Chapter 2

There was a man, gloomy as the weather, sitting by the counter. He had his arms lazily hung by his side and his chin laid still on the surface of the counter. His puffed cheeks and pouted lips were seen. Who knows what this man had gone through in such early as this?  Coming out from the single doorway leading to the kitchen; the young Chef was carrying a plate of steaming hot cream spaghetti, sprinkling bits of green onto its creamy goodness before laying it out gently in front of the gloomy looking middle-aged man. A tissue was placed next to him, followed by a spoon and a fork. A jug of cold water was then picked from the side and had its content poured out into the half empty glass of water.

A slight bow and a smile were shown and a gesture prompted the customer to enjoy the meal he’d been waiting for the last five minutes. Once the order was fulfilled, Lee Soonkyu rolled out to the side and picked up the dishrag left hanging on its hook. He stood by the sink, spreading the cloth between his fingers and picked up a nearly dried white ceramic cup.

For the fifth time this morning, the bell above the front door had rung. Coming into this rather humble looking spot; two girls were walking straight to the empty table with the full view of the counter. They took their seats and shared a giggles as they picked up the menu to cover their faces.

Sitting not so far away from these excited looking girls was Jung Jessica, who was about to drink through her half empty cup of mocha latte. She was looking down on her notepad and tapping her pencil on the table. So far, she was enjoying the nice peaceful morning. However, the moment the girls had come in, the peace Jessica had been acquainted to was disappearing fast. She rolled her eyes at the lively girls, noticing how they weren’t so much into reading the content of the menu. Instead, she noticed, they were busying themselves on the sight of the young Chef standing behind the counter, wiping the excessive water inside the clear glass.

But then, she couldn’t blame them to act in such a way. Even Jung Jessica found the young Chef to be rather good-looking.

“Go and talk to him.” whispered one of the girls. She was nudging her friend on her elbow and looking nervously at the young Chef. The latter shook her head aggressively, covering her reddening face with the menu. Her wandering eyes were eyeing Lee Soonkyu at the counter.

She then hit her friend and hissed, “He’s working! You pabo!”

“If you’re not gonna do it, I will!” whispered the other, gradually putting down her menu and got up to her feet. But her attempt to approach the young Chef was put to an abrupt halt as her friend hooked her arm and viciously pulled her down to her seat. “Yah!! What’s your deal?”

“I wanna talk to him first! Let me have this chance!”

“You’re wasting time! It’s my turn!”

“No! Let me do this!”

A familiar chime of the bell above their heads was heard, followed by a sight of an umbrella. Lee Soonkyu lifted his head at the newcomer and found himself smiling at the young woman standing there staring back at him with her usual filled with sweetness smile. “Was it a short lecture?” he greeted the young woman.

Kwon Seohyun shook her head. Pushing the strap around the half damped umbrella, she then hung it by the railing around the counter and took a seat right in front of the young Chef. She sighed. “Professor decided to cancel it. I’m not in the building yet and he just cancelled it out of nowhere.”

“Oh really?” the latter replied, noting the disappointment on his best friend’s sister. Then the thought of the news of the fire at the TREX came to his mind. It must be because of that accident, the school was taking extra precaution, seeing the building was just few blocks down the road from the school. “I’m pretty sure he has a reason.” Soonkyu added, trying to make sense of the Professor’s sudden announcement. He then leaned in against the counter, propped on his elbows and pointed at the television at the corner. “You can’t miss the smokes down there.”

Seohyun nodded, staring at the television and not minding the deadly stares from the girls sitting by. “But still... it’s an important lecture.”

The latter shook his head. He quickly dropped the dishrag and the cup and dropped his hand on the young enthusiastic student’s head. Just as Seohyun was looking up at him, Soonkyu then shook his fingers around her bang and cooed, “Ai, our maknae!” making the young woman yelped, leaning away from his hand. Seohyun quickly fixed up her bangs and stared at the man. What may look like an uncalled gesture was just an innocent and fun matter for the young Chef. From that, Lee Soonkyu returned to his work and kept on drying off the cups while observing the young student’s nose flaring angrily.

Right by the corner table, Jung Jessica was watching how close the pair had gone to. Every single gesture she had written down and couldn’t help but wonder why she can’t have such friendly relationship with ‘him’. Only a sigh escaped her parted lips on the thoughts of it.  

*************

“Pabo! Pabo! Pabo! Pabo! Pabo! Pabo! Paboooo!”

Fire had died down. All were left were ashes and dusts and rubble of the fashion remains. The Fire fighters had succeeded in their task for the day, which was to save the victims from their doom. However, unlike the others who was satisfied in their hard work in stopping the fire from spreading out to the nearby buildings; one young fire fighter was waiting at the sideline knocking his head repeatedly at the hood of the fire engine and convincing himself that he had done yet another ‘brave’ thing that earned him a kick in his delicate rear-end.

Standing by this worrisome man was his best friend, Kim Taeng, who was starting feeling the harsh blame coming in on them in just few more moments. His fair-skinned face had smudges of soot and sweat from the rescue was looking rather tired and worried as his best friend was still slamming his helmet-covered head against the hood of the big red vehicle. “Stop it!” Taeng sluggishly told Kwon Yul. One last hit of the helmet against the hood, Kwon Yul straightened his back and sloppily took off his helmet, showing his also soot smudged face. He leaned his head again against the hood and turned his face at his best friend.

“How much trouble do you think I’m gonna be in, Taengoo-yah.” He mumbled, not liking the idea of getting scolded by the chief. He whined. “Argh! I should’ve save that stupid ugly jacket when I get the chance!”

His best friend sighed; patting the latter’s shoulder, trying to comfort the young man. “You saved a life, isn’t that a big step up? Just forget what the woman said... like you said, it was a stupid ugly jacket, it’s not like it cost millions won. Seriously... “

Yul got back up and whined. “But it did! That ugly piece of thrash IS a million won. She said there’s like some expensive rare materials in that thing... you know the forces won’t be paying for that or the insurance company... it’ll be all on me!”

Before Kim Taeng could prove his best friend otherwise on such ridiculous matter, the leader of the batch approached them with such worried look. He then stared at Kwon Yul with this ‘you’re-screwed’ look on his face. Even Taeng know what was going to happen. “Yul’s need to pay it, right?”

“Look, I tried to discuss it with her but she’s so... “ the leader uttered, casting a look over his shoulder, hoping the woman Kwon Yul had messed with wouldn’t hear them. “... That lady can sue us right here if we don’t do what she says. And when I meant ‘we’, it means you, Kwon Yul. I don’t want the chief to know this, if he finds out, he’ll flip!”

Yul and Taeng shared a look. “What did she want?”

“The fashion show is still gonna happen soon.” The leader started slow, keeping his voice down low. “and that’s because majority of the clothes were saved except for hers—“

Yul groaned. “It’s my fault! I get it!”

“Listen...” the leader continued, throwing his arm around the young man’s neck, dragging him away from Kim Taeng. He looked around cautiously before whispering, “She wants you to work for her. Help her out with her project. Think of this as a lucky thing, ok? In her words, she was being ‘considerate’. I’d say you take it. What’s the worst thing that could happen anyway?”

“Yah!” the young fireman rolled out of his leader’s hold and said, “That crazy girl could dress me up and make me look like a clown.”

“It might suit you. I mean, aren’t you a clown?” Kim Taeng spoke up seriously behind the pair, making Kwon Yul glaring at him in disbelief. The leader threw his arm around the young man’s shoulder, pulled him to his side and continued, “I can guarantee it that it won’t happen. Trust me. You’ll be like her personal assistant.”At their side, Kim Taeng joined in and nodded. The leader acknowledged the latter’s encouragement, continued on, “Do simple things. Lifting things. Run an errands for her. The normal stuff. And while you’re at it, maybe you can get some numbers from the models and give them to us.”

Kwon Yul sighed. “I guess I could, Sunbae.” The trio then straightened up, looked over their shoulders and observed how Hwang Tiffany was talking to the woman Kim Taeng rescued from the fire. Just as they were watching them, Kim Hyoyeon noticed them, nudged her friend and motioned at the firemen. Right then, the moment Hwang Tiffany turned her head at them, the firemen were taken aback as there were literally daggers shooting out of those wide eyes of hers, making them to swallow the lump in their throats, in fear. The leader turned his hoobae’s heads away and said, “You better make this right, Yul, or you’ll get it from the Chief.” Releasing his grip from the pair, he then turned to Kwon Yul and violently pushed the man off to where Hwang Tiffany stood throwing piercing dagger-like stares.  Wiping off the smudges from his face, Kwon Yul cautiously made his way over to the prestigious fashion designers; silently praying that she will give cut him some slack.

However, just as he was right in front of them and was about to cite out his official apology; Hwang Tiffany took the moment and said, “Come as early as 5 o’clock, tomorrow morning. If you’re one second late, you’ll be in one hell of a ride. And wear decent clothes... I hate seeing men getting dirty like this,” and took off straightaway, leaving the fireman standing there in confusion. Kim Hyoyeon looked on at her friend and shook her head. At the fireman, she then politely bowed.

“She doesn’t really mean it that way.” She told, trying to ease his anxiousness. “But if you’re late, it might be.” The latter faked a smile. “I’m Kim Hyoyeon. You are?”

“K-Kwon Yul.” The fireman replied.

“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, Kwon Yul-ssi.” She bowed again.

“Yes.” The latter returned the bow. Just as he was about to turn back to the leader and his friend, noting that his new employer had gone out of sight; Yul quickly got down to his knees and prayed, shouting ‘Omma! Omma!’. Behind him Kim Taeng was shaking his head.

“Just when I thought he’ll be serious, I shouldn’t really get my hopes up.” He said, cringing at how overly dramatic his best friend was acting.

******************

A middle aged man reached out and grabbed the long vertical door handle. He let the door wide open while his wife walked out with a small takeaway box. Turning to his side, he then shook hand with the owner of the restaurant, giving praises for the excellent foods and hospitality of the employees. To the young Chef, it was a pleasure to serve for the customers despite seeing the couple often in the restaurant. Quick farewell from the pair, Soonkyu gently let the door swung shut and returned back to the counter.

There, sitting next to a bag occupying a stool and few books stacked up on the counter, Kwon Seohyun was busy studying. Not such an unusual sight to see there in the restaurant. The place, by far, had been like a second home for the eager student.

Hours had passed. News regarding the accident at the TREX building had died down as confirmation of no injuries was brought in for the public’s concern. There was one thing that will trigger curiosity of the public, which was the cause of the fire. For now, it was told that it was due to a gas leak in the building that caused the inconvenience. At least, that should satisfy the public’s curiosity for now.

It was now the middle of the afternoon. Business at the restaurant had gone well especially during the rush hour. Now that there were not much of customers coming into the place, the employees took this advantage to rest up and check up the materials in the store room. Still occupying the corner by the window, the regular customer was found sitting still, hovering over her notebook and writing so much; one wondered what she was up to. One was Soonkyu himself. Though it didn’t vary him so much having the woman there in the restaurant all day. It would be rude though to ask her to leave but knowing her, and her profession, it was actually quite alright.

Noticing her glass of water was inches away empty, Soonkyu hurried over to the counter and picked up the jar of cool water and walked back over to the table at the corner. Careful not to disturb her creative flow, he slowly poured the water into the glass and then walked back to the counter.

“Thank you.” A soft voice pulled him back in. He glanced over his shoulder and found Jung Jessica smiling at him, resting her hands on top of her opened notebook. He bowed his head and let the author get immerse again in her work. The peacefulness of the restaurant lasted not long as the bell above the door rung again, followed by a familiar whining deep voice of an also familiar man.

The moment two men walked into the place, it felt like it was at the fish market where the sellers were hollering the prices of their fruitful catch. The pair then saw the owner of the restaurant and aggressively greeted him with a manly embrace and a pat on his rear end. Soonkyu hurried out of his best friend’s grip and felt his face reddening from the embarrassment that was his two best friends, Kim Taeng and the goofball, Kwon Yul. The two looked around the place before occupying the spot next to Kwon Seohyun, who was groaning at the noises made by her brother.

As soon as Kwon Yul saw his sister, he put her into his trademark bear hug, threatening to squeeze the life out of the poor girl. “’Ello, Hyunhyun. How is my little rascal?”

“Oppa!” the latter exclaimed, pushing the older Kwon away and smacking his head with her thick book on English thesaurus. She wrinkled her nose, angry at such noises made by him. “Hush up! I’m studying.”

“Study at home, Hyuhyun. It’s quieter there.”

Seohyun pulled her tongue at him, making him to do the same. Soonkyu, on the other hand, was observing the author at the corner of his eyes. He was actually expecting her to get up and leave but seeing the grin still plastered on her face, he was actually relieved. At least, there’s something he can give attention to rather than Kwon Yul’s extravagant story of the day.