4. A day of her life

"I thought you had no intention of taking over the company." The old man, Malcolm, didn't even look at her as he spoke.

Maya was too concentrated on the food in front of her. She has tasted food all around the world. 

But ever since she could remember, the elderly cook who had prepared her grandfather's meals seemed to possess some magical power that made them so delicious.

"Varna, are you sure you don't want to come with me? I will pay three times what that stinky old man is paying."

Varna, the old chef, smiled at her. To him, she was also like his granddaughter. He had seen her growing up. 

"Okay! As soon as that stinky old man rolls over, I will take the job." 

"He is a zombie. He won't die easily."

"Hey, I am sitting right in front of you." Malcolm glared at them.

Despite Varna's occupation as a cook, they have a long history of being together. They were acquaintances when King and Co. was much smaller than today's multinational corporation—just a hotel and logistics firm.

In the end, the talk only progressed after breakfast. 

"What do you want?"

"51% of the media company."

"Even you know that is impossible."

"Why is it impossible? That one is yet to go public."

"Even if that is the case, There is no way…"

"No way would you just hand over your company, right? Then you can just wear the dress and walk down the aisle."

"Are you joking?" The old man frowned, knowing very well that she was not the type to joke.

"You already know the answer."

Malcolm sighed and sat down on the swing.

Unlike most of the grandchildren, this one is very determined. When he protested Maya's becoming an idol, she simply left the family.

Unlike others, she is the only one who left the protection of what he had built and succeeded on her own.

"Why do you want mine? Didn't you have one of your own?"

"Mine is a talent agency; yours is a media company. Does your age start affecting your memory?"

"You little…"

"And what about yours? You made that company because I succeeded in the industry. Did you forget how much you hated the industry? And nobody would have heard about your company if I had not been here and didn't do a few movies for them."

"Even then, it was my money."

"That is why I am not asking for 100% of the company."

"Didn't you have a 21% share of another media company?"

"You investigated me?"

"Isn't that the first step to making a successful deal?"

"How do you know that was my holding company? Not many people in that holding company are aware of my involvement ."

"Does it matter?"

"Okay. Give me 50%, and we will be done."

"The evaluation says it has a market price of $250 mil. And you want 125 mil. That is a hell of a wedding gift."

"I am the top star of the country. I am even the country's ambassador, and you are not."

"So what?"

Maya stood up and walked away. 

"Where are you going?" 

"Home. I don't want to waste my time with you if you don't want to make a deal." 

"Come here now."

"What?"

"50% is too much." He thought about it, saying, "How about 20%, and that building in the downtown area?

"30% and the building of the media office. They are priced similarly, aren't they?"

"But…"

"There are Rita and Lana. Both of them are of marriageable age. You can ask them to get married. I can look for one myself."

This time, no matter how many times he called, Maya didn't return.

The car stopped in front of a cafe, Cafe OWI. It was a cafe chain with more than 200 stores all over the country. Even though it wasn't massive, people knew she owned it. 

With the abilities and skills she accumulated over time, making money was relatively easy for her. What was hard was to hide the fact that she owned them.

"Welcome, boss." The energetic girl led her through the back door. After all, it wasn't just the flagship store but also the first one. 

People knew that she spent most of her time in the city, so the chance for them to see her in the store was higher. After all, OWI is her brand.

"Three new scripts have come for you. Should I reject all of them?"

"Yeah!" As soon as she said it, she paused and said, "Wait, check the script; if you find a good one, send it to me. I will sponsor some. Also, use the script to promote the girl from the idol group. What was her name?"

"Sasha?"

"No, not that one."

"But Sasha is the center of the group. She had the most March sales. Some offer her to appear in variety shows."

"Do it. Try to increase her market value more. That way, we can earn more when we sell her. And look at the acting role for Tifa."

"Tifa!?" Daisy, Maya's assistant, didn't understand what her boss was saying.

Everyone who has a little bit of internet in the industry knows that Tifa is the group's weak link. She was okay with singing and dancing and used to make up the numbers.

Yet, the boss was saying to promote a dud while thinking of selling the best bud. It didn't make sense to her.

"Yes, boss." Daisy accepted. She accepted, not because Maya was her boss, but because she knew Maya was never wrong about anything. 

She has worked with Maya for seven years. Before becoming an assistant, she had spent two years as a road manager. She only realized that the top star persona was a small part of her. 

"What is happening here?" 

"We are having an exam to choose a new baker and four assistant bakers. The other places in the city needed recruitment, so we held the exam here."

"Let me check." 

Daisy looked for the person in charge and brought her.

There were a total of 27 of them on the list. Maya checked the names and positions of the participants before marking three of them.

"These three." The in-charge asked curiously.

"Don't hire them."

"But this one is a student of a foreign institute with five years of experience at…"

"No means no." Daisy cut her off.

The person in charge was still surprised, but she could not do anything but nod.

"For the rest of them, I will check for myself. What are they making now?"

"Chocolate soufflé." As soon as she heard it, Maya walked forward. All heads turned towards her. 

"You have two hours. I want lemon tart." She just said her words and left the room.

Daisy tried hard to control her smile while the person in charge was in disarray.

"Madam, do you want them to make only lemon tart or both chocolate soufflé and lemon tart."

"Let them decide," Maya said, leaving the room as chaos erupted behind her.

Even if it wasn't that hard to make and only needed very common ingredients, the person in charge didn't prepare everything before, so…

"Boss, you like to see the world burn. Don't you?"

"If they can't cope with an emergency, they don't need to work in the kitchen."

There were almost two hours till the exam ended, so Maya returned to her office.

"How is the preparation for the concert going?"

"As you have ordered, not many people knew about it. We have selected a seven-person team. We have shortlisted three venues. Do you mind checking it?"

Maya was quick to shuffle through the list and choose one. "This one. My vote is for this one. Still, make sure it has everything."

"29,000!?" Daisy wasn't surprised that Maya had chosen the biggest of them.

"Even with the reserve ticket, don't sell more than 25,000."

"That! The revenue…"

"It's nothing. Think of this as an investment. We have one popular idol group and a viral singer. Then three more with a good reputation. We will use this opportunity to promote them more."

"Also, unveil the new group, which had just started their individual promotion at the concert. Make sure to use the good trainees as backups. It will give them some experience."

"Hire a good anchor with experience, a comedian, and an announcer for the wrestling federation. Pair them with our talented MCs."

Understandably, some of her opinions didn't make sense to her, but Daisy noted them. When Maya was done with everything, there was a knock on the door.

"Come on."

"Madam. The time is over." The person in charge handed over the list.

"What am I going to do with them? You guys taste and rate chocolate souffle yourself. I will taste the tart. Those who didn't produce both products will be eliminated."

After the person in charge left, Maya asked, "Is there anything else?"

"Oh! Yes. The movie will start shooting next week."

"Which one?"

"The days of our past. One of your novels."

"Don't say it out loud. The one with director Harshal?"

"Yes."

"Okay, make the arrangements."

When Maya reached the tasting venue, she found the tarts arranged by number. 

The person in charge handed her the list. It already had the mark for chocolate souffle, presentation, cleanliness, and everything.

"19?"

"We have excluded the three you said and the five who didn't prepare both dishes."

Maya nodded and started to taste the test. Soon, she understood why toppers scored the highest. However, she paused at the seventh.

Even by evaluation, the participant was also seventh. The only place he had lost point was for the decoration.

"This taste!" Maya had never thought that she would feel the same sense of familiarity from this cooking. "Who is this?"

"Tihan Klein served in the army for 5-6 years and went to cooking school for two years. He is currently working as an assistant pastry chef at a hotel."

"Do you have his chocolate souffle?"

"Please wait a moment." 

When the person in charge left, Daisy asked, "Is it that good?"

"Nah! Do you think I have a better pallet than our chef's? They knew a lot more than me."

"Then?"

"Then what? I just like the taste of his cooking. Wait a minute… Now that I think about it, Varna was also in the military."

The person in charge soon returned a man. 

[Curious, hopeful, excited.] 

It was written above his head, and only Maya could see it. The moment their eyes met, it changed to [Starstuck]. 

After scrolling through his character list, Maya didn't hesitate to ask, "I need a personal chef. Are you willing to work for me?" 

Daisy wasn't sure she had heard it right. Over all the years she had been with her, she had changed her chef 42 times. 42 times in 7 years. However, this was the first time she had employed anyone herself.

At this moment, Daisy was curious about the food's taste.

However, Tihan was dumbfounded. At that moment, all he could say was, "Sorry!?"