19. Lee Dana Project ‘Dating and Breaking Up’ – Mission #2. Dating
“D-don’t your legs hurt?”
“No. I’m fine.”
Ihun pointed at the hand he was holding with hers.
“Ah, yes, me too…….”
Is this normal?
When you date, do you really walk around holding hands like this from the very first day?
As if you’re never going to let go?
It had been an hour since they started walking hand in hand because she couldn’t find the right moment to let go.
At this rate, I’m going to take the Boss all the way to Busan.
We’ll be holding hands all the way to Haeundae.
Holding hands wasn’t part of the plan.
The plan was to simply go on a few dates and then break up, but Dana couldn’t even manage to let go of one hand.
This is all because of the helicopter.
And the yacht!
Actually, her plan for today had been this.
Walk along the Gyeongui Line Forest Road for a bit, then go to a famous kalguksu restaurant in the neighborhood.
Then go to an atmospheric café, take some pictures of coffee, and go home!
As someone who had just gotten off a yacht after riding in a helicopter, this looked a little…… pathetic.
The Boss probably thinks so too, right?
If so, that’s actually perfect.
If we go on a date like this, it’ll probably be quite a shock to the Boss, who had been planning to eat lunch in a suite and admire the scenery.
If you date me, you’ll be having dates like this from now on, Boss.
Do you understand?
But…… considering the Boss’s sincerity after renting a yacht at considerable expense only to leave without even getting to go fishing, she decided to add an indoor fishing spot to their itinerary.
Before that, though.
“Boss, since I’m hungry, let’s eat kalguksu fir—”
Dana turned toward the Boss, then found herself unable to speak.
A luxury suit, a luxury tie, luxury shoes.
He stood there looking incredibly elegant and incredibly burdensome.
The old, narrow kalguksu restaurant was filled with the atmosphere of a long-established local establishment.
Just imagining him eating kalguksu while dressed in those clothes made her break out in a cold sweat.
And what about the indoor fishing spot?
He’d get splashed with water while fishing, and it would be a whole mess.
And if even a bit of cake cream happened to get on the Boss’s clothes at a packed, trendy café……!
Ahh.
No.
Please, let me stop sinning against the Boss.
“Are you hungry? Shall we go eat?”
“No.”
Dana looked him up and down and spoke like the chaebol man in an ordinary drama.
“Let’s figure out what to do about those clothes first.”
***
The inside of the affordable clothing store was bustling with people.
I thought a model had come in, but something even more impressive had arrived.
Rai Heon.
He stood there like a model.
“Next outfit.”
When Ihun came out wearing neat cotton pants and a plain shirt, Dana, sitting in the chair across from him, tilted her head.
“Next outfit.”
This time, he came out wearing sneakers and jeans, with a shearling jacket over his T-shirt.
Dana furrowed her brow.
“N-next outfit.”
A hip-hop style, with wide-legged, stylish clothes.
“Next!”
A leather jacket, black pants, and sunglasses.
“N-next!”
Dana made a displeased expression.
No clothes look bad on him?
Why does everything look good on him?
Why!
Thanks to that, she ended up choosing this outfit and that outfit and everything in between.
I couldn’t leave a single one behind…….
Forget the date.
My eyes were having far too much fun.
If I could, I’d just keep playing dress-up with the Boss, but considering the time, it seemed they had to stop here.
“Here you go. How much is everything?”
“Six hundred and eighty-one thousand won.”
“What?”
See? This is what credit card bills are like.
I definitely bought everything little by little, yet somehow the credit card statement has amounts of two hundred million won on it!
She trembled as she took out her card, but a thick, long arm reached out first, and the card in his hand touched the counter.
When she looked up, he smiled like a savior.
“You picked them out for me, so this much is something I should buy.”
Thump, thump.
Isn’t it only natural for one’s heart to tremble at the sight of a savior?
But I shouldn’t let this happen.
It only means something if I’m the one paying.
“Please take one thousand won off!”
This is the only thing I can do for you.
The clerk willingly took one thousand won off.
“So, where are we going next?”
As soon as they left the store, he subtly took her hand and looked down at her.
Honestly, once he learns something, he really doesn’t forget it.
“Let’s go eat first.”
***
My little brother
Date success?
While waiting for her, who had gone to the restroom in front of a café, a message arrived on Ihun’s phone.
It was Ion.
Ihun smiled after checking the message.
She had been right when she said they should start with familiar activities.
They had walked hand in hand for an hour and gone shopping unexpectedly.
Thanks to that, he had also learned about her tastes.
While waiting at the kalguksu restaurant, she kept telling him to go sit somewhere and that she would call him when their number was called, but he couldn’t do that.
Because he didn’t want to let go of her hand.
Just when he was considering carrying her because he was worried her legs might hurt, their number was called, and he almost regretted it.
He didn’t remember what the kalguksu tasted like.
It was probably delicious.
She had eaten it so deliciously that simply watching her made his stomach feel full.
Her date course even had a certain sense of style.
She had chosen an indoor fishing spot for him because he hadn’t been able to go fishing on the yacht.
Thanks to that, he had been able to show off his fishing skills.
How does the Boss catch a fish every single time he casts?
Is there something in your pocket?
When Dana grumbled that if he had bait, he should share some with her side too, it was amusing to watch her adorable complaints.
When he said, “I’ll catch one for you instead,” the look she gave him as though she wanted to kill him because he was so irritating was cute too.
At the café, she was busy taking pictures of cakes and bread, acting as though she had forgotten about him.
Thanks to that, he was able to look at her face more closely and more often.
No, continuously.
‘Mmm. Isn’t this cake really pretty? How am I supposed to eat something this lovely?’
You look prettier.
What am I supposed to do because you’re too lovely?
It wasn’t because she was his girlfriend that she looked so beautiful.
She simply looked incredibly beautiful.
Of course, she looked even more beautiful because she was his girlfriend.
So, was the date a success?
My little brother
A huge success.
After sending the message, he gave a short smile.
It had been such an enjoyable date that he was reluctant for it to end.
“Boss, I’m sorry for keeping you waiting so long.”
She could have taken even longer.
No matter how he looked at it, this seemed to be the final course of their date.
“It’s all right. Shall we go?”
He very naturally took her hand.
Perhaps she had gotten used to it now, because she reached her hand toward him as well.
Though she didn’t seem to notice it.
“What’s next?”
Dana’s eyes widened.
Every single one of her expressions was so vivid that they seemed to become etched into his eyes without him even trying.
“Aren’t you tired?”
“No. I’m not satisfied yet.”
“So you’re not satisfied…… Even so, if you want to keep seeing me, you’ll have to put up with it.”
He didn’t know what she meant by that, but no matter what difficulties came his way, he could handle them.
No, if it was Lee Dana, he wanted to endure anything.
“As much as necessary. But you seem tired today, Ms. Lee Dana. Shall we call it a day?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
The two walked again, holding hands side by side.
The distance to where the car was parked felt far too short.
So this is how regretful it can feel when a date ends.
Then she must feel it even more.
Because she loves me.
Suddenly, he began to regret that he had spent the two years she had secretly loved him without knowing anything about them.
If he had lived for her instead of working for the family that treated him like a puppet, he would have been much happier by now.
Something he had been able to understand in just one day was something he had lived without knowing for far too long.
Ihun made a firm decision.
From now on, he would live only for Lee Dana.
“Hm?”
She suddenly stopped.
Then she stared intently into a store.
Beyond the floor-to-ceiling glass windows was a small space where couples and groups of friends had gathered in twos, threes, and fours.
“Why? Do you know them?”
“Boss! Let’s take those!”
“Take what…….”
He couldn’t see what they were selling, so he wondered what kind of place it was.
Was it a photo booth?
The only thing in one corner of the space was a neon sign that read ‘Chalna Four Cuts.’
“Come on, Boss.”
As they entered the booth, he wondered if it had always been this narrow.
Because of Ihun’s build, the booth became cramped, bringing the two of them closer together.
“So? How do we do this?”
“Uh, this is…….”
When he turned his head, he was much closer than she had expected.
Their eyes met, and an awkward yet exciting atmosphere lingered inside the booth.
Thump, thump.
It was enough to make her worry that he might hear her heartbeat.
-Please pose!
She flinched.
When the machine inside the booth spoke, the two whose faces had been close suddenly pretended to be interested in something else.
Right.
We came here to take pictures, didn’t we?
She had almost forgotten everything, her rationality completely numbed by his scent and body heat.
Taking four-cut photos with my boyfriend!
I’ve always wanted to do this!
Once she came to her senses, she asked him to do various poses.
After doing everything she told him to do, a series of couple photos came out.
Even after they left, she spent quite some time looking at the photos.
“Do you like them?”
“Yes. I’ve always wanted to take pictures like this. Maybe it’s because the model is good. They came out really pretty.”
“Indeed. The woman looks particularly prettier.”
“What?”
“You’re pretty.”
He met her eyes.
Her face gradually turned red.
“……Oh, Boss. You really are something. I-I guess you didn’t become a president for nothing. I have a lot to learn from you, huh? Haha.”
Then she began walking ahead.
She likes it.
Ihun gave a faint smile.
“Let’s go together.”
“You come faster, Boss.”
“Then why are you running?”
The sound of their laughter carried through the street.
Click, click, click.
Neither of them knew that someone, somewhere in a corner, was taking pictures of the two of them.
