A couple of nights ago……

Yonghwa was spending his evening at one of Seoul’s elite nightclubs. A couple of his friends joined him including his best friend from Busan, Lee Jonghyun. Jonghyun came to Seoul to escape his parents’ demand of arranged marriage. He proposed to stay for the remainder of the week and weekend in Seoul. His father owned a shipping company based out of Busan. So he was the same elite class as Yonghwa.

Yonghwa was sitting in the VIP section of the club with Jonghyun to his side and another friend on the other. Yonghwa was scoping out the dancefloor when his eyes shifted towards the bar. He seen three beautiful ladies staring and laughing in his direction. He drank the rest of his expensive scotch in one shot. Just as he stood up, Jonghyun stopped him by the arm and turned his attention to him.

“Ya! Where you going?”

“None of your business. Just focus on the lady with you. I’m a grown man.”

Yonghwa removed his arm from Jonghyun’s grip and continued walking to the bar. He walked across the dance floor still focused on the ladies standing there. He walked up the small steps and stood beside the three ladies.

“Bartender, let me have four shots of Tequila.”

He looked toward the three ladies and gave them his signature y smirk.

“You ladies having a good time?”

“Yes we are. And yourself?” one of them replied. She turned around to face Yonghwa. Yonghwa smiled to her.

“I’m having a great time. It’ll be even better once I share these shots.”

One of the ladies was hopeful that Yonghwa would join them and whispered to her friend. They both giggled and stared at Yonghwa. Yonghwa noticed their behavior and could only chuckle to himself. He was a Casanova but he never had any one-night stands with random girls. His mother just assumed he was like that because of his attitude.

“Here you are sir.” The bartender delivered Yonghwa’s shots to him.

Yonghwa took out his wallet and gave the bartender 500,000 won. The ladies were wide-eyed at how rich he was. They thought they struck the gold mine with him. Just as the lady closest to Yonghwa was about to grab Yonghwa’s arm, Yonghwa picked up his four shots and smirked to the ladies.

“Well, enjoy your night.”

Yonghwa left the bar and walked back to the VIP section. The ladies felt humiliated for thinking a rich guy like Yonghwa would be attentive to them. They crossed their arms and scoffed at his arrogant action. Yonghwa knew he could play them. No woman has rejected him nor not look his way.

He arrived back at the table and gave Jonghyun, Jonghyun’s lady, and his other friend each a shot. He took that last one and raised it high.

“To our irresistible looks and youth!” Yonghwa toasted.

“What did you do this time for such a toast?” Jonghyun asked out of suspicion.

“Oh, those three ladies at the bar, glaring at me, thought I was making a move on them and buying them shots.”

“Ya, how cruel. They are very beautiful and you didn’t make the move?”

“Look who’s talking! You have a different lady at every club. You aren’t that innocent.” He turned his attention to Jonghyun’s lady. “You should feel honored I bought you a shot. I don’t buy just anyone anything.”

“Gomawo!” she tried to get Jonghyun on the dancefloor but he rejected her so she left to dance on her own.

“You should have just made a move on one of the ladies over there. You would have been occupied with her instead of sitting there alone.” Jonghyun tried to reason with Yonghwa.

“Please. None of these ladies in this club attract me. I rather enjoy this night alone.”

Yonghwa drank another glass of scotch and stared back to the dancefloor. Suddenly, his mind wandered to thinking about Shinhye. He smiled as he remembered the way she blushed after he gave her a peck on her cheeks. He was attracted to her at first sight. He wanted to see her again and had hoped she would join him for dinner Friday but she hit him with the “I have a boyfriend” line. His expression turned sour at the thought of Shinhye already having a boyfriend.

“Waah, who is she?” Jonghyun asked suddenly, pulling Yonghwa away from his thought.

“What?”

“Who is this woman you are thinking about right now that made you smile like a babo? And did she reject you which is why you have a sour expression now?”

“Aish, jinja! You must have all the answers.” Yonghwa was sarcastic.

“Don’t tell me the Casanova who doesn’t believe in love is actually falling in love.”

“Ya! It’s not that I don’t believe in love but choose not to fall in love. Anyways, I am not falling in love with her but just grew an attraction to her.”

“Sooner or later you’ll fall in love. Just admit it now. To her.”

“I’m not even close to her. I have yet to ask her out.”

“What? Don’t tell me you are hiding behind the wall and peaking at her from behind?!”

“It’s nothing like that. Ah…..molla!”

“The Yonghwa I know is straightforward and gets what he wants. I’m just surprised you are being an idiot now.”

“I don’t even know why I’m talking to you about this when you go from woman to woman.”

“Because I am your friend and I will support you with whatever decisions you make. Be it cooking or love.”

“Gomapta. But I am going to leave now.”

Yonghwa left the club and drove back to his condo in Cheongdamdong.

Friday morning…...

Since the confession and talk he had with Jonghyun, Yonghwa could not stop thinking about Shinhye. He has never felt this way before towards any of the women he had been seeing. One thing was for sure that he would not let her boyfriend get in the way. He wanted to see this feeling through. He wanted to follow his heart.

He gathered up all his courage and dialed Shinhye’s office. Her secretary answered it and told him Shinhye had yet to come to work. He pleaded to her to give him Shinhye’s personal cell number as it concerned his help for the company soiree. Her secretary finally gave him Shinhye’s number. Yonghwa quickly dialed her number.

“Yeoboseyo?”

He knew her voice sounded off but pretended to not notice. He cleared his throat and switched back to the Casanova Yonghwa.

“I called to double check if you still had plans with your boyfriend tonight. Making sure you didn’t just blow me off.”

“Ah, you were calling if I still had plans with my boyfriend? Well, the plans changed. Is dinner still an option for tonight?”

Yonghwa found her tone very off as if something had happened. As much as he wanted to ask her about it and ask if she was ok, he decided it was none of his business. He shook the thought away.

“Of course dinner is still my condition. I will be expecting you tonight at 7pm.”

“Where would you like me to meet you?”

“I will send a personal driver to pick you up tonight. Dinner will be in my condo. The menu is a surprise.”

“Arasseo. I will see you later than.”

Yonghwa could sense a small smile forming on her face. Tonight’s dinner had to be perfect and cheer her up despite any complications she is having. He ran to his bathroom to shower for he has a big day ahead of him. Luckily, he had the day off every other Friday. With Jungshin as his Sous chef, he trusted his workers and restaurant to run accordingly.

In the early evening……

Yonghwa was in his kitchen, preparing the seafood for tonight’s dish. Earlier, Yonghwa visited the local seafood markets and bought the best quality lobster, scallops, clams, and shrimp. He added the fresh clams to a pot of fresh water and rinsed the lobster under fresh water. He had preheated a boiling pot of water and added the lobster in.

While the clams and lobster were preparing, he gathered and