Chapter 24 Fire Challenge

I climbed back into the bleachers and noticed that Callie is not following so I stopped.

“Oh Callie, why?” I asked her.

“I will play,” she replied coldly.

“Oh right. All right. Good luck.”

She just nodded and went to the grounds. I went upstairs and sat down. After seeing the grounds, the stage was gone and there were many shooting boards for archery in a forest-like setting.

“Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to today's Fire Challenge,” said Prince Fuego. Everyone applauded while the other women squealed.

“Wow hah. Now that’s a hot prince,” Jessy commented.

“Yeah,” Donna replied. ”Many women are chasing him because he is handsome and then he’s also a gentleman somehow but he is hot headed. He ​​is very quick to get angry.”

“Really? How can you tell?” Jessy asked.

“Once in a restaurant, the waiter accidentally spilled juice on him and he suddenly got angry and really shouted at the waiter that he just wanted to burn that waiter. It's good that was not me,” Donna replied.

“That will probably make him angry because he was drenched in water and he is a fire guy and we are not allowed to hold water,” said Flare.

“Oh okay. So he looks like a bad boy hot prince,” commented Jessy.

“Sshh. That's enough of your flirting. The game is starting,” Kyrie interrupted.

“What a KJ,” Jessy said.

“Okay so for the first challenge, we will have archery. To add more spices in the game, you will run while shooting the boards. You must shoot all because if you miss one even though you finished the path, you will be out for the first challenge so you better keep your eyes open because some of the boards are hidden. Also, you must always hit the bull's eye, understood?”

“Yes,” the players muttered.

“Okay. Let the challenge BEGIN!”

All the players ran, and Callie was among them. When she saw a board, she immediately shooted an arrow and... BULL'S EYE.

“Whooh! You're great Callie!” Femme shouted.

“Yeah!” Donna shouted.

I have nothing more to say. Every board she passes always hits the bull's eye, promise! Then there’s this. She skipped a board because she jumped from a tree branch but when she landed, she shot the board behind her without looking and what do you know, it’s a bull's eye again! Femme and Donna fell silent because of it. She doesn't seem like needing to be cheered on.

The challenge is over and Callie is in first place.

“Okay we already have 5 winners for the second challenge. Have a break,” said Prince Fuego and as usual, we met her below. We gave her very cold water and she drank it immediately.

“So uhm uhh Callie, you're great,” I praised her while she drank.

After she drank, she just looked back at me seriously.

“Uhm...” I just scratched my head. She looks scary.

“Hey Callie, good luck in the second challenge,” said Femme.

She looked at Femme and she just nodded.

There was an awkward silence between us. I fell silent. Of course you will because this is Callie we are talking about. I don't think she needs any more advice.

“Do you have anything else to say?” she asked seriously.

“Uhm good luck?” I said in question. She just looked at me and drank water again.

“Okay players, break is over. Please come back here on the grounds,” said Prince Fuego.

She closed her water bottle and stood up. ”I'm leaving,” she said coldly and she walked away.

We just watched her go and climbed up as well.

“Wow Yani, what happened to you? You were speechless a while ago,” said Kyrie.

“Well technically it's Callie and I think she doesn't need advice,” said Jessy.

“Yeah you said so,” Flare said.

I just sighed and watched Callie on the grounds.

“Hmm, what is Callie's second challenge?” said Donna. ”As far as I know the weakness she said was—”

“Okay. For our second challenge, we will have a cooking show...” said Prince Fuego as the field opened and there was a rising stove and oven as well as cooking utensils in front of the players.

“Yup. That is what I will say. Cooking,” said Donna.

“Whoah. That is Callie's weakness,” said Jessy in amazement.

“So for the instructions,” Prince Fuego began. ”Just like in every cooking show, you will cook the food given to you. The recipes are given and so as the utensils but the ingredients are not. The spice of this game, there is a shooting board for each one of you where the pictures of the ingredients you need are posted. Shoot the ingredient you need and it will be given. Since this is cooking, you have to be creative enough to present the plating. I know that some of you are not really into cooking but you are all just given a limited time. Okay. You may now BEGIN!”

“Wait hah girl, how did you know that cooking is Callie's second challenge?” Jessy asked Donna.

“Oh yeah, you were not here a while ago,” said Donna. ”Earlier while you were playing, we noticed that every second challenge is our weakness so that’s why, since Callie's weakness is cooking, that's the second challenge.”

Jessy thought and was also shocked to realize what Donna had said. ”Oh. You’re right. First is Hera which is dancing then Kyrie which is photography— “

“And to you, fashion,” Kyrie concluded.

“Wow. Oh my gash what a coincidence,” said Jessy. ”Then does it mean that the next ones are Femme's weakness and Flare's weakness and then Donna's weakness and also Yani's weakness?”

“You just made it longer,” Kyrie replied.

“Well then that means while it is still early we can change the players and match the challenge where you are not weak at,” Jessy suggested.

“What do you think, we didn't think of that a while ago?” Kyrie replied. ”Oh right, you were not here before.”

“Then tell me that you already thought about it and you have no intention of changing the players in a nice way. Is it my fault that I was not here a while ago? You can answer me properly,” Jessy replied irritably.

“It’s because it’s getting annoying what you're blabbering on,” Kyrie replied irritably.

“Aish. You are really annoying as well. I hate you,” Jessy said annoyed.

“The feelings are mutual Jessy,” Kyrie replied.

“Hmph.”

“But imagine guys. What will Callie cook?” Donna asked.

“Yeah. I feel like I want to taste it,” said Femme.

I just laughed. Yes, what will Callie cook? But I seem to know that it will not be a good outcome.

Because Callie is so good at archery, she immediately hit the ingredient she needs but if you look at her, you will laugh. It’s because she was just staring at the paper where the recipe was written while frowning.

She sliced, fried and then put whatever spices there were. Suddenly, what she was cooking caught fire but she just looked at it as if nothing was happening right in front of her. She was not even surprised. Oh Callie.

“Okay players, you have 10 minutes left. Make sure that right now, you are doing the plating,” said Prince Fuego.

“Go Callie! You can do it!” Femme shouted.

“Wow. You just shouted now,” said Kyrie.

“Hehe. I don’t know what I will shout earlier,” said Femme.

Honestly, when we were practicing, we forced her to cook, maybe because she meant that she didn’t know how to cook because she’s afraid of the burning oil, but it wasn’t the case. She was angry with us because of our insistence and the next day, she brought a food she cooked to patch things up. We thought she was joking when we saw the food that she cooked and gave it to us but she was not really good at cooking.

“1 minute...”

“5... 4... 3... 2... 1...”

“Time's up! Everyone raises both of your hands,” and that is what they all did.

That was close. Callie finished it, only that… it looked burnt. Even though our place is far from seeing it, it's still obvious. Whenever you look at it, you're going to lose your appetite. I know I’m so bad for saying that.

“What is that again Femme? You want to taste what Callie cooked, right?” Donna teased as she elbowed Femme.

“Uhm... eh... it looks burnt,” Femme replied.

“Ssh. She might hear you. You don’t want her when she’s mad,” said Donna.

“Ops,” and covered her mouth. We just laughed and focused on the game.

Prince Fuego was holding a piece of paper and then looked at the food they cooked and tasted it. He commented that sometimes it lacks spices or sometimes it is too salty or sometimes it is too sweet. How about Callie’s food? Will he taste it?

When he arrived at Callie's place, at first glance... he was shocked. He could not speak. He looked at Callie who was giving him back a poker face.

“Uhm,” he cleared his throat. “Correct me if I'm wrong but I think your food is burned,” commented Prince Fuego.

“Yeah it is,” Callie replied. The audience laughed because of that but that had no effect on Callie.

“Uhm did you even read the recipe?” Prince Fuego asked.

“I read it,” Callie replied.

“Okay. So why is it burned?”

“I wasn't able to control the fire. I don't know how to operate your stove…” she replied coldly.

“Oh okay. You should have called—”

“…and I don't know how to cook,” she added so Prince Fuego fell silent. Now that’s honesty. Prince Fuego was surprised, looked at the food and wrote on the paper. It was obvious on his face that he didn't want to taste the food.

“Are you going to taste it or not?” Callie asked seriously because he would not even take the spoon.

“Uhm well you see by the looks of it—”

“Here's the thing mister...” Callie cut him off and looked straight into Prince Fuego's eyes. ”You're going to taste this no matter what.”

“I know,” Prince Fuego replied. ”It's just that if I did so... I might get sick.”

“As expected from the famous chef in this nation but...” Callie put both her hands on the table besides the plate and approached Prince Fuego. ”…it's a challenge, mister. You're proposing this challenge yet you cannot even taste the food of the player. You should have thought that before you made this event.”

Prince Fuego was stunned by what she said. Boom! Good for you Callie.

Prince Fuego suddenly smiled. “As expected also from Callie, the only girl who talked back to me,” Prince Fuego smirked.

Callie was speechless and Prince Fuego sighed. “Guess I have no choice,” he said while taking the spoon and scooping. He looked at it first before putting it into his mouth.

On the first chew, he dropped the spoon. ”Pweh!” and spit it out. He knelt down and coughed.

The spectators laughed except for us here who were worried while looking at Callie who just bowed her head.

This is what Callie doesn’t like. So she doesn't want to cook because she doesn't like people's reactions when they taste it. Callie did her best but no matter how hard she tried, this always happened.

Prince Fuego stood up and wiped his mouth. ”God! Are you going to kill me with that food?! That's... that's my first time to taste something so— “ he looked at Callie having an expression of sorrow so he stopped talking.

“Uhh... hey,” he called Callie.

Callie didn't say a word and raised her head to Prince Fuego's surprise.

It's not obvious on Callie's face but all I can say is, she's on the verge of crying. She’s just restraining herself.

“Are you—”

“Horrible right?” Callie said.

Prince Fuego fell silent. ”You were about to say that it's so horrible. That you wish you have never tasted it...”

He was speechless. ”Why did I even push you to taste it...” Callie said angrily to herself and bowed her head again.

Prince Fuego could not speak back, even us here as well. We are talking about Callie here. If you see her that sad, your conscience will immediately bug you… that a woman who is too strong and does not care about the world, will be sad just because of cooking. You will think to yourself what you did was really bad.

Prince Fuego let out a sigh. ”Thanks for pushing me to taste it,” he said so Callie was surprised and looked up at him. ”Frankly, it's really horrible but I can't blame you about it. You participated in the first challenge because you were great at archery but you must be really nervous when cooking was the second challenge but good thing you participated here…”

Callie just stared at him. Prince Fuego smiled at her. ”Don't worry, I also started like that before I became what I am right now. Don't let the reaction of the people or even my reaction be the reason for you to give up. Just ignore them and keep going. You're still good at something else only that cooking is not that something.”

He put his hand on Callie's head and patted it. “That's a nice beginning. Keep up the good work,” said Prince Fuego with a smile.

Callie was speechless but Prince Fuego removed his hand after. ”Well, got to go. I still need to compute to know the winners. I hope what I said helped you but don't think of it that we're already friends. My conscience just started to bug me when I saw you like that so I just said that for you to go back to normal, looking like an annoying lady for me,” he even laughed. ”Haha. You know what I mean?” and he walked away.

Callie fell silent and still stunned. God. It was getting okay. It's already getting better, but it’s all because of Prince Fuego's personality that I don't understand ruined it all. Great. When will he realize his actions?

“Prince Fuego...” Callie called suddenly.

Prince Fuego was startled and turned around. ”Wait. Am I hearing things or did you just called me—”

He was cut off from what he was going to say because Callie lifted her face...

“Thank you,” she said with a smile.

I don't know if Callie ignored Prince Fuego's annoying words a while ago but oh God... SHE REALLY SMILED!

There you go. Look at the prince again. He held the back of his head and looked in the other direction and *ahem* he blushed profusely. Oh Prince Fuego.

Even us here are also dumbfounded, stunned, silenced, it’s like our faces are questionable. We only came to our senses when Prince Fuego said the top three. Callie... well you know. She might be first in the first challenge but she’s unlucky in the second challenge so it was expected.

We went down again to meet her. She came to us carrying the food she made.

“Callie,” Femme called.

She looked at Femme.

“Uhm... you're great.”

Callie gave back a poker face.

“What are you saying Femme, are you insulting her?” Donna whispered.

“Huh? Uhm I mean, she is good because she did her best. Hehe,” Femme scratched her head.

She looked at the food she is holding and brought the plate to us. ”Do you want to taste it?” she asked us with a straight face.

We looked at each other and couldn't answer and an awkward silence formed.

“Hey, taste it. She might get angry,” Kyrie whispered to us.

“Why won’t you taste it?” Jessy whispered back.

Callie just went to the trash and threw the food.

“Callie wait a minute—”

“If you don't want to, tell me. I would have understood more,” Callie said as she placed the plate on a table and walked past us but she also stopped. ”Next time, I will improve and do my best. Make sure you guys are the first to taste it,” she said without looking at us and continued walking.

“Yes Callie. I promise to be the first to taste it,” Femme said happily.

She stopped again and turned to us, gave us a thumbs-up still with a straight face and finally climbed up.

“Wait, was I dreaming earlier? Did Callie really smile?” Kyrie asked in wonder.

“That is not a dream,” I replied.

“Yeah girl because I saw it too,” Jessy replied. “Infairness, a hot prince was able to make someone like Callie who is numb to smile.”

I just smiled.

It's funny to think that the two of them can be together but that's right, out of all the people who can put a smile on a numb person like Callie, a fire prince who is easily irritated is the one who did it.

I immediately remembered what happened when they first met at the Ice palace and I knew there was something going on. I never thought that there would be a continuation and it just happened a while ago. What else could happen to them? It seems exciting…

Out of the blue, Jethro's face suddenly appeared smiling in my mind which surprised me.

Oh shacks. Why of all the things that can be remembered…

I looked at my team and immediately found out why.

Oh right. Half of the program is already happening in the event and soon this will be… over…