A/N: All the beta love to ARandomFangirler / nebulousviolet :)

I now have a Spotify playlist for this fic because music is my muse. Ten songs for ten dates.

Here's the direct link: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1vFwPdtvRM7dBWaZWS4URT?si=VyL_A2dQS7-ZvcJnhWzpZw

Or you can type "Ten Dates" into the search bar on Spotify, and mine is the only playlist under that name. Or you can copy the following into Google, and it should prompt you to open Spotify:

spotify:playlist:1vFwPdtvRM7dBWaZWS4URT

And now...

One step forward, two steps back…

Ga Eul's stomach was in knots. She'd only eaten plain rice for lunch, and even that threatened to come up as she stood in front of the gold-framed octagonal bathroom mirror in the ladies' restroom. A combination of modern simplicity and showy opulence, the restroom featured gold metal doors and rectangular gold metal wall lamps, ensconced in their skeletal frames mid-way along each backlit, over-the-sink mirror. The lounge on the other side of the restroom had several plush gold velvet ottomans, bunched together, and a long white marble counter that curved in a half-circle around the room. The counter offered complimentary face masks and several gold-rimmed vanity mirrors for makeup application. A crystal chandelier hung over the central cluster of ottomans, casting its glittering white light over a stack of fashion magazines on a small, circular gold metal table with hairpin metal legs.

The restroom smelled faintly of cinnamon. Fresh glass bowls of potpourri appeared on the white marble ledge in front of the sinks every few weeks.

Cloves, dried flower petals, and cinnamon sticks. Always cinnamon sticks.

Not that Ga Eul didn't like cinnamon, but now she would forever associate the scent with this job.

And today everything was turning her stomach.

One of her coworkers came out of a stall to wash her hands. Ga Eul gave her a small smile and the sleek gold metal tap in front of her. She stared at the shimmering gold and white tile backsplash and washed her own hands for a third time, watching the water splash down the wide white marble basin. She wished she could jump into a river and float away.

Saturday night had felt like a dream, like a fairy tale. Right down to the fancy dress that had been delivered, like magic, to her door that afternoon. Right down to So Yi Jeong himself, who had escorted her around the museum like a prince showing off his castle.

Right down to the part where she woke up in her bedroom the next morning, exhausted and with the inexplicable urge to cry.

She liked Yi Jeong, she'd realized.

But not like a fan. She, like, genuinely liked him. As a person.

Her coworker left. Cold air swished around Ga Eul as the bathroom door closed.

Ga Eul turned the tap off. Put her cold, wet hands up to her neck. Her face. Her forehead.

Her body felt hot and claustrophobic in her uniform despite the air conditioning.

Breathable fabric, her .

Yi Jeong would be there in twenty minutes, and she was supposed to be setting up for his date that evening. Instead, she was hiding out in the bathroom, trying to get her heart rate to go down.

What the heck was she supposed to say to him?

How was she supposed to act after what had happened?

Or...what had almost happened?

From the beginning of the night, Yi Jeong had treated her like his date. Except for the auction, they hadn't even hung around his friends.

But then Se Ri had shown up and reminded her of how she had come to meet him in the first place, and after that she couldn't help but feel confused for the rest of the evening as to what he wanted with her. She couldn't fully relax.

But then he'd tried to kiss her.

He had tried to kiss her, right?

He'd leaned in first.

Right?!

Replaying the moment in her head, she wasn't so sure.

It had been dark, even with the lights on the rooftop and the neon signs.

Closing her eyes, she remembered the outline of his gray suit jacket, his polka dotted bow tie, his stylishly swept back hair, the faint smirk that always played at his mouth.

But she couldn't tell if he had started moving first or if she had.

Or if it had happened so quickly she'd misread the situation.

Maybe he'd leaned in to tell her something. Like he'd done in the museum.

It's a secret. Not open to the public. But if you want, I can show you.

Her cheeks heated up just thinking about his face being so close to hers.

Agh, she didn't know where her brain was at!

She'd misread him. That had to be it. Like before when she thought he was flirting with her.

After all, he hadn't responded to the photos of her pottery she'd texted him, and she'd sent those four days ago.

She supposed he could have been busy, but still...He had asked to see some of her pieces.

Maybe he had only been making conversation.

Probably.

Besides, he had a date tonight. With someone who was very much not her.

With someone who would be arriving in—she checked her phone—eighteen minutes.

Ga Eul took a deep breath and used the wetness on her fingers to press a few unruly hairs in place. She straightened out her uniform until she looked as polished and pristine as the marble floors beneath her feet.

A prop instead of a person.

Like the stupid potpourri.

Ignoring the twinge of jealousy at the thought of him having another woman on his arm, she pulled a white paper towel from the gold dispenser and instructed herself to think professional thoughts only.

Although it was quite clear they had already crossed that line.

One way or the other.

---

"Ga Eul...Ga Eul...Ga Eul."

"What?! Dong Suk, quit poking me!" Ga Eul exclaimed. She leaned across Dong Suk's tall, gangly body to grab a black serving tray. Thankfully, the noise in the kitchen had risen to peak levels, so she felt somewhat certain he wouldn't continue pestering her when they had to shout to be heard.

She was wrong.

Lowering his head down to her ear so that she could hear him clearly over the clatter—though she hoped no one else could hear him—Dong Suk asked, "Are you going on another date tonight?"

Turning her back to him, Ga Eul arranged two cloth-wrapped sets of utensils on the serving tray.

"For the last time...No!" she stated emphatically. She concentrated on grabbing the other items she needed to set up Yi Jeong's table, hoping Dong Suk didn't notice her shoulders tensing. Her plan to not think about her unusual relationship with Yi Jeong had been shattered as soon as she'd exited the restroom, with Dong Suk sneaking up behind her and asking her if 'lover boy' had arrived yet.

He hadn't shut up since.

"Good. I don't want to have to beat anyone up," Dong Suk called out; he leaned back against the stainless steel counter, arms crossed.

Honestly, Ga Eul didn't know when he worked. Even during their busiest hours, she'd find him calmly chatting with one person or another while she ran around like a madwoman.

They'd worked together for three years, having started at the restaurant within weeks of each other. Dong Suk had 'seniority,' as he liked to remind her.

Three weeks worth.

Sometimes he used that fact to annoy the crap out of her, but he could also be protective of her, like an older brother. He was her best friend at the restaurant, and Jan Di had that Dong Suk must like her until Ga Eul blithely informed her that Dong Suk did not, in fact, swing that way. A fact that she was quite certain a lot of their female customers were oblivious to, if the amount of phone numbers he'd collected over the years was anything to go by.

Once he'd tricked one of the new servers into thinking he had gotten Lee Hyori's number; the poor guy had paid his whole week's earnings for it, only to realize five minutes into the call that he was actually on a phone hotline with a woman pretending to be Lee Hyori for fantasy's sake. At least Dong Suk had returned the money—minus a few won for 'being so gullible'—but Ga Eul had been forever warning him his antics would backfire on him one day.

To that end, she hoped he would leave the whole Yi Jeong situation alone.

Ga Eul waited till one of their coworkers walked past and out of earshot to reply, softly but firmly, "Not that you would understand, but Yi Jeong is a complete gentleman. He's been nothing but polite to me."

"He's a known playboy."

"He's an artist," Ga Eul retorted.

Dong Suk snickered. "Yeah, that's what they call it."

"You're just as bad as Jan Di."

"Oh yeah? What did she say?"

"Nothing. Just...that I should be careful." Ga Eul shrugged like it was nothing.

"She's right. Don't get carried away. You've probably already served his future wife."

"Gosh, thanks." Ga Eul gave him a look and started out of the kitchen.

She could already tell this was going to be a long night.

---

Ga Eul finished setting up Yi Jeong's table with a few minutes to spare, hoping to talk to him before his date got there and clear away some of the awkwardness. Unfortunately, Yi Jeong arrived precisely at seven, accompanied by his date for the evening, whom she quickly learned had been driven there by Yi Jeong.

Well, that certainly broke tradition, as all his other dates had arrived separately.

The two of them sat down, and Yi Jeong only gave Ga Eul a cursory nod before turning all of his attention—his carefully curated charm—onto his date.

Kim Ara. Model turned fashion mogul. She'd seen her in perfume commercials and, more recently, in an ad for her own line of designer handbags. The general public thought her an absolute angel for her philanthropic endeavors. She supposed for Yi Jeong's family that would be good press all around.

Unfortunately, she looked even more beautiful in person. A tall, leggy socialite in red lipstick and black and white striped Louboutins. With a waist size Ga Eul hadn't had since middle school. Her glossy auburn ombre hair cascaded around her shoulders in soft waves, framing her delicate, blemish-free face. She wore a sheer, high-neck black top over a black camisole, cinched at the waist with a tight, knee-length white skirt with black trim, managing to look elegant, business-like, and sensuous all at the same time. Two layers of clear gemstones curved around the neck of the blouse, matching the clear stones on the latch of her black evening bag, which she laid casually on the table next to Yi Jeong's phone.

Ga Eul bet she was one of those girls whose lipstick never smudged while they ate.

For whom the act of eating itself resembled a delicate dance. All graceful curves of the wrist and alluring twists of the mouth.

No crunching. No slurping. No talking with full.

Ga Eul already hated her.

And, of course, she liked the same kind of wine as Yi Jeong—sauvignon blanc again.

The foreign words rolled smoothly off Ara's tongue in an affected, polished manner.

Maybe she spoke French. Maybe she spoke five languages. Fluently.

Yi Jeong didn't meet Ga Eul's eyes when he asked for a bottle of the wine. Or when she came back in with the bottle. Or when she began pouring the wine into his glass, careful to keep her hands steady and her breaths even.

Ga Eul poured Ara's glass and set the bottle down with more force than she should have.

Yi Jeong looked directly at Ga Eul then for the first time since he'd come in, which she supposed was her intent, but his eyes were a complete blank.

Like he didn't know her at all.

Like she was just the waitress.

Well.

She supposed she was.

Just the waitress.

Pursing her lips, Ga Eul asked if they needed anything else before the food was brought out. Her voice came out strained, foreign-sounding even to her ears.

Instead of answering, Yi Jeong turned to Ara and asked if she wanted anything.

Drawing her lips together in a sickeningly sweet smile, the model cooed in a voice like silk, "May I trouble you for a glass of sparkling water?"

"Of course. Anything else?" She cautioned a glance at Yi Jeong, but he didn't look at her again. The condensation on his water glass seemed to interest him immensely.

"That will be all," Ara replied. She turned back to Yi Jeong and began talking about a fashion event both of them had attended the month before, leaving Ga Eul with no choice but to back away from the table and head out to get the model her fancy water.

"Sparkling water," she muttered as she passed Dong Suk, who was on his break, slouched against the brick wall in the hallway outside the kitchen. She grabbed a bottle of the sparkling damn water and a clean glass and headed back out the double metal doors.

"What?" Dong Suk asked, looking up from his phone when she exited the kitchen.

Ga Eul paused next to him and held up the bottle.

"Our regular water's not good enough for her. She wants sparkling water with her dinner."

"So?"

"So? Next she'll be asking for gold chopsticks...No. Gold forks." She spat out the last word.

"Are you okay?" Dong Suk tilted his head. "You look pissed."

"I...I'm fine...I have to go." Swivelling on her scuffed pumps, she heard Dong Suk mumble an 'okay' after her.

When Ga Eul reentered the room, the two of them were laughing, Ara's musical voice lilting attractively as she swept her hair off to one side.

Ga Eul made her best attempt at a poker face as she poured the sparkling water and informed them she would be back with their appetizers.

The night's menu selection was foie gras with rosemary infused rice and stuffed wild mushrooms. For the appetizer, they would have a salad of roasted beets, radishes, green strawberries, and crisp greens, served with a croissant.

Ga Eul almost sneaked a croissant for herself while she grabbed their dishes; her stomach had transitioned from queasy to starving.

"Let me help you with that." She suddenly felt the tray of food being lifted from her hands and looked up to see Dong Suk carrying it away from her. "You're recovering from an injury, aren't you?" he called out.

"W-what? No, no, I'm fine." She followed him down the hall. "Hey! Aren't you on your break?"

"Yep."

"Well, then shouldn't you be...smoking? Or something?"

"I quit. You said it was bad for me."

"Well, yes, b-but...what are you doing with that?" she demanded, dropping her voice to a whisper as they continued down the hall. "I'm supposed to be the only one in there."

One of the other waiters raised an eyebrow at them as they passed.

"Don't forget, I was there last week," Dong Suk replied.

"But—"

"Just open the door, will you?" He came to an abrupt halt in front of Yi Jeong's private room.

Ga Eul reluctantly opened the door for him when she realized he wasn't going to budge.

Damn it, what was he up to?

She entered the room behind him, unsure of what to do. She supposed she could help him serve the food, but there wasn't that much to serve, and anyway, she never liked to be in the middle of Dong Suk's ideas.

"Thank you for inviting me to the exhibit premiere this past weekend. I'm so sorry I couldn't make it," Ara remarked while Dong Suk served the couple their salads.

Ga Eul tried to melt into the background as Dong Suk arranged everything on the table and then asked, in a tone Ga Eul knew sounded friendly but he actually meant as a threat, if there was anything else they would be needing.

Except he didn't look at Ara when he said it. He looked directly at Yi Jeong, who stared tensely back at him for a long moment before sending him off with a simple 'nothing, thank you.'

She didn't miss the way Yi Jeong's mouth twitched like he wanted to say something else.

Gosh, she hoped Dong Suk didn't get into any trouble.

That was so weird.

Once Dong Suk left the room, Ara's earlier question caught up with her, and her brain shifted into overdrive.

Yi Jeong had invited Ara?

Like, in a blanket invitation, or had Ga Eul been her replacement for the evening?

Yi Jeong, at least, had gotten distracted by Dong Suk's presence, and it took him a moment to respond to Ara's comment.

"Uh...you had a photo shoot, right?" he asked.

Ara nodded.

"For Vogue Korea."

Her replacement. Right.

Like Ga Eul would be replacing her.

"Do you know Lee Joo-hyuk?" Ara asked.

Another model, if Ga Eul remembered correctly.

"We've crossed paths a few times. I think he did a campaign for Shinhwa's department stores when we were in school."

"He did. He told me to give my regards to your friend, Jun Pyo. I'm supposed to meet with him this month about my new handbag line."

"Oh? Are you going to the States?"

"A short vacation. At the end of the month." She sighed prettily and took a dainty stab at her lettuce. "But I have to meet with a few people while I'm over there, so I hesitate to call it that."

Oh, the woes of the rich and famous.

Ga Eul barely kept herself from rolling her eyes.

Across from Ara, Yi Jeong crossed his legs and leaned back in his chair.

"I should take a trip over there myself."

Was he asking her to go on vacation with him? What?

"I never see Jun Pyo these days," he continued.

Who was Jun Pyo again?

Oh, right. His other childhood friend. The one she hadn't met but Ara seemed to know.

"Well, if you make it over there, give me a call. I'll be in New York for one week, then a few days in L.A. The 17th through the 30th." She said something in English Ga Eul couldn't understand, and they both laughed.

And laughed and laughed.

In her honest opinion, Yi Jeong laughed far more than the comment deserved.

Even if she didn't understand it.

The rest of the meal passed in a similar fashion. They threw around names of famous people they knew intimately, or at least passively, and other names she didn't recognize but assumed were important. From what she gathered, they weren't as familiar with each other as Yi Jeong and Se Ri were—Ara had studied abroad during high school—but they were close acquaintances. They ran in the same circles. Knew the same people. Attended a lot of the same social events.

And to be honest, she could imagine them splashed on a billboard together, all complementary lines and colors, each of them so perfectly perfect they wouldn't have to worry about outshining the other. Or looking drab by comparison.

What was that expression? Birds of a feather...

Still, she hoped Yi Jeong would find some excuse to talk to her alone before he left.

She could thank him again for the help with her hand; Ji Hoo had taken her stitches out that Monday.

But he hardly looked at her the entire evening, even when he asked her to fetch dessert or a clean napkin or more wine—he'd finished most of the first bottle himself.

Mid-dessert, Ara asked for more sparkling water, but when she brought a second bottle back from the kitchen, she found that Yi Jeong and Ara had left.

Well, she supposed it made sense that he would drive his date home since he'd driven her there.

But she could also tell he was intentionally avoiding her, and she wasn't sure what to make of that.

She didn't know what to make of anything anymore.

Anytime she thought she understood him, he would throw her into another bout of confusion.

"You okay?"

She turned to see Dong Suk poking his head into the room.

"Um, yeah." Ga Eul attempted a smile. "I'm fine." She set the sparkling water off to the side to deal with later.

"Yeah, don't even try that with me. What did he do?"

Powerless against Dong Suk's all-knowing stare, Ga Eul allowed herself the discouraged frown she'd been holding back for the past hour.

"Nothing," she answered.

"Nothing?"

"Yeah, like, literally nothing." Pivoting on her heel, she walked over to Yi Jeong's table. He'd left his napkin on his plate, his knife and fork arranged parallel to each other on the plate at a ten and four o'clock position. The mark of someone raised to eat at fancy restaurants. "He hasn't said anything to me since Saturday," she continued. "And the whole night he was avoiding eye contact with me. It was weird." Ga Eul shook her head and collected the dessert plates. "But what was the idea coming in here? You could have seriously gotten us both in trouble."

"Ga Eul, he didn't say anything when he found you rifling through his phone." Dong Suk grabbed the wine glasses. "He didn't ask for another waitress even though he clearly didn't want to see you tonight. I highly doubt he's going to get you fired because I told him to off with my eyes. As for me, I'm leaving for my internship in a few weeks, remember? What do I care?" He held out his arms.

"I guess...So, when you were telling him to, um...do that...did he say anything back?"

"Yep."

"What, really? Is this some sort of guy code I wouldn't understand?"

"You could say that."

"So what was it?" she asked as he took the dessert plates out of her hands. Dong Suk stacked the plates on a serving tray with the wine glasses, napkins, and other dining accoutrements.

As he exited the room, he called out behind him, "He told me he's an ."

"Yeah," Ga Eul muttered to herself when Dong Suk had disappeared. "That's what I was afraid of."

---

"I just don't understand," Ga Eul lamented later that evening, plopping down wearily on the bed. Jan Di had been over the moon earlier that day about securing the job at the clinic, and part of Ga Eul didn't want to bring down the mood, but she needed to sort through the mess in her brain.

And Jan Di was an expert sorter.

"Don't understand what?" Jan Di asked, sitting cross-legged at the foot of the bed. She had taken out a box of chocolate truffles and offered Ga Eul one of the gold-wrapped sweets. Ga Eul shook her head and pushed Jan Di's hand away.

Stuffing a chocolate in , Jan Di chirped, "Oh, guess who came to the porridge shop again today?"

"Who?" Ga Eul perked up, although she doubted Jan Di meant Yi Jeong.

"Ji Hoo Sunbae. He came by to drop off some paperwork for me. But then he stayed and ate and worked on his papers for about two hours. It was nice having the company. We had a slow day today."

"Does Master know you're leaving the shop?"

"Oh, I'm not leaving, actually."

"But I thought you got the job at the clinic?"

"I did. I'm still going to work at the porridge shop, though."

"Jan Di," Ga Eul warned, "don't overwork yourself. You still help out at the dry cleaners as it is."

"I'm not. I'm not," Jan Di protested.

Ga Eul made a face.

"Fine, I'll ask for less hours at the porridge shop. It's not like Master will say 'no.' He can't afford to get rid of me entirely. A face like mine is good for business...Haha, kidding." She smiled around a bite of chocolate-covered caramel. The gooey brown substance oozed out of the core of the half-bitten chocolate, threatening to drip onto Jan Di's cupcake print pink pajama bottoms. She popped the rest of the truffle into before that could happen.

Ga Eul smiled half-heartedly at the comment, but Jan Di must have sensed her lack of enthusiasm because her face fell.

"What's wrong? Weren't you excited about seeing Yi Jeong Sunbae again today?"

"Yes, but...I don't think he was that excited to see me."

Jan Di frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"Well...I thought we were getting on so well the last three times we saw each other, but today he...today he hardly looked at me. He didn't even say goodbye to me like he...normally does...He came and left with his date, so we didn't have a moment alone. And he just seemed really off. So I've been trying to figure out if I overstepped or something. Over the weekend, I mean. But I don't think I did anything impolite." With sudden fervor, she continued, "If anything, he was the one who...well, never mind..." She trailed off.

"The one who what?" Jan Di's eyes narrowed. "What did he do?"

"Nothing."

"Ga Eul."

She didn't reply.

Jan Di pressed on.

"Something happened, didn't it? Before you left to go see about your mom."

"Well, um...I thought he tried to kiss me."

"Kiss you?" Jan Di's eyes grew wide.

"I thought."

"You thought?" Jan Di scrunched her eyebrows, like that didn't make sense.

Well, it didn't make sense. Not really.

"Ga Eul, either he tried to kiss you, or he didn't."

"It's more complicated than that." Ga Eul twisted her hands agitatedly.

"Complicated?"

"My phone rang, so…But we weren't kissing!" She threw up her hands. "We were just standing really close to each other. I think he was trying to tell me something..." Ga Eul rambled, then trailed off again.

"Ga Eul!" Jan Di grabbed Ga Eul's hands. "How could you not tell me this?!"

"Because I knew how you'd react, and I wasn't sure what was going to happen when I saw him again." She sighed. "Now I know." She shrugged and extricated her hands from Jan Di's grasp. "It's okay. It doesn't mean anything."

Jan Di frowned.

"It means something to you. Even if it doesn't to that jerk."

"Jan Di, you know how I am. Sometimes, I get really worked up over nothing. Like I said, I probably...misunderstood."

"I can beat him up for you, if you want."

Ga Eul smiled.

"You're the second person who's offered to do that today. Dong Suk doesn't like him either. At least I know I have awesome friends. Don't worry about it. I just need some sleep, and after that I promise I will put the whole thing out of my mind."

"Well..." Jan Di looked unconvinced.

"I'm serious. I don't know what I was thinking anyway; he's practically married."

"Well...all right. But let me know if you change your mind."

"Noted."

"In the meantime, try to forget him."

"My mind is an empty void," she professed. "I am forgetting as we speak."

"Good."

---

And maybe Ga Eul would have forgotten.

Maybe she would have slept peacefully, not thinking of their almost-kiss. Thinking, instead, of the exam on Monday she had to study for. Or how Jan Di mumbled in her sleep. Or the comical image of Jan Di spin-kicking that stupid smirk off of Yi Jeong's face.

Except that about midnight as she dozed off, her phone chimed under her pillow.

A text. From him. Three words.

How's your hand?