Hyedam’s eyes met Robert’s as he opened the door and entered, and Hyedam quickly swatted away Leo’s hand that was still touching the back of his waist.
“Then, I’ll coordinate with Robert-ssi regarding the future schedule.”
What future schedule. Having blurted out words haphazardly to hide his embarrassment, Hyedam slightly bowed his head to greet Robert before escaping the team leader’s office as if fleeing.
“Hyedam-ssi, hello?”
Just as he felt relieved to be out of Robert’s sight, Hyedam couldn’t properly make eye contact with the employees who naturally greeted him after seeing him come out of the team leader’s office with its blinds drawn. After mumbling a greeting, Hyedam went straight into the break room and sat down as if collapsing onto the soft sofa.
The corners of Hyedam’s mouth curved crookedly as he caught the faint coffee aroma lingering in the break room—someone must have just brewed and drunk coffee. At some point, he had become sensitively reactive to coffee scent wherever he went.
Hyedam’s gaze, which had been drooping listlessly, was now fixed on the coffee pot. He hadn’t eaten anything since waking up this morning, so should he refreshingly drink an iced americano? Moving his body along with that thought, Hyedam first filled his cup with plenty of ice.
He was quite sensitive to cold and didn’t enjoy ice even in midsummer, so what was he doing in this winter weather? Hyedam’s fingertips, which had been about to press the button after placing his cup in the coffee machine, stopped. His hesitating hand hovered in the air before finally picking up the orange juice that was placed nearby.
Hyedam, who had been gulping down the orange juice without even inserting a straw, saw his mobile phone screen ringing noisily since morning and answered with a sigh.
“Why?”
— Where are you?
“Why?”
— The hospital?
“Yeah.”
Even as he was leaving, Junseok had followed him out chattering for him to go to the hospital, and now he was calling to confirm whether he actually went. Hyedam gave Junseok the answer he wanted to hear.
— What did they say?
“The appointment hasn’t started yet. If there’s a problem, I’ll report later.”
Having only said what he needed to say, Hyedam hung up without listening to Junseok’s response and let out a deep sigh while drinking the remaining orange juice.
He hadn’t even finished the whole cup, only about half, but the nausea that had briefly stopped was starting again. I want to drink coffee, but I showed some consideration. Shouldn’t you also take my situation into account then? Sulky feelings toward a specific person bubbled up.
Less than 10 seconds after hanging up, the phone rang again.
“I’m waiting for my appointment. The appointment starts at 9! Instead of calling, hurry up and get ready and go out to exercise or something.”
— ……
When no answer came back, Hyedam shouted, “Hey!”
— ……What appointment?
At the low voice coming through, Hyedam’s actions stopped. A water droplet on the glass fell with a plop onto his hand.
— Lee Hyedam.
A voice much more pleasant to hear than Junseok’s was coming through the mobile phone. With a sinking feeling, Hyedam checked the screen and the color drained from his face.
“Ah, yes, Team Leader-nim.”
He wanted to hang up right away, but an instinctive response popped out.
— Where aren’t you feeling well?
“I’m not.”
— You’re lying……
“Yesterday…… after drinking, Junseok got sick from alcohol, so this morning we went to the hospital…… we left together, Junseok went to the hospital and I came to work……”
Hyedam’s belief in thoroughly maintaining the relationship between employer and employee during work hours wavered. There was no need to ramble out excuses so pathetically like this, but in his urgency, disorganized words tumbled out incoherently.
— Let’s have lunch together.
“I, I have a prior engagement!”
— You can eat with Luna. You two discuss it, make a restaurant reservation, and be ready to leave by 11:50.
“Um, that’s, Team Leader……”
Without any chance to object to Leo’s one-sided words, the sound of Robert and Leo conversing in French could be faintly heard through the mobile phone, and the call ended just like that. I don’t want to have lunch, what should I do? No, what more is there left to say that he’s calling?
Lacking the energy to be angry, blame himself, or worry, Hyedam returned to his seat with trudging steps and sat down.
It wasn’t until nearly 9 o’clock that Hyedam sat at his seat, and the first thing he checked was a message from Robert. It contained matters to be added to Leo’s packed schedule, changes being made, and things he needed to reference.
The pen spun rapidly at Hyedam’s fingertips as he checked the schedule of Leo, who lived busier than anyone. All the schedule changes were because of him. It would be impossible to create more time here, and there wasn’t even enough space for him to fit in…… Hyedam’s lips pressed tightly together, one hand touching his stomach.
* * *
“It’s a date between me and Hyedam-ssi, so why are you following along!”
Luna-ssi, who says what needs to be said, as expected. Unlike himself, who couldn’t complain at all when Leo said he would accompany them, Hyedam smiled slightly at the sight of Luna giving Leo an earful as soon as they entered the restaurant together. However, his smile quickly turned downward at Leo’s action of pulling out a chair for him without even responding to Luna’s words.
I’m the one who should be pulling out your chair. Though he clearly saw Leo’s gesture for him to sit, Hyedam subtly guided him to sit in that spot instead and quickly pulled out a chair to sit.
“Brunch?”
“That’s what we want to eat. Don’t argue.”
“Wouldn’t meat be better?”
“We’re going to eat brunch. Hyedam-ssi, what would you like? The salad here has yuzu dressing, it’s really refreshing.”
“It’s not even breakfast, eating something like this for lunch?”
In a situation where his stomach was uncomfortable both full and empty, Hyedam, who had no appetite, silently watched the two bickering over the menu.
“It would be just perfect if it were just the two of us eating, but you followed along and have so much to say. There’s steak salad here, so eat that at least. Hyedam-ssi, panini?”
“I’ll have the yuzu dressing salad.”
If he said he wouldn’t eat, Leo’s interrogation would be obvious, so Hyedam chose the menu that looked lightest.
“Risotto?”
Salad is enough, what risotto? And you, don’t eat the steak salad. I don’t like the meat smell.
If Luna weren’t here, he would have interfered with his menu choice too, but since he didn’t have that right now, Hyedam chose not to step forward and buried himself deep in his chair. He didn’t understand why they had to order up to seven items when three people were visiting, but Luna ended the menu selection with, “Let’s eat first and order more if we need to.”
“Hyedam-ssi, look at this.”
At Luna’s call—she liked to chatter endlessly except when concentrating on work—Hyedam took the tablet from her.
Ah……
It was a video of a baby sitting on the floor with the happiest smile in the world, trying to stand up. At Luna’s encouraging voice, the baby clapped their hands and laughed as if equally delighted. Though they immediately fell backward, the laughter flowing from the screen was overflowing with happiness.
“I was really lucky to film this yesterday.”
Since she didn’t turn off or pause the screen, the same video kept repeating. Hyedam’s gaze, which had been focused on the cute baby, reached Leo sitting beside him. Even though Luna was making such a fuss holding up the screen, Leo showed no interest at all.
“They’ll be walking soon at this rate.”
“That’s why it’s a war. After all the interior decorating I did, if you have a child, you really have to give up all interior design. Hyedam-ssi will soon understand the feeling of attaching corner guards to every piece of furniture.”
“What?”
Nobody knew, there was no way Luna could know, but for a moment, Hyedam’s voice came out higher than usual at being hit right on the mark.
“Why? Hyedam-ssi, don’t you want to have a baby?”
“No, what baby would I……”
“In the future. Not right now.”
Just as the food came out and the conversation was cut off, Hyedam concentrated on mixing the yuzu salad placed in front of him with his head lowered. Can I even eat this? If he showed a strange appearance here, it would obviously be a disaster. Leo seemed to understand the morning hospital commotion as Junseok going to the hospital, so he didn’t bring up that matter again.
But if he showed discomfort now, Leo’s suspicion would start again, and given his personality, the next schedule would obviously not be receiving files from Luna but a hospital consultation room. With him, at that. Though they hadn’t been together for a long time, the perceptive Luna might start probing him about something……
After only brief hesitation, Hyedam, who had put a little salad in his mouth, gradually moved his fork faster. He hadn’t properly eaten any food since yesterday morning. Making it meaningless that he had said he would only eat salad because he didn’t really feel like it, Hyedam deliciously ate all the food.
Hyedam, who had been eating heartily without discomfort for the first time in several days, was drinking lemonade with a satisfied smile when his eyes met Luna’s, who was smiling brightly, and he slowly put down the glass he was holding.
