Chapter 150
Chapter 150
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 150
Chapter Title: Dinner with Father
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The mention of Representative Yoon's father instantly put me on edge.
I remembered the first time she talked about her father.
Of course, the situation had changed a lot since then, but emotions built up over a long time don't shift easily.
Because of that, I glanced at Representative Yoon with a bit of tension.
"Yeah, he says he understands."
'Okay.'
There wasn't as big a reaction as I'd expected.
It was like she was talking to someone she'd just seen a few hours ago.
Her response made me awfully curious.
What on earth had happened in the meantime...
But I couldn't exactly come right out and ask.
Everyone has some family matters they can't talk about, after all.
Swoosh.
Just then, James, who'd brought up the topic, looked at me and spoke.
"Oh, right. The reconciliation with Richard happened after you went to Korea."
"Reconciliation?"
When I asked out of curiosity, Richard—no, James—started explaining everything that had gone on, like it was the most amusing story.
"Yeah, exactly. You and Ebly Richard made up. Honestly, when I gave him your mom's address back then, I wondered if something like that might happen, but I never thought you'd actually reconcile. It's really great."
I wondered if old grudges could really dissolve that easily.
But they were family.
Maybe that's why any misunderstanding clears up so quickly between family.
"Ms. Yoon, that's really wonderful."
"I already knew my father was trying to protect my mother, and I'd planned to reconcile someday. But even I didn't expect it to happen this soon."
"Yes."
Swoosh.
Then she turned to James beside her and said,
"If someone hadn't gone blabbing every little detail to my father."
"That was a misunderstanding. I'm strictly an employee getting paid by Richard. And Richard was the one who first told me to let him know right away if anything came up about Ebly's mom. I just followed procedure."
Whoa, James seemed really wronged.
The way he rattled on without pause said it all.
"So he's coming over?"
"Yeah, he wants to have dinner together."
She answered my question without hesitation.
"Tell him to come next time."
Okay, next time...
"No can do. Richard's already on his way for dinner."
"Then tell him to turn back around. I already have prior plans, so I can't eat together tonight."
"You're really not meeting him?"
"It's not that I don't want to meet—it's that I can't. James knows better than anyone about these prior plans."
"That's true, but..."
The mood had taken a weird turn somehow.
Originally, Ms. Yoon had suggested we eat separately, but we'd insisted on eating together.
In the end, it felt like it was our fault she couldn't eat with her father.
'Hmm, should I just say let's eat together next time?'
But backing out like that felt like flip-flopping, which made me uncomfortable.
What should I do? As I pondered,
Daeun came up with the perfect solution.
"Then let's eat togedder!"
"What?"
"Yeah?"
"Yeah!"
Everyone's eyes went wide at Daeun's declaration.
"L-Let's eat together!"
"Yeah! Daeun eat with Daddy! Pretty auntie eat with Daddy too, it'll be fun!"
Honestly, dinner with Ms. Yoon's father sounded pretty awkward, but in this situation, it might actually be the best option.
It let us keep our prior plans without canceling, while still eating with Richard.
Plus, since we—the ones with the plans—were okay with it, all that was left was Richard's opinion, and he was already rushing over here to eat with his daughter.
Swoosh.
Ms. Yoon asked apologetically.
"You don't have to go out of your way for me..."
"No, Daeun suggested it, but we really don't mind. And honestly, meals taste better when shared with good people."
At that, Ms. Yoon bowed her head slightly.
"Thank you for your consideration."
"Oh, come on. Consideration? If anything, we're the ones who should be grateful for the invitation here."
James jumped in at my response.
"Then I'll call and ask."
Ms. Yoon fixed James with a cold stare and said,
"Make sure to tell him the exact situation, and exactly what decision the person with the prior plans made. Leave nothing out."
"E-Everything?"
"Yes. That way, Father will understand what kind of situation he's inserting himself into."
There was no real need to go that far.
It felt unnecessary, but butting in would just be meddlesome.
In the end, James called her father and got an answer.
Click.
"What'd he say?"
James looked at me and Daeun as he answered.
"Richard says he's sincerely grateful for the dinner invitation. He appreciates you making time in your precious schedule and promises not to make things uncomfortable at all."
....
We were probably the only ones who'd ever hear something like that from a billionaire.
Actually, now that I thought about it, maybe we should be the ones paying for the meal.
Meals with famous people usually come at a steep price.
And this was the father of billionaire Ms. Yoon, no less.
Nod.
But one person—Ms. Yoon—accepted Richard's words as perfectly natural.
"I absolutely won't make it uncomfortable."
Haha, you don't have to go this far...
I wanted to say more, but I worried one extra word might make things even more burdensome, so I just nodded silently.
"Then we'll head out for a bit and come back later. Rest up, and we'll see you at dinner."
"Ah, sure."
"James, let's go."
"Yeah, got it. Rest easy."
With that, the two of them left the apartment.
Click.
I watched them go, then turned to Daeun.
"Daeun, want to look around our place first?"
At that, she shot one arm up high and yelled,
"Yeah! Sounds good!"
And so, Daeun and I began touring the home where we'd be staying for the next week.
The apartment Representative Yoon had provided as lodging was even better than I'd imagined.
Three bedrooms, a living room, and a large kitchen to boot.
The bathroom was spotless too—perfect for a place to stay.
And in case we wanted to cook, it was stocked with utensils and ingredients galore.
Mostly Korean-style ones, at that.
'She really put a lot of thought into this.'
Thanks to her attention to even the smallest details, I could almost forget I was in America—as long as I didn't look out the window.
Swoosh.
Just then, something caught my eye.
"Daeun, you like the apartment?"
She answered without taking her eyes off the view outside.
"Yeah, it's good."
After we'd finished looking around the place, Daeun had plopped down by the window and stayed there, gazing out.
She must have really liked the cityscape from up high, because she showed no sign of moving.
Seeing her like that, I quietly went over and sat beside her.
"What're you looking at?"
I followed her gaze to see what had her attention.
Nothing in particular.
She was just taking in the whole panorama.
"Just watching."
"Just...?"
"Yeah, people look so widdle from up here."
At that, I glanced out the window myself.
Daeun had grown up in the slums her whole life, staring at nothing but grimy walls out the window.
For her, who'd never had the chance to look down on a city from this height, it had to be a totally fresh experience.
"It's super exciting and fun."
"Seeing people look tiny?"
"Yeah. And I'm happy about it."
Happy?
What could she possibly find happy about in this? Just then, she continued.
"Maybe Mommy in heaven looks down like this."
"Yeah, Mommy..."
"Yeah, but Mommy must be tired."
Tired all of a sudden?
"If she's widdle like this, it must be hard for Mommy to take care of Daeun. So Daeun made up her mind."
I'd thought she was just quietly staring out the window, but she was having all sorts of thoughts.
And now, I got to hear the resolution she'd made while gazing outside.
"What resolution?"
"Daeun gonna eat wots of food and grow super duper tall. That way, Mommy can take care of Daeun easier!"
In the end, her conclusion was that she wanted to eat a lot and grow up fast.
Smile.
How was she so adorable?
It was praiseworthy, but also a little heartbreaking.
Still, I didn't let those feelings show as I replied.
"Alright, then let's eat a lot starting today."
"Yeah! Daeun needs to grow fast."
Hearing that made something occur to me.
Daeun usually ate well, but not in huge amounts.
She spent more time snacking than eating meals—especially the sheer volume of snacks she went through, like crackers.
Maybe this was a good chance to talk about it. I opened my mouth.
"Yeah, but to do that, you gotta eat more rice than snacks. Too many snacks might hurt your tummy."
Whoosh!
Daeun's face turned urgent.
"Can't eat crackers?"
"Hmm, better to just have a little."
"A wittle?"
"Yeah, 'cause then you can't eat as much rice."
"But Daeun can eat wots of crackers AND wots of rice!"
"If you skip the crackers, you could eat even more than now. Then you might grow faster."
Her eyes trembled at that.
No wonder—snack time was one of the happiest parts of her day.
"B-But chocolate milk! Daeun wuvs chocolate milk!"
"Hmm, chocolate milk isn't rice either..."
She panicked even more at my words.
She clearly hadn't expected one little comment from her to lead to this.
"Nooo! Daeun's chocolate milk... gotta have choccy milk!"
"I'm not saying no chocolate milk—just a little."
"A wittle...?"
"Yeah, one a day."
She still looked dissatisfied at "one."
Of course, considering she used to have two or more, it felt short.
'If we can cut back even this much, it'll be good.'
"You can do it, right?"
When I smiled and asked, she pouted and nodded reluctantly.
She clearly wasn't thrilled.
"Hng... Okay..."
But it seemed Mommy was still number one in her heart.
Ding-dong!
Right on cue, the doorbell rang. I hurried to answer it.
"Ah, must be them."
Click.
I stepped out, and there were Ms. Yoon and James waiting.
"You've arrived."
"Ah, did you get some rest?"
"Yes, thanks to you—we rested comfortably."
"We were about to head to dinner. Shall we go?"
"Yes, we were just getting ready."
As I said that and turned to call Daeun,
'Okay.'
She was right there beside me—I hadn't even noticed her come over.
"Daddy, let's go!"
Ms. Yoon smiled at Daeun and said,
"Then let's head straight to the restaurant. Shall we go, Miss Daeun?"
"Yes! Sounds good!"
And so, we followed James and Ms. Yoon to the car and drove right to the restaurant.
'Ms. Yoon's father, huh.'
I hadn't felt much about him before, but now that we were about to meet, my heart was racing for no reason.
A slight tension, I guess.
He struck me as the stern, gruff type—instinct told me so.
Whirr.
We entered the restaurant.
A server approached us, and James had a quick chat in English.
Then he turned back to explain what they'd said.
"Richard's already here waiting."
Already here ahead of us?
He'd said he was just leaving when they talked on the phone, but he'd beaten us here.
Hearing that ramped up my tension even more.
Gulp.
The server led us inside.
'Huh?'
I couldn't help but witness an astonishing sight.
That had to be our table.
But there, with a white-haired man,
"Wow! Wow! Wow!"
Were stacks and stacks of kids' toy boxes.
'What the heck is all that?!'