Chapter 220: Master Chef

Apart from the results of the exam, there wasn’t anything eventful that everyone looked forward to for the rest of the foundation week. However, the talk about the basketball game was still a hot topic. Perhaps it was because of this that the sales in the horror booth declined.

Even so, everyone tried to enjoy the rest of the week. After all, the result of the exam will be announced on Tuesday next week. Everyone would rather enjoy this before the moment of truth.

And just like that, the foundation week passed without any other big events. At least for Penny and the Bennet children.

"Woah..." Penny’s lips formed an o-shape, sitting on the high stool on the counter while her mother busied herself in the kitchen. "Mommy, this is so good!"

Allison smiled in satisfaction. "You liked it?" she asked, resting her hands on the edge of the kitchen counter.

"I love it!"

"Mrs. Cortez taught me how to do it," Allison explained with a chuckle. "It might not be the same as how she makes it, but I’m glad you liked it."

Penny blinked, studying the smile on her mother’s face. "Mama, you were always with my aunt. Are you friends now?"

"Friends?" the smile on Allison’s face faded a little. She still tried to recover her smile as she said, "I’m not too sure about that. Your aunt might say otherwise if I said yes."

"My aunt doesn’t have friends and I don’t see you with your friends either."

Now that Penny thought about it, she never met anyone whom Allison would call her friend. Be it in this lifetime or her previous life. It was a matter Penny didn’t pay attention to in both lifetimes, but now that she thought about it, it piqued her curiosity.

Allison smiled. "Mommy has a lot of friends before."

"Then why aren’t you friends with them anymore?"

"Things happened," said Allison, and smacked her lips. "We grew up and then had a family of our own. But they’re still my friends and sometimes, we exchanged messages."

’My mother isn’t really a good liar,’

Allison clapped and told her she had prepared another dessert and quickly went to the fridge to check it. Watching her, the curiosity in Penny’s eyes slowly shifted into worry.

’Mom died before I did,’ she thought, remembering about her parent’s fate. ’The scandal about our family and Dad’s death was too much for her to take that she died of a heart attack.’

Her lips pressed into a thin line, having this mix of emotions swell in her heart. The only reason Penny didn’t think much about it was because her parents’ death was many years later.

’As long as I don’t make the same mistake, she won’t die, right?’ she wondered, watching Allison smile back at her. ’And as long as I can stop Papa’s accident, he would be saved.’

Penny pondered about it, not realizing she was ignoring Allison’s question.

"Penny? Penny."

Penny snapped her eyes up. "Huh?"

"Is everything okay?" Allison tilted her head a little to the side. "You suddenly went quiet."

"Ahh. Hehe." Penny grinned. "It’s nothing, Mommy. Everything is fine. I’m just worried about the exam."

Allison’s eyes softened. "Relax for now. I’m sure you can do well on your special exam."

"Mhm."

"Here, try this one." Allison served her daughter another portion of dessert.

At the same time, Slater and Hugo walked into the kitchen and joined them. The dessert Allison served them was something they were unfamiliar with, but they still enjoyed it in the end.

*

*

*

After the children enjoyed their snacks and dragged Penny to play with her pets, Allison chuckled and cleaned up the kitchen. As she did so, she was listening to the live broadcast on the phone as a habit.

While cleaning, her movements slowed down as she listened to the promotion news intently.

[We’re calling all aspiring chefs to join our master chef...]

Allison slowly turned to the phone where she was listening, her brows knitted together ever so slowly.

"The registration is open until the end of the month..." she whispered, pursing her lips. "I wonder if Mrs. Cortez is interested?"

******

Meanwhile,

"This one is cute!" Yuri lifted a magazine and showed it to Nina. "What do you think?"

Nina leaned her face forward and hummed a tune as she drew her head back. "It’s too cute for me."

"What do you want, by the way?" Yuri sighed as she put down the magazine. "I don’t think you told me your preferences."

"Well." Nina cleared her throat, a little shy to show her what she preferred.

"Well?" Yuri tilted her head to the side.

"Please don’t laugh at me," Nina muttered as she brought out a notebook and opened it, moving it in front of Yuri. "Something like this? I’m not too sure if you can imagine it. My drawing sucks."

Yuri looked at the sketch, and her mouth fell open. With a gaping mouth, she faced Nina incredulously.

"Is it that bad?" Nina bit her lips, having this urge to cover her sketch out of embarrassment. Much to her surprise, Yuri suddenly held her shoulders.

"Nina, you can draw?!" Yugi gasped. "What do you mean, it’s bad? It’s so cool!"

"Huh?"

"Wow!" Yuri looked at the sketch again. "Although there weren’t any colors yet, I can see it looks pretty!"

Nina pursed her lips before she smiled subtly. "It’s okay?"

"It’s great!" Yuri exclaimed, looking at Nina as if she just found a great treasure. "I didn’t know you can draw."

"Well, I wasn’t confident about it." Nina touched her nape. "So, I don’t tell others about it."

Yuri was still in awe, but before she could say something, the ads on the television stole her attention. Curious as to why Yuri stopped, Nina also turned her head to the television.

It showed a call for aspiring chefs to register and get a chance to be a part of the master chef competition.

Staring at it, Nina blurted out. "I think Auntie is qualified to join."

"You think so?" Yuri cast Nina a look. "Should we tell her?"

"Wouldn’t she get angry?"

"She will." Yuri sighed. "But should we try to convince her? I’ve always wanted to see someone I know on television."

Nina was a little skeptical, scared Jessa would just get angry. However, the girls still tried.

That night, not only did the girls get Jessa’s refusal, but they also got a lot of boasting from the confident and shameless Jessa, who thought if she would be in the show, she would have to be the judge and not the contestant.

Little did she know, Allison and Penny chose to live recklessly and had already taken the initiative and registered Jessa without her permission.