“Anyway, breakfast is fine.”
“…One week.”
“What?”
“Let’s try it like this for one week, and if you don’t gain weight, I’ll prepare breakfast too.”
“That’s…!”
Surim was about to shout in frustration, but soon obediently closed his mouth. Thinking about it, he was quite thin now, so he did need to gain weight. He had to gain at least 4 kilograms before the next contract fulfillment date to return to his original weight.
“…Okay….”
Surim let out a deflating sound and chuckled as he stood up from his seat.
“Can I ask for one favor?”
“Say anything.”
“Could you throw this away for me?”
Song Hanyeong smiled gently and gestured with his eyes toward the lunchbox he’d just eaten. For someone who prepared two meals a day for him, that much was nothing. Surim readily nodded.
“Of course! You prepared lunch for me, so this much is naturally my duty.”
“No, it’s not natural.”
“…What?”
Song Hanyeong, who had closed the lid of his eaten lunchbox and put everything back into the shopping bag one by one, stood up from his seat. Surim stared at him blankly.
“It’s not natural, so I’m asking separately.”
Saying that, Song Hanyeong brushed past him. Click—the sound of the door closing, and Surim was now alone in the conference room.
Surim stood up from his seat and pulled the shopping bag Song Hanyeong had left toward him. He’d thought it meant leaving all the cleanup to him, but it seemed it was just a request to throw away the trash.
Surim inadvertently looked down into the shopping bag and froze for a moment. On top of the neatly placed lunchbox, a clean pair of chopsticks was laid. They were the chopsticks Song Hanyeong had just used to pick up and eat sushi.
Greed surged up from within his chest.
He wanted that.
An intense desire that made him feel like he had to have it, that he’d die without it, churned in his brain. Surim’s judgment was drowned in desire, unable to think properly, endlessly issuing commands.
Take that.
Take that.
Take that.
He hadn’t done anything, yet his breathing became labored. Surim, who had been panting without being able to take his eyes off the chopsticks, finally moved.
Surim stacked his own lunchbox on top of the chopsticks and opened his tightly shut eyes.
“…I resisted.”
Thank goodness.
Since he’d held back, he’d narrowly prevented himself from becoming a crazy stalker. Surim moved the shopping bag far away from himself.
There was another crisis when he was sorting recyclables in front of the trash can, but even then, Surim resisted well. Fortunately, he was still a passive and safe stalker.
* * *
Confidence bubbled up abundantly. Surim was extremely proud of himself. Unlike when he’d stolen the cup, he hadn’t run wild and was able to control himself. That meant there was less worry of his stalking being discovered, and at the same time, it also meant he could continue this stalking a bit longer.
Riding this momentum, Surim asked Song Hanyeong the question he’d been hesitating about.
[Jin Surim] Manager Song-nim, I’d like to keep some plants or trees in the office—would it be okay to buy some?
[Song Hanyeong] Buy as many as you want.
[Jin Surim] Thank you!
[Song Hanyeong] But why did you suddenly think of buying trees?
[Jin Surim] I saw office environment improvement examples at the work report meeting this morning. It looked much brighter with trees.
[Song Hanyeong] Ah. That man who works in Research Lab 8?
[Jin Surim] Yes, he was my colleague. Since he has good aesthetics, he neatly transformed what was a dreary research lab.
It was hard to believe that he was now in a relationship where they exchanged messenger conversations with Song Hanyeong. Maybe getting hired at this research institute was the greatest fortune of his life.
Surim, who had been grinning while waiting for Song Hanyeong’s reply, peeked his head over the partition when no reply came no matter how long he waited. Lee Myeongho was standing in front of Song Hanyeong’s desk. They were having some kind of conversation, and their expressions were quite serious.
‘Don’t tell me something happened again…?’
Surim recalled last week when there had been a problem with the samples. Surely something like that hadn’t happened again.
After waiting a while, when Lee Myeongho returned to his seat, Surim sent him a message.
[Jin Surim] Manager Lee-nim, what’s going on? Did something bad happen?
[Lee Myeongho] Right now it’s a big problem because of you playing around with that guy from Research Lab 8 this morning, Surim-ssi.
Surim’s expression turned ice-cold at the ridiculous excuse. If he didn’t want to tell him, shouldn’t he say so, or at least make up a more sincere excuse?
Pouting and grumbling inwardly, Surim replied roughly.
[Jin Surim] If you don’t want to tell me, don’t.
[Lee Myeongho] It’s true.
[Jin Surim] Okay.
[Lee Myeongho] I’m telling you it’s true?!
Surim closed the messenger window with Lee Myeongho and sighed, “Geez.” Always fooling around at every turn.
Afterward, he waited for Song Hanyeong’s reply, but their messenger window remained quiet. It seemed that after talking about work with Lee Myeongho, he’d forgotten he was in the middle of a conversation with him.
If they’d been in the middle of talking about work, he would try talking again, but since they’d been continuing small talk, it felt a bit awkward to talk to Song Hanyeong who was working so seriously like that. Surim slightly raised himself to steal a glance at Song Hanyeong, who was frowning his magnificent eyebrows and writing something with a pen, then sat back down.
He hoped it wasn’t something bad—no, it seemed something bad had already happened, so he hoped it wasn’t something too bad.
‘Let’s buy trees.’
If he arranged trees here and there, it might help improve Song Hanyeong’s mood. Surim thought he should arrange several especially pretty trees at Song Hanyeong’s spot. Of course, it was a judgment full of ulterior motives. He’d have to water the trees, and then he could frequently go nearby under the pretext of work, couldn’t he?
Surim turned on the laptop Assistant Manager Seong had given him and messaged Seongchan.
[Jin Surim] Seongchan-ssi, I forgot to ask earlier ㅠ I’m thinking of buying some plants to put in the research lab—can you tell me how to do that?
[Ji Seongchan] Of course you can. But is the budget issue okay?
[Jin Surim] Yes, I got permission.
[Ji Seongchan] Then I’ll introduce you to a farm I know.
Surim selected several green plants from the shopping mall site Ji Seongchan sent him. Only ones with large, glossy leaves that had descriptions saying they don’t die easily.
Thinking the farm he was introduced to might be a bit expensive, he secretly searched, but the prices seemed reasonable. It was when he’d decided to check out the items he’d put in his cart.
[Ji Seongchan] Surim-ssi, don’t pay on the site, just send me the list?
[Jin Surim] What? Why?
[Ji Seongchan] Acquaintance bonus. They’ll give me a 20% discount. But it’ll take some time, and they’ll only bring it to the first floor—I’ll help you move them. Pay then on the first floor. How about it?
Moving flowerpots from the building entrance to the research lab wasn’t such a difficult task— Surim, who had been thinking that far, looked down at his hands. It had only been a few days since he’d treated the cut from the glass. Wouldn’t the wound reopen if he moved flowerpots?
After pondering for a moment, Surim carefully peeled off the foam dressing. He was trying to check how bad the wound had been. But surprisingly, there was no trace of a wound on his palm at all.
‘I guess it really was just a slight cut on the skin.’
Actually, that was something he’d roughly made up to reassure Song Hanyeong, but it seemed it really had been like that. Surim gleefully removed the foam dressing completely.
[Jin Surim] Sounds good. Thank you.
[Ji Seongchan] Good thinking.
When he sent the list of plants he’d looked at on the site, Ji Seongchan, who had been silent for a moment, said:
[Ji Seongchan] Which pot is for next to the Senior Researcher-nim?
Research Lab 0 didn’t have a Senior Researcher. But since the person in charge was Song Hanyeong, it would be fine to consider him the Senior Researcher.
[Jin Surim] The lady palm pot. But why?
[Ji Seongchan] I’m going to ask the boss to send an especially well-grown large specimen.
[Jin Surim] Thank you.
A little while later, Ji Seongchan sent a message saying they’d arranged delivery in two weeks.
* * *
During three lunch meals, one dinner out, and then two more lunch meals, Surim felt like he was dreaming.
Just meeting Song Hanyeong again was amazing, but to think they’d become people who ate together every day, even if it was for work. Thanks to that, not once at the company had his chest felt cold.
The icy chill that colored his entire body the moment he set foot in his house was still the same, but even so, it was much better than the first day. Because when he looked at Song Hanyeong’s belongings he’d stolen away, a small warmth would well up.
Thanks to that, Surim could be certain he was definitely getting better without being consumed by loneliness and guilt. Even the occasional aching sensation in his heart when he was at home would surely get better if he took time to properly say goodbye to his hyung.
Then, from that point on, he might be able to feel the will to live on his own. Without relying on Song Hanyeong.
‘I have to do that within six months.’
Because Song Hanyeong said he would finish the research within six months. That deadline was also becoming a countdown for Surim.
