After fidgeting restlessly and just rolling his eyes for a long while, Surim stealthily got up, went out to the living room, brought the stolen Song Hanyeong’s cup and chopsticks, and set them down on the nightstand beside his bed.
As he looked at them, only then did the aching presence of his heart fade. Surim smiled while slowly blinking his eyes. Song Hanyeong. The person who appeared whenever Surim’s life was walking on a precarious tightrope and gave meaning to his life just by existing.
Just thinking of him made his fears dissipate and warmth well up. Surim, lying curled up defensively, soon smiled broadly and closed his eyes.
Not long after, even breathing filled the room.
* * *
The same dream continued for several days.
Surim forced his drooping body up with effort. If today weren’t the Friday he’d promised to meet Song Hanyeong, he would have wanted to take a day off.
Surim, who had dragged his uncooperative body to work, was passing by the break room when he suddenly stopped at the sight of a familiar silhouette.
‘It’s Song Hanyeong.’
Below his broad shoulders, his firm back and waist captivated Surim’s eyes. He was different from the researchers usually seen. Unlike common researchers, the man’s posture was upright from the start, and his shoulders weren’t hunched at all. His tailored suit revealed the man’s body even more attractively.
As if possessed, Surim traced down his buttocks, thighs, and calves. It was a body one couldn’t have without exercising. When on earth did this man who devoted himself to research every day find time to build such a body?
Just then, a low laugh brushed past his ear.
“Did you see enough?”
“I’m, I’m sorry!”
Surim hurriedly bowed to apologize. When he timidly raised his head, Song Hanyeong beckoned with his hand, calling him over.
Surim, who had committed a sin, quickly ran over.
“Did you call me…?”
“Yes, I called you.”
He looked up wondering what the business was, but Song Hanyeong scrutinized Surim without saying anything more. Slowly from head to toe, as if retaliating for what had just happened. Neck, shoulders, chest, waist… The slowly passing gaze was somehow terribly dizzying. As if seeing through thin pieces of cloth.
As Surim flinched and glanced around nervously, Song Hanyeong suddenly reached his hand toward his neck. His fingertips, cold enough to give goosebumps, brushed over Surim’s carotid artery and pushed all the way to the nape of his neck. Firm fingers that pressed down on his protruding vertebrae rummaged inside his shirt and the bone where his neck and back connected…
“Hng…”
Surim, who moaned without realizing it, was startled and covered his mouth with both hands. However, he couldn’t hide his shaking pupils and anxiously looked up at Song Hanyeong.
Song Hanyeong, whose eyes met his, withdrew his hand indifferently and smiled broadly.
“You’re still thin. Shouldn’t you eat breakfast?”
“I gained 2 kilograms since last week.”
Surim answered proudly. He had been weighing himself and managing it every day. It wasn’t just because of the contract. Because he didn’t want to look shabby to Song Hanyeong, he had eaten a protein shake in addition to his dinner lunchbox and started running again in the mornings.
But when their eyes met, Song Hanyeong frowned and then snorted.
“With just 2 kilograms?”
He’d worked so hard to gain it. When Surim became dejected, Song Hanyeong reached his hand toward his neck. Fingers that came in brushing the side of his neck stretched all the way to the nape and felt around his vertebrae. His fingers rubbed the still-protruding vertebrae several times.
That sensation was so ticklish and chilling that his face naturally flushed. Surim couldn’t come to his senses. It was completely different from when his nape was touched while sitting down. Song Hanyeong’s face was right in front of him, and there was heat in the fingertips touching his neck. Surim gradually turned redder. Unable to meet his eyes, his head gradually bowed downward.
Looking down with satisfaction at Surim, who seemed like he would shrink his body too if left alone, Song Hanyeong leisurely traced up his neck and gently touched his earlobe.
“Hik…!”
When the startled Surim snapped his head up, Song Hanyeong withdrew his hand as if nothing happened and smiled broadly.
“Gain even 1 more gram by the time I see you later.”
There was no need to think further that ‘later’ meant when drawing blood, not in the office.
When Surim looked at him resentfully, Song Hanyeong patted his shoulder and returned to his seat alone.
“……”
Surim, left alone in the break room, took a deep breath and let it out heavily as he sank down. He felt like he would die of embarrassment. Although he had tried to respond as if nothing happened, as if nothing was wrong, it clearly hadn’t worked at all.
Why on earth did he make such a strange sound? Surim roughly rubbed the nape of his neck that Song Hanyeong had touched earlier. There was no feeling. Song Hanyeong didn’t have any particularly strange intention either, he just checked before the blood draw to see if feeding him until now had been worthwhile, so naturally there should have been no feeling.
His head spun at the thought that he had let out a strange moan at what must have been an extremely businesslike touch.
‘How am I going to face Song Hanyeong from now on?’
If he had his way, he wanted to run away all day to avoid running into Song Hanyeong and then secretly leave work at 6 o’clock. He was confident in running away from Song Hanyeong within the company. Hadn’t he succeeded in not running into Song Hanyeong even once for several days last time?
But now it was impossible. There was no point in that since they had both a lunch appointment and an overtime appointment.
“I want to die…”
Surim’s gaze, as he muttered, turned to the refrigerator. In there were dates that Surim had bought with his own money and put there. He’d bought them but couldn’t eat solid food, so they remained as they were.
Since he was told to gain even 1 more gram, should he eat those? It seemed like he could eat them if he chewed about five hundred times. At that point, the only difference would be whether it went through a blender’s blade or was chewed by teeth.
Sluggishly moving to the refrigerator, Surim was able to discover the date box that was surprisingly about half empty. Of course, Surim hadn’t eaten a single one.
“…My dates…”
It was obvious who the culprit was.
Surim turned his head at the sound of footsteps passing through the hallway. Just then, the date thief was coming to work with a hard drive in his mouth. Lee Myeongho, whose eyes met his, hesitated and then quickly walked and disappeared inside the research lab.
Surim, who roughly closed the refrigerator, followed after him with neat steps. Since Lee Myeongho would only be running away inside the office anyway.
Surim stopped in front of Lee Myeongho, who had just put down his bag. When Surim stood blocking him in front, Lee Myeongho tried to get up from his seat but sat back down again.
“…Why, why? Do you have some business with me…?”
“Guess.”
“Um… I have no idea?”
Whether he’d decided to be shameless, Lee Myeongho replied with an indifferent face.
“…Give me chocolate.”
“What?”
“If you give me chocolate, I’ll forgive you.”
“That thing from yesterday? No way! Do you know how much that costs!”
“Give it to me.”
Lee Myeongho rolled his eyes in bewilderment at Surim, who was coming on stronger than ever before. Just then, with a beep sound, one side of Lee Myeongho’s monitor lit up. It was a messenger sound. Since there were only Surim, Lee Myeongho, and Song Hanyeong in this office right now, it was obvious who sent the message.
With a tearful face, Lee Myeongho took such a deep breath that his shoulders moved, then sighed heavily and slowly took out a bar of chocolate and held it out.
Just as Surim was about to snatch it, Lee Myeongho squeezed the hand holding the chocolate tightly.
“You’re really forgiving me, right?”
“If you give me this.”
“Really, really forgiving. Okay?”
“I said so.”
Only then did Lee Myeongho hand over the chocolate. Surim narrowed his eyes while holding the outrageously expensive chocolate.
“This is the only time. Don’t touch my food again.”
“I got it…”
“Manager-nim, please finish all the remaining dates yourself.”
Surim returned to his seat, leaving behind Lee Myeongho, who was stretching out his hand theatrically while saying, ‘You don’t want to eat what I touched…?’
To gain 1 gram of weight with the excellent loot he’d just obtained.
Surim, who was rustling in his seat to take out the chocolate and put it in his mouth, habitually sneaked a peek at Song Hanyeong’s seat and saw the scene of Lee Myeongho standing in front of him getting scolded. What could it be from this morning? Did another problem arise with the samples?
* * *
As quitting time approached, the tension grew thicker and thicker. Surim swallowed dry saliva, clenched and unclenched his fists several times, and repeatedly looked around restlessly. He couldn’t tell himself what the tension was about.
Surim had had his blood drawn dozens and hundreds of times until now, and he’d long been accustomed to having a needle stuck in his arm. Although he couldn’t say he hadn’t been nervous the day before contract fulfillment day, that was tension about Nasol, who made him feel a strange sense of pressure, not tension about the act of having blood drawn.
But why was he now nervously swallowing dry saliva like an idiot?
‘This won’t do.’
Surim jumped up from his seat and moved to the break room. Warming his insides with hot tea made him feel somewhat better.
“…Huh?”
When he tried hard to ease his tension and moved back to the office, Surim couldn’t help but be flustered by the strangely quiet interior. It was only about 6:02, but there was no one in the office except Song Hanyeong. Everyone had left work.
As Surim was flustered and just rolling his eyes, Song Hanyeong got up from his seat.
“Surim-ssi.”
“…Yes.”
Surim rushed over at Song Hanyeong’s call. Song Hanyeong jerked his chin toward the laboratory.
“Let’s go to the laboratory.”
Hearing those words, Surim’s eyes widened.
