CH 41

Muyeol exited his car and walked toward the lobby of the hospital. The director of the hospital was waiting for him at the entrance. He greeted Muyeol with a wide smile. “Welcome, President Cha. Thank you for coming to the seminar.”

Muyeol gave a curt nod. “I want to thank you for hosting this seminar. I’m looking forward to it.”

Muyeol’s words were obviously polite, but his cold tone made it seem like there was a certain bite to them. He was never arrogant, but nobody liked getting pushed away by the barriers Muyeol always put up while conversing with someone.

“This way, Mr. Cha.” The director led the way to the lobby.  

Muyeol followed after him, eyes looking straight ahead. However, something suddenly caught his eye and he paused. Mr. Hong, Muyeol’s secretary, immediately approached him to find out if something was wrong. Muyeol kept his gaze fixed on whatever piqued his interest, but addressed his secretary, “Tell them I’ll join them after 10 minutes.”

“Yes, sir.” Mr. Hong nodded.

The director had walked ahead, but when he noticed Muyeol wasn’t following him, he turned around to look for him. Mr. Hong politely jumped in and informed him, “Sorry for the inconvenience. President Cha will be joining you after 10 minutes.”

“Ah. Is that so?” the director muttered as he spotted Muyeol walk toward the cafeteria. “If he needs a drink, we’ve already prepared them in the seminar room.”

Mr. Hong only smiled and repeated, “He will join you in 10 minutes.”

* * * 

Yiyoung was having the time of her life in the cafeteria. It was quite funny to see how people couldn’t even recognize her. She had only put on some makeup and changed her hairstyle, yet people walked past her without realizing who she was even after meeting her eyes. ‘Do I look that bad without make-up and putting my hair in a fancy hairstyle? How is it that nobody recognizes me?’

The chair in front of her screeched against the floor when it was suddenly pulled back. Yiyoung snapped out of her thoughts and straightened her back, assuming her date had arrived. However, when she looked up, she could not believe her eyes. 

“It’s been a while.” Yiyoung could only stare in surprise as the man greeted her. His tone was dry and monotonous. “I was planning on seeing you soon, but we met earlier than I expected.”

“Cha Muyeol?” Yiyoung finally managed to speak.

Muyeol scanned Yiyoung from head to toe, spending a bit more time looking at her neat ponytail, dark eyelashes, doe eyes, and especially, those red lips. His mouth lifted into a smile. “What happened to you?”

“What about me? I look good, don’t I?” Yiyoung asked, “But… why did you plan on seeing me?”

“What do you think? You already know why.”

She had last seen each other 13 years ago. So, seeing him in front of her now flooded Yiyoung with memories of the time they had spent together in their younger years. “I’m so confused. How would I know?”

Muyeol rested his chin on his hand. “You promised to grant my wish.”

Yiyoung narrowed her eyes. Muyeol had shown up out of nowhere to ask her to grant his wish. The situation seemed so ridiculous that it made her chuckle a bit, but she soon calmed down and put on a serious face. “Okay. I see what you’re talking about.”

“It’s a good thing you could recall it immediately.”

“But, can we talk about this later?” Yiyoung smiled at him. “I have to meet someone here.”

The sudden encounter had momentarily distracted Yiyoung, and she almost forgot that Muyeol was the president of the hospital.

Muyeol checked his watch. “Meet who?”

“I’m waiting for my blind date.”

Yiyoung noticed the glare Muyeol directed at her and complained, “Why are you looking at me like that? Can’t I go on a blind date?” 

“Is that why you look like this?” 

“What do you mean, ‘this’? I was told I look pretty today. I got a whole makeover, and people couldn’t even recognize me!”

‘Wait. Doesn’t that mean he recognized me through all this make-up even after not having seen me for 13 years?’ Yiyoung wondered.

“Cancel it,” Muyeol said calmly. 

“What? The blind date?”

“Yes.”

“No way. I have to meet him soon.”

“It’d be better if you cancel it since you have to marry me.” Muyeol got straight to the point, surprising himself, too. He had told her to cancel the date so easily, as if they had never lost contact all this while.

“What…” Yiyoung asked, “who are you talking about?”

“You. That’s why I wanted to meet you. You have to fulfill your promise and give me your entire life. Marry me, Yiyoung.”

Yiyoung gawked at him for what felt like an eternity. Her brain must have short-circuited because she could not, for the life of her, comprehend what was perhaps the most random and absurd thing that would ever happen to her. “We… we haven’t met in a long time. To be precise, you just found me. Your joke isn’t funny.”

“This isn’t a joke. I never needed anything before to have to ask you to grant my wish, but it’s different this time. I need you to fulfill your promise.” Muyeol declared confidently.

But Yiyoung was still dumbfounded. She couldn’t figure out if he was being serious.

Muyeol stood up. “Let’s talk after an hour to figure out the details. I’ll be back after attending a seminar. Wait right here.”

“Cha Muyeol!” 

“Call him now and cancel the date.” Muyeol gestured toward her phone and then disappeared like the wind.

Yiyoung remained frozen in her seat, trying to slowly process the situation. Cha Muyeol had shown up out of nowhere after 13 years and asked her to marry him… Yiyoung jumped to her feet, finally realizing all this was not a daydream. “What was that? Did he really just ask me that?”