"Complicated..." Ethan took a bite, frowning and speaking in a low tone, "If there's less honey, the color and caramel aroma won't be enough. But the accurate quantity of honey to get such color and flavor makes it too sweet."
Indeed, it was tricky.
If it weren't for the fact that the young cook, Jack Brown, looked pale and tearful, Ethan would have kicked him out. It was frickin' past 9 o'clock. But seeing Jack's near-tearful expression, Ethan's heart softened.
He scratched his head and was about to give it a try again, but was stopped by a slender, thinner and paler hand that had such unexpected strength.
Ethan was taken aback. It was Liam—no, Adrian now, who had his fingers pressed on his chest.
His hand was even paler than a woman's, with a jade-like texture. Ethan felt a jolt in his heart, and his face involuntarily flushed slightly.
But he quickly shook off that blush and became serious again when he saw Liam Hayes, that oaf, turning in the cooker.
"Hey!" He scolded coldly, "Stop messing around! Don't cause me more trouble!"
However, Adrian completely turned a deaf ear to it.
Adrian was determined: this lifetime, he would use his own strength to stay by Ethan's side, making it impossible for him to push him away again! Together, they would dominate the culinary world!
Adrian's movements were similar to Ethan's, but the details were different. He was making the same dish as Ethan, but not entirely with the same ingredients this time.
He replaced the sweetened condensed milk Ethan had earlier used with pure fresh dairy milk, unsweetened.
Ethan shouted, "You're wasting ingredients as well as Mr. Jack's time. Let me handle this and we can play later ! Don't mess it up!"
Adrian's lips curled into a smile at Ethan's tantrum, but his hands moved skillfully. The milk flowed in perfectly, and the honey was added precisely.
Next, he suddenly grabbed a jar of cayenne pepper!
When he grabbed that odd ingredient Ethan hadn't put in the former dish, neither had Jack Brown thought of adding in all his 24 attempts, Jack Brown and his assistant were both in surprise.
But a certain someone was calculating instead of being foolishly surprised—Ethan Forrest!
"Chili pepper?!" Jack's assistant exclaimed, "This is crazy!"
Jack's face changed, "Senior, he's ruining the dish! Who is he?!"
However, Ethan didn't stop him. Instead, he raised his hand, coldly silencing the two, his eyes fixed deeply on Adrian's every move.
Adrian sprinkled the chili pepper, stir-fried for a moment, and then picked up the raisins. But instead of sprinkling the raisins directly to the dish like Ethan did, he soaked them in a bowl of ginger juice water!
The assistant panicked, "Soaking? The raisins will be melted and ruined! The flavor will dissipate!"
Jack was about to cry, "Senior!"
But in the next instant, Adrian turned off the heat.
He took out the raisins from the ginger juice water and carefully arranged them on the dish, seemingly randomly scattered, but perfectly matching the pattern of the dish.
He wiped his hands and looked at Ethan. "Done."
The dish was identical to the photo!
"Hey, Boss, this flavor... doesn't seem so sweet anymore," the assistant said hurriedly, sniffing the aroma wafting through the air.
"Indeed," Jack nodded, feeling a strange sense of relief. His heart, which had been racing few minutes ago, began to calm down. "However, what we'll need to do is to taste it to know for sure."
The room fell silent.
The assistant couldn't wait any longer and scooped up a spoonful, taking a big bite. His entire face lit up instantly. "Ah! This flavor... is so unique!" he exclaimed, his eyes wide with wonder.
Ethan raised an eyebrow, his expression calm, but his mind was racing. If Adrian hadn't demonstrated it himself, he wouldn't have thought of this approach. Now, he had to admit... it seemed to make sense.
A few minutes later, everyone had tasted the dish, and the results were consistently perfect.
The room was silent again, until Adrian broke the silence, speaking slowly, "Ginger juice was very necessary, which is why I soaked the raisins in it."
"Ginger?!" the assistant exclaimed, his face incredulous. "Won't that ruin the flavor? Who uses ginger juice in a dish like this?!"
Adrian's expression remained calm, and he smiled without saying a word.
Ethan spoke in a low tone, "You're right. Switching to fresh milk instead of condensed milk to offset the sweetness, using chili peppers to offset the sweetness... I can understand those. But ginger juice... and soaking the raisins... makes no sense."
His tone was cold and critical, but only he knew that his chest was warming up. For a moment, he was... almost convinced that Liam Hayes who only knew how to make himself look like a woman and was completely talentless, knew what he was doing. And was likely BETTER than him.
"You're really stupid, Ethan Forrest. Haven't you ever heard that ginger cuts through sugar? No wonder your restaurant is still like this. What a waste of going to culinary academy." Adrian smirked, patting Ethan's broad shoulder with deliberate rudeness. "Although they call you 'senior,' you're still not there yet."
Ethan's face flushed again, not from anger this time, but from the strange warmth swelling in his chest. For once, Liam Hayes had actually paid attention to something he taught.
Since they'd met, Ethan had always shared his passion for cooking with him, but Liam never cared. All he ever did was play the pitiful heir from a broken rich family, wanting to escape reality by pretending to be a woman. Ethan had told him countless times—denial is a river. He tried again and again to teach him the art of cooking, only to be brushed aside.
Yet here he was, this stubborn Hayes heir, not only paying attention but even surpassing him and finding a solution faster than he could. Unbelievable! And… a little painful in its irony.
So instead of arguing, Ethan shamelessly asked, "Then why didn't you teach me this trick when you learned it?"
Adrian's lips curled. "Didn't you always kick me out whenever I came here?"
"You—!" Ethan almost choked on his own spit. He quickly coughed and barked, "That's because you were always looking for ways to die! I taught you everything I knew, Liam Hayes! But something this important you kept hidden, as if you were going to make profit from keeping it to yourself. Aren't you stingy?!"
"How can a man your age still throw such a childish fit?" Adrian sneered, shaking his head with mock disappointment.
Jack Brown stood there, utterly baffled. The way these two bickered… how was it possible for two men to sound so much like an old married couple?
He quickly shut down the thought, forcing himself to ignore whatever his mind was starting to suspect about these two. Instead, he clasped Adrian's hands gratefully, his assistant bowing beside him. "Thank you, thank you both."