Even after getting off the elevator, entering the password, and taking off his shoes, it was the same. Won Dogyeong took off the cardigan he was wearing and carelessly draped it over the sofa, then hesitantly opened his mouth.
“I’m going to bed first. Sleep well.”
“Uh, yeah… Sleep well.”
Then, with the steps of a defeated soldier, he trudged off and disappeared into his room. It meant there would be no more seeing his face today.
With an indescribable restless feeling, I plopped down on the sofa without even turning on the lights.
I fought with Won Dogyeong.
His attitude of pouting as if protesting to be noticed and my conversation with Haemin both swirled chaotically in my head at the same time.
Won Dogyeong said he wasn’t angry at me, but in the end, I was essentially the cause.
Home… Whether it’s a woman or whatever, he just doesn’t like going to other people’s houses.
What if Won Dogyeong went to someone else’s house?
I tried to substitute his friends in my mind, but Won Dogyeong’s friends and my friends weren’t all that different, so I couldn’t really put myself in that position. Even when I thought through the faces of our high school friends who often drank with us, whether they went to those guys’ houses or not, I didn’t feel anything particular.
I just thought things like, how much are they planning to get wasted that they’d drink at home.
I didn’t know the friends I made after entering society well enough.
Or… Han Hoyeon?
Han Hoyeon and Myeong Haemin are completely different situations though.
Even as I grumbled internally, the image of Won Dogyeong sitting close beside Han Hoyeon on his sofa, chatting away with his clean smile, flashed unbidden through my mind.
Things like Won Dogyeong’s face breaking into a childlike laugh at trivial stories, or the sight of him leaning his shoulder against him and acting clingy. If it got late while drinking coffee, they’d open beer cans together, clink glasses, and so on.
My brow furrowed on its own. Definitely, it wasn’t a very pleasant feeling.
I pounded the sofa with my fist in dissatisfaction.
I definitely would hate that. I didn’t want to imagine Won Dogyeong in the private space of a home, sitting close and getting along with someone else.
It’s definitely a different situation. It’s definitely different from Myeong Haemin, but frustratingly, I think I could understand what that feeling was.
…Okay, fine. I admit it’s my fault.
I don’t like Won Dogyeong going to other people’s houses.
Even if it’s not Han Hoyeon, I think I’d hate them being alone together.
I crossed my arms and glared at the floor. The scene from the premiere where Han Hoyeon and Won Dogyeong stood side by side smiling wavered before my eyes.
It was uncomfortable learning about the person Won Dogyeong was seeing. If you asked whether I hadn’t cared until now, I don’t know. To be precise, I hadn’t had the chance to know. Won Dogyeong never tried to say anything, and I had never taken any interest in his romantic business.
For that matter, I’d never been this interested in my own romantic business either.
Did I really live without thinking about anything…
I leaned my head back and rubbed my face roughly. Since I hadn’t turned on the lights, the ceiling was pitch black. I could faintly hear the sound of running water from inside the room—Won Dogyeong must be showering.
After slumping there with all the strength drained from my body, I suddenly sat up.
Ah, whatever. Let’s just sleep today.
With a deep sigh, I set my thoughts aside. When I turned to look beside me at the pheromones that had been subtly emanating since earlier, I saw the cardigan Won Dogyeong had tossed on the armrest. I got up from the sofa, took it, went to my room, and lay down on the bed. When I lifted the cardigan and buried my nose in it, a subtle mint scent permeated my nostrils.
They say a partner’s pheromones help with stability, and it seemed like that might be true.
I carefully tucked the cardigan under the blanket, then after showering and coming back, I pulled it into my arms and fell asleep. And I had a dream where a small, twisty dragon flew over and smacked my forearm before running away.
…I thought you were on my side.
*
My hair was a mess because of the rain. On top of that, it was overcast all day outside, so the office atmosphere was gloomy and my body felt sluggish.
I had no appetite either, so while I was wondering what to do about lunch, Haemin contacted me asking to have coffee upstairs, so I quickly bought drinks and headed to the rooftop. Since I was choosing something without caffeine, I was forced to get rooibos tea.
We’d met yesterday too, so I wondered why he was calling me out, but apparently after I left yesterday, he suddenly felt like baking and made scones. He said he only slept three hours because it was dawn by the time he finished cleaning up, and he gave me scones beautifully packaged in a paper box, which I devoured instead of lunch.
He gave me another box telling me to give it to Kim Minwoo, so I took good care of that too.
When I mentioned we fought in the car on the way home, Haemin burst out laughing.
I couldn’t laugh about it because the awkward atmosphere continued until this morning. We ate together as usual and I came to work in Won Dogyeong’s car, but there was almost complete silence between us the whole way.
Even the hand he’d usually brazenly sneak over to hold—today he didn’t hold it.
Won Dogyeong didn’t seem angry anymore, but he also wasn’t like usual either. His demeanor was strangely calm, so I was confused about whether I should just leave things as they were or bring up yesterday’s conversation again to tie up loose ends.
I too hadn’t completely sorted out yesterday’s complicated emotions, so I ended up keeping my mouth shut.
“Stop laughing. We’re supposed to go grocery shopping together after work today, so I’m worried…”
It had been planned for several days. I watched Won Dogyeong’s reaction to see what he intended to do, but since there was no particular mention of it, we’d probably go grocery shopping together as scheduled.
Going is going, but thinking about wandering around the mart with this subtle atmosphere between us already gave me a headache.
“This is too funny… Can you give me weekly updates on you two?”
“Who do you think we are, Meoflix content?”
“You guys are more like a Paengive sitcom.”
“A sitcom?”
I jumped in surprise at the voice that suddenly rang out and lifted my head.
Rain or no rain, Deputy Manager Han was standing behind us with his hair neatly set as always and his tidy face, smiling kindly while tilting his head curiously.
Originally, when Haemin and I sometimes sat on the rooftop, Deputy Manager Han would also come by, unload what was going on with him, and leave. These days, neither Haemin nor I had been coming to the rooftop much, so it had been quite a while since the three of us gathered like this.
However, before I could feel glad, as soon as I saw Deputy Manager Han’s face, yesterday’s nonsensical argument came to mind and the thought that this was unfortunate floated through my head. Hadn’t what had been a conversation of sorts until then turned into a fight once his name came up?
Won Dogyeong would hate this.
But as a working professional, I couldn’t noticeably avoid someone who had done nothing wrong. I smiled and glossed over the conversation I’d been having with Haemin.
“He’s watching something these days.”
“If it’s good, let me know too.”
“It’s too good, so I should keep it to myself… Watch something else. But why does it feel like I haven’t seen you in so long, Deputy Manager Han?”
Haemin brazenly spouted nonsense and changed the subject.
“Right?”
“Would you like a scone?”
“If you’re offering, I’ll gratefully eat it.”
Haemin took out a scone box from the paper bag he’d set beside him and handed it to Deputy Manager Han. I caught a glimpse when he opened it, but it looked like there were still about five boxes left. Just how enthusiastically did he bake yesterday?
Deputy Manager Han immediately bit into the scone, then widened his eyes and gave a thumbs up saying it was delicious. Myeong Haemin seemed pleased and took out another box, handing it over telling him to eat it later. Whether the compliment was sincere or not, Deputy Manager Han uncharacteristically didn’t decline and carefully stored away the scone.
After finishing the scone in just a few bites, he looked closely at my drink and made a surprised expression.
“You drink tea too?”
“Yeah, well.”
My eyes briefly met Haemin’s.
“I thought you only drank coffee. You seem to like it.”
Coffee is for survival. That’s not a preference, it’s my HP potion.
Seeing how everyone around me found it curious that I was drinking tea, I guess I really do drink a lot of coffee.
“I’m trying to like tea too.”
“Cool. You seem like an adult.”
Deputy Manager Han said with a playful laugh. When someone who’s clearly more of an adult than me says something like that, it somehow feels like I’m being teased.
“Don’t tease me… Should we head in soon?”
I chided Deputy Manager Han and checked the time, urging us to break up. There was still some time, but Won Dogyeong’s face kept flickering in my mind, making me uncomfortable in this situation.
I apologized to the innocent Deputy Manager Han in my heart.
I’m sorry, the kid I live with cares too much about you, so this won’t work. That kid in the cap you saw in the lobby before. It’s because you’re excessively qualified for a meeting-the-parents free pass, so please let it slide.
After returning to my seat, it was a battle against time that refused to pass. I was sleepy, the weather was muggy, my body was tired from morning sickness, my head was complicated from yesterday’s events… Every time I didn’t want to work, I went in and out of the bathroom washing my hands.
When I think the company is boring, does Yongyong get bored too? Can he even feel such emotions? I got curious about such random things and secretly searched it up.
Not being able to feel complex emotions but being affected by basic emotional changes—does that mean he doesn’t know what boring is?
That’s a relief. It was enough to learn what boring company was after being born.
After forcing myself to work like that, before I knew it, it was time to leave work. Time to escape the boring company and face the problem I’d been burying.
