Blind Date

Min Hyun's quiet breathing seemed unusually loud bouncing off the tall walls of his father's office. Mr. Yang did not look at him at all, his dark face was glued to the night view of the city, carefully framed in the tall, wide window. Min Hyun found his father's silence exhausting. Sometimes it was difficult to tell whether it was better to be ignored or treated with hatred and hurt.

"Where is the body?"

The sudden interruption of silence echoed through the room like thunder.

"My guys took it to your house per your instructions."

Mr. Yang went silent again as if immersing in the deep sea of his own thoughts. Min Hyun could not stand it; he would rather get slapped or severely reprimanded, and the old man knew that well. He knew that the best way to torment his son was to make his broken mind wonder and question everything, and he found it weirdly entertaining at times. But not tonight.

"That man was Mr. Jung's nephew. Do you understand what it means?"

Min Hyun kept staring at his father's back as if he was charmed, the man's voice seemed to reach him perfectly fine, yet somehow, he could not grasp its meaning. He understood what it meant the moment he looked at the man's police badge smudged with his blood. So why was not his father as mad as when he insulted Prosecutor Choi? Why is he not cursing him, slapping him, or threatening him or his men? He hated it, he could not understand it, and it made him mad.

As if having read his son's mind, Mr. Yang finally turned his whole body around and looked right into Min Hyun's eyes, offering him a rather distant and empty gaze.

"I was willing to overlook anything as long as you did your job well but you keep making ridiculously absurd mistakes and it is starting to get on my nerves."

The man slowly walked up to Min Hyun and stopped when both their bodies were parallel to one another. He then leaned his head closer and continued in a low voice,

"I don't like being disappointed, Min Hyun. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, father."

"Alright. Enjoy your weekend."

Mr. Yang gestured for him to leave the room and returned to his desk. Min Hyun closed the heavy door behind his back but the heavy feeling that had been suffocating his heart the whole time he spent alone with his father did not let go. Without even realizing it, his hand began to frantically search for his phone; he could not help it, he felt like he was about to lose his mind if he did not hear her voice. But although it was already past midnight, it appeared that luck continued its strike against him for another day. His call was met with heartless rejection.

***

"You want me to do what?!"

Da Hye's outrageous request helped Se Ah wake up completely. The woman on the other line let out a tired sigh and continued in a saccharine voice,

"Come on, Yoon Se Ah, I'm begging you! After everything I've done for you, you can at least do this much to help me!"

Se Ah rubbed her still-hazy eyes and slapped her forehead as if trying to kill an annoying mosquito.

"I thought there were no strings attached!"

"Well, I had to attach at least something, otherwise it would have been way too easy!"

Da Hye's chipper tone irritated Se Ah even more. Sure, she was indebted to her friend, there was no denying it, but going as far as pretending to be her on an arranged blind date was way too much even for her. It just did not feel right. The long pause in their conversation seemed to last forever but Boss Kang decided to speak again.

"Se Ah... It's not a big deal, you just need to go there and reject the man, and that's it! Just tell him that my father made a mistake and I am not interested in anything serious right now. Please, I'm begging you! Daddy will block all my credit cards if he finds out I did not go!"

"How come he arranged the date when you're abroad? Does not he know that you went to Hong Kong?"

"Well..."

Da Hye scoffed awkwardly and Se Ah felt chills crawling down her spine.

"I did not inform him, he thinks I'm still in Korea."

Se Ah slapped her already-throbbing forehead again and let out a miserable groan. That's why Da Hye let her use her suite - it was not simply out of the goodness of her heart, it was both to cover up for her absence and have Se Ah indebted to her. Two birds with one stone, Kang Da Hye was successful for a reason.

"Fine, I'll go."

"Yoon Se Ah, as expected, you are the best! I'll send you the details in a text. And don't worry about anything, you just need to make an appearance and tell him I'm not interested, alright? I love you, Se Ah, good night!"

Da Hye hung up without giving her friend a chance to respond and the bedroom was silent again. The whole idea seemed ridiculous to her but Se Ah could not help but feel grateful because knowing Miss Kang's personality, she was given a chance to get off her hook so easily. Moreover, Da Hye was the apple of Mr. Kang's eye, thus, even if the two of them would get in trouble for deceiving him, she was convinced that he would go easy on them.

The next day, as promised, Da Hye sent a text with all the details about the impending blind date. Having taken pity on her friend, she asked the man to meet Se Ah in the hotel's restaurant, and Miss Yoon could not help but take that gesture of goodwill as nothing but a bad joke. Nevertheless, even though it was just a ruse, she put a lot of effort into getting ready, and when the time to meet the man finally arrived, she looked over the message again and sighed.

'Alright, Mr. Ryu Tae Jin, let's get it over with.'

The restaurant downstairs seemed to be even more crowded than usual, after all, Saturday night was a universal date night for every couple in Seoul. A neatly-dressed waiter escorted Se Ah to her reserved table and the moment she sat down, another one was already pouring her a glass of water. She decided to postpone ordering anything before meeting with Ryu Tae Jin and was casually flipping through the fancy-looking menu when a strangely familiar voice called out her friend's name.

"Ms. Kang Da Hye?"

Se Ah swiftly turned her head and widened her eyes in complete bewilderment.

"Mr. Yang?!"