Coffee Fate
Why?Why did Sophie have to born into a family where business was the number one
priority and why did they have to involve her? Getting into the business aspect
and learning how the company works at sixteen was okay; she knew she would have
to run the whole thing in the future. However, six years after that, her
parents told her she would have to marry one of their business partner’s sons,
she was outraged. She could not phantom a world where she wouldn’t get to live
her life for herself and meet a decent guy she would eventually fall in love
with. No, instead she was stuck having to marry someone that she did not know,
let alone love.
“It won’t be too bad,” her mother assured her. “He’s twenty-three, only a year
older than you. Plus this will be one of our best investments yet since we are
planning on expanding to Asia where the Choi’s run the food packaging industry.
Their son, though, went to school here in New York and graduated two years
before you. Maybe you should start off with that when you two meet,” her mother
nudged, making Sophie roll her eyes.
She could not help but stare at her mother in disdain. Her newly dyed platinum
blonde hair was tied back in a pony tail and her freshly manicured nails were
tapping away on her phone as if she had not dropped the biggest news of your
life. She finalized whatever she was doing on her phone and looked over at
Sophie expectantly while giving her a cold smile and clapping her hands.
“You can leave already. I have clients who are coming to the house to sign a new
contract in 10 minutes,” her mother signaled to the door. Sophie let out a
small sigh, but grabbed her purse before following her mother’s instructions.
Since her marriage arrangement was something that was final, she couldn’t help but
want to bury herself in work her father’s office. At least work would serve as
a distraction from the impending doom that would be her life once she married
that man. Would he be attractive? Would he like the same things she did or
would he be her complete opposite and wish he had nothing to do with her? So
many questions were running through her head to the point where she didn’t
notice she was running into someone while reaching for her drink at the coffee
shop she frequented by her father’s office. Before she knew it, the drink fell
in between both of them, splashing them both in the process.
“I am so sorry! I wasn’t looking where I was going and—” she trailed off, seeing
that the man was wearing an expensive looking dark blue suit that now had
darker spots on his legs. Seeing someone with such expensive clothes only meant
that they were someone important, which meant they would probably tell her off
for being so careless.
“It’s fine. I suppose it was my fault as well.” For some reason, Sophie was expecting
someone older, with a frown on their face when she looked up. Instead, she saw
a man that was around her age, his black hair slicked back, and a small smile
adorning his face. He bent down to grab the discarded cup from the ground,
immediately grabbing some napkins from the area next to the trash can. While it
wasn’t going to do anything for the floor, Sophie was in awe looking at someone
like him cleaning up after her mess.
“I can get your dry cleaning done for you,” she tried, but he shook his head, a
laugh escaping his perfect lips. “I told you, it’s fine. I bumped into you,
too.”
Still she could not let this small incident go without doing something for this
stranger’s kindness, something you don’t often see in New York City. She
immediately kneeled down and began helping the stranger clean up the mess that
she made, which only brought out his smile again.
“I think that’s it. Still, let me tell one of the baristas the little accident
that happened,” he motioned toward the sticky residue that remained on the
floor. Sophie nodded, following him silently to the counter while he explained
what happened to the employee who looked like he would rather be anywhere else
than a busy café where a spill had just occurred.
“Let me at least pay for your drink. It’s the least I could do since I was the one
who was distracted,” she tried and he laughed, nodding in the process. “Only if
I could pay for your coffee next time we see each other.”
That idea made Sophie smile, a blush creeping up on her face. However, that’s when
everything that happened earlier that day came back to her. The arranged
marriage was something that was bound to happen any time in the near future and
this man was only making her accept her fate even harder. But why shouldn’t she
have fun while she was still not married? Being betrothed to someone she did
not know didn’t count as cheating, right? “I would love that.”
Instead of going to her father’s office, she spent the whole evening talking to the
handsome man, who she found out was named Daniel, and learned a lot about him.
Even though things were new between them, she couldn’t help but want to keep
seeing him and learn more about him like his favorite color, what he saw
himself doing five years from now, whether he was a dog or cat person, how he
liked his eggs in the morning and so on.
Things seemed to be going good between the two of them, a connection that Sophie
always imagined happening with someone, except she didn’t expect that someone
to be as good looking as Daniel. Their date, however, was interrupted by
Sophie’s father texting her, telling her that he needed he at the office ASAP.
Daniel, on the other hand, received a call and stepped away for a second to
answer it, only to return with a frown on his face.
“I’m sorry, that was work. Do you mind us picking this up another time?” he asked,
the frown almost completely gone. She couldn’t help but nod at the suggestion,
knowing that she was not going to let an opportunity such as this one pass by
so easily. “Here’s my number. Just text me when you’re free and we can set
everything up!” he smiled, messily writing his phone number on one of the
coffee shop’s napkins. She followed his lead and wrote down hers as well, only
hoping that he would text her first so it wouldn’t be too awkward, though,
things between the two of them were far from being awkward.
The two of them said their goodbyes, and Sophie couldn’t help but feel giddy over
the encounter that she had just had with Daniel while she walked the two blocks
to her father’s company. Daniel, the absolutely perfect man she couldn’t get
out of her head. She let out a dreamy sigh as she walked through the revolving
doors that led her into her father’s building. She was snapped out of her
dreamy haze the second she saw her father talking to someone she did not
recognize at the front desk.
“Yunghoon, this is my only daughter, Sophie. The heir to Go Food and to the Vanderbilt
name,” she heard her father boast as he brought her forward. She went to shake
his hand, but the man instead bowed, making her follow his lead. “It’s nice to
meet you miss Sophie. My son, Yeonjun, should be here any minute. He had to go
to my hotel to freshen up a bit,” he nodded toward her. She gave him a polite
smile and followed both men to her father’s office.
Was this really how she would meet her future husband? After having the most
amazing time with someone she could actually see herself dating? No, life
couldn’t be this cruel, especially since she has done everything she was told
to from a young age and never talked back to her parents.
“Son, there you are!” The voice of Mr. Choi snapped you out of your thoughts and you
looked up to be met with the kindest smile ever. “Sophie, this is my son,
Yeonjun, or as he goes by here in America, Daniel.”
