"Why do we have dinner here, Mom?" Effie asked, shortly after sitting in a chair in a restaurant.

            "Why? You do not like it?" Mrs. Lee asked back with a smile.

            "Not. I like it, Mom. Been so long since we never ate dinner outside," Effie replied, smiling back.

            Shortly thereafter, a waiter came to their table to ask for their order. Effie's forehead frowned when she heard her mother just order a drink for them both and Mrs. Lee told the waiter that they were waiting for someone.

            "You invite others to join dinner with us?" Effie asked after the waiter had gone.

            Mrs. Lee nodded and smiled to answer that question.

            "Who? Why didn’t you tell me?"

            "I purposely didn’t tell you, dear," replied Mrs. Lee, then glanced at her watch. "Soon they will come," she said.

            Them? Effie wondered. She started to pay attention to every visitor who entered the restaurant. Who's invited to dinner with us? Them? Means there will be more than one person. But who? As she was seriously thinking, suddenly, Effie's eyes stopped on a man who is very familiar. The man who was once her love. First love. Effie could feel her heart begin to beat faster. Hurriedly, she turned her face to avoid being seen by him.

            Shortly thereafter, Effie heard her mother called someone’s name. Then, she saw her mother stood up and began to embrace a middle-aged woman who had called her name. And then, she heard that voice. The voice that was still she remembered.

            "Mom, we'll have dinner here?"

            Mom? He called her Mom?? Effie’s inner disbelief.

            "Yes, dear. We will have dinner here with Mrs. Lee and her daughter," the middle-aged women replied. "Miseon-ah, is this your daughter?" she asked to Mrs. Lee while holding Effie’s shoulder and smiled at her.

            "Of course! Come on, Jihoon, say hello to Aunt Hyounggi!" pleaded Mrs. Lee.

            Effie nodded, then smiled and bowed to the  middle-aged women. "Hello, Aunt Hyounggi! Nice to see you."

            "So cute!" cried the middle-aged woman with a ceaseless smile on Effie. "Ah, yes... this is my son, Kim Kyoung Jae. Kyoungjae yah, come on, say hello to Mrs. Lee and Jihoon."

            Effie ventured to look towards the man in question. Really, she did not like the atmosphere of that night and the meeting with him again after all this time they never met. When her eyes met the man's eyes, she could feel the shock of being perceived him.

            "Kyoungjae yah, come on, say hello!" asked the middle-aged women again because he was just silent, his eyes staring at Effie in disbelief.

            The man nodded awkwardly, then with a smile he also looked awkward when he was bending his body on Mrs. Lee and Effie. "Hello, Aunt Lee. Hello, Jihoon ah."

***

            Eli and Effie were silent at their dinner table while waiting for the arrival of their mother who went to order food. However, shortly afterwards, some waiter came to their table while carrying trays of food and drinks.

            Then, one of the waiters said to them, "Mr. and Miss, your mother asked you both to enjoy this dish immediately without waiting for them. They will wait for you both in their car after you both spent their order. Bon appetite!"

            Of course this made Effie and Eli confused. However, they just nod and say thank you to the waiter before he had gone with the other waiters. They also began to eat their dinner with awkward.

            "Do you think your mother and my mother deliberately planned this?" Eli asked on the sidelines of eating.

            "I-I... I don’t know," replied Effie nervous. Ya! Why should you be nervous like that, Effie yah?! She thought irritably. "But... I guess, my mother and your mother have known each other before. Maybe... friends?"

            "Friends?"

            "I don’t know. They look close to each other."

            "If indeed they are friends, as you say, why did I never know that?"

            "Whether you have to know who your mom’s friends, oppa?"

            "Yeah... not really." Eli slicing his steak meat slowly, looking at Effie’s face who was sitting in front of him. Nothing has changed from you, Effie yah. You're still as Effie like I met you first, he thought then secretely smiling. "Well, um... how are you?"

            "I'm fine, thank you. How are you, oppa? I heard you have a culinary’s business right?" Effie asked as she braced herself for looking at Eli’s face.

            "I’m fine too, thank you," Eli said with a smile. "How do you know if I have a business in the culinary field?”

            "Of course I know! You're famous, oppa! That news was ever there in the famous magazine," said Effie. She drank mineral water, then returned saying, "We intentionally brought here?"

            "Maybe," Eli said as he wiped his mouth with a handkerchief. "At first, I thought, my mother would introduce me to my future wife..."

            "Wife... your future wife???" Effie asked in surprised. Suddenly, she felt her chest a little sore after hearing that.

            "You were surprised, right? Me too," said Eli regardless Effie’s question earlier. "I don’t understand why she did this. I don’t even know who is my future wife! Really, it makes me dizzy." Eli poured wine into his glass. He then offered himself to pour the wine into Effie’s glass, but she refused. "You've grown up, right?" he teased.

            "Of course yes! But, being mature doesn’t need to be proven with a glass of wine right? I don’t like it, oppa. I'm sorry..." said Effie. Then, her eyes were staring at Eli with a curious gaze. "You're going to get married soon?" she said later.

            Eli stared back. Instead of answering directly, he drank the wine in his glass. After that, he looked back at Effie. "Yeah... I'm going to get married soon," he said, sounding sad. "My mother wants to have grandchildren," he added with a cheerful face, as if he were joking.

            Effie smiled back, a forced smile. She knew, Eli might have felt sad at heart because the marriage was not his wants. Without awkward again, Effie pulled his hand and held it tightly. "Hopefully, your future wife is a good person, so that you can live happily with her, oppa," Effie prayed, encouraging him. "You have to believe that your mother’s choice is definitely the best choice. She will not pick a bad person for you, oppa."

            Eli sighed, then smiled broadly. Effie's words were very comforting him at that time. "Thank you, Effie. You're so kind to me," Eli said as he Effie’s hand which was still held by her. "I'm so sorry I had to break our relationship in the past. I keep regretting it..."

            "Oppa, don’t talk about our past now," said Effie. "But, I'm happy to have had you as my lover."

***

-To Be Continued-

just realized that this part is quite weird

and yeah, I forgot to put the first part here omg ><

I'm so sorry T^T

now, happy reading! :)