Date Me! - Chapter 44

“What? What? What’s going on?”

As Juhee stretched her neck out like a turtle to ask, the expressions of the two people approaching Juhee were contrasting.

Juwon’s face showed not even the slightest change in expression, while Ina’s face was red up to her ears.

Juhee tilted her head and silently asked Ina with her eyes what had happened.

When Ina responded with an awkward smile instead of answering, Juhee narrowed her eyes, picked up the photo in Ina’s hand, and looked at it.

“……”

And Juhee’s eyes grew as big as saucers when she saw the photo.

Ina couldn’t look at Juhee out of embarrassment, while Juwon had a completely nonchalant expression.

“Wow, Lee Juwon, this… You’re completely exposed?”

“What?”

Juwon frowned at Juhee’s words and looked at her.

“What? Completely exposed?”

“Yes! Wow, this is really… a photo I want to show Mom and Dad right away? They need to know that their utterly cold son actually has a burning heart inside!”

Juhee exclaimed, waving the photo in disbelief, and Juwon reached out his hand.

“Stop saying weird things and give it here.”

Then he snatched the photo and handed it to Ina with an affectionate smile.

Ina quickly took the problematic photo and stuffed it into her handbag.

Juhee, who had been glaring at Juwon, soon started grinning as if something was amusing.

“Okay, okay. So this is a burning love, huh? Good, good! At this rate, becoming family won’t take long, right?”

Ina’s pupils dilated at the mention of ‘family’ again.

“Again, you’re putting pressure on her with that talk.”

At Juwon’s words, Juhee linked arms with Ina and said,

“Ina, think about it. Where in this world can you find a man as handsome as our ‘Ju’? If you two get married, Dad is super handsome, Mom is super pretty, how beautiful would your baby be? Right?”

Ina’s pupils began to tremble at the word ‘baby’.

“I’ll keep all the baby items clean and well-preserved to pass down to you. So you must marry our ‘Ju’, okay?”

“I told you to stop, didn’t I?”

Juwon pulled Ina’s hand, which was touching her reddened cheeks.

“We’ve only been dating for a week, why do you keep pressuring her? And why inherit baby items? We should buy new ones.”

Ina looked at Juwon with round eyes at his words.

Buy new ones? Does that mean… it’s a given that we’ll get married?

Ina’s face burned as if on fire as she gently bit her lip.

And Juhee, standing next to Ina, looked at Juwon with a mischievous smile.

“Look at this guy? You say not to pressure her, but why are you talking about buying new baby items?”

“Well, I’ll spend my own money to buy items for my own child! Is there a problem?”

Ina’s face flushed as she stood between them, listening to the talk about nonexistent ‘my child’s items’.

“Hey, do you know how many baby items there are to buy? Your elder sister has prepared all the best things, so why not use them and pass them down?”

“I have the ability to buy the best things too, you know?”

Sensing that the twins’ battle wouldn’t end if left alone, Ina raised her hand and said,

“Hey, Juhee. Let’s think about that later when the time comes. It’s past 4:30 now. Shouldn’t we be leaving?”

At Ina’s words, both Juwon and Juhee looked at their watches simultaneously.

As Ina said, it was approaching 4:40.

Today was their father’s birthday, and the two had planned to go to their father’s house by 6 PM.

“You’re right. We should leave now.”

The three hurriedly made their way to the underground parking lot of the shopping mall.

Juhee linked arms with Ina, looking disappointed.

“Ina, we’re meeting tomorrow and the day after too, right?”

“Of course. Let’s meet after work. I’ll treat you to something delicious.”

“Then can I sleep over at your place tomorrow night? I want to see where you live.”

“My place?”

“Yes.”

“Of course you can. But my place is tiny compared to Juwon’s house. Is that okay?”

“Ah, the smaller the better! I can just hug our cute Ina tightly like this and sleep.”

As Juhee giggled and hugged Ina, Juwon, who was walking beside them, looked at Juhee with side-eyes.

“Wow, look at how this guy’s eyes change! Ugh, it’s so irritating I can’t stand it. Okay, are you satisfied now?”

Juhee abruptly let go of Ina and asked, and Juwon smoothly reached out to hold Ina’s hand.

“Wow, really! Lee Juwon! How did you survive those 13 years without Ina? Huh?”

As Juhee asked incredulously, Juwon answered in a calm voice.

“I barely managed to stay alive.”

“Gasp!”

At Juwon’s answer, Juhee scrunched up her face as much as she could.

“Ugh! Ina! Bring me a trash can. I think I’m going to throw up.”

Juhee said with a disgusted expression, but Juwon pretended not to hear and interlaced his fingers with Ina’s.

“Hurry up. We might leave you behind.”

As Juwon said that and strode off with Ina, Juhee followed them, snorting.

“What do you want to eat for dinner tomorrow?”

Ina, sitting side by side with Juhee in the back of the running car, asked.

“Hmm. We didn’t get to eat street food today, right? Let’s have tteokbokki tomorrow. Do you know a place that makes good tteokbokki?”

“Yeah, I do know a place, but shouldn’t we eat something more substantial? Tteokbokki is more of a snack, not a proper meal.”

“No, it’s fine if we eat a lot of sundae and fried food too.”

“Still, you’re pregnant, so you should eat something nutritious.”

“I eat nutritious food all the time in Japan. Ryuhei takes such good care of me at every meal. So let’s eat tteokbokki for dinner. Okay? We’ll have a feast at Dad’s house later anyway, so we can eat plenty there.”

As Juhee spoke with a desperate look in her eyes, Ina nodded with a smile.

“Okay, I got it. Then let’s have tteokbokki tomorrow and beef on Wednesday. I’ll treat you to beef.”

“Beef? Yay! It’s beef! Beef!”

Ina smiled brightly as she watched Juhee get excited.

Juwon looked at the two women laughing through the rearview mirror.

Seeing Ina smiling prettily at Juhee, a smile also appeared on Juwon’s face.

Our Ina is so pretty, Juwon thought as he lifted the corners of his mouth.

* * *

“Oh my, Juhee. You must be tired from the long journey.”

Ae Ran greeted Juhee with a broad smile at the entrance.

“It’s just a short flight. How have you been?”

Juhee also greeted Ae Ran with a bright smile.

“Of course, I’ve been well. Come on in.”

Juhee entered with a smile and spread her arms to hug her father, Young Cheol, who was standing at the entrance.

“Dad, have you been well?”

Young Cheol smiled brightly at his daughter, who was acting cute with a nasally voice.

“Of course, I’ve been fine. How are you feeling, my daughter?”

“Me? I feel great. No morning sickness at all.”

“Is that so? Oh my, well done. That’s a relief.”

Young Cheol chuckled and patted Juhee’s back.

Young Cheol, who had been looking at his daughter with loving eyes after nearly six months, only gave a nod to Juwon standing behind Juhee.

“You’re here?”

“Yes.”

Ae Ran burst into laughter at the stark contrast between the conversation with the daughter and the father-son exchange, which was as brief as could be.

“Come on, let’s go inside. Are you hungry?”

When they went to the kitchen table, there was indeed a sumptuous feast laid out, as Juhee had said, enough to break the table legs.

The four sat down in chairs, looking at the food that seemed filling just by sight.

“Come on, Juhee, eat a lot. You need to eat well for the baby in your belly to grow strong.”

“Yes, I understand. Dad, you should eat a lot too since you’re the main character today.”

“Yes, yes.”

Young Cheol looked at Juhee with a pleased expression.

After finishing their meal while chatting about various things, the four went to the living room to have tea a little later.

Juhee had a cup of warm tea, while the other three sat on the sofa with coffee in front of them.

Young Cheol took a sip of coffee and then looked at Juwon before speaking.

“By the way, you.”

“Yes.”

As Juwon looked at Young Cheol, he spoke in a solemn voice.

“Do you know what kind of talk was going around the company today?”

“I was on leave today, so I don’t know.”

Then Young Cheol narrowed his eyes and said,

“I heard that on Friday, there was talk that Assistant Manager Lee Juwon met his girlfriend at a coffee shop in front of the company?”

At Young Cheol’s words, Ae Ran and Juhee’s eyes widened.

Only Juwon maintained a calm expression.

“People really have nothing better to do. Gossiping about a mere assistant manager meeting his girlfriend.”

“They say you were carrying her tiny handbag, had your arm around her waist, and were looking at her like she was the most precious thing in the world. Is that true?”

Ae Ran’s mouth fell open, and Juhee looked back and forth between Young Cheol and Juwon with eyes like a crab’s.

Only Juwon chuckled with an expression of disbelief.

Sales Support Team’s Assistant Manager Yoon, known for his interest in men and loose lips – he knew about that, but to spread the story in such detail.

Juwon could only laugh.

“Why do you keep laughing instead of answering the question?”

As Young Cheol asked again, Juwon coolly nodded.

“Yes, she is my girlfriend.”

This time, both Young Cheol and Ae Ran’s mouths opened simultaneously.

“Wait, when this father asked you last time if you were seeing anyone, you said you weren’t!”

“That was a month ago, and at that time, I really wasn’t seeing anyone.”

“So you’re saying you got a girlfriend in the meantime? Right after having dinner with Miss Subin’s parents?”

As Young Cheol slightly raised his voice with a displeased expression, Ae Ran calmed him down and spoke instead.

“Well, Juwon, we’re just a bit surprised. We clearly heard a month ago that you didn’t have a girlfriend, so that’s why we arranged the dinner with Miss Subin’s parents.”

“It would have been better if you had informed me in advance.”

“Ah, yes. You must have been quite flustered that day? We’re truly sorry about that. But Miss Subin’s parents were so fond of you that we managed to arrange that dinner. And we thought if we told you in advance, you definitely wouldn’t come……”

Ae Ran spoke while watching Juwon’s reaction.

“But that evening, we got a call from the madam. She said you told Miss Subin that you had someone you liked. So we were extremely surprised, you know? Was it… that young lady who called you then?”

At Ae Ran’s words, Juwon took a sip of coffee and put it down.

Then he spoke in a calm tone.

“Yes, that’s right.”

Young Cheol and Ae Ran’s mouths opened again before they could close them.

“We started dating from that day, and it’s true that we met in front of the company on Friday.”

After a brief silence, Young Cheol coughed once and then asked Juwon.

“Well then. What does this young lady do, and how old is she?”

Just as Juwon was about to answer, Juhee, who had been watching the three of them with an expression like she was watching a morning drama, raised her hand high.

“Dad, I’ll answer that!”