Pardon Me!?

Chapter 2

Today's been a shitty day, Kallisto can't help but think, which is an impressive feat considering it's barely eleven am.

It started at the board meeting. Ever since Kallisto began working at his family's company, he's gradually been taking on more and more work in preparation for the company one day being his. However, his stepmother has never been too pleased that her son wasn't the one to be taking over the company when Kallisto's father retired... or died - Kallisto isn't too picky, whichever came first.

He arrived at the board meeting right on time, only to find his bratty, infantile half-brother sitting in his seat, conducting the meeting as if he was going to be the next CEO of Eorka Enterprises, his bitch of a mother sitting right next to him and the demon that spawned her sitting just a few seats down the table, suffice to say Kallisto was filled with rage at the mere sight of those three, who thought they were entitled to everything Kallisto had slaved for, for years.

After the absolute shit show that was that meeting, Kallisto had been too irritable and distracted to focus on work - something that rarely happened - and decided to go get a coffee or something from the nearby cafe that his secretary Cedric often frequented.

With that in mind, he left his office. He couldn't quite remember the cafe's name but was pretty sure it had the word dragon in it.

-----

Kallisto was just down the block from a quaint little cafe named The Dragon's Hoard, which must be what he was looking for. When his cell rang. He sighed as 'Shake It Off' - which he had jokingly set as Cedric's ringtone years ago and never got around to changing - started playing. He was tempted to ignore it, but Cedric was a persistent bastard, which ironically was one of the reasons Kallisto hired him.

He pressed the accept call button and was immediately greeted by a flood of barely coherent words from his assistant demanding, "Where did you go!? Do you know how panicked I was to go into your office and find it empty? How stressed I was to find you gone? No, of course, you don't. What do you care if I go grey before my time. I can feel my hair greying by the second."

"Cedric," he sternly cut in, "Stop being so dramatic. I just stepped out for a moment."

"Dramatic!? I'm the dramatic one? Me? No, if anyone's the dramatic one, it's you. And you'd better be back ASAP. If you're not, I'll use the tracker on your phone to hunt you down and drag you back here myself."

"Fine," Kallisto said as he walked past the cafe windows, "I'll be back in twenty."

"Twenty? Yo-" The rest of what Cedric had to say was cut off as Kallisto hung up on him.

He pushed open the coffee shop door. It was practically deserted besides the gray-haired man working behind the counter and the pair of strange women talking - if it could even be called that, from the loud, panicked way one of the girls was speaking - in a foreign language, Korean he recognized.

After placing his order - with nothing better to do - he idly listened in on their conversation.

"-checking him out as he walked by the window." The girl with brightly dyed hair said.

"I was not!"

"You totally were! You know it's not often you're interested in live men."

A slightly shocked laugh that vaguely sounded like a cough burst out of him. What on earth were these two talking about?

"What!? Don't say stuff like that! You make me sound like some freak. You know, becoming an archeologist is my dream." The black-haired girl vehemently refuted.

By now, the barista was finished making his drink, setting it silently down on the counter - the two continued on with their conversation, unaware of him listening.

"-broken pots that, human remains. Blah, blah, blah. You know I'm far more interested in romance, and if you don't ask him out, I will."

Kallisto could only assume from how the magenta-haired girl kept glancing over at him and the context of 'walking by the window' from earlier that he was the 'him' in question that these girls were talking about. Kallisto had made eye contact with the dark-haired through the window before she blushed and looked away. She was rather cute.

It was decided then. Kallisto was going to approach them.

"Well-" The magenta-haired girl starts her response. Kallisto clears his throat. Two pairs of eyes turn towards him.

"I'm sorry, but I'll have to refuse your offer," He starts in Korean, looking at the magenta-haired girl, "Your friend, on the other hand," Kallisto grins, turning his head to look at the dark-haired girl, "What do you say, princess; would you like to go on a date?"

"I-I..." she stutters. Before her friend interjects, "She'd love to! Give me your phone, and I'll put her number in." Holding her hand out.

Kallisto quickly unlocks his cell, opening the phone app, before passing it to the girl.

"Do I get a say in this?" She asks.

"No." Kallisto and the other girl say as she hands him his phone back.

With the phone still unlocked, Kallisto sees a text alert from Cedric that appears at the top of the screen, reminding him he needs to get back to the office. "I'll text you later, princess." He says, winking as he leaves.

Maybe today wasn't such a shitty day after all.