4 Will you marry me? (1/2)
Hyun-Shik gaped at her for about a second before he finally said, ”I agree...”
The girl's face shone as she sat back down and looked directly at him, ”First, I should apologize to you. It's not like I didn't know what this meeting is all about. Second, I think we've wasted a significant amount of your time today because my Father had insisted on seeing and talking to you. I know you have a lot of work left to do.”
He smiled a little as he thought to himself. Well, this is work too... He reached for his glass and drank some water.
”I bet you're thinking that this is work too,” the girl said lightly.
And that's when he choked on his water.
”What?” He stared at her openly now.
Ji-Eun's smile grew a bit wider. ”I'm just kidding.”
I don't really think you are, he thought as he wiped his mouth with a napkin.
The girl suddenly looked past his shoulder and gestured for someone to come over. Hyun-Shik turned to look and saw a waitperson approaching them.
”Would you like to have some dessert while we talk?” Ji-Eun asked him.
Hyun-Shik watched as the waitperson cleared away their plates.
”If you don't mind, Ms. Chung,” he started. ”Is it okay if I drink a little?”
”Please,” she answered. ”You can call me Ji-Eun, Mr. Song. I think I may have told you that earlier. And no, I don't mind.” She turned to the waitperson. ”Please get the gentleman his drink.”
”Any beer, my good man.” He said.
”And you, Miss?” The waitperson asked her.
”I'm driving today, so just some iced coffee for me please.”
”Right away,” the waitperson bowed and proceeded to get their drinks.
Ji-Eun waited until she was sure that there were no other people close before she turned her attention back to him again.
”You must have a lot of questions, Mr. Song,” she said.
”Most of them were answered by the President earlier, so I don't have much,” he looked at her seriously. ”And you can call me Hyun-Shik too, you know.”
”But you're my Senior-”
”I don't like being addressed like I'm somebody's uncle,” he said. ”So, it's Hyun-Shik or we're not going to get along.”
She laughed lightly and he had to look away. This girl's too interesting, he thought.
”Okay,” she said. ”I just didn't want to be rude. You have to ask permission for these kind of things, you know.”
”Then it is given,” he said casually. ”I'm curious, Ji-Eun. Were there really many proposals?”
”What do you mean?”
”Marriage meetings,” he said running his hand through his hair again.
”And what number am I?” In Hyun-Shik's mind, that was already a lot. And she had attended all of them? The poor girl...
”You are the ninth,” she answered as she received her coffee from the waitperson who came back to deliver their drinks.
”Hmmm,” he voiced out. ”And you didn't find somebody who's interesting enough from those meetings?” He took his beer mug and drank slowly.
”Not until today,” she answered truthfully.
Hyun-Shik put down his mug and looked at her carefully. ”Ji-Eun, you should know... I'm not really looking to get married to anybody anytime soon. I just came here out of respect to the person who I was supposed to meet. I didn't know that the President came with you, nor did I have any idea that the person I'm meeting was somebody important like you. Had it been a meeting with some other normal girl, I would have told the other person that I'm not interested and go. But since it was you and the President-”
”What about it?” Ji-Eun asked. ”Don't you think that this is just a normal marriage meeting?”
He sighed. ”Your status changes everything, you know,” he said. ”That my own Mother would not tell me about it earlier was just...”