Absinthe

I swear to God Jiwoo was hopeless. There's nothing I hate more in this world than unnecessary drama, and he was drama personified. Ergo, I hated him.

Wasn't he the one who wanted to be friends? And weren't we both in our 30s? What's the big deal about giving each other advice? The more I thought about the whole thing, the more annoyed I got.

I shrugged and decided to let it go. The rest of the day was a blur, like every other day we had spent so far in Chef Maxwell's course. The only difference was that I could feel some unexplainable tension in the air.

It couldn't possibly have been the heat because the air conditioner was set at 20 degrees, which was cool enough. And yet, I could see beads of sweat trickling down Nico's forehead. I could also hear the steady tapping of Vivi's foot against the wooden paneled floor. And Jiwoo was pretty much staring into nothingness.

The next thing I knew, I was already in the kitchen for our daily OJT.

"Throw this garbage away!" shouted Chef Karl.

I was already on the verge of crying because I had no idea what was wrong with the crab meat I had prepared. And to think that it was the 7th time that my crab meat was getting chucked into the bin.

"Sorry, Chef," I muttered. "If you can just let me know what's wrong—"

"Get the fuck out of here if you don't know what you're doing!"

I felt Jiwoo's hand on my wrist as he dragged me back into our corner.

"Smell this," he said, gently lifting the plate against my nose. "You need to blanch this for about 2 to 3 minutes to completely remove the briny smell. Customers with sensitive taste buds and nostrils can detect this from a mile off."

I looked back at Jiwoo, my eyes tearing up. I had washed the crab meat thoroughly, but he was right: there were traces of its briny odor left. It was faint, but it was still present.

"Thank you," I murmured.

Jiwoo ruffled my hair. "I'm sorry about earlier. It must be the lack of sleep." He then grinned at me, but I wasn't ready to forgive him yet. I mean, yes, he helped me with the crab meat issue, but it didn't erase the fact that he had been a total jerk earlier.

"Service!" I heard the head chef shout. We all looked and saw Vivi gleaming in delight as her Cantonese fried noodles were approved for serving.

behind those two," Jiwoo said, smiling in

was approved for use, and afterward, I was transferred to the pâtissier whom I helped

a quick dinner. Vivi made us crispy pork buns that were definitely crispy yet melted in your mouth. I don't really know how she did it, but it was the best siopao

was the happiest event of the day because Jiwoo wasn't acting like the asshole I knew he really was deep inside, and both Vivi and Nico didn't seem as nervous and agitated

to reality when Chef Maxwell sent someone

were given two and a half hours to prepare our dish that will include all of the flavors we had identified from the flavor

the pantry to get all the ingredients we

my sole fillets, charring some tarragon, and incorporating that charred tarragon scent into the fish. Next, I grilled the soles on high heat

the lemon juice for my sauce. I deglazed the pan with some white wine vinegar and added some diced shallots, spring onions, horseradish, cucumbers, and a few oysters. When I was happy with the taste,

with his as well. Vivi looked like she was almost done, but Jiwoo was still

pricked those damned éclairs. Otherwise, he would fail, and I

declared Chef Maxwell. "Hands

straight to Nico's station and asked

broccoli. I incorporated the flavors of pork fat, apple, thyme, star anise, sea

bite and chewed it for

"And the seasoning?"

and

pepper instead of black. Good job, though. You have identified all

did Nico pass? Did we have to get everything perfectly? Or were mistakes like Nico's acceptable? God, I was getting more and

to Vivi's

and pickled turmeric. I used roasted apricots because I felt a strong presence of roasted smells and

the dish, and again, he took his time before swallowing

it. While the two are identical, there is

to my station next, and boy was I sweating bullets. After I explained my dish, he tasted it, and

with other strong flavors. That is why it's paired perfectly with this grilled sole. Very impressive, BJ! I am very proud of you. However, I

I nodded.