CHAPTER 9.1:  At Arms Reach

How did Aaron Yan and Emma Wu meet?

Will their relationship last or will they just be one of those celebrity fairytales? 

What is their love story like?

“Uncle Danson~ Mama and papa is on TV!” Danson straightens his tie around his neck, trying to hurry for work when he came downstairs to see his parents sitting in the living room watching the news with Kris. “Ying Jie and Ya Lun did it.” He heard his father say. His mom starts to laugh as she sips her morning cup of tea in bliss.

“Good morning.” Danson sat down for a brief moment to see his father smiling. “See honey, I told you to leave this to the kids.”

“It’s a good thing I listened to you then.” They exchanged a soft gaze and Danson smiles, looking over to Kris who is all ready to go to daycare. 

“Well, I waited for this news for so long! I was pretty certain that Ying Jie and Ya Lun were going to hit it off and I was right!”

“Honey…” Danson looks over his dad and laughs.

“Who are you kidding? You were the one who was against this whole live-in situation at first.” His dad gave him a look and laughs. “If I remember correctly, you were against it as well.”

“Boys, our baby girl is happy with Ya Lun, let’s leave the past alone and look forward to the present!”

“Truce?”  Danson spoke up as his father continues to laugh. “Truce? Don’t be silly. This was never a argument.”

“Whatever you say dad.” 

He rolls his eyes as his mom answered the call from Mrs. Yan. Then his father answered his call to hear that one of his business executives was giving him a call to bless the young couple.

“Oh, son.” He turns around to look at his father. “It’s your turn now, find a wife or we will do the same thing with you as we did to Ying Jie.”

“Don’t be foolish dad; what makes you think I will stick around for that?”

“It worked pretty well with Ying Jie, it might work for you too!”

“Too bad I prefer finding her my way.”

“You’re not going far if you leave it to fate.”

“Then I guess we will have to see how far I can go.”

With that, he held onto Kris’s hand and walked out the door. 

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As Jiro’s assistant compared his charts, he noticed the business went up now that customers have been eating Cyndi’s desert she had created for the menu. He glanced over to his boss who was sitting in front of him, swiping his fingers across his tablet to whatever it was he was looking at. 

“So what do you think of Cyndi?”

“She’s okay.”

“Her deserts are so sweet, is she sweet too?”

“Sure.”

“What are you looking at?”

“Emails.” Jiro looks over to his assistant and smiles, catching his questions a tad bit odd. “Are you interested in her?”

“Nope, I am just curious.”

Jiro eyes him skeptically. There was more that meets the picture and his answer had a bunch of loopholes. He could force the truth behind his words but was it important enough for him to stick his business into? 

“Are you interested? Is your heart bursting with passion? Is the curiosity killing you yet?”

The more his assistant went on, Jiro laughs. How childish.

“Come to think of it, whats the commotion going on the kitchen?!”

When his assistant glued his lips together, his eyes widen when Jiro stood up and dashed into the kitchen to see Cyndi running his way, trying to escape the smoke. His assistant quickly opened all the doors and tried his best to clear the smoke out of the kitchen, the last thing he needed was a distress call to the fire department. Jiro looks down at Cyndi and unknowingly, he had his arms around her.

“You are lucky we are still here, what would you have done if the smoke reached the fire department? They are going to rant on and on, it will be an a.ss to listen to.”

“Sorry, I was trying something new and I guess… this is what it came down too…”

Jiro notices the disappointment in her voice so he calmed down, scratching the back of his head to see his assistant give him the ok sign. Cyndi looks over at the counter and smiles, bringing him over to the set of deserts she has prepped for testing. She wasn’t sure if these were going to be on his to-die-for list but it didn’t hurt to try. He stood beside her and stared at the burnt pot. She picked up one and popped it into his mouth, surprised—astonished that he opened his mouth just in time for her to slip it in. If he wasn’t prepared for it, she could’ve slammed the cake right into his million dollar face. What a sight that would be! His female fan-base would’ve lit her on the spot.

She waited. 

and waited. 

and when she couldn’t take it anymore. 

“So? How’s the taste?”

Jiro watch her take a bite out of her own creation, she had a shot of disgust as ran to the garbage, throwing it out quick. He smiles, he couldn’t agree more. He took the recipe she created and visioned him making it in his mind. He could tell that the cake she made was made with less sugar and overall, it was aimed to please the guests who were concerned with the sugar content. When he put the recipe down, she was chowing down her cupcakes she had prepared before-hand. She continued to devour the cupcake unaware that he was inching to wipe the cream off her lips. She can be so dense sometimes. She froze and if it wasn’t any clearer than it was, her heartbeat just had to make her feel sugary. Glittery, sprinkle-ly and everything that was glitz and glam, she was feeling it.

“My father is hosting the 30th annual cooking competition tonight, would you like to come along?” Her eyes widen and he could tell that she was going to say yes to him in a heartbeat.“OF COURSE!” 

See, he knew it. 

“I’ll pick you up tonight at 6:30, it’s semi formal is what the invite said but to be on the safe side, go formal.”

“YES SIR!”

He left the kitchen, smiling as he watch his assistant lean against the wall, smirking. 

“You know i’m inching to say it right?”

“Say what?” His assistant went on. “Even if I seal these perfect lips, you do know what I am hinting right?”

“You lost me.”

“Whatever captain. Just know that further into the future, I will be watching you guys walk down the isle.’”

His assistant ran off, happy that he got the last words as he quickly made his errands around the restaurant while Jiro stood there. He wasn’t thinking off establishing any relationships with anyone, he was just thinking of bringing her out to experience the culinary culture the city has to offer. After all, if she continues to stay where she is at, how is she going to learn about the culture?

“Okay you don’t believe me! How about we make a bet? If you can prove it to me that I am wrong, I will grant you something. But if you finally see how rightfully right I am, I will be singing I told you so’s!”

He didn't know why he listened to him but the last thing he remembered was agreeing to his assistants bet.

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Later that evening…

As promised, he parked in front of her house to see her come out wearing a burgundy dress that reached her knees. He smiled as he opened the car for her and when they got in the car together, he smoothly drove out of her parkway and proceeded for the event. Cyndi glanced around his car and smiles, they had only exchanged a couple of words to each other before she dug into her pockets to find her cellphone. Unexpectedly, the phone slipped out of her hands and she sighs, reaching below her seat to find her cellphone. ‘Huh?’ She pulls something out from beneath her seat, to find a cookbook hidden underneath it. Curious, she flipped through the pages and she drooled. The pictures looked so appetizing and it seemed unreal. Then she turn the page to see the chef's introductory page: Chef Christopher Wang. Her eyes widen when Jiro smiles, acknowledging it. 

“It’s my old man.”

“You must treasure your dad more than you care to admit.” 

He made a funny face and laughs. 

Cyndi smiles, it’s true. To find Jiro keeping his father’s cookbook in his car is self-explanatory. Clearly, he looks up to his dad more then he cares to show. Cyndi puts the cookbook back underneath her seat and found her cellphone shortly after. 

“Aren’t you way past the phase of rebelling?” He burst out laughing. “I’m my father’s son, it’s fun to see him try to control me. Anyways, at that time, I wanted to see how far I could go without my father’s influence. He travelled around China and Taiwan, mastering his culinary skills while I studied abroad. See how different we are? Well, you’ll meet him tonight, he will be happy to meet another fellow food lover.”

Jiro parked his car out the entrance of the venue. He hops out and walked over to help Cyndi out of the car but he hid his surprise when she opened the door herself, walking out of his car with much pride and respect for herself. The hotel attendants stood there, half-amazed that she got out of her seat before they opened the door for her. Normally, guests would wait for the extra seconds to walk out of the car. Jiro lightly chuckles when he caught the surprise the valet parkers had. Priceless. Without all the rolling on the ground laughing nonesense, he escorted her inside. Leaving his vehicle to the valet parkers. They knew what to do with it so he entered through the doors to see everyone proceeding to the Hall. 

The floor was decked out in colourful flower arrangements, pleasing to the eyes of the guests as each one makes their way around the floor, viewing the multi-tier cakes that was displayed all in a row. As the everyone made their way around, so did their male counterparts who were decked out in suits while the females dress’s range from knee to long maxi’s. Jiro took a glance at all the cakes and smiles, he already took in everything about the cakes so he needn’t worry about taking more steps around the hall. But as he looks over to see Cyndi head over heels fascinated with the designs of the cakes, seeing her rush over to the different stations to see her snap lots of mental images. Overall, he was happy that she listened to his suggestion, true to his prediction, his father always writes