Chapter Five

The next day came very quickly. Elena had already prepared the ingredients she would cook for the crowd that day. She was currently bringing out her utensils to set up outside.

"Are you ready for today?" Mac asked.

"Of course. You?"

"Yes. Yes, I am. You know you do not have to be nervous right? I'm right next to you."Mac said calmly. Elena stopped what she was doing to take a good look at him. Despite the calm look on his face, the twitching of his fingers and the way his legs were shaking gave him away.

"It looks like that advice was meant for you, don't you think?" She said teasingly. Mac sighed.

"I can't help it. So many people already want to come to our restaurant. I took a walk yesterday evening after our showcase, and we were the talk of the whole town." He said, smiling.

"Well then, that's good isn't it?" Elena asked.

"You have no idea. Enough with the chit-chat. Let go prepare for more customers." He helped her carry her working table to the front of the restaurant. Also, He helped her to arrange her utensils and ingredients.

They had an even bigger crowd that day. So many people were fighting to be at the front lines to avoid taking the food when it was done. Mac smiled inwardly.

When he was done, he called Elena, and when she came out, the crowd became restless. He calmed them down and began his introductions.

"Good morning everyone. Today, we are going to cook another of our special menus for you. After today though, there would be no more of this show. I would tell you more about this at the end of this. For now, let's welcome our Cook, Elena!"

There was cheering and whistling. The people that tasted her food couldn't wait for her to cook again, and those that heard of her food were curious to taste it. Elena put on an aloof face, but she was very proud of herself inwardly. She had started to make a name for herself, and people recognized her for it. She was so very happy.

She began bringing out her ingredients and utensils and introducing them as she did the day before. Then she got to work mixing and preparing the ingredients. In the middle of the spectacle, the crowd started to whisper and murmur. She looked up to find out what was distracting their attention and saw a group of men heading towards her and Mac. She looked at Mac to find out about them, only to see that his face had frosted over.

"Who are they?" She whispered to him.

"People you do not want to associate yourselves with." He said frostily. Elena looked back at the group, already putting up her defenses. She had come this long already; she wouldn't let anyone destroy her hard work.

"Well well well, if it isn't Mac. Come to steal our recipe again?"

"You know who the true thief is. What are you doing here? I do not want you to cause any trouble." Mac said.

"Trouble? No, no. We aren't looking for any trouble. Just want a little competition between restaurants, that's all." The leading man gave a studious look to Elena. Elena looked closely at the man too. Unlike Mac, who looked older and lanky, this man looked young, reputable, and reeked of money. He reminded her of all those politicians in her father's palace.

"I don't remember we agreeing to any kind of competition," Mac spoke again.

"That was why we came to offer one. We would love to do it now. See," he waved over one of the men behind him. The man was dragging a bag of cooking utensils along with him.

"We are already prepared." Everywhere was silent. The crowd curiously watched the spectacle, trying to figure out what would happen next.

"And if we refuse?" Elena suddenly spoke up. The man looked at her quickly, like he was excited that she finally spoke to him.

"Well then, we will just have to assume that your all bark and no action. You do want the people to know you are the best restaurant, don't you?"

"And why do you suddenly want to help us?"

"Oh no, I'm not helping you. Just want to test our competition that's all. If you win, well then that proves you are the best. If we win, we wouldn't mind showing all these reputable customers that we are the best." Elena looked at him studiously.

"And that's all there is for you?" She asked.

"Of course." The man smiled. Elena doubted that was all there was to it. But she didn't know what was going on in his mind, so she just decided to play along. She might find out what their plans are after she is done with her cooking.

"Well, then I accept your challenge. But you would have to catch up because I am almost done with what I am preparing."

"Ah! Of course! Good! Come." He said, pointing over to the man with the utensils.

"Set up your things fast. And start preparing your food." The other men he brought with him had already set up the table and the cooking stove. So it was easy for the cook to begin. As they prepared, Elena continued with her cooking.

"Please, when you are done, can you kindly wait for my subordinate, so that you both can serve the food at the same time?"

"No problem. But we have to select someone from the crowd to be the judge."

"Of course." The man replied.

"I would do it!" Someone suddenly shouted from the crowd.

"Ah! Well, then no problem." Elena looked at the man who volunteered closely. She immediately noticed the look that passed between them and knew that something was up. He looked suspicious.

"Of course he would volunteer," Mac whispered.

"Who is he? Elena asked curiously.

"He goes by the name Malik. He has an exquisite sense of taste. He can know the whole ingredients used in cooking food just by tasting it. You should select another person if you don't want your secret recipe to be exposed."

Elena suddenly figured it out. So that was their plan all along. Whether she won or not, he would still use her recipe for his restaurant and can even claim to be the one who created it. She smiled; the taster might get all the ingredients in her food but never get her secret ingredient. Not everyone goes about tasting strange wild weed that grows in the forest.

"Don't worry. Let him carry on with his plan. He would never be able to find out my secret ingredient." She said with a secret smile. Mac was doubtful, but he trusted Elena. If Elena believed that he wouldn't find out, he would trust her belief.

Their opponent was already in the middle of his cooking as Elena rounded hers off. She served it in a heating bowl and covered it as she waited for her opponent to round off.

"Mac, what is this Man's name anyway?" Elena asked, pointing at the man that issued the challenge.

"Joüstin. He is the owner of Joüs restaurant, the most popular restaurant in the kingdom. But he is just a thief. A sly conniving thief who only knows how to take what doesn't belong to him and claim that he worked for it."

"You sound like you have serious issues with this man," Elena said curiously. Mac became silent for a while.

"He was my partner. We both started this restaurant. I was in charge of creating the recipe and he was the manager in charge of our finance. Our restaurant was the best then. I didn't go to school, so I wasn't very good at finance. That was why he was the one heading it. Sadly that became my downfall as he was stealing money from the restaurant." He said with what seemed like nonchalance. But Elena knew that the memory still hurt him.

"One day," he continued, "we suddenly went bankrupt and he fled with my book of recipes. I thought something had happened to him for I never saw him for three years. Then one day, I heard of a new restaurant that was doing expertly well. I went to have a look at it and guess who I found? Joüstin, as not only the manager but also the owner of the restaurant, with my food recipe as his menu! I was so angry I crashed his restaurant. I was later arrested and put in the kingdom's jail and was released a week later. By the time I came out, my restaurant was crashed and destroyed. Someone intentionally caused it harm, but I didn't have enough power to prove or lay claim to my statement." He sighed.

"Because my restaurant wasn't doing well again, I worked different odd jobs and saved enough. That was why I was able to help you without borrowing money from anyone. Now, all my hope is on you and this restaurant. I trust you that you would help make this restaurant bigger than what it is." Mac smiled at her proudly and reverently after telling his tale.

Elena was touched. No one had ever believed in her like this. She swore then and there that she would not only make the Red queen the best restaurant in the kingdom of Neba but throughout the four kingdoms. In the future, when she finally achieved her goal, she would remember the day she made this promise.

Finally, their opponent was done with cooking. Just so that he wouldn't cheat, Elena called out two more people from the crowd to judge after finding out his true identity. Joüstin smiled in agreement, but he obviously didn't like her idea at all.

The cooks served their food for three people each, as the tasters settled down.

"Here," Mac said as he served Elena's dish first. The tasters ate it and enjoyed it, as expressed by the look on their faces. After the first spoon, they began to rush eating their remaining food.

"Wow. This is good!" One of them exclaimed. The taster working with Joüstin could not help but nod his head in agreement. Elena looked at Joüstin and noticed that he was intrigued.

After they all finished eating their food, next was the food prepared by Joüstin's cook. Joüstin served the cook and smiled. As the selected audience tasted the first spoon, they nodded their head in approval. It turned out that Elena's opponent was pretty good too.

"They are pretty good," Elena exclaimed. She turned to look at Mac and noticed that both his hands had been clenched into fists.

"Yes, they are good, because those are my recipes." He said icily. Elena felt bad for Mac, but she encouraged him.

"Well too bad for him then. That would be all he ever knows how to cook. You can always create new recipes can't you?" She said suggestively. Mac smiled kindly at her.

"Thank you, Elena, really, for everything." He placed his hand on her shoulder. Elena looked at his hands and then faced him with a wide smile on her face.

The tasters finally finished their food and hummed in approval. Everyone was silent as they were waiting for their judgment. Malik went first.

"The Red Queen's dish was very nice actually, but I prefer the food prepared by Joüs restaurant."

Elena looked at Mac. They had both expected his response. They rolled their eyes sarcastically as Joüstin cleared his throat, exuding a behavior of nonchalance.

"Well then, the rest of you?" He asked.

The first to respond was an old man. He was dressed formally and looked like he hailed from a middle-class family. He looked more like a scholar and like someone who would probably work for the royal family.

"For me, The Red queen served the best dish."

"Yeah, I agree with that too!" The second one suddenly chipped in. "The food prepared by Joüs restaurant was nice, but there was just something special In the Red Queen's dish that isn't found in Joüs dish."

"So that is a two out of three! Red queen won!" Mac said satisfactorily. Then he faced Joüstin.

"Are you satisfied now?" He said.

"Yes. Thank you for the opportunity to compete with you." He said as he looked at Elena and Mac with a secretive smile. Joüstin and his workers wrapped up their tools and left the place after they had served their portion to the crowd. As they left, Elena began serving hers, and the crowd rushed up to have a taste of her food. When they were finally done with the dishing of the food, Mac silenced the crowd.

"As from tomorrow, the Red Queen's restaurant would be open! We would start serving based on the first twenty people to set a reservation, so reserve one for yourself early if you want to have a table. Reservation starts by mid-afternoon. Thank you for your support! Good day!" He ended with a bow. The announcement shocked the people, and the people immediately rushed back home, trying to prepare enough money to procure a reservation.

BACK AT JOÜS RESTAURANT...

"What are the ingredients she used?" Joüstin asked Malik impatiently.

"I could taste the curry, parsley, pepper, potatoes, and salt. But there is something else I can't put my finger on," he answered, a curious look on his face.

"And what's that?" asked Joüs.

"She added something extra, but I just can't get what exactly she added....that is the key to what enhances the taste of these simple ingredients."

"Hmm, interesting," Joüs said, a conniving look on his face.

"Looks like I would be paying Mac's little cook a visit..."