My Secret Daddy
Chapter 9
1.
The moment they left the road in front of the school, Seonghyeon felt as though he were taking his first breath of the day.
It was rush hour, and traffic was beginning to clog up everywhere. As he reached the main road near his home, he made a phone call.
“Yeah! I saw you.”
“What?”
“I’m right here!”
Seonghyeon looked around until he spotted Ruby waving at him in front of a traffic light. She was bouncing up and down in a lively red jacket and a miniskirt.
“That little rascal…”
Two men passing by were staring at her in a daze. Seonghyeon glared at them sharply. The moment the light changed, he cranked the steering wheel. The tires let out a slight screech.
He rolled down the window and waved frantically.
“Get in, quick!”
Even without his urging, Ruby was already climbing into the car.
“Did you have fun at school?”
“Are those your bare legs?”
“No. I’m wearing stockings. Would you like to feel them?”
“Those idiots are staring at you like they’ve been bewitched. Doesn’t that bother you?”
“Wow…”
Ruby blinked her big eyes as she studied Seonghyeon’s expression.
“You’re jealous!”
“W-What?”
“Jealous! Jealous! If I’d known, I would’ve dressed even sexier!”
“Your body temperature dropped by five degrees yesterday. It’s chilly out, too. Do you really have to go around practically naked?”
“You know I’m even healthier afterward.”
“You should’ve just stayed home and waited quietly. Why did you come all the way here, flouncing around like that?”
“Oh, my goodness! Your nagging is on a whole other level! The traffic’s terrible, so hurry up and drive. This is our first date in Korea, and we’re wasting precious time!”
Seonghyeon shot her a sidelong glance and stomped on the accelerator, making it let out an innocent little roar.
2.
Eunbin: What is your little sister doing?
Baekkeseu: ???
Eunbin: Your sister’s in high school, right?
Baekkeseu: Have you been drinking in the middle of the day?
Eunbin: What do high school girls like?
Baekkeseu: Alcohol.
Eunbin: Something other than drinking.
Baekkeseu: ㅁㅍㅂ, ㅁㅍㅇ, ㅁㅍ9ㄷ
Eunbin: I’m asking what a girl likes to receive from a guy she’s meeting for the first time.
When no reply came for a long time, Eunbin was about to press the call button.
Slbi, who had been stubbornly sipping her coffee beside him, finally lost patience and snatched his phone away.
“Hey, hey!”
“Don’t tell me you’re texting some other girl while you’re with me.”
“It’s Dongmin. Give it back.”
Slbi swept her long, straight hair over her shoulder and held the phone high above her head.
“I know you’re lying. Who is she? A girl from our school?”
“You can check for yourself. Look.”
“I’m not the kind of girl who snoops through other people’s phones.”
At that, Eunbin smiled gently and draped an arm around Slbi’s shoulders. He glanced around the café, then pressed his lips against her glistening ones.
By the time he pulled away, the phone was no longer in Slbi’s hand.
In the meantime, a passionate text had arrived.
Baekkeseu: YOU FLIRTATIOUS, AIRHEADED, CRAZY BASTARD! NOW YOU’RE EVEN SETTING YOUR SIGHTS ON MY LITTLE SISTER?! ARE YOU EVEN HUMAN, YOU WRETCHED PIECE OF TRASH?! I DON’T CARE HOW ANNOYING MY SISTER IS, I’M STILL HER OLDER BROTHER! I’LL NEVER LET HER DATE A CRAZY BASTARD LIKE YOU, SO GET THAT IDEA OUT OF YOUR HEAD! DON’T CALL ME TODAY, OR I’LL KILL YOU!!!!!
Eunbin immediately pressed the call button.
“You crazy bastard! I told you not to call me today!”
“Did you ask her?”
“ASK HER WHAT?!”
“What a guy should give a girl he’s meeting for the first time.”
“Y-You…”
“Don’t worry. She’s not your sister.”
“Really?”
Slbi was glaring at Eunbin with her big eyes.
She had always thought that dating a catch like him required putting up with certain things. But sometimes, it was humiliating enough to make her feel utterly miserable.
Among the freshmen in the music college, including those in the composition department, Slbi was widely considered the prettiest. She had a slightly vacant look about her, but her large eyes and full breasts—which were especially striking against her slender frame—were her most competitive assets.
Whenever Eunbin glanced at pretty girls, she would become fiercely jealous. Yet she always managed to reassure herself with the pride that it would be difficult to find anyone with a figure as voluptuous as hers.
But today marked sixty days since her first date with Eunbin.
More than anything, Slbi desperately wanted him to focus on her alone, at least for today.
The thought nearly brought tears to her eyes.
Eunbin wrapped his right arm around her shoulders and patted her gently, as though soothing a child.
Slbi was even more dumbfounded.
How could he touch her so tenderly while having a conversation with Dongmin like that?
“Your sister is pretty, too, but…”
Eunbin continued in a gentle voice.
“Yang Dongmin looks so much like you, doesn’t she? Somehow, I feel like dating her would be just like dating you.”
“Yeah. At least you’ve still got your head screwed on straight. What was your question again? Oh, right. What does my sister like to receive from a guy she’s meeting for the first time? She likes food. What was that chocolate place near your neighborhood called? Something like that would be nice. Cake or pie would be fine, too.”
“Hey…”
“I’ll ask her and call you back.”
“Okay! Thanks!”
After hanging up, Eunbin found Slbi sniffling and pulling tissues out of the box in handfuls.
“Whoa! What’s wrong, Slbi? Why are you crying?”
“Whose little sister is she?”
“I’m an only child.”
“Is she in high school this time?”
“It’s… for an assignment.”
“What assignment? I’ve never gotten anything like that.”
Oh, right. We’re in the same department, he thought, furiously turning over the contents of his right brain.
“It’s a club assignment. What kind of gifts do pretty high school girls like when meeting someone for the first time? It’s a sort of psychological question meant to predict the future of adolescents from a behavioral economics perspective…”
Slbi let out a deep sigh.
“Fine. I’ll let you meet her exactly twice. If you meet her more than that, I’ll report you for paying for sex with a minor.”
Eunbin leaned back deeply into the sofa and stroked Slbi’s hair. His hand brushed her ear, her neck, and then lightly grazed her chest.
Slbi’s whole body grew hot, and she wrapped her arms around his waist.
“Oppa. You know today’s our sixtieth day, right?”
Eunbin’s eyes shifted slightly before he nodded.
“Of course I do.”
“I don’t have to go home tonight.”
“Slbi, I really like you. You have the fullest figure in the entire music college. You’re pretty, and you’re even kindhearted, despite how you look. You’ve got everything important in life.”
“Really?”
“So I won’t feel guilty about it.”
“About what?”
“Let’s break up.”
3.
Seonghyeon busily shifted his gaze from one school uniform to another, trying to find some distinguishing feature among the nearly identical outfits.
“This is like Where’s Waldo?”
Ruby was intently studying a mannequin with a serious expression.
“Want to guess? They said they’ll give you a prize if you get it right.”
“No. This one!”
At last, Ruby picked up a school uniform and waved it at the saleswoman.
Seonghyeon watched in fascination as Ruby and the saleswoman exchanged words he couldn’t understand.
When Ruby disappeared into the fitting room, the saleswoman approached him and struck up a lively conversation.
“Surely she’s not your daughter?”
“She is.”
“Oh, my! You’re so young to be a father!”
“Thank you.”
“It’s not often you see a father and daughter come shopping for school uniforms together. You two look so happy!”
Just then, Ruby emerged from the fitting room and shouted at the top of her lungs.
“Honey! Am I pretty?!”
Seonghyeon muttered blankly,
“What’s gotten into her?”
The saleswoman was still smiling brightly, but her laughter gradually began to falter.
“Ho… ho…”
“By the way, are school skirts normally that short?”
The saleswoman brought her thumb and index finger together, leaving a gap of about one centimeter.
“I only took them in a tiny bit. The student asked me to… Everyone does it.”
Seonghyeon spoke in a cold, commanding voice.
“Don’t take it in at all. Give it to her exactly as it is.”
“Oh, yes.”
4.
By the time they reached the parking lot behind the shopping complex, night had already fallen.
Seonghyeon pressed the remote and tossed the shopping bags onto the back seat.
Ruby showed no intention of getting into the car. Instead, she stood there gazing at the night sky.
“What are you doing? Get in.”
“Looks like it’s going to snow.”
Seonghyeon looked up, and sure enough, dark clouds were churning overhead.
“It’s spring now. If anything falls, it’ll probably be rain. I’ve made a reservation at a restaurant. Let’s hurry.”
“Let’s go eat tteokbokki!”
“I told you I made a restaurant reservation.”
“What kind of restaurant?”
As Ruby climbed into the car, Seonghyeon handed her his phone.
“Here.”
Ruby’s eyes widened. She cupped the phone in both hands as though it were some precious treasure.
“You actually searched for a place because you wanted to go on a date with me?”
“Well, of course.”
“What did you search for? ‘Date spots’? Or ‘hot places to go with your girlfriend’?”
“Uh… restaurants.”
“Pfft!”
Ruby looked at the screen, then burst out laughing.
“What is this?! You made a typo! You wrote ‘mat-jjip’ instead of ‘mat-jip’!”
“Oh, did I? Then I guess it might not be a delicious restaurant after all. What should we do? The princess might not like it.”
“No, I absolutely love it! Nobody else will come here, right? Let’s make this our hideout from now on!”
Seonghyeon smiled faintly and released the brake.
“Sure. Why not?”
The moment the car pulled away, sleet began to fall.
Sting’s voice drifted from the radio, rich and dry as wine, declaring himself a stranger in New York.
Ruby stretched out her hand and cried,
“Snow!”
“Good grief… I thought it was spring. What’s the point of snowing now?”
“I love it! This will be the last snow of the year.”
“Honestly, you find a reason to be happy about everything. You should at least dress warmly before getting excited.”
“I want to be proposed to on a snowy day.”
“You’re still a tiny little thing, and you’re already talking about proposals.”
“I love you, Daddy.”
Seonghyeon had been grumbling, but at the sound of Ruby’s tender voice, he turned his head.
Her face was as pure and clear as the snowflakes falling outside. A blissful smile spread across his face.
“Daddy loves you, too.”
5.
At the end of the bustling downtown district, in an alley leading into a residential neighborhood, stood a place called Italian Mr., a restaurant that looked as though it had been converted from a private house.
In the small front yard used as a parking lot, there was a compact sedan and a coupe.
Ruby nodded confidently.
“Those must belong to the owner and the chef. Just as I thought, there isn’t a single customer.”
“Judging by the fact that they haven’t even put up a sign, the owner must be incredibly lazy. Should we go somewhere else while we still can?”
“No! I like it!”
“Hmph. What a strange girl.”
By the time they got out of the car, the sleet had turned into large, fluffy snowflakes.
“It’s too cold. This won’t do!”
Seonghyeon scooped Ruby up in his arms and tucked her inside his coat.
“Ah! Do you still think I’m a little kid? I’m not cold!”
“Quiet. Put on some warm clothes before you start protesting.”
In fifteen seconds, Seonghyeon had transformed into Santa Claus.
When he opened the restaurant door, the warm air melted the snow clinging to his eyebrows.
Inside, the aroma of simmering tomatoes filled the air, accompanied by the strains of E lucevan le stelle.
A young man with an impassive expression approached them.
“You’re the ones who made the reservation, right?”
There had been absolutely no need for a reservation. Just as Ruby had predicted, there wasn’t a single customer.
Thanks to that, the two of them were able to sit cozily by a spacious window and enjoy the unexpected snowy landscape to their hearts’ content.
“Wow! I absolutely love this place. It’s so old-fashioned, exactly my style!”
“Shh! He’ll hear you. Just pick something from the menu.”
On the round table covered with a white tablecloth sat a plastic menu listing the restaurant’s specials, along with various bottles of sauce.
The menu described the food as Mediterranean-style home cooking, but to Ruby, it looked like a hodgepodge of everything.
“I love the name, too! Italian Mr. That must be his name. He looks exactly like Puccini.”
“Hmph. Now that you mention it, he does. Anyway, I’m glad you like it. You’re hungry, aren’t you? Should we call someone?”
As though he had been eavesdropping from somewhere, Mr. Italian appeared.
“There are set courses here. Which one would you recommend?”
At Seonghyeon’s question, Mr. Italian tapped the notebook he was holding with the end of his pen, looking troubled.
“I wouldn’t know.”
Ruby let out a little giggle.
Seonghyeon decided that the man had a point and nodded.
“My daughter likes fish and pasta.”
“Ah, yes.”
“I asked if you had anything you’d recommend.”
“Then instead of a set course, you should order fish and pasta.”
“What kind of fish do you have?”
“I’d have to ask the kitchen. Probably salmon and cod.”
“Then cod. And which pasta is good?”
“Probably all of them.”
“Good grief. Just give us whatever.”
“Yes.”
Ruby quickly cut in, her face resembling a fox that had spotted its prey.
“Wine, please. Something sweet.”
“Yes.”
Seonghyeon widened his eyes and raised his left hand.
“Wait, what do you mean, yes? She’s a minor.”
“Would you like some soda?”
“One warm glass of milk and one coffee, please.”
“Yes.”
As soon as Mr. Italian disappeared, Ruby and Seonghyeon burst into laughter, releasing the laughter they’d been holding back.
As though they had made a silent agreement, both of them reached across the table.
“Why are your hands so cold?”
“Ah, Daddy, your hands are so warm.”
Seonghyeon took Ruby’s hands in both of his and rubbed them vigorously.
“Why on earth did we get a sudden blizzard?”
“I like it, though. Our first date in Korea is absolutely magical!”
As if to prove Ruby right, a white night spread out across the entire window.
