Mr Love: Dream Date Chap 4 Memory and Taste

To unlock chapter four, you will need to hit level 13. Spoilers ahead!

You had another dream. It was also one about your childhood, of the young boy who had saved you and your hunt for him which led you to a house and the sweet smell of caramel.

Your efforts went back to the business proposal you needed to prepare to pass the LFG investment committee in order to secure the funding to keep your studio and Miracle Finder alive. Failing to hire a consultant, you decided to ask Victor for help. He gave you some pointers on how to approach the preparation of the proposal as well as offered to personally review your proposal one week later.

At the company’s strategy meeting, you and your colleagues agreed that the best way to showcase the potential of your company was to develop your own online TV show that took on a unique perspective about common topics. Food was the topic you decided to focus on which brought back memories of the restaurant Souvenir which Kiro had touted about. You went on to research about the place but there wasn’t much information about the place save for some comments about the great quality of food but lousy service. Nevertheless you decided to check it out. Lucien dropped you a call to remind you to rest well and you took the opportunity to ask him for food joint recommendations. He gave you one which he has heard from his colleagues but otherwise not someone who is a foodie.

After scouting Souvenir for several days and finding it closed each time, you finally chanced upon an elderly man opening the place. In your eagerness and probably a bit of desperation, you quickly introduced yourself and asked if you could produce a show about Souvenir. The elderly man named Mr Mills was taken aback and said he would check with the owner of Souvenir. He returned in a while and told you that the owner had rejected the suggestion and had also asked you to leave since you had no interest in the food. I have to agree that you were rather rude and forthcoming in your request. How would you know that Souvenir was worth filming without trying out the food first and understanding its backstory?

Outside the restaurant and fuming over being rudely thrown out, you received a call from Gavin. He heard the fluster in your voice and asked if everything was okay. Though you tried to hide it from him, he pestered you into telling him. You told him about being kicked out of the restaurant. He offered to come and try and get you in or failing which recommend you another food joint for your show. You thanked him for the offer but told him to focus on his work and you would try your best to resolve the issue yourself.

Not too soon after, Kiro appeared before you. He had rushed over to join you for a meal at Souvenir after you told him it was open. Without waiting to hear your explanation, Kiro dragged you back into the restaurant and managed to convince the owner to allow both of you to at least try the food. Kiro’s magic at work here and you were finally allowed to dine here. The other thing that struck me with Kiro was that he loved good food and would often share his recommendations with you. Kiro is turning out to be a great hang out buddy.

Turns out that the food at Souvenir was really something to rave about. After the fine meal, Mr Mills informs you that the place was closing. Apparently it only serves limited patrons and meals a day, with the menu decided by the owner on a daily basis. It almost feels like eating from the private kitchen of some celebrity chef. As you were settling the bill, you found to your surprise that your bill said, ‘Stay to clean the kitchen.’ The owner certainly has a weird and twisted sense of humour. After settling his part of the meal, Kiro left to attend to his business, disappointed that he couldn’t join you in cleaning the kitchen.

The kitchen was surprisingly well kept and there was really nothing much for you to do. After tidying up a bit, you left a note for the owner thanking him for the food and requesting again to produce a show about Souvenir. Unfortunately you didn’t manage to hear from Souvenir and the day came when you were supposed to present your proposal to Victor for his review. It was truly shoddy work and Victor did not spare his feedback and comments which you did not try to defend. Ok so it appears that while you are great at producing shows, you really aren’t adept at running a company. Something that Victor was able to discern almost immediately.

Outside LFG building and mulling over the lashing you just received, you realised that you had left your production notes for the food show in Victor’s office. You felt too embarrassed and awkward to go back and retrieve it. At this point you received a message from an unknown number informing you that you can film here. It was from the owner of Souvenir. I have a strong suspicion who this elusive owner really is.

You returned to Souvenir a couple of days later to interview Mr Mills. Through the interview, you learnt that the owner of the restaurant was really a rather kind and caring person but his actions were often misunderstood by others. As you packed up to leave the place, Mr Mills passed you a small box with compliments from the owner. You hurried to the kitchen hoping to thank him but only saw his fleeting silhouette of a tall man.

Back home, you found out that in the box was the pudding that Kiro had gushed about. You tried it and it sent shockwaves through you. This was the taste that you had been desperately trying to perfect and replicate all these years as it brought back memories long forgotten. Without further hesitation, you rushed back to Souvenir with the hope of finding the person who made it. Lo and behold and who might you meet coming out of Souvenir? None other than Victor himself.

I felt like I needed to kick myself in the story for actually being stupid enough to ask Victor if he was also a customer of Souvenir. Apparently he was on the lookout for someone as well, and that person could well have been you. That revelation will have to wait much longer though because what followed was a rather romantic long walk home together. You never got to find out who made the pudding or at least the question was lost on you as you walked alongside Victor, seeing a new side of him for the first time.

You finally managed to release the online show about Souvenir and it received positive reviews. It was the day before the big presentation to the board and you were fretting about it at home. Suddenly the doorbell rang and you found Lucien at the door. He had just moved in next door and had called on to say hi. I couldn’t quite catch if he was also surprised to see you but he certainly took it in his stride for this fateful coincidence. You invited him into your apartment and shared your nervousness about the board presentation. Somehow Lucien always knew the right things to say and gave you some inspiration on how to approach the presentation differently and with greater confidence.

The next day at LFG, you were surprised to see the board room full of people and you mused at the need for so many people to be involved considering that the investment amount was only about $50m. Goldman, Victor’s personal assistant, corrected you that LFG was planning to invest $500m in your company! He also told you that if the committee approved the funding, it was likely that LFG would hire a management consultant to get your company into shape, something you secretly was grateful for. Kudos to Victor for being an astute businessman. Victor also turned up for the meeting though he originally said he wouldn’t. He encouraged you in his own usual mannerism and also returned your notebook.

We never got to find out how you exactly fared during the presentation but it seemed like you got the funding approved. Was there ever going to be any doubt since you already got Victor as your personal sponsor? To be honest, I would hesitate to invest in the company given that you lacked proper management capabilities but perhaps it was never really about how much you know, but who you know that matters. The chapter ends with Lucien settling into his new place and a contract with LFG signed off by Victor to pursue the research on stimulating and transferring of Evol genes.

Victor is your classic tsundere who mouths off nasty and biting comments, and then almost instantly regrets it because despite what he says, he actually has good intentions. It is hard not to love a guy like this though I don’t quite appreciate someone making me sound like a dummy all the time. What is actually more interesting for me is discovering what exactly is the relationship between you and Victor. He was obviously the young boy who saved you back then. What happened after that made you want to look for him and are you the person he was waiting for? What does LFG want to do with the research on Evol genes? Was Lucien actually the psychotic scientist who dissected Evolvers for the purpose of his research?