woke Anderson almost instantly, and nervousness entered his voice.
Jo Minjoon laughed.
“What do you eat for breakfast when you’re sick?”
[…What?]
“Kaya has a cold. She has something important to do today, so she needs to eat something that’ll give her energy.”
[Hold on. You woke me up this early because of that stupid girl?]
“We’re chefs. If someone is sick, shouldn’t we make them something that helps them recover?”
[You crazy bastard…]
Anderson sounded too exhausted even to become properly angry. Jo Minjoon could practically picture his expression.
He smiled.
“I’m sorry. Help me just this once.”
[…Chicken noodle soup. There. Now disappear. I’m going back to sleep.]
“Thanks. Love you, my friend.”
[Ah… please. Please? Pretty please. I’m begging you. Get out of my morning.]
“Good night.”
Jo Minjoon ended the call with a broad smile. Only after hanging up did he realise that this was something he could easily have searched online.
He did not particularly care.
He found a recipe within moments, put on his jacket, and left the hotel. He briefly considered asking the hotel kitchen to prepare the soup, but if possible, he wanted to make it himself.
After all, he was a chef.
By the time he returned from a nearby market with the ingredients, Kaya was still asleep. She must have been exhausted, and letting her rest longer was probably for the best. If he wanted to make the broth properly, he would need around two hours anyway.
The process took time but was not particularly complicated. He cleaned the chicken, removed the innards, and simmered it with celery, carrots, onions, garlic, and turnips. Once it had cooked for a while, he added thyme, bay leaves, and black pepper.
Then came the part cooking always demanded from him sooner or later: patience.
For more than an hour, Jo Minjoon carefully skimmed away the impurities that rose to the surface. Once the broth had developed enough flavour, he removed the chicken and separated the meat from the bones, then strained out the vegetables and herbs.
He heated olive oil in a pan and sautéed fresh onion, garlic, carrot, celery, thyme, and bay leaves. The vegetables needed to soften without caramelising. His mind was growing tired after shopping and cooking for hours on an empty stomach, but he did not dislike the work.
Once the vegetables were ready, he poured the broth over them. As it approached a boil, he added the pasta: broad egg noodles with a slight twist to them.
After boiling the noodles for about five minutes, he returned the shredded chicken to the pot and let everything cook together for another two minutes.
A system window appeared.
Cooking Score: 7/10.
Jo Minjoon was satisfied.
It was home cooking filled with care.
It had been a while since he had cooked something like this.
“Kaya. Wake up.”
“…Hmm? What… What time is it?”
“Around eight.”
“Can’t I sleep a little longer?”
“No. I made chicken noodle soup. Come eat.”
“Hmm… It smells good. Can’t you bring it here? I’m sick.”
Jo Minjoon did not answer. He simply stared at her for a moment before speaking.
“Your face is completely swollen.”
“Mm… Hmm?” Kaya’s eyes suddenly widened. “Ah, no! Close your eyes!”
“I already saw it.”
Kaya immediately pulled the blanket over most of her face, leaving only her eyes exposed as she glared resentfully at him.
Jo Minjoon laughed.
“Your eyes are swollen too.”
In the end, Kaya climbed out of bed, washed her face, and applied lotion and toner before finally appearing in front of him.
Jo Minjoon looked disappointed.
“The noodles are going to get soggy.”
“…Thank you. For breakfast, I mean.”
“Eat first. You can thank me and say good morning afterwards.”
Kaya picked up her spoon and took a sip of the soup. A bright smile immediately appeared on her face.
“It’s really nice having someone make delicious soup for me.”
“Feel any better?”
“Don’t rush it. What kind of soup gives someone energy after one spoonful?”
“Well, if you have enough strength to talk like that, I suppose you’re doing all right.”
Jo Minjoon laughed and tasted the soup himself. He had made it, but it was still good.
After a few spoonfuls, he remembered something he had been meaning to ask.
“Hey. Later, when we meet your father…”
“Yeah?”
“How am I supposed to introduce myself?”
He genuinely was not sure what his position was supposed to be.
Kaya stared down into her soup as she answered.
“A friend who goes to hotels with me. A friend who makes me soup in the morning. That sounds pretty good.”
“…I think he’d get a terrible first impression of me.”
“Then should I make it completely clear?”
Kaya slowly raised her head.
Perhaps because she was not wearing any make-up, her double eyelids and clean, sharply shaped brows somehow looked even prettier than usual. When she spoke, her voice was still husky with sleep and illness, but Jo Minjoon heard every word clearly.
“My boyfriend, whom I love very much. How does… that sound?”