Chapter 17

It turns out Evely said a lot more than just ��I will always be by your side.�� She also said some nice things about how she��ll share her love for cooking with Jackson until he can rediscover his own joy. And how it��s okay for him to feel lost and directionless and homeless. She��ll be his home and be with him wherever he goes. She��ll protect him. He leans for the kiss and this time she doesn��t shy away. They make out in the pouring rain, then eventually move to shelter and do a bit more than just make out��
Poor Noah seems to have stayed up all night again waiting for Evely. Logan stayed the night at Evely's mom��s place for some reason, and in the morning he and Noah bicker, but then Noah asks him if he would be interested in managing a new restaurant. Noah is hesitant to help his best friend��s rival, but Noah invites him downstairs to chat more. By the time Jackson and Evely get back, they��re buddies.
Evely's mother and brother prep a room for Jackson. Noah shows Evely the money he fundraised from their friends and family and said that he already got logan onboard to manage. Jackson.... doesn��t have a role, because Evely will be the head chef, but may be he can do dishes or something? Noah is seemingly a bit jealous that Jackson is staying with Evely's family, and reminds him that he has to contribute something to the family and can��t just expect to be given free food and housing.
Jackson sits in the bathroom, a far cry from the luxury of his own place, and wonders why he feels so lost when this freedom from La Mure, the joh family, and bright company is everything he��s wanted. He can��t contribute much to the wat's but he can clean the bathroom. So he does that.
Afterward, he finds himself dressed like a boho hippie buying groceries from street stalls. He wanders around feeling out of place, yet he also seems to enjoy himself. After spotting a poor man sitting despondently on the street, he asks to borrow a street hawker��s food cart and cooks up a meal for the street hawker and for the poor man.
When he gets back to Qing��s building, all he has is a cucumbers and a carrot. He runs into Amelia, who is shocked to see his appearance and says that she and her dad can help him. One phone call and he can be working at any number of fine dining restaurants. He belongs there, not here in some ragtag clothes buying groceries on the street. But Jackson responds that maybe fine dining is not what he wants to do. He can tell that Amelia is turned off by his appearance and calls her out on it. She doesn��t respond, but Evely comes downstairs and says, ��I like him like this.�� They go upstairs.
Noah, always looking to stir trouble, asks why Jackson was gone for so long but only has two vegetables. He complains that the rest of the night market family will be hard at work and they want to eat meat not two measly vegetables.
While they all head off to work, Jackson is bored out of his mind at home. He ends up trying to figure out a way to make ��meat�� from the ingredients he has at hand, and finally comes up with a ��meat�� patty, which he delivers to the night market. Turns out it��s not meat it��s salad. Jackson spots Noah's ��Help Wanted�� sign and decides that he��ll help Noah out as his new employee.
After they close up shop, Evely stays up trying to brainstorm recipes for her new restaurant. Jackson offers to help, but she rejects his offer saying she wants to figure it out on her own now. She asks him what he was doing when he was shopping for groceries. He tells her about cooking on the street and talks about how he��s trying to figure out who he wants to be and what he wants to do. He used to think being a chef was about being in the kitchen, but now he��s realized that seeing a customer��s smile is most important to him. So he plans on being a chef and cooking for people without opening a restaurant.
Jayden drinks moodily by himself and reflects on the past few days. He��s troubled by Jackson's fall which he forced and he doesn��t like that his aunty was scheming behind his back. He calls aunt zoe out to meet him. Aunt zoe is his father's sister.
They argue about her motives and whether she actually loves him or not she refuses to say she does, and jayden thinks she��s only in it for his family status. She claims she does everything for him. Besides, she��s backed by his mother. But jayden is done with all that and breaks ties with her.
Aunt zoe cries as she walks away, but then steels herself and says to herself that she knows what she wants.
Amelia drinks by herself as she broods over how Jackson was correct in his assessment of her. she was turned off by his appearance. No wonder he doesn��t want her. But she��s interrupted in her pity party by a phone call from jayden, who says that he��s in the worst mood and could need some company.
They end up drinking together. Jayden offers Amelia a shoulder to cry on, which she accepts.
Jackson and Evely end up late night cooking. He teaches her how to make currywurst and tells her about the history behind the dish. Of course, there��s a romantic backstory involving star-crossed lovers and World War II Germany.
Jayden and Amelia end up wasted and stumbling together on the streets. All sorts of confessions come out. But there��s a real big zinger. Jayden tells her that he��s not actually a member of the joh family. His mother had an affair. His mother doesn��t even know that he knows.
Jayden has known since high school and blames himself for not telling anyone earlier. If he did, then maybe Jackson wouldn��t have been kicked out. Yet he also can��t say anything because he wants to protect his mother. Amelia drunkenly says that she thinks he is a great person and doesn��t care about who he is. She might be drunk but it��s definitely heartfelt
The next morning, Jackson and Evely are cooking breakfast when Noah shows up. She asks him if he remembers a recipe they once made together. Upon hearing the ingredients, Jackson name a dish, but neither Noah nor Evely knew it was called that.
Meanwhile, jayden wakes up, hungover and half-naked. He stumbles into his clothes, then stumbles into a wall and finally realizes that he��s not in his own room. He checks the bed�� it��s Amelia And she��s also naked. Oops. Jayden being an illegitimate son. Amelia and jayden?
This was about each of them trying to figure out themselves Jackson trying to figure out who he is without his joh family identity, and Evely figuring out who she is now that she has the freedom to branch out on her own. But I feel like the main focus of this was jayden. that it��s good to finally clarify that he did not suddenly have a personality change. He has an ulterior motive and not necessarily an evil one. It feels like he and Amelia have the more cliche rom-com in store for them though��