Dominant Woman Looking for Love - Chapter 28：Extremely hungry.

I look back to see Jett and Charles standing by the doorway.

They look so stunned that I let go of Ren immediately.

Not knowing what to say, I turn around and decide to go out of the room before they ask me anything that’d too awkward to answer.

As soon as I step out, a voice coming from the side says, “Okay! So for the last challenge, the venue is mostly set up now. Please follow me.”

Holy shit! Someone up there loves me, after all.

What wonderful timing! I breathe a sigh of relief.

Now I don’t have to worry about being asked for a while at least.

I quicken my pace and follow after the staff personnel that’s guiding us.

* * * * *

Bright lights enter my eyes as we go through a huge curtain. I squint a little and let them adjust.

Yikes!

It’s not only blinding, but it’s so hot here! Is the entire studio just filled with spotlights and lamps or something?! It almost feels like all my make-up’s going to slide off if I’m not careful. Well, just exaggerating, of course, but…

Near the center, I see two temporary steel kitchen islands that have a lot of equipment set up for our next challenge. In the back, there are ingredients available for our use.

If this wasn’t obvious enough already, the next challenge will involve cooking.

I’m decent enough if I could say so about myself, so hopefully, we have a fair chance of winning.

* * * * *

“Welcome back to ‘I Challenge You!’ It’s been one heck of a ride so far, huh?!”

The crowd screams in response.

“Is everyone ready for the LAST challenge?! ‘Cos I CERTAINLY ammm~!” The host’s voice echoes as he shouts into the mike.

“A recap: So far, each team has two wins with one loss each, putting both of them on a draw! Now, the last one is meant to change that, but if both teams STILL end as a draw, they will have a choice of whether to split the prize money or go for another tie-breaker.”

“And now for our next challenge, it’s the one you are probably ALL waiting for! It’s time for ‘WILD GUESS GASTRONOMY’, one of the most popular segments in our show!”

The emcee pauses as he adjusts his posture.

“Since this is a VERY, VERY, VERRYYY special episode, there’s going to be yet, another twist! To those who are quite new to the show, I’ll explain the basics of this challenge as well.”

“Unlike other cooking shows, you don’t have to be a talented chef to win this challenge.”

“Each team is expected to make one dish and make sure they have an extra plate for taste testing purposes.”

“To clarify, it can’t just be something like a soft-boiled egg or just pan-fried pork chop and call it quits, for example. There have to be multiple elements or at least, enough complexity to whatever it is you’ve decided to make.”

“Once you’re done cooking, you and your teammate will taste-test the extra dish yourselves. You’ll be given a scoring sheet to indicate how much you’d rate your dish 1-10. 1, of course, being the worst.”

“The other plate will be given to the judges for them to rate as well.”

“They’re professionals in the food industry, so they’ll be quite strict with their evaluation and won’t hold back. The goal here is to have your grade match as closely to theirs as possible. The team who wins will get 0.5 points.”

“So… now for the twist! Special caviar containing some ghost pepper chili extract will be placed randomly in the extra plate you’ll be eating. It’ll be very hard to spot. Only the team who happens to avoid it will gain another 0.5 points.”

After talking so much, the host seems a bit beat. “Phew! I hope that made sense as that was a lot to explain.”

“Are you still with me folks?!” He tries to check on the audience to see if he hasn’t lost them.

* * * * *

—

{Jett’s POV}

—

We’re all so busy with food preparation and cooking; but for almost the entire time, Ren has been absent-mindedly staring at Rysia.

It’s really pissing me off, to be honest.

I’ve felt very uneasy ever since I saw them doing something very questionable in the waiting room.

Is there something between them? Why was Rysia doing that? Is there something she’s not telling me?!

It didn’t seem like she was interested in him at all.

I could tell that Ren genuinely aggravates her and she doesn’t enjoy his advances.

Feeling anxious, I look towards Rysia and see her busily going about their makeshift kitchen.

—

{Jett’s POV end}

—

* * * * *

I wipe my brow as we’re almost done with the Vietnamese Lemongrass Pork Vermicelli Bun.

I’ve been cooking the meat in low heat for some time now. Doing it this way is almost like it’s slowly marinating in the sauce.

It’s just about the right shade of brown, so I think it’s time for me to remove it from the pan for now.

The smell of garlic, shallot, soy sauce, lemongrass, fish sauce, and caramelized meat, wafts in the air.

It’s making me extremely hungry.

My stomach growls as I start to take out the perfectly boiled rice vermicelli out of the pot.

I separate the white noodles and divide them equally between two bowls.

I arrange the freshly cut vegetables which were prepared by Charles earlier as beautifully as I can on top of the snow-white vermicelli.

The contrast between the vibrant greens, oranges, purples, reds, and whites are gorgeous.

“Charles, how are the deep-fried Vietnamese spring rolls? You’re almost done right?” I yell out loud, just so I can make sure he’ll hear me without having to turn around.

He shouts back to confirm. So I start chopping up the remaining coriander, peanuts, and spring onions as garnish.

I turn one of the stove’s knobs to ignite the burner again. I put it on high heat and get the lemongrass pork ready.

I’ve already made sure that by the time we assemble this, the entire dish will be completed just as the buzzer goes off.

After a few minutes, barely visible smoke rises from the pan; indicating that it’s hot enough for me to sear the lemongrass pork to add some more color and sheen to it.

Time passes by quickly and before we know it, a loud and medium-high pitched sound reminds us we’re no longer allowed to do anything else to our dish.

A staff comes by to pick up our taste-test dish so they can hide the Ghost Pepper caviar within it.

I breathe a sigh of relief and I’m just SO glad that everything’s over.

“… That was really crazy, huh?” Charles looks at me with a tired expression. His forehead is a little bit misty from the sweat.

I reply, “Tell me about it.”

Not long after, the staff sets 3 bowls on the table, all perfectly arranged in almost the exact way we did it.

We both decide on the left bowl.

Charles picks it up and mixes it before he takes a bite. The moment he gets a taste of the slightly smokey lemongrass pork, salad, and rice vermicelli – it almost seems as if he’s frozen in shock.

“… Did we really make this…?” He slowly turns his head towards me.

“Hmm…? Is there something wrong with it?!” I ask him in a panic.

“I think it’s better if you try it yourself… Here, you go!” His eyes sparkle as he passes the bowl to me.

In my excitement, I grab a huge forkful of everything and plunge it into my mouth.

However, the joy of being able to taste such a heavenly combination of wonderful flavors never came.

Instead, I spit out everything that was in my mouth and search for water like a crazy person!

“OH NOOO!! It looks like Team Charles-Therysia has chosen the bowl with the Ghost Pepper! They, unfortunately, will not get any points for this.”

I roll my eyes and curse my luck, yet again as I wipe the side of my mouth. Everything that touched that stupid chili is a little bit inflamed now.

Welp. I guess that ‘someone’ up there doesn’t love me enough.

Grabbing another glass of water, I gulp it all down and attempt once again to get a taste of our work.

It goes well and I’m actually able to appreciate it this time around.

We both decide that it is an 8.5 and write it on the sheet that was given to us earlier. The staff member hung around since earlier and we pass it off to them.

* * * * *

The emcee immediately seizes the chance as soon as the results for the other team’s taste-testing comes out.

“Looks like Team Jett-Ren has successfully avoided the chili trap we set! They will receive 0.5 points for this!”

“Team Charles-Therysia currently has 0, will they be able to guess their rating right?! We’ll find out now, shall we?”

Walking across the stage, the host goes to where the panel of judges is sitting.

…

“Let’s start with Team Charles-Therysia’s Vietnamese Lemongrass Pork Rice Vermicelli Bun’s rating. They voted their dish an ‘8.5’.”

“Do you think they guessed it right? Or are they wayyy off the mark?!”

“So what’s the final verdict, my dear judges?” In an almost teasing tone filled with anticipation, the announcer shoots off his query without any hesitance.

The judges hold out a large cardstock paper with ‘8’ written on it in black with a broad felt-tip marker.

He slaps his thigh loudly as he sees the score. “OHHHH…! That’s SO close! I wonder about the other team though!”

“Team Jett-Ren has voted an ‘8’ for their version of Beef Salpicao with buttered carrots and green peas with a side of garlic fried rice. That sounds absolutely delicious! But what do the judges have to say about this?!” The emcee turns around, meeting the panel’s eyes.

Not a moment too soon, another white dense cardstock is being held above one of the judge’s heads, with a number ‘6.5’ written quite boldly.

As if no one expected this at all, an awkward silence falls onto the crowd.

After a few minutes of basking in astonishment, people begin to talk among themselves.

What starts as murmurs at first, quickly become louder and more hostile in nature.

Everyone’s clearly upset by the results.

Ren, who was mostly ‘out’ of it for almost this entire challenge, rose up to the occasion. “Awww…!!! I’m honestly SO thankful and I feel so blessed to have such supportive fans, but please, don’t worry.”

“Jett and I had a bit of a discussion before we decided on our own rating.” He looks a little troubled and is hoping for people to calm down after seeing him do so.

“Both of us aren’t gourmands and we, unfortunately, don’t have discerning tongues. So in fact, receiving a ‘6.5’ from these well-known professionals in the food industry is already pretty amazing, in and of itself.”

He looks up at the audience and gives them the most heartfelt and touching smile. “Please be happy for us, it is definitely an accomplishment.”

No one talks for about 20 seconds. In the deafening silence, someone starts to clap slowly. Soon, everyone follows the person’s lead. Encouraging them to be more supportive instead of the opposite.

The host jokes a little about what just happened. “Wow! Ren! You’re amazing! I’m almost speechless, to be honest! No question that you have the power to charm anyone’s pants off.”

“Now that that’s been resolved, there’s one more thing left to do.” The man who has been holding the microphone the entire time continues, “Since Team Jett-Ren failed the last half of this challenge, it means BOTH groups are STILL tied!”

“As I’ve mentioned in the past, both groups can either split the money OR do another challenge as a tie-breaker.”

“There will be stricter rules this time around so it’ll definitely be the last challenge. So… what do you guys say? Choose wisely!” The host eyes us with a meaningful look.

Without a second’s delay, all of us make eye contact with each other and come to an unspoken conclusion.

“We would like to split the money.”