Aurora strolled out of her classroom, planning to go outside to wait for Jasmine's arrival. It was the day of the competition and some of her classmate's mothers had arrived, but she had not seen Jasmine.
“Where are you going, Aurora?” she turned around to see her tormentors, a deep smirk playing around their lips.
“Are you also waiting for your Daddy?” another person asked, but Aurora didn't answer them, just looking at their faces in silence.
“Don't forget it's a Mother and Daughter competition and not Father and Daughter,” the first girl said again, and the three of them burst into a peal of brief laughter.
Without pronouncing a word, Aurora withdrew her gaze from their faces and walked out on them.
The atmosphere was cheerful. One could effortlessly tell that there wouldn't be any class activities today but fun.
“Where are you, Jasmine?” Aurora murmured in fear to herself as she descended the stairs and straight to the enclosure of the school.
“All the participants should get ready. We have ten minutes, to begin with, the competition” this announcement blared from the school speakers and Aurora could feel her lungs tighten up in pain as tears clouded her vision.
She saw how a female student and her mother held themselves while heading to the venue, and her tears finally fell.
Sniffing, she slowly lifted her head to the entrance gate and saw Jasmine walking in. Her bad mood disappeared in an instant as she ran to meet her.
Jasmine too had seen her, she was smiling and frowning at the same time, hoping Aurora wouldn't slip and fall down, but then she got to where she was standing and hugged her legs.
Jasmine bent over and hugged her briefly, and immediately after she pulled out of the hug, Aurora said, “You're late, Jasmine, and I was already thinking that you wouldn't be coming again,”
Jasmine smiled and raised her hand to clean Aurora's tears, “I'm so sorry, Aurora. There was something that requires my attention, but I've paused it and will deal with it later,” she explained with an apologetic look. “Am I forgiven?”
Aurora nodded quickly with a bright smile and grabbed Jasmine's hand, “Come on, let's go now,”
After some necessary sign-ups,
Jasmine and Aurora arrived at the venue just in time.
With a dazzling smile on Aurora's lips, she walked majestically to where her classmates were sitting, and they all watched her speechlessly, thinking in their minds that, the boldness written on Aurora's face had never occurred before.
The three reviewers were ready, two women and one man sitting in their midst.
The audience too was prepared to watch the live show, while some teachers were mumbling among themselves, readying to know who could cook best among these eleven mothers.
The eleven contestants were prepared now as they stood and faced the judges, an apron belted to each of their necks and a cooking cap on their heads.
“I welcome you all to this game. My name is Dave Matthew and here beside me are my colleagues. So, this competition is just a three-round, and we will be selecting the qualifiers for the next round until the third round where our winners will be finally revealed,”
The man spoke proficiently into the head microphone and the next woman spoke up, “We're just going to be selecting three winners. A first, second and third, and these three winners will be going back home with grand prizes, especially the first”
Jasmine breathed out softly, clutching her apron in her hand. She didn't know if she was scared or anxious.
“So, are you all ready?” the last woman spoke this time, “Yes, ma'am,” the contestants chorused.
“Now, you all should go stand behind the counter,”
The contestants did as they were instructed, each of them standing in front of a gas cooker on the long counter.
“Under this countertop, there is a personal cabinet for you all. Inside this cupboard, you'll find the utensils and ingredients you might need. You can check it out,”
Jasmine stooped and opened the cabinet just like the other contestants.
“Whoa,” It escaped from her lips upon seeing all the stuff inside the cupboard, including a blender.
“Help me, oh Lord,” she prayed silently and then stood upright again.
“So, we'll be starting the first round now. Contestants, are you ready?” the man asked this time.
“Yes, sir!” They said in unison,
“The first round meal is Korean egg roll, and you have just fifteen minutes to prepare it. Now, start!”
Jasmine smiled to herself inwardly, knowing that this was one of the simplest dishes she could prepare even with her eyes closed.
She quickly brought out a frying pan, cooking oil, five large eggs, and the rest of the recipe from her cupboard.
After chopping the green onion, she broke the eggs into a medium-sized bowl and beat the eggs lightly. To give a smooth texture, she sieves through the eggs and then added the rice wine and salt, she then whisks them well.
During this time, Noah Cooper was standing at the entrance of the hall with the principal. He was damn surprised to see Jasmine among the participants.
“Please, come and have a seat, Mr. Cooper,” the principal ushered him in with a gentle smile on her face.
Noah followed behind her after a nod, but he was still gazing at Jasmine, who was too busy to even look up and realized Noah has arrived.
Aurora was overwhelmed with elation that she didn't even notice her father was now sitting in the VIP seat in front of the audience role.
Seeing Jasmine up there with other mothers was just giving her so much joy. In her opinion, it was of no concern to her whether Jasmine won the competition or not. All she wanted was to participate, and she already did.
“Contestants, you have only thirty seconds to stop” the male judge announced.
By this time, Jasmine was already rolling her last omelet proficiently, a trace of a satisfied smile lingering around the corner of her mouth.
“Time up!”
Jasmine put her hands on her back gaily, just like some other contestants. However, the moment Jasmine spotted Noah on his seat, her smile gradually faded, and by the time she planned to look away, their gaze met and locked.
It felt like a tiny gymnast was dancing in her stomach, her heart responded to the familiarity of his beautiful face.
“Are you here, Miss?” this voice snapped her out of her fantasy, and she regained the presence of mind
It was one of the school teachers.
“I'm sorry, ma'am,” she quickly apologized, smiling awkwardly to mask her embarrassed attitude.
“Please dish out what you've prepared, the judges would like to have a taste.”
“Oh,”
She immediately grabbed a plate and put the five egg rolls she had prepared on it, and then handed it to the woman, who seemed nice.
Some moments later.
All the judges have had a bite at each of the contestant's egg rolls and have given their points in their record book.
“Now it is time to announce the contestants that would be evicting the game,” the first woman spoke up, and the atmosphere became unsettling immediately.
“Contestant number two, you had three points out of ten. Thanks for participating in the competition, you may leave now,”
Jasmine held her chest as it continued to beat strongly as if it would fly out of her chest anytime. Moreover, she didn't expect the judges to be as blunt as this.
“Contestant number six, you had two points out of ten. Thanks for coming,”
This continued for a while, the more the female judge opened her mouth, the more Jasmine's heart thumped wildly.
“So now, we have seven contestants that would be participating in the next round. Congratulations,”
A loud cheer evolved from the audience, including Aurora.
Noah didn't react to any of this, but deep down in his heart, he was glad Jasmine made it to the next round.
He would stare at Jasmine when she was not looking like he was staring at her now, who was, in turn, having a chit-chat with the contestant next to her.
“Are you ready for the next round?” the male judge asked this time.
Jasmine stopped talking at once and looked over at the judge, but her gaze accidentally met with Noah's and caught him staring at her.
Not liking to get carried away like the first time, she withdrew her gaze and forced herself to concentrate again.
“You have twenty minutes to prepare pork rice porridge,”
Jasmine got to work immediately after they asked them to start as she started bringing out the recipe she would be needing for this dish.
If Noah was asked to repeat the last words the judge had just said, it was apparent that he would not be able to do so.
He had been trying to restrain himself from looking in the direction of Jasmine, but couldn't help himself.