Chapter: 11
What Trouble? I Actually Liked It
The place Hushin brought Yuri to was a famous Korean beef omakase restaurant that she had seen several times on television. Perhaps because they had arrived right around dinnertime, the waiting line was incredibly long.
“Get out.”
“…Yes. Thank you.”
Yuri hesitated for a moment, awkwardly taking a careful step out when he opened the door for her.
She was always the one opening doors for others. She wasn’t used to having someone personally open a door for her.
Hushin ignored the waiting line and walked straight up to the reception desk.
“Welcome, Vice President.”
The desk attendant, dressed neatly in a modernized hanbok, greeted Hushin respectfully.
“Is everything ready?”
“Yes. This way, please.”
As Hushin followed the employee, Yuri hurried closely after him.
Hushin had been walking silently when he suddenly turned his head.
Their eyes met, and Yuri’s eyes instantly widened. Hushin stared at her large, round eyes for a moment before silently turning his head away again.
As he resumed walking, a faint smile briefly appeared at the corners of Hushin’s lips before disappearing.
After being shown into a private room, the two sat down. Hushin naturally handed his coat to the employee, but Yuri declined, saying she was fine.
“The chef will be here shortly. What kind of tea would you like?”
“Brown rice green tea, please.”
“Yes. I’ll bring it right away. Please enjoy your time.”
Yuri quietly stared at Hushin, who was sitting across from her.
What was with this man? He had suddenly asked her to let him buy her a meal, hadn’t asked her what she wanted, and had simply brought her to a place like this on his own.
Just coming to a restaurant famous enough to have people line up and wait was already making her uncomfortable. On top of that, she couldn’t even guess how expensive the food was, which made Yuri even more flustered.
“Are you not taking off your coat?”
Hushin asked Yuri, who was sitting somewhat uncomfortably in her chair in a thick padded jacket and staring straight at him.
“I’m fine.”
“Wouldn’t it be uncomfortable to eat if you’re wearing something that thick?”
“No, yes… I suppose it would.”
The seat was uncomfortable, and she was hot and stuffy, but she had been planning to endure it. However, she didn’t think she could keep it up for long.
Moreover, she even looked rather ridiculous sitting there like that, so Yuri had no choice but to get up and take off her padded jacket.
After hanging her coat on the rack, Yuri returned to her seat, and Hushin smiled as he said,
“You should’ve taken it off sooner. Even I can see that you look much more comfortable now. Good job.”
There it was again, that way of speaking.
She wasn’t a kindergartener, so what did he keep saying she’d done a good job for?
Yuri decided she had to say something.
“Vice President, honestly, I’m a little confused right now.”
“About what?”
His lips looked annoyingly smug as he asked so calmly, despite having dragged her here so suddenly that she could barely get her bearings.
“You suddenly contacted me and asked to buy me a meal, then told me to come outside my house without any warning… And then you came to a restaurant you’d reserved on your own without even asking the person you were supposedly buying dinner for what she wanted.”
“Oh, so you’re saying you’re angry because I decided on everything myself without even asking what you wanted.”
“That’s not exactly what I meant…”
Knock, knock.
The employee who had just shown them to the room came back in, causing Yuri to trail off.
Elegant, antique-looking teacups were placed in front of them. Soon afterward, the brown rice green tea from a matching ceramic teapot filled their cups.
Along with the rising steam, the nutty yet slightly bitter fragrance of the tea drifted around the tip of Yuri’s nose.
Was it because of the tea’s aroma?
Strangely enough, the unpleasant feelings she’d had moments ago began to ease a little.
A warm, heated wet towel was placed on the table as well.
“If you start with the tea, your meal will be ready shortly.”
Hushin gave a slight nod at the employee’s words and brought his teacup to his lips.
Once the employee left and the two of them were alone in the small room, Hushin took his lips away from the teacup as though he’d been waiting for this moment.
“If that’s not what you meant, then what is?”
At his sudden question, Yuri, who had been wiping her hands with the wet towel, met his gaze.
“No, now that I think about it… It seems like you’re the one who’s angry, Vice President.”
“Really? Can you guess what I might be angry about?”
Hushin leaned back and crossed his arms. His expression was almost arrogant, as if telling her to explain exactly what she had done wrong.
“No. Honestly, I have no idea.”
“That’s exactly it. You don’t know what you did wrong. That’s what’s getting on my nerves. Does that answer your question?”
“……”
Yuri was momentarily flustered and couldn’t say anything.
She had been certain that she was the one who should be upset in this situation, but…
Had she made some huge mistake last night?
As she racked her brain, trying to remember what had happened, something suddenly occurred to her.
“Is it because I fell asleep in the bathtub? Did that cause you a lot of trouble, Vice President?”
“What?! Ha.”
Hushin was dumbfounded.
How could she possibly think of that in a situation like this?
Come to think of it, he was actually the one who ought to apologize for what had happened.
After all, what was so difficult about taking care of a woman who had been struggling because he had lost control of himself and let his emotions take over?
It had certainly been troublesome when he found her asleep with nothing on, because he had been aroused by the sight.
But if anything, he’d liked it.
If he had to call anything troublesome, it was only that he regretted it had ended after just once.
Apparently, Jin Yuri’s head was sharp and quick only when it came to work. When it came to relationships between men and women, she was completely clueless.
It was obvious to Hushin that she had never had a proper flirtation or romantic relationship. He even wondered how she’d ever intended to get married in that state.
“Jin Yuri, you haven’t had much experience with proper relationships, have you?”
“Ah, n-no. I have. Why are you suddenly asking something like that…?”
If dating Hyunwoo for three months with marriage in mind counted as a relationship, then couldn’t it be considered dating?
It had been somewhat different from an ordinary couple’s passionate relationship, since theirs had started as a relationship where they simply relied on each other.
“Well, if you don’t know, then you can’t help it. I was never troubled by it, so let’s just eat.”
“……”
Perhaps because she was embarrassed that she couldn’t answer Hushin’s completely out-of-the-blue question, Yuri’s cheeks flushed bright red.
“Then please honestly tell me why you’re acting like this. Until I know why you’re doing this to me, I don’t think I’ll be able to swallow even a sip of water…”
Yuri’s voice trembled faintly before she could even finish speaking.
Judging by her expression, she looked like she was so curious and frustrated that she might die if she didn’t get an answer.
“Oh, dear. I’ll tell you, so don’t get worked up and calm down.”
“No, when did I ever get worked up…?”
She denied it with her words, but the anxiety was plain on Yuri’s face.
“I went to the trouble of personally making food especially for you, and then you didn’t contact me even once all day. I was annoyed because it felt rather disrespectful.”
“What?”
“Don’t people usually at least say thank you after eating something someone made for them?”
“Ah… I didn’t think of it. I should’ve at least sent you a message…”
Only then did Yuri begin to understand Hushin’s behavior to some extent, although she didn’t think it was enough to get angry over.
Hushin loved cooking so much that she wondered if he had made food for other people before, too.
But since he was openly saying that her behavior had annoyed him, Yuri found herself at a loss.
Then why on earth had Park Hushin gone to the trouble of cooking for a woman he’d spent the night with?
Surely he hadn’t done it just to receive a simple thank-you.
And honestly, it made no sense that he would be upset simply because he hadn’t received such an insignificant greeting.
No matter how she pieced her thoughts together, her mind only became more complicated, and she couldn’t find an answer.
Whatever Hushin’s intentions had been, one simple word of thanks honestly didn’t feel like enough.
The breakfast he had personally made for her had been an unforgettable and deeply moving experience for Yuri.
She wanted to properly convey her gratitude to him, but she didn’t know how.
More than anything, the two of them had been intimate with each other the night before, so Yuri had been too embarrassed to contact him first. She had hesitated until the right moment had passed.
“As long as you understand now, that’s enough. Honestly, I wasn’t feeling very good because it seemed like you were subtly ignoring me.”
“No, I absolutely wasn’t ignoring you.”
“Then it’s fine. Did you like the taste?”
“Yes. I was so surprised by how delicious it was the moment I ate it. It was the first time I’d ever tasted something like that. Thank you so much.”
“Well, that’s a little too much praise, so let’s stop here.”
Hushin regretted it.
It felt as though he had gone out of his way to solicit praise from her.
Her unexpectedly positive reaction even made him feel a little embarrassed.
Yuri didn’t say anything more, either, but the feelings she had expressed to Hushin had been completely sincere.
The breakfast he had made for her would undoubtedly remain in her memory as an unforgettable experience for a long time.
“I’ll buy dinner. Actually, I’ve wanted to try Korean beef omakase here myself.”
It was such a famous restaurant that she had always wanted to visit at least once.
But reservations were nearly impossible to get, so she’d never been able to come even though she’d wanted to.
After talking with Hushin, Yuri’s discomfort had eased somewhat.
The expression on her face, which had been rather tense moments earlier, gradually softened.
Hushin’s dissatisfaction had disappeared as well.
The moment he was face-to-face with the woman he’d wanted to see so badly that he’d been thirsty for her presence, more than half of his anger had already melted away.
“All right. I think I deserve to have at least one dinner bought for me.”
The corners of Hushin’s lips curled upward in a subtle smile.
