Chapter 8

“Yes,” said Youngseo.

“I can’t do that.”

If Hari hadn’t met Taemoo at work after their blind date, maybe she would have been okay with all this. But Hari had already encountered him twice at work. Hari also saw that Taemoo had an excellent. She couldn’t meet him again and leave breadcrumbs behind.

“I can’t see him again, Youngseo. I can’t, and I will never. Never. Even if I die.”

“What do you mean you can’t? You just have to tell him no. Go! Go see him.”

“No. How could I? I can’t. What if he starts liking me more?”

Youngseo looked at Hari as if she were ridiculous.

“Sorry.”

Hari knew she was being irrational, and apologized immediately. Youngseo looked at Hari desperately.

“Tell him the truth, then.”

“What truth?”

“Dress up like a dainty lady and tell him it was all a lie. Show him that Youngseo is, in fact, ladylike, and that she’s never slept with men before, and is therefore pure. Correct whatever you have said before. I’m a virgin and you know I’m ashamed of it.” Youngseo seemed to cry with genuine sadness.

So why didn’t you go out there and play dumb like you used to? Why’d you make me pretend to be a femme-fatal whore?

Hari was also sad. She had done her friend a favor, and it resulted in her going out on the wrong date with her boss. What a bolt out of the blue.

“Youngseo, I can’t meet up with him. And especially not without the heavy makeup.”

“Why are you doing this to me? Are you even my best friend?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what it takes to be a best friend anymore.”

“Hari!”

Hari held Youngseo’s hand.

“Please understand me. I really can’t interact with him anymore. He’s…he’s…my boss!”

“Whaat?”

“I had to go on a blind date with my boss because of you. If only you knew his name, I wouldn’t have been on that date. He’s known as the crazy psychopath at work, and I played with him. I’m just a mere employee. What’s going to happen to me if he knew it was me? I’m done for good, then.”

“What? So, you’re trying to make me marry a crazy man?”

How is that the main point of the argument here?

Hari impatiently grabbed Youngseo’s hand again.

“Well, I’m sorry about that but you know I have no choice. I can’t get fired. I have loans from work, you know that. Once I get fired, I have to pay it back in full. Even if I did have the money to pay it off, what am I going to do next? I still need to pay for my dad’s pub. I need to keep going to work without having any more problems. I can’t get fired no matter what. But the guy, he’s my boss, the CEO. All I did was blurt nonsense at him.”

As Youngseo pondered Hari’s long story, she let out a sigh. She took out an envelope from her bag.

“Here, your money. Sorry I couldn’t give it to you the other day.”

“No, it’s okay. I didn’t even do my job properly…”

Hari was hesitant to take the envelope at first, but took it from Youngseo anyway. As soon as Hari grabbed it, Youngseo grabbed Hari’s hand. Youngseo was staring down Hari ferociously.

“Double. No, triple.”

“What?”

“You expect four times as much when you’ve created this mess?”

“What are you talking about?”

“My dad is hosting parties thinking I’m going to get married. You might not realize, but this isn’t a joke. I’m really going to have to marry this guy. The arranged marriages you see on television, it’s this. Do you know what would happen if I said I no to this? My family is going to be enraged. That rage is not only going to affect me, but also impact my mom and our business. I told you Hari. I want real love. Do you really want to see your friend grow old next to someone who she doesn’t even love?”

Hari shook. her head in guilt. Youngseo pressed on.

“So, take care of this for me. Only you are able to do it.”

“Hey, I told you, I can’t….”

“Okay, then. I’ll go tell him the truth: That the girl from the blind date was not me, but in fact his employee, and the girl who said no to the proposal in a ridiculous manner was…”

“Hey, you bitch!”

“I’ll give you four times the amount.”

Hari took a deep breath. She thought about it for a while with her head in her palms, then reached a decision. It was true Hari was responsible for what had happened. For some unacceptable reason, she had seduced Taemoo, making him want to marry. If Youngseo was going to pay her four times more to clean up the mess she had made, Hari felt that she could do it.

“I just have to make him cancel the marriage, right?”

“Yes. That’s all I need.”

“Fine. I’ll take care of it.”

Youngseo’s face brightened.

“Your plan?”

“It’s simple. I just have to scratch my head ferociously and eat my dandruff while saying…”

Youngseo’s expression quickly darkened.

“Hari! I’m going to kill you!”

* * *

Hari trudged into the cafe. She wondered if he had fallen for her for her boobs, so she left the paddings at home. But she put on more makeup than before. She had to make sure he didn’t recognize her as the girl from work. Youngseo let that one slide.

“You look like you got beat up. I can’t even look at you.”

It was a mystery as to why Taemoo wanted to marry someone like this. All Hari could say was that he had very interesting taste in women. As she stared at her reflection in the window, she closed her eyes tight, then opened them, reluctantly making her way into the cafe. It seemed as if he hadn’t arrived yet, and was nowhere to be seen.

Hari took a seat and waited impatiently. She thought about how she was going to convince him to drop his proposal. She didn’t have a particular plan in mind, and she had miles to go. She wondered if she really should eat her dandruff, but she didn’t have that kind of courage. She however, knew that, in situations like this, you had to tell the truth. She knew that very well. She thought whether telling him the truth, minus the fact that he was her boss, was a good idea.

“Sorry I made you wait.”

As a mix of thoughts went on in Hari’s head, he approached out of nowhere.

Calm down Hari. Just do as you did last time. Look, you were good at it.

Are you crazy? Don’t do that! Never! What if you get caught?’

As she observed this conflict between her two thoughts, she found herself drooling over Taemoo again. He looked incredible standing in front of her. She already knew how handsome he was from seeing him at work, but having him stand in front of her made her drool over him even more.

Hari was zoning out, and had forgotten everything that was going on in her head. In the process, she also lost her chance to say hello. As she continued to stare at Taemoo uncomfortably, he pointed at the chair.

“I’ll take a seat.”

Hari nodded. As soon as Taemoo took a seat, he began to stare at Hari. It seemed like it was his habit to stare at people, and Hari’s heart was racing because of it. She was scared that he’d find out who she was, flustered by his looks, and worried with the fact that she had to pay careful attention to figure out his intentions. There were many more things for her to think about, and it felt like her heart wouldn’t slow down.

“Would you like some coffee?”

Hari thought she would start the conversation to ease her mind. She couldn’t, however, make eye contact.

“Do you want to order? An americano, or a latte, or-”

“Marriage.”

“Sorry?”

He scooted forward.

“Let’s get married.”

Hari thought maybe he was asking for a drink called ‘marriage’. He was so smooth, she almost ordered a marriage.

“Excuse me?”

“Let’s get married.”

Hari kept blinking her eyes. He seemed annoyed that he had to mention it twice to her. There was probably no one who questioned him back at work. Hari was probably the first. She wanted to ask again, but she found herself unable to do it, and was intimidated.

“Um…a marriage isn’t some kind of a joke.”

“Do I look like I’m joking around?”

Don’t you think the problem here is that you aren’t?

Hari couldn’t make eye contact with him, and was moving her eyes around. She eventually looked down at the table. She was going to make her friend marry her boss if things kept turning in the wrong direction like this. She took a deep breath.

“Why don’t we get something to drink? I’m kind of thirsty.”

She wasn’t just thirsty; her mouth was dry like the Sahara Desert. She had been right all along. She should have never met up with him again. Having your boss as your date made it hard to be dominant.

“What would you like?”

Taemoo was reaching for his wallet and getting up from his seat. Hari stood up quickly.

“I’ll order.”

“No. I’lll-”

“No, please. Let me.”

Hari needed a new plan, as she had already forgotten what her original plan was. She needed to buy some time. As she looked at him desperately, he looked at her back as if she was a weirdo.

The weirdo is you, not me.

She felt pitiful, but all she could do was smile.

“What would you like? Coffee? Tea? Not marriage, though!”

Hari quickly cut him off as he was about to say something. He lifted his eyebrows.

“Espresso.”

“Okay.”

He seemed like one of those people who enjoyed espressos. He was strong. Hari felt relief that he hadn’t mentioned the marriage again, and walked to the counter.

“One espresso, and an americano, please. The americano is with ice, please. Lots and lots.”

The cashier completed the order and gave her the receipt.

“We’ll call your name once we have your order. You can go wait by your seat..”

“No, I’ll just stay here.”

“We can call you up.”

“That’s fine. This is better for me.”

The cashier raised an eyebrow at Hari’s behavior, and went on to make the drinks. As Hari was waiting, she took a quick peek at Taemoo. Even from afar, he was glowing. Hari found herself mesmerized by his looks.

How crazy do you have to be in order to be like that?

Hari stared at him as if she could not understand what was going on in his head. It seemed like he had received a call, and he was looking at his watch.

Hari turned around to the counter and started biting her lip. She felt like she was making herself a fool again. She was relieved she had paused the conversation by getting the drinks, and was determined that she had to intimidate him this time.

Okay. We’re going to tell him. As soon as I put down the drink, I’ll say a marriage isn’t possible. That I won’t get married to him. Never.

When her drinks were ready, she took the tray and turned around. He was standing right behind her, and she almost dropped the tray. Taemoo helped keep the tray from falling.

“I’m sorry. I have emergency business to take care of at work. I’ll be back soon.”

“What? Then what about the marriage?”

He wiggled his eyebrows in confusion.

Oh, I didn’t mean it like that.

“Let’s talk about it when I get back.”

“What? No, I’m not asking you to marry me.”

“It’ll only take me twenty minutes.”

Taemoo had already walked off, and Hari was staring at his back blankly.

If you are so busy, why not just live alone? Why is he so caught up in getting married?

Hari felt the tray on her hands being lifted. Taemoo had put the tray down on the table.

B..Boss?

“Your phone.”

He seemed to be demanding Hari’s phone. Hari looked for her phone, but soon realized what she was doing and gave him a look of distrust.

“I’m just trying to see if you unblocked my phone number.”

“What?”

“I can’t have you run away.”

She wanted to run away, but he was not even giving her the clear set of minds to do so. He was playing with her head. She couldn’t run away, anyway. She needed to put an end to this conversation.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

What was the point in running away? Youngseo was going to catch her anyway. Meeting with Taemoo like this could never happen again.

“Boss…I mean, Mr. Kang, as you have your own business to take care of, I have business to take care of with you. But I hate waiting. If you make me wait any longer, I’ll assume our conversation is over.”

For once, Hari spoke with the right mind. Taemoo nodded and left.

She was going to leave quickly, but now she had to wait for him to come back to tell him that she didn’t want to get married. Would she be able to do it? Hari madly crunched on her ice and pulled her hair.