God of Cooking

Anderson remained silent for quite a while.

“How could I…”

He just kept repeating his words like that dozens of times. He had no idea how to respond. He didn’t even know how he was feeling right now. He always thought he would remain single all his life. He never thought of raising a child.

But he had a baby now. Janet was pregnant. Definitely, it was his baby.

He couldn’t believe it. He didn’t think Janet was lying. He just could not understand this situation. How could he have a baby?

Anderson cast a confused glance at her. Maybe it was harder for her than him. So, he wanted to be more considerate of her, but he could not afford to take care of himself at the moment. Baby? He was genuinely happy on one hand, but he was more embarrassed and scared than happy, on the other. They were not ready for a baby. They didn’t even think about it.

She asked, “You know what?” she asked feebly.

He just looked at her silently. Janet opened her mouth, facing him with trembling eyes.

“It’s 12 weeks. I hear that if a baby isn’t over 12 weeks old, I can have an abortion.”

Anderson tried to say something for a moment, but he remained silent instead. He couldn’t say anything to her. Although they made the same mistake, it was him, not her, who was supposed to be more responsible for her pregnancy. When he thought his easy answer could be so painful to her like torture, he couldn’t say it.

“I’m 10 weeks into the pregnancy now. It has formed some brain cells, and the outline of its face is pretty clear. It has thin arms and legs. It’s still small, but it’s human. But I agonized if I could have an abortion. I thought about becoming a murderer because I wanted to work as a chef, I wanted more recognition, and I wanted to do more, but you know what, Anderson…”

She kept moving her lips to say something. Anderson couldn’t say anything, watching her hesitating to say something. He wanted to tell her to do whatever she wanted, but it was like him shifting his responsibility to her.

“Let’s sit down first. You’re going to collapse. You look pale.”

He grabbed her hand and led her in his car. Only her breathing filled the car until the headlights that turned on automatically when she opened her door went out again. And it was Anderson who opened his mouth first.

“If you allow me, I will live as the baby’s father.”

Of course, what he said was rather emotional than rational. But no matter how long he thought about it, he didn’t feel he would give her a different answer. He could not allow her to have an abortion because he made her pregnant.

She cast a complicated glance at him. He was different from her former boyfriend, who was not even considerate enough to say it like Anderson when she mentioned she was pregnant.

So, she was so grateful to Anderson, but at the same time, she felt heavy. She knew she would be wholly responsible if she had an abortion since he said he would live as the baby’s father.

Anderson had no choice but to say that because he wanted to respect the baby as much as he respected her. Once he made her pregnant, he didn’t want to show the baby how irresponsible he was.

Janet said, “I already told you you would regret it if you heard what I had to say. You should have listened to my advice.”

“So, are you regretting it?”

But she didn’t answer. He hesitated a bit then slowly reached out. His fingers, gently stroking her thumb, poked between her fingers and touched her palm. At that moment, she looked at him, surprised. Of course, they were intimate enough to make love and had a baby now. But they slept together after they got drunk, carried away with their romantic feelings.

Of course, they had good feelings toward each other. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have gone to the hotel, no matter how much they were drunk. It was clear that they were attracted to each other at some point, but it was not clear they were romantically interested or for some other reason.

“I’m scared,” she groaned. Her trembling voice expressed her sincerity to some extent. He glanced at her belly. Right there was the origin of all their problems now. He felt sorry for the baby, but they couldn’t just feel happy because of the situation where they were in now, for they had a dream and an ambition.

‘Well, life isn’t always what one likes, as they say…’

Anderson grabbed her hand more tightly with a bitter look. He felt she was much smaller than he thought. He thought that she was tall and strong-minded, but her shoulders were narrow and her head was small enough to make him even think how she could have her brain in it.

Now that her harsh expression was gone on her face, she looked like a terrified girl.

At that moment, he instinctively felt he had to protect her.

“Shall we date?”

This was his worst confession without any element of romance.

***

Janet initially tried to reject Anderson’s offer to date her. She felt when she was forced to date him, driven by his sense of duty, their relationship would inevitably end in failure. But he was adamant that he would formally date her. Of course, both had a sense of duty if they decided to have date from now on, but basically, they had good feelings toward each other. He didn’t want her to take all the responsibility.

It took almost two hours for her to accept his offer. As the day was breaking, she responded in the dimly lit darkness.

“Sure, let’s date.”

There was nothing romantic in her reply, but they could not afford to express their romantic mood in the current situation. Anyway, he sent her back home safely, then he drove straight to his house. As soon as he entered his house, he threw himself on the bed. He thought he couldn’t even sigh because of worries about her, but he fell asleep right away even before he covered himself with a blanket.

But he was woken up by Amelia a few hours later. Sitting at the breakfast table with scrambled eggs, homemade sausages, and tomato sauce, he said, “I started dating Janet.”

Even after hearing what he said, Amelia and Fabio focused on their meals as if they heard nothing. Yes, they needed about thirty seconds in order to understand the meaning of his decision to date Janet, for he wasn’t interested in dating any woman.

It was Amelia who responded first. She stiffened, with the sausage in her mouth. She stared at him blankly without chewing or spitting it. Fortunately, Fabio, who was eating scrambled eggs, could open his mouth right away.

He said in a trembling voice, “You mean dating her as your lover or just your friend?”

“No. We have been friends for a long time. This time I’m going to start dating her.”

He didn’t immediately say that she was pregnant. In that case, they would be really shocked. But the fact that he was getting along well with Jane was as shocking to them as the bombing of the White House.

Now even Fabio, who had no sausage in his mouth, just looked at Anderson blankly.

When Anderson was almost done emptying his plate, Amelia opened her mouth.

“Uh, how long have you been dating her?”

“Well, we have decided to date, starting only today.”

“Oh, I see.”

Amelia, who was usually hawkish to him, started to giggle without saying anything.

In fact, this was one of Amelia’s and Fabio’s dreams. In other words, they wanted Anderson to bring in a chef daughter-in-law, and run Gluto’s, just like they did. Of course, if Anderson said he wanted to work at a different restaurant, they were willing to send him there without any reservation.

“Please bring her here later. Let’s have a meal together.”

That was all Amelia could say in the current situation. That evening, as soon as he called it a day, Anderson noticed a familiar motorbike pulled over in Gluto’s parking lot. Janet was waiting for him, with her helmet in her arms.

“Get on.”

“I have a car.”

“It’s your parking lot anyway, so you don’t pay a parking fee, right? Get on this. Let’s have a talk while we’re riding.”

Anderson realized what she said was wrong. If she wanted to talk with him while sharing the motorcycle, it would be much better if she got in his car. On a motorcycle, it would be very difficult for them to understand each other because they couldn’t hear anything with the helmets on and the wind blowing.

Nonetheless, she didn’t give in. Her motorcycle drove faster than any other car on the freeway. As a result, he had to hug her waist tighter. Originally, Anderson should be driving the motorcycle while she was on the back. Anyway, they drove about thirty minutes and arrived at the Griffith Observatory.

Anderson said, sighing, as if he was exhausted, “Hey, why don’t you stop riding a motorcycle? I don’t think it’s good for the baby.”

“Are you already acting like a father?”

“Don’t you think I have the right to say that?”

“Sure, let me recognize that,” she nodded at him with a smile. As if she felt much relieved after she decided to date him formally, she looked much better than yesterday.

Anderson glanced back quickly. The Griffith Observatory was located on the mountain behind Hollywood. Normally, they could see downtown Hollywood and Los Angeles with a telescope, but at night, they could easily enjoy watching the city’s night sky without the help of a telescope because of the twinkling lights everywhere.

“I made up my mind, standing here in the past. I wished the place with the most colorful and shining light among them could be my place.”

“Nothing has changed. Just keep your dream.”

“I have to give up a lot to have a child. After a few months, I will not be able to go to the restaurant. Of course, after giving birth to a child, I will be back to the restaurant soon.”

“Rachel won’t replace you with someone else.”

“Yeah, I hope so,” she replied with a bitter voice. There was some silence between them.

When the silence was long enough, she started to speak out.

“Oh, I want to give birth to my baby.”

“Have you decided?”

“I don’t want an abortion this time. I don’t think I’ll be happy after an abortion. Do I sound like a mom?”

“You’re not a mom yet. You don’t have to pretend to be a mom. Not yet.”

“Well, your comfort is not helpful,” she said, shaking her head. He glanced at her hand, then put his hand over it. But she pulled out her hand right away.

“What are you doing? I feel creepy.”

“Well, I’m trying to act as your affectionate boyfriend?”

“Come on, Anderson.”

“When should we get married?” he casually asked.

She looked at him as if she was dumbfounded.

“How come your question is so bland? Don’t get excited. I’m not going to marry you. I just need my baby’s father.”

“Well, if you don’t want to get married, that’s fine.”

He turned his head with a sarcastic expression as if he was offended.

She looked at his face curiously. She had never thought she would get entangled with him like this.

‘But I should get married…’

As a matter of fact, they didn’t have a long romantic relationship enough to talk about their marriage. They didn’t know what would happen to their relationship even tomorrow.

But exactly three weeks later, they sent out wedding invitations to all their acquaintances including Min-joon, Kaya, and Chloe.