A/N: BEFORE YOU READ THIS CHAPTER, please read the extra chapter I wrote (which is under a separate story name "Two Waitresses" on my account). That little extra chapter takes place between Chapters 3 & 4 of this fic.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who left reviews on the last chapter! I haven't caught up with my replies yet, but I'm so glad you're enjoying this! Sorry for the delay, but I wanted to get this chapter right as it sets up the rest of the story. 

Ga Eul was all nerves when she got to work on Friday. And not the type of nerves she'd had for the past three weeks.

True, she'd been a fan of Yi Jeong's for a long time, but she'd never seriously considered getting to meet him and certainly not getting to know him in any intimate fashion. She couldn't believe he'd actually gone to the porridge shop with his friends the day before. Jan Di had been dancing around their bedroom all night over the prospect of the job his doctor friend had offered her. The doctor friend Jan Di had described as 'so blindingly handsome he could stand in for the sun.' Her friend had been undeniably star-struck as she described the encounter.

Not that Ga Eul had a problem with any of this, but it felt too good to be true.

She didn't want to get too used to Yi Jeong's company—or too excited over it—during the next few weeks only for him to disappear without a trace at the end of it.

If the tabloids were a reliable source of information at all, he had a habit of doing that.

Which is why she entered his private room with some reservation, deciding to act completely professional unless he continued their more informal mode of conversation from the previous week.

To her chagrin—or to the delight of her traitorous heart—his face lit up when he saw her enter the room.

Damn that smile.

That perfect, torturous smile.

"Miss Ga Eul, just in time." He stood up and moved languidly around the table until he stood on the other side of it, poised in all black, his diamond earring winking at her.

An odd thing to do.

Oh god, was he going to take her injured hand and inspect it?

If he kissed it, she might faint right then and there.

"My date had to cancel at the last minute, so I was wondering if you would like to join me."

Wait. What?

"I-I'm sorry, what?"

Putting his back to her, he pulled the chair opposite his out from the table and gestured to it.

"Please, sit down. I asked your manager if it would be all right, and he said it was fine as long as you are fine with it. I'm already here, and I hate eating alone." He winked at her like he'd let her in on the most private of secrets.

Ga Eul froze.

Was she even awake right now?

Of course, her manager had said it was fine. If Yi Jeong had asked for the entire restaurant to be cleared at that very moment, her manager would agree to it. She knew that.

But was she even awake right now?

"Is...something wrong?"

She looked him over, searching for an ulterior motive behind his charming face, but he looked utterly sincere in his invitation. Though why he wanted to eat dinner with her...

Fumbling for words, she asked, "Ah, but...who's going to serve you—I mean, us?"

"I took care of that already. A waiter should be in shortly."

"Oh...I see, um..." She trailed off, unsure.

What the heck was she doing?

She should have been jumping into that chair, but her brain couldn't process the situation.

Wasn't this breaking some sort of protocol or something?

Did she care if it was?

"Look, you're supposed to be here anyway. Why don't you sit down?" He tapped the back of the chair.

Well, if he insisted...

"All right...Um, thank you." Ga Eul gave him a weak, awkward bow and settled down in the chair offered to her.

"So." He sat back down across from her, crossing his legs. "What type of wine do you like?"

"Oh, um...I don't really know much about wines. Drinking them, I mean." She laughed nervously.

How many times could she say 'um'?

Thankfully, at that moment, the waiter appeared.

Kang Dong Suk.

Oh god, she was never going to hear the end of this.

Dong Suk didn't exactly gossip, but she knew he'd be privately ribbing her over the incident for the foreseeable future.

While Ga Eul avoided eye contact with Dong Suk, Yi Jeong ordered a bottle of red moscato.

When the waiter had stepped out of the room, Yi Jeong asked, "How's your hand? Can I see?"

She laid her hand across the table, and he picked it up and examined it.

She memorized how he held her hand in his, the delicate pressure of his thumb on her wrist. He had large hands and long fingers, callused from his profession.

"Does it hurt much?"

Keeping her breaths even, she answered, "Not really. I just hate not being able to do things with my dominant hand. But I'm supposed to get my stitches taken out on Monday."

"I see." He set her hand back down gently. "A few years ago, I injured my right hand. I thought I'd never do pottery again."

"What happened?"

"A fight. It was stupid."

"Oh."

She imagined him in a torn dress shirt beating the crap out of a vague, hulking guy, sweat glistening on the perfectly toned ab muscles that his suit undoubtedly hid. Imagined his hair feathered and damp on his forehead. She blinked the thoughts away. Hoped her face betrayed nothing.

"Anyway, my friends talked me out of giving up on it." His right hand toyed with a napkin on the table. "I went through a lot of therapy, but my hand's almost as good as new now."

"Was the doctor one of those friends?"

"Ji Hoo was." He nodded. "And I have two other friends, Gu Jun Pyo and Song Woo Bin. They're like my brothers."

"That's nice." Ga Eul smiled. "I'm an only child, but Jan Di's like my sister. We've known each other since kindergarten. It's nice to have friends that are like siblings. Jan Di and I have always done everything together. Except working here, of course. And I'm not going to medical school, so there's that."

He smiled but said nothing, and she realized she'd been rambling.

Dong Suk returned and served them the wine. He raised his eyebrows at her as he poured the wine into her glass. She pretended to study the embroidered pattern on the white tablecloth.

When he disappeared to the kitchen to bring out their entrees, Ga Eul let out a relieved breath and took a sip of her wine. Sweet, and surprisingly good. She usually didn't care much for wine, finding it too bitter.

"So tell me, is the wine to your tastes?" Yi Jeong gave her a teasing smile.

"Well...I don't know what red moscato is supposed to taste like"—she lifted her chin—"but it's certainly not this bitter crap," she said, smiling to let him know she was joking.

Thankfully, he caught on and laughed.

"Maybe you should try another kind then."

"Nonsense." Ga Eul put on her sternest glare. "I know what I like." When he laughed again, she continued, "No, no, this is really good. Thank you."

"Good. You'll also be relieved to know we aren't having frozen lobster this evening."

"Well, I should hope not. What kind of restaurant is it where they don't even thaw it out before serving it?"

"The kind of restaurants Go In Na frequents, which is why she can spot frozen lobster so easily."

It was Ga Eul's turn to laugh.

"Or perhaps she routinely buys it for her Pomeranian."

"The poor dog," Yi Jeong commiserated. "Now that you say that, I wonder what would be worse—being her dog or being her husband."

"Definitely the husband."

"Why?"

"Because then you'd be forced to talk to her. And, if you were a dog, you could more easily run away and hide behind things."

"Or..." He circled the rim of his wine glass with his fingertip. "You could terrorize the hell out of her."

"You could bite her...Wait, that doesn't sound right."

Yi Jeong laughed at the implied innuendo.

"Or rip up all of her clothes." She slapped her hands to her face. "No, that's not what I meant!" She put two fingers over . "I should shut up."

"Miss Ga Eul, I had no idea you had such a dirty mind."

"But that's not...what I meant..." She trailed off helplessly. Hiding her face partially behind her wine glass, she continued, "Anyway, she'd probably have you put down for that. I'm not a horrible person, I promise."

Yi Jeong laughed again, the corners of his eyes crinkling adorably.

"Haven't you heard? I'm a corrupting influence." He gulped down the last of his wine and poured some more into his glass. He offered her some, but she declined, wanting to keep at least some of her wits about her.

The wits that hadn't deserted her already.

Their entrees arrived—ginseng chicken soup steaming in wide, elegant porcelain bowls.

"If you don't like the soup, I can order something else."

"Oh no, I love this soup. My mom makes it at home." Ga Eul dipped her spoon into the fragrant, milky broth and took a tentative sip. The soup tasted delicious, but the hot liquid burned her tongue. She dropped her spoon back into the dish. "Maybe I better wait for it to cool a bit."

"You said you're an only child?"

Ga Eul nodded.

"My parents wanted one more kid, but it didn't work out. But anyway, I'm here. Do you have siblings?" Ga Eul felt like she should know that, but she couldn't remember off the top of her head.

"I have one brother." Yi Jeong bravely dipped his own spoon in the soup and swallowed the broth without complaint. "He owns a café."

"Like a coffee shop?"

Yi Jeong nodded.

"Oh, which one? Maybe I've been there."

"It's called Coffee Love."

"Coffee Love...Hmmm, I don't think so." She smiled. "If you tell me where it is, Jan Di and I will visit."

"And pass your expert judgment on the service?"

"Of course."

"I'll tell my brother to be on his best behavior then."

"Do you go there often?" The question slipped out.

When Yi Jeong didn't say anything immediately, Ga Eul mentally slapped herself. She didn't want him to think she was a stalker. That she'd go by the coffee shop every day on the off chance he'd stop in. Because she would never do that.

Certainly not.

Certainly.

Not.

"Not recently, no. I've been busy." He smiled, his lips tight. It seemed to be a touchy subject with him, for whatever reason, so she decided to drop it.

"Well, I guess you have been busy. You're working on a new exhibit, am I correct?"

He nodded, noticeably more relaxed.

"It should be completed in a few months."

"I'll be excited to see it." She cut into the chicken and took a bite. The tender meat melted in . In her three years there, she'd sampled a lot of the restaurant's offerings but never this particular dish. She preferred her mother's soup, of course, but she had to admit, this tasted pretty good.

"I'll have to invite you to the premiere."

He said it so suddenly she almost choked.

"Really?" she mumbled with full of food. Blushing at her garbled speech, she cast her eyes down at the table and gulped her food down, hand over .

Great. Next her jaw would be literally dropping in her lap.

"That is, if you're still my fan at the end of the next few weeks." Yi Jeong grinned at her, undeterred by her faux pas.

Emboldened, Ga Eul answered, "I don't know. I'll have to think about it. I suppose it depends on the kind of company you have."

"So no more Go In Na's?"

Ga Eul nodded affirmatively.

"That's a start," she said. Stuffing a much smaller bite of chicken into , Ga Eul swallowed it down with water.

Yi Jeong gave an exaggerated sigh and leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms.

"Well, that cuts my list in half. At that rate, you'll only be serving me one or two more weeks anyway."

"Certainly not." Ga Eul pointed at him with her spoon. "You reserved this room for the whole ten weeks. You better keep coming in or my manager might think I ran you off."

Yi Jeong leaned in, setting his arms down on the table, one on each side of his bowl.

"Well, in exchange for eliminating so many candidates for me, I'll make sure you still get paid."

"Good." She nodded and scooped up another piece of chicken. Dipped it in the broth. "I have a grand lifestyle to keep up. Chicken and beer every Saturday night." She gestured toward him with her spoon again. "Every Saturday."

Lifting her spoon to , she took another bite. Tried not to focus on him watching her chew.

Though, honestly, he could watch her do almost anything and she wouldn't care.

"Miss Ga Eul, have you ever been to an auction?" he asked.

Swallowing, she clarified, "An auction?"

"Yes. An art auction."

"Uh, no," she answered, blushing slightly. Auctions were for people like him. People with money.

She'd watched an auction on TV once, if that counted.

"If you'd like to do something else this Saturday night, there's an exhibit premiere at the Woo Sung Museum. It's reservation only. Do you know Kate Malone?"

"The famous British ceramic artist? Oh, I heard you were getting some of her pieces." Ga Eul couldn't help but bounce in her chair a bit. Kate Malone was another of her favorite artists.

"She'll be speaking at the exhibit. There will also be a private auction afterward for charity." He pulled out his phone. "I'll put your name on the guest list."

"O-on the? I-I mean, thank you. Thank you very much. That sounds wonderful."

"And your roommate too. Geum Jan Di, yes?"

"Oh. Yes!"

"Done." He set his phone back on the table. "Just think of it as me furthering your education. I am your 'Sunbae' after all."

"Yes. Thank you, Yi Jeong Sunbae."

She touched her hair absently before remembering she had it up.

"Don't mention it."

He returned his attention to the food, and she tried to do the same, but it was hard to concentrate with her insides twitching like they might burst apart.

The rest of dinner passed by before she knew it, and when it was over she wished she'd paid closer attention to everything so she could replay it more accurately in her mind that night as she drifted off to sleep.

If she could sleep.

Once dessert had been cleared away, Yi Jeong bid her good night, saying he hated to rush off but he had to go meet someone.

She hoped that 'someone' wasn't a woman.

Catching him by the arm as he headed out the door, she asked, "Excuse me, but...for the auction...is there a dress code?"

He turned around, halfway in and halfway out of the room. Looked her over.

She wondered what he saw.

"Don't worry about that. I'll have something sent."

"Sent?"

"Text me your sizes. Yours and Jan Di's. And your address."

"Oh, b-but..." she stammered and started out the door behind him, but he was already hurrying down the hallway, lifting his hand in a parting gesture without looking back.

When he fell out of sight, she staggered back into the room.

I'll put your name on the guest list.

I'll have something sent.

Something sent.

Wait. Did this mean she was his date? Why else would he send her something to wear?

But he hadn't said the word 'date,' had he? Just that he would 'put her on the list.'

Her and Jan Di. Like they were a package deal.

Not that she didn't want Jan Di to come with her. It was just...

Maybe she should have asked for clarification.

No, no. If he had meant it as a date, he would have said 'date.'

And he wouldn't have invited her roommate.

Right? Right?

Ga Eul groaned.

Leave it to her to get an ambiguous invitation from a handsome chaebol who was almost engaged.

She was definitely dreaming now.

A/N: In case you are wondering...the next chapter will cover the exhibit and the auction. I'm also hoping GE doesn't seem OOC with her fangirl moments here; there's simply no built-in conflict between them like there is in BOF...yet. ;)