Today, the pub is extra busy since a medium-sized architecture company 3 blocks away have booked the full restaurant for their team dinner. Soo Ah herself is busy to decorate several props for the team dinner. They did not ask for it but since majority of the staff there are actually their regulars, she feels it is just right to show the appreciation by going extra miles with their dinner today.
When stream of people from the company came in and settled down, Soo Ah finally felt at ease and went to the kitchen. Her crews are serving the customers (especially the regulars) cheerfully as if welcoming them home. Laughter and cheers fill her pub and can be heard to the kitchen. She smiles blissfully. This moment is always very tender for her.
Usually, on busy night like this, Geun Won would prepare her a simple hot meal just in case she did not eat the whole day. The small smile drops as soon as it came. A pang of sadness came uninvited. How is he doing now?
"Sajangnim..." Soo Ah zapped from her melancholic thought when Myeong Do suddenly called her.
"Oh...Myeong Do ya... waegurae???" stuttered a bit, she asked the bright kid. But not long after, Myeong Do serves her a bowl of Kimchi Jjigae with a smile.
"Eh? Why?" puzzled, Soo Ah asked the boy. She finds it uncanny because she had just thought about it...and tadaaa! Here it is? What is this coincidence?
"Geun Won hyung taught me his family's Jjigae recipe. He told me to serve it for you on busy days, whenever I'm on night shift. Just in case if you've forgotten your meals for the whole day. I've seen you the whole day, Sajangnim. And you just had a light breakfast this morning. So, taraaa!"
"Oh..."touched, but she didn't know how to respond. Upon looking at Soo Ah's uncertainty, Myeong Do thrust the spoon to Soo Ah's hands. Truthfully, he knows these two people might have some unspeakable past, but he didn't dare try to pry on it. What he does know is, he actually felt Geun Won's sincerity towards Soo Ah. He is quite excited to know Soo Ah's reaction on his cooking as well, since Geun Won have poured in extra effort teaching him to make it exactly like the recipe. Geun Won hyung said, its very rare someone knows the full recipe of the Jang family like him.
By the first slurp of the soup, Soo Ah felt as if all her past days working at Jangga Co came pouring in. It has the exact same taste as the main chefs of Jangga Co pubs. But...still, something is amiss. The Jang family's recipe is being passed down only to the main chefs and it has been uniformed to give consistency. But, Geun Won's cooking is a little bit on the salty side that suits her taste.
"Sajangnim, how is it? Is it delicious? To your liking?" Myeong Do almost doing small jumps with his big bright eyes, can't wait for Soo Ah's feedback.
She smiles looking at that excited kid. If she has a family, she would love to imagine this is how her younger brother would be like.
"Ung...its delicious, Myeong Do-ya. You did great!" and pat his head.
Hearing this, Myeong Do cheers thunderously and puffed his chest. 'Hehehe...I can show it off to my mom that I can cook very well now.'
Soo Ah laughed at his comical reaction. When he left to help the other crews outside, Soo Ah stared at the Kimchi Jjigae. Again, the questions keep nagging in her head, "How is he doing now?" and "Where might he be, in that condition?"
Nevertheless, she finished the soup and entrust Yoon Ha to do the closing.
Right when her head reached the comfy pillow, Geun Won's smile flashed before her eyes. He looks so longingly as if waiting for her, like he always did. Somehow, a lone tear came out of her eyes. Surprised, she shoot up straight and touched her chest.
"What's wrong with me?" Shaking her head and forcing herself to think of something else, she went back to sleep.
***
Exactly at 12am the next day, came someone least expected at the pub's door.
"Welcome, Sir. Oh, new face. Are you new around here? Would like our pub's special for today?" Ji Na, another part-timer who would always spend her semester break working at this pub, greets customer who just entered the premise. He looks handsome with a bit of cutesy streak, but showed a dominant aura nonetheless. If only he doesn't look so stuck up, he looks every bit an ideal boyfriend material. 'Ji Na-yah!!! Wake up! Be professional...professional...professionalism is the key...' Ji Na could only calm her nerves even though her red face betrays her fan-girl excitement.
Jang Geun Soo looks around the pub. This whole pub's ambience is so "Soo Ah". The elegant Noona that he has come to respect after all that family drama years back. How is this woman managed to upstage his father, plotting for years and finally strike at the right moment, really has earned his respect. Soo Ah and Sae Royi...both are not only excellent strategist. They are a very patient wolf. Even Yi Seo, despite her brilliant genius mind, can't catch up to these two...she is too impatient, rash and rough around the edges....or was? Heard she's now a mother of two. Maybe she has changed? A smile crept up his face.
"Is your boss, Soo Ah noona here?" he asked the waitress who's blushing red despite her efforts to remain professional. Smirking, this is something he has been accustomed to these few years.
"Oh...err... She's been in the office. Just a few moments before you came in." Hearing him mention their boss by "noona", she knows this man is not just any customer.
"I wanna meet her." And he walked to the office without further ado, leaving Ji Na completely off-guard. She didn't even asked or offer to bring him there but this man just helped himself to it? How...
"Customer-nim...aniya, Sir! Sir! Wait!..." but the man already knocking on Soo Ah's office.
***
""Geun Soo?" Soo Ah's eyes went wide with surprise. What, why and how? What is this kid doing here? Why is he searching for me? How did he find me? Oh, the last question is stupid. Ok, but the biggest one is WHY?
Seeing how Soo Ah lost for words, he helps himself. "May I?"
"Ne...ne...come in."
"Noona, are you surprised that I came searching for you?"
"Surprised...is an understatement." Soo Ah answered, still trying to put two and two together.
Sighing, Geun Soo brought out the documents and let Soo Ah reads the content.
Upon reading it, Soo Ah finally understands why Geun Soo came searching for her. Is he not satisfied with it? Did he think its unfair? He wants it all?
"Kiddo, if you want it all, you can have it. I don't care. I'll sign it all if you want me to give it up."
Sighing again, Geun Soo now looks squarely at Soo Ah. Looks like she have misunderstood him. And, judging her reaction, that Lawyer Ahjussi has yet to set up a meeting with her.
"Noona, I'm not here about any of this fucking money. No. I'm here to ask you on his whereabouts. That lawyer refused to disclose it to me, damn it!"
"Why, though? I thought you both's relationship is beyond repair already?" This is weird. Or perhaps, Geun Soo have caught wind of Geun Won's condition. Perhaps, Geun Soo cares about him. They are family, after all.
Inhaling deeply before continuing, he's not sure whether he can trust Soo Ah with this. But, otherwise he won't get her help.
"You are correct. And it is still as it is. I can't find in myself to forgive any one of them, still. But, what he have done this time is too much. I need to confront him. I can't be coward like few years back anymore. This is too much already with this shit. He has no right at all to do this to me."
Even more puzzled, Soo Ah can hardly understand the cryptic explanation.
"He have contacted my birth mother and offered that woman part of my father's inheritance if she came to see me. And stayed with me for at least a year. Now, that woman is harassing me every day for it, damn it! He has no right at all to meddle in this! Must he tortures me some more after all those years?" Now, Geun Soo hides his face in his hands. What seemed as the calm and collected young man who entered her office, is now a mess with seething rage.
"Truthfully, Geun Soo-ya. I also never know where did he went to." Conflicted, Soo Ah tells the truth. But, she sympathized with Geun Soo. Yes, Geun Won have no right to meddle in Seun Soo and his mother's affair.
She knows exactly the bitterness of feeling unwanted, abandoned and shunned to survive alone. She was so small when she lives with her relatives. Her mother decided to let the relatives take care of her when she went to live with her long-lost lover. Too bitter to accept her own daughter that was unwanted, unplanned and with a man who lied to her (Based on her mother's diary, Soo Ah's father have lied to her mother that the man she loved has cheated on her and ran away. Devastated, she seek comfort from him and they were married. Not long after, Soo Ah's ran away with lots of debts. Last time they heard that Soo Ah's father was killed by the gang who chased him.) Her mother just left her with the money every month. When her relatives heard that her mother was dead in a car crash with her lover (Ha! That woman got her wish came true. Soo Ah did not shed a single tears on her funeral), she was dumped at the orphanage where she met the kind Mr. Park.
She just knows that Geun Soo's mother was offered money to leave him under the late Mr. Jang's care...or did she run away? She's not too sure. But, she didn't blame Geun Soo's mom to run away from Mr Jang, though. She only felt its unfair that the woman left her son to such rough and cold household. What was she thinking?
"Noona, you will get his house, if what I heard is true. And, I have been told that you know where he lived before this. I wish to get some clue of his whereabouts if I can enter the house."
Ah....now she is clear on why Geun Soo came to search for her.