Chapter 174: Overlapping Shadows (4)

He finally understood why Kaya told him to innocently and purely listen. Even though she said to do so, he couldn’t help himself from having improper thoughts. Jo Minjoon stared at Kaya with a blank expression before slowly starting to speak.

“……Am I supposed to interpret that like a teenager in puberty?”

“No. Take the puberty out of it.”

“Even before puberty, boys normally……”

Kaya’s expression started to get colder. As if saying he understood, Minjoon just started to crush a poor french fry with his fingers with a sad expression. Kaya pushed him to hurry up and make up his mind.

“So what will it be. WIll you stay with me or not?”

“Hold on.”

Jo Minjoon took out his smartphone. He then immediately sent Rachel a text. [Me: I’m not coming home tonight.] Kaya started to shake her head.

“Are you a kid? Why do you have to report your every move?”

“She might be worried if I don’t contact her and stay out. What about you? Are you going to contact your mom?”

“…… I don’t know. Later. If I call her now, I don’t know what to tell her.”

“Did you say Ms. Grace was still in New York?”

“She lived a rough life, but she spent half of her whole life in New York. I do want to take her away from the rough East and bring here here to California…..but I will have to wait and see.”

“What about you? Are you going to keep living in California?”

Kaya hesitated for a moment. Nothing had been decided yet and she couldn’t answer. However, the fact that she could leave California meant that she would have to leave Minjoon again in the near future. She didn’t want to say that.

For Minjoon’s feelings, for her own feelings. If it is an uncertain farewell, she didn’t want to bring it up if she didn’t have to do so.

“I will live in California for at least the next six months. Of course I would be traveling here and there frequently, but since they said they’ll pay the rent, I might as well find a house……but why are we suddenly talking about this?”

“Then shall we talk about the night we will be spending together?”

“Don’t say it like that. I told you to become innocent.”

“What? All I said was the night. Isn’t it your ear that is not innocent?”

“……The nuance was completely weird.”

As Kaya said that, she grabbed a handful of fries. As he was wondering whether she was going to eat all of it, Kaya quickly grabbed Minjoon’s back with her other hand and reached out her hand full of fries.

“Open your mouth.”

“I don’t, ah!”

He was planning on saying he didn’t want to, but now that he thought about it, he had to open his mouth to respond. Kaya shoved all those fries into Minjoon’s mouth and spoke with a triumphant voice.

“Swallow that puberty stricken teenager inside of you along with those fries.”

He had a ton of things he wanted to say, but he could not say anything. It wasn’t only because of the french fries. Kaya’s face was right in front of his nose. She opened her mouth. Her lips approached slowly and bit one of the french fries that was sticking out of Minjoon’s mouth. Her head started to turn, and the sound of her teeth biting the french fry felt like it was echoing in his ear.

“The puberty stricken teenage girl inside of me, I will swallow her with this as well.”

€

Kaya did not have a house in California yet. That meant that she was currently staying at a hotel. That also meant that the place the two of them would have to spend the night together was none other than a hotel.

It wasn’t weird for the atmosphere to become awkward. A man and a woman entering a hotel together. They both knew what that usually meant… Kaya planted her butt on the couch and started to speak.

“……The female worker at the counter, didn’t she look like she recognize us?”

“If she didn’t recognize us, I’m sure she wouldn’t have given us such a sparkling gaze.”

“Oh my gosh……what do I do if they post it on the internet? Do I need to sue them?”

“If you’re worried about that, you’ll first need to take care of all those people at the hot dog shop that took pictures of us.”

Kaya hugged her knees with a depressed expression at Minjoon’s words. Her tight skinny jeans looked like they would burst. Jo MInjoon suddenly felt awkward and turned his gaze away. Kaya started to mumble.

“That person……do you think he saw it too.”

He didn’t even need to ask who that person was. Jo Minjoon quietly answered.

“I’m not sure. What I can be sure about is that that person probably looked up all videos related to you and Grand Chef. Maybe they even encouraged that Tess Gilly to speak up.”

“……Now that I think about it, it’s very weird. The person who told me that person was looking for me was Gilly. The only person Gilly could have gotten that information from is that reporter. But why does it have to be that woman? She used to post those nasty posts about me.”

“I don’t know. Ask him yourself. You’ll meet him tomorrow.”

“If he cares enough to get on a plane and fly to LA that is.”

At that moment, her phone started to ring. It was a message from her agent. Kaya had a scared expression on her face as she looked towards Minjoon.

“…..Will it be a text saying he’s not coming?”

“Don’t worry about it and just open it.”

Kaya unlocked her phone with shaky hands. Her anxious gaze read through the screen and then she let out a sigh as she leaned against the couch.

“He doesn’t need a plane. Apparently he lives in Orange County.”

“Pretty much next door. That’s great. If it goes well……you could see him pretty often.”

“Why do you keep talking like I will forgive him?”

“If your dad had a good enough reason for what he did, I’m sure you will forgive him. You prefer to like people than to hate people. Plus, I’m sure your dad had a reason for what he did. No, I hope that he did. That is the only way for you to understand him. That is the only way that you will get a dad.”

“……I don’t need something like a dad.”

Kaya spoke in a slightly angry tone. The thing that made her the most angry was the fact that she knew better than anybody that what she had just said was a lie. This was the person she thought about many times since she was young. Her dad, he was someone she believed was watching over her from somewhere she could not see.

Because she thought it might hurt Grace, she never expressed her feelings, but the word ‘dad’ held a deep meaning that echoed in her heart.That was why she couldn’t help but to hate him more. Someone that special, someone who should be that special ……never showed his face in front of her mom or her for twenty years.

It was at that moment. Jo Minjoon came next to Kaya and quietly put his arm around her shoulder. Kaya turned her head and looked up at Jo Minjoon’s face. She started to speak while scrunching her lips.

“Didn’t I tell you to get rid of the teenager going through puberty?

“If I was a teenager going through puberty, I would not have been satisfied with just your shoulder.”

“…… Pervert.”

Although she was giving him a look, she slowly leaned her head on Minjoon’s shoulder. Kaya then started to speak.

“Practice with me.”

“Practice?”

“For when I meet that person. You pretend to be him.”

Kaya moved herself away as she said that. As Jo Minjoon started to look at her with a slightly confused expression, Kaya’s eyes became fierce as she started to speak.

“Who do you think you are?”

“……What?”

“You really thought that I would be happy to see you after all these years just because your blood runs through my veins?”

“How am I supposed to respond? I’m not confident in my method acting skills.”

“……Minjoon. Just don’t say anything. You’re taking me out of the zone.”

“Your dad won’t just sit there without saying anything.”

“I need to do this so that I won’t shake tomorrow to say everything that’s on my mind.”

“Then you have to come at him a little more gently. If you get angry like that, it makes you look more nervous. You want to show him your confident self.”

Kaya started to take some deep breaths after hearing Minjoon speak. As he mentioned, she didn’t want to show a shabby appearance. Jo Minjoon looked at Kaya and asked a question.

“Thank you.”

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“……For what?”

“For not suffering on your own and looking for me. But what made you change? I thought you weren’t going to rely on me.”

“I don’t want to rely on you. Plus, right now, I’m not relying on you.”

“Then?”

Kaya made eye contact with Jo Minjoon. A dark blue set of eyes. Normally, it is a color that would just be filled with coldness, but Minjoon could feel the warmth inside those blue eyes of hers.

“I’m going through it together with you. It is a very important moment in my life and I wanted to do it together with you.”

€

Kaya continued to practice the interaction with Jo Minjoon late into the night. Jo Minjoon didn’t know how useful the practice would be, but he just continued to do it with her.

Of course the two of them didn’t spend the whole night like that. After saying let’s rest a bit, they leaned against the couch and closed their eyes……when he opened his eyes, Jo Minjoon could see the sunlight that was starting to reach their feet. Jo Minjoon turned his head. Maybe it was because it was cold, but Kaya was sound asleep, curled up against his chest like a baby bird.

“……I thought she didn’t want to spread her cold.”

At this rate, the virus wouldn’t just come over to play, it would have built a whole house in his body. Jo Minjoon carefully carried Kaya and laid her down on the bed and covered her with a blanket. Kaya squirmed like a baby bear and pulled the blanket up. Seeing her acting like that, Minjoon couldn’t help but smile.

He wanted to just stand there and stare at her sleeping face, but he couldn’t do that. Jo Minjoon started to head towards the kitchen. After taking a look in the fridge, Jo Minjoon started to have some concerns. Normally, he would cook some porridge, but Kaya was not Korean. After worrying about what Westerners eat when they were sick, Jo Minjoon took out his smartphone. The screen that said it was 5:43am could not stop him. He pressed the call button. After ringing a few times, a sleepy and grumpy voice answered the phone.

[……What the hell. It’s not even 6am. Did something happen?]

“It’s very urgent. Wake up and listen.”

[Why are you serious? Did something really happen?]

At Minjoon’s stiff voice, Anderson’s mind cleared up very quickly and he started to nervously speak as well. Jo Minjoon laughed as he started to speak.

“What do you eat for breakfast when you are sick?”

[……What?]

“Kaya is sick. She says it’s a cold. She has something important to do today so she needs to have a lot of energy……”

[Hold on. You’re telling me that you woke up me this early because of that stupid girl?]

“We’re chefs. If someone is sick, we need to make them food that will energize them.

[Isn’t this one crazy bastard……]

As if he didn’t even have the energy to get angry, a weak voice came from the other side. He could pretty much imagine the expression Anderson had right now. Jo Minjoon smiled as he started to speak again.

“I’m sorry. Please help me this once.”

[……Chicken noodle soup. There. Now disappear. I’m going back to bed.]

“Thank you. Love you, friend.”

[Ah……please. Please? Pretty please. I’m begging you. Disappear from my morning.]

“Good night.” (TL: Let’s not lie. He wanted Anderson to know he spent the night with Kaya. He could have just googled to get the answer…)

Jo Minjoon was smiling brightly as he ended the call. After hanging up, he realized that it was a problem he could have searched on the internet for an answer, but he didn’t care.

He easily found a recipe online. Jo Minjoon put on his jacket as he left the hotel. (TL: Technically, literal translation could be that he put on his clothes but we’re innocent here! xD) He thought about asking the hotel kitchen to make it, but if possible, he wanted to make it for her with his own hands. A chef was someone who could do that.

When he came back from the nearby mart with the ingredients, Kaya was still sleeping. She must have been really tired. Getting a good rest was not bad. If he was going to properly make a broth, he needed around two hours anyways.

It takes a long time, but the process itself wasn’t complicated or difficult. Remove the innards of the chicken and boil it with celery, carrots, onions, garlic, and turnips. After you let it boil for a bit, add some thyme and bay leaves and black pepper.

After that, it was time to be patient as always. For over an hour, Jo Minjoon removed the impurities that started to float up. After the broth has settled long enough, he took the chicken out and removed the meat from the bones.

After that, he removed all of the veggies and herbs from the broth. He then put olive oil on a pan before frying the onion, garlic, carrot, celery, thyme and bay leaves. He had to make sure the veggies were soft but not caramelizing. His mind was pretty tired after grocery shopping and cooking for hours like this on an empty stomach, but he didn’t hate this process that much.

After frying the ingredients like that, you pour the broth over it.,Once it was about to boil again, Minjoon threw in the pasta. Wide egg noodles. It looked similar to a fusilli, but this egg noodle was not as twisted

After boiling the egg noodles for about five minutes, put in the chicken meat you removed earlier and let it boil for two more minutes to finish the process. A message popped up saying it was a 7 point dish, but he was satisfied. It was home cooking full of care. It had been a while since he cooked like this.

“Kaya. Wake up.”

“……Hmm. What. What time is it.”

“Around 8am.”

“Can’t I sleep just a little bit longer?”

“No. I made you chicken noodle soup. Come eat.”

“Hmm. It smells good…….can’t you bring it to me? I’m a patient.”

Jo Minjoon did not respond and just continued to stare at Kaya. He slowly started to speak.

“Your face is completely swollen.”

“Mm. ……Hmm? Ah, no! Close your eyes!”

“I already saw everything.”

Kaya wrapped her face with the blanket and just lifted her eyes out of it as she looked towards Minjoon grudgingly.

Minjoon started to laugh as he continued on.

“Your eyes are swollen too.”

In the end, Kaya went to the sink to wash her face, put on lotion and skin before finally appearing in front of Minjoon. Jo Minjoon started to speak in a disappointed voice.

“The noodles will get soggy.”

“……Thank you. Starting with the breakfast.”

“Eat first before your thanks and morning greetings.”

Kaya lifted up her spoon. After taking a sip of the soup, there was a bright smile on her face.

“It’s great having someone to make me delicious soup like this.”

“Does it make you feel better?”

“Don’t rush it. What kind of soup gives you strength after one bite.”

“Well since you can talk like that, I guess you have some energy.”

Jo Minjoon laughed as he put the soup in his mouth. He was the one who made it, but it tasted good. After taking a few sips, Jo Minjoon started to ask a question. There was something he wanted to ask Kaya.

“Hey. Later, when we go meet your dad……”

“Yeah.”

“How should I introduce myself?”

He wasn’t sure exactly how to introduce himself. Kaya made eye contact with the soup as she started to respond.

“A friend who goes to a hotel with me. A friend who makes me soup in the morning. I guess that’s pretty good.”

“……I think he’ll have a bad impression of me.”

“Then should I resolve it very clearly?”

Kaya slowly lifted up her head. Maybe it was because she didn’t have her makeup on, but her double eyelids and her sleek eyebrows looked prettier than usual. She opened her mouth and her voice started to jump out. Her voice still sounded like she was sleepy and sick……but he clearly heard the content of her words.

“My boyfriend, whom I love very much. How’s ……that?”

End

Translator : Miraclerifle

Proofreader : Miraclerifle

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