Is This the Right Order? 39

I buried my face in Won Dogyeong’s embrace and raised my arms to wrap around his back. Hugging him with a body warmed by drowsiness, it felt like I was breathing together with him every time his back rose and fell.

“Why are you hugging me…?”

He, who I thought was asleep, pressed the back of my head into his embrace and asked in a low voice as if talking in his sleep.

“Do I seem a bit better to you?”

Without answering, I hugged his back tightly.

Won Dogyeong chuckled softly in a voice mixed with drowsiness and patted my back with a limp touch. Soon, as if he’d fallen asleep, I could only hear his regular breathing sounds again.

His affection was so vivid, heavy, and fluffy that it was amazing I hadn’t noticed until now. It had grown in bulk like a snowball accumulating over the years, and now it was rushing at me at a terrifying speed as if racing down a slope.

I felt strange. I could only express it as feeling strange. This was my first time experiencing something like this.

I felt like I was drowning in the surging affection. I couldn’t breathe. Every time I inhaled air, something was rushing in. My chest felt stuffy. Whatever it was, it was clearly intent on making me burst.

Conversely, my body’s sensations were vague, as if I was finely scattering into the air starting from the extremities. I couldn’t move a muscle as if stuck to something. The air surrounding me was all so hot that I didn’t even know where my hands were.

Where does Won Dogyeong begin and where do my hands end?

I felt like a snowman melting and losing its form. My arms must have lost sensation because they were clattering to the ground.

Still, Won Dogyeong might carefully collect the water I’d become in a bucket and take me with him.

Maybe he’d keep me like that until the next winter came and make me into a snowman again…

I closed my eyes. The pulsing warmth wrapped around my body warmly. I fell asleep again, tangling my legs that had been sprawled out across the blanket.

“Isn’t the air conditioning too strong these days?”

“Still, some people say it’s hot, so just carry outerwear. Look at Deputy Manager Yeo, she carries around winter clothes.”

I smiled awkwardly. I guess I stood out since I’d been carrying around a thick cardigan after catching a cold. I tend to feel heat a lot, but the company’s air conditioning was definitely strong. Until now, I’d enjoyed my fingertips getting cold regardless, but now I kept outerwear and wore it when I felt cold.

I didn’t want to catch another cold and worry about Yongyong.

I hadn’t even fully recovered from the sore throat from that cold when I was dragged out to a company dinner. Strictly speaking, Section Chief didn’t drag me out—I came on my own feet for smooth social life, but in the sense that it was hard to skip out, I was dragged out.

The dinner menu was the classic samgyeopsal. The meat hadn’t even come out yet, so we were exchanging trivial stories with the grill in front of us. I’d told them I couldn’t drink because I wasn’t feeling well, so only a water glass was placed in front of me. Instead, I volunteered to grab the tongs for grilling meat. I should at least do this much.

The meat coming out and familiar faces filing in as the restaurant door opened was simultaneous. Section Chief raised his hand high with a noticeably delighted expression.

“Are you guys having a company dinner today too?”

“We were just thinking about having a drink. Wow~ Everyone’s here on your side?”

Section Chief Kim, who approached with a smile and a warm impression, was the same year entry as our Section Chief. I know they’re only about two years apart in age, but no matter how you look at it, they seem about 10 years apart in face value—one of our company’s 7 great mysteries.

If Section Chief Kim is here…

Looking behind, Deputy Manager Han peeked his head out and waved. They really seemed to have come suddenly—there were only three people on that side.

“Sit down. Let’s eat together.”

“Ah, then only we’ll be happy and everyone will be uncomfortable.”

“No~ This is when you get close. It’s fine, right?”

Section Chief looked at us sitting there blankly in turn and asked. Of course, we had no choice but to nod while laughing. Our Section Chief was overall pretty okay, but the fact that he liked alcohol and people too much was burdensome.

Maybe because he’s the type who doesn’t skip drinking gatherings no matter what superior is there, he seems to think everyone else is the same. He was an ambitious person who would run over to pour drinks even if the chairman came, far from being intimidated.

I’m the type who gets so nervous when superiors are at drinking gatherings that I don’t get drunk no matter how much I drink. In other words, the complete opposite of Section Chief. I like alcohol and drinking gatherings well enough, but the fewer company dinners the better, and the fewer superiors the better.

But social life just doesn’t go as you wish.

Section Chief Kim waved his hands in refusal a couple times, then eventually sat down at the connected table next to us. Now this dinner was obviously going to continue as a lecture comedy show by the two Section Chiefs and the tearful social life of deputies and staff members applauding.

When my eyes met Deputy Manager Han’s, he shrugged slightly. ‘What can we do,’ that was exactly his expression. Seeing him pick up tongs too, it seemed he was planning to just grill meat diligently.

Sizzle-.

The meat went on the grill and Section Chief poured soju into all the empty glasses on the table. Section Chief Kim, who was watching with a good-natured smile, saw my water glass and spoke to me.

“Deputy Manager Yeo? That’s Deputy Manager Yeo, right?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

“Deputy Manager Yeo can’t drink?”

Judging by his expression and tone, it didn’t seem like a malicious question but just a genuine inquiry, but the deputy listening’s lips trembled.

“Ah, well…”

Just as I was pulling up the corners of my mouth and opening it, Deputy Manager Han, who was flipping meat, suddenly interjected.

“They’re not feeling well.”

“Did you catch a cold? It’s all because the air conditioning is too strong.”

“Right? I’m saying it’s too strong.”

The deputy next to me who’d been grumbling about the air conditioning earlier quickly chimed in.

How did he know I wasn’t feeling well?

Actually, the reason I wasn’t drinking wasn’t because I wasn’t feeling well but because of Yongyong, but anyway.

I glanced at Deputy Manager Han, but he was silently grilling meat.

“Now, cheers-.”

We clinked glasses in the middle. I toasted with my water cup.

The drinking gathering flowed smoothly, and perhaps because friendly people were next to them, the Section Chiefs seemed particularly energized today. The rest were chasing that pace, so everyone quickly had alcohol hitting them with flushed faces.

We went through work talk, real estate talk, and gradually moved to increasingly private and sensitive topics. Listening with a clear head wasn’t very comfortable. I tried to maintain a maximally neutral smile and let the various gossip that came up as usual flow past.

I understand, but just because you cushion it with the same phrases doesn’t make it not gossip, Section Chief…

Maybe because I drank too much water, I wanted to use the bathroom so I excused myself briefly.

I should stay as long as possible.

I unnecessarily scrubbed my hands thoroughly and even gargled with water once. When I opened my phone, there was a message from Won Dogyeong.

[Won Dogyeong: Is it manageable?]

[Won Dogyeong: Is your stomach okay?]

My stomach is fine but I want to go home.

I sent a reply overflowing with sincerity and came out of the bathroom.

When I returned to my seat, the atmosphere was somewhat strange. A staff member who’d gotten pleasantly drunk caught up in the Section Chiefs’ pace said “Oh, Deputy Manager Yeo is here!” and everyone looked at me in unison—whatever it was, it seemed I’d become troublesome. I seemed to have been the drinking snack while I was away.

“Sit down, sit down.”

When I sat down awkwardly, Section Chief grinned and opened his mouth.

“Deputy Manager Yeo, be honest.”

“About what…?”

“There’s something going on with Deputy Manager Han, right?”

At the headache-inducing question, I chewed the inside of my mouth and raised my head to see Deputy Manager Han already sitting with a long-suffering face staring blankly at the table.

“There isn’t.”

“No, no. I’ve seen you two eating together several times.”

“Can’t colleagues eat together…?”

I’ve seen you eating together several times too, so what kind of relationship are you then…?

When I answered incredulously, Section Chief slapped the table and said.

“No, I’m saying I support it? Office romance is great.”

“Deputy Manager Han is handsome.”

Section Chief Kim also grinned and added a comment. These people seem to be dying of amusement right now.

“Really really, just between us. Really, there’s nothing between you two?”

Even if there were something, even a dog would know that spilling it here would be the wrong answer.

“There isn’t…”

I rolled my eyes around avoiding the interested gazes, then opened my mouth again.