God of Cooking

But it seemed the cameraman thought differently. Min-joon was now on his way to the police station by taxi. Inside the taxi, the cameraman often giggled at him. Noticing his stiffened face, the cameraman waved his hand as if he was sorry.

“I’m sorry. I know I’m not supposed to laugh like this, but I can’t help it. How come an adult guy got beaten by a woman and taken to a hospital? I just don’t know whether I should praise Kaya or whether the other guy is just that stupid.”

“That guy was definitely stupid. He was caught stalking Kaya this time. How can a guy stalk a woman he doesn’t know like that? As for Kaya, it’s fortunate she was not hurt, but I don’t want to praise her who made my heart sink like this.”

“I understand what you mean. Even if I were you, I would feel upset and frustrated if my wife was led away by the police after beating somebody.”

When he said that, Min-joon sighed silently. Normally, he would not have shown others how frustrated he was like now, but he didn’t want to care about it now. She had him worry so much about her until dawn. Then she ended up being in the police station.

‘Dang it! I’m so unlucky today. If somebody had read my fortune today, I would have had an ill divination sign.’

Min-joon looked out the window with a confused expression. The street he passed by was filled with palm trees. When the car stopped for a moment, Min-joon’s gaze stopped at a house.

It was a condominium right next to the street. As if they didn’t care about people’s gaze, there were neither curtains nor blinds on the large windows of the condo. A young couple, sitting close to each other, were seen looking at a laptop on each other’s laps in a room warmly lit by a yellow light.

They were meeting their eyes, smiling, and touching their hands on each other’s laps. They were whispering something into their ears, which was inaudible to Min-joon.

Min-joon felt it was strange. Maybe the couple beyond that window led a life of their own today. He didn’t notice it when he watched lovers passing by him, but today, he felt different. Peeking into the couple’s life today, he really felt strange about it.

‘Does my life give someone that kind of feeling when they see me and Kaya?’

Min-joon thought that just like the lovers beyond that window didn’t know that somebody peeked into their lives like that, perhaps, there must have been quite a lot of times when others might have peeked into his or Kaya’s life. They would keep doing so in the future. When he thought about it, he suddenly felt he had to be careful about his behavior.

Min-joon also thought about how he would react when he met Kaya. At first, he thought he would get mad at her. But if somebody caught him getting mad at her, they would not feel good. Of course, every moment in one’s life couldn’t be beautiful all the time and didn’t have to be, but one could make the choice which life one wanted to pursue.

“I guess Kaya must be scared a lot right now?” Min-joon asked the cameraman.

“Well, you know she knocked down the stalker. I don’t think she is scared about anything.”

“I just asked you because I’m sure either,” Min-joon said with a relaxed smile then shut up.

When Min-joon went to the police station, some reporters who smelled a rat were already waiting with cameras. Maybe they were reporters who beat them to the police station. They popped the flash as soon as Min-joon got off the taxi. Someone held out a microphone to Min-joon, which made him frown because he couldn’t open his eyes because of the dazzling flashes.

“Hello, Min-joon. I’m Natalie Olsen from The LA Street. I heard that Ms. Reuters was involved in an assault case. How are you feeling right now?”

“I heard the victim was Ms. Reuters’s stalker. Did you know that somebody was stalking her?”

No matter how generous Min-joon was, he could not help but get angry when they asked a barrage of questions in an urgent situation like now. But instead of getting angry, he opened his mouth as softly as possible.

“Thank you. You are having a hard time covering the lives of ordinary chefs like me. I’m sorry, but I’d like to postpone the interview a little later. I’d like to meet Kaya right now. I’m so surprised, so I don’t know what to say. Please understand. Thank you.”

When he saw the lovers’ lives through the window, people would see and judge his life through the camera lens. Not only his life but also Kaya’s, Rachel’s as well as that of Rose Island would be seen by the general public like this.

Since Min-joon behaved so politely, the reporters couldn’t ask him any more questions. They were just popping the camera flash instead. Upon entering the police station, the cameraman whispered into his ears, “You’re smart. Min-joon..”

“What?”

“I mean you did well when you dealt with the reporters a moment ago. The more you get angry, the more they like it because it’s going to be a good story segment. So, if you respond politely like you did, they won’t pester you usually.”

“Well, I didn’t do it on purpose. ”

“Oh, that’s much better. In that case, they will realize that they can’t kick you around as they like.”

The cameraman smiled at him. Unfortunately, Min-joon couldn’t smile as well because he noticed policemen crowded around Kaya. Kaya, with her head down, was staring at the desk with a gloomy expression. It seemed that the policemen were comforting her rather than questioning her.

When Min-joon was approaching her, Kaya raised her head. The moment their eyes met, he stopped. He was thinking of quietly comforting her, but when he saw her overcome with fear, anger, and sorrow on her sullen face, he could not help but shudder with a sigh.

Kaya took off the blanket and stood up. She didn’t like his trembling expression, but she felt he was lovely, resentful, and grateful to him at the same time. When she was choked up with overwhelming emotions, she forgot her pride and cried before she knew it.

“You…” She couldn’t even finish speaking.

She beat his chest with her fists. Was it because she knocked down the stalker with her fists? It hurt, so he held her hands, which were very cold. It seemed she was covering herself with the blanket because it was really cold.

“Hey, stop hitting me. It hurts.”

“Man, is this the way you comfort me?”

“You’re so ugly, my girlfriend. You’ve got a runny nose. Your face is red. Don’t frown! You’ve got wrinkles on your face, too.”

At that moment, Kaya was about to kick him, but he hugged Kaya quickly, which made her lose her balance and hold his arms. He muttered in a feeble voice, “What a relief! Seriously.”

When she heard that, she couldn’t play the baby anymore.

He muttered with a slightly tearful voice, “I’m sorry. I was wrong.”

“No, you didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Well, I’m sorry for being hot-tempered and sorry for leaving you alone.”

Kaya wept without saying anything. She slightly bit the hem of his coat and buried her cheek on the burn scar on his neck.

“Then, don’t leave me alone. It’s scary.”

“Sure.”

“And…” Kaya hesitated for a moment.

Then she said, hugging his back tightly, “Sorry.”

<hr />

“So, you were really scared…”

Min-joon spoke, watching the videotaped screen blankly. Thanks to the cameraman who followed Kaya, the scene of her overpowering the stalker was recorded in clear high-definition.

What happened was simple. The stalker approached her and said something. Then he suddenly hugged her and tried to kiss her. But she was much faster. She struck the stalker’s feet with her high heels. She then grabbed his feet and kicked the stalker’s crotch with her knees.

After that, she threw him down and kicked the stalker in the ribs with his feet like a professional judo player. A policeman opened his mouth, clicking his tongue.

“He had two ribs broken and one fractured. And one of his testis… I’ll skip that part. For now, he needs to be hospitalized at least for several weeks. I can’t make a clear judgment right now, but we’re going to take into account the circumstances of your case, so you don’t have to be so scared.”

“How about the stalker?”

“Stalking and sexual harassment charges won’t give him any harsh punishment. The problem is that he is mentally ill… Depending on the degree of his illness, he might be confined in a hospital for life.”

“Good for him! What a creepy guy!”

Kaya stared at the screen with an unpleasant glance.

Min-joon muttered, hugging her shoulder silently.

“I think you can be my bodyguard, Kaya. I don’t know how to fight.”

“Then don’t challenge me from now on. You’re in big trouble if you do.”

“Okay.”

It was still dawn when they left the police station, but by the time they got home after answering some reporters’ questions, dawn was already dawning.

Kaya said with a sorry expression, “I’m sorry. You can’t sleep because of me.”

Min-joon replied with a smile, “Let’s ask Marco to buy breakfast for us.”

Of course, they couldn’t do it because it was already 11 AM when they woke up. They were so tired because they could not sleep at all last night. When they left the house after washing, it was almost 12 NN well past 11 AM.

Basically, it was perfect for a brunch rather than breakfast. It was none other than Lisa’s bakery that they went to eat brunch.

Marco turned to Min-joon with a sorry expression and said, “Can you do with bread for your breakfast?”

“Sure, no problem.”

“It’s way below the plane ticket price, though.”

“Well, I would like to forget about it because you are treating us to brunch this morning.”

Min-joon replied with a cool smile. Min-joon, Kaya, and Marco were passing through Venice Street in Anderson’s car.