Blossoming At Last
It's a bit cliché, but Young Do's secretary asks to be dismissed early after a business meeting, as his wife has just arrived in Paris at the Charles De Gaulle Airport. They're going to spend the evening together on a romantic excursion. Then she's going to return home. Like a Midsummer Night's dream.
Young Do shakes his head to clear his mind of those thoughts. He's not a dreamer or an artist who paints pretty words. He's a level-headed, tactful business man, dominating in his profession and striking terror in his competitors. His secretary is related to his father's secretary (both whom have retired), so there's a hint of fear when he poses the question to Young Do. He's not his father, but Young Do still likes to play around with those that are afraid of him.
"Ah, but what am I do without my precious secretary at my side? Should I search now for a new one?" he toys, watching his secretary squirm.
"N-No sir," the man stutters, fixing his tie. "I-I'll call my wife. I'm sure she'll understand. I'm sure – "
Young Do waves his hand, cutting him off. The check for his business meal comes, and he's surprised to find his partner paid it off. The waiter smiles apologetically and walks away, and Young Do sighs. Whenever potential business partners who have less income than him pay the tab, it almost always means that they're going to cancel the deal. It's like an apology, and he really hates apologies in business. They're either bitter or fake. His secretary looks even more agitated when he realizes the bill has been paid, and Young Do finally feels bad enough to let him off the hook.
"Yah. Don't you have a date to get ready for? Give me the car keys and take the metro home," he orders holding out a hand.
"Will you be alright driving?" his secretary asks, sounding genuinely concerned.
"Of course," Young Do nods. "We've been here for months; I can drive on the other side of the road by now." His secretary beams, fishing out the keys from his coat pocket and dropping them in Young Do's outstretched hand.
"Thank you, President!" he bows and practically runs out, leaving Young Do alone in the Carette. The sun is setting at this hour and he probably should get back to his hotel room. He takes in his surrounds: smells of pastries and strong coffee, and the different European languages that he could only understand if he listened carefully enough. Finally he gets up, slowly making his way out to the exit. He's mindlessly listening to the chatter when he finally catches someone speaking quietly in Korean. The door to the cool spring evening is caught in his hand, and he vaguely hears a waitress in French telling him to shut it. He turns to the side and catches eyes with the woman speaking in Korean and she smiles softly at him.
"… And he turned my bitter feelings into flowers," she smirks at him, typing away on her laptop but still maintaining eye contact with him. "Or something like that, right?" she asks Young Do, focusing all her attention on him.
Young Do feels the air knock out of his lungs. He smiles despite his shock, and suddenly the waitress is by his side, telling him, in English now to, please sir, close the door. A little embarrassed, he laughs and releases the door so it can swing closed, and then struts over to Eun Sang's table. The waitress gives him an incredulous look before shrugging the whole ordeal off and stalking away. Eun Sang giggles behind her hand at the interaction and Young Do feels his chest bubble up with joy.
"Cha Eun Sa – "
"Shh!" she brings a finger to her lips, attempting to look stern. "Choi Young Do," she whispers, pretending to be serious. "I'm finishing the last page of my book. This is a very big deal, you must be quiet until the artist is done with her masterpiece." Young Do begins to laugh before she shushes him again, but now she's smiling. Her eyes fall back to her laptop, and then she takes her lower lip into her mouth and begins typing like mad, her fingers flying across the keys. She's so focused that it reminds Young Do of why he would even run into Cha Eun Sang in an upscale place like this, in Paris, of all places.
His eyes fall back to hers when the typing sounds stop. He raises a brow at her, and she grins.
"Done," she sings happily.
"And another wonderful novel to add to the greatest mystery series the world has ever read," Young Do drawls, waving his hands around for effect. Eun Sang rolls her eyes at his antics, bumping her knees with his from under the table.
"Nope," she sighs, running a hand through her hair. "First, I have to submit it to my editor .Then its editing, editing, and more editing!" She pouts, stirring her spoon in her coffee. "This won't even be properly released until this winter," she says, tapping her now closed laptop.
Young Do chuckles, "I'm sure your faithful readers will still be there even in the cold months. They've brought you this far haven't they?"
Eun Sang's eyes soften, "Yes. They've been really supportive." She sighs, looking out the window, "I'm due back in Korea in another month. They're adapting one of my trilogies into a drama, and they want me to read the first couple of scripts. And of course, meet the potential cast members."
Young Do grins, "I heard Mega Entertainment is lending some of their vocal powers for the soundtrack already."
Eun Sang chuckles, "These days Bo Na's always in my business. Even though I know she has her own business to run." She turns back to him and winks, "Though, I suppose you're no different in that sense."
"Guilty," he agrees, holding his hands up n defeat. She's always left him with a loss for words. "But what are you doing here?" he questions.
She feigns shock, "Why is it so surprising to see a writer in her natural habitat?" She gestures to the coffee shop, then the Eiffel Tower in the distance. "Doesn't everyone dream in Paris?"
"It does feel like a dream with you here," he replies, and Eun Sang takes his hand, struck by his sincerity. He makes a 'tsk' noise, moving his hand from hers to his lap. "You haven't really answered my question though, Cha Eun Sang."
"I've finally finished another chapter in my own life," she answer cryptically, giving him an innocent yet mischievous smile that he still hasn't become accustomed to. "And now I maybe able to complete one of yours."
"Oh?" he raises a brow at her, intrigued. She nods, bouncing up and down a bit from excitement. "How so?"
Eun Sang slides a napkin towards him and he takes it from the table so he can read it properly. He blinks when he processes the information. He recognizes the name and the address on it.
"This is – " he starts, the napkin falling back to the table.
"The customer you were just talking to. Yes, I know," she's laughing a bit now. "The deal wasn't quite as easy as you thought it was, huh?"
"You – " he begins to scold.
"I bought it instead," she finishes, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. Young Do really is shocked now. That property is a gold mine, but it's just land, waiting for construction. It's a not quite a fortune in his book, but it was a worthy investment nonetheless.
"Are you crazy?!" he snaps, scratching at his brow. She doesn't lose her spirit though, Eun Sang simply crosses her arms and waits for his full attention. "What do you even need that land for?!" he barks. "You're a writer, for god's sake!" She pauses, hesitant in her resolve now.
"I told you in Brazil already," she begins. "When you asked me to marry you," she inhales the same time he exhales. They both pause watching for each other's reactions. Finding nothing promising, Eun Sang continues, drawing fingerprint patterns into the table. "I told you that I wasn't quite ready for you yet. I was a writer, a well known one too. But I didn't have anything to call my own."
"All I asked of was just you," Young Do counters, leaning forward to catch her eye. She looks up and her bottom lip trembles from the intensity in his eyes. "That's all I've ever wanted," he clarifies.
"I know," she laughs and her eyes slide shut, she sounds bitter. "But I wanted more. I wanted to be sure that if everything went wrong, I'd have something left." Tears slide down her cheeks and Young Do contains the urge to wipe them away. "I wanted a glass palace, Young Do," she murmurs, eyes still closed. "Someplace I can dream in forever, even if everything else crashes and burns." She looks at him intently, "I want a home for myself, because I'm tired of sharing and being shared." He takes a moment to process her words, before finally leaning back, understanding.
"You're damning our relationship before it's even begun," he grumbles.
"I can't help it!" she scowls, glaring at him. "I've messed up stuff like this enough times that I have to be a little cynical." He regards her anger for a moment, before nodding and taking her hand in his again.
"So you want your own home, away from everyone else, in the city of dreams. Is that correct?" he inquires, sounding businesslike. Her lips flatten into a thin and she makes an affirmative noise, certain. "Alright. Take the property. Build your house, I won't stop you."
Eun Sang smiles softly to herself looking down at their hands, "I want a place where Mom can sleep in a real bed. Where my sister's family can visit and she can be a little envious of me. Where Bo Na and Chan Young can come to dinner when they visit Europe. I want a home that makes me feel like I'm someone worth marrying into Zeus." She glances at him, wondering if he caught the last part. Of course he did. Young Do lets out a low whistle.
"All that money wasted so you could prove yourself to me, Cha Eun Sang?" he teases, his heartbeat finally steadying.
"Yah!" she yells, indignant. "It's for myself, you fool! I'm trying to be more considerate of myself now, so I don't fall into that stupid poor girl-rich guy drama cliché!"
"Alright, alright," he quickly agrees, patting her hands so she'll settle down. She huffs out a breath of air, and Young Do decides to switch topics. "So how are you going to build this house? And furnish it?"
Eun Sang laughs, a bit darkly, "Surprisingly, the cost of producing a drama or a movie out of my books are surprisingly high; especially when it comes to producing a series of books into movies." She taps her laptop, "This is the final book in the series. Then we're planning to sell the rights to the highest company, and they're going to produce a suspected billion won franchise." She catches the criticism in his expression, "I'll admit it, I did plan well enough that I have enough money to build a house after I buy the property. The furnishing may be a problem, but I'll make do when the time comes." She shrugs. Despite her insane thought process, Young Do has to admit she's not completely unaware of what she's done.
"How did you convince my customer to sell to you instead?" he asks.
She laughs, "Her daughter and she is a fan of my books, so I pulled some strings and made of couple of promises." Eun Sang waves her hand with a flourish, "And you can figure out the rest."
He smiles, watching the final rays of sunlight disappear, "You're awfully clever, Cha Eun Sang."
"Say, Choi Young Do," she says, a strange hitch in her voice. He looks at her and she seems a bit squeamish.
"Mhm?" he answers worriedly.
"Did you know," she suddenly coughs, clearing her throat. Then Young Do feels like an idiot because she's fumbling with a chain around her neck. "If we get married here, I can change my last name to yours?" She slides the chain off her neck and then lets it hit the table with an audible bang. Young Do swallows as he notices the objects hooked to the end of it. Such an idiot, such an idiot, such an idiot.
"Um," she pauses, unsure. "You asked me to hold onto these for you until I was ready. Y-You said you'd wait for me."
"I waited," Young Do agrees. His gaze is focused on the rings at the end of her chain.
"Yes," she stalls. "You did. Um. Choi Young Do – "
"Say, Cha Eun Sang," he looks up at her at last, amused. "Are you trying to get me to change your name to Choi Eun Sang?" She blushes, but nods anyway. "Aish," he chuckles, leaning back to get a good look at her. "I should give you a prenupt with rights to your own furniture, since you're showing me so much courage." He frowns, though there's still a light in his eyes. "With the way you're blushing right now, it makes me want to add more to that prenupt for you."
"C-Choi Young Do," she stutters, interrupting him. She's determined to finish her speech. "If we're getting married, then there's only one thing I'll giving out of the love that's in my heart. Okay?" She stares intensely at him, almost enough to make him flush.
"Children?" Young Do guesses, with a startling amount of seriousness. Eun Sang gasps and hits his arm. She considers him while he rubs his wound in mock pain.
"Two things then," she relents, holding up two fingers. "Children," she begins, curling down one finger. "A-And…"
"And what?" he smiles, wanting her to say it. She bits her lip, thoroughly embarrassed. He bumps his knees into hers encouragingly, and she can't help but sigh and give in.
"Myself," she smiles, lifting her head proudly at last. He takes the chain from the table and unhooks the rings. Young Do slips one his ring finger, and then beckons for her hand.
She doesn't hesitate this time.