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C H A P T E R    T E N
❿

»Sometimes you fall hard on the ground and that's when you need to choose either to lie down or stand up straight.«
– Ten

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For lunch, we arrived at a posh rooftop garden restaurant, somewhere in Gangnam. I made sure to send Mark my GPS location; after all, he wanted to know every little detail about the mission.

Mark
Wtf the Seventh Sense?

Mark
Oof that restaurant is
premium AF

Mark
Is he paying? Or you?

Mark
Are u gonna drink Goût
de Diamants?

I dropped my phone back into my purse. I didn't want Mr. Nakamoto to see me texting other people while I'm with him. After all, he was more important than every other person right now.

At the entry, we were, of course, greeted by the restaurant manager who desperately wanted to shake Mr. Nakamoto's hand.

"And who may this charming young lady be? Hopefully not just a fling, Mr. Nakamoto?" He started laughing until it hit him that Mr. Nakamoto wasn't finding his brazen joke funny. Being as famous as Nakamoto Yuta, I knew he didn't encourage jokes like that. After all, all it would take for him to make a tabloid's front page would be someone, with big ears, taking this joke seriously.

Nakamoto Yuta and a new mystery woman! Are they just sneaking around or is he finally settling down?

The manager cleared his throat when he noticed his faux pas.

"This is Miss Carmen Cain and we're here to discuss business." Mr. Nakamoto smiled politely at the embarrassed manager who was clearly feeling Mr. Nakamoto's undeniable, authoritarian air.

"I see. Follow me, sir. Miss." He took us to, what was probably, his best table. The view of the Han River was breathtaking. After our waiter poured us a glass of rosé, I ordered a crab salad and Mr. Nakamoto a plate of grilled salmon.

I noticed Mr. Nakamoto's eyes gazing into mine. I knew, from a certain person who had always used to talk about it, that the natural lighting was my eye color's best friend as it enhanced the hue.

"Wow, your eyes are pretty." He swallowed and looked down as if he didn't mean to say that out loud.

"You're making me blush, Mr. Nakamoto. Thank you." Coyly, I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.

"So, I'm very curious to know more about your company, Mr. Nakamoto." I took a sip of the exquisite wine.

"I'm glad! I am very eager to tell you about it too, to be honest." He laughed wholeheartedly.

His smile and his laugh were so contagious. I caught myself feeling slightly infatuated. This man was filled with passion, and he seemed genuinely happy about his life. I just met him, and I already doubted Mark's theories about him and Nayu Corp.

I trusted my instincts, and my first impression of Mr. Nakamoto, besides being driven and passionate, was that he was good.

"When did it all start?"

"Well, an old friend of mine and I actually started almost eight years ago. We were best friends who grew up on the same street and kind of followed each other everywhere. We went to the same schools and to the same university where we both got a Ph.D. in chemical biology."

He paused as the waiter arrived with our, neatly plated, food.

"Since our teenage years, we constantly brainstormed ideas, trying to find that million dollar idea that would make a difference in the world. And then one night, we got it. We accidentally discovered a new bacterial culture. We used them to create a pollution cleaning formula, I'm sure you already heard of the perfumes, and also a plastic dissolving serum that left no chemical residue in the water after cleaning it from the plastic. It was... As if the plastic had never been there in the first place." He paused.

"To this day, it is the highlight of my life. It probably will be until the day I can finally release the anti-plastic-serum into our oceans."

He looked blissful as if the image of saving the world just flashed in front of his eyes. I couldn't help but wonder, how many times had he been practicing that story? Practicing his facial expressions to make himself seem credible to all of the sponsors? He could have been telling me the truth, but he could also, very well, be a great actor, seriously manipulative, and charismatic.

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened to your friend?" I said, knowing I might've gone too far.

"No one knows... We argued, and he disappeared afterward. I fear he might've..."

He looked down onto his plate. Once again, he was either genuinely tormented by the thought of what happened to his friend, or he could be acting, trying to disguise the fact that he had something to do with his friend's disappearance.

It would take quite the man not to be the slightest bit affected by the thought of sharing money, fame and Nobel prizes with someone else. Greed could do horrible things to a person.

"Mr. Nakamoto," the manager from before approached our table and gave us a quick apologetic look, "Sir, I'm very sorry to interrupt your business meeting, but the governor of the Bank of Korea is sitting in the restaurant inside and would like to see you for a few minutes. Only if it suits you, of course."

"Actually..." Mr. Nakamoto gave me a quick glance and sounded like he was about to reject.

"It's completely fine by me," I interfered smiling at him, "you should see him."

"Thank you very much, Miss Cain, but I can't just leave you in the middle of our appointment."

"Mr. Nakamoto," I looked him in the eyes with an honest expression, "we're talking about the governor of the Nation's bank. You shouldn't make him wait. And who knows? Maybe he feels like sponsoring your projects as well?" I winked and encouraged him to take the offer.

"I'll make it quick," he promised before he stood up from the table.

"This way, sir," I heard the manager saying, as he led the way. I used this as an opportunity to look at my phone. I was already assuming that Mark had left me a ton of new messages. And I was right. He had sent me at least 15 messages about Goût de Diamants only. About how expensive it was. And that he'd drank it only once before. And how heavenly its taste was.

All of that wasn't interesting to me. Not until I read his last seven messages that had been sent 3 minutes ago.

Mark
shit

Mark
shit

Mark
shit

Mark
cami

Mark
leave the restaurant

Mark
like

Mark
right NOW

Me
wtf why

Mark
just do as I say

Mark
make something up

Mark
you need to vanish

Mark
IMmEDiATELYyy

Mark
cAmi NOWwwwwWW

Mark
say mr nakamoto I'm
sorry I need to leave for
today but let's meet
another day i thank you
for your time and hope to
see you soon to sign our
agreement

Mark
or whateverrrr

Mark
say my dog died

Mark
or my uncle is in the hospital

Mark
just be quick

Mark
!!!!!!!!!!!!

I furrowed my brows. Why would Mark tell me to leave in the middle of the most important meeting of this mission? It could only mean two things: something had happened or something was about to happen.
And this led to the question who Mark was afraid of.
The police? Would the police storm the restaurant in a few minutes? Or maybe it wasn't about the restaurant? Maybe something happened at the headquarter?

I slowly checked my surroundings. To possibly notice something or someone suspicious. There were many guests who enjoyed their time. It was not crowded, after all, it was still early noon and it was a place that not everyone could afford. Mainly businessmen were here. But also some elder gentlemen.

I let my gaze wander over the guests' heads until I stopped at a certain table.

I couldn't see who it was since I only saw the person's back. But it was enough to tell, that the person was female.

What attracted my attention the most was the person's hair. The long platinum blonde hair fell down her back in great curls. Individual strands were dyed in pastel colors - purple, pink, turquoise. Who did she think she was? A mermaid? Who wanted to look like that in this century? Little kids maybe. But a grown-ass woman? Was she maybe an actress who ate lunch between the shootings? Or a fashion designer maybe? Those designers were famous for their crazy looks.

She was sitting at the table with a male in front of her. Probably her lover or colleague or... Taeyong?

I looked away, blinked a few times and looked back again to make sure my eyes didn't play with me. But this was him... Lee Taeyong was in the same place as me.

I felt my heart beating faster and compressing inside my chest when I looked at his table and saw him sitting comfortably, looking as expensive as usual and smiling at the mermaid woman sitting in front of him.

He was wearing a white shirt with some greyish patterns on it; a shirt whose first three buttons were open and showed a little sneak peek of his skin. He was casually wearing a dark business jacket over it, not buttoned at all. A silvery Rolex adorned his left wrist, while he put aside his menu card.

Was this the man I had loved?

It was like if his whole aura had changed completely, he seemed like a completely different person.

So, he was the reason why Mark wanted me to leave as soon as possible, and even risking to endanger the Nakamoto deal. His presence was the cause of Mark's rushed text messages: He wanted to prevent me from seeing Taeyong again.

He's not worth it. A voice in my head said.

I thought of all the pain and the sleepless nights that I had to deal with because of him.

And even if I knew that the voice in my head was right, I still couldn't keep my eyes from him.

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to be continued