After lunch break was over, Jaesang and Seohyun came back inside the studio as soon as they saw the police officers standing with their arms crossed, much to their puzzlement.
"Mr. Jeon, you are under arrest for plagiarizing the music from the rightful owners. Put your hands behind your back and come with us quietly or else you will be facing $25,000," the first officer stated firmly.
"What?! I did no such thing!" Jaesang exclaimed, narrowing his eyes in disbelief.
"Excuse me, chief. I believe Jaesang never plagiarized any work from anyone. He is innocent," Seohyun protested.
"He's not. The EXEL's producers had already signed the records way before. Therefore, you both created a duplication of the song," the second officer explained.
Jaesang shook his head and snapped angrily. "Bullshit! Just a couple of minutes ago, we were making our own music."
"Then, you will have to testify and show evidence in the court unless you have one," the first officer advised as he went up behind him and locked his wrists with the handcuffs. He shoved him forward and said sternly. "Let's go, young man."
"I'm going with you, Jae. I'll contact the lawyers for you," Seohyun said determinedly when the four of them left the studio. Even though Jaesang's expression was indignant and wanted to reason out.
In the evening after the customers had left Seoul's Fine Dine, they thanked the waiters and waitresses for delivering the food at the right time. Satisfied with how fast the service is, they've given notes and rated five stars on the survey link Joon-wo has provided. They reminded him they will come back if there is any special occasion or request they would like to make.
Once the employees had finished their work, Joon-wo and Valerie were decorating the rest of the desserts and baking them inside the oven for fifteen to twenty minutes. Both of them didn't realize they were alone together in the kitchen as they were remaining in silence. Until then, one of them spoke up and wiped off the sweat from their foreheads.
"Phew! Easy peasy. We're almost near two hundred cupcakes, so ten more to go and we can cross them off the list," Valerie breathed out tiredly.
"Yup. Oh, by the way, you don't have to force yourself to finish them all. There's time for tomorrow," Joon-wo said.
"Are you sure?" Valerie asked for reassurance.
"Hmm..." Joon-wo nodded with a hum in response.
"Alright. I'm going to pack up my stuff now, then," Valerie said, pointing towards her bag and started to walk away from the counter. But she felt his hand grabbing her wrist gently in which she glanced at him blankly.
"Wait! Before you go, there's something I need to tell you..." Joon-wo murmured shyly.
"Sure. You can," Valerie smiled encouragingly.
Joon-wo paused for a moment and cleared his throat, saying. "Um... I wanted to thank you for helping me out with the catering and staying longer to serve thousands of customers. I know you've been busy with your own and keeping up with the hassle that's been going on in my restaurant and-"
Valerie placed her hand on top of his hand comfortingly and shrugged. "Hey, it was definitely not a huge problem for me. I'm very glad I volunteered to help as much as possible in your assistance."
"And I've been meaning to say this. The moment you stepped into my kitchen, I became attracted to the way you spoke and introduced yourself. I know I was a little harsh on you when I should've accepted those plates were an accident, so I'm sorry for that. When I was playing guitar on Jeju island, I started to think about you. That's when I finally realized I actually like you..." Joon-wo concluded, exhaling his nervous breath out while glistening his eyes back and forth at hers.
Valerie stood frozen on her spot, then wrapped her arms around him and patted him on the back. She slowly backed away and held his hands, saying. "Thank you for being honest with me, but you don't need to apologize since I understand you were in such a hurry. Being a chef in a luxurious restaurant can be pretty bone-weary. Again, thank you, but my feelings are not mutual... I hope you know that you are one of those people who became important to me and I look up to you as my older brother. We can still be friends if that's okay with you."
Joon-wo looked at her and still smiled serenely, nodding. "Of course."
Valerie raised her eyebrow in peculiarity. "Really?"
Joon-wo rolled his eyes in annoyance and chuckled. "Yeah. Why not?"
Valerie grinned and gave him a warm hug, whereas Joon-wo's smile was beginning to slightly falter. Then, she stared at him in his eyes and sighed as she let go of his hands and carried her shoulder bag. "Well, I better get going. I'll see you tomorrow. Have a goodnight."
"Sure," Joon-wo nodded in agreement as he watched her exit the door behind her. He then glanced down at the rest of the cupcakes on the trays while he was feeling a little melancholic.
Later on at 10:00 pm, he closed his restaurant earlier as he headed outside the main entrance of the ground floor. He saw a few people and cars passing by the road, then walked away from the building. He went around five blocks until he witnessed a young woman screaming for help.
"Help! Help!" She cried out, lying on the ground covering her face with her arms.
Joon-wo dropped his bag in alertness and began to run as fast as he could, shouting. "Hey, stupid head! Get off of her!"
The black-haired guy quickly glanced at him and got pummeled on the side of his face. But he also fought back as well, then he groaned as he clutched onto his stomach.
Joon-wo's hard fists hit against the guy's chest. He sat on him and demanded him while gripping onto his shirt, threateningly. "Next time you harass someone, you better make sure you never do it ever again to women. Otherwise, your balls will be removed!"
Instantly, the loud sirens were alarming in a near distance, which turned out to be police cars arriving behind them.
Joon-wo peeked over his shoulder and stood up in a standing position.
"Help! My boyfriend is being attacked!" The young woman yelled fearfully with her hands placing on her cheeks.
"What?!" Joon-wo turned to her in confusion as his eyes narrowed quickly.
The police officers confronted him where one of them informed him monotonously. "Mr. Kim, you are being seized."
"Huh?! No, no! I was trying to save her from this guy's harassment!" Joon-wo pointed his finger furiously at the black-haired man, who was holding his bleeding nose and mouth.
The young woman pulled him up gently to straighten his posture. Both of them glanced at Joon-wo harrowingly.
"You were practically beating her boyfriend into a pulp. Now turn over or do you want to get sued by $10,000?" the police officer warned.
Joon-wo repeated and stammered in perplexity as his hands were handcuffed behind his back. "B-boyfriend?!"
"Let's go," the police officer shoved him to move forward, much to the two couple's smugness.
Both of them were watching him enter inside one of the police cars before they took off.
By the following morning, Valerie rushed inside the precinct and became appalled after finding out. "Arrested?!"
"Yes, Ms. Nown. Seemingly, he was assaulting the girl's boyfriend in the corner of the alley," the police officer explained.
"May I visit him?" Valerie asked softly.
"You may," he confirmed with a curt nod.
Valerie sighed when the gate opened. She marched in the cell her friend was in and saw him sitting still, facing the wall. Blinking her eyes, she called out gently where her head was peeking on the right. "Um... Joon-wo? What happened? Did you actually attack the guy?"
"No, I didn't..." Joon-wo answered without moving an inch.
"Tell me..." Valerie pleaded.
"Why should I? I don't need to trust you," Joon-wo sneered as he turned around to finally reveal his face.
Valerie gasped in dismay when she saw his black eye on the left and bruised lip on the right bottom of his mouth. "Joon-wo..."
Yet, he didn't care about what happened to him, so he kept glaring at her resentfully.