Chapter 72.2

Chapter 72.2

After stuffing themselves all the way through dessert, they finally wrapped up dinner. As they stood to leave, Miran turned to Andre.

“Hey, Andre?”

“What.”

“Your last name’s de Lafayette, right? But some people call you Mr. Lafayette. Which one’s correct?”

“…They both are. And it’s de Lafayette. Not ‘Drapite’ or whatever you just said.”

“Ohhh. Deu… Lafayette. Wait! Lafayette? That sounds really familiar…”

She turned toward Seunghyuk.

“The place where you bought me that t-shirt earlier—that was on Lafayette Street, right?”

“Yeah. That’s right.”

He nodded.

Miran narrowed her eyes, looking Andre up and down, then hesitantly asked:

“You’re not… related to that Lafayette, are you? Like, your ancestor saved a whole country or something?”

“Yeah.”

He answered simply, without any further explanation.

Miran’s mouth opened slightly in surprise.

Andre’s ancestor had been one of the heroes of the American Revolution. So, saying he “saved the country” wasn’t entirely wrong. When he visited America in his later years, it became a trend to name not just streets and squares, but even mountains and rivers after him, calling it the hero’s return. If you started counting all the places named Lafayette, it would never end.

Seunghyuk tilted his head and then spoke up.

“Wait… is the Lafayette Hotel, south of Central Park, one of those places?”

Andre let out a sigh and nodded curtly. Seunghyuk’s eyes narrowed as he tried to remember more.

“Isn’t there a Lafayette–Lowell department store in Midtown too? That’s related, right?”

“Just stop there.”

Andre cut him off sharply.

At that moment, Higgins entered and informed Andre that he had a call. While Andre stepped away, Seunghyuk awkwardly turned to Miran, offering a sheepish smile.

“Honestly, your first impression was so… intense that I was worried something might be wrong, so I came along. I guess I was just sticking my nose where it didn’t belong. Sorry for interrupting your reunion dinner.”

Miran waved her hand, looking flustered.

“That’s not it! And… I’m sorry. Andre’s a little blunt and to the point when he speaks in Korean.”

“Why are you apologizing for that? And it’s not just because it’s Korean, I think it’s just his way of speaking. He’s like that in English too.”

Seunghyuk smirked, teasing her a little.

Miran sighed. Truth be told, she had felt the same way.

“Thanks to you, though, I got an interesting experience. It’s not every day you get invited to a dinner like this, with both a butler and a chef. I’ve got a few friends who are grandsons of conglomerate CEOs, so it’s not like I’ve never been to a chaebol family’s house, but there’s something different about him. The whole ‘de’ before his last name and everything.”

Miran had assumed Andre’s neat appearance and proper manners were because he had a military background. She never would have imagined that the guy who once shared a cramped rooftop room and slept on a narrow bed with her was the type to live in a place like this.

She had once handed him 30,000 won and suggested they practice a script together. He had mentioned returning to New York to help with family matters, and she had heard stories about his mother’s small shop. Her earlobes warmed at the memory.

“Does having ‘de’ before your last name mean something special?”

“It’s added to the names of French nobility,” Andre replied, as if it were obvious.

Miran’s eyes widened.

“Like, counts and that sort of thing? I remember watching The Rose of Versailles and they showed how, during the French Revolution, they chopped off all the nobles’ heads at the guillotine. Marie Antoinette had her head chopped off too. Do they still have nobility in France?”

Seunghyuk burst out laughing.

“Do you think they killed them all? I’m sure there are plenty of nobles who didn’t get their heads chopped off. You should ask one of them next time. I’m sure they’ll answer you.”

When Andre returned from his phone call, Seunghyuk stood up and extended his hand for a handshake.

“I should be heading out now. Thank you for the dinner invitation.”

They exchanged a brief handshake before Seunghyuk turned to Miran and nodded.

“Let’s go, Miran. It’s late, so I’ll take you back.”

The thought of heading back to the dorm alone at night had made her uneasy. She was relieved and immediately got up.

“Sit down.”

Andre’s firm voice stopped her, and Miran instinctively plopped back down, only to awkwardly stand up again.

“The subway’s too crowded. I still can’t ride it alone. If I go with Seunghyuk now—”

He looked at her as if she were saying something foolish and furrowed his brows.

“I’ll take you home.”