"Samantha Kim. What are you doing here?"When Samantha heard her name being called by the familiar voice, she froze. Daniel noticed her reaction, he glanced at the direction where the voice came from and he saw a man wearing a grey suit; Daniel"s gaze went back to Samantha. Slowly, she turned her head towards the man.
"Nathan." she said.
Ahhh... Nathan Yun, why did you appear so suddenly? Nathan was Samantha"s ex-boyfriend; he"s also one of Seo Joon"s good friends.. They started dating when Samantha was in the university and they were together for more than a year but Nathan broke up with her. He left the country soon after Samantha graduated. It"s been three years since and this is the first time that they saw each other again.
"It"s been a while, how are you?" Nathan Yun asked with a smile.
Samantha smiled black, "I"m good, you came back?"
"I landed just this morning actually.. I"m having dinner with my family." Nathan looked at Daniel, "this is?".
Samantha was about to answer but Daniel beat her to it and introduced himself, "I"m Daniel Cho.", Daniel extended his hand and Nathan shook it.
"I"m Nathan Yun... Cho… of Cho Corporation?" Daniel nodded. "It"s a pleasure to meet you, President Cho."
"Yes. Likewise, Doctor Yun, extend my greetings to Mayor Yun, I hope he is doing well." Daniel replied.
It seems like Daniel is well-informed. Nathan Yun"s father is Mayor Yun. He even knows Nathan is a doctor!
"I will.. Well, I"d better get going, my family"s waiting for me." Nathan said and then he turned to Samantha, "It was really nice to see you again, Samantha. You look great. We should have dinner sometime." He smiled before he turned and left.
Samantha just nodded and smiled briefly. Daniel Cho noticed her change of expression.
"Are you okay?" he tapped Samantha"s shoulder gently.
Samantha turned to face him and smiled, "Yes, I"m fine. Let"s go, I"m famished!"
Daniel Smiled back, "Let"s."
Daniel had ordered a lot of dishes and Samantha gawked at the delicious food in front of her.
Samantha covered her mouth with her hands as she exclaimed, "Woah!! Why did you order so many? And they all look so mouthwatering!" She looked like a kid in a dessert buffet and Daniel was so amused by her reaction.
"I didn"t know what you would like so I ordered different kinds, what are you waiting for? Eat.."
Samantha beamed at him and started to dig in. They enjoyed the food a lot, complimenting the dishes every now and then.
"How do you know Nathan Yun?" Daniel asked.
Samantha was reaching for tempura when she heard Daniel asking, her hand stopped very briefly and then resumed to get the food. "He and my brother were good friends since they were in high school. And... We... used to date when I was in college."
Daniel observed Samantha while she talked and when she heard that she and Nathan used to date, he felt a little... displeased. They just literally started dating and he already met his ex-boyfriend. Oh wait, that"s not right, he even met her sc.u.mbag ex-boyfriend, Andrew, too. But he can"t really do anything about it, it"s part of her past, Daniel"s just feeling a little annoyed by it, is Nathan Yun a threat to their very new relations.h.i.+p?
"Ohh... I see." Daniel answered then changed the subject, "So, Samantha, what do you do most of the time? You were telling me earlier about programming."
"Yes, I run a software company with my partner Alexander Li, he"s a software developer, he"s also a good friend of my brother." Daniel already knows about her family background so there"s no point in lying. Also, Samantha didn"t want to keep secrets about this part of her. She felt like she could trust Daniel.
"You mean, Vice President Li of Trident Company?"
Samantha smiled, "Yes. I"m a computer programmer; software engineer."
"Wow, I"m impressed. I"m dating a brilliant lady. Who would"ve known, the secretive CEO of Trident, who everyone is curious about, is right in front of me." Daniel was so proud, he beamed.
"Pssssh.. Look who"s talking, Mr. Most Eligible CEO Bachelor of M City." Samantha chuckled.
"Yikes, do they really call me that? Sounds douchey." Daniel laughed heartily.
The pair had a really good time during dinner, they got to know about each other"s interests. It was the first time in a really long time that Daniel had a relaxing conversation which wasn"t about business. He loved being impressed by Samantha. She on the other hand, surprisingly, found that Daniel was not just some rich guy; his character and personality was so much different compared to the rumors saying he"s aloof, a ruthless boss and a man who doesn"t like socializing with women. Is this Daniel Cho the same man from the rumors? "Why is he so kind towards me?", she thought
After dinner, Daniel brought Samantha home in Sapphire Gardens. It was the first time that Samantha was brought home by a man other than her family, so when they reached the gates, the guards stopped Daniel Cho"s car.
"Sir, your ID please.", said one of the guards.
Daniel took out his ID and gave it to him. When the guard saw Daniel"s name, he gaped and stuttered, "P-president Cho, apologies for not r-recognizing you."
"It"s okay, will you open the gates?" Daniel asked.
The guard felt a bit awkward for rejecting the CEO, "Well-um, the thing is.. No matter who it is, Sapphire Gardens doesn"t allow non-residential owners to enter the premises unless--" before the guard could finish his sentence, Samantha interrupted, "Excuse me," she peered outside looking at the security, "It"s okay. He"s with me."
The security guard looked at Samantha and recognized her immediately, "Oh- Ms. Kim, it"s you. I didn"t notice, I"m sorry. I"ll open the gates right away." Samantha nodded and then the gates were opened.
"Sorry about that, I don"t really have guests over apart from family. I forgot how tight the security is."
"That"s okay, it"s better this way.. at least I don"t have to worry about your safety when you"re home."
Samantha"s cheeks burned. "Errrrr.. okay. I"m touched. Shut up Samantha, calm down."
Samantha"s house was a modern designed villa. It looked cool and had lots of gla.s.s windows.
When they reached Samantha"s villa, her mom"s car was parked in the driveway.
"Are you living with someone else?" Daniel probed.
"That"s my mom"s car. Why is she here?"
They got off the car and just when they arrived at the porch, her mom came out from the house.
"Mom?"
"Samantha, honey.. you just got home?" then her mother saw Daniel, "Oh no wonder you were out so late. h.e.l.lo, Daniel." Samantha had a huge smile on her face, she looked reeeeaaaally pleased.
"It"s nice to see you again, Mrs. Kim."
"We just had dinner, mom. What are you doing here?"
"Oh I was out shopping earlier, I dropped by and brought you some supplements.. to my surprise you aren"t home, I tried calling but I couldn"t get through, Hannah doesn"t know where you were either. I got worried."
"Oops, sorry.. my battery died." Samantha said as she tapped her drained phone.
Daniel"s phone rang and he had to excuse himself; he came back right away after a minute. "I have to go, I need to fly to j.a.pan at midnight."
Worried, Samantha asked, "Is everything okay?"
Daniel"s heart warmed when he saw Samantha like this, "It"s just a little problem, but it needs my presence."
"Will... will you be.." Samantha"s stuttering, she couldn"t bring herself to ask, "will you be gone for a long time? What about me? Are we still gonna talk?"
As if Daniel had read her mind, he said, "I"ll probably stay for a week or two, don"t worry I"ll call you."
Samantha blushed, avoided his eyes and scoffed, "Who"s worried? I"m not worried.", Daniel grinned.
"I"ll see you next time, Mrs. Kim." Daniel smiled.
"Okay, take care, Daniel." Mrs. Kim replied.
"Bye, Take Care while I"m gone, Samantha." Daniel patted her head gently before he turned and left.
The mother and daughter watched as Daniel"s car left. Mrs. Kim looked at her daughter while her smile reached her ears, she"s really ecstatic right now. "Ahem. Sorry for ruining your plans tonight."
"What?" Samantha asked and then realized what her mother meant, she panicked, "Oh G.o.d, mom!! No, he just drove me home because I didn"t bring my car!"
"What? I didn"t say anything.. Why are you so nervous?" Mrs. Kim grinned.
Yeah, why so nervous Samantha?
When Daniel left, Samantha had the same feeling she had back when he didn"t join them for dinner at that restaurant. Seeing his car drive away, Samantha felt dispirited. Is she always going to feel this way in the future? She doesn"t understand why she feels this way.
After Mrs. Kim left, Samantha went up to her room and opened her laptop. There was some work stuff that she needed to finish. While she was working on her computer, she received a phone call,
"Hey Han!"
"Um, are you a friend of the owner of this phone?"
"Yes. Who is this? Why do you have her phone?"
"Your friend is drunk, can you come over and pick her up?"