Date Me! - Chapter 48

As soon as it was time to leave after a busy day, Ina hurriedly got up from her seat, thinking of Juhee waiting on the first floor.

As soon as she got off the elevator and went through the main entrance, she saw Juhee standing right in front.

“Juhee!”

When Ina waved happily, Juhee smiled brightly and walked towards Ina.

“Our Ina. You must be very tired from working all day, right?”

“No. I wasn’t tired at all thinking about seeing you.”

Juhee giggled and linked arms with Ina.

“Is that so? My darling? Let’s quickly go eat some meat.”

Ina laughed out loud at the cute aegyo-filled nasally voice and took Juhee to their regular meat restaurant near the company.

The two women, who barely managed to get a seat in the bustling meat restaurant during dinner time, grilled and ate delicious beef while chatting away.

An hour and a half later, the two women came out of the meat restaurant, rubbing their full stomachs.

“Ah. I feel like my stomach is going to burst from eating too much. But our Ina, didn’t we spend too much money?”

Juhee asked with an apologetic expression while touching her stomach.

“No. It’s not much. Is there anything else you want to eat?”

“If I eat any more, people will think I’m pregnant. Let’s just go drink some tea. Is there a nice cafe nearby?”

“Yes. There’s a place I go to often. Let’s go there.”

As Juhee linked arms with Ina and started walking, Ina’s phone rang.

It was Juwon.

“Hello?”

-It’s me. Have you eaten dinner?

“Yes. I just finished eating and I’m on my way to a cafe. Did you eat dinner?”

-Yes. I just had a quick bite. But it looks like work will end later than I thought.

“Really? What will you do, you must be tired?”

-No. I’m not tired. Well, go ahead and have some tea. I’ll call you if I finish earlier.

“Okay. Got it.”

“What? What did Juwon say?”

Juhee asked as Ina hung up the phone.

“He said work will end later than he thought.”

“Oh my, our Ju. He must be tired.”

The two entered the cafe Ina frequently visits.

Ina ordered coffee, and Juhee ordered green rooibos tea, then they went to sit down.

Soon after the vibrating bell rang, Ina went to get the drinks and handed them to Juhee.

While drinking tea and chatting about various things, Juhee’s phone rang.

Juhee’s face lit up when she saw the screen, and she quickly pressed the answer button and took the call.

“Oh, Attorney Kim! What brings you to call such a busy person?”

Juhee said with a playful tone, laughing.

“Now? I’m with a friend? Here? Near Yeoksam Station. What? You’re in this area? You’re coming now? Huh? Wait a second.”

Juhee lowered her phone and carefully said to Ina.

“Hey, Ina. It’s my cousin, and he’s such a busy person that this is the only time he has free, you know? He says he’ll just come by briefly to see my face and go. Is that okay?”

“Oh. Go ahead. I don’t mind.”

“Oh my. Our kind Ina. Thank you.”

Juhee smiled brightly and then picked up the phone again.

“Yes. Elder brother. Then I’m at a cafe, so just come by for a moment. I’ll send you the location via text. Huh? Food? I already ate earlier. Yes. Okay. Got it.”

After hanging up the phone, Juhee took a sip of tea and looked intently at Ina before speaking.

“Actually, you know. If you had said you didn’t have a boyfriend, I was going to try to set you up with this elder brother.”

“Huh?”

As Ina looked at her with round eyes at the sudden topic, Juhee laughed and said,

“This elder brother is completely obsessed with work. So I told him to try being obsessed with a woman too, and he said to introduce someone while saying that. But this elder brother’s ideal type is a petite and cute woman. That’s exactly you, Ina! Plus, you’re pretty too, so wouldn’t it be perfect? I was getting all excited thinking about connecting you two… Who knew that Lee Juwon would’ve already made his move.”

“Ah… I see.”

Ina smiled awkwardly as she spoke.

“But how is it that he says he’s coming right when I’m meeting with you? The timing is just incredible. Really.”

“What does he do that makes him so busy?”

“Ah. He’s a lawyer. My uncle was also a lawyer, and this elder brother followed him into the legal profession.”

“A lawyer?”

“Yes. He says he has so many case requests that he’s completely swamped. So I haven’t seen this elder brother in a while.”

A thought briefly crossed Ina’s mind.

Then could it be that the person who called Park Jeonghun and scared him that time was him?

As Ina and Juhee were chatting about various things again, the sound of the cafe door opening was heard after a while.

Juhee looked towards the door and waved with a bright smile.

“Elder brother! Over here!”

When Ina turned to look, a handsome man with a refreshing impression was walking towards them.

Juhee quickly stood up and hugged her elder brother who had come right in front.

“Oh my. Our busy Attorney Kim took time out to see this younger sister, how can I repay this immense grace?”

“You brat! How indeed.”

The man chuckled as he broke the hug and looked down at Ina sitting.

“Elder brother. Say hello. This is my friend Ina. Seo Ina. My closest friend from middle school.”

“Ah. Hello.”

Ina stood up and bowed her head.

The man silently looked at Ina for a few seconds before extending his hand.

“Hello. I’m Kim Minho, Juhee’s cousin.”

Huh, a handshake too? Ina felt a bit flustered, but she couldn’t leave his outstretched hand hanging, so she extended her hand.

“Hello. I’m Seo Ina.”

“Seo Ina?”

Minho’s eyes widened as he asked again.

“Why? Elder brother, do you know Ina?”

Minho gestured for Juhee to sit down first and sat next to her.

“Do you perhaps know Juwon too?”

At Minho’s words, Juhee raised her eyebrows and answered.

“Of course. She knows him. But how do you know that, elder brother?”

Instead of answering, Minho looked at Ina with surprised eyes.

‘What’s wrong? Is there something on my face?’

“Elder brother, aren’t you going to drink coffee? I’ll buy you a cup.”

As Juhee was about to take out her wallet, Minho stopped her and stood up.

“I should be the one buying for you. But since you’re already drinking tea, I’ll go buy some cake slices. Wait a moment.”

Before they could stop him, Minho went to the counter, and Ina’s phone rang.

It was Juwon.

“Hello?”

-Are you still at the cafe?

“Yes. I’m still at the cafe.”

-I think I’ll be done in about 30 minutes.

Just then, Minho came back with the cakes and put them on the table.

“Thank you, elder brother.”

Juhee said to Minho with a smile.

Hearing Juhee’s voice, Juwon immediately asked over the phone.

-What’s that? Who did you just call ‘elder brother’?

“Ah. Well, my cousin elder brother came, so.”

-Cousin elder brother?

“Yes.”

-Can you put Juhee on?

“Juhee. Juwon wants to talk to you.”

As Ina handed over the phone, Juhee took it and put it to her ear.

“Hey, Lee Juwon. The esteemed Attorney Kim is here right now. Over!”

-Attorney Kim? Is Minho hyung there?

“That’s right. Over.”

Juwon said nothing for a moment, then let out a short sigh.

-Where are you? Send me the location via text. I’m coming now.

Then beep beep beep, the call ended.

Juhee looked at the phone with a dumbfounded expression.

“What’s with him?”

“What’s wrong?”

When Ina asked, Juhee handed the phone back to Ina and said,

“He asked where we were and then hung up right away.”

“Huh? He said he needed about 30 more minutes to finish work though?”

At those words, Juhee glanced at Minho and giggled.

“Ah. Really, Ju, this guy keeps doing cute things unlike usual these days?”

“What does that mean?”

Minho, who had been unable to understand the situation until now, asked Juhee.

“Elder brother. Lee Juwon, you see, he’s completely fallen for our Seo Ina here and can’t get his head straight?”

“What?”

“Juhee.”

Minho and Ina said at the same time.

Ina spoke to Juhee in an embarrassed expression, almost whispering.

“Stop saying strange things.”

“What’s strange? It’s the truth? Elder brother. Just watch Juwon’s eyes when he comes later? You’ll see little hearts crawling out of that stoic guy’s eyes?”

“Juhee.”

Ina called Juhee’s name once more out of embarrassment, but Juhee pretended not to hear.

Minho looked at Ina with an intriguing expression and quietly asked.

“So now… are you dating Juwon?”

“Ah… yes.”

When Ina answered in an awkward voice, Minho was silent for a moment before nodding.

“Ah, I see.”

“But elder brother, do you know Ina? You seemed to recognize her earlier?”

Juhee asked while taking a sip of tea, and Minho glanced slightly at Ina.

“Ah, well actually…”

As Minho seemed to hesitate, Ina asked instead.

“Perhaps… you’re the lawyer Juwon asked for help over the phone that time… right?”

“…Yes. That’s correct.”

Ina’s mouth opened slightly in surprise and gratitude.

“What on earth are you two talking about?”

When Juhee asked with a puzzled look, Ina slowly explained the whole story.

After hearing the story, Juhee made an “ooh” sound and looked at Minho.

“Wow! So you were the number one contributor in getting rid of that trash?”

“What number one contributor. I just gave a brief briefing on what kind of punishment he’d get if charges were filed and accepted, and he trembled.”

Ah, why is the embarrassment my share…

Ina felt like her toes were curling from the embarrassment, as if Park Jeonghun trembling was right in front of her.

“No way. You did well! Elder brother’s one phone call was a powerful blow, wasn’t it?”

Ina said to Minho with a face reddened from embarrassment.

“It’s late, but really… thank you. I wanted to visit you and treat you to a meal back then, but I was told you were too busy to have time, so I couldn’t visit you.”

“Juwon said that?”

“Huh? Ah, yes. So I was going to visit your office with some coffee at least, but I was told you were too busy…”

“Juwon said that?”

“Yes.”

“Ha, really.”

Minho laughed in disbelief.

“Lee Juwon, that guy. He’s completely ridiculous.”

Unable to understand what he meant, Ina tilted her head, and Juhee next to her chuckled.

“Right? He’s completely ridiculous, isn’t he? He really went to great lengths not to show Ina to you. Wow, Lee Juwon is really thorough! Thoroughly thorough!”

“Even when he was young, he was the type who would never let anyone take his favorite toys. If you tried to touch them even once, he’d growl like he was going to bite.”

Minho said while looking at Ina with a strange gaze.

At that gaze, Ina’s cheeks flushed hot, feeling like she had become the ‘toy’ Minho was talking about now.

“He rarely called, but suddenly called to ask for a favor, so I wondered what was going on… Now I understand the reason.”

Minho laughed once more in disbelief as he spoke.

“When I asked who Seo Ina was, he just said she was a friend… And in that short time, he made her his girlfriend? This guy, his drive is really something else.”

Just as Ina was turning her gaze away in embarrassment, the cafe door opened.