Chapter 196: In Front of the Start Line (3)
Chapter 196: In Front of the Start Line (3)
……They’re at it again.
Everyone in the kitchen family shook their heads and sighed. It was certainly romantic, but how could he say something that cheesy in front of everyone? Somehow, it would have felt less embarrassing if they had simply been engaging in an intense public display of affection.
Maya looked towards Gerrick and spoke in a disturbed tone. “Hey, Gerrick. Are all Asian men like this?”
“……I don’t know. But Korean men are supposedly famous for being the cheesiest even among Asians.”
“But that changes once they get married, right?”
“That probably isn’t any different regardless of nationality. Even melodramas usually focus on life before marriage. They rarely show what comes afterwards. They can’t, because romance dies once you get married. Then it becomes a family drama. And family dramas are mostly about crises, arguments, apologies, and things like that.”
Janet spoke coldly after hearing Gerrick’s explanation. “I really want those two to get married as soon as possible.”
“……That sounds like a wish filled with malicious intent.”
Gerrick laughed awkwardly, but Janet did not seem to be joking.
Anderson, standing beside her, spoke with a serious expression. “That’s the best thing you’ve said so far.”
“I always say good things.”
“Whatever you say.”
Anderson shrugged. Janet glanced at him for a moment before looking away, then suddenly flinched.
Ella was glaring at her with eyes full of resentment. Tears were already gathering in them as she muttered, “……I don’t want that to happen.”
*
“This is the last of your stuff, right?”
“There isn’t much. Just a few clothes.”
Jo Minjoon shrugged as he loaded his final suitcase into the car. California was generally warm, so apart from a few formal suits and light coats, most of his wardrobe consisted of summer clothes.
He turned and looked back at the house.
Sunlight fell warmly across it. The dents in the bright magenta fence revealed its age, while the long chimney running up one side of the wall looked as though it might come loose at any moment.
Jo Minjoon murmured sadly, “……Now that I’m actually leaving, it feels a little sad.”
“It would be stranger if you weren’t sad about leaving such a nice house.”
“Your house is nice too. Why aren’t you sad?”
“Who cares if the house is nice? There are two ghosts living in it.”
“Calling your parents ghosts is a bit much.”
“You try dealing with them. Even you’d say they’re too much. Your parents are nice. You wouldn’t understand.”
Jo Minjoon silently raised his eyebrows before lowering them again. Anderson was not entirely wrong. Minjoon’s parents were certainly very different from Anderson’s.
Still……
“But Amelia looked like she was about to cry while you were packing earlier.”
“……Cry, my arse.”
Anderson answered bitterly.
Rachel, who had been watching them, slowly spoke. “Amelia acts tough, but she’s strong on the inside too.”
“……I don’t understand that sentence. Shouldn’t it be, ‘She acts tough, but she’s weak on the inside’?”
“Even a strong woman like her would find it difficult when her child leaves home. Especially when it’s a son she’s kept close for more than twenty years.”
“She’s not exactly the type to keep anyone close……”
Anderson started to retort, but Rachel’s glare immediately silenced him.
Watching Rachel, Jo Minjoon found himself thinking.
Had Rachel and Daniel never had children?
Or had they lost them?
After being together for so long, most couples would normally have had one or two, but nobody ever mentioned the subject. He could only wonder.
Of course, he was not rude enough to ask.
Curiosity did not give him the right to know about someone else’s private life. Unless Rachel brought it up herself, he had no reason—or right—to pry.
Rachel turned towards Jo Minjoon with a faintly sorrowful smile. “So I suppose you’re leaving now.”
“I really enjoyed staying here. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten such good food at home in my entire life.”
“My, my. Kaya will be upset if she hears you say that.”
“I don’t think Kaya has ever actually cooked for me at home yet.”
“Won’t she eventually?”
The question was mischievous enough to make Jo Minjoon look away in embarrassment.
Rachel’s tone then became slightly more serious. “Sometimes there are moments when, instead of backing away, you need to hold on firmly. You can take this as an old woman nagging you, but that’s something women want from men. They want someone who will hold them tightly.”
“……Teacher, were you like that too?”
“I’ve been told many times that I have a strong personality, but I’m still not a man. A man may want the world, but a woman wants a man who possesses the world. And once she becomes certain she has someone like that, she wants that person to focus on her. A woman who doesn’t receive that kind of love…… can easily begin to question the love itself.”
Jo Minjoon understood what Rachel meant. He nodded thoughtfully before asking cautiously, “But haven’t I already focused on her quite a lot?”
“It’s a very gentle kind of attention. Sometimes it’s good to be a little forceful. Think about it. If you made a friend and they were always formal around you, would you ever feel truly comfortable with them?”
“……I suppose it would be difficult.”
Jo Minjoon answered without much confidence.
Rachel smiled and gently patted his shoulder. “You’re a clever boy. I know you understood what I meant. I’ll stop nagging you there. You don’t think I’m a boring old grandmother, do you?”
“Teacher, I wouldn’t find it boring even if you sat in front of me and read an encyclopaedia aloud.”
“You’re very obviously flattering me.”
“Isn’t obvious flattery cuter than hidden flattery?”
“……I really can’t decide whether you’re a bear or a fox. I keep changing my mind.”
Rachel smiled as though there was simply nothing she could do with him.
Jo Minjoon answered gently, “Thank you very much, Teacher. ……It feels strange saying something like this. It’s not as though I’m leaving the kitchen. I’m only moving out of the house.”
“Come here.”
Rachel opened her arms.
Jo Minjoon cautiously stepped forwards and hugged her. Rachel patted his back.
“You were like a son to me while you stayed here. You’ll continue to be like a son to me. If you ever miss your family, come back whenever you want.”
The moment Jo Minjoon heard that, a thought rose in his mind.
He had family waiting for him in Korea, and he had Kaya.
But Rachel had no one left.
Of course, the loyal Isaac remained at her side, but the thought that Rachel might be the one longing for family more than he was made his chest feel heavy.
Jo Minjoon tightened his arms around her.
There was more than simple strength in that embrace. There was guilt for leaving, gratitude, and a kind of love.
Could Rachel feel it?
He did not know.
Jo Minjoon quietly whispered, “Don’t think of me as someone who’s like a son. Just think of me as your son. If you hug me, I’ll hug you back.”
“……You really know what to say. Are you trying to comfort me?”
“Comfort doesn’t only come from someone older or higher-ranking.”
Rachel gently pushed him away. Her wrinkled face looked slightly unsettled, and she gave a fake cough before speaking.
“Go now. You took leave just to move house. You can’t spend all of it standing here talking to me.”
“Using leave to talk with you still wouldn’t be enough, Teacher.”
“There really is no dealing with that smooth tongue of yours.”
Rachel smiled as though she had given up.
For someone to say such embarrassing things so naturally, and so sincerely, without any hidden motive……
It was no wonder Kaya had fallen for him.
No, regardless of whether someone was male or female, Minjoon’s straightforward nature was the sort of thing that naturally drew people in.
It’s a good quality to have.
A chef did not need a good personality to make good food. Even if a dish carried the chef’s emotions, very few diners could actually read those emotions from the plate.
But sooner or later, a kitchen run by someone with a terrible character would develop problems.
Ignoring a cavity because it did not hurt would eventually lead to the tooth needing to be pulled once the damage became severe enough.
At the very least, Jo Minjoon would never end up in that kind of situation.
No.
His character would not merely keep him out of trouble. It would bring him benefits.
His warmth would embrace the people in his kitchen, and a kitchen like that would embrace its customers even more tightly.
“I’ll let you know as soon as we arrive!”
“It isn’t even far. Just go, get settled, and have a proper rest. That’s an order from your Head Chef.”
“Yes.”
Jo Minjoon saluted before getting into the car.
Rachel stood there smiling as she watched it drive away, then slowly turned back towards the house.
Only moments ago, the place had been filled with voices.
Now it was completely quiet.
She could not hear the wind.
Not the birds or insects.
Not even the distant sound of car engines.
Rachel stared blankly at the house.
Why did a home that looked as though it had come straight out of a fairy tale suddenly feel so far away?
“……It’s going to be much quieter around here now.”
She could not bring herself to start walking.
*
The house the three of them had chosen was on the outskirts of Beverly Hills.
Tall trees lined the street, and several cars were parked along the roadside in front of the house.
One of those vehicles was the truck carrying Jo Minjoon and Anderson’s belongings.
When Jo Minjoon dragged his suitcase inside, Kaya looked up from where she had been dusting, a mask still covering her face.
“Did you get everything?”
“Yes. This is all of it.”
“Nice and simple.”
Kaya nodded.
The furniture they had ordered in advance had already been delivered and arranged. Jo Minjoon sighed and dropped onto the sofa.
Kaya immediately frowned. “You’re going to rest the moment you arrive? Do you know how much we still have to do?”
“Isn’t the cleaning your responsibility?”
“……So you’re not going to cooperate?”
Kaya glared sharply at him.
Jo Minjoon reached out, grabbed the wrist holding her duster, and pulled her towards him.
Caught off guard, Kaya half-fell onto his lap, then twisted around and glared.
“What are you trying to do?”
“Let’s rest for a little while. My head’s a bit noisy right now.”
“……Did something happen?”
Instead of answering, Jo Minjoon wrapped his arms tightly around her.
Kaya squirmed uncomfortably. “If you’re going to hug me, at least do it properly. This position is killing my back.”
“Teacher Rachel told me that sometimes I need to act like a bad man.”
“……I really don’t think this is what she meant.”
Jo Minjoon smirked and let her go.
Kaya stood, straightened herself, then immediately glanced at Minjoon’s lap and the empty seat beside him.
In the end, she compromised.
Half of her backside rested on the sofa, while the other half rested on Minjoon’s thigh.
Jo Minjoon stared at her in disbelief. “You told me to hug you properly if I was going to hug you, but you can’t even sit properly?”
“I read online that if you want a relationship to last, you shouldn’t give someone your entire heart and body. Just give them half. So this is half. ……Why are you making that face?”
“I was just thinking about Teacher Rachel. Thinking about her living alone in that huge house…… makes me feel a little sad.”
“You can visit her often. And you’ll still be working in the same kitchen.”
“But a house is different. She needs someone there to welcome her when she comes home……”
“Doesn’t she have Isaac?”
“The two of them don’t feel like family. It feels more like a master-and-servant relationship. I don’t know.”
“Stop thinking about questions you can’t answer and come inside. I finished cleaning our room.”
Kaya kissed Jo Minjoon on the cheek and stood.
In the end, Kaya and Jo Minjoon had decided to share the master bedroom.
Even if he had not shown it openly, Jo Minjoon preferred sharing with Kaya rather than Anderson as well.
As long as Kaya did not mind, there was no reason for them to sleep in separate rooms.
They were not, however, sharing a bed.
More precisely, there were two beds in the room, separated by just enough space to place a lamp between them.
Kaya immediately lay down on one and looked towards Minjoon.
“What are you doing? Lie down.”
“Right now?”
“Then what, are you going to lie down tomorrow?”
Jo Minjoon hesitated.
He was still wearing the clothes he had worn outside.
But rather than make excuses and risk annoying Kaya, he decided it would be easier to wash the bedding properly later.
Once he lay down, Kaya spoke.
“Hand.”
“……Am I a dog?”
Despite saying that, Jo Minjoon still held out his hand.
Kaya took it and smiled contentedly. “We’re going to sleep like this every day.”
“……If we do this every day, our relationship isn’t going to progress very far.”
“Even if it does progress, we’ll still hold hands like this when we sleep. Not just when we sleep. Wherever we go, whatever we do, let’s do it while holding hands.”
“Even when we go to the toilet?”
“Stop ruining the moment.”
Kaya glared and pinched his palm.
It did not hurt.
Jo Minjoon spoke again.
“Do you remember the promise we made during Grand Chef?”
“Which promise?”
“Breakfast and lunch. I said I’d keep making them for you until you lost the competition.”
Still lying down, Jo Minjoon turned his head towards her.
Kaya was already looking at him.
Their gazes met.
“But you won. Which means losing is no longer possible.”
Kaya said nothing.
Jo Minjoon looked seriously into her eyes.
Then, as though he were joking, he whispered,
“This hand you’re holding……”
His fingers tightened around hers.
“You can never let go of it.”