365 Days with the Celebrity

Chapter 8 - Shortlisting

Since the news of the chef competition was announced on social media and on the news, Avon Music's was flooded with thousands of entries that their email server almost crashed.

It was now early morning after the submission deadline.

"Now the real work begins," said Arnold, stretching out his interlocking hands. The army of executives in Avon Music's office scanned the entries. Batches of videos were split among the team, including Leon.

"I can help you go through through this batch," offered Vinny Hashburn, who was Leon's personal assistant since the middle of his career. She had light mahogany hair with ash highlights styled in a choppy inverted bob and dark brown eyes. 

The team poured through a mixture of absurd to comical videos, surviving through the day with never-ending fills of coffee, fast food and laughter.

"Check this out," Vinny turned her laptop to Leon. He arched his eyebrows when he saw a beautiful naked female fan having food covering her private parts. "I'm yours, Leon Waltz! Day in, day out, I'll cook all your favourite meals that you can feed off me!"

"Shortlisted?"

Leon cleared his throat, "No."

 Vinny chuckled.

"You can't be serious, are you? I'm not hiring a whore in my house," Leon rolled his eyes.

Vinny poked fun, "Well, you're never short of new arm candies anyway."

He shot a glare at her.

"Yes boss, back to work," she muttered a giggle and gave him a hand salute.

"Whoa, guys! Check this out!" Arnold cried out that some team members rushed to his spot. 

An impressive display of martial arts movements on a chopping board and entertaining swings of the knives were performed by a man donned in a karate headband and attire. Dishes of mouth-watering prawn pasta, cream cheese bruschetta and grilled prawns slid down the table in quick succession. "Leon Waltz, please hire me! I'm the chef you've been looking for!" The young lad bowed stiffly in typical Japanese fashion.

"Oh, he's the one, most definitely! My stomach's rumbling now seeing his dishes. Fujita won't have a problem with this guy," Arnold confidently asserted.

"No," Leon stopped Arnold's hand before he could click his mouse to shortlist the entry. "I ain't gonna have him kill me in my kitchen!"

"Com'on, Leon, don't be silly! Who in the world would wanna kill you? For goodness sake, we're looking for a chef, not a housemate. Plus, you've got bodyguards."

"The chef will still be in my house, in case you've forgotten!" Leon snapped, running his hands furiously through his hair in stressful frustration at the thought of crazy strangers occupying his penthouse. He never had a live-in chef before, instead preferring to have Vinny order his favourite gourmet takeaways or invite top chefs to cook for him once in a while. If he had the time, which he hardly did, he would cook on his own although he did not consider himself a terrific cook.

"Chill, mate," Arnold gently patted Leon's back. "If you're going to be over-picky on who should or should not be shortlisted, we'll be going nowhere. Video after video, you have turned down. Don't forget, it's business and it's only for one year, after which you are free to get rid of your chef and go back to normal life. Think of the millions we'll get in the end. Anyway, this guy seems to have what it takes. No harm shortlisting him in our top ten. What do you think?"

Leon sighed, remembering the iron-clad contract with Fujita Corporation he signed after pitching the idea they came up with. A pinch of regret seared his thoughts as he began to realise the magnitude of what he'd gotten himself into. 

"Alright then, shortlist him," Leon numbly nodded.

Arnold smirked at Leon's surrender. After all, the handsome pop star was not looking forward to staying up till the late night, going through gruelling hours of seeing every video. 

So many videos showcased chef wannabes cooking more or less the same things - Leon's favourite foods. Already, he was getting bored from the lack of originality in so many of the entries. 

He yawned at over-the-top video submissions of female chef wannabes trying their hardest to sell their sex appeal more than their talent. Many of the entries he sifted through had bored him to death, as he felt they were more like click baits that showed amateur skills than showcasing serious talent. In fact, he did not bother to finish watching through half of the submissions thrown at him, cringing at the back of his mind what he knew was coming up next when he saw the first few seconds of artificial flattery, screaming females and exaggerated special effects - they were simply a waste of time.

"Here you go," Vinny passed a cup of hot chocolate to a half-sleepy Leon, who took a sip.

It was now close to evening and everyone was still hard at work, pouring through the entries and discussing among themselves which videos should qualify for the shortlist.

"It's going nowhere. I'm a goner now," he closed his eyes and leaned his head against the headrest of the swivel chair. Just as he was close to dozing off, his ear caught the sound of a bubbly, young child, "Hello Mr Leon Waltz, my name is Andy Lee and this is my mother, Ariel Lee."

That sounded refreshing. None of the videos he went through had a child acting as a presenter. It was nice of the child to greet him politely by addressing him with the title, Mister.

Leon turned his chair towards where the sound was coming from and squinted from a distance at Arnold's laptop screen. He saw a cute, cheery and thin young boy with a smiling woman next to him. She had a top knot bun on her head and she acted naturally without that touch of pretentiousness that wore him out throughout the day. "...Today we are going to make three dishes," the little boy continued.

Leon wheeled himself to Arnold's spot and watched intently at this simple duo, amused at the young boy's occasional fumbling of his words in his adorable but polite presentation, describing the ingredients his mother used as she whipped up her dishes. She had very beautiful, elegant-looking hands that he'd ever seen. Even the way she handled her food spelt professionalism, unlike the many wannabes who pretended to know what they were doing. The dishes she came up with were different from what the world believed were his favourite foods and they looked quite delicious and appetising.

"Nah...too boring," yawned Arnold, running his mouse to close the window on his screen.

"Back off! I'm not done watching it," Leon stopped him in time.

"Whoa! Easy there big guy," Arnold raised his hands in surrender, pleasantly surprised by Leon's sudden alertness and fixed attention to this particularly boring video.

Something in Leon melted into an empty hollow as he saw the cook's cheery friends gathering around to try her dishes.

They look so content in that terrible, cramp surrounding. That little boy - he seemed to be the most jubilant of them all.

Many thoughts raced his mind as he beheld these people like windows to a reality that he'd been so curious about and secretly longed for.

"Put her on the shortlist," said Leon.

"What? No way man, this-"

"Just put her on the shortlist," Leon firmly asserted. "We don't judge by entertainment but by skill, remember?"

Arnold gawked at him, stunned by his decision.