by Jennifer Yen
“Contestants, families, and friends,” Mom begins. “In the five years since I created this contest, we’ve never faced as many challenges as we have this time around. Unfortunately, I must announce more bad news. After a thorough investigation, we’ve determined contestant number nine, Ben Chan, was responsible for sabotaging last week’s challenge. As such, he has been disqualified.”
A round of gasps circles the room. Predictably, many in the audience turn to James, who does an admirable job of appearing utterly stunned while standing behind his station.
“While I know this is shocking news, the show must go on. With only three contestants remaining, however, Mrs. Lee and I have agreed to make this bake the last of the competition.”
“How’s that going to work?” Edward asks with concern.
“We will use the technical challenge as our semifinal round. The top two bakers will then move on to the final highlight. Since this change is being made at the last minute, we will delay the start of the bake until two o’clock this afternoon. Take the extra time to prepare if you need, but don’t forget to have a good lunch. Good luck.”
No one moves at first. Then Jeannie urges Nathan to stand up and leave, which triggers a wave of activity toward the door. The family members file out first, since they’re closest to the door, followed by the bakers. I suppress a smile when Edward grabs Sarah’s hand in clear view of Mom. Once the room clears, Mrs. Lee is the first of the staff to leave, followed by Chef Anthony. Mom and I walk out last, arm in arm.
“Do you think it’ll work?” she says under her breath.
“Definitely. He’s plotting something.”
“Is everything set up?”
“Yep. They’re ready and waiting.”
We head out to the parking lot. With Nathan standing nearby, Chef Anthony feigns forgetting to lock the front doors of the building. He waves goodbye and leaves, while the rest of us debate where to go for brunch. Nathan begs off with a sudden stomachache.
“Do you want me to drive you back to your Airbnb?” Jeannie offers.
“No, no,” he groans, a hand on his stomach. “You go with your family. I can drive myself.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive. Go enjoy brunch for me.”
We keep on our masks of sympathy until he’s pulled out of the parking lot. James steps out of the building once we let him know it’s safe. Ben and Grace then hop out of her car to join us.
“I’ve got the camera on record,” Ben tells us. “We’ll catch him if he tries anything.”
“He will. There’s no way he can resist,” James answers.
“In the meantime, I’m starving,” Dad blurts out. “How about we head to the restaurant and I’ll cook?”
The suggestion earns him enthusiastic replies. Mom agrees to let me ride with Grace and the guys, but I try not to look too thrilled. I hop into the back, and James links our hands as soon as he gets in the car. He also leans in for a kiss, but I push him back over to his side.
“My mom’s watching.”
He pouts. “How do you know?”
“Trust me.”
In that very moment, Dad drives by us. Mom stares directly into the car, her eagle eyes searching for inappropriate behavior.
I burst out laughing. “Told ya.”
“Phew! That was close.”
Once my parents are out of view, I slide across the seat and cup his cheeks, bringing our faces within inches of each other with a grin.
“Not as close as this.”
Without warning, James closes the distance and presses his lips against mine. I don’t resist when he kisses me a second time and giggle when he plants one on the tip of my nose as well. Ben groans loudly from the driver’s seat.
“Can’t you guys save it for later?”
We break apart and laugh. James makes a face at his cousin.
“Don’t be jealous. You volunteered to drive.”
“Speaking of which,” Grace reminds us all, “we should get going before Nathan catches us in the parking lot.”
The thought is sobering, and I scoot back to my side. Once we arrive at Yin and Yang, Ben gets out, his laptop tucked under one arm and Grace under the other. Jeannie opens the door so we can head inside and locks it behind us. Dad scurries through the curtains to start cooking. Meanwhile, Mom heads into the bakery kitchen but shoos me away when I come near.
“It’s a surprise,” she says.
My eyebrows shoot up, but I know better than to question her. Instead, I join everyone else at one of the round tables usually reserved for large parties.
Dad really outdoes himself, pulling together a four-course brunch in less than thirty minutes. When the food is ready, Jeannie and I help carry out all the dishes. Then, we sit around the table to eat.
“This is delicious,” Ben tells him a few bites later. “Better than my mom makes, but don’t tell her.”
James nods. “He’s right. This three-cup chicken tastes exactly like the saˉnbeˉijıˉ I ate during a trip to Taiwan. Maybe better.”
Grace doesn’t bother with words, her enthusiastic request for seconds a compliment in itself. Mom disappears about halfway through the meal, and within fifteen minutes, the aroma of freshly baked pastries wafts over to us.
“What did you make, Mrs. Yang?” Grace asks, her eyes lighting up. “Please tell me it’s your custard buns.”
Mom grins. “It’s my custard buns.”
“Yes!” Grace whoops.
Ben raises an eyebrow. “That good, huh?”
“Wait until you taste them. They’re the best things ever.”
Mom proves her right when she brings them out in baskets to share. I gently pull mine in half to release the steam and let it cool. Then I pop it in my mouth, savoring the softness of the white dough mixed with the lightly sweet yellow custard inside.
“Ugh,” Ben groans after devouring what’s left of his bun. “This is the best.”
I peer over at James, curious how he’ll judge them. His eyes close briefly as he chews. When he swallows, he tips his head toward me.
“Can you make these?”
“Of course I can. My mom taught me years ago.”
He stares deep into my eyes. “Marry me.”
Chopsticks clatter onto the table. I don’t need to see who dropped them. Thankfully, Mom knows he’s joking.
I slap James on the arm. “You keep that up, and she’ll make sure you’re stuck with me forever.”
“I could live with that,” he quips.
I feel my cheeks flush at his playful grin. Ben comes to my rescue, or at least, his laptop does. He set it up on the next table over, and it’s going off, alerting us that the surveillance system has been triggered. All conversations cease as we huddle around to watch the feed. Nathan steps into view, clear as day, and heads straight for James’s workstation. He sifts through the ingredients for the technical before removing several key ingredients and pocketing them. Then he covers everything back up with the cloth and sneaks out of the room.
Ben grins. “Bingo.”
He saves the clip into a separate file and closes the laptop. Jeannie’s face crumples, and she excuses herself quickly. I start to go after her, but Mom puts up a hand.
“I’ll take care of her. You finish eating.”
My nerves have returned, and they chase away my appetite. Nevertheless, I force the rest of my food down before helping Dad clear the table. Then we all head back to the culinary school. Chef Anthony is already on site, and we all step back inside.
When Mrs. Lee arrives in the break room, Mom pulls her aside to talk privately. As their hushed whispers give way to aggravated tones, it’s clear whatever camaraderie they’d built over the past weeks is fading fast.
“Are you trying to get rid of your competition? Is that why you’re doing this?�
�� Mrs. Lee fumes. “Because I’ll tell you now it’s not going to work. Accusing my son of something like this is only going to earn you a lawsuit.”
To Mom’s credit, she remains calm. “Mrs. Lee, if that was my intention, don’t you think I’d find a better way than sabotaging my own contest?”
“But you said this was Ben’s doing!” Mrs. Lee jabs a finger in his direction. “You told everyone.”
“Yes, I did, because it was the only way to confirm who the real culprit was,” Mom replies. “We needed time to gather the evidence.”
Mrs. Lee pales. “Evidence?”
Mom sighs and gestures for her to sit. “Let me show you.”
Mrs. Lee sinks into the seat while Ben cues up the video. We stand behind her, clustered together, as she watches. When she sees Nathan grab the ingredients, Mrs. Lee gasps and clutches her chest, her face etched with shock.
“I can’t believe it’s really him. Please accept my apologies, Mrs. Yang. I don’t know why Nathan did any of this, but if I had known, I would have stopped him. I hope you believe me.”
Mom lays a hand on her shoulder. “I believe you. We’re planning to confront him with the footage, Mrs. Lee. I’ll understand if you’d rather not be here for it.”
“No, I’ll stay. He’s my son, and my responsibility.” Mrs. Lee turns to Chef Anthony. “Please send me the bill for everything he damaged. I’ll take care of it.”
He nods. With the first reveal out of the way, we take our places and brace for what’s to come. Mom turns to Jeannie.
“Are you sure you can do this?”
“Yes. I need to make this right for Ben.”
“Okay. We’ll be here when you get back.”
She leaves to find Nathan. A few minutes later, we hear them in the hall. Jeannie’s voice is tinged with anxiety, but Nathan doesn’t seem to notice. He’s the first to walk into the room.
“What’s so important I have to—”
His eyes land on Ben and James. He stiffens, his hands forming fists at his sides. When Mrs. Lee steps forward, however, the hard, angry look in his eyes softens into fear. Her normally polished demeanor has given way to fury, and she glowers at him with the death glare all Asian kids recognize.
“Nathan George Lee, what were you thinking?! Do you have any idea how ashamed I am of you right now?”
He backs against the wall. “Mom, they’re lying! I didn’t do anything!”
“Don’t you dare try to deny it. I saw the video of you stealing ingredients off James’s workstation.”
To prove her point, she presses play on Ben’s laptop. Nathan’s face turns ashen as the proof of his guilt plays out in front of him.
“If you think I’m mad, wait until your dad finds out what you’ve been up to,” Mrs. Lee threatens. “You can kiss your expense account goodbye.”
“But this is his fault.” He explodes, pointing at Ben, then James. “And his too.”
“Stop blaming everyone else for your bad decisions, son. It’s my fault. I’ve spoiled you for so long, but not anymore.” Mrs. Lee crosses her arms over her chest. “This time, you risked our family’s reputation. We could have had a lawsuit on our hands!”
Nathan balks. “What about Dad? What about him cheating on you with Ben’s mom? If it wasn’t for her, we’d still be a family!”
Mrs. Lee flushes, her eyes darting from face to face. Every major ad campaign for Mama Lee Bakeries has her loving husband standing by her side. I clued Mom and Dad in to the divorce already, so they don’t react. To his credit, Chef Anthony manages to keep his expression blank.
Mrs. Lee glares at Nathan. “I don’t know where you got that idea from, but that never happened. Your father and I decided to split up for other reasons—ones I will not discuss right now.”
Nathan, getting no sympathy from his mother, grabs on to Jeannie for support.
“Babe, you have to believe me. They forced me to do this. It’s their fault!”
She shrugs his hand off her arm and walks over to the door.
“Well, I’m not being forced to do this. Nathan, we’re done,” she says.
Jeannie gestures to the open doorway, but Nathan doesn’t leave. Not yet. Blotches of red mar his even complexion as he lunges toward James. Ben steps between them at the last minute, giving Mrs. Lee a chance to clamp a hand on to her son’s arm.
“You’ve embarrassed us enough already. Leave right now. I’ll deal with you later.”
“But, Mom—”
“Now!”
He rushes out of the room, humiliated. It’s only then that Mrs. Lee slumps against the table and covers her face with her hands. Mom sits down beside her.
“Would you like me to push the baking to tomorrow?”
“No, thank you,” Mrs. Lee replies after a pause. “Let’s go ahead and finish.”
After composing herself, she joins the rest of us in walking back to the bakeshop. Excitement and nervousness are palpable in the air as we enter. Chef Anthony steps forward, raking his eyes across the room.
“It’s time.”
Chapter 26
There’s less than a half hour left of our final technical challenge—dessert jelly. Inspired by the agar cake I made in New York, I created a recipe based off yoˉkan. In addition to the two different colored layers of jelly, it must be flavored with red bean and milk with chunks of strawberries mixed in. To make it even more difficult, the dessert needs to be light while still holding its shape.
Before we began, all of James’s missing ingredients were replaced. Since Ben wanted to be in the audience to support him, he snuck in after time began and sat in the back row. I’m pretty sure some of the other mothers noticed him, but Grace glared at them until they went back to minding their own business.
I’m glad we’re finally nearing the end of the bake because my patience is at its end as well. Mom grabs my knee to stop me from squirming in the chair for the hundredth time.
“Which two contestants do you think will pass your challenge?” she asks.
“James, definitely,” I answer honestly. “It’s a toss-up between the other two, but my money’s on Sammy.”
“You don’t think Edward can do it?”
Despite giving James her approval, Mom apparently hasn’t let go of the hope of matching me with a future doctor. Even the way he keeps smiling at Sarah hasn’t been enough to deter her.
I shrug. “It’s always possible. There is a science to getting the right consistency. If Edward times it right, he could win it.”
Chef Anthony’s voice rings out into the hallway a second later.
“Ten seconds left, contestants! You have ten seconds left!”
Mom and I stand just outside the door as our host counts down.
“Time, gentlemen! Move away from your jellies!”
Once the three plates are transferred to the table, we walk in and face the remaining contestants. Only one of the jellies is perfectly set. It’s easy to assume it belongs to James, but I do my best not to jump to conclusions. After all, Sammy surprised us all last time. We start with the dish on the far right. It’s held its shape, but tiny cracks in the jelly reveal that it was pushed out of the mold rather than carefully removed. When I press the fork into it, it bows ever so slightly.
“It’s just a hair too soft for this type of yoˉkan,” I conclude. “However, it looks pretty good, and the flavors are well balanced.”
Mom nods in agreement, and we move on to the second jelly. Rather than a pert, bouncy dessert, the yoˉkan has spread across the plate like Jabba the Hutt. Mom pokes at what remains of the saggy jelly.
“This baker struggled a lot. It wasn’t given enough time to set, which means the flavors have melded together. On the plus side, it does still taste like it should.”
The last one is by far the best looking, with the right firmness and chew. The
flavors are distinct in each layer but also come together beautifully.
“This is exactly how it should look and taste.” I turn to Mom. “What do you think?”
“I agree. Whoever made this knew what they were doing.”
The deliberation is pretty much already done, so we go ahead and rank the jellies. I’m glad we didn’t bet on the winner because I would have lost. It’s Sammy’s jelly we loved the most, followed by James, and then Edward. I quirk an eyebrow at James, who grins sheepishly.
“I’m sorry, Edward,” Mom says gently. “You had a great run, but unfortunately, you are eliminated from the finals. Congratulations, James and Sammy. You are our finalists.”
Edward’s face falls, but he puts a broad smile on and bows in our direction.
“Thank you all for the opportunity. I wish both James and Sammy good luck.”
We give him a round of applause as he walks over to his mom in the audience. She gives him a comforting pat on the back as he plops into the seat next to her. Sarah surreptitiously slides onto the chair on Edward’s other side, and he sneaks his hand into hers. She catches me looking at them and blushes. I guess it’s official now.
Chef Anthony raises his hand to get everyone’s attention.
“Let’s take a quick break. Make sure you get back in time because the final is next!”
He ushers everyone out of the room quickly so we can get set up one last time. Gloria and the other students have the stations cleared off and cleaned within minutes. Mom and I then rearrange everything by going through the lists of ingredients Sammy and James gave us for their highlights. When we give Chef Anthony the signal, he escorts everyone back in. As soon as we’re all in position, the final bake begins.
With Mom and Mrs. Lee set to judge like usual, I head over to sit with Grace and Jeannie along the wall. This puts Sarah directly behind me, and she taps me on the shoulder. I swivel halfway in my chair as she leans over.
“Is everything okay? I was really worried after you ran off the other day. I know you said you were busy with all this, but . . .”