The Chef's Critic

Chapter 3 - Bumping into you

Maine is again engrossed in her own world as she tries recapture the feeling and taste she experienced a long time ago. She had spent all her morning trying to capture the taste of a sponge cake she had eaten 15 years ago while on a vacation abroad with her parents. The physical taste of the sponge cake was easy to capture, but what she was really wanted to capture was the feeling she experienced during the night she discovered the said cake. Her mind again drifted back to that one Christmas eve in Paris and to the young teenager that somewhat captured her heart.

She doesn't get to have a lot of free time on her own. With the career she have chosen, everyone thought that cooking comes on easy on her. Little did everybody know that it's never been easy, especially for her. Maine grew up to be a chef. She followed the footsteps of her parents and was expected to take on the business when the time comes. She had been longing for the nod of her parents and is on constant longing for their approval.

Even though they now owned a chain of restaurants, her parents still didn't allow her to be the head chef of one of those. Her father said that, she needs to start from the bottom and prove her worth to them. She may be her daughter but in the kitchen and in managing their business, she is just an employee and nothing more. For the past 5 years, she worked her butt off to move up the ranks in the kitchen. She was sure that her hard work didn't go unnoticed and it will eventually paid off. And it did. Tonight, she was assigned as the stand in chef of one of their restaurants in Manhattan. The chief chef called in sick and he won't be able to come in. As much as she wanted to prove her worth, she would have wanted to do it on a more discreet way. Unfortunately, the opportunity only happened today, which is February 14th. And given that today is a big opportunity for her, and she still can't help to feel nervous as this is a big day and a lot of customers will surely arrive. She views this opportunity as a make or break for her.

Upon looking at the clock on the far side of the wall, she was surprised that it's already half past noon. She knew that in less than an hour she needs to leave the confines of her own kitchen and head to the restaurant where her future is at stake. With resolved belief, she started fixing the ingredients that she used and placed it back to their proper places. She knows that she needs to hurry up and get herself ready for a long night in the kitchen. After making her kitchen spick and span, she headed to her bathroom and prepare.

After forty five minutes, she headed out of her apartment and started walking going to the restaurant. She was lost in her own thoughts and what will happen tonight, that she didn't noticed a motorcycle was speeding towards her direction. Before she knew it, someone have grabbed her waist and her body was thrown on the sidewalk with a man beside her. She was still in shock as to what happened as she gently started to get up while the man was assisting her. She begun to clean her clothes and failed to notice the guy was staring at her.

"I'm s-sorry. I'm really sorry, did I hurt you?" this was the first words that she uttered still not looking at the man beside her.

The guy, then finally found his tongue and said "I'm alright. How about you? I'm sorry if I crushed you to the pavement."

It was that time when Maine lifted her gaze to the man in front of her that she noticed his black eyes boring through her eyes. She was then like put into trance and felt that he already know this guy from the past. She was then speechless after that.

Alden then saw that Maine's elbow was slightly scratched that it was bleeding. "Shit, you're hurt!" he cursed to himself as he touched her elbow. Before she can react, Richard already got a wet wipes out of his bag and began to clean the wound. Afterwards, he placed a band aid on the wound. When he finished, he looked up to Maine.

Maine then said, "Th-thank you. You didn't have to do that. But thanks anyway." She then smiled and blushed as she saw that the guy was staring at her.

"You need to clean that with some medicine. I applied some first aid to the wound. I just hope it won't turn into a scar after it dried up." Richard then uttered and smiled as well.

Maine then felt her face became hotter as she was touched with the concern on his voice and that she saw his smile and a deep crest of a dimple flashed on his left cheek.

Richard was about to ask her name, when he heard someone called him.

"RJ! RJ, what are doing? You're meeting is about to start in fifteen minutes. We need to hurry up." This were the words of Sam as he was catching his breath. It was so obvious that the guy was running.

At the same time, someone from the opposite side walked towards Maine. Patricia saw Maine across the street and was curious as to whom she was talking to, so she decided to approach her. Patricia then tapped the shoulders of Maine to call her attention.

"Meng, are you alright? Are you on your way to the restaurant?" Patty then inquired. Maine just nod and smiled at her friend. Patty is her best friend since she was in high school. She's one of the few people that Maine got close with as she was growing up.

"Then come on. We will be late. Big day for both of us." Patricia sound excited and very much enthusiastic that she failed to notice that Maine was somehow torn between staying put at the sidewalk and talk to the guy who saved her and going with Patricia to the restaurant's direction.

Richard and Maine weren't able to speak as both their friends started to drag them to the opposite directions. When they both turned their head to look for each other, they already saw that they were at least 7 steps away apart. And so, they didn't have a choice but to walk away and continue to their destination.

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Hope I caught your attention with this one. Please let me know your thoughts. Thank you.