Nathan said, “Well, maybe I was right, or maybe Rachel was right. So I want to check it out now.”
“How?”
“Just guide me,” Nathan said in a confident voice.
As if what he said was ridiculous, Min-joon looked at Nathan and said, “Why should I?”
“Please guide me. I need someone to push my back, but other guys are all bad. But I feel it uncomfortable to ask for Rachel’s help because I might give her the impression that I have not yet fully grown as a professional chef. Can’t you guide me?”
“Well, I can, of course, but what’s good for you if I help you? As you know, I’m working for Chef June now, and I don’t want to invite her anger because I’m helping her competitor.”
“Why are you thinking of it politically? Okay, if you can help me, let me give you a lifetime two-person free meal ticket for our restaurant.”
“I don’t have any reason to live in Dallas, so what’s the point of having such a free ticket?”
“Then what can I do for you?”
Nathan was so confident before Min-joon at first, but he was now busy trying to curry favor with Min-joon, looking so desperate like a puppy wet by rain. Watching his desperate glance, Min-joon didn’t want to refuse his request.
So, he said, shrugging, “Stop sulking then.”
“What did you say?”
“Don’t sulk! Don’t be sour on me for whatever I say or do. If you break your promise, I’ll head for New York right away.”
Nathan looked at him blankly. He couldn’t figure out how upset he would be, given such tough conditions. But he had no other choice at the moment.
After all, Nathan opened his mouth with a heavy voice.
“Hope I’m in your good hand…”
***
The morning drew on. Whenever the wind blew through the curtains, the sunlight beamed on June’s body here and there. Since she felt a bit uncomfortable after making love to Dave last night, she had no choice but to put the blanket over her body again because she felt more comfortable inside the blanket than being exposed to the bright sunlight.
The moment she opened her eyes she had to suspect that she was still dreaming. Dave’s face was right up close to her nose. She thought she would never see his face close up again.
‘Sandwich? What the heck…’
She momentarily wondered how she ended up being with him on the same bed like this, but she stopped thinking. She could think about it later. She wanted to feel this moment right now because the day when she could see his face up close like this might never come again.
How many more days could she feel him breathing right before her eyes in the future?”
She thought it was abandoned love. She thought it was something like an abandoned lingering attachment for him, but she could not give it up completely. Since she could not abandon it, she still loved him. She thought even if she continued to stick to him, it would further torment her, but she even loved the pain of such love wounds.
She almost put her finger on his face, but she couldn’t touch it because she was afraid he might wake up. Instead, she put the blanket over his shoulders, so the warmth of the blanket could lead him into a deeper sleep. She wanted to enjoy this moment a little longer, hoping against the hope that she would not wake up to reality.
But Dave didn’t wake up earlier than she thought. He didn’t even toss and turn. So much so that she could not believe he was still sleeping because of fatigue and hangover. Only then did she feel that his eyelids were moving subtly. As a matter of fact, he was rolling with his eyes closed.
Dave was awake. Maybe he was awake much earlier than she thought. Nonetheless, he was pretending to be asleep until now. Why? Was it because he didn’t have the courage to face the reality? Or was he on the same mind as her?
If she could have her way, she wanted to stay with him on the bed a little longer, but she could not. She opened her mouth in a soft voice.
“Shall we stop this act?”
He didn’t answer. But he couldn’t help but frown slightly. She put her hand on his cheek and kissed him. And at that moment, he opened his eyes finally. Slowly and gently tossing his hair under his ears, she opened her mouth.
“It reminds me of the days when we were dating. Yeah, I miss those days.”
“June?”
“I think we have made a mistake. Just leave it at that. Don’t you think so?”
When she said that, he didn’t reply. He hugged her instead. The more he felt her skin and warmth, the more frustrated he was. Even though he hugged her tightly, he could not find her heart for him. He felt as if he was hugging her illusion. Obviously, she still loved him just like he loved her, but they could not go together. Why? Why are they destined to break up?
“Shall we date again?”
“No, stop it.” She interrupted him when he said that.
Looking at his resentful glance, she said firmly, “As you know, you and I are walking a different path. I can’t accept your ambition, and you can’t stand my worries. Someday we may meet each other again and make the same mistakes. But let’s not try to do something more than a mistake.”
“What would you do if you think this kind of ambiguous relationship between us is a mistake?”
Instead of answering, she got up from the bed. Then she put on the clothes she had thrown off last night. She rolled the torn stockings on one side and threw them into the trash.
She said, “Chef Rachel is thinking of retiring soon.”
“How do you know that?”
“She mentioned her successor, as you know. She can mention it only when she is determined she will retire. This means the post-Rachel era is around the corner.”
She turned to him and continued, “I don’t want to end up as an ordinary chef, but you just want to be one of the chefs in the world. That’s where we are different from the beginning. We’re going to keep quarreling over that.”
“I thought you changed because you accepted Min-joon. When you accepted him, why can’t we accept each other?”
She touched her chin as if she was a little surprised by his question.
“Yeah, you’re right. I really accepted him easily. What do you think?”
Then she laughed playfully. “Is it because he is young and handsome?”
“How dare you say that in front of me?”
“Well, I think I can say anything to you.”
She was right because their relationship was over. Of course, they had some ambiguous lingering attachment for each other.
She looked back at him, tying her hair, and said, “Are you really not going to do anything special?”
“Well, I’ll do what I’ve been doing. And I’ll be the best if I can beat you, so I can prove my way is right.”
He looked at her with his eyes glowing.
“Just stop being stubborn then. Accept the fact that a chef is the most beautiful thing when he or she focuses on cooking. Accept the fact that your greed makes you and our relationship harder. And…”
After a moment of silence, agony, cowardness, and courage, he said, “When you accept it, just come back to me.”
After all, he confessed what he had been feeling about her for several years. While tying her hair, she stopped. She held her breath because she had never expected him to propose to her like that. But she had been looking forward to it all this time.
“I wanted you to break your stubbornness. And I also wanted to break my own. But I know both of us can’t. So, let me break your stubbornness.”
“You know how to break it?”
“I’m thinking of getting married to you.”
She was speechless at that and looked at him.
He went further while he was at it.
“I’m thinking of having a baby, too.”
“What about my consent?”
“Because I already know it. You also want to have a baby. No? Am I mistaken? If I am, you and I won’t be on the same bed in the same room here.”
“It was a mistake, Dave.”
“You know what? You make a mistake because of your heart and moods. So, this is not a mistake. You just did it because you wanted to. You wanted to make love to me, and I did, too. Be it one night, or dating, or marriage, we just wanted to stay together, right? That’s why you have kept looking at me after you woke up, and I could not open my eyes because of you.”
She looked at him with a dry smile.
Watching her with a serious expression, he asked, “Do you know what a real mistake is?”
“Tell me.”
“Our real mistake is we’re in this strange bed, unable to open our eyes, and touch our face, you look pale while looking at me, and I’m saying things like this to you right now.”
“Gosh, you’ve become an eloquent speaker!” she said, laughing at him.
He did not try to interpret the meaning of her laughter because he already read her mind.
Then he growled, “That’s why I’m going to end this mistake by breaking your stubbornness and your dream, so you can come back to me.”
He felt miserable while saying that. He pondered over why their relationship changed so absurdly. What was the beginning of their wrong relationship? Their stubbornness?
She said nothing for a moment and looked at him. Then she slowly approached and gave him a deep kiss.
She said, “Let me cheer for you.”
