Chapter 22: The Other Guy
To summarize everything, according to Soohyun, it ended very well. Both his parents and brother are thrilled with the news that he was supposed to break to his family. And how supportive his parents were with the announcement, made Soohyun chuckled and shook his head. The way she had also taken his hand before he reacts impulsively towards Sung Rok's remarks, had him wondering. What is she trying to do? Soohyun thought as he steals a glance at the lady beside him.
"What?" JiU says after catching his glance.
"You are quite the badass today, " Soohyun chuckled with amusement, "I never thought you'd stand up to me like that."
"Don't get me wrong, Soohyun-ssi, " JiU replies in a skeptic expression, "What he said is an offensive remark that annoys me much, and I am standing up for me rather than for you. I had to make my impression."
For some reason, Soohyun finds himself disappointed, "Ah, I see, alright then."
"And about holding your hand, " JiU adds, "It was yet another gesture to put in front of your parents and that I need to stop you before embarrassing the both of us. Your temper is quite short; I am not about to jeopardize my first meeting with your parents."
"And the bomb about our engagement?" By this point, Soohyun completely understands that what happened today is just professionalism on JiU's part.
"Ah, well, it is payback for earlier today, " Soohyun nods in understanding on her actions.
Silence fell upon the young couple as soon as the conversation ends. Soohyun is highly fascinated with her, but there's no denying the apparent gap between them. JiU takes her role seriously and strictly according to the deal while Soohyun tries to find enjoyment being with her. A part of him wants them to start on a different note. However, she's not making it easy.
Then again, it is not like Soohyun yo shy away from such a challenge like her. He is determined to make her warm up to him. No matter what, Soohyun clenches his hands on the steering wheel. He is determined to try again, but once again, fate isn't in his favor—JiU's phone rings.
At first, her face was puzzled as she stares at the screen of her phone. Accepting the call, "Hello?" And just like that, her once puzzled look lit up like a Christmas tree on a Christmas morning. "Yah, Changwook-ah, took you this long to call me?"
A tinge feeling of jealousy creeps up Soohyun's mind. Never once had he seen her smile like that, especially around him. That smile is the most genuine smile coming from her. The way she talks also differs from the way she talks to him: her tone and her body language change entirely because of one phone call.
"Alright then, the usual," JiU's smile never left, "Annyeong."
The moment her call ends, her demeanor changes as well, back to the previous countenance before the call came. "Can you please drop me off at Jungsik Seoul?" JiU asked, shifting from her prior plan of going home.
"Ah, yeah, that will be fine," Soohyun is dying to know who was the person that called her.
"So, umm..." As soon as Soohyun starts, the same instance, JiU interrupted.
"Sorry, it is none of your business," JiU keeping her point straight forward, "As I won't bother you with who you're meeting in the future, I hope you will do the same."
Soohyun is left tongue-tied by her blunt remark to his unfinished sentence. "Alright," the only thing Soohyun can say as he continues to drive in silence once more.
When they arrived, JiU quickly unfastened her seatbelt, "I'll be going on my own this time, thank you." Before Soohyun could respond, she exits the car.
Not even once looking back, she left Soohyun in his car. Curiosity floods in as Soohyun peeked through his car window, following JiU as she walks into the restaurant. Thanking the see-through windows, Soohyun can see who JiU is meeting. Driving his car forward slowly, he keeps his eyes on her until she meets with a man. He looks about both their age, quite established from the way he dresses, and quite the facial features that could mistake him as a model.
The way they both smiled after seeing each other makes Soohyun grip the steering wheel. Soohyun takes out his phone to take a photo of the male. And as he takes a picture of the man with his noticeably expensive phone, the two shared a short embrace.
The gesture sparked something inside Soohyun as he involuntarily hits the car's horn. Oh shit! Soohyun gassed his car. The car's honking sound was probably loud enough to draw attention to himself. He hoped she didn't catch him.
Once he is out of sight, Soohyun parked his car not far from the restaurant. He tapped his car's built-in phone, calling Kwangsoo. "Hyung?" He starts.
"Neh, boss, what's up?" Soohyun likes the fact that Kwangsoo always answers his calls.
"I'm going to send you a picture," Soohyun scrolled through his phone to find the picture he had taken earlier of the man meeting JiU, "I want you to run a data search on that picture."
"Alright, boss," Kwangsoo responds to the request just as immediately when asked.
Soohyun sends the picture to Kwangsoo, "I sent it."
"Got it, boss," Kwangsoo confirms after receiving the picture. He immediately tapped on his keyboard, "Boss, give me two minutes, " Kwangsoo says as he begins his task.
With curiosity eating at his skin, Soohyun makes a round turn. He parked a few yards across from the restaurant, looking right at the man and JiU. Soohyun whips out a set of his handy binoculars from his dashboard and begins to scope his target.
Talking, laughing, and brief skin contact, Soohyun observed as he watched their gestures. Even though the skin contact was only her reaching forward to punch the man's shoulder, Soohyun scoffed. Soohyun keeps on scoping the couple, not realizing the fact his fascination is turning to something different.
"Boss?" Kwangsoo's voice calls out from the call.
"Go ahead, Hyung," Soohyun states while still keeping his eyes on his binoculars.
"His name is Ji Changwook, 25 years old. And well, this guy is quite impressive," not an amusing start for Soohyun to hear, "He is the son of a famous and wealthy oil businessman in Korea, graduated from one of Paris' top 5 Universities, majoring in Architecture, and have established quite a name among Paris' top Architects right after graduation. He went to the same school as Miss JiU and her, now secretary, Tiffany Hwang."
"He is clean too," Kwangsoo states, "An excellent honest man, and he is currently in Korea on a big project. Oh! His family is very close to Miss JiU's family. Btw, why did you ask, though, boss? If you don't mind me asking."
"I'll keep you to speed later, Kwangsoo Hyung," Soohyun didn't want to go into details yet, "Thank you." Like always, Soohyun ended the call before Kwangsoo could do anything.
The longer Soohyun stares at the two friends from afar, the more he gets agitated. The hell am I doing? Soohyun thinks to himself, after halting his long distanced observation. Leaning back on his seat, he chuckled, then shaking his head. "She's right," Soohyun says after recalling her last statement, "She wouldn't concern herself with who I meet so I can do the same."
After one last look at the see-through windows of the restaurant, Soohyun drives off. Unbeknownst to him, someone else is watching JiU and Changwook. But differing from Soohyun, this person watches with much rage and malcontent at their exchange of interactions. Hitting his dashboard in anger, the stranger eventually drives off too.
'No one takes what's mine and gets away with it,' The last sentence the stranger says before disappearing into a corner.
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