Hyun-Shik gaped at her for about a second before he finally said, "I agree..."
The girl's face shone as she sat back down and looked directly at him, "First, I should apologize to you. It's not like I didn't know what this meeting was all about. Second, I think we've wasted a significant amount of your time today because my Father insisted on seeing and talking to you. I know you have a lot of work left to do."
He smiled a little as he thought to himself. Well, this is work too... He reached for his glass and drank some water.
"I bet you're thinking that this is work too," the girl said lightly.
And that's when he choked on his water. "What?" He stared at her openly now.
Ji-Eun's smile grew a bit wider. "I'm just kidding."
I don't really think you are, he thought as he wiped his mouth with a napkin.
The girl suddenly looked past his shoulder and gestured for someone to come over. Hyun-Shik turned to look and saw a waitperson approaching them.
"Would you like to have some dessert while we talk?" Ji-Eun asked him.
Hyun-Shik watched as the waitperson cleared away their plates.
"If you don't mind, Ms. Chung," he started. "Is it okay if I drink a little?"
"Please," she answered. "You can call me Ji-Eun, Mr. Song. I think I may have told you that earlier. And no, I don't mind." She turned to the waitperson. "Please get the gentleman his drink."
"Any beer, my good man." He said.
"And you, Miss?" The waitperson asked her.
"I'm driving today, so just some iced coffee for me please."
"Right away," the waitperson bowed and proceeded to get their drinks.
Ji-Eun waited until she was sure that there were no other people close before she turned her attention back to him again.
"You must have a lot of questions, Mr. Song," she said.
"Most of them were answered by the President earlier, so I don't have much," he looked at her seriously. "And you can call me Hyun-Shik too, you know."
"But you're my Senior-"
"I don't like being addressed like I'm somebody's uncle," he said. "So, it's Hyun-Shik or we're not going to get along."
She laughed lightly and he had to look away. This girl's too interesting, he thought.
"Okay," she said. "I just didn't want to be rude. You have to ask permission for these kinds of things, you know."
"Then it is given," he said casually. "I'm curious, Ji-Eun. Were there really many proposals?"
"What do you mean?"
"Marriage meetings," he said running his hand through his hair again.
She sighed, "No. Not really, my Father made it sound like there were more than my ten fingers, but honestly..." she trailed off. "There have been, I think, nine meetings...? Not that much, right? But we didn't want to be deemed high and mighty, so we attended all of them. Or should I say, I agreed to attend all of them."
"And what number am I?" In Hyun-Shik's mind, that was already a lot. And she had attended all of them? The poor girl...
"You are the ninth," she answered as she received her coffee from the waitperson who came back to deliver their drinks.
"Hmmm," he voiced out. "And you didn't find somebody who's interesting enough from those meetings?" He took his beer mug and drank slowly.
"Not until today," she answered truthfully.
Hyun-Shik put down his mug and looked at her carefully. "Ji-Eun, you should know... I'm not really looking to get married to anybody anytime soon. I just came here out of respect for the person who I was supposed to meet. I didn't know that the President came with you, nor did I have any idea that the person I was meeting was somebody important like you. Had it been a meeting with some other normal girl, I would have told the other person that I was not interested and gone. But since it was you and the President-"
"What about it?" Ji-Eun asked. "Don't you think that this is just a normal marriage meeting?"
He sighed. "Your status changes everything, you know," he said. "That my own Mother would not tell me about it earlier was just..."
She clicked her tongue, "I understand what you're saying. Status really changes the game in this situation." Ji-Eun just continued smiling at him as she sipped her coffee. "But you do remember that my Father said that you shouldn't be burdened about this?"
He nodded.
"Well, you should hear me out first," she said as she took a neat folder from her rather large, leather tote bag. "Take a look at this please."
She handed the folder to him and waited patiently for him to examine whatever documents were inside.
As he studied the documents, his eyebrows shot up in genuine surprise. Inside the folder, were a ton of business proposals, market analyses, and financial documents that aimed for the success of the Song Corp. There were collaboration meeting schedules, possible overseas ventures, and a lot more funded project information that Hyun-Shik found it hard to tear his eyes away from the words written there.
As the man in front of her studied the documents in flourish, she waited in silence, enjoying her coffee. She would glance at him from time to time when he made small, curious noises from his seat.
"Ji-Eun..." he started as he put down the documents.
"Yes?"
"These are...?"
Ji-Eun cleared her throat and answered, "Projects, action plans, and collaboration information for your company. It's a 2-year plan I created and handed over to my Father for approval about two weeks ago."
He rubbed his temple and closed his eyes, "And why would you...?"
Ji-Eun waited for him to open his eyes, so she could look at him directly, "Hyun-Shik, I gave these to my Father and told him that from a business perspective, it is possible to hold hands with your corporation to gain success in the future. Funding your corporation is easy for the Chung Group as we have a lot of help to give. It's just not your company, we have helped other groups too. And we need honest, loyal people like you."
"Isn't this contrary to the news that has been spreading throughout the country right now?" Hyun-Shik said. "The media is practically saying that Song Corp's time is up and that it would be a matter of time before we go under."
"That was before we met," she answered him.
There was silence as they thought to themselves. One, two, three minutes and the first one to give up is Hyun-Shik.
"And I suppose you want a marriage in return?" He drank his beer and asked. "What if I say no? Even with all of these?"
Ji-Eun sighed but answered. "Let me be honest. That was not my first thought. Marriage? That word scares the hell out of me. That was not what I had in mind when I gave Father these proposals." She paused for a second before, "I had used your corporation as a model for many of my draft collaborations. Imagine my surprise when my father told me that he personally knew the core owners of this corporation. So, he's the one who reached out to your parents."
Hyun-Shik sat there, surprised. But he didn't interrupt her, wanting to know more.
"And whatever talk happened between the elders, I do not know. They agreed on marriage for some strange reason. Well... It's not that strange if you think about it."
Hyun-Shik downed his drink.
"And what about you?" He asked. "What do you gain from this?"
"Besides my Father recognizing my efforts?" She smiled bitterly. "These arranged marriage meetings can finally stop."
His hand naturally tightened its grip on the beer mug.
"So, what you're saying is..."
"If by any chance you agree to this marriage," she said. "We can both benefit, I think. Our group would be helping out your business; you and your core owners finally gaining the upper hand from those who stole from you and destroyed your reputation; my business proposals being recognized within the Chung Group; and for me personally, for these crazy arranged meetings to finally stop."
He stared at her like she had grown two heads. Shit... She's not making this easy.
"It's not like we're getting together out of love, so time is also a concern here." She continued. "As what you've read earlier, my business plan is only for 2 years."
"So does that mean-"
"We can get divorced then, if we can mutually agree on it," she finished. "And we don't have to do anything we don't want to do within our marriage. You don't have to be a doting husband to me if that is something you don't want to do."
What?! He could only stare at her in surprise. He watched her calm demeanor as he struggled to think for himself in his seat.
What is this? Is this real? Why does it seem like I won the lottery, but I just picked up someone else's ticket? He wanted so badly to have another mug of beer, but the waitperson was nowhere in sight right now.
Ji-Eun waited for him to calm down as he looked a little overwhelmed. He pinched the bridge of his nose and thought for a while.
"It certainly is a deal I need to think about." He voiced out.
After a bout of silence, when the girl finally finished her coffee, she decided to break the silence.
"So, what do you think, Hyun-Shik?" She asked him gently, effectively bringing him back to the present. "Considering all we've talked about... Will you marry me?"