“Hello.”
“If you’re done with breakfast, shall we go to work?”
“I heard you have a lunch appointment? Who is it?”
Hyedam, who was picking up his coat that he’d draped over the chair, looked at him with a puzzled expression as Leo’s gaze was directed at him, not Robert.
Didn’t he just say it? That Robert knows about the lunch appointment because it’s a personal schedule. At the nuance that seemed to be asking him, Hyedam quickly shook his head.
Whether it was just his own misconception, Robert answered Leo’s question in French, and the two conversed in French. Though he didn’t even know French, Hyedam, sensing that it was content he shouldn’t hear, tried to quickly leave.
But what he faced when his forearm was immediately caught by Leo’s hand was Leo’s face smirking.
“You really make things difficult for people.”
While wondering if he’d properly heard the sentence mixed in with the unfamiliar language, Leo’s hand approached. At the same time his fingers brushed his lips, the arm that had been held became free.
Hyedam, who left the kitchen with a dazed feeling, roughly rubbed his lips with the back of his hand. Why did you suddenly grab someone, make that expression, and touch my lips? At the feeling that the warmth that had supported his chin and the touch that had brushed his lips still seemed to remain, Hyedam, who roughly rubbed his lips, clicked his tongue at the pale liquid on the back of his hand.
He didn’t like things too hot so he’d opened the lid to drink, and it seemed foam had gotten on him in the meantime. He could have just said it with words.
Though it was already wiped off, Hyedam, who took out a handkerchief from his jacket, wiped his mouth one more time.
* * *
In a desperate situation, if time is given, adapting to that environment isn’t difficult. Like now.
Already 2 weeks since becoming Leo’s personal secretary. He’d gotten used to commuting to his house every morning carrying bread, and working with him, who tended to be quiet, wasn’t very difficult either. Unlike when he was first nervous, he wasn’t picky about what he ate or drank, nor did he make him do excessive work.
After he touched his lips, Hyedam paid more attention to eating. He tried not to show even small mistakes or gaps.
Whether in work or personal matters, it didn’t seem like there were any more faults to find, but sometimes when he received that gaze silently staring at him, he felt a strange feeling.
The end of the action of staring at him for a while with slightly furrowed brows and narrowed eyes was clicking his tongue. If you don’t like it, transfer me somewhere else, or if not that, don’t scrutinize people like that.
Every time he looked at him like that, all Hyedam could do was press his lips tightly shut and pretend to pay attention to something else. As if he didn’t know he was looking at him like that. But he couldn’t help every cell in his body turning toward him.
Though he said he needed to manage personal schedules too, Robert was still by his side, and he didn’t know the personal schedule at all. So there were more cases of talking to Robert than Leo.
The work of a personal secretary wasn’t that much, and as he frequently attended marketing team meetings, he unintentionally built camaraderie with the marketing team members.
As a result, Hyedam was looking at the CF portfolio file on his monitor screen with blurry eyes.
“I’m telling you again, Yujin-ssi, I don’t know anything about marketing.”
“It’s okay. Just think of it as reading a comic book and skim through it. And then just tell me what you like.”
“I don’t think my aesthetic sense is very outstanding either.”
“Hyedam-ssi.”
Having just shaken off Leo’s persistently clinging gaze and come out, Hyedam, who wanted to have some time alone for a bit, tried to avoid Yujin’s request by talking around it.
When his eyes met Yujin’s, who subtly placed milk tea on his table and blinked, Hyedam smiled slightly. If he had busy work or a schedule to adjust while talking to someone, that would be one thing, but he didn’t really have anything to do.
“How did you know I like this?”
“Everyone on the team knows that Hyedam-ssi doesn’t like coffee and likes lattes and tea, right? It’s already been over 2 weeks since we’ve been working together, you think we wouldn’t know? Today the weather is cloudy, so I specially chose milk tea.”
At the not-heavy bribe and Yujin’s bright and cheerful voice, Hyedam’s mouse cursor moved toward the file.
“I’ll look since you’re telling me to, but I might not be able to choose. I have severe choice paralysis.”
Working under a marketing team leader while not knowing anything related to marketing didn’t make sense. But what could he do when the current situation was unusual? Hyedam, who had unintentionally started studying marketing by carving out time after work since he ended up attending meetings too, clicked on a file with the mindset that this would all be helpful.
“Absolutely. You absolutely don’t have to feel pressured. When you look, consider the product, but also see if it suits Han Taewon-ssi.”
“Who?”
“Han Taewon-ssi. Han Taewon-ssi has been decided as this season’s model!”
“That… that movie that was a huge hit in the fall…”
“Yes! That Han Taewon-ssi. It was really hard to cast Han Taewon-ssi, but at the last meeting, the team leader cast him right away with one phone call. He was in the middle of the meeting, then made a call and that was it. School ties, regional ties, blood ties—how could there be none? Whatever the process was, we secured Han Taewon-ssi, so we’re relieved. Then. I’ll wait for Hyedam-ssi’s valuable opinion.”
You say you’ll wait. You say to look slowly and comfortably.
Hyedam, who was slowly looking at the storyboard for CF filming, moved slightly to the side at Yujin’s serious expression as she sat right next to him looking at his monitor together, making room so she could see too.
“Thinking of Taewon-ssi’s recent image, something a bit rough and rugged would be good, but still, that Han Taewon-ssi’s softness. How about emphasizing that kind of thing?”
At Yujin’s words, who ended up watching together after telling him to watch alone, Hyedam nodded.
“I think it would be good. Usually they push the successful image, but finding the hidden is also good, right?”
“Hyedam-ssi. You really know how to look properly. Everyone only tries to highlight that rough image of a dominant alpha, but not that. You know that softness toward one’s pair. That kind of thing.”
Whether she was happy at the feeling of meeting a comrade, at Yujin’s words as she patted his forearm, Hyedam grinned. Seeing a new side of his favorite movie actor was something to welcome from a fan’s perspective. Since he always showed that rough and possessive side, he should show that gentle spring breeze side too.
“Taewon-ssi’s eye color looks like brown and gray mixed together, right? Since it’s a color you can’t easily see in Koreans, bringing out his eyes too…”
Hyedam’s voice, saying what he wanted to fill with personal desires as a fan, marketing or whatever, was permeated with gushing he couldn’t hide.
“Right. Right. Knowing exactly that kind of point that will captivate consumers is really important, oh. Hyedam-ssi, you seem to have talent in this area?”
Hyedam, who couldn’t say he was a dominant alpha fan at this age, sat with his head together with Yujin’s under the pretense of the portfolio and freely unleashed his fan heart.
“Thinking about that, B seems good…”
“Rather than too moist and soft, how about the fatal sexiness of D style here?”
Since they’d looked at them one by one from A, Hyedam was saying B seemed better than A when Yujin grabbed the mouse and brought up D next to it, so he covered his lower face with one hand.
“Fatal sexiness is an image Taewon-ssi has shown a lot.”
Though he said that, Hyedam’s dimples deepened as he thought of shirtless Taewon.
Knock knock.
“Han Taewon-ssi only contracted for this season. If it were exclusive, we could try various things…”
“Really? Then. Mixing B and D…”
“Strip in a snowfield? It’s cold!”
“If stripping is the main thing, the background can be CG processed! All models have good bodies, but Taewon-ssi’s abs and iliac bones are especially sexy! If you’re going to decide on exposure, adjust the level well. Plus, you know that look in his eyes?”
Knock knock.
“So Hyedam-ssi wants even bold exposure.”
“Not necessarily that, but in this situation, it doesn’t seem like a matter where my opinion should be included.”
“The final confirmation is my job.”
Hyedam, who had been chatting with Yujin, stopped the mouse cursor that had been moving diligently at the voice that slipped between the two’s conversation.
Yujin, who until just now had been sitting with their shoulders and arms stuck together chatting, hurriedly returned to her seat, and Hyedam, who received Leo’s gaze completely, slowly moved the mouse to close the open files.
When did he appear and how much did he hear from where to where? But isn’t this content that’s okay to hear?
“Hyedam-ssi, come see me for a moment.”
The surprise at Leo’s sudden appearance was brief, and Hyedam, who watched him turn first and enter the team leader’s office, first picked up the tablet he’d placed beside him.
He’d briefed today’s schedule and this week’s schedule in the morning, and so far there were no additions or changes.
Hyedam, who checked to see if there was anything he’d missed, stopped in front of the door instead of entering the office after two knocks.
It was because he felt the coffee scent strongly felt from inside. Though it didn’t make sense that scent contained feelings and moods, the coffee scent that stuck closely to his body the moment he opened the door didn’t feel very gentle.
Hyedam, who fully received the feeling you’d feel when angry or annoyed, entered inside slowly with a troubled expression and closed the door. He couldn’t show that he was feeling something strange. He couldn’t explain something he didn’t properly understand himself.
