our trail of gold ; jeongcheol

Chapter 17

Hyori kicked off her heels as soon as she entered the main kitchen. They scattered across the tiling and her bare toes wriggled as her feet descended on the cold floor. The head chef of her restaurant stared at her in amusement, and she looked away as he grinned, leaning onto the marbled counter top.

"What's gotten into you today? Man trouble?"

"Shut it Choi." Seunghyun continued with his unmasked grin as he rinsed his hands and tore off a paper towel.

"It is then. Aren't you getting married anyway? It's probably just pre-wedding jitters. Even men get them too, you know."

"I said shut up Choi. Shut, the, fuck, up." The acid dripping on her tongue reached the chef's ears, and his smirk ran solemn when he tossed the crumpled wipe into a waste bin.

"That was uncalled for," he told her, fixing his glasses and growing interested at the onslaught of heat rushing onto the woman's exotically painted cheeks. "Which means something really is bothering you. What happened, Hyori?"

"Nothing," she muttered tiredly before sighing, dropping onto a stool and swinging her legs over. "I'm being an idiot. I'm a grown woman and yet when it comes to him, I find myself acting like a stupid child who can't even keep her mouth shut at times when things should not be said." Hyori moaned, knuckles thudding against her forehead. Seunghyun wrapped his fingers around her palm before she could slam it onto her skin once more.

"It's about Choi Seungcheol, isn't it," he said, rubbing her knuckles before letting go. Seunghyun tightened his apron and fixed the pan halfway onto the stove. "Maybe I should have been a good friend and warned you about him."

"Warned me?" Hyori looked up with wide eyes, a tremor and showcase of painful sorrow. "You knew him?"

"About him," the chef corrected, twisting the knob to ignite the stove top. "Choi Seungcheol is a well-known man. He's a cold human, Hyori. He's been a ruthless presence in the business world forever, even when he was a mere nineteen years old. These past few years, he has become even more ruthless – the perfect business tycoon and socialite. That man has no feelings." Seunghyun ladled the pan with extra virgin olive oil, before turning to the faint woman.

"Or maybe I shouldn't say that." When Hyori bit her lip, he continued. "There were rumours, about his love life. Some say that he used to be married. Used to. They say that it was his first love. No one knew much about it, except that there was someone in his life that he used to actually care about. They are rumours though, so no one has ever given them much thought."

The egg sizzled as he dropped it into the heated oil, the noise drowning Hyori's blaring trembles and thoughts. Her legs crossed and she pulled at her mini dress, the satin touching her skin as her fingers dug under.

"Do you mean to say that Seungcheol will never love me?"

Seunghyun didn't turn around, flipping the egg before answering. "I can't answer that for you, my dear. That's for you to answer for yourself. Do you truly love him? Or is it merely an infatuation? Your father set up this marriage. Can you live your life without him, Hyori? Lust and love are two different things, even if they may possess the same outer skin." The chef took a plate from a pile of neatly displayed stacks and gently slipped the egg out of the pan and onto the dainty white ware.

"Think and eat," he said, dropping the plate in front of her. "It's opening hour soon."

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