Like A Boss (REWRITING)

일곱

Seokmin greatly apologized to Mingyu and Eunseo when the two finally came back from Jeju. He felt so bad about not knowing that Jeonghan had planned something yet again, and the inconvenience and discomfort it caused the two. Meanwhile, Jeonghan and Seungcheol kept themself hidden from Mingyu because they know they'd be punished by the younger if he ever meets them.

***

There was one day that Mingyu didn't open his shop, but only because it was a holiday and he decided to give his employees a day-off. He required them to work from Monday to Saturday for ten hours each day, and thought that they deserved to rest, too. He was a strict person, but he was also a human with a heart.

But for some reason, Eunseo came to the restaurant with the usual enthusiasm for work even on a holiday. She was dismayed to hear from Mingyu that he closed the resto that day and let everyone use it as a restday. She complained that she didn't receive any message regarding that, making Mingyu annoyed and making him check his email. But when he did, he noticed her email address wasn't included on the list of people he sent it to, and he felt guilty towards her.

He didn't say sorry, nor did he admit his mistake, but kept his cool and offered Eunseo to hang out with him. It was also his day-off and he heard from her that she didn't have anything else to do that day. He apologized and gave her his sincerest look, with a little glitter of hope in his eyes, and Eunseo agreed to him with a soft sigh (ofcourse she'd say yes to her boss). The boy kept a small smile, trying to hold in a laugh. It was times like this that he was thankful for being charmingly good-looking.

Mingyu told her to meet him at a grill place before 1pm. He let Eunseo go home to change from her uniform into more comfortable clothes. Besides, the image of his restaurant lies on that uniform, and he didn't want its good name to be ruined by rumors.

Mingyu waited outside the grill, tucking his hands in his jacket's pockets as he looked out for his employee. While waiting, his usual thoughts ran across his mind such as what recipe he should come up next or how he should improve the customer service. He remembered there was a slight increase in the number of male customers in the past two years and decided to look into that, but found out that it was Eunseo who's got them revisiting.

Eunseo wasn't very pretty, but she was better than average. She doesn't even apply a lot of make-up on her face. In fact, she somehow made his heart skip a beat back in Jeju when he watched her get ready before meeting Seungkwan, and he figured maybe there's something about her that he could put into his advantage and increase his sales.

Then a voice called his name, and the person he was thinking of just now was there, on her way towards him from the sea of people, making Mingyu feel a little nervous but excited. Seeing her smile like that at him, looking so casual and warm and friendly, made him want to keep her to himself instead. Atleast for a minute, his sales suddenly meant nothing to him, and his palms started to sweat seeing her standing infront of him.

Mingyu returned the smile Eunseo was sporting him, and led the girl into the restaurant. He tried to ignore his sweating palms and instead focused on asking Eunseo how she's been, but the girl laughed at him and reminded him that it has only been a few hours since they last saw each other. The tall lad felt his palms sweat more with the girl's laugh, and decided to cover up by explaining that they were at his favorite grill place.

Eunseo thought there must be something wrong with her boss because he had been giving her nervous laughs and he moved stiffly for some time. He said he was okay though, so Eunseo shrugged it off. They finished their meal and Mingyu was kind enough to let her split the bill with him.

***

After they had lunch together, Mingyu asked Eunseo if she could accompany him to run a few errands. The first errand was to pick up his dog from the vet, and Mingyu was relieved that Eunseo wasn't picky or allergic to pets. Mingyu had a maltese puppy he named Aji, but the dog hasn't seen him in years so he finds it difficult to tame her. Maybe Eunseo could help him with that.

They picked up Aji from the vet and took her for a walk at a nearby park, surprisingly she gets along better with Eunseo than her owner.  Mingyu wasn't impresed, he was expecting it anyway, but he sulked a little because he loved his dog very much. Eunseo taught him how to play with Aji and told him to give her treats moderately.

While they still had Aji with them, Mingyu took Eunseo with him to a hidden studio somewhere in Seoul. It was a small studio but it was secured with security cameras and a door lock system, and was also equipped with a small coffee counter and a table for four. It was complete with a sound system, dance mirrors, air-conditioning and a small room with a piano and guitars. Mingyu explained he bought the studio as a graduation gift for his younger sister who was planning to train as an idol after graduating.

At the studio, Mingyu watched Eunseo try out the piano and played a short piece of a Sistar song and a few classical ones, then grinned at Mingyu proudly. Being the competent man he is, Mingyu picked up an electric guitar and started playing a short piece of his own. Eunseo asked him to play some more and he did, letting his fingers slide against the strings. Juyeon watched him with her cat eyes, curious about the way her boss made the music sound so cool and different. It totally wasn't like him at all.

While Eunseo played with Aji infront of the dance mirrors, Mingyu inspected the small coffee counter behind them. He checked the remaining coffee beans and powders and tried to make a cup of coffee for both of them. Eunseo smelled the coffee brewing and approached her boss. He teased her that her vanilla latte tasted awful and demonstrated properly how it should be done.

Mingyu handed Eunseo her cup of latte before he told her that they should head home. It was getting dark so Mingyu agreed to drop her off at her stop. She mentioned that Seokmin usually offers her a lift and sometimes even drops her exactly at her neighborhood. Mingyu thought there must be something special going on between the two but Eunseo denied and clarified she and Chef Lee were only friends. In fact, sometimes she sees the head chef bringing a lady friend to the Avenue.

Before Mingyu let Eunseo off his car, he asked her to remind everybody to prepare for the Team Building that was coming up on the weekends. Eunseo took note of it and got off, wishing her boss a safe drive home, too. And because she had to finish the coffee that her boss made for her, she was kept up all night while she convinced herself that Mingyu wasn't so bad at all.