Life Without You

Chapter 5 - The New Celebrity

News of Ariel's sudden appearance shocked the world. This was what Fujita exactly wanted, a shock publicity that would boost their great interest in their products and propel sales.

At first, she thought that being Leon's chef's was the hardest job she had done. But now, being Fujita Sauces' spokeswoman and head chef gave her more sleepless nights. Not only was she flooded with invites to TV and magazine interviews, she also had to juggle her day job in working with their chefs to expand Fujita's line of sauces and manage Fujita's new restaurant which utilised their entire range of sauces, after 3 months of concocting new recipes while she was kept behind closed doors.

On the opening day of the two-storey restaurant named Hinata (ie. "In the Sun" in Japanese) and located along the famed street of Dotonburi of Osaka where she first visited with Leon, the queue was massive with fans, curious passers-by and the paparazzi from all over the world who wanted a taste of some of Leon's dishes from his former chef. Despite the capacity to house many people, it was obviously not big enough during the press night, that they had to turn down many people who had painfully queued for hours. This sort of busyness was something Ariel never experienced, not even at her former workplace, the Oriental Treasure. She was on full steam without rest and without sitting, managing the busy kitchen and overseeing every dish that went out.

As a celebrity spokeswoman for Fujita, meet-and-greet with the diners was a must and she reluctantly gave in to their photo-taking and autograph requests, her cheeks sore from her never-ending smile. Questions about her time with Leon were constantly being thrown at her but her playful roll of the eyes and shy smile was her only answer. Inside, she was deathly annoyed. Her bodyguards were a great help in fending off crazy fans and the paparazzi, but they also isolated her from getting in touch with the 'common' people. Now she realised first-hand how Leon truly felt on a daily basis - it was pretty depressing but crazy at the same time.

Ariel refused Fujita's offer to get her a personal assistant, choosing rather to do things herself. She did however get a house help who came to do their housework every week, and she even hired a massager who came every three days to give her private body massages for her exhausted body.

Ariel continued her humble life behind closed doors, choosing to save a large portion of her earnings for Andy's future, a new house to own back home and for a rainy weather, rather than on opulence.

When she saw herself on the Oishii cooking channel for the second time, the once nervous and shy chef who presented with Leon Waltz was now a proud and confident career woman who spoke with eloquence and grace on her own, and answered the presenter, Shinju's questions with much more intelligent answers at ease.

Despite her super tight schedules and dizzying rise in stardom, she remained immensely lonely. In fact, it was her idea, not Hiroshi's, to take one step further to cut off ties with her friends and everyone else back home. The guilt within her was unbearable but being free from their opinions and pressure match her and Leon together was a relief for now. She knew she was going to miss Beth's wedding if she continued this way, but she was not emotionally ready to get back in touch with her friends yet.

The only person who had been with her every step the way and who never judged her since she and Andy arrived was Hiroshi. He was not only her weekly self-defence teacher, but also a friend whom she found herself getting more and more attached to.

A notification beep alerted her and she saw a message by Hiroshi on Line, a communication app used more commonly in Japan than WhatsApp.

Hiroshi: Well done on your first big night! It's a roaring success!

Ariel: ありがとうございます、さんせい! (ie. Thank you very much, teacher!)

Hiroshi: いいえ！日本語をよく勉強する! (ie. No problem! I see you're studying your Japanese well!)