God of Cooking

"Wow! I feel so excited!"

As the airplane running on the runway slowly began to take off, Zemma smiled brightly, sticking her face to the window. Min-joon grinned at her as if he understood her feelings. As a matter of fact, he felt the same when he first got on the airplane.

Of course, he felt differently now. During the shooting of the Hunger Trip, he had to change several flights. Until now, he had been to lots of places so many times, so it would be weird if he still felt thrilled when he was on the plane.

Kaya felt the exact same way. As if she was sick and tired of it, she closed her eyes without even looking toward the window.

"I really don't like flying. I'm sick and tired of it because I fly so often."

"Kaya, don't throw cold water on Zemma's excitement."

"I'm not going to do that, but…"

She pouted her lips while trying to say something then shut up as if she admitted that she dampened Zemma's thrill.

Min-joon looked back. The three seats on the right were occupied by Kaya, him, and Zemma, and Grace and Bruce were sitting right behind them. Luckily, the seats next to Grace and Bruce were not taken.

Min-joon looked at Zemma. It was so good to see her rejoicing like a child.

He said, "Zemma!"

Although he spoke a bit loudly, she seemed not to have heard it because of the noise outside the window. He reached out and knocked on the window she was looking through. She opened her eyes wide and looked at him.

He asked with a smile, "It's your first time traveling abroad, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"How do you feel?"

"She must feel great. Don't ask her an obvious question."

Kaya, who was listening to him, replied cynically.

When he was looking at Kaya sharply, Zemma stuttered and opened her mouth.

"I like everything. It's because our family members are traveling together, and…"

Zemma was trying to add something, but she smiled awkwardly as if she had nothing to say then shrugged. In fact, she didn't like to talk long unless she had to. The longer she talk, the more she had to show her awkward pronunciation. She didn't express her feelings, but anybody who had a speech handicap like her could not help but experience some sort of trauma related to it.

Min-joon could feel that Zemma was troubled whenever she mentioned something about her family. It wasn't that difficult for him to guess why.

'It will be a bit difficult for her to deal with Bruce.'

Kaya and Zemma were in a completely different situation now. Kaya and Bruce had a kinship, but Bruce and Zemma didn't. Kaya found his biological father, Bruce, while Grace found her ex-husband, Bruce. However, Zemma didn't know how to call Bruce properly. In fact, Min-joon had never seen her calling Bruce her father.

Perhaps, Bruce must be experiencing the same difficulties. Even though he wanted to approach Zemma comfortably, he couldn't be sure how she would feel. Above all, he had yet to reconcile with Kaya and Grace first. So, it was natural that he could afford to pay special attention to Zemma at this point.

Min-joon thought to himself, 'What should I do? What can I do for them?'

Although he didn't mean it, he found himself agonizing over it more than he thought.

Kaya fell asleep, but Zemma was absorbed in looking out the window.

It was when the flight attendant gave them meal options that he shook off such idle thoughts.

"You can choose between Mushroom Risotto and chicken steak. Which one would you choose?"

"Risotto, please. Zemma?"

"Uh… chicken!"

"I don't want it. I'm not really hungry."

When Kaya said that, Min-joon turned to her.

She murmured quietly, "The in-flight meal sucks. I don't want to eat it."

"Yeah, I understand. You must be sick and tired of it."

"Well, even these days, I'm eating and eating it until it goes to my head. Yeah, every time I go abroad."

Kaya shook her head as if she was sick and tired of it. For a person with a keen taste like her, the three-minute in-flight meal must be quite a challenge. She might find it more delicious to grill the onion and eat it alone.

A little later, the meal came out. After tasting it, Min-joon could also share her feelings.

Kaya spoke to him gently, "How about the Risotto?"

"This isn't far from Risotto. It's just porridge. I can't feel the unripe texture of Risotto at all. The sauce was just a regular prototype."

"What is the score?"

"It's been a while since you asked me that. Well, only 5 points."

He replied with a calm voice. He missed the fantastic taste when he ate Jambalaya as an in-flight meal in the past. At that time, he was really surprised to know that they could serve such high-quality food as an in-flight meal.

'If I eat it again now, will I feel the same taste I had back then?'

Honestly, he wasn't sure because he was completely different from the old him.

He ate too many delicious dishes until now, and he could make them, too. In other words, the criteria he set for evaluating dishes was too high.

'Since I have become accustomed to delicious dishes, I find the dishes I used to enjoy until now are not delicious anymore…'

That was so funny. He looked at Kaya slightly. Her case was a bit different, but it might be similar to his for now. She got better than before. She was successful as a star chef, which meant she no longer had to worry about the poverty that gripped her and her family for so long.

But did it really made her happy? Could she be happy with money only? Grace met her ex-husband again, and Kaya was continuing to pursue her career. But Zemma hadn't even found her path in life yet. She hadn't even overcome her disability yet.

Min-joon couldn't even imagine how she felt about her disability. All he could do at the moment was just smile and respond cheerfully.

"Zemma, is it delicious?"

"Yes. It's usually soft and it's not sticky. It tastes good."

"I'm glad to hear that."

"You want to try?"

"No. This one is enough."

He grinned at her. She looked out the window for a moment after sticking the meat with a fork with an effort. She said faintly while looking at the blue and white world outside the small window, "I didn't expect I would see this scene on a plane ride."

"Why?"

"Well, New York was my only world until now. I just thought I would end up living there for the rest of my life."

At that moment, he looked back at Kaya then let out a sigh of relief. Kaya was asleep.

If she had heard Zemma saying that, she would have stared at her sharply with an angry expression.

"Don't say that. There is no meaningless life unless you don't give up."

"How can you be sure about that?"

"Because I've given up, and I've picked up what I gave up."

"But my case is different from yours. I don't speak as fluently as you, even though you are a foreigner."

He could feel in her sullen voice how low her self-respect was, let alone her self-mockery. He looked at her calmly.

But Zemma didn't look at him. She just looked out the window as usual with her eyes welling with tears as if she was about to cry.

"Zemma, I can't say that I know and understand all your hardships. I can't even guess your suffering. But I can tell you this. I once gave up my dreams. And I justified myself with dozens or hundreds of reasons for it. But when I revived my dream, do you know how I thought of those reasons that made me give up?"

"No idea…"

"It's all bullshit. Actually, they were not the reason. They were only excuses that seemed to be the reason. The moment I decided to pursue my own way, I realized that all the things I thought were high walls that turned out to be just a little higher stairs."

"But I don't even know what is my way."

"That's why we are here."

He reached out. When she grabbed his hand after some hesitation, he smiled.

"Wherever you go, I'll raise you up whenever you fall. When it is too hard for you to walk, I can carry you on my back. But you have to walk by yourself. It's up to you to make up your mind and move your legs."

"Can I do it?"

"You're a much better person than you think, Zemma. It's not because you are Kaya's sister that I like you. It's because you're a good person. So, stop hating yourself. Only bad people hate others. It's bad even if they hate themselves."

Zemma did not answer for a long time. It seemed she had a lot on her mind at the moment. She thanked him briefly then closed her eyes. It was when she was breathing roughly that Kaya whispered into his ears, "Thanks for telling her that."

"Oh, were you awake?"

He looked back at Kaya. Kaya frowned for a moment as if the light was dazzling then replied in a small voice, "I couldn't tell you that I woke up. If she knew I overheard her, Zemma wouldn't like it."

"Don't worry too much. Even if you worry, don't take it too seriously. Zemma can make it because she is a good girl."

"Yeah, I believe so. But I couldn't tell her about it because I am not the one who gives her advice but takes care of her all the time."

He didn't bother to point it out. He knew what Kaya was trying to say. In fact, Zemma would have felt every day was suffering to her. Watching her day by day, Kaya would have felt it so painful to advise her and steel her mind. Kaya looked back at Zemma, who was fast asleep, then leaned her head on his shoulder with a smile.

"Thanks for being by my side."

"You don't have to feel grateful for that. You're with me anyway."

Kaya muttered in a heavily subdued voice, "In fact, Zemma has always been like homework to me, something I have to take care of and solve by all means. Of course, I've never hated her for that because I love her enough to share her heavy burden."

"I really appreciate your sense of responsibility. You know it's not easy to feel it at your age."

"Well, come to think of it, I don't think I've given Zemma any chance for her to walk on her own. I think I've told her, 'You can't walk. You can't run.' So, I think I used to carry her on my back. I think I made a big mistake indeed. I'm so sorry for her."

"Don't feel sorry. You're the nicest elder sister I've ever seen. You're the nicest daughter and the nicest girlfriend I've ever seen."

Kaya burst into laughter at his praise.