Though the incident seemed resolved, in reality, unresolved parts remained.
For example, the source of the rumors.
But unlike some executives who desire to perfectly understand the world, Seo Seung-hyun harbored no such desire, nor did he believe it was possible. Thus, he filed away the fools’ gossip in a corner of his memory.
He had more important matters to focus on.
Lately, he had been concentrating on fattening Lee Young-jin.
This task was three steps higher in priority than collecting debts from a court-managed subsidiary company he had been working on since last month. Moreover, considering the time and effort invested, it was a more challenging task than establishing a holding company or expanding business territories.
Lee Young-jin was four months into pregnancy with hardly any morning sickness. However, given their unique physiology, it was clear without a doctor’s nutritional advice that the calories consumed were less than those expended by the fetus.
Fortunately, Lee Young-jin was compliant with Seo Seung-hyun’s new project.
The giant fridge, previously filled with various types of sparkling water and still water, began to stack up with containers of side dishes brought by Manager Yoon, and a variety of fruits and vegetables replaced daily regardless of the season.
Since last month, when the doctor confirmed that Lee Young-jin and the baby were healthy enough for light exercise without any morning sickness, Seo Seung-hyun started employing a slightly different strategy. This led to a somewhat perplexing task being added to the duties of his executive secretary, Jang Young-hee.
The task of scouting restaurants with excellent food and atmosphere, unrelated to lunch meetings, business dinners, sales, or entertainment, was eventually handed down from Jang Young-hee to Vice Chief Lee Jin-hee of the secretarial office, from Lee Jin-hee to the third in command, and so on, finally reaching a 26-year-old newcomer in the secretarial office. After several trials and errors, he managed to compile a list of about thirty restaurants, which was then passed up the chain until only eight restaurants remained on the list by the time it reached Seo Seung-hyun.
Seo Seung-hyun was a man who never acted unprepared.
After thorough preliminary research on the eight restaurants, he eventually selected three.
In conclusion, he realized his failure on the fourth dining out night. By the fifth dinner, he acknowledged that, unlike business decisions, choosing a dinner menu required more options daily, and three choices were insufficient.
Eventually, he regained the list of all thirty restaurants, including the five he had initially dismissed, passing through Jang Young-hee, Lee Jin-hee, the third in command, an assistant, a senior, and two employees.
Today was the turn to visit the seventeenth choice on that list.
This small casual French restaurant, offering complimentary valet parking and a welcome drink, served food and drinks at a price range far from what the term ‘casual’ would imply. Located at the end of a narrow alleyway, which even a limousine would find tight to navigate, the restaurant occupied a small two-story detached house.
Despite its size, the restaurant had fewer tables than one might expect for its scale.
All ten tables, including those only opened in the summer, were empty.
The owner-chef and three staff members politely stood waiting for Seo Seung-hyun and Lee Young-jin.
On a clear May evening, the south-facing front windows of the restaurant were all open, and the soft lighting installed among the garden trees twinkled.
The small chandelier, made of faux diamonds and crystals, was impressive thanks to the high ceiling.
At 7 PM, a time when the restaurant would normally be busy except for a few reserved tables, the interior was quiet. Soft modern classical music, not too old, was playing.
Lee Young-jin had no particular thoughts.
He just noticed that the restaurant had no customers.
The owner-chef personally showed them to their table. Seo Seung-hyun gently pulled Lee Young-jin towards him, his arm barely touching his waist. Lee Young-jin followed him without much thought.
They were led to a table with a view of the neatly decorated garden in front.
A single stalk of fragrant lilacs, emitting a strong scent and with a candle lit beside it, was placed at a corner of the table.
Seo Seung-hyun pulled out Lee Young-jin’s chair. Lee Young-jin looked around and then, a beat too late, sat down. Seo Seung-hyun sat down after the owner-chef pulled out his chair.
The welcome drink was a non-alcoholic champagne served in a slender flute glass. It had weak bubbles but a strong sweetness, specially ordered by Seo Seung-hyun. Lee Young-jin seemed to like it, playing with his glass and quickly finishing it off.
The meal consisted of 7 courses (which was also not very ‘casual’) and was served slowly to match their pace of dining.
Lee Young-jin’s way of eating remained the same.
He saved his bread until the onion soup arrived, then broke it all into small pieces with his hands, dropped it into the soup, and lingered over it for a long time.
Only when the thick soup had cooled down to lukewarm and showed the bottom did Lee Young-jin put down his spoon. The staff took away the empty bowl and brought the next dish, but now Lee Young-jin was not flustered. Plaice with apple cream sauce, foie gras decorated with beets and asparagus, followed by a well-done rib-eye steak were served. Seo Seung-hyun ordered another round of the non-alcoholic champagne that had been served as a welcome drink. Sparkling wine for aperitif, red wine for red meat, white wine for white fish, and sweet port wine, noble rot wine, or sherry for dessert wine. Such table manners were not very important to Seo Seung-hyun. When the staff brought the champagne, he made sure it was given to Lee Young-jin.
Lee Young-jin, who took the non-alcoholic champagne as if it were a soda, drank it down without a second thought.
Seo Seung-hyun watched him eat.
Lee Young-jin, awkwardly holding a Laguiole knife, was tearing apart the rib-eye steak when he blinked and looked up at Seo Seung-hyun.
“Aren’t you eating?”
“I am.”
Seo Seung-hyun then began to cut into the piece of meat in front of him.
When they had finished their two-hour meal, Lee Young-jin’s face was flushed. The greasy meat, sweet dessert, and what he thought was a carbonated drink were to blame.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah….”
Lee Young-jin nodded sleepily.
His eyes were vaguely unfocused, as they often are after overeating, as if he had just indulged in sex several times and experienced multiple orgasms, melting away in satisfaction.
Seo Seung-hyun thought it was time to take him home quickly.
As Seo Seung-hyun stood up, the chef came out to ask about the meal. Seo Seung-hyun looked at Lee Young-jin as if to say it was his turn to answer, and Lee Young-jin, blinking his eyelids flutteringly, nodded his head.
“It was delicious.”
Neither of them were the type to elaborate on what was good and what was not in great detail.
The night sky in May was clear. The temperature was 17 degrees. The weather was a bit warmer than the day before.
The restaurant staff went to fetch the valet-parked car.
The cool air soothed Lee Young-jin’s heated cheeks. Seo Seung-hyun lightly caressed his flushed cheek with his fingertips. Lee Young-jin looked up at him. Seo Seung-hyun met his moist eyes. His lips, which had been straight, tilted up slightly.
He was just thinking it might be nice to take a short drive out of town before heading home when a sleek black convertible slowly approached the narrow alley.
The convertible didn’t pass by them but stopped.
The driver’s side window, heavily tinted, rolled down.
It was clearly a situation Seo Seung-hyun hadn’t anticipated.
Especially since it turned out to be a familiar face.
The man, with his hair dyed brown and styled with wax in a somewhat frivolous manner, had wrinkles around his eyes but didn’t look over forty, and his clothing was much younger. His shirt was unbuttoned at the top, and he wore a light jacket made of linen. Sunglasses were hooked in the jacket’s breast pocket.
The man leaned out of the window with a pleased expression.
“CEO Seo! To see CEO Seo here…”
“Isn’t this CEO Park.”
Seo Seung-hyun responded nonchalantly to the greeting.
He was the CEO of an entertainment group with whom Seo Seung-hyun was acquainted. Some of the entertainers under his management had recently gained popularity, making him one of the self-made young entrepreneurs, although he was actually a distant cousin of a chaebol family, making it somewhat embarrassing to truly call him self-made.
“Call me ‘hyung’, between us,” the man said, chuckling in a way that belied his age as he leaned his elbow on the car window and tilted his body out. His gaze naturally moved past Seo Seung-hyun to Lee Young-jin standing beside him. His eyes, half-closed in a drowsy manner, scanned Lee Young-jin from top to bottom.
“Have you eaten? Did I interrupt?”
Noticing that gaze, a smile threatened to form on Seo Seung-hyun’s face but didn’t fully emerge.
“Yes, we’ve just had our meal.”
Lee Young-jin’s eyes drifted to the rear of the Mercedes C-Class convertible, where a heavy SUV was parked. It was their car.
Lee Young-jin lightly tapped Seo Seung-hyun’s hand. Turning to him, Lee Young-jin spoke.
“CEO, should I go wait in the car first?”
Only then did Seo Seung-hyun notice their car waiting at the end of the alley.
“No.”
Seo Seung-hyun answered with a tender voice and drew Lee Young-jin closer by the shoulder.
“CEO Park, we’ll be heading off then. Let’s have a meal together some other time.”
As Seo Seung-hyun ended the encounter with these typical parting words and turned around, arm still around Lee Young-jin’s shoulder,
“Ah, wait, hold on.”
CEO Park leaned out of the car window. Fumbling in his back pocket, he pulled out a slender business card holder.
“I haven’t seen this face before. Can I give him my card?”
He quickly blurted out as he took a business card from his wallet.
“Haven’t debuted yet, right? Which agency? How many years left on your contract? Is there a penalty for breaking it? CEO Seo can handle that much, right?”
He extended the business card towards Lee Young-jin.
Of course, it was Seo Seung-hyun who intercepted it.
Seo Seung-hyun, with a polite smile, pushed the card back just as he had received it.
“CEO Park. Even if you didn’t see us at the wedding, this isn’t quite polite, is it?”
Leave a Reply