JIYONG

People say I'm not normal.

"Do mirrors have a color?"

Adie scoffed beside me. How did she even know what I said? I was speaking Korean! I turned to her, pleasantly surprised. "You learning Korean, little girl?" I asked in French.

She scoffed again (because that's only ever her response). "I knew the ridiculousness of what you were saying with your expression."

My brows raised in both curiosity and amusement. "My expression?"

"Yes, you have this sort of wistful look on your face. Sometimes, your eyes go distant and your face goes blank. But most of the time, I could tell because you'll  always have a dopey look."

"Interesting," I mumbled, as Adie drove us down a cobblestone road—that's clearly not meant for driving on—in a golf cart.

Why a golf cart? Why not a golf cart? 

The head honcho on the golf cart driving in front of us, looked back to wave happily at me while I just tipped my head in response. I like him. But I don't like his decisions sometimes. Just like this one. 

"Who in god's name would think of driving on cobblestone?" I mumbled.

"Rich people who don't care." 

A playful smile appeared on my lips as I lightly nudged Adie's arm. "Roar~" 

She shook her head but I could see the amusement in her expression. "I still wonder how you're able to run a company, sir." 

I wonder that everyday yet I still made it happen. People would always doubt me whenever I show them my real and free-spirited self so I've always been closed-off with people in business (apart from my staff) and people who I just generally dislike. 

I could vaguely remember omma telling me that I remind her so much of her distant cousin. She said that he had the same piercing eyes as hers but a much more intimidating aura. Little did anyone know that he was actually a big softie that's just misunderstood. 

But I didn't make people unintentionally misunderstand me like he did. No, I made people intentionally misunderstand me. With the softness that always radiates through me, I had to put a front of strict so that people won't think twice about belittling or taking advantage of my innocent face. 

To whoever omma was talking about... well, good luck to him. I heard he got married to a crazy lady though. 

Anyway, as we zoom around these infuriating cobblestone road, my mind wanders off to the phone call I had with Dara a few nights ago. Man, older women really are wise. That girl knew how to knot me up real good and I wasn't even expecting it—which made it all the more awesome. 

I mean, yeah, I had my fair share of experience with the ladies and I'm not really Mr. anymore either. The only thing different is that Dara's the type of girl that I never really pursued. In that sense, she was my first. Heck, with all of the stupid stuff I found myself doing because of her, I can safely say that Dara's my first at everything now. 

I never really had stable girlfriends—unless you called an undending slew of contract girlfriend's stable. And I'm not talking about es if that's what you were thinking. I'm talking about the trend back in the day where two people make an agreement to be exclusive for a number of months (usually capping at 3) before they end it and unclimactically move on. It was toxic to be honest. And that's why I gave up after four girlfriends and just lived a Bachelor life with some sporadic loving. 

Until I met my match. 

Sandara Park, my sweet summer child.

...

No, calling her my child is . 

Sandara Park, my sweet sundae delight.

There we go.

And why a sundae delight?

Think about it like this. 

I'm a man that's been crippled by the hotness of the sun (and the hotness of myself) and what do I do to counteract it? Get a delicious sundae that will hydrate and leave me refreshed, making me crave for more. 

If I was a drug addict, she'd be my coke.

...

Okay, that sounds bad but I'm just saying that she's addicting—

Our little golf cart suddenly came at an abrupt halt, almost sending me off my seat since there were no seat belts. I threw a suspicious look at Adie but she just blinked innocently as if she didn't do anything bad. 

I turned my head forward and found my amusing business pal stepping our of his cart and walking over to me. His cute little posse waddled beside him and I shot Adie a look that asked what the hell was going on. 

"Mr. Kwon," he said I was stepping out of our cart. "I do enjoy your company." 

I arched a brow and waited. Where was this going? 

He glanced at his right hand man and magically, the guy seemed to get the message and he shooed everyone away, including my own personel. Adie however stood still, even though his henchman was practically... or trying to... drag her by the elbow. 

My Adie is European and by that logic, she has viking's blood somewhere in there. I could already see the vein popping out of her neck and I know that when her professional resolve breaks, there's gonna be some viking pillaging. 

"Leave her," I ordered the henchman coldly. "She doesn't understand Korean anyway. She won't intrude." 

The henchman reluctantly removed his hands from her and shot his boss an unsure look. Amusing business pal over here just sighed, complied, and shooed him away instead. 

"Come."

Now, why do I think of a certain Sandara Park when I hear that word?

On a side note, I just realized that we've entered a beautiful Japanese garden that looked...

Amidst my thoughts, business pal suddenly hooked his arm with mine and I blinked. He wore a contented look on his face as he casually scanned over the scenery and I looked at the creep behind us and cringed when Adie had an amused smile on her face. 

"Jiyong-ah," he sighed wistfully. "We've known each other for a while now... and I think..." 

I don't like where this is going.

He bats his lashes at me and I just... can't help but look because I can't pass up seeing a slightly overweight bald man doing that. I mean, yeah, he's a bit adorable—like panda adorable not 'I wanna date you adorable' but—

"For us to succeed, I think we need to merge our companies and—"

At this point, I've already tuned him out. Honestly, I'm kinda bummed out that his little display of shyness earlier wasn't because he was gonna confess to me but to pitch such a ridiculous idea.

Merge companies? I don't even know his dog's name! Heck, I don't even know if he has a dog. And he's thinking about merging companies with me? A man who barely knows him apart from his poor business decisions?

I'm sad and amused at the same time. 

I smile at him and he seems to take it in a different direction because he starts going on about 'wonderful opportunities' and getting a 'bigger name in the competitive world'. 

You see folks, compared to him, I'm actually a weaker brand because I'm only in my toddler stage of franchising. He on the other hand already has a bigger name than me and owns multiple businesses.

However, he's thirsty for me because of my connections also known as the Royal Couple of the Business world, my gross parents. 

And the smile I was wearing? It wasn't a happy one. No, it was a smile that said "aww you're so cute". He's so cute that he thinks that I'll agree to whatever bull he's saying. His mouth was still moving but all I can hear was elevator music and a vague sound of running water. 

When I was young, I was diagnosed with ADHD, therefore I usually get distracted and get bored whenever I lose interest in anything I'm doing. I think—

"Mr. Kwon."

I blinked and focused back to my questionable pal instead of the beautiful and more interesting shrubbery around us. He was smiling now, as if I had just given him the world. I glanced back at Adie and before he knew it, I was wordlessly walking away like a diva.

"Mr. Kwon!" He called—screeched. "What's the meaning of this?!"

Oh man, if he didn't already know what I was doing, then that's a clear sign that he really had a poor mind. I couldn't even offer him a regretful look because, well, my heart doesn't take pity on the stupid. 

When Adie and I hopped back on our golf cart, he started spouting threats and curses—another indication that I shouldn't be working with him. If he couldn't handle rejection then what would happen if our projects or partnership would flop?

. The outcome would be . 

"Adrienne." She scoffed silently when I exaggerated my French accent. She knows I only go overboard with the French when I'm about to get myself (or us) in trouble. Why? To distract her from said trouble! She can be annoyed about mocking the French instead of whatever it was that I got us in trouble.

I was brilliant.

"I think we're ed." I announced confidently.

Yup... still brilliant. 

She didn't answer right away and we drove in silence for a couple of minutes. At out little drive, two guests were strolling by the park and I waved at them when I caught their inquiring gazes. 

AND THEN, we heard police sirens and our golf cart suddenly turned into and F150 Race Car... well, at least tried to since it could only go 15km/h. 

YET THAT LITTLE FACT DIDN'T HOLD US BACK because the people chasing us were also in 15km/h golf carts. The only difference was that they had cute flashing sirens on the roof of their cart. 

I settled on my seat in a more comfortable position and sighed. Why do I always attract the police? I mean, it wasn't my fault that they guy twisted his because I didn't wanna play with him.

It's so hard being the bad boy, but I guess I just have to live with it. 

Beside me, Adie was starting to sweat and my Adie doesn't usually do that. From the panic in her eyes, I could tell that it was because of her goody-two-shoes fear of being arrested. I would've about it if she weren't driving us out of hell. 

Adrienne may treat me as her colleague (that is, in terms of our job... knowing her, she'll probably spit on me if we didn't work together) but she won't hesitate to take my to the grass if it meant that she could get away without a hitch. That's what I (platonically) love about her. She knows what she wants. 

And from the furious look she flashed me a second ago, I'm getting a sneaking suspicion that she really wants my on the grass. 

So I digress. 

We were almost at our finish line. And by that I mean, our car was waiting on the curb with a few of our body guards that would help us if any of his henchmen get to us. 

I looked behind us and I think that the guy's goons were slowly giving up since they're warning shouts were turning into passive: 'oh what are we ever gonna do?' tones.