The name "Avenue 46" had been very memorable to Eunseo for a lot of reasons. Avenue 46 was a place she had called home for the past 2 years. She had come to work at the restaurant after she had graduated highschool at 18, instead of pursuing a degree in college. But she had a reason to do so; apparently when she graduated, her mother fell ill and they had to use the money they had saved up for her college to pay for the hospital bills and other dues. Infact, they still had some debt left, and it forced Eunseo to find a job in her age just to pay for them.
Avenue 46 wasn't as small of a business as it looks. In fact, the restaurant currently has four branches - one in Seoul where Eunseo works at, one in Anyang, another in Shenzhen, China, and the fourth currently being built in Anshan (also in China). Avenue 46 was famous for its unique menu which its CEO personally came up with. The restuarant's CEO is another factor for its popularity because he was able to establish such a successful business in the age of 18.
Eunseo was inspired by this CEO by helping her dream that in her age she could come up with something life-changing as well, just like he did when he built Avenue 46. The only problem is that Eunseo had never, in her 2 years of working at the restaurant, ever saw the CEO in person.
Eunseo has done quite well working in the restaurant as a waitress and sometimes as a cashier. She had quite the good looks even in the uniform, was good with people, and had a bright, friendly personality that actually made her popular among some customers. She was proud that she was able to help Avenue 46 gain patrons, even if some of them visited its branch in Seoul only to come see her.
***
The day Eunseo met the famous CEO was like any other day. She arrived at the restaurant on time and neatly put on her uniform. Like she always does, she puts on a pretty smile as she greets the customers that enter the restaurant. It would've been one of those good, happy days until this tall man in a white dress shirt and sunglasses entered. Just at first glance, Eunseo didn't like him but convinced herself that she needs to get her job done right. She approached the man, greeted him and asked how many seats he needs. He looked at her, glanced at his friends, and answered her.
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"What if I told you I needed ten, even if we were only three? Shouldn't you atleast be suggesting available seats that would be comfortable for us?"
Eunseo froze for a second at his remark before apologizing and leading the man's group to a booth. Before she left them to come up with their order, the man pointed out that she wasn't wearing the uniform right or whatever it is that caught his attention. If it wasn't for his friends, he wouldn't stop nagging at Eunseo for every litte thing.
"Come on, Gyu. Don't pick on the girl. I know you're tired from the flight but she's still your employee. Be nice." said his friend.
"Yeah, Seungcheol's right. This is why you never get a girlfriend." commented the other with longer hair and an angelic face.
"Mwo? What was that, Jeonghan hyung?" the guy in sunglasses said as he removed his Ray-Ban.
"Hey, uh, Eunseo is it? We'll have tonkatsu please, two of those, and one chocolate bingsu for your boss over here."
"Actually, no, don't get me a bingsu. Just call Chef Lee for me instead. Thank you."
Eunseo took down their order and headed to the kitchen to call Chef Lee. Chef Lee Seokmin was the head chef of the Seoul branch and was quite friendly. He was one of those who befriended Eunseo on her first day of work at the Avenue, and in two years they became close considering their ages weren't so far apart.
When Chef Lee heard from Eunseo that somebody called "Gyu" was looking for him, he knew right away who it was and had a grin crawl up on his face. Eunseo said it was creepy and received a chuckle from the head chef before he prepared Jeonghan and Seungcheol's orders. He purposely wanted to make Gyu wait, and went out only when he was to serve the tonkatsus himself.
While Chef Lee exchanged friendly greetings with the "Gyu" person and his friends, Eunseo overheard the other chefs gossiping about the visitors. One of them was certain that this "Gyu" person was none other than Avenue's CEO, Kim Mingyu, who must have returned from his business trip in China. Eunseo shared her bad impressions from earlier and couldn't believe that a CEO could treat his employee like that. She knows she may have had a fault, but it wasn't right to pour his stress on her.
Mingyu soon left with Seungcheol and Jeonghan, and Chef Lee returned to the kitchen. The Seoul branch closed and Chef Lee offered to give Eunseo a lift home. While he drove, Chef Lee, or now called on his preference as Seokmin, shared to Eunseo a bit of his take on Kim Mingyu.
He and Mingyu were good friends from culinary school where they met. They were both born on the same year and so it made them same-aged friends who shared great interest in culinary arts. Seokmin admired Mingyu's dream and helped him start Avenue 46 while at school. He had watched Mingyu achieve his dream and he had been entrusted to look after the first branch (Seoul) when Mingyu decided to expand. They haven't seen each other much in two years, and it was great news to find out Mingyu succeeded yet again in building his second Chinese branch.
Seokmin heard about what happened earlier with Eunseo and Mingyu, and asked her how her first impression of the CEO was. Knowing he was a close friend of the CEO, Eunseo couldn't bluntly answer him. It was silent in the car for some time, as Seokmin waited for Eunseo's witty answer.
"He would've been cute, if he didn't have such a bad temper." Eunseo pouted and let her eyebrows knot slightly as she looked outside.
"Oh. Well, I think his temper is just a facade." Seokmin chuckled. "Cute, huh?"
"B-But it's not like that means anything! The waitresses and cooks said so, too."
"Right. Oh, look, here's your neighborhood."
Seokmin dropped her off and Eunseo arrived home safely. She slipped into her pajamas and crawled to bed, not forgetting to call her mom and tell her what unbelievably happened today at the Avenue, before turning in for the night.
