Chapter 11: Feeling Dispirited

"Samantha Kim, what are you doing here?"

Samantha froze when her name was called by a familiar voice. When Daniel noticed her reaction, he glanced at the direction where the voice came from and saw a man wearing a grey suit walking towards them.

Slowly, she turned around and said his name, "Nathan."

Nathan Yun was Samantha's ex-boyfriend who was also one of Seo Joon's good friends. He and Samantha used to date for more than a year when she was still in the university until he broke up with her. He left the country soon after Samantha graduated three years ago and this was the first time that they saw each other again since.

"It's been a while... how are you?" Nathan asked in a gentle tone and a smile formed on his face.

Samantha thought it was weird to meet her ex while she was with Daniel that night. Tentatively, she smiled back at him, "I'm good. You came back?"

"I landed just this morning actually and I'm having dinner with my family," he answered before he looked at Daniel who was standing next to her, "This is?"

She was about to answer but Daniel beat her to it and introduced himself, "I'm Daniel Cho." He said, extending his hand forward and Nathan shook it.

"Nathan Yun. Cho… of Cho Corporation?" 

Daniel answered with a slight nod.

"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."

Samantha was surprised to see the two men in front of her. It seemed like Daniel was well-informed. He knew that Nathan's father was the Mayor. Not only that, he even knew Nathan was a doctor!

"I will. I'd better get going. My family's waiting for me." Nathan turned to Samantha and said, "It was really nice to see you again, Samantha. You look great. We should have dinner sometime."

She nodded and watched Nathan walk away. She sighed, thinking that their encounter for the first time after three years was okay.

Noticing the change in her expression, Daniel tapped her shoulder gently. "Are you okay?"

She snapped out of her trance and turned to him with a smile on her face, "Yes, I'm fine. Let's go, I'm famished!"

...

Daniel had ordered a lot of dishes filling the table with different kinds of food. Samantha gawked at the sight in front of her. 'Are we expecting guests? or does he think I can finish all of these?'

She covered her mouth with her hands and exclaimed, "Oh my gosh! Why did you order so many? And they all look so mouthwatering!" She looked like a kid in a dessert buffet when her smile reached her ears and Daniel was so amused by her reaction. He thought it was cute to see her so happy because of food.

"I didn't know what you like so I just ordered randomly."

She beamed at him and started to dig in. The two of them enjoyed the food a lot, complimenting the dishes every now and then.

"How do you know Nathan Yun?" he asked.

She was reaching for tempura when she heard him ask, 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 while she talked and when he heard that she and Nathan used to date, he felt a little displeased. They literally just started dating and he already met his ex-boyfriend.

He sighed inwardly when he recalled that he had actually met her scumbag ex-boyfriend Andrew too. But there was nothing that he could about it because they're already part of her past.

Feeling a little annoyed by it, Daniel wondered if Nathan Yun was a threat to their very new relationship.

"Oh... I see. So... Samantha, what do you do most of the time? You told me earlier about programming."

"Yes, I run a software company with my partner Alexander Li. He's a software developer and he's also a good friend of my brother." Daniel already knew about her family background so there was no point in lying. Also, Samantha didn't want to keep secrets about this part of her as she felt that she could trust Daniel despite having only met him a few times.

"You mean... Vice President Li of Trident Company?"

"Yes, I'm a computer programmer — a software engineer."

Daniel raised his brows in surprise, "Wow, I'm impressed. I'm dating a brilliant lady. Who would've known that the secretive CEO of Trident... whom everyone is curious about is right in front of me?" He beamed.

Samantha scoffed playfully, "Look who's talking... Mr. Most Eligible CEO Bachelor of City M." She chuckled, showing her pearly whites.

"Do they really call me that? Sounds douchey." Daniel laughed heartily. He had heard a lot of other nicknames for him from other people before and all of them were quite ridiculous for him.

The pair had a really good time during dinner as 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 and she, on the other hand, surprisingly found that Daniel was not just some rich guy.

His character and personality were 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 wondered.

After dinner, Daniel brought Samantha home to 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."

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Daniel took out his ID card and gave it to him. When the guard saw his name, he gaped and stuttered, "P-president Cho, apologies for not r-recognizing you."

"It's okay. Will you open the gates?"

"Well… um, the thing is... No matter who it is, Sapphire Gardens doesn't allow non-residential owners to enter the premises unless–" The guard felt a bit awkward for rejecting the CEO but before he 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 recognized her immediately. "Oh, Ms. Kim, it's you. I didn't notice, I'm sorry. I'll open the gates right away." 

"Sorry about that. I don't really have guests over apart from my 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 at home."

Samantha's cheeks burned upon hearing his words. 'Errrrr.. okay. I'm touched. Shut up Samantha, calm down,' she told herself.

The house was a modern designed villa painted in white and dark grey colors. It looked refreshingly cool and had lots of tall glass windows around the house.

There was a car parked in her driveway when Daniel's car came to a stop.

"Are you living with someone else?" Daniel probed.

"That's my mom's. Why is she here?" Her brows knitted together. 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?" Mother Kim then noticed Daniel just behind her. "Oh, no wonder you were out so late. Hello, Daniel!" She had a huge smile on her face and she looked extremely pleased to see him.

He shook hands with hers. "It's nice to see you again, Mrs. Kim."

"We just had dinner, mom. What are you doing here?" Samantha asked.

"Oh, I was out shopping earlier. I dropped by and brought you some supplements but to my surprise, you weren't home. I tried calling but I couldn't get through and Hannah didn't know where you were either... I got worried."

"Oops. Sorry, mom! My battery died." She waved her drained phone in the air.

Daniel's phone suddenly rang, interrupting their conversation. He excused himself for a while and then came back soon after, "I'm afraid I have to go. I need to fly to Japan at midnight."

She checked the time on her watch and got worried. "Is everything okay?"

His heart warmed when he saw Samantha's expression. The little crease between her brows was cute. "It's just a little problem but it needs my presence."

"Will... will you be..." She couldn't bring herself to ask the questions in her head, 'Will you be gone for a long time? What about me? Are we still gonna talk?' 

She honestly didn't know why she was suddenly so worried about not being able to contact him. 'Why does it even matter, Samantha? You just started going out!' she scolded herself.

As if Daniel had read her mind, he told her, "I'll probably stay for a week or two. Don't worry I'll call you."

A blush crept on Samantha's cheeks and she had to avoid his gaze. "Who's worried? I'm not worried." She scoffed, making Daniel grin in amusement.

"I'll see you next time, Mrs. Kim," Daniel smiled at her.

"Okay, take care, Daniel!"

"Take care while I'm gone, Samantha." Daniel gently caressed her cheek before he turned and left.

The mother and daughter watched as his car drove away. Mother Kim looked at her daughter and her smile reached her ears — she was really ecstatic as she cleared her throat and said, "Sorry for ruining your plans tonight."

"What?" Samantha was surprised when she realized what her mother meant and she panicked. "Oh God, 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 mused.

'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, she felt dispirited. Was she always going to feel this way in the future? She didn't understand why she felt that way. It was too soon.

...

When her mother left, she went up to her room and opened her laptop to finish some tasks. While she was working on her computer, her cellphone rang and she saw her best friend calling.

"Hey, Han!" 

"Um... are you a friend of the owner of this phone?" A man's voice startled Samantha.

Confused as to who it was on the other line, Samantha asked, "Yes. Who is this? Why do you have her phone?"

"Your friend is drunk, can you come over and pick her up?"

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