The risotto round ended the way Eve had hoped it would, cleanly, decisively, without drama on the surface.
The stage lights were still blazing as contestants filed off, faces tight with adrenaline. Some clutched their aprons like shields. Some forced smiles that didn’t reach their eyes. Others walked too fast, as if the next corridor might swallow them before the cameras could capture the tremor in their hands.
Eve stayed composed until the moment the studio doors swung shut behind the last contestant and the sound of the audience became a muffled roar.
Only then did she breathe properly.
Not relief. Not peace.
Just a measured breath, the kind she took when she knew the next part would be harder, even if the world thought the danger ended when the judges put down their forks.
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