Lost Identity

Chapter 2

Jiho asked, “Do you think we are a boyband?”, to which she indifferently answered, “I just addressed you. You may look like one, but you can never be one”. She then asks him to help him and so he tells her to ring the bell on the dining table to call everyone down. She also helped him with serving the food. After they settled around the table, she took her plate and prepared to sit at the side table in the kitchen. Jiho immediately calls out to her, “You are our guest for tonight, and so you will sit at the same table as us. Come on!”. Levi calls her to sit beside him. As they start eating, Levi notices the tattoos on her hands. Levi seemed rather excited seeing them and also complimented her. While Jishin was a bit startled and asked her out of curiosity, “What do they mean exactly?”. She paused for a while thinking of a reason and said, “A friend of mine is a tattoo artist. He did all of these, said they’d look good on me…. I like them”.  Jishin was a bit confused and doubtful of her answer but didn’t speak any further. Joanne was delighted by the food and complimented Jiho. Levi, “Obviously! He's one of the best chefs in Korea!” Joanne was clearly surprised, “Wow!”. She then asked to do the dishes, to which Jiho refused. But she said sincerely, “A great chef like you cooked for me! Let me at least repay you somehow”. Levi offers to help her too. While doing the dishes, Levi softly says to her, “Can we talk?”. Her, “Yeah sure, what’s up?”. He said, “Not here. Let's go up to the terrace after this”. They came up with two cans of beer. Joanne (relaxed), “It’s so nice and refreshing up here!”. He was looking up at the sky, “Yeah, it is…..(suddenly turns toward her in curiosity) What was your life like before coming here?”. She was lost in her thoughts and answered absent-mindedly, “I was a bartender”. Him, “And your family?”. She was staring at the sky and said, “My mom is a chef in a restaurant, and my dad…..well he's dead”. Levi suddenly felt sad hearing that and, looking down, said, “I’m so sorry”. She immediately returned to her senses and said, looking at him, “Don’t be, it’s been a while now”. He spoke with a melancholic expression on his face, “You know, I’ve never seen my parents. But I’m not sad at all about that. (Smiling) In fact, I’m happy my brother took care of me more than ever!”. Joanne pats him on the shoulder and says, “You’re lucky!”. He (pouting), “Yeah, but I also wanted a sister too….(suddenly realising and turned towards her) Hey! You could be my sister! Wait, how old are you?” (with expectations in his eyes). Joanne was a bit speechless and then awkwardly said, “26…. Why?”. His eyes grew big and sparkly, “Wow! I’m 19. Then you’ll be my big sis!”. He was utterly excited. While she was cut off guard and couldn’t come up with a solution, she said , “You shouldn’t call me that though”. Levi's gaze suddenly turned to that of a responsible man and he said firmly, “Why not? What’s wrong with it?”. Joanne said, “I’ll be your keeper. It’ll be awkward to be called that by one of the masters of the house” (smiling awkwardly). He said with a straight face and crossing his arms around his chest, “I don’t care”. She was trying hard to think of a way to convince him otherwise and said, “But still! You shouldn’t! Please don’t” (puppy eyes). Seeing her pleading like that, he thought for a while, sighed and said, “Fine, I won’t! But only when we are not alone” (winked at her). She was moved by this kid's wits, “You little! (Pouting)”. He burst out laughing. He then suddenly turns serious and says to her in a concerning tone, “Hey, be careful when you are alone with anyone of them. And avoid any contradictions. I know, not everyone is a gentleman”.  Joanne thanked him thoughtfully. Right then, they are interrupted by Park Lucifer (Accountant/Arms Dealer), “Am I interrupting you two love birds?”