Seo-an made eye contact with Hae-won, who was staring at him intently through the gap of the closing elevator door. Then, at the moment the door completely closed, he saw a face smiling faintly.
He bit his lips tightly for no reason.
***
“Wow… Seo-an-nim, working overtime right after coming back…?”
That’s rough.
Even at the playful voice of a colleague right next to him, Seo-an couldn’t smile. He’d definitely finished the project and thought he’d be able to spend time with Ji-yu for the time being. What greeted Seo-an, who’d come back after moving for three days over the weekend, was a massive revision request from the client.
His head throbbed.
“I’m going crazy.”
Seo-an reluctantly smiled and replied.
From the time he first took on the project, the concerns from those around him were significant, saying a difficult person had been assigned. Seo-an scratched his forehead as if troubled, then casually asked.
“How was it on Friday? If it was this chaotic on Friday too…”
Then wouldn’t that be a bit shameless?
It was because of the move, but in any case, from the perspective of people working together, it was the same as him having taken a break, and if the work ultimately wasn’t resolved and they had to work overtime together until today, he thought they’d be quite annoyed. No matter how much the nature of the work meant they had no choice but to comply with the client’s demands.
“Everyone went home properly on Friday. Some people in Seo-an-nim’s part even took half-day leave in the afternoon. But this morning, the bomb suddenly dropped. Didn’t you see the team leader’s face? It was rotten.”
“Ha…”
Should he say it was fortunate at least? Even thinking that, worry about what to do with the kid came first.
He had no way to hold back the bursting sigh.
Sitter-nim I’m sorry. Due to personal circumstances, it has become difficult to work. I’m truly sorry.
On the screen of the phone he was gripping tightly was a message that had just arrived. It was a message from the sitter he’d secured in advance while moving. Since she’d been connected through an acquaintance’s introduction, it had been good that there was no need for particular suspicion, but now that he had to find a new sitter, it wasn’t easy to entrust the child to a stranger.
That said, he couldn’t ask the daycare to watch the child, saying he’d come as early as possible. He recalled the director’s explanation that they operated until 9:30 PM only in special situations and when discussed in advance.
“Aah…”
Seo-an made a groaning sound and plopped down. Then the colleague standing with him patted Seo-an’s shoulder a couple of times, telling him to cheer up. As soon as he disappeared, leaving words that he was going down first because there was a call from the office, Seo-an roughly grabbed his head.
In this situation, what came to mind was, of all people, Yeon Hae-won.
‘I’m really alone at home. If you suddenly have nowhere to leave the kid, feel free to use me anytime.’
What kind of trick of fate was this? It hadn’t even been a week since he’d assured him that he wouldn’t have a reason to ask for his help. But no other sharp alternative came to mind at all.
‘Uncomfortable… Really uncomfortable…’
It was more uncomfortable because it was Yeon Hae-won and not someone else.
Ah, it’s really uncomfortable… Even as he said that, Seo-an was already looking for Hae-won’s contact. No, there was nothing to look for. A phone where no one else’s calls came—his name was at the very top of the call log.
[Hae-won]
Seeing the contact name that reeked of old affection, his finger stirred through the air. Not wanting to reconnect a relationship that had already been severed also meant hoping not to be indebted to each other.
‘Why are you so confident? You’re making people feel hurt.’
It might be a stretch, but as the situation flowed like this, it seemed like he’d known in advance this would happen.
On top of that, he’d said to him, who’d been acting indifferent the whole time, that this situation of somehow living next door seemed like an opportunity, at least to him.
“What opportunity…”
He didn’t know what he’d been thinking when he said it, but Seo-an just found all these situations uncomfortable and difficult.
Even so, his hand pressed his contact and made the call.
It was an unavoidable choice. First of all, Ji-yu was comfortable with him, and apart from personal feelings, he knew he was a trustworthy person.
—Hello?
At the voice that immediately answered, Seo-an held his breath for a moment.
Asking someone for a favor was also difficult for him, so while he organized his thoughts for a moment, fuss came from the other side.
—What? Hyung?
When did you call me ahjussi before?
As if he truly hadn’t expected him to call, the voice that was filled with worry as soon as he answered made Seo-an bite his lips tightly. The other person kept asking questions, saying ‘What’s wrong?’ Seo-an, who’d been listening quietly, slowly began.
“Hello… By any chance… can you watch Ji-yu today? Something suddenly came up at work… It’s not just asking you to watch her, I’ll compensate you too.”
Ah, did I get to the point too quickly?
The voice that had been urging impatiently until just now disappeared. Seo-an just waited for an answer without saying anything else. Then, before long, a voice filled with mischief was heard.
—See? I told you not to be so confident.
As expected, it was a voice that said he knew this would happen.
***
Hae-won (Photo) Met Ji-yu (Photo) Prepared Ji-yu’s snack What should I give Ji-yu for dinner?
Messages piled up in the chat room here and there with time intervals. As if thinking he was worrying, sincerity oozed from the messages that had left all the processes as photos and sent them.
Seo-an let out a deep sigh looking at them. Fortunately, it seemed like today he just needed to set the framework, so the overtime didn’t seem like it would be long.
Thank you
After sending the reply, he left information about Ji-yu’s dinner as a message. When he added that she had a peanut allergy so he just needed to avoid things with nuts, a cute reply saying “Okay~” came back.
Hae-won Got home (Photo)
As if they’d played at the playground together before going in, the location in the photo of her eating snacks was also outside, but now a photo taken inside the elevator arrived.
As if in a good mood, the child who’d drawn a V near her eyes and held it there was smiling broadly. At that, Seo-an eventually also had a languid smile form on his lips.
After pondering for a moment, Seo-an typed a reply.
The house password is 0902 It’ll be more comfortable to be at our house There are toys for the kid to play with and things to eat, and if you open the fridge there are portions of Ji-yu’s meals divided up Just feed her as I told you above
It was because he judged it would be too shameless—beyond shameless—to ask him not only to watch the child but also to take her to his own house.
After that, he didn’t forget to attach another message saying thank you.
Hae-won When are you coming?
At the reply that came back, Seo-an bowed his head deeply.
He’d thought the overtime wouldn’t be that long, but that was purely by his own standards. He hoped he could leave work by eight o’clock at the latest…
When he checked the time with that wish, he could already see the hour hand passing seven o’clock. At this rate, will I leave work at nine?
Around him, people who still couldn’t leave work were gathered, just letting out deep sighs. He still didn’t know the reason why the client, who had given okay approvals from planning to the final product, suddenly told them to overturn the planning. Something about it not matching their purpose or whatever.
The vague words asking them to plan with a slightly younger sensibility that could comfortably approach consumers were the same words he’d heard when they first made the contract.
No, but how much younger do we need to be…
He thought the company guys were incomprehensible, but it was also something he couldn’t say out loud.
I’ll come as quickly as possible
After leaving the reply, Seo-an closed the chat window and checked the email that had just arrived. After clicking his tongue with a tok in his mouth, Seo-an, who began to focus on work again, devoted all his attention to mingling with his colleagues and producing the best efficiency.
Even during that time, Hae-won’s messages came intermittently.
Hae-won (Photo) Ji-yu ate a whole bowl of rice in one go Earlier at the playground we played tag and she was upset she couldn’t catch me, so she must have been hungry
Wait, while playing tag, he didn’t run away at full speed, did he? …He didn’t let her not catch him, did he?
Hae-won Hyung, how old is Ji-yu?
