Chapter 30

Chapter 29.

Perhaps the problem was that I kept thinking about him since I started work. It felt as if he had been brought right in front of me, as if to say, “Don’t just think about it, show it directly.”

Lee Jun walked to the counter with an uncomfortable expression. While he was making eye contact with Chaeheon, he heard familiar voices and knew who the others were without even looking. They, too, discovered Lee Jun and looked surprised. Then they glanced at Kim Min-cheol’s clothes before looking at Lee Jun again. It seemed they realized he worked here because their outfits were the same.

Lee Jun sighed.

“Hyung.”

Kim Min-cheol asked, picking up the menu and bill.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

Lee Jun looked at Kim Min-cheol briefly. He felt a sudden urge to assign the group of customers to Kim Min-cheol and called out, “Min-cheol.”

“Yes?”

“Never mind.”

However, Lee Jun shook his head before he could even properly explain. It wasn’t something that would be solved by simply passing it on to someone else. Moreover, unlike the others who were looking around the interior, Chaeheon kept watching Lee Jun, so there was no way to avoid him.

‘Surely he didn’t come here knowing… No, what am I thinking?’

When they drank together last time, he only mentioned working as a server, not where he worked.

“Menus, please!”

Just as Kim Min-cheol was about to move at someone’s shout, Lee Jun took the items from Kim Min-cheol’s hands.

“I’ll go.”

“Huh? Hyung?”

At this Pasta Restaurant, the staff member who brings the menus also takes charge of that table. This ensures tables aren’t mixed up, and customers feel more comfortable seeing a familiar server, allowing them to focus on their meal.

In other words, Lee Jun was effectively taking responsibility for that group of customers.

“I can do it myself, but…”

Kim Min-cheol, who had heard the murmuring of the group earlier, hesitated. From the way things were going, it seemed they knew each other, so he wondered if he shouldn’t be the one to serve them. But Lee Jun seemed to indicate it was fine, went and presented the menus. As he told them to take their time and stepped back, the gazes directed at him intensified.

Just choose your menu.

He could have stayed elsewhere and approached later, but Lee Jun didn’t bother to keep his distance. He simply stood like a mannequin, then approached and asked,

“May I take your order?”

At Lee Jun’s question, Lee Jeong-yun glanced at the others before subtly speaking.

“Lee Jun Senior.”

Lee Jun pretended not to hear Lee Jeong-yun’s call and grabbed the order pad.

“You worked here? I didn’t know you were here when I came. I made a reservation because I heard this place was famous.”

Lee Jeong-yun showed her delight at seeing Lee Jun, searching for the Pasta Restaurant on her phone to show him.

“You see my SNS post where I said I wanted to come here, right? But how did we meet like this?”

Lee Jeong-yun had a hopeful look in her eyes, not putting down her phone. While there was a distance between them when they met at school, seeing him out like this made her wonder if she could get his contact information.

However, Lee Jeong-yun’s hopes were not realized. From the moment Lee Jun approached the table, his attention was completely elsewhere.

Chaeheon’s unwavering gaze, fixed on him without a blink, constantly rattled Lee Jun’s nerves.

‘He’s going to stare a hole through my face.’

Lee Jun bit back the urge to say, ‘Stop staring so much,’ and waited patiently. Since they kept talking about other things instead of ordering, he considered telling them to think more and then stepping away, but his feet wouldn’t move. He knew he’d only have to come back anyway, so Lee Jun just waited and waited.

“One Signature Set, Crab Rosé Pasta, Vongole Aglio e Olio, Mushroom Risotto…”

It was an unexpected person who spoke up instead of Lee Jeong-yun, who was merely fiddling with her phone, lost in other thoughts. As Chaeheon listed the items one by one, Lee Jun diligently wrote them down. Once the order was mostly complete, Lee Jun resisted the urge to simply take the menus and asked his usual question.

“Anything else you’d like to order?”

“Drinks according to the number of people, and one of each type of salad, please.”

As Chaeheon leaned back in his chair, Lee Jeong-yun, catching the hint, gathered the menus and handed them over. Lee Jun replied, “Thank you,” and collected the menus.

He was about to take the last menu from in front of Chaeheon, but the menu floated in the air. Chaeheon was holding it up himself, offering it to Lee Jun. Not knowing what that meant, Lee Jun tried to take it as if it were nothing.

“!”

But with Chaeheon’s firm grip on the menu, Lee Jun looked at him. His eyes revealed no thoughts, but that didn’t work on Lee Jun. He had looked into Chaeheon’s eyes countless times by now.

He must be curious why I’m working here. But having nothing to be ashamed of, Lee Jun pulled the menu away with force. Ignoring the growing murmurs as he turned, Lee Jun walked quickly toward the kitchen. He ignored the premonition that today would be particularly challenging.

“So Lee Jun Senior works a part-time job here.”

Lee Jeong-yun said, unable to take her eyes off Lee Jun’s retreating back.

“This Pasta Restaurant was as famous for its staff as for its pasta, and it seems that staff member was Lee Jun Senior.”

“So the handsome staff member here was that senior? I came with such high expectations…”

Han Mi-jin mumbled with a deflated expression because Lee Jeong-yun had lured her friends by saying the staff here were famously handsome.

Chaeheon added a word to their conversation.

“He is, isn’t he?”

At Chaeheon’s low remark, ‘He’s handsome, isn’t he,’ Han Mi-jin let out a blatant sigh. Her face showed an aggrieved expression, as if to say she wanted someone as handsome as Lee Jun Senior, not Lee Jun Senior himself.

“What does it matter if he is? Lee Jun Senior is someone we can’t get close to…”

If Lee Jun had at least responded half-heartedly when Lee Jeong-yun spoke to him earlier, she might have held a little hope.

‘So this is where he said he was serving.’

Chaeheon watched Lee Jun diligently moving around the hall. A black shirt and black pants. It was the same uniform as the other staff, but it uniquely suited Lee Jun, as if he were wearing something special.

The shirt nicely hugged his lean back, which had little flesh. The straight line of his back and his seemingly thin waist created an elegant silhouette. His legs, stretching out below his taut buttocks in well-fitting pants, made him wonder if a uniform could be so provocative.

Seeing Chaeheon’s gaze follow Lee Jun, Lee Jeong-yun asked,

“Isn’t it strange to you too, Senior? That senior looks like a rich kid, so it’s odd that he works here. Or perhaps this Pasta Restaurant belongs to him?”

She shook her head, knowing it wasn’t true even as she spoke.

“But Senior…”

When Chaeheon turned at the sound of her calling him, Lee Jeong-yun looked at him with curious eyes.

“Is that rumor true?”

“What rumor?”

Chaeheon looked at Lee Jeong-yun but answered vaguely, his attention still entirely on Lee Jun.

“The rumor about Senior being from NK Group.”

Lee Jeong-yun’s voice trailed off, but her words had already delivered their impact, causing Chaeheon’s brow to furrow slightly. For the first time, he tore his gaze away from Lee Jun and looked at Lee Jeong-yun.

“Well, I happened to see the NK Group family tree. There’s someone with the same name as you, Senior…”

“It’s just someone with the same name.”

Chaeheon cut her off sharply. Lee Jeong-yun’s eyes widened, and Han Mi-jin also looked at Chaeheon. Even if his name was on the family tree floating around online, there was no disclosed information about it.

So, at Chaeheon’s denial, Lee Jeong-yun just nodded. It felt strange to keep pressing if it wasn’t true.

Lee Jeong-yun closed her mouth and nudged Kim Gyeong-hun in the side. Under the pressure to say something, Kim Gyeong-hun cleared his throat and spoke up.

“Hyung, still, it’s really great that we all came together like this.”

“Let’s not say things that cause misunderstandings.”

At Chaeheon’s words, spoken with his arms crossed, Kim Gyeong-hun gave an awkward, forced laugh.

“Of course, we called you, Hyung, saying we’d give you the materials. Since Lee Jun Senior doesn’t have a contact number, we only contacted Chaeheon Hyung, but…”

Kim Gyeong-hun quickly changed the subject, spotting Lee Jun approaching.

“It’s fortunate that we all managed to gather like this.”

The others seemed to know they had called him under the pretext of giving him materials, and they secretly gave signals of approval. Only one person, Chaeheon, remained displeased.

“Next time, don’t use such excuses to…”

“Risotto is served.”

“…call…”

“Pasta is served.”

“…”

“Steak is served.”

Each dish, as it arrived, interrupted Chaeheon’s words and was placed on the table. It certainly didn’t seem intentional, but Lee Jun’s soft voice had a way of cutting off people’s conversations.

“Signature Set is served.”

Chaeheon, who had already fallen silent, gazed at Lee Jun’s hand as he placed the last dish from the tray. His long, elegant hand held the dish gracefully, making it a pleasure to watch. But as all the dishes were served, Lee Jun left without looking back.