23 The Idea

One busy day at the office, Anton Yeong was agitated, learning that another group of men tried to get into the old gun factory. It was their biggest factory, but it was completely secured. He imagined the criminals may have thought it was an easy target, being located the farthest from the city.

Unfortunately for them, Anton had anticipated this beforehand. He had made sure the factory had more than enough men to protect it. It was fenced twenty feet high, armed with the latest security system made by his genius sister, Li Wen. There was no escaping it.

However, Anton recognized that because it was the second attempt to their factories, it meant the organization behind it was determined to get their hands on a good amount of firepower.

The worse part was, his most trusted right hand was with her sister in China. He had to be the only one making the difficult planning.

He was on the phone with one of his men when the door opened without him knowing. He frowned and looked up to find his mother, Yeong Soon.

"Oh, Anton! How are you, son?" She said while swaying her hips, walking to his table.

"Mother. I am busy."

"I can tell… You did not come home for more than a week," said Yeong Soon. "Such a horrible thing to do to your mother and father, don't you think?"

Anton shook his head. He had no choice but to end the call. He seriously gave his attention to his mother and asked, "Mother. What do you need? Why are you doing this to me? Haven't you heard from, dad? There is another attack at the old factory - "

"Oh, I heard. That's nothing that you cannot handle…. I'm not worried at all - "

"Mother?! What are you doing here?" Anton asked again, this time his voice already raised.

"Listen to me, Anton. You cannot do this to me. I am your mother after all… You are asking me what I am doing here? Well… I am bored… I'm thinking of helping you here in the office," she said while raising her hand, checking her nail polish.

"Really now, mother. You easily get bored even with work. I'm pretty sure you will end up going home after an hour," Anton said, utterly doubting Yeong's Soon's sincerity.

"Well, if you give me a grandchild soon, then I won't necessarily get bored now, would I?" She answered without looking at her son. She merely took out her compact powder and looked at herself in the mirror. "But, really, son. There is no rush. We can start by having a girlfriend."

Yeong Soon turned to Anton and gave a mischievous grin. She added, "How about it? Huh?"

Knowing his mother, Anton just proceeding to doing work while she lingered in his office. He thought she was easily tired and would leave soon enough.

"Anton, I heard Yanmei did a great job at her presentation with Kwan Land Corporation. She must really be such a reliable person," he heard his mother said, out of the blue.

Anton was back to his laptop when his mother said those words. He simply answered, "Yes, she did well."

"She is not only beautiful, she is smart and funny too!" Yeong Soon exclaimed as her eyes sparkled.

Soon began a series of Yanmei FYIs. It surprised him that his mother knew so much about Yanmei. She practically stayed in his office, merely talking about Xia Yanmei. It was as if; she was suggesting that Yanmei would be a suitable girlfriend.

However, he knew too well that Yanmei would not be interested in him. He kept telling her, "Mother. I'm telling you, Yanmei would not even look my way."

After an hour and a half, Yeong Soon already gave up. She told herself, 'There will be another day.'

She got up from her seat, yawning. She said, "Son, you are so boring. How will Yanmei ever see you romantically? You have to work harder, you know... I'll be back tomorrow. I'll go see my daughter-in-law now."

He sat back in his chair in disbelief. It was at that point that he knew his mother was not going to give up. He had to find a solution. Otherwise, Yeong Soon would continue to bother him at the office, on a daily basis, or worst, humiliate him in front of Yanmei.

What worried him the most was that Yanmei might think he would actually like her. A sudden fear crept into his mind, the thought of Yanmei avoiding him, if she ever thought that a man was interested in her.

The next day, he ordered Junsu to give him a list of ten most eligible bachelorette in the city. He was finally considering at least dating for one night, just so he can keep his mother from coming to the office for a few days.

At the top of the list was his former classmate, Hei-ran Baek. He immediately gave a sneer and said, "Yuck!"

He went to the second list and said, "Too much make-up."

Proceeding to the second one, he said, "Brainless."

To the third one, he said, "Slut."

On to the fourth one on the list, he could not help but comment, "fake, nose, fake cheeks, fake boobs… even the hair is fake!"

Down to the fifth, he said, "too vain."

Up until the last one of Junsu's list, he was disinterested. He said, "breast job gone wrong."

He let out a heavy sigh, upset with the list Junsu gave him. He stepped outside the office, agitated. He was looking for Junsu, but did not find him at all.

He went around the office and passed by some clerks, merely chatting during working hours. They were talking about a Korean drama where an heir to a company contracted a wife to receive his inheritance.

Normally, he would not give them a second to continue gossiping, but he found the concept to be interesting. As soon as he got the gist of the story, he approached the clerks and said, "Because you are being unproductive during working hours, you will be suspended for five days!"

After reporting the clerks to the Human Resource Department, he began formulating the idea of having a pretend girlfriend. At least, this way, he did not have to like the woman he was to pretend with… or have a romantic relationship.