Pygmalion

The inside of the restaurant was elegant. Each table had lit candles and the waitress in her clean uniform left two menus and poured water before leaving. When they were finally alone, Sukyung lowered her voice and asked, 

“You must come here often.”

“That’s why I said you need to look good tonight.”

Sungwoo looked at his menu as he replied uninterestedly. Trying not to look nervous and out of place, Sukyung looked down at her menu too. Unfortunately, she had difficulty reading it.

The menu was both in Korean and English, yet she didn’t recognize at least half the things listed. Spaghetti primavera? She knew what spaghetti was, but what was primavera? And what was gnocchi? Fettuccine Alfredo? There were even brief explanations below the names, but she still couldn’t understand what they were. 

On top of that, the prices were outrageous! She never bought a dish that was over 10 dollars in her entire life. Sukyung didn’t really like spaghetti either. She ate it a total of three times in her life, but every time, she felt like it was a waste of money. She could just have noodles and soup at home at a much cheaper price. She always found spaghetti noodles too hard and the sauce too rich. 

Closing the menu, Sungwoo announced,

“I’m gonna have steak. What about you?”

Sukyung quickly scanned the menu to find the steak. Steak, steak, steak… OMG, it was 35 dollars! Well, it made sense since whenever she saw steak meat in the grocery store, it was very pricy. But even so… This was too expensive! 

It was Sungwoo who dragged her here, but he was basically her teacher. This meant Sukyung should treat him tonight, and she felt the prices here were too expensive. But… she supposed she had no other choice. 

Sukyung murmured,

“I… I’ll have this. Italian seafood platter.”

It was the cheapest item on the menu after soup and desserts. She pretended that she picked it because she really wanted it, but Sungwoo looked at her suspiciously. He scanned his own menu before asking,

“Italian seafood platter? I don’t see it. Where is it?”

“Umm… Here. Under a-pi-tee-zer.”

“It’s pronounced appetizer.”

Sukyung blushed. She shouldn’t have read it if she didn’t know what it was. She was just glad no one else was around them to hear her mistake. Sungwoo prodded,

“You’re only going to order an appetizer? What about your main course? Are you on a diet?”

“I’m fine with just this dish…”

What was an appetizer? Was it not food? Sukyung tried hard to figure out what it meant, but she kept her face looking relaxed. Sungwoo studied her face a little while before looking through the menu again. Then, he raised his hand to call for the waitress. 

Sungwoo ordered, 

“I’ll have the steak. She isn’t very hungry, so she’ll have a full course of seafood mix. Oh, and please get us a bottle of chianti.”

What? Sukyung’s eyes widened. She didn’t order a full course of anything! Secretly glancing at Sungwoo and the waitress, Sukyung looked through the menu again. Under the course meal, she saw the seafood full course, and it was… 55 dollars! When she gasped in shock, the waitress looked at her in confusion before quickly looking away. 

The waitress asked Sukyung,

“What kind of soup would you like?”

Soup? But she didn’t order any soup! Ah, it must’ve been included in the course meal. So what should she pick? When Sukyung looked at Sungwoo in confusion, Sungwoo turned toward the waitress and asked,

“What do you have?”

“Tonight, we have the asparagus or the crab meat soup.”

Sukyung didn’t know what asparagus was, and she didn’t want to eat something she didn’t know. She wasn’t a very brave and adventurous girl. So she quickly replied,

“I’ll have the crab meat soup.”

Sungwoo nodded and added,

“Then I’ll have the asparagus soup. And I would like my steak to be medium rare. Please bring our food quickly. I’m starving.”

The waitress bowed and left with the menus. Sukyung thought nervously. Her food was going to cost 55 dollars, and she suspected that with the wine, Sungwoo’s food would cost about the same. That meant she was going to have to spend over 100 dollars tonight. 

Sukyung couldn’t even sigh. It was true she was spending ten thousand dollars on her new look, but it included clothes and all. But food… Once they ate it, it was going to just disappear!

But… Considering what Sungwoo has done for her so far, Sukyung felt like she needed to do this. By now, he already gave her over 20 outfits. He also gave her many shoes and accessories. Oh, he even bought her underwear. Sungwoo essentially gave her a whole new wardrobe. 

And his lessons were amazing. So all in all, she couldn’t be stingy. Sungwoo definitely deserved to eat a 55 dollar meal. Sukyung has worked long enough in an office that this kind of food was normal for high class people. 

Sukyung was looking around the restaurant with interest when suddenly, she spotted a famous actress she saw on TV sitting at a nearby table.