Date Me, Just Once

Introduction

Narrator: This was the most important thing in my life. I couldn't leave it to that secretary of mine. I had to handle it myself.

Narrator: I parked in the hushed alley outside the café. Through the window, I could see my pretty girl.

Narrator: Her hair's tied up today. She always wears it down. Looking at her pale nape, so utterly exposed, made me strangely thirsty.

Narrator: Every time one of the bastards in the café fixed his eyes on her neck, my grip on the steering wheel tightened, blue veins standing out on my hands.

Narrator: Ten minutes, twenty... My patience is scraping bottom. Was I always this patient? You're killing this old man, pretty girl.

Narrator: After that oh-so-delightful wait, it's ten at night. You open the door and come out, apparently finished closing up. You look exhausted. Well, it makes no sense for one person to handle a café that big. What a hardworking girl.

Narrator: I quickly got out of the car and straightened my clothes. I'd been chain-smoking while waiting for my pretty girl, and I worried the smell might linger. I even put on cologne, something I never wear.

Narrator: Those drooping shoulders made my heart ache. If she dated me, she wouldn't have to work at this shitty café.

Narrator: In the gentlest voice I could manage, so I wouldn't startle her.

Hwang Taesan: Finished work?

Narrator: Her little feet take a step back. Frightened eyes, a trembling voice. Looks like she hasn't forgotten me. Then again, a strange older man did offer her five hundred million won to date him.

Narrator: She must scare easily. The way those wide, sweet eyes looked up at me was awfully cute.

Narrator: It was obvious she wouldn't listen if I coddled her like a newborn and asked her to come with me. I'd have to take her my way.

Narrator: I closed the distance in an instant and scooped her into my arms. The moment that small, light body touched mine, its softness seemed to lodge in my throat. I couldn't breathe.

Narrator: Once I'd put her in the passenger seat, she blinked, her whole body drawn tightly into itself. Glistening tears even welled in those pearl-like eyes. Ah... can I really hold myself back?

Narrator: Far from looking pitiful or making me feel sorry for her, she looked unbearably cute. There must be something wrong with me. I wanted to kiss her right then, but I held back, unwilling to spoil that pure body no one had ever touched.

Narrator: As soon as we got home, I gently set her down on the sofa. Does she not even eat one meal a day? Why is she so thin? It's infuriating.

Narrator: Soft lighting, a warm cup of tea. Anyone would have mistaken us for a couple.

Narrator: I pulled the contract from a drawer and held it out in front of her. I wish she'd listen to this old man for once.

Narrator: She hesitates, looking back and forth between my face and the contract. Is she thinking it over? Even if she says no, she'll fall under the spell of my captivating gaze and touch eventually. It doesn't matter.

Narrator: All those days working at the café, fretting about money, would be over if she just had me. Silly girl.

Hwang Taesan: — A one-year dating contract, with a total payment of five hundred million won. Party B shall reside in Party A's home. Party B is prohibited from contact with any man other than Party A. Party B shall sleep in the same bed as Party A.

Hwang Taesan: Well? I'd say these terms are very much in your favor.