Chef Part 3




Tiffany stepped out of the car, unsure if she was making the right decision. She didn’t want to seem as though she was begging again - that experience had definitely bruised her whale-sized ego - and yet, she had felt a little disappointment when she didn’t get to see the lively, fun-sized little chef again. Drawing in a deep breath, she linked her arm through Jessica’s – she didn’t want to eat alone, that made her feel uneasy – and stepped through the lobby doors.

Walking towards the restaurant, she bit her lip, her steps faltering a little when she saw a life-sized cut out of the renowned chef placed outside the entrance.

“Relax Tiff, I don’t think I’ve seen you this nervous since you drove your dad’s car through the back door.”

“That accident happened 5 years ago, and Daddy loves me, he wouldn’t kill me. Though he did cut off my allowance for 2 weeks….. Thank goodness I had Mummy to get my money from.”

“Tsk tsk, you spoiled kiddo.”

“We’re the same age you idiot, stop calling me a kiddo.”

“Nah uh, technically, I’m exactly 15 weeks older than you.”

“Fine, be that way. OLDIE.”

“That, my dear, was unnecessarily and embarrassingly loud.”

“Serves you right for bullying me 24/7.”

“Ah, we’re finally here. Now will you shut up and apologise to the girl already?”

“Why should I apologise?!”

“Wasn’t that why you dragged me here in the first place?”

“No! She was supposed to apologise to me for turning me down!”

“You, have seriously got some issues. It’s normal to turn people down, get that in your thick skull.”

“I do not have a thick skull, Ms coconut head. And she turned me down when I asked her! Twice!”

“Hey, I might not be the brightest person around, but I draw the line at being called a coconut head.”

“Whatever, coconut head.”

“Back to the point, you need to say sorry to her for being such a stuck up little nasty bit-“

“I AM NOT STUCK UP!”

The restaurant immediately fell silent, all eyes trained onto the 2 girls seated at the corner table. Jessica’s cheeks flushed, her eyes looking up apologetically at everyone as she ducked her head several times to say sorry. Tiffany, on the other hand, merely ignored all the stares and fluffed her hair impatiently while waiting for Jessica to surface again.

“May I take your order miss?”

“We’re not ready yet.” Tiffany muttered without looking up from the menu.

“Can I please take your order miss?”

“We’re not ready yet, stop rushing us.” Tiffany muttered, and waved her hand impatiently.

“Pretty please?”

Tiffany looked up, a frown engraved upon her sharp features. She had been expecting a waiter, or maybe the manager of the restaurant, anything but this. A girl with short hair stood in front of her, dressed simply in jeans and a long blouse, a notepad in her hand. She flipped the notepad over and showed Tiffany what she had written on the piece of paper.

“I’m Sorry):”

Jessica looked at the chef, then at Tiffany, and set the menu down with a sigh.

“Right, I’ll leave you 2 love birds alo- OUCH!”

Tiffany glared at Jessica as the latter bent down and rubbed her smarting shin grumpily. Tiffany’s heels were studded and they definitely were not something anyone wanted to get kicked by. Getting up, Jessica threw her napkin at Tiffany’s face jokingly and paused to tell Tae Yeon something.

“She wanted to apologise to you, and she said she had something to give you too. Don’t be nice to her, Ms Thick Skull doesn’t deserve it.”

Tae Yeon smiled and nodded, moving aside to let Jessica leave before Tiffany could stand up and strangle the lights out of her.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Well…….. this is awkward.”

“Uhuh….”

Tae Yeon drummed her fingers on her desk, Tiffany sitting on the opposite side and staring at her. They had agreed to go to Tae Yeon’s office, and the staff in the kitchen had failed to hide their shock when Tae Yeon had returned, Tiffany in tow.

“I’m…..” They both started.

“You go first.” Tiffany insisted.

Tae Yeon nodded, took a deep breath to prepare herself, and spoke.

“Did you like the gifts?”

“You mean the millions of calories that you sent me?”

Tae Yeon looked sheepishly at Tiffany and nodded. She didn’t know how else she could get Tiffany to forgive her. She only knew how to cook. Heck, she hadn’t even had her first crush yet….

“Yeah, they were…….alright I guess.”

“Just alright? I should’ve sent you something else huh……”

“The cake was pretty impressive.”

“Thanks, I stayed up day and night to make sure it came out right.”

“I couldn’t finish it though……”

“Oh, did you donate the cake or something?”

“Nope, I just gave it to Yuri.”

“Who’s Yuri?”

“She’s my……housekeeper slash secretary slash person I whine to.”

“Ah…. So at least you know you’re whiny.”

“Excuse me?!”

“Uh… nothing nothing, I was just mumbling to myself.”

“So, why did you ask me to come?”

“I…… um….. well……alright, hold on, I’ve got it written down somewhere.”

Tae Yeon got up and started digging through the boxes at her feet, searching desperately for the tiny scrap of paper which she had doodled her ‘speech’. She hadn’t meant to use it when she wrote it, though she did suspect that she might come in handy when her nerves got the better of her. Now, with Tiffany actually sitting in front of her and waiting for her to start, her mind was totally blank and her palms were turning clammy with sweat.

Giving up on the box, Tae Yeon shuffled through the piles of drafts and notes on her desk, and nearly jumped in joy when she finally spotted the crumpled piece of paper roughly stuffed into a huge pile of her old notes. Doing her best to smoothen out the wrinkles, Tae Yeon flattened the paper across her desk and cleared .

“Dear Tiffany,

If I’m reading this to you, then good for me, you came. Yay! Alright, I asked you to forgive me and told you that I had something to tell you whe-.”

“This isn’t working…….” Tae Yeon muttered and rubbed her palm against her cheek.

“I’m listening, go on.” Tiffany waited.

“Alright, here I go. Dear Tiffany, If I’m reading this to you, then good for me, you came. Yay! Alright, I asked you to forgive me and told you that I had something to tell you when you came. Well, I’ll tell you no-“

Tae Yeon sighed and stopped again.

“I can’t do this…… Can you read it instead? Not out loud, just……I don’t know, read it.”

Tae Yeon pushed the piece of paper over to Tiffany and hastily buried her head in her arms. She was anxious, yet excited and nervous and thrilled all at the same time. Tiffany sighed, took the crumpled paper in her fingers and to Tae Yeon’s horror, read it out loud in a clear and strong voice.

“Dear Tiffany,

If I’m reading this to you, then good for me