Chae Won living her life like before she met Joong Ki again. He no longer came to her café as she asked him to. She told him to let go and move on, so she had to do the same, although she still can’t get him out of her head.
“Moon owner, there are some man who wants to see you.” Yo Won told her when she was in the kitchen for taking a new jar of coffee beans.
With her forehead frowned, she approached two man waiting for her outside.
“Interview? Here?” she asked when those men gave her their business card and told her the reason why they came. One of them nodded.
“Yes, Miss Moon. We liked to do the ‘Sun Date’ interview here if you don’t mind. We looked around the neighborhood and your café is one of the most popular in this area. So we liked to book half of the café from noon. It won’t be long. Maybe an hour or two, three tops.” He explained.
Chae Won didn’t know what to say. She never expected this kind of things to come. She’s not that good in business thing for it wasn’t her major in the first place, so she wasn’t sure if she should take this opportunity or rejects it.
“She’ll accept it.”
A voice came from Chae Won’s behind startled her. The three of them looked to the voice owner and Hyo Joo stood there, smiling.
“You… you’re Han Hyo Joo-sshi, a co-chief and one of the heir of Han Group, right?” the other man asked.
“Also an investor here and her friend. And as I said, she’ll accept your proposal, with a condition that you will mention her café name and the address on the interview.”
“Hyo Joo-yah, let’s talk for a second.” Chae Won stood up and dragged her chingu to the corner, when no one could hear them. “What have you done? I was thinking if I may reject it.”
“Chae Won-ah, you’ve got to see the good opportunity here. That is a well-known TV channel and if you got some celebrity to have interviews here, your customer will come double… no, even three-four times much more than before. They get the interview and you’ll get more customers. It’s a win-win thing for both sides.”
“But it was enough for me to just have some loyal customers, though…”
Hyo Joo sighed at her chingu’s naïvely way of thinking. She put her hand on Chae Won’s shoulder.
“Chingu-yah, your friend here is a businesswoman—and a tough one, so will you trust me and just take this chance?” she convinced her.
Chae Won fell silent for a moment while looking at Hyo Joo’s eyes before finally gave up and nodded. But then she pulled her again.
“Wait, when did you become an investor here?” she asked confusedly.
Hyo Joo grinned, “well, I will be, if you decide to do a remodelling when your customers became crowded after the interview aired.” She spoke confidently and then walked back to their seat.
“Omo, friend is friend, business is business, oh? Han Hyo Joo, jeongmal… tsk.” she grumbled before followed her back.
“We’ll have the contract with all the details for you to sign tomorrow, Miss Moon.” One of the men said as they stood up.
“Wait a minute. May I ask who it will be, the one you’re going to interview?” she asked hesitantly, unsure if she allowed asking that or not.
“I’m sorry, but we can’t tell you yet. You’ll going to know yourself, when the day came.” He smiled.
“Ah… ne. I’m sorry.” Chae Won nodded as she understood.
Shaking both Chae Won and Geun Young hands, the two men leave.
“Noona!”
Chae Won turned her head and saw Il Woo approached her with a big smile. She smiled back.
“How was Jeju Island? It must be fun working there, with all the sceneries and the beautiful beach.” Chae Won asked as she handed him a cup of coffee.
He received the mug and smiled brightly. “the scenery was gorgeous. We should go there together sometime…...” he stopped, realizing that his words could have another meaning. “errr, together… with Chang Wook, Hyo Joo noona and Geun Young noona too.” he immediately corrects it while hiding his flustered face by sipping the coffee.
Chae Won smiled. It was cute to see Il Woo behaves like this. She nodded, “oh, let’s go together sometime, when everyone are not so busy.” She replied.
“Ah, noona. Do you know? Chang Wook… he’s dating Park Bo Young-sshi.”
Chae Won’s eyes widened surprisedly. “omo, jeongmal? Why didn’t he say anything to me?” she asked, felt a little offended that her brother didn’t tell her this good news himself.
“He couldn’t, because they’re only dating in a new drama.” Il Woo grinned slyly after looking at Chae Won’s reaction.
Slowly, Chae Won realized that Il Woo was only joking with her. She scoffed, took the sofa pillow and started hitting him. “yah, nappun nom. You’re playing with me?” she said, while Il Woo laughingly dodging the pillow.
“It’s good to see you laughing, noona.” He said after Chae Won surrendered and put the pillow back. “you rarely smiled these days. I miss your smile, that’s why I’m joking with you.” he continued.
Hearing his words, Chae Won smiled again. “thank you, Il Woo-yah.” She said sincerely. “and knowing that Chang Wook will be dating Bo Young-sshi even if it’s only in a drama was satisfy enough for me. Will he have a chance to kiss her?” she asked mischievously.
“I don’t know, noona. Let’s hope so.” He chuckled.
“Finally he had a chance to get much closer with her. I’m happy for my dongsaeng.” She smiled and sipped her mug.
Il Woo staring at Chae Won and he can’t help but asking what he wanted to ask since he saw her today.
“What about you, Chae Won noona? Are you getting much closer again with… Joong Ki hyung?”
The question caught Chae Won off-guard. She was able to not think about Joong Ki for a while before Il Woo asked that. She fell silent for minutes—staring at her mug—before slowly shook her head.
“It’s really over. I told him to give up and move on. I’ve never heard from him since and a month has passed.” She looked at Il Woo’s eyes and trying her best to smile.
But Il Woo could catch her hurting heart through her eyes—no matter how well she tried to hide it beneath those strong looks. That minute, he regret asked her that question. He turned his eyes to his mug.
“Can’t I be the reason behind it, noona?” he spoke after a moment of silent between them.
Chae Won frowned.
“The reason behind what?” she asked back confusedly.
Il Woo swallowed hard. He was planned to keep his feelings to her forever since he knew that Chae Won will always love that one man. He thought that no matter how hard he tried, he could never beat Song Joong Ki from her heart, because he left an unforgotable mark for her—their son, Joong Seon.
But knowing that he only makes her heart breaks, he could no longer hold it in.
“I want to be the reason behind your smile and happiness, noona. I will never let you hurt or cry, because I like you.” he spoke while looking straight to her eyes, trying to convey his sincerity to her.
“… Won-ah. MOON CHAE WON!”
Hyo Joo shouted right on her ear has made Chae Won snapped back from the reality in front of her.
A few people are seen to preparing cameras, lights and mics for shooting in her café. The interview with a celebrity Chae Won didn’t even know who will be held today and she asked Hyo Joo to accompany her—in case the crew asking something she didn’t understand—because Hyo Joo is the professional one when it comes to events like this.
“N, ne? M, mworagu?” she stuttered.
“I called you for, like, 5 times. What are you daydreaming about?” she asked, raising one side of her eyebrow—looked suspiciously at her chingu.
“A, aniya. Nothing.” She stuttered again.
“Il Woo came yesterday after I left right? I saw him from a rear-view mirror from my car. Was something happened with him that I should know?” she asked again, still suspicious.
Chae Won shooked her head fast and felt a little dizzy afterward. “nothing happened.” she said while blinking her eyes to get the dizzy feels disappear.
“Okay, if you say so.” Hyo Joo spoke as if she’s no longer interesting on what it was that bugged her chingu. She folded her hands and continued to watch the TV crews doing their preparation.
Chae Won sighed after did a long thinking. She could never hide something from her best friend.
“Il Woo… he said that he likes me.”
“Mwo?!” Hyo Joo turned her head so fast as if she heard someone dies. “Il Woo said what to you?” she asked again, checking if her ear works fine on hearing what people says.
Chae Won paused for a second before she repeated what she said. “Il Woo said he likes me, when he came last time.”
Hyo Joo let out a loud breath. “that boy could no longer keep it to himself, couldn’t he?” she asked, more to herself.
“Mwo? So you knew?”
“Everyone knew except you, Chae Won-ah. But we thought that he would never confess it to you. He knew and understands of whom your heart belongs to.” Hyo Joo sighed.
‘Song Joong Ki’
Suddenly, that name popped up in Chae Won’s head. She shook her head to make it disappear. Seeing her reaction, Hyo Joo smiled as if she knew.
“I bet you’re thinking about him right now, aren’t you? Il Woo knew that you will never forget Song Joong Ki, that’s why he kept his feelings to himself all this years. He’s afraid things will be different for you both if he confessed, but I think he would take that risk now that he did.” she ended her words.
Hyo Joo noticed one of the crew was calling her to ask something, so she leaves Chae Won, who’s frozen in where she stands.
All this time she treated Il Woo like she treated Chang Wook. They have known each other since they were kids. He was like her own dongsaeng. She never expected him to have that kind of feelings to her.
“Okay! The street interview has wrapped up. He’ll be here in less than a minute. Get to your position, everyone!” The director shouted has brought Chae Won back from her mind.
When she looked around, outside her café was already filled with the girls that she believed are the fans who knew about their idol coming here, they could only look from the windows for the security guards blocked the door so they can’t get in. Chae Won felt grateful to those guards, or else her small café will be very crowded and made the other customers that already there felt uncomfortable.
The yelling she could hear from those girl fans are a sign that their idol was already here. Not knowing who the celebrity that will come, she actually felt excited herself.
But then her eyes widened as she saw the person that had entered her café with the help from the guards.
Joong Ki came in with his gentle and polite smile. Waved to greet his fans outside and bowed slightly to the TV crews one by one, before he turned his head and saw Chae Won.
Then he smiled to her, a smile that she thought he would never give to her ever again after everything she said to him.