DFLT 50

Which was understandable, because in the past three years, the only times he had eaten alone with Seo Heonyoung were rushed meals shoved in during overtime or on business trips. Since Seo Heonyoung was someone who even handled company dinners during lunch to save time, this was the first time they were having a leisurely meal after the workday had ended.

No, but seriously, why?

No, no, that’s not it. He might just want to have a nice dinner for a change. Yes, of course. Firmly bolting the floodgates of questions threatening to pour out, he sat in the seat Heonyoung indicated with a word of thanks. He was drinking the tea an employee had served first.

“There is one thing you are mistaken about. The day you were drunk, I had a harder time than Kang Dojin.”

“……”

“But you are only buying a meal for Kang Dojin.”

The tip of Heonyoung’s neat fingernail tapped, tap, tapped the surface of the table.

“…Ah.”

Yeonoh, who was more fluent in ‘Seo Heonyoungeese’ than anyone, grasped his intention at once. How much was the one-person course at Huiumchae…. A chill ran down his spine for a moment, but he corrected his thinking once again. He must have been quite the nuisance that day. Even the usually gentle Dojin had gone so far as to compare him to a winter yellowtail. Yes, it must be my fault for acting so thoughtlessly in front of Heonyoung yesterday.

Besides, they say you have to pay six billion won for a single meal with one of the world’s top billionaires, so three hundred thousand won for a meal with a businessman renowned for his wealth in South Korea is a bargain. The hand holding the teacup trembled, but he calmly set the cup down, pretending nothing was wrong.

“My thinking was short….”

“It was.”

As Yeonoh meekly accepted his point, Seo Heonyoung immediately agreed. He wondered if Heonyoung had been upset, but the thought quickly faded with the idea of, ‘Come on, Seo Heonyoung?’. It was probably just because he was the type of person who hated to be at a disadvantage.

Just as an awkwardness was settling heavily, the appetizer was soon served. It was accompanied by the explanation that it was a fusion dish of beef tartare with gochujang on top of a fried rice cracker made from high-quality domestic rice. Usually, whenever he watched Heonyoung eat, he would carefully swallow so the sound of his gulping wouldn’t be heard, but thinking that this time what he would be swallowing was not saliva but the actual dish, his heart pounded a little.

“Enjoy your meal, Executive Director.”

After hiding his eager heart and greeting him with a smile, he followed the chef’s instructions and swallowed one piece all at once without biting into it. With every chew, the plain taste of the rice, the savory flavor of the oil and beef, and even the spicy taste of the gochujang sauce all blended together without a single flavor clashing. As if his pampered tongue was sending a signal of joy to his brain, he barely suppressed the urge to clap his hands.

“Wow, this is so delicious….”

He had managed to hold back the clapping, but he could not hold back the true feelings that popped out of his mouth. Yeonoh, startled by his own muttering, covered his mouth with his hand and glanced at Heonyoung, but Seo Heonyoung had not even touched his food. He was just resting his chin on his hand, with his elbow on the table, watching Yeonoh with a look of curiosity.

“Aren’t you eating?”

Yeonoh, who was stung with the thought that he might have been too thoughtless to eat first, asked, and only then did he put the food in his mouth with an indifferent face. Unlike him, whose every taste bud had been moved, Seo Heonyoung had an expression that said he ate things like this all the time. Just as a wave of embarrassment washed over him, wondering if he had made too much of a fuss, the chef entered with the next dish at a good timing.

“Did the appetizer suit your palate?”

When the chef asked in a friendly tone, Yeonoh also responded with a gentle smile and a nod of his head.

“Yes! It was really delicious.”

“Ah, I am relieved. This dish is sweet shrimp, sea urchin roe, and chervil served on a doenjang-based sauce. I recommend you eat the plainer shrimp before the sea urchin roe.”

“Oh, okay!”

Yeonoh’s face brightened as he ate the shrimp generously dipped in the sauce as the chef recommended.

“It’s so delicious!”

He worried that his expression was a bit too cheap for such a high-end dish, but fortunately, the chef seemed pleased with Yeonoh’s reaction, and with a smile on his lips and a farewell to enjoy the meal, he disappeared again. In truth, while he was happy because of the delicious food, it was closer to the fact that he was having a meal with Heonyoung, face to face and conversing for the first time, so he had unconsciously fixed his gaze on the food to stop it from constantly drifting towards him.

Seo Heonyoung, who had not touched his food this time either, opened his mouth with his arms crossed.

“What are you going to do, being so free with your smiles.”

What was this now? Yeonoh answered with a little force in his eyes.

“Pardon me? Me? I do not just smile at anyone.”

“You were giving Team Leader Yoon those soft eye-smiles earlier.”

It seemed he was referring to the meeting with Team Leader Yoon Soohui during the day. It was just a highly social smile he had put on to smooth things over when she had mistaken Dojin for his boyfriend and made a joke.

“Ah, that is a business-purpose smile. A smile is perfect for an awkward atmosphere.”

“Business, you say.”

Seo Heonyoung, whose lips lifted by about one nanometer as if that part of the statement pleased him, finally put the food in his mouth. He chewed for a long while, then frowned and tilted his head as if lost in thought, before swallowing the food and speaking.

“Haven’t you shown me that similar smile quite a bit as well?”

“…Ah, that.”

It wasn’t ‘quite a bit’; he showed it the most in front of Seo Heonyoung. He had been caught in his own trap. Yeonoh’s lips parted and a hollow laugh escaped.

“Ahaha.”

“…Heh.”

Seo Heonyoung, understanding the meaning of that laugh, let out a dry chuckle.

As the ‘business-purpose’ laugh that Yeonoh had let out unconsciously and habitually evaporated into the air, Seo Heonyoung’s expression soured.

He wished with all his might that the chef would come in right at this moment, but regrettably, the doorway remained quiet.

“…I am sorry.”

“You are so good at putting on a social smile, yet you do not deny it, do you?”

As Seo Heonyoung put the rest of the food in his mouth with a sarcastic laugh, Yeonoh also hesitantly cleared his plate. By now, he had developed an immunity to the twisted sneers and was unfazed, but in the midst of it all, the food was delicious, so it was incredibly difficult to manage his expression.

Just as they finished all the food, the chef finally came in with the third dish.

“This dish is a tofu dish to refresh your palate before the main course. With soft tofu, grilled mushrooms, and sprout leaves, our signature soy sauce is….”

The chef, who was in the middle of his explanation, suddenly trailed off right after glancing at Seo Heonyoung’s somewhat displeased expression. Yeonoh, who followed the chef’s gaze, also let out an inward gasp. Why was his face so grim?

“…Enjoy your meal.”

Instead of continuing, the chef finished cleanly and left the room. He had no idea what had twisted his mood again.

“Damn tofu.”

Seo Heonyoung was simply having a staring contest with the tofu. Did he dislike tofu? From his position of having watched his numerous meals, he was the type to eat everything well without being picky, except for overly heavy or fried foods.

“Um, by any chance, is the tofu not to your liking….”

“Not a chance.”

Straightening his furrowed brow, Seo Heonyoung cut into the tofu with an indifferent reply, and Yeonoh, too, put his worries aside and resumed his meal. The third dish was also better than expected.

As he was rinsing his mouth with water, an employee came in with a knock and asked.

“Excuse me, sir. By any chance, did you park your car outside? The number is….”

The car number the employee mentioned was the car Yeonoh had driven. When he said it was, they informed him that the interior lights of the car had not been turned off.

“Ah, I will be right back.”

Yeonoh, who grabbed the car key, went out and checked inside the car, realizing that he had turned on the interior lights earlier while looking for the tablet PC and had forgotten to turn them off. After a brief check, he came back in, and just as he was sitting down, the chef had just brought out the main course. The chef lit the brazier and placed several appetizing pieces of beef on the grill.

“For the main course, we are serving a beef end loin roast with a seaweed soup set meal. You can enjoy it with yuzu salt and wasabi salt. Enjoy your meal.”

The chef, glancing at Seo Heonyoung, finished his explanation without asking how the previous dish was and quickly exited.

The moderately fatty beef was tender, and thanks to the accompanying yuzu and wasabi salt, he could keep eating without it feeling greasy.

“You are still wearing that watch.”

Heonyoung asked after glancing at the smartwatch on Yeonoh’s left wrist. Before Yeonoh, who thought oops, could answer, he asked again.

“Is it still reacting to your pheromone level?”

At the sudden crisis, Yeonoh’s eyes wavered. His mind raced as he kept his mouth shut, pretending to chew the food in his mouth.

‘He’s such a perfectionist that if he hears the news, he might say he’ll postpone the engagement. Then Sehyun might cry his eyes out.’

If he answered wrong, he might suddenly storm out of the place and postpone the marriage indefinitely until Sehyun found a clue. He had to prevent the thing he feared from happening….

“It is not that, I just like the watch because it is pretty. Haha.”

His conscience pricked him, but he thought he had gotten through it rather well, but Seo Heonyoung, as expected, had a look of disbelief. He looked at Yeonoh silently, then muttered in a low voice.

“I guess that damn business-purpose smile is just your default.”

“……”

“Just finish your meal.”

Somehow, the nuance was that he was more annoyed by Yeonoh’s habitual smile than by the watch.