The alarm started buzzing off on the table side where Valerie was sleeping next to. She kept ignoring it and decided to put her clock inside the glass water, causing it to stop immediately.
Bryan slammed the door open and exclaimed. "Breakfast is ready!"
"Go away," she mumbled lazily on the pillow.
"Jeez. You should've gone off to bed earlier, but nope you stayed up until 2 am to write a document about them," Bryan clicked his tongue, then he walked over in front of her to pull the blanket away from her swiftly.
"Hey!" She pouted angrily as she was crouching to herself and shiver slightly at the cool air.
"Come on, get up. We've got work to do like you said," Bryan said, patting her legs and continued on to taunt. "I've made cappuccino, so if you're not going to stand up, I'll finish it myself."
Valerie bolted upright alarmingly and glared annoyingly at him, saying. "You wouldn't!!"
Bryan chuckled at her in amusement. "Haha! Gotcha!"
"Ugh. Fine. I'm up now," she said dully and stretched her arms out in relief.
An hour later had passed and the two of them were compiling each folder that contained all the background information and history of the members. Bryan was on the computer, typing the words down, whereas Valerie was telling him where the first member is currently working at.
"Are you sure it's correct?" He asked for reassurance.
"Yes," she answered with a nod as her eyes were skimming back and forth on the paper she was holding. Then, she lowered it down and said. "Seoul's Fine Dine."
"Alright. Bingo," Bryan said, smirking coolly.
Meanwhile, the restaurant was mostly full of customers where they were speaking distinctly towards each other, especially when laughter was involved. Valerie was standing outside the main entrance before walking inside the doors with little bells ringing. From there, she was taking a slow glance at how clean and modern the place was, which her mouth gaped in awe.
"Excuse me. May I help you?" A receptionist lady asked.
Valerie turned on the left side and answered. "Uh, yes. Um... Do you know, by any chance, happen to see the owner around here?"
"Mr. Kim?" She guessed.
"Yeah. You see, I'm a private detective and I need to speak with him," Valerie introduced shortly.
"Mr. Kim is in the washroom. But I would advise you to book an appointment with him since he is very busy preparing some catering services and the upcoming events," the receptionist lady stated politely.
"Okay, no problem. I'll fill out the form," she said and quickly scribbled down on the paper and handed it in.
"Thank you. Best of luck," the receptionist lady said, smiling kindly at her and bowed down.
Five minutes later, Valerie was sitting down on the small empty table that was unreserved and her eyes widened in surprise to see him.
Kim Seokjin. One of the famous chefs in Seoul was very high-skilled with cooking and further thriving his business smoothly. He made homemade delicious meals and desserts for his loved ones, even more, creative with the other food that he desires to make. He brushes his hair with the stroke of his fingertips and places his chef hat on top of his head, whereas he tied the strings of the apron around his waist. His expression remained content and professional that anyone has seen. They say that he was somewhat approachable, but is still friendly towards others.
Valerie took this opportunity and followed him to the kitchen. She began to speak out slightly when she tapped him on the shoulder. "Mr. Kim?"
"Hmm?" Jin turned around to face her and asked blankly. "Are you lost?"
"No. I'm not. My name is Valerie Nown, I'm a private detective from New York City in the US, so I was wondering if you would like to have a moment of chat with me for just about a few minutes in regards to the incident that happened at New Year's Eve party," she inquired gently.
"No," Jin replied straightforwardly as he turned his back on her, much to her shock.
"What? But-but... This is important and I want to make sure this problem-" Valerie stammered but got interrupted.
"I'm busy with cooking right now," Jin reminded firmly as he was walking down the hallway to head towards the kitchen.
"Please. This won't take long. I promise you," Valerie said desperately and continued on. "I've spoken to the Bighit CEO, Mr. Si-hyuk, about you and the rest of the guys to finally rejoin the group again just like the old times."
Jin scoffed and ridiculed her while staring dully at her, saying. "I do not wish to speak of the past and sorry to burst your bubble, but BTS is over. I'm way over that and I'm perfectly happy with my food business. As a chef, you do it with a passion or not at all. Now leave before the pot gets super hot."
"Why? Don't you want to know and find out?" Valerie encouraged.
"No. Now, please leave!" Jin insisted as he entered the room and greeted his other employees with a quick smile as they were chopping the fruits, vegetables, and meat as well as decorating the cakes.
Valerie started to cling onto his arm and said urgently. "You got to give yourself a chance to-"
Suddenly, their arms slapped the plates down onto the floor, crashing into huge pieces that made the others gasped out in astonishment.
"Oh my goodness!" Jin cried out and clenched his fists in anger as he snapped his fingers to call out. "Security!!"
"No, wait! I swear, I didn't mean to!" Valerie begged until her arms were being gripped tightly and led her out of the restaurant. Two guards narrowed their eyes at her and closed the doors in front of her face.
She held her breath and sighed with a frown while placing her hand on her forehead tiredly.
Then, she heads back into the apartment after telling Bryan about the trouble that occurred at Jin's restaurant.
"What...?" He was bewildered.
"Yeah. It's my fault that I kept pushing him and-" Valerie said guiltily.
"No, no, Val. That's not it. I mean, he actually refused to come back?" Bryan asked in puzzlement.
"I'm afraid so," Valerie said faintly and looked away.
"Hey. Don't blame yourself too much. He will probably come around. At first, I thought you guys would be figuring out the issues, but I guess not. It's understandable how busy he is, considering that he has thousands of people lining up for reservations," Bryan pointed out.
"Right. So, should we move onto the next one?" Valerie asked, putting on a hopeful smile.
"Yeah," Bryan said as he spun around to face the computer screen and both of them continued on for the search.
ns 15.158.61.23da2
