C22
-22-
“…”
“I wonder how he’s doing now-“
Seeing Won Junjae’s nicely crumpled expression, Jeonggwan inwardly chuckled, pretending to reminisce about an ex-boyfriend he wasn’t actually curious about. From the Instagram stalking he did with Jihoon before, he knew the ex was doing quite well. Although he already knew everything about how the ex was living, he deliberately used a melancholic voice as if still longing for him, which made Won Junjae’s eyes look like they were about to shoot lasers. Ah- This is fun.
Knock knock-
“I’ll bring in the meal.”
Just as he was teasing Won Junjae, the table was finally brought in. An employee in a neat black uniform opened the door, and two others began transferring dishes from a large wooden tray to the table. Fried food and a clear, warm-looking soup came first, followed by sushi placed in expensive-looking round ceramic dishes, one set in front of each person.
The main course didn’t seem to be sushi. On the huge plate that came last, there was a beautiful plating of seafood that Jeonggwan usually couldn’t afford, like scallops, croaker, tuna belly, and spotted shrimp sashimi, placed in the center.
Jeonggwan’s heart was pounding so hard it felt like it might jump out of his mouth. Although Park Jihoon often took him to expensive restaurants, he disliked seafood, so this was Jeonggwan’s first time at such a high-end sushi restaurant. The items on that central plate were rare sights in a household with four brothers. Some of them, Jeonggwan had never tasted in his life.
As soon as the staff finished setting up and left, Jeonggwan took out his phone and snapped about 50 photos in rapid succession. Then he picked up his chopsticks at a frightening speed. His face said he couldn’t wait any longer.
But when he actually tried to eat, he wondered if it was really okay to eat such precious things, so he put the tips of his chopsticks in his mouth and looked up at Won Junjae. His expression was roughly saying, “Teacher, is it really okay for me to eat such precious food?”
“…”
Won Junjae, who had been quietly watching Jeonggwan, averted his eyes and brushed his mouth.
“…Eat.”
At the low voice telling him to eat, Jeonggwan’s chopsticks entered battle mode. First, the abalone!
* * *
Junjae’s jaw muscle twitched.
‘Of course. If we hadn’t broken up forcibly, we might still be dating.’
However, he couldn’t explain this feeling of betrayal, so he didn’t say anything more. Perhaps it was because, in his common sense, he couldn’t understand how even this pig could have dated someone. If they hadn’t broken up forcibly, they might still be dating? Impossible. Who would date this pig? And Kim Jeongyun had clearly said that the pig had never dated anyone before.
Moreover, just looking at the pig’s appearance, he was nowhere near the level of being able to date someone. At best, he was white and had round eyes. Maybe his cheekbones rose roundly when he smiled? But even those passable features could be found in more than a truckload of omegas. There was nothing particularly special about him.
So who on earth? Junjae’s hand gripping the chopsticks tightened.
“Wow…!”
True to his pig nature, Jeonggwan couldn’t take his eyes off the incoming dishes, his eyes shining.
How could a person make such an expression? As if he was so happy he could die… Just for eating some sushi. Now he was even wiggling his bottom, looking at him with an expectant face as if asking if he could really eat this, and it was really…
“…”
Really…
“…Eat.”
He turned his head away because he couldn’t bear to watch. What… It’s not like he’s a dog waiting for its owner’s command.
As soon as he said to eat, Jeonggwan excitedly stuffed a bluefin tuna sushi into his mouth. Had he never been to a place like this before? It seems the person he dated before didn’t have the ability to bring him to such places. Well, how great could the person the pig dated have been anyway.
It takes someone like me to feed him things like this.
“This! This is delicious!”
When Jeonggwan ate the king clam sushi second, his face lit up with excitement as if it was exactly to his taste, declaring it delicious. Junjae also put a king clam sushi in his mouth and nodded slightly.
…Indeed. It is delicious.
* * *
“You can drop me off at home.”
After finishing the meal and coming out in front of the car, Jeonggwan looked blankly at Won Junjae, who got into the back seat first. Secretary Oh opened the door and told Jeonggwan to get in, but Jeonggwan found Won Junjae’s words from earlier ridiculous.
When Jeonggwan didn’t get into the car, Secretary Oh was flustered, and Won Junjae also lowered his head to look at Jeonggwan through the open door, wondering what was wrong.
“…What are you doing?”
“This isn’t right.”
“…What isn’t?”
“You’re crossing the line, way too much.”
“…What,”
Jeonggwan didn’t get into the car and took a step back. At this, Won Junjae immediately opened the car door and got out. Anyone could guess the expression on Won Junjae’s face as he got out. What on earth is wrong after eating a good meal?
“…What is it?”
“We didn’t have dessert yet.”
“…What?”
“How can you say ‘You can drop me off at home’ when we haven’t even had dessert?”
Secretary Oh stared at Jeonggwan with a face that said “What on earth are you talking about?” beyond bewilderment, while Won Junjae’s expression seemed to ask, “Am I hearing this correctly…?” Both of them, having never gone separately for dessert, couldn’t properly understand Jeonggwan’s words. However, Jeonggwan was serious without even a gram of jest.
“It’s our first date. Aren’t we going for dessert?”
“…We ate that delicious apricot sorbet at the end, didn’t we?”
And you even took mine because you said it was delicious. Junjae didn’t bother to mention the latter part.
“That was the restaurant’s dessert. Do you usually just eat a meal and part ways on dates, Won Junjae-ssi? Was this some kind of company dinner? Just eating and leaving. If that was the plan, why did we meet so early? Why, if we were just going to eat and part, didn’t we meet for lunch on Monday in the company cafeteria? Am I that easy? Did you think I didn’t know how to date? Ha. Are you going to a dessert cafe with someone else?”
Jeonggwan glared at Won Junjae and fired off these words as if deeply offended.
In truth, Jeonggwan was angry because of the dessert…
That was correct. After eating expensive and delicious sushi, Jeonggwan had been excited, wondering what kind of dessert would be waiting for him next!
Although he had eaten many expensive and delicious desserts with Park Jihoon, he thought Won Junjae, an executive director at Won Jae Electronics, would take him to even better, more expensive, and more delicious places than Park Jihoon, who was just a distant relative.
But the response he got was “You can drop me off at home?” What?
This showed a complete lack of preparation for a first date. Not picking him up, not planning for dessert. Did he think I’d be moved and fall for him just because he bought me an expensive meal, saying “Oh, thank you so much”?
How lightly must he think of me? Huh? Does he think I’ve never dated before? Let me tell you, I’ve dated a son of a successful lawyer. On our first date, he had everything planned out. What meal to eat, what dessert to have, even picking me up and dropping me off at home. All perfectly arranged.
Does he think he’s doing me a favor by meeting me and that a meal is enough? The more Jeonggwan thought about it, the more indignant he felt towards Won Junjae, and he turned his body away sharply.
“…Where are you going?”
“…”
“Kim Jeonggwan-ssi.”
Even as Won Junjae called from behind, Jeonggwan didn’t answer and strode forward. In reality, he had nowhere to go and his home was far from here, but Al.da.kko had told him to choose to discard without regret any alpha who didn’t show sincerity.
Honestly, it was a shame to discard Won Junjae’s looks and wealth without regret, but he could do it if told to. Frankly, he himself was also too good for Won Junjae. First of all, he was 9 years younger, had abilities, and above all, was cute.
Jeonggwan snorted and took out his phone. He was looking for a dessert cafe nearby. Suddenly getting angry and expending energy had made his blood sugar drop.
I’ll go and get a warm chocolate latte with whipped cream added twice…
Tap tap-. Just then, the sound of quickly walking dress shoes was heard from behind,
“…What is it?”
Won Junjae grabbed Jeonggwan’s arm and turned him around.
“…I,”
Unlike the urgency Jeonggwan had expected, Won Junjae’s expression looked very annoyed. What’s this? Did he come to pick a fight? Jeonggwan’s words came out bluntly in response to Junjae’s expression.
“What?”
“I… have never been to such places.”
Jeonggwan seriously wondered if this person was joking with him. No, what kind of person has never been to a dessert cafe?
“…”
However, looking at Won Junjae’s expression, it seemed like it could be true. If this person had the mindset of “I’m doing you a favor by meeting you, let’s call it even with just a meal!”, he probably wouldn’t have chased after him like this when he was leaving in a huff about not having dessert.
Above all, Won Junjae’s current expression was more of “I really don’t know about these things. I’m annoyed. What am I supposed to do?” rather than feeling wronged, as he continued to hold onto Jeonggwan’s arm. This raised a question.
Wait. Has this man never dated before?
“…Then let’s go to Apgujeong for now.”
“…”
“We’ll eat apricot chocolate.”
No way-. This is Won Junjae we’re talking about. I’d believe it more if Park Jihoon said he’d never dated.