Chapter 634: Newlywed Chefs (8)
Chapter 634: Newlywed Chefs (8)
“Well, I guess we’re already popular,” Minjoon said, shrugging proudly.
Kaya did not deny it. They were celebrities now, and Lotus Bridge was their official restaurant, finally opening after long planning. It was truly a top-class establishment, incomparable even to Irregular Lab, where Kaya had once worked.
It was natural that people had high expectations for their new restaurant. Minjoon and Kaya had considerable support not only from gourmets but from the general public as well. Their Starbook followers had already surpassed 100,000.
Of course, Minjoon expected Lotus Bridge to be fully booked for its grand opening. What he hadn’t expected was that it would be fully booked within just one day of opening reservations. With the phone ringing nonstop, the waitstaff were busy answering customer calls all day.
“Jonathan, you’ve already reminded the servers and the patissiers, right?”
“Yes. Don’t worry. They’ll report to work two days before the opening.”
Jonathan was the new manager Minjoon had hired. He hadn’t asked Jonathan’s age, but the man was a white man probably in his thirties. His large build and commanding presence made him well suited as the manager of Lotus Bridge.
“Please give the staff one more proper etiquette training session. I don’t think anything bad will happen, but I’ve heard rumblings about some restaurant staff showing poor attitude recently.”
Recently, a troubling incident had occurred involving racial discrimination at a restaurant with Black customers. While a waiter was escorting a group of Black guests, a quarrel erupted. The guests complained they had been seated in corner tables rather than near the window or hall, while the restaurant’s manager accused them of playing the victim.
However, according to a whistleblower from inside the restaurant, it was the head chef who had directed waiters to seat handsome, cool white men at prominent tables visible to others, while seating people of colour at corner tables.
It was no surprise that such blatant racial discrimination sparked outrage. Many patrons began scrutinising their table assignments, even complaining when seated in corners—even if no other tables were available.
Minjoon realised he had to avoid even the slightest controversy. Waiters and waitresses must show the utmost respect to customers. Kaya told them that the more respectfully they treated diners, the more elegant and luxurious Lotus Bridge’s atmosphere would be.
“You guys can’t make our restaurant look cheap. You know what I mean?”
“Of course not. It won’t happen. Every staff member is on alert before opening—so much so they’re almost servile to customers.”
“I’m glad to hear that. But it’s not desirable to be too servile. You shouldn’t think dealing with customers is hard just because they’re paying for expensive meals,” Kaya said.
Jonathan smiled kindly at her words—a smile that reminded Minjoon of Marco’s. For a moment, Minjoon wondered if warm smiles were a trait of larger men, then slowly turned his head away.
He had one more week before Lotus Bridge opened, which left him with a whirlwind of mixed feelings. Thinking about the opening, he felt more unsettled than happy. He even felt annoyed at himself for feeling uneasy. Nervously, he bit his nails, uncertain whether customers would react favourably to Lotus Bridge.
At that moment, Anderson came to visit him. He glanced around Lotus Bridge, where everyone was busy preparing for the opening.
“Man, you’ve had great success opening a restaurant here!” Anderson said.
“I don’t know if I’ve succeeded yet. I could get kicked out if I can’t pay the rent. If that happens, I won’t be able to face Chef Rachel for a while. How could I, in that situation?”
“Do you really think that could happen to you?” Anderson asked, looking at Minjoon as if dumbfounded. As far as he knew, Minjoon had never failed in his career. He had seen Minjoon make mistakes sometimes, but those had always turned into valuable lessons. Anderson was even worried that Minjoon made almost no mistakes.
Having heard Lotus Bridge was fully booked for a whole month, Anderson couldn’t understand why Minjoon was already worried about paying rent.
As if reading his thoughts, Minjoon said with an awkward smile, “Do you think I’m really that narrow-minded?”
“Do I have to answer such an obvious question?”
“Well, what can I do? It’s my nature, and I can’t help it.”
Minjoon laughed awkwardly. The two, once on tense terms when they met, had recently become close enough to exchange casual, teasing insults. Though Minjoon had mixed feelings about Lotus Bridge’s opening, Anderson’s warm jokes comforted him.
“You know what? Every gourmet who comes to my restaurant is talking about you. They have high expectations for Lotus Bridge. Don’t disappoint them. You don’t want to let people down, right?”
“I won’t disappoint them. Neither I nor Kaya are good at disappointing people.”
“What an eloquent speaker you are!” Anderson laughed loudly.
The two stared quietly out the window for a moment. Anderson then looked away, tapped the table, and spoke softly.
“You’re always ahead of me, Minjoon.”
“…”
“But I won’t feel hurt trying to catch up with you. If you don’t run well, though, it’ll hurt me. I don’t want to see you trip and get hurt.”
Anderson met Minjoon’s eyes, emphasising, “Don’t be a wimp. If you want to be weak, do it only after I defeat you—I don’t want to think I can beat you just because you’re weak.”
His voice was firm, and Minjoon could not avoid the sharpness in his gaze.
They talked about many things throughout the day.
Anderson did more than support him. Over time, they came to appreciate each other’s thoughts more deeply, allowing them to say things they had previously held back out of prudence.
Their conversations didn’t always feel comfortable, but precisely because of that, they remembered and valued each other’s feedback and advice. Anderson was no longer the old Anderson. Though sometimes childish and stuck in old habits, he was mature at heart—no longer overwhelmed by insecurity nor ruining everything out of impatience.
That night, as Minjoon returned home, his mind buzzed with so many thoughts that he tossed and turned. Kaya, lying next to him, couldn’t sleep either.
She suddenly asked, “What did you talk about with Anderson today? It’s obvious you can’t sleep because of it.”
“Don’t worry. We just talked about our future, dreams, or something like that.”
“How can talking about future and dreams keep you awake? It sounds strange to me. Don’t you think so?”
“Yeah, that does sound a bit strange.”
“Tell me more. You can’t sleep because your mind’s full, right?”
“I don’t want to bother you.”
“Don’t you think you’re already bothering me by tossing and turning like that?”
He laughed awkwardly at her irritated tone and shrugged. He could no longer keep silent.
“Alright, I’ll tell you.”
“Well, it just suddenly came to me—the days when we first met, the time we spent together at the Grand Chef. I found myself wondering if I’ve forgotten where I started.”
“In other words, you got lost in trivial thoughts, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right. Trivial thoughts. I don’t want to trouble you with things like that.”
“If you don’t want to bother me, you shouldn’t have shown it in the first place,” she retorted with a sulky expression.
Embarrassed, he pulled the blanket over himself. She gently grabbed his hand and placed his arm across her body. Her skin was colder than he expected. He once heard that cold skin in women could signal poor health.
As he pondered this, she said, “You know, I feel that way sometimes too.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Don’t be controlled by feelings like that. You and I can’t live according to our moods forever, right?”
“Do you really think so?”
He asked, surprised to hear such candid feedback from her. In truth, she wanted to live a life more honest with her emotions than she let on.