Park Jihyo was the owner of a restaurant known by the name Jihyo's Heaven. The restaurant was relatively new. However its reputation was going up day by day. She wanted to officially launch a website for her restaurant, and for that matter she had come to Son Chaeyoung and Yoo Jeongyeon, who were very excited to work with her.
'We should adhere ourself to our client. We are novices so we should be friendly and handle them carefully,' Chaeyoung told Jeongyeon. He was better at interacting with clients. It wasn't that Jeongyeon was bad at it, after all he was a voice representative of a call center; but Chaeyoung had the ability to befriend almost anyone instantly. And he did befriend Jihyo. He cancelled his date with Mina and went with Jihyo to her restaurant to look around and take pictures for use in their work.
He showed up at Mina's house with flowers later to make up for the missed date. She wasn't exactly mad but she was sensitive about it. She didn't smile when he greeted her.
'Are you mad at me?' he asked.
'No,' she curtly replied.
'Give me a hug.'
'Did Park Jihyo not give you one?'
Chaeyoung chuckled, 'Someone is jealous haha. It was just work, honey. I had to cancel our date because we were desperate for work. But I missed you that's why I am here.'
Chaeyoung hugged Mina and she immediately melted in his embrace. She hugged him back and buried her face in the crook of his neck. She pecked his neck, then pulled back her head and looked at him. He did not need to be told what she wanted. He smiled, brought his face closer and pressed his lips on hers. Their lips moved in unison. They pulled each other closer into deeper kiss. Soon they turned hot and Mina pulled away.
'Are you going stay here tonight?' she asked, gasping, their foreheads pressed together.
'Nope. I have to work,' Chaeyoung said.
'Then you shouldn't tire yourself.'
'I don't want to work tonight,' he pouted and whined. Mina chuckled at this childlike whining.
'Cheer up. I'm very proud of you for working so hard,' she said.
'Really? Then I will work harder,' he smiled.
Truthfully, Mina liked that Chaeyoung was busy with his new business with Jeongyeon, even though it meant less time spent with her. Firstly, because he was charming when he worked hard. And second, because he no more had time to go drink and banter about and check out girls with Sana.
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Working for Park Jihyo helped Chaeyoung and Jeongyeon earn some profit over their expense. However their initial investment hadn't been recovered. They worked on couple of other small projects but the real breakthrough came from a client from Ulsan.
'This one is big,' Jeongyeon told Chaeyoung, talking about their new project they got via email. They were in the living room, eating and drinking with Sana. They had a night free after weeks of non stop toiling.
'Who is the client?' Chaeyoung said, picking up a slice of pizza. Sana was flipping channels.
'Some Mr. Lee Jung. He's an optician. He's coming out with his own brand of contact lenses.'
'It's our first project outside Daegu. I guess our work is getting some recognition,' Chaeyoung said with a smile.
'We have a crisis though....'
Chaeyoung and Sana looked at him with concern. 'What?' they said in unison.
'Their deadline is incredibly short compared to the amount of work we will have. At least one of us have to quit from Callbox to meet the deadline. Of course, that would be me. But then I won't get my salary. We already have little money after clearing the bills. We would need to take a loan to take off this project smoothly,' Jeongyeon said. Chaeyoung scratched his head, thinking.
'What bills? Don't you pay that altogether with your rent?' Sana asked.
'Internet bills. And the landlady asked us to made a advance deposit for the small room. She needed money.'
Jeongyeon and Chaeyoung had turned Momo's former bedroom into their office. The landlady wanted to lent it out for rent but Jeongyeon insisted that they needed the room so he had to pay rent for that room as well.
'Fine. Let's try for a loan,' Chaeyoung said.
'That won't be easy. We don't have much asset. We are living in rented house. I'll be without a secure job. So we will need to find a guarantor,' Jeongyeon said and chugged down his beer.
'Hmm.. yeah finding a guarantor is also a problem,' Chaeyoung sighed.
'My friends seem to be very earnest about this thing,' Sana said with a mysterious smile.
'We are!'
'Let me help you then. I'll be the guarantor. Or something even better, you can borrow the money from me for zero interest,' Sana said.
'Sana-ya, you drank too much,' Chaeyoung said. Sana shook her head.
'When will I be of your help but now huh? I have money. I can invest on you guys,' she said.
'I have always wondered. We have the same job yet you spend like crazy and never have financial problem. You have another side business, right? What do you do? Do you burgle at night?' Chaeyoung said. Sana chuckled. Even Jeongyeon smiled.
'Have you heard of Suzaki Motors Corporation?' Sana asked.
'Of course,' Jeongyeon said.
'Your car is also Suzaki,' Chaeyoung said.
'My father is the CEO.'
Chaeyoung's and Jeongyeon's jaws dropped . It was nothing they ever thought of.
'Remember when you asked me why I'm working at Callbox and I said I had my reasons? Well, back in Osaka I was treated like a queen. I wanted to try living an ordinary life so I came here and started living with my aunt.'
'Wow, we have been deceived all along by Sana. We didn't know who she was. She's a billionaire!' Jeongyeon said, tapping Chaeyoung who was still in amazement.
'I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys. You are my friends, I didn't want you to treat me differently,' Sana said.
'Yah, you don't want to be treated as someone rich? I can treat you like a beggar.' Of course that was Chaeyoung who said that.
'You would love that, won't you?' she poked him with her chopsticks.
'So what can you do for us then?' Jeongyeon said.
'Name the amount. I'll lend you. You guys don't even have a marketing team. You have too much on your plate. I'll help you handle accounting and marketing. And no, I won't take any fee. My father earns enough. I just want to help you guys,' Sana said.
'All hail the Queen of Osaka,' Chaeyoung said and did a kneeling bow for Sana, and Jeongyeon followed suit.
'Yah~~' Sana yelled, giggling.
'Right, you wanted us to treat you like a pauper. Sorry,' Chaeyoung chuckled.
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Agreeing to Sana's strategy, they borrowed some money from her. Jeongyeon was composing his letter of resignation during break time at Callbox. From then on he wished to give his full time on his business.
'Chaeyoung-ah, Mr. Lee Jung is sending his business partner today. Some ophthalmologist who's going to author the website. You go and meet this person at Café Sunshine in the evening,' Jeongyeon said.
'Is the ophthalmologist a male?'
'No, female.'
'You go then.'
Sana gasped. 'Is Chaeyoung refusing to go meet a female?'
'I almost got in trouble with Mina for going with Park Jihyo.'
'I would have said, that's nonsense, it's just work. But knowing the man you are, if I was Mina, I would have worried too,' Jeongyeon said and chuckled. 'So I understand. I'll go meet the client later.'
'But, hasn't Chaeyoung changed?' Sana told Jeongyeon. 'He and I used to compete on who collected more contact numbers from girls. Now he is so devoted to Mina. Jeongyeon is working so hard to go to Momo. Chaeyoung has only eyes for Mina. Love must be a great thing.'
'It is,' Chaeyoung said. 'I always used to say that love is a waste of time. Now I say it's worth to waste time in love. You should settle down with a proper girl too instead of your casual dates.'
'I haven't met my ideal type,' Sana said. 'Someone adventurous, cool and daring. Someone who will love me so much that she should be ready to kill or die for me.'
'You're gonna die loveless then,' Chaeyoung teased her.
'Let's go. Break is over,' Jeongyeon said.
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After their shift at Callbox, Jeongyeon called Lee Jung to confirm the meeting. Jeongyeon and Sana would go meet Lee Jung's business partner at the preset place. Lee Jung had instructed Jeongyeon to look for a lady in pink dress.
He couldn't help but remember Momo when he heard the word "pink". Momo loved pink. He looked the tattoo on his left arm. 'Let's be strong,' he thought to himself.
They drove to Café Sunshine in Sana's car. Jeongyeon ran his fingers in his hair to smarten up.
'Do I look tired?' he asked Sana.
'Yeah, kind of. Just smile. You still look good.'
Sana looked at herself on the rear view mirror. She was always well dressed even on average day. They went into the cafe to look for a lady in pink and spotted one.
'That must be her,' Sana pointed, 'oh, she's pretty.'
A fair lady in pink was skimming through a magazine. They approached her.
'Excuse me. Are you perhaps Dr. Kim Dahyun?' Jeongyeon asked the lady. The lady looked up and smiled.
'Yes, I am. You must be Mr. Yoo Jeongyeon,' she said.
To be continued...
I parodied Suzuki and Minatozaki to come up with Suzaki lol.