Love At Last

THE THIRD PHASE

The MC – Master of the Ceremony cheered on all the contestants present but I was only focused on watching the way Lily’s hands moved – speedily and carefully – beautifully. Apparently, this phase was a test for speed as the contestants all had timers at a corner of their cooking tables.

“What are these beautiful ladies going to make for us today? Can we see how beautifully their hands are moving?” the MC cheered. ‘Beautifully’ indeed! Lily’s hands were the most beautiful to me. “I sure know these amazing talents will produce something beautiful with their dough,” he cheered further.

The contestants – which included males and females – worked at an amazing speed to remain on track and to be able to finish on time. The scene was in fact intriguing with Lily being at the center of it all.

Minutes later, the timer went off signifying that their time was up; then came the moment of truth. It was finally time for the judges to taste, judge and award the contestants scores. I felt really nervous as to how the judges would react to Lily’s dish. I watched the contestants take their dish up to the judges – a total of five – for them to taste and score them individually. Watching the ladies go up to the judges to be judged by them, I waited anxiously for Lily’s turn.

Some of them made really attractive dishes and received low scores, some made dishes which looked relatively plane and received high scores while others too made attractive dishes and received high scores. While I cheered for these ones sub-consciously, I couldn’t take my eyes off an anxious looking Lily.

Finally, it was Lily’s turn to be judged. She walked up to them and served them what she had made.

“What’s this red beauty emanating from her plate,” the MC hyped Lily. Apparently, he was referring to sliced strawberries Lily included in her dish.

I paid special attention to how the judges reacted on tasting what she prepared. Some of them looked thrilled; some seemed to enjoy it like every regular dish while one of them remained indifferent. ‘What score will they give her?’ After tasting her dish, it was finally time for them to give their remarks.

“Well, I must confess, this is actually the best dish I’ve had here today,” the woman with the red bow remarked and the audience cheered. She was the first one handed the mic to comment on the dish. “I’ll give it a ten!” she raised her scorecard that had ’10’ printed boldly on it and we all cheered. A ten! We were off to a good start.

The next person given the mic to comment looked like a middle-aged lady – the one who was indifferent to her dish. I felt nervous. She cleared her throat and said, “the minced strawberry syringed with chocolate helped to ameliorate the entire dish and give it a whole new flavor…,” She commented and got me thinking another ’10’ was coming but she ended up giving her a ‘7’.

After the judging had ended, Lily ended up with a total of forty marks. We all cheered her on but it was obvious from the look she had on her face that she personally didn’t find her score pleasurable. Personally, I didn’t see anything wrong with her score, but considering the fact that some contestants actually had perfect sores, I totally understood why she didn’t feel so good about her score.

After the competition ended and the contestants were left to pack up, I went over to her table to cheer her up. “Hello missy,” I called out cheerfully.

She raised her head briefly to look at me. “You’re back?” she didn’t look the least excited to see me.

“Look what I got you and Jacek,” I placed the box of gifts on the table yet she said nothing.

“C’mon, Lily.”

“What?”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“Listen, some people didn’t even get up to a ’30’. Be proud of what you’ve achieved okay?” I cheered.

“Some contestants had perfect scores Cayden. Some had near-perfect scores. My score is nothing to be proud of,” she retorted.

“Well, that’s true but still. A ‘forty’ out of ‘fifty’? C’mon Lily, relax.”

“That’s minus a whole ten marks, Cayden!” she exclaimed staring at me in the eye. “I didn’t do well as far as I’m concerned,” she repeated and continued packing up. I just heaved a sigh and tried to help out whichever way I could.

I noticed she paused for while; ‘why?’ I asked myself. It was then I heard some women who were walking past – few inches away from where we stood – talk between themselves. “She definitely came for the money. How else do you expect her to take care of her son without a father?” I heard one say. “Right? Considering how she was kicked out and everything, she has to earn a living,” the other woman chipped in.

I noticed she knew she was the topic of their conversation; apparently she recognized them from her previous neighborhood. She paused to listen carefully to what they were saying.

“Hey,” I called out to them and placed my arm around her shoulders. “She’s not desperate for the cash okay? She’s as comfortable as anyone would ever imagine so I suggest you stop running your mouths and look for yourselves something meaningful to do,” I defended her.

The women just stared in awe and I noticed the embarrassment they felt. I wasn’t looking haggard for them to assume I was her measly boyfriend; all I had on me were purely designers. Lily on the other hand stared at me in awe but was too dumbfounded to refute my help. I managed to shake the women off her tail and had them back off in anger.

“Why did you do that?” she asked me when the women were out of earshot.

“You would have shrugged if you didn’t want my help.” She heaved a sigh and returned to packing up.

“Let me help you.” I helped Lily pack up the remaining things and offered her a ride home.