Friends (1)

The Cod That Swallowed Tomatoes did not cause as big of a splash as Jo Reggiano or Six Meats. However, Jo Minjoon and Kaya were not particularly disappointed by that since they had no such expectation in the first place.

There was nothing one could say about Jo Reggiano, especially. Six Meats had spread far just from product expansion, but Jo Reggiano had become a popular menu item that could be served at a decently sized cafe.

The Cod That Swallowed Tomatoes was a dish meant to be seen by gourmands and not necessarily the general populace of the world. Ones who understand taste would understand what value the Cod That Swallowed Tomatoes brings.

Of course, if Kang Byungyoon’s documentary is released, then the dish would become rather famous within Korea, as well. However, in the end, Kang Byungyoon had focused more on Jo Minjoon and Kaya’s skills, which made such an incredible dash, rather than pay attention to the dish itself.

If a decade were to pass, the Cod That Swallowed Tomatoes may have disappeared from people’s memories. However, even if it itself disappears from people’s memories, the transformation it left behind will not so easily disappear. What was revolutionary among chefs was the viewpoint represented in its recipe rather than the Cod That Swallowed Tomatoes itself.

“It was truly delicious,” Theresa Page said, stretched out on top of the sofa.

Chloe glanced over at Theresa for a moment but then returned her gaze to her notes. She had crammed in all the ideas that had fleetingly passed through her mind there. Of course, most of those thoughts had to do with cooking.

‘The Cod That Swallowed Tomatoes, huh?’

Chloe had tried that dish, of course. She even had the recipe for it, although she had not asked for one. She had said, ‘How was a dish like this even made? Fascinating!’ to which Kaya had readily asked in response if she wanted to know the recipe.

They were each taking care of Chloe in his or her own way because they knew very well that Chloe was putting all her effort into her own personal growth. She did not know if they considered it adorable of her or whether they felt sorry for her.

‘Either way, it’s not that cool.’

Chloe spun her pen around and soon put it between her lips. With every movement of her lips, the pen bounced up and down and soon fell back down to the desk. Chloe stared blankly at the pen.

‘I can’t think of anything.’

Her mind was just blank. It was so blank she had even forgotten that the reason she was sitting there in the first place was to think of recipes. She got a hold of herself a moment later, but she simultaneously got irritated. Now that she was there trying to make a recipe, she had to think of what kind of recipe she wanted to make.

“Looks like you have a lot on your mind?”

“…You’re wrong. I have absolutely nothing on my mind.”

Chloe rested her chin on the desk. The problem she was struggling with was not simply just one regarding a recipe. It was a problem more about fundamental cooking skills.

“While lecturing at the college, I got this feeling that I understand theory really well.”

“Is this your bragging session? Mm, I was simply asking for your signature yesterday when walking along the street…”

“Aw c’mon. Be quiet. I’m being serious.”

Chloe flapped both her arms. Theresa giggled and looked at Chloe.

“What are you being so serious about?”

“My cooking skills. I want to improve them quickly… What did you do improve your singing skills?”

“But I was born with them.”

“…Just go home already,” Chloe pointed at the entranceway with an offended look on her face.

Chloe could not understand just why in the world this woman would come to her place only on her days off and be like this. Was it because she cooked Theresa delicious food? Fine. Then from now on, she will not be cooking for Theresa anymore. Chloe made this determination inwardly when Theresa shrugged her shoulders.

“But it’s true. Of course I practiced like crazy. But I always sang well. If singing skills could be rated from 0 to 100, then I was maybe an 80 at birth? And from there I polished them to a 100.”

“And what of the people who were born with skills only at 50?”

“Then they’ll have to put in even more effort than I did. It’s not a simple matter of investing more time. They have to make use of that time as effectively as possible. Actually, there are a few people like that around me.”

“Hm.”

Chloe pursed her lips and got lost in thought. Theresa suppressed a thought that she wanted to pinch those lips and said instead, “I had thought you were doing pretty well these days. Now why are you having these thoughts?”

“I normally have a lot of thoughts.”

“This doesn’t look like a simple matter of having a lot of thoughts. Is it because the Cod That Swallowed Tomatoes stirred them up?”

“Possibly.”

“What in the world do you want to have happen?”

Theresa’s expression grew serious.

“I thought you had chosen a culinary researcher and celeb as your career path. Am I wrong?”

“You’re right.”

“You’re doing quite well with that. I know your students think highly of you, too. And the recipes you show on the cooking shows these days have been drawing out good responses from people. And Jackson’s has even asked you to serve as an advisor for developing their menu. I’m pretty sure anyone would say you have been fairly successful, don’t you think?”

“Stop puffing me up so much. Success isn’t what’s important to me. I just want to be able to cook a bit better.”

“You mean like Minjoon and Kaya?”

“…I don’t need to necessarily compare myself to them.”

“But it’s because of them you’re being like this.”

Chloe’s shoulders slumped as that remark hit home. Theresa placed her hand on the back of that pitiable but cute friend of hers.

“Being competitive is good. However, if you’re going to be competitive, have confidence, too.”

“Confidence?”

“I’m saying you should think that you could destroy Minjoon or Kaya if you just put your mind to it. The Chloe I know is that type of woman. Don’t you think?”

She wanted to say that that was not true. Chloe was hiding her weak self. However, she could not bring herself to expose that weakness to this friend of hers, at the least.

“…I guess?”

That was why she kept it hidden. She hoped that if she hid it well and erased it from her thoughts, it would just disappear.

---

“Hey, welcome. There wasn’t any traffic?”

“It’s nighttime. Why would there be traffic?”

Chloe smiled brightly and extended her hand. Her hand was holding a plastic bag. Anderson’s eyes narrowed.

“I haven’t been eating dinner. The same for Janet.”

“Don’t worry. You won’t gain weight. I just brought some donuts and cookies.”

“…Are you drunk? You’re contradicting yourself,” Anderson said in a flustered voice.

Chloe giggled like a child and walked inside.

“Catherine! I’m here!”

“Hey. She’s sleeping. Don’t wake her. Janet tried so hard to get her to fall asleep.”

“Sleeping? But I wanted to see her.”

Today, Chloe was feeling particularly like having things her way. Normally, she was the type of woman who would at least pretend to be considerate of others while still doing what she wanted, but… Anderson let out a sigh.

“Enter quietly. The moment Catherine wakes up, it won’t be quiet even if we wanted it to be.”

“Okay. I’ll be careful. Stop nagging me.”

Chloe pouted and went inside. She could not see Janet, who may have still been by Catherine’s side. Chloe said in a quiet voice, “You must be super busy these days. The opening day for ‘The Cat’s Yawn’ is just around the corner.”

“Well, we still have enough time to talk like this,” Anderson replied calmly.

Honestly speaking, he normally divides up his time his own way. If it had been anyone else, he would have been too tired and not even met with the person. However, Chloe was different.

They were not simply acquaintances. They were comrades, friends. And on top of that, Chloe’s voice when she had called them had sounded very heavy over the phone.

“You took the name from Catherine’s, right? Cat.”

“Yeah. Because her yawning face was so cute.”

“…You’ve become a dimwit. You chose your restaurant’s name based on such a simple reason,” Chloe said grinning.

Anderson was going to leave Glutu soon and had plans to set up his own restaurant. At one point she had thought he would become the head chef of Glutu. But seeing how he was going to go independent, she saw how difficult it was to predict the future.

“It felt like my world has changed because of Catherine. Maybe I should say she’s become the center of my world? In the past I had thoughts of wanting to be a better chef than anyone else, but… And that’s all I had thought about. But, these days I’ve been thinking it’d be nice to just look like a cool dad in Catherine’s eyes. I want to be a father Catherine can take the most pride in. That’s my top priority.”

“…You’ve changed quite a bit, Anderson.”

“You’ll know if you have a kid of your own. What this feels like.”

“You really telling that to an unmarried virgin woman?”

Chloe waved her hands in disgust. Anderson looked blankly at Chloe and then said, “Sometimes I’ve had this thought. What if Minjoon had dated youinstead of Kaya? What would have happened? Kaya… well, honestly, even without Minjoon, she would have done pretty well. But for you, I think a lot would have turned out differently.”

“It’s in the past. Do we really need to bring that up?”

“Because it’s in the past that I can bring it up.”

If Chloe had still been unable to get over Jo Minjoon, he would not have been able to so casually bring it up as a topic. Chloe let her gaze rest on the cardboard box of donuts. However, her eyes were looking at something both closer and further than that box.

She muttered in a dead voice, “That is true. If it had been me, my life would have been very different. Or we could have dated very briefly and broken up, and I would be living just as I am right now.”

“Maybe you should have put more effort in.”

“Kaya was too strong an opponent.”

Chloe laughed bitterly.

“And Minjoon had only eyes for Kaya from the start.”

“That’s… true,” Anderson nodded his head.

Chloe shook her head and said in an unnaturally contrived voice, “Anyhow! That’s all in the past! Let’s talk about something else. I came here today to chat about cooking.”

“What’s there to chat about? Are you developing a new recipe?”

“No, not about recipes. I was wondering if there’s a way for me to improve my cooking skills.”

“In your case, it’d be better to talk about your skills in developing recipes instead of your cooking skills.”

“If all I do is develop recipes, shouldn’t I be at least way better at anything regarding the recipe compared to other chefs? But sometimes… I feel slower than those people.”

“I don’t think you’re that slow.”

“And so…”

Chloe took something out from her bag. It was her notes. Anderson immediately had a bad feeling about that, but Chloe had already opened her notebook up. She took out all the recipes in her notebook one by one to show him and said, “I was going to formulate a recipe like this and adjust it as I go on. What do you think?”

“It’s not exactly the same method I use, but you have your own way.”

“And about this one. Accompanying the beef with sour cream and curry powder… do you think it greatly detracts from its sophistication?”

“It does have its own way of expressing…”

The two of them talked for half an hour. Janet had come downstairs, letting out a yawn, and said, “What are the two of you talking about?”

“Oh, Janet. You came? Great, then. Let’s talk about recipes!”

“…What about them?”

She had just woken up from having fallen asleep with Catherine for a short while when this conversation began unexpectedly. Janet was confused at first, but seeing how Chloe was looking more excited the more she spoke, Janet just smiled.

‘She’s secretly a chef, too.’

While she may not be working at a restaurant, Chloe was walking the culinary path the same as they were.

The spark that Chloe had lit ended up lighting the fire within Anderson and Janet, too. They ended up forgetting about their fatigue and began talking about cooking. Chloe had to go sleep in their guest room in order to avoid falling asleep at the wheel going home.

And so, time passed, and the opening day of ‘The Cat’s Yawn’ drew near.

CREDITS:
Original author: 양치기자리
Translator: Comic Seoul
Proofreader: Potato