A smiling chubby lady wearing a chef outfit came into their cla.s.sroom doing an exaggerated catwalk. "Hi, everyone, I'm Chef Venus, the G.o.ddess of beauty and love." She posed like a supermodel on a runway with her palm behind her head and the other hand on her hips with her body slightly bent back. "Don't you agree? If you won't then just pack up and go home."

"..."

She slapped her forehead with a sad face and sobbing sounds. "Aye, I was just joking and now I look like a fool. I want to make you laugh to make you relax but the joke was on me. Ugh, shameful." She continued to act in a pitiful manner. A lot was now seen shaking their shoulders with mirth but still holding back.

She saw this and hollered, "Why are you holding back? Just laugh until all your nervousness will fly to the moon." She was throwing her hands up here and there in the air while speaking. Others couldn't hold in their laughter and laughed out loud.

"Hahahahaha, you're the best Chef." Ernie gave Chef Venus a thumbs up while still chuckling. Then everyone gave her a round of applause.

"Yeah, thanks Chef, feel at ease now."

"Cheers to Chef Venus."

She was looking at the partic.i.p.ants with her hands on her hips. "Good… okay, everyone. Let's begin." She was serious now.

She made them cut with speed, bake a custard pie, and made them cut carrots into flowers or different kinds of food decors.

"Whew! This cla.s.s is so tensed. I… wanna… cry."She acted crying again. She continued, "All of you did your best. I wish I could give you all a thumbs-up and say that you pa.s.sed but I can only send two. But to see you all improved made us mentors happy. That's what this is all about. Once your name is called, go to the 5th floor. If not then you already know. Apply what you learned here in your home or work and don't give up. There'll be next year as long as we're still breathing, alive and kicking."

"Okay... the two whom I saw produced exceptional talents are, drum roll please..." she drummed her fingers on the table, "ddddum, James Espinosa and Beauty Ferol." She sounded like the beauty pageant host announcing the winner.

She pushed them away to the door, "you two, go now. Others are waiting for you there. Hurry." Then she faced those behind, "for the rest of you… let's eat. I brought some ice cream and cake for you."

. . . . .

The two, with all smiles, left hurriedly. They were excited and climb up the stairs with wings on their feet. As they reached the hall on the 5th floor, they saw others came running in as well. Clarence and Beauty ran across along the way.

Clarence saw her sweet and excited smile. Beauty saw his charming smile for her.

"I'm here for my goal, beating you. Do you still think I can't win against you?"

"I'm waiting."

The two of them walked in with his hand holding her fingers just loosely interlaced. She felt his hand with hers, made her calmed and glad to reach this far and could stand by his side in this compet.i.tion.

. . . . .

Back at the present, two years later, on the day Beauty's restaurant would officially open.

Beauty went into the office. There she saw Clarence busy putting things in proper order. He looked up as she went in.

Their eyes met, which were speaking in volumes but no sound left their mouths.

Her gaze went to his hand, which was bandaged. It made her worried, the wound seemed bad.

She rushed to his side. "What happened to your hand?" and held his bandaged hand at once. Her eyes were focused on it.

This hand had held her fondly and protected her with care. This hand caressed her face as he made a promise. This same skillful hand mesmerized her when he cut and prepare ingredients with haste but evenly done with full of confidence. He also used this hand to announce to everyone that she was the woman he chose and loved.

She recalled Chef Dino's words, "Our hands are part of our chef's life, so we should take good care of it like our life." Yet, his hand was now heavily wounded, not burn blisters or scratch due to cooking but an injury that may harm or hamper his cutting skills. She was really troubled. Was her momentary cold silence led him to hurt this hand?

While she was anxiously staring and holding his hand, without saying a word, he embraced her closely as if he won't let go. "I love you. Thank you for speaking back to me now. I'm starting to think that you would give up on me. I love you, I love you. Please forgive me." His voice was slightly trembling as if he was crying. He embraced her tighter and buried his face on her hair.

She slightly pulled back and lovingly looked up to his eyes, which was misty. She grasped of his bandaged hand and placed it on her face. She was about to say something, but they heard a loud, Bang!

. . . . .

Back in the past.

Bang! A toy handgun was triggered, they were now at the beach running a relay race to get their ingredients for the team compet.i.tion for the Annual Open Culinary Compet.i.tion.

There were only 12 partic.i.p.ants left. There were two teams with six members each. Both of them were on the same team, not by default but through the drawing of lots.

Clarence ran fast to a 100 meter stretch of sand. As he reached the end, he picked up a flab of pork meat and placed it in the basket he was holding then made another 100-meter dash back to his team's workstation. Rene, one of the Visayas representatives, was next. He ran the same route and chose grapes for their ingredients. They were slightly ahead of the other team.

The next member was a girl named Zennia, she was very slow. She picked up a bottle of light soy sauce and almost tripped on a stone on her way back. They lost their advantage. The boy, next one in line, tried to outrun the other team with a das.h.i.+ng speed and got them even. He brought back a pack of onions.

Another girl in their team, Sayuri, a bit plump pet.i.te girl, was fast. She reached the table of ingredients ahead of the other team's member. Somehow, nature wasn't kind to her, on her way back, this time she really tripped on the same stone that almost victimized Zennia. Her face fell flat on the sand while the bunch of banana she was holding was thrown high and hit a big rock near the sh.o.r.e. The beautiful bunch of bananas was now ugly crushed bananas.

The team yelled, "stand up, never mind, picked it up."

"Don't give up, Beauty is waiting."

"Hurry!"

With her ears filled with their encouragement, she ran to the crushed bananas, picked it up with care, at least, to save some for their dish and ran back to their station.

She slapped Beauty's hand and the latter ran as much as she could. However, the other team was totally ahead. Since they would lose, nonetheless, she didn't leave the ingredient's table right away. She pondered well on which to bring back as she recalled what the other members brought back. After thinking for a while, she grabbed one big cabbage.

They lost the relay race and lost the advantage to get another free ingredient. Somehow, Beauty believed they could still make good dishes with their six ingredients.

This round's rules were, the two teams would only be provided with eggs and flour, no more. No salt was even provided even on the relay game ingredients' table. Each object could only be taken by one person. Meaning, there's no duplicate of each item in both teams. So each team had to do their best to get their choice of ingredients and win. The winning team's sixth member would be given the time to choose and pick another one on which he thought they possibly need.

After the relay race, each team member would cook a dish each in an hour with the ingredients available for them. In their team's case, only eight were available for them: pork meat, onions, grapes, 'poor' crushed bananas, a bottle of soy sauce, cabbage, eggs, and flour.