Catherine made her way to the Olde Smith Club building entrance where a bouncer definitely taller and bulkier than her stood in the doorway. "Do you have a membership card?" He asked the master chef.

"I thought you knew." Catherine replied, handing him her membership card. The bouncer took it and inspected it.

"Well, if it isn't Miss Addenell. Enjoy your stay, ma'am." The bouncer said before stepping aside. Catherine thanked him before entering the building. Unlike the concrete and blocky environment of the outside, the inside of the club building was woody and dimly lit with orange light. The area smelled like baguette bread and fermented barely. There weren't that many people inside because it was nearing midnight except for a few seniors and middle-aged men. The absence of women made Catherine question herself. The club members laughed merrily to jokes as they sipped on their cocktail glasses and beer jugs while taking bites out of food that can be commonly be found in pubs like burgers and fish n'chips. All of this, however, wasn't what Catherine was here for. She looked around thoroughly until she found what she was looking for behind the counter with beer dispensers and a large collection of exotic alcoholic beverages: A tall, handsome lean man with emerald eyes and blonde hair similar to hers. This was Gabriel Addenell, the younger brother of Catherine. The master chef approached the counter and sat on a stool as her brother wasn't facing her and was skillfully shaking a cocktail shaker. He then grabbed a glass, threw the shaker up in the air and caught it. He poured the contents: a pink liquid into the glass and finished off with a pygmy parasol on an olive.

"I'm really glad to have you around this club, bartender!" The person who received the cocktail glass complimented.

"Thank you, Mr. Von Morgensomme." Gabriel thanks before turning around, only to find Catherine sitting next to his customer. "…Cath?"

"Hello, Gabby." Catherine said with a joking smile.

"…What the hell are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in that hotel, cooking?" Gabriel asked.

"Today's quota's done, Gabby. I'm just waiting for you." Just as Catherine finished speaking, Mr. Von Morgensomme faced the master chef.

"…I presume you know our bartender, miss?" He asked.

"Yes, sir. He's my brother, Gabriel Addenell." Catherine replied.

"Addenell…? Then you're… wow, you must be the legendary Catherine Addenell, then!" Mr. Von Morgensomme said, astounded. "I am honored to see you in person!" He added, giving his hand for a handshake.

"It's an honor to meet you too, Mr. Lysander Von Morgensomme! I've read your latest bestseller, Oblivion Express." Catherine replied, seeing that Gabriel had walked away, trying to make another cocktail for another club member.

"Ah, have you? I've read about you in the Chef's Digest magazine, Miss Addenell. You have a lot of admirers and students! Say, what brought you here?"

"I'm here to talk about some family stuff with Gabriel."

"I see." The man nodded, taking a sip from his cocktail. "I say! Your brother makes the best cocktail in the city!" He complimented.

"I really want to learn from him, but he's kind of a tough nut to crack on that." Catherine replied.

"I heard that!" Gabriel shouted as he finished off his cocktail preparation and served it to his customer. He then walked to where his sister sat. "What do you want?" He grunted.

"Give me the order of the mushroom burger." Gabriel nodded by Catherine's order. "Oh, I also would like a light beer." She added.

"Heh, you're such a plebian." Gabriel mocked before turning around to the hole in the wall that links to the kitchen. "Benny, one mushroom burger meal!" He shouted.

"Got it!" A voice from the kitchen yelled back.

"Sis, didn't you even eat dinner?" The bartender asked his sister as he took a jug and poured the foamy beer from a machine.

"Why do you think I'm here, then?" Catherine asked back. Gabriel shrugged.

"You decided to become fat?"

"Go to hell."

"…says the woman who works for hell." Gabriel scoffed as he handed Catherine her beer. He was referring to Joja Corporation. "Anyway, here's your moose urine, peasant lady."

"You're serving a legend, bro." Catherine jokingly boasted. "I need to wake up at seven o'clock tomorrow." She added, taking a drink from her jug.

"Whatever. Why are you here?" Hearing her brother's question, the master chef sighed as she handed him the deed that was enclosed on their grandfather's envelope. "What's this?" He asked, reading the contents. "Wait." He paused. "This is a deed…. To a farm?"

"Yup." Catherine nodded, taking another gulp of her beer.

"Farm… farm…" Gabriel reminded himself, and then acted as if something snapped in his mind. "Isn't this grandfather's farm?"

"That's right. I'm thinking about leaving at New Years' Eve." His sister replied, checking on her phone calendar. It was 15th of Fall, 2018.

"You're going to quit your job as a hotel chef?!" Catherine nodded. "You're joking, sis! People will think you're insane! You'll lose sponsors! You'll be EVERYWHERE in the newspapers! You'll…"

"Gabriel!" Catherine shouted. "If I find a chance to escape the shackles of Joja, I'll take it. Look, Gabby. Just because I'll quit my job as a hotel chef doesn't mean that I give up cooking entirely! I'll be harvesting fresh stuff and making good food out of it! Think about it!" She said. "Hmm… maybe I can start a restaurant there…!"

"Cath, you're insane." Gabriel sighed, shaking his head.

"Anyway, where's my food?" Just as Catherine finished, the bell rang behind her brother.

"Order! Mushroom burger meal!" A cook shouted from the kitchen. Gabirel took the tray and gave it to Catherine.

"Thank you, slave. This must be how it feels to be served." Catherine said as she took a bite of the burger. "…It's a bit salty."

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Catherine slammed her alarm clock off as she begrudgingly woke up from her bed. "Ugh, why did I even drink that beer?" She grunted as she walked to the bathroom. After washing herself clean and wearing her chef's uniform, she walked to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for herself and Gabriel. Her brother was still sleeping, seeing that his room was untouched. His shift starts at 1PM and ends at 1 AM. As she prepared French toast, she couldn't help but continuously glance at the deed that was stuck to the refrigerator door thanks to a magnet. 'Wow, I'm going to have a hell of an adventure next month.' She thought as she bit on her toast. After making another for her sleeping brother, she departed from her house and hailed a taxi to the hotel she works in.

Catherine was immediately greeted by the receptionists as she stepped foot inside. She greeted them back with the usual bow and gave handshakes to managers. She made her way to the grand kitchen where her chef colleagues and busboys were preparing the dough for today's breakfast. "Good morning, chef." The workers greeted her when she opened the door.

"Good morning to you all." Catherine replied, walking to one of the chefs. "Mr. Alek, how's the dough going?" she asked.

"We're currently kneading the dough. It'll ferment in the next hour." Mr. Alek replied. Catherine leaned to the large metal bowl where the dough was stored and gave a sniff. Knowing that it was ready, she gave a nod.

"Keep up the good work, Mr. Alek. I have to announce something." She said. Immediately, everyone's attention turned to her as she walked to the center of the kitchen. "Hi, Iffy!" She chirped when she saw her student enter the kitchen.

"Chef, please." Iftekharul grunted as he placed his bag in his locker and gathered with the others.

"I, uh… have something to announce. It may be sad for some of you or maybe happy because to be honest, I kinda acted like a douchbag to some of you." Catherine continued. "…I'm leaving." Immediately the kitchen was surrounded with mumbles of confusion and shock.

"Chef, you're not kidding, right?" Mr. Argonev asked. Catherine shook her head in response.

"I'm not. My grandfather has given me the duty to take care of his farm in the southern coast. You all know that it's the place with the nearest beach, which is seven hours from here. Due to this, I will have to leave the hotel."

"Do you mean that you'll quit cooking?" Mr. Belinski asked.

"Quit? Of course not, Mr. Belinski! Cooking has been what's keeping me alive for so long! The main reason I'm leaving this hotel is because…" Catherine lowered her voice to nearly a whisper. "…I want to get out of Joja's influence." Everyone nodded in recognition. All the chefs who worked here were in the same situation.

"But chef, will you be leaving today?" Iftekharul asked.

"I won't, fortunately for you. I will be working here until the New Year's Eve. Just because I'm leaving then doesn't mean that we'll slack off, though." Everybody nodded in agreement. "Even during my last days here and after I'm gone, we have to stay diligent! Remember, you're not working here to satisfy our superiors; you're working to satisfy our customers!"

"That's right!" All the chefs exclaimed at one.

"That's the chef team that I'm talking about!" Catherine cheered. "Alright, let's get back to work! Hotel visitors come at 9 o'clock sharp!"She added as everybody returned to their stations including her.

It was approximately 9:24 in the morning after five conventional orders done when Catherine noticed the familiar family sit down on the table. As usual, her mind locked her eyes on the raven-haired man as he ordered his food from the menu to the waitress. The waitress then entered the kitchen and yelled "Order up!" and posted the paper on the wall. Catherine swiftly snatched it from the wall and gave it a read.

'4x Croissant w/ Cranberry Sauce

1x Addenell Bruschetta (4-serv) '

'Yeah, I can do this.' Catherine thought as she immediately went to work. Her station was soon filled with aroma and banging of spoons, pots and pans as she mixed the ingredients for the sauce and kneaded the now fermented dough into croissants. As she worked, Iftekharul approached her. "What's up, Iffy? No order right now?" She asked, sensing his presence.

"Chef, I really don't appreciate that." Iftekharul grunted.

"I'm sorry, I just want to say it until I leave." Catherine giggled. "Anyway, what's up?"

"Chef, it's… uh… when you're gone, what am I… I mean, we going to do?" Iftekharul asked with concern. His teacher nodded with understanding.

"Iftekharul, you do know that whenever a queen bee dies in a hive, a new one is always hatched, right?"

"Yes, chef."

"Well, how are queens born?" She asked, knowing that her student used to enroll in biology classes.

"Well, the worker bees feed a hatchling with more royal jelly than any other hatchlings."

"Correct, Iffy." Catherine said as she rolled another croissant dough.

"…But I don't understand."

"You soon will. Any other questions?"

"What are you going to do? Will you be only farming?"

"What? Of course not!" Catherine said with hearty laugh. "As I told you all before, Iffy, cooking is what I live for. I'll make vlogs and blogs about food and… hell, I'll think about opening my own restaurant if my farm is established enough! A chef's dream is his or her own restaurant, you know!" She said as she pushed the tray filled with croissants into the oven.

"Of course, chef." Iftekharul concurred. Just as he was about to ask another question, a "Order Up!" rang through the kitchen.

"That's yours! Come on!" Catherine said as she patted her student's back. When he was gone, she gave a sigh. 'I still wonder why this hotel doesn't have breakfast buffet.' She thought. When everything was ready including her bruschetta, Catherine rang the bell, making a waiter take her food and send it to the family's table. Little did people know that she was secretly making pumpkin stew for them. When it was ready, she poured it into a bowl, prepared four bowls and spoons and exited the kitchen. By the time she arrived at her table, the waiter had already set up the plates and walked away.

"Oh, aren't you the chef that served us?" The red-haired woman asked.

"Yes, ma'am." Catherine replied. She faced the raven-haired man and started to blush. "Th… this is… s..s.. service." She stuttered as she lowered the large bowl of pumpkin stew on the table. She immediately noticed the raven-haired man's face heat up.

"Wow, thank you so much!" He complimented. Catherine sheepishly bowed and walked back into the kitchen. "How did she know that this is my favorite?" She heard the man say.

...

A/N: Hello! Back again with a new chapter! Sorry about the wait, I just started a new job that has kept me very busy, but i have a few days off that maybe Aperture and I can work on a few new chapters for you guys!

TTFN~

Ta ta for now~

Xoxo

Marina Rose