Chapter 0213


    Abby


    Vanessa walks up to me, her heels clicking softly on the tile floor. The room slowly begins to pick up its


    volume again, but I feel lost in a giant void.


    “Are you okay, Abby?” Vanessa asks, her voice pulling me back to the present.


    “I-I’m fine,” I murmur, although the words feel like aplete and utter lie. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to


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    cause a scene.” I nce at Karl, who''s standing a few feet away, watching intently.


    Vanessa smiles, a soft, empathetic curve of her lips that immediately puts me at ease. “Don’t be sorry.


    The culinary world isn’t exactly a bed of roses for women, you know? We’re already at a disadvantage


    just by being female chefs.”


    “That shouldn’t be the case,” I find myself saying, a hint of bitterness in my voice. “Skill and talent


    should be what matters, not gender.”


    Vanessa nods, her eyes meeting mine with a look that speaks volumes. “You’re absolutely right. But


    sometimes the world doesn’t operate the way it should.” She hesitates for a moment, as though


    contemting whether to continue, then seems to make a decision. “Let me tell you a story.”


    She leans against a nearby table, crossing her arms as she gathers her thoughts. “Years ago, when I


    was climbing my way up thedder, there was a male chef—I’ll call him Mark—who couldn’t stand me.


    Not because I was better or worse than him in the kitchen, mind you, but simply because I was a


    woman. And a ck woman at that.”


    “That’s horrible,” I say, my heart sinking at the thought of facing such tant discrimination.


    “Oh, but that’s not even the beginning of it,” Vanessa says, her voice taking on a grim tone.


    “One night, during a critical review from a food critic, Mark sabotaged my dish. He swapped the fresh


    herbs I’d prepped with ones that had turned, ruining the entire dish. The critic got sick. It was a whole


    thing.”


    “Oh, no,” I gasp. “Did he get away with it?”


    Vanessa nods. “He did. At the time, nobody believed that he could do something so petty, and I didn’t


    have the evidence to prove it. No one wanted to listen to me, the ck female chef. I was a nobody, a


    woman in a male-dominated field. But you know what? In the end, it didn’t matter.”


    “How can it not matter?” The words tumble out before I can stop them. “He sabotaged your career!”


    “No, Abby,” she says, shaking her head. “He tried to sabotage my career. There’s a difference. What he


    did was a setback, no doubt about it, but it wasn’t the end of the world. I picked myself up, dusted


    myself off, and got back to work. And today, I’m far more sessful now than he ever became.”


    Her words hang in the air between us, heavy but also strangely uplifting. For a moment, I’m


    speechless, too caught up in the raw emotion of her story to formte a response.


    “And you know why?” she continues, her voice softer now but no less intense. “Because I didn’t let his


    petty actions define me. I defined myself, through hard work, resilience, and a refusal to be put in a box


    just because of my gender and my race.”


    Her eyes meet mine, and in that moment, I feel as though she’s more than just an idol for me. She’s a


    fellow woman, an ally, a mentor. “And you can do the same, Abby. You’re talented, passionate, and


    more than capable of standing on your own two feet. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”


    I’m on the verge of tears, but I’m able to fight them back thanks to the strength I see in Vanessa’s eyes


    and the conviction I hear in her voice.