“You lied”

 The first words that left his mouth when the doors opened.

“Did it change the outcome?”

       She asked;

Probably knowing what we had just gone through.

“What if she had been the one to open the door?!”

“She would have been in the passenger seat.”

“I knew you wouldn’t care…”

He buried his face in the back of my coat;

Probably to make it seem more real.

“Of course, now would you hurry up?

Reservations are in an hour.”

She acted like she was taking to a child,

who wanted to show his mother what he drew;

before they had to go to a restaurant.

We both knew there was no other option…

So we, followed her lead, as

We stepped out of the elevator hesitantly…

We followed her towards the exit.

We were brought to a black limousine; by the guards at the front gate.

Apart from her instructing the driver on where to go;

The car was dead silent.

It was so tense in the car,

that I was scared to think.
Let alone speak!

We arrived at the same at the very restaurant I worked at,

when I met them.

I hid behind him;

To avoid an awkward interaction from one of my coworkers next week.

I looked around the normally bustling restaurant,

The emptiness of the whole building,

The dimmed lights,

And the fact that there was only one table in the center with 3 chairs.

This was meant to be a date.

Wasn’t it?

“Sit here”

His mother led The rich girl (Moon, Hana) into one of the seats,

As she sat down in the seat next to hers.

Moon quietly sat down, and stared at the two of us

And smiled at the fact that there was only one seat left.

I was still looking around the building;

 making sure no one would recognize me,

when he pulled out the last chair:

“Here,”

He gestured to the seat,

And at first I tried to say no;

because the further from those two the better,

but it seemed he wouldn’t give up until I sat down,

So eventually… I sat down, with him standing over my shoulder,

Which I could tell angered the two of them more.

I am so-

“Waiter bring us a-”

His mother called out to no one,

as she ordered some dishes in another language.

Surprisingly this worked, and-

My boss came out?!

Oh no-

I just tried my best to bury my face into my coat.

“Would you like any appetizers with that?”

My boss asked in the most pleasant tone I’ve ever heard her speak.

“Yes we’ll take the-”

I guess working mostly in dish washing ,

and complaints doesn’t help you learn the names of dishes;

Because all of that still sounded like gibberish to me.

“Could I get the-”

Moon ordered another dish that sounded like

…

 It’d be food?

“And what could I get the Sir and the Lady?”

This pleasant tone was a bit unsettling,

when I knew what she sounded like most of the time.

I didn’t want to speak;

because she’d probably recognize my voice…

“We’ll take the Kimchi”

He ordered,

but I thought this was more of foreign restaurant.

It is my favorite food, but still-

“Uh, Sir we don’t serve that here,”

She was trying her best to keep calm,

But I could see the anger in her eyes.

“Well then get some”

I had gotten so tied up in this whole pretend marriage plot,

That I totally forgot how unreasonable he could be.

‘Son, don’t be unreasonable;

You’re not like this”

Was he not like this usually?

But this was all he did in front of me…

“Yeah,

order what you ordered

last time when you were here

The-”

“She’s Korean right?
There’s probably a shop around here if she can’t make it.

Just get it”

He wrapped his arms around me,

As to taunt them some more.

“Well, that wouldn’t be something I would be allowed to do…”

My manager just kept trying her best;

to keep her calm.

“Well if you can’t I’ll just go then,”

He grabbed my hand and began to leave when-

“Leave her here.”

His mother ordered.

I could tell he didn’t want to probably;

because the plan was to just leave instead of getting food.

He let go of my hand.

He walked out on his own hesitantly;

Since he couldn’t just say

he was pretending he wanted some food

the restaurant didn’t have on purpose,

so we could leave.

I was left there with the two of them,

And this was way worse.

“Will that be all?”

Now my manager was looking right at me.

Whether it was winter coat in the heated room,

Or the stress of her figuring me out…

Sweat was dripping down my face.

“I-”

“No, that’ll be all”

His mother interrupted me;

I guess she was going to be just as mean as Moon.

“I’ll be back with your orders in a bit.”
She smiled;

probably because she could finally leave this tense situation.

I just quietly sat there,

and stared around the building avoiding eye contact with either of them.

“So is it the money?”

Moon taunted.

I just continued to try to avoid conversation.

“You going to-!”

“Relax, why are you dating my son?”
She had quickly changed the phrasing our relationship:
From engaged to just “dating”.

Though I think it would best;

if I just stalled as long as I could until he got back,

But they just kept staring daggers into me expecting an answer.

It’d be fine if I just answered them once to calm the environment…
Right?

”We’re engaged…”

I said quietly trying my best to sound pleasant,

As to not anger them any more.

A simple correction to what she said would be fine.

Right?

That seemed to anger them even more.

In fact I was scared,

She was going to jump over the table and attack me

right then and there.

What was scarier though,

was the silent anger I could see boil in the eyes of his mother next to me.

Was she going to call the guard to just kick me out?
Was I going to be framed for a thousand crimes?
Was my dream over?

“Oh, sorry my apologies,”

She smiled…

A terrifying smile that was outlined

by the eyes that wanted to kill me.

“So how much will it take to break off the engagement?”
Moon without hesitation,

Broke the tense atmosphere once again.

“What?”

”You should know he has almost no power in this company.

His mother is basically still in charge;

until the marriage goes through.”

“I know, but I still love him”

I hid in my coat muttering.

“We could give you enough money to be set for life;

All you have to do is break off the engagement”

His mother added.

 Somehow her words even now were more ominous,

than when I first met her.

I knew though, that if I did say yes:

My dream would be over.

They might give me a lot of money,

But they’d never want me to be near him ever again.

If they would own the entertainment industry after their marriage;

That would mean that getting into the industry,

would be getting close to them.

I would basically be banned from ever hoping to perform music ever again;

If I said yes.

The only answer I could give;

even if it would only make them more mad was:

“I would never leave him no matter how much money you give me”

It was true.

I wouldn’t ever leave him no matter how much money they gave me;

Because I was never after money.

He could help me find that boy,

and finish writing that song.

That was more valuable than any amount of money I could e-

“100 Million Won”

“What?”

”Was that too low?
200 Million.”

“No, I told you:

I won’t say yes, no matter what!”

“300 Million”

I just laid my head in the table;

Tired.

They kept trying to get my attention,

By raising the amount.

400 Million, 500 Million,

It kept going up by 100 Million!

How much money did they have?!

I know she own the richest corporation in the entirety of Korea,

but don’t you need to keep a certain amount of money?

Could they just spend all of it?

Was this deal really that important?

They aren’t stopping.

Was this a mistake?

Should I just take the money;

instead of messing with something I don’t understand?

My manager returned to serve us our food.

I could finally see what they order,

And it was a lobster,

and some other foods I didn’t know the name of

apart from the Caviar.

“Here is your food then,

Mesdames”

She smiled,

as she placed all the food neatly around the Lobster centerpiece.

She was actually really good at her job,

When she wasn’t being mad at me for being bad at my job.

That was probably why I responded to her with:

”Thank You”
    Taking my hood off,

And facing her; smiling.

That was until I realized what I had just done.

Oh F-