Chapter 7

Chapter 7

“Ahhh…!”

The world did have its small joys. A delicious and filling lunch followed by a leisurely coffee break. One long sip of my coffee filled me with delight.

“This cafe must use quality milk. All of their drinks are so good.”

“Sunghyeon, I noticed that you’re a big eater, but also have quite the refined palate.”

“I’m a refined man, if I do say so myself.”

My coworkers chuckled. When we arrived at our floor of the office, we walked, refreshed and in high spirits, into the lounge. Turned out, someone was already there.

“Oh, Daon. Did you have a good lunch?”

Another member of our lunch crew, Minah, was trying to strike up a conversation with Daon as he was boiling water in the kettle.

Daon turned around and answered, “Yes. They had fried udon noodles today.”

“Oh, that sounds delicious.”

“It was all right.”

Sure it was.

My mood started to get twisted again, so I forced myself to turn my focus away from him. But even while chatting with my coworkers, I could not manage to stop glancing at Daon’s back as he was making his coffee. It was, as always, the instant coffee stocked by the office.

Unbelievable.

Someone must have said something funny, for my coworkers broke out into laughter. I’d barely caught any of it though.

Then, after setting his steaming cup of coffee aside, Daon picked up an empty two-liter plastic bottle from the shelf and walked over to the water dispenser. Then, what I feared might happen began to unfold.

“Hmm? Daon, what are you doing? What’s with the bottle?” Minah asked, her head tilted in curiosity.

The other coworkers started to look toward the sound of water filling the bottle. Daon only turned his head without pulling away from his task.

“Oh, I’m taking some home. It just feels like a waste to spend money on water.”

His tone was so matter-of-fact.

“Oh, I see. True.”

The others chimed in, smiling in agreement. Surely, there were many different thoughts beneath those smiles. My throat went dry with unease.

“Oh, yeah. We should prepare for the afternoon meeting.”

Organically, our little coffee break came to an end. One by one, we got up to leave the lounge, but my legs in particular felt heavy for some reason. Meanwhile, Daon continued to fill that huge plastic bottle.

Does he really have to go that far?

I was the last to follow everyone out, but even then, I couldn’t help but give his back a crumpled glare. Before I knew it…

“It’s like he’s a beggar or something…”

The utterly pathetic situation caused the words to slip out of me before I could even catch them.

Footsteps halted.

The gurgling of the water filling the plastic bottle stopped.

A chill ran up the back of my neck. But after a moment of silence, I heard the sound of the plastic bottle cap being screwed on.

Was it relief or dismay? I wasn’t sure. But I figured he hadn’t heard, so I was about to continue stepping out when…

“Sunghyeon.”

A flat voice gripped my ankles so I couldn’t move. He had heard.

“Uh… yes?”

I reluctantly turned around. As he finished tightening the cap, Daon walked over to me, his expression cold as ice.

I was about to apologize, say that it had been a mistake. But he beat me to it.

“You should watch what you say. Not everything should be said out loud.”

It was a chilling rebuke. As I stood there, speechless, he brushed past me to leave.

“Haaa…” A weak sigh hissed out of me.

The cursor on my monitor just blinked. I couldn’t focus.

More overtime for me, I guess. This godforsaken mouth of mine.

There was no one else I could blame. Was this something that happened with age? Lately, my inner thoughts just slipped out without notice. But didn’t he mutter that thing about the AC so I could hear?

Well, I guess this isn’t the same. I lowered my head behind my partition. This time, I groaned silently. Uggghh…

But then—

“I’m heading out for the day.”

I saw Daon getting up from his seat across the room. I checked the time at the bottom corner of my screen. It was the end of the work day, on the dot. It was over.

My stomach didn’t twist with annoyance as usual, as another emotion was far more prominent.

“Bye, Daon.”

“See you tomorrow.”

Our manager and the other employees said their friendly goodbyes. After giving the entire room a brief nod, he disappeared into the hallway.

“I’ll be right back.”

After watching anxiously from behind my partition, I made up my mind and sprang to my feet.

I rushed out to the hallway and spotted Daon stepping into the elevator. I ran for it and barely managed to reach out before the doors closed.

He looked startled as he saw me slip into the elevator with him, but soon averted his gaze. I caught my breath as we stood there, a distance apart.

“I’m… I’m sorry,” I finally said. I broke the stiff silence and, with my body only slightly turned toward him, offered a bow.

“Sorry about what exactly?” he said.

I could not read the look on his face at all. His tone made it sound like there were countless other ways in which I’d wronged him, but surely that was just my guilty conscience talking.

“Earlier, in the lounge…” I rubbed the back of my hot neck as I elaborated in a subdued voice.

All he did was stare at me with that same blank face. And all I could do was stare back at that small face. This was probably the first time I’d been so close and looked at him for so long.

Wow, his eyes are such a light color. Absurdly enough, that thought flashed through my mind. I felt my chest tightening with guilt.

“Oh.”

Ding!

With a bright ringing sound, the elevator doors opened. Daon Jung looked away from me and swiftly stepped out.

“I didn’t mean to say something like that...” I added as I trailed after him. I suddenly sensed that I wasn’t where I thought we would be. I realized that we were in the parking garage, not the first floor.

I heard he has a car. I guess it might be true? No, no, that’s not what’s important right now.

In my moment of hesitation, I started to lose Daon Jung again. I rushed to catch up with him, knowing I had to be quick with my words.

“I didn’t mean it that—”

“Whatever. It’s fine.”

He suddenly stopped in his tracks, brusquely cut me off, then started walking again.

“Whatever. It’s fine?”

That was enough to snap me out of my submissive and apologetic demeanor.

Huff!

I let out a hot breath and looked up, but he was already slipping his way between the tightly parked cars. He reached a white sedan, opened the door, and got in.

“Wh-what the…? That little rat…”

The sight before me snapped my fraying patience like a stick.

A… a Mercedes-Benz…?!

I stared helplessly as the sleek sedan cruised out of the parking garage.

“Ha…!”

I need to make a correction to my wish.

God, Buddha, and anyone else up there. I was born the eldest of two sons to a father who worked as a civil servant and a mother who was a teacher. I strictly adhered to what was asked of me, which was to do nothing but grow healthy and strong. I polished off two bowls of rice at every meal, grew strong and sturdy in both body and mind, and became a son who honors his parents. So please, I ask that you grant this earnest wish of mine:

Please make it so Daon Jung is forced to resign...!