Hello guys!
First of all please let me apologize for the huge gap between this update. It's going to be a year since I last posted. Extremely sorry! And thank you for all the support you guys showed even when I was not updating. Honestly, that is the only reason I could find the motivation for writing again. Things have been really tough for me in the past months. It's almost comic how my life got turned on its head in just a span of roughly 6-7 months. everything I had worked for came crashing down, all because I wasn't good enough. The worst part- the look of utter disappointment in my parent's eyes. If only I had not been so incapable. Tbh there seems to be no more meaning behind my existence. My parents would have been happier with someone else as their child. An utter failure like me should just be buried already. If not due to many requests for this story I would not have found it in me to make this update. I promise to try and complete this story as soon as I am able to.
Due to Jouichiro helping out in the diner, it took Soma only a few minutes to return back to the two awaiting ladies, carrying two plates of freshly cooked 'Chef's Special' of the day.
Even before he put the plates in front of his clients, the aroma of the dish filled the surrounding atmosphere, something which did not go unnoticed to the keen polished senses of the culinary queen sitting across the table. Just from the aroma that gently swells up her nostrils, she figured out what was going to be served, not the least bit surprised when her suspicion was proven to stand true. How could she not know what dish it was when every detail about it was so vividly etched into her heart. It was the dish that had saved her after all. The one that he had served her all those years back during their bout of blue, the one that had bought the flavors back to her cooking, reignited the passion of cooking within her, most of all protected her from becoming an empty shell of a person her broken circumstances had left her to become. Yes, it was this very dish and this very dummy of a person that cooked it that saved her.
Erina smiled warmly as soma placed the plate in front of her, giving him the look with eyes full of what people term as love, something that she only reserved for him and him alone in bits that always left him wanting more. There was no one in the entire culinary world that could stop the storm called Yukihira Soma, and yet there she sat, with him wrapped around her pinkie finger with just a glance.
Soma pulled his eyes away unwillingly from his bewitching wife and placed the other plate in front of the little girl it was meant for.
Soma declared as he does in his signature habit, "Here you go ladies, Yukihira's special egg benedict. Please dig in!"
The aroma permeated the air, lulling the five senses into a serene forest filled with the moist warmth of the winter sun. nerves electrified anticipating the signals of the impeding yet to make contact with the palette. The abdomen made painfully aware of the void since the morning, begging to be filled and be enveloped by the sweet warmth. The first bite inducing an almost sensual pleasure, the second embracing the tongue like a long-lost lover, the third hugging the mind in a maternal touch.
Satisfied moans escaped Erina's body despite her best efforts to conceal them. Much to her dismay, they did not go unnoticed by the two observers standing close to her.
Erina was positively thankful that she had been seated otherwise she would most definitely not have stayed standing seeing how her legs had grown weak like jelly. The god tongue that had been bestowed on her made the bare onslaught of the refined flavors just that much more apparent, as its name suggested. The tiniest detail behind the careful choice and preparation of the ingredients all made to collage together in perfected harmony by the sheer skill of the chef would have eluded any ordinary person. Alas, Erina was far from normal. What escaped even the well proclaimed geniuses of the culinary world prostrated itself naked under her watchful eyes – or tongue to be precise.
One who knew Erina for the person she was supposed to be – God tongue – heiress of the Nakiri empire – Director of toutsuki – would have attributed her unworldly sense for the taste to be the pure talent that she was born with due to superior genes. While that person would not be extremely off in their reasoning, they would sufficiently miss their mark in their attempt to analyzing her superior skills. What they would not know, is the sheer amount of hard work and experience that was put behind making those skills seem like pure talent – something that any of Erina's colleagues would vouch for with their lives. Precisely what Erina would do for the Soma's Skills.
To the blissful ignorant – fruits of extreme hard work seem indistinct from those yielded by the fortune of talent.
Only someone like her, who walked in the storm could sensibly fathom the brilliance of what had been served on the plate in front of her. And if the sheer brilliance of the dish was not sufficient enough to make one snap their heads, the fact that what Soma had achieved was extremely difficult even for Erina, should aid the ignorant to put things into perspective.
Sensitive to the awkwardness of her new environment, Violet sat frozen in spot, staring at the full plate in front of her on the table. The delicious aroma invaded, pulling her out of her trance. She blinked, and stared at the table again – there was most definitely a separate plate kept solely in front of her. Erina had a different one with the same dish, she noted. Violet closed her eyes. Then opened them after a moment's pause, the full plate of food still in front of her. She blinked again. Still there. She rubbed her eyes with the back of her palms. Still full. Trembling hands reached out hesitantly, fingertips feeling the warmth radiated by the plate.
'It's warm', Violet thought in her heart. She bought a small spoonful of the dish into her mouth, and a dam that had stood firm for too long broke all at once.
Erina and Soma's eyes widened when they both saw droplets chase down the younger girl's cheeks. Erina panickily tried asking Violet, "what's wrong, dear? Did you hurt yourself? Did you burn your tongue?", receiving a side-to-side shake of Violet's head in return, who gulped another mouthful of food and in between hiccups said in a low cracking voice "It's Warm…. It's Warm." Tears filled the corners of Erina's eyes, she pulled the young girl to her bosom in a gentle embrace and whispered back tenderly to her, "don't worry, it will always be from now on".