Author's note: There was a cartoon TV series I used to watch called Yvon of the Yukon (really hilarious btw). In the series, there was a chef, who always shouted, "No talking in the kitchen!" I imagined Pierre Senior to be someone similar to that.
Chapter 10: How to Bake an Orange Cake
It had been two months since Prince Amir and his tutor had gone home. It had been two months since that bittersweet week, fireworks and seashells week. Easy-going island Summer had faded into cool Autumn days. And Mark, who was now dating Vaughn, thought that the past two months were the happiest time in his life.
"Duchess Maya and Duke Chase from Castanet Kingdom, will be arriving at the end of this week. They had requested to learn how to bake from Pierre's grandfather, the Pastry Grandmaster, Pierre Senior," Mirabelle nodded, before disappearing back into her office.
"Your grandfather is the Pastry Grandmaster Pierre?" Mark asked Pierre in disbelief. "Lucky you!"
"Yup. I came from a long line of legendary chefs. I am pretty good myself. I was studying to be a chef before I decided to work for the Welcoming Committee instead". Pierre turned his attention to Denny, "You should come to my place for tea, Denny. I'll bake for you..."
"Ss...stop flirting with Denny!" Elliot said, red-faced.
Pierre pouted. "I wasn't flirting. I was just inviting Denny for tea".
"For you, it's the same thing!" Elliot retorted, still red-faced, looking dagger at Pierre.
"Are those two actually fighting over Denny, Bambi?" Vaughn frowned, whispering at Mark.
Mark smiled. "Well, Denny has always been popular, you know..."
"Tsk. Can never understand some people's taste..."
Denny glared at Vaughn. "I heard that!"
At the end of the week, Mark and Vaughn found themselves at Pierre's family house, in the kitchen, with Duchess Maya and Duke Chase, Pierre and Pierre Senior. Vaughn however, had informed Pierre Senior that he was just here to observe, as he was hopeless in the kitchen and couldn't cook even if his life depended on it. The Duke and Duchess were newlyweds, and the Duchess fussed over her husband constantly. Although the Duke complained about her fussing, Vaughn had the feeling that the Duke secretly enjoyed being fussed upon.
"Are you sure about this Maya?" Chase asked a girl with red hair and blue eyes. "You don't need to learn this. Maybe you prefer to go shopping instead? Or visit some tourist attractions? I am sure Vaughn will be able to take you..."
"No, I have determined that I am going to learn how to bake. I've made up my mind. I am going to bake you your favourite cake".
Vaughn thought that Duke Chase had looked afraid, and he wondered why.
"First rule of my kitchen: no talking in the kitchen. Second rule: see rule number one. When you talk, you don't listen. And when you don't listen, you don't learn," Pierre Senior said sternly, looking around the kitchen. He resembled a much older Pierre, with portly belly and snow white hair. "Today, we are going to bake an orange cake. First, let us carefully measure all the ingredients: flour, sugar, butter, eggs and oranges," he said, nodding.
"Maya...what the..." Chase started to cough, as a cloud of flour started to envelope him and Maya. Maya was trying to measure the flour, but for some reasons, she managed to get flour everywhere, except into the mixing bowl, where it was supposed to go.
"Ugh...stop..." Chase couldn't breath as the flour cloud was choking him.
"No talking in the kitchen!" Pierre Senior suddenly appeared behind Chase, and smacked the Duke's head.
"No...no sir. You can't hit him. He is a royalty!" Mark whispered at Pierre Senior.
"I said, no talking in the kitchen!" Pierre Senior turned around, and whacked the top of Mark's head.
"Ow..." Mark said, wincing, rubbing his head. But afterwards, he didn't dare to utter a single word for the rest of the cooking lesson.
"Now some sugar," Maya said to herself cheerfully.
"No talking in the kitchen!" Pierre Senior looked sharply at her, but he didn't hit her.
"Sorry..." Maya giggled, as she reached for the sugar. However, she wasn't paying attention, so she grabbed the salt container instead. She dumped the salt into her mixing bowl. She was wondering for a second or two, whether she was supposed to include the oranges' skin and pith, but she didn't want the old chef to yell at her again for talking. So she decided to stir the skin and the pith into her cake batter.
"Then the cake go to the oven," Pierre Senior directed. After all the cakes were safely placed in the oven, he flashed a rare smile to everyone, his first smile in the kitchen. "Now we wait, and we will have a delicious cake". He nodded at Pierre, "Grandson, could you please make some coffee and tea?"
They took the cakes out after some time, and Maya was dismayed as she surveyed the result. Chase's and Pierre's cakes were perfect, while Mark's was not looking as perfect, but still looked pretty good. Her cake however, was...odd, uneven looking, and there was a burning smell coming out of it.
Everyone in the kitchen stared at Maya's cake, shocked, but no one wanted to say anything.
"Chase, you are still going to taste my cake, right?" Maya whined, looking at Chase with fear in her eyes.
"Oh...uh...I...I..." Chase stuttered. But then he steeled himself. "Of course, dearest. I'll try your cake," he said as he turned pale, and green, at the same time.
"I'll try your cake too, Your Grace," Mark said. What are you doing, Mark? Vaughn wondered, frowning. He eyed Maya's cake apprehensively. No amount of money could convince him to eat it.
"Thank you Mark," Maya flashed a bright smile. She cut two big slices of her cake, and plated them. She put one plate in front of Chase, and another in front of Mark. She handed them forks. "Bon appetit," she said cheerfully.
Mark forked a small piece of cake into his mouth, and started to chew. Then suddenly, he let out sharp, gagging noises, as he covered his mouth with his hand. For a moment, he looked as if he couldn't decide what to do. Duke Chase was also making gagging noises, as he turned bluish green, and fainted to the floor. Seeing that, Mark ran towards the garbage can, and spat out the cake out of his mouth as fast as possible.
"Your Grace, are you okay? Can you hear me?" Vaughn knelt beside Chase, shaking the Duke lightly, but Chase didn't respond. "We need to get him to the clinic. Bambi, you okay?"
Mark wiped his mouth. He took a gulp of water from the tap. "Yeah, yeah," he said weakly. But he had looked pale, and he was leaning against the kitchen counter, not moving.
"Pierre!" Vaughn barked. "Call the ambulance! We need to get them to the clinic! Hurry!"
The ambulance arrived shortly after to take Chase and Mark to the clinic. Vaughn and Maya rode in the ambulance as well. At the clinic, the doctor told them that Chase and Mark would definitely be okay. The Duke had just received a shock to his system, the doctor explained. As he waved smelling salts under Chase's nose, the doctor had wondered out loud if the Duke had eaten something so bad, so atrocious, that it had shocked his body like this. Hearing that, Maya had burst into tears.
"Ugh...where...?" The ginger-haired Duke jolted back into consciousness, and opened his violet eyes.
"Chase! Thank goddess! I thought I killed you!" Maya cried out, teary-eyed.
"I am okay..." Chase croaked. "Don't cry". He reached out to pat Maya's head.
Maya sobbed. "I...I just want to be able to bake you your favourite cake. I thought...I thought if I can do that, I can be more useful to you..."
Chase frowned. "I didn't marry you for your cooking skill, Maya".
"Yes, but you will love me more if I can cook, right? I know you always admire great chefs and cooks".
The edge of the Duke's mouth curved into a small smile. "Yes, I do admire great chefs, and I don't usually like people who can't cook. But you are an exception". He touched the Duchess' cheek lightly with his fingers. "I married you even if you can't cook, didn't I? So don't you see how much you mean to me? You don't need to cook for me. Besides, I did promise that I will cook for you for the rest of our lives, didn't I?" He wiped his wife's tears with his knuckles.
"Oh Chase!" Duchess Maya said, as she hugged her husband.
"So please..." Chase grimaced. "Please don't...cook for me anymore. Or, you'll send me to my early grave..."
"How are you feeling, Bambi?" Vaughn asked Mark who was lying on the other bed.
"Okay. I just feel a little nauseous. Just give me some time. I should be okay". Mark closed his eyes. He still looked a little pale.
"Why did you eat her cake?" Vaughn whispered. "It didn't look edible to me".
"I didn't want to be rude," Mark re-opened his eyes, whispering back. "Besides, it's my job to make every visitor feel happy, right? She looked as if she was going to cry...I thought it will make her feel better if I try her cake".
Vaughn stared at Mark in disbelief. Then a little smirk formed on his face. "You are something else, Bambi. But next time though, I think you shouldn't do it, okay? You shouldn't eat something like that, just to be polite. You almost gave me a heart attack back there. I thought you had seriously hurt yourself".
Mark looked a little sheepish. "Sorry about that. For scaring you like that".
"I guess you can't help it. You are a junior partner. There is still a lot of stuff you need to learn. I really have to keep an eye on you". Vaughn looked away. "For scaring your partner like that, you are going to give me your spare apartment key, so I can make sure that you don't get in trouble". He felt a little bit of heat on his face, and his heart started to race a little. "I'll give you my spare...just in case you need to come by to ask me for...er, advice".
"Pfft..." Mark snorted. "If you want us to exchange keys, just said so. No need to beat around the bush," he said. "But..." Mark glared at Vaughn, remembering how the latter had sneaked into his room while they were staying at Regis' island. "...Don't use it to sneak into my apartment in the middle of the night to molest me, okay?"
"Tsk," Vaughn said. He had been discovered. It was exactly what he had intended to do. "I'll use it however I see fit, Bambi. And you can't stop me". Vaughn said with what he hoped was a sinister expression. Unfortunately he didn't look very menacing as his face had turned crimson. Thus, rather than looking terrified, Mark had burst into laughter instead.
End of Chapter 10