“This and that are two different things… Believe it or not, that thing, I don’t really remember it now, and…”
“And?”
Na-Yool carefully weighed her words. More precisely, she tried to, looking for a line somewhere between being honest and stating a fact.
“For me to ask for your help because I am in danger, to call you here because something happened… we are not in the kind of relationship where we can bother each other as we please, are we?”
Si-Jin looked at her as if he had been brutally slapped in the face. Na-Yool stared at this unfathomable expression with great confusion, but it soon faded from Si-Jin’s face. The atmosphere, however, had completely changed.
The conversation awkwardly stopped, and Si-Jin no longer looked at her. They walked to his car without a word. The parking lot had been full since noon, and the car was parked at its far end, so it took longer than expected.
Thus, it was only after a startlingly long time that the silence was broken.
“I was thinking of going back to the office.” Na-Yool said as she sat in the passenger seat and fastened her seatbelt. Si-Jin glanced at her without saying a word, then looked back towards the front with a brief reply.
“You already took a leave.”
“I did, but I forgot to submit the proposal draft due for today… It’s Friday. If I do not submit it today, it will be delayed until Monday.”
“Don’t worry about such things.”
“I will just finish this. I have another deadline on Monday, so it is difficult to postpone it any further.”
“Just do it roughly on the weekend. It’s not what you need to care about right now.”
“But I care.”
“Anyhow, I’m the one who will review this proposal. I told you to do it roughly. So, the matter is closed.”
Meanwhile, the car set off smoothly.
“You do not need to go easy on me. I am really fine now…”
“I’m not going easy on you. Just roughly go through it. Even if you are sloppy, you do it well anyway.”
“…Are you serious?”
Na-Yool asked if he meant it, but her intonation was closer to a “As if”. Si-Jin certainly was not the kind to comfort people who met with serious trouble by coaxing them, but maybe it was that the sincerity between them had developed to that point. Although it felt too dry to be regarded as sugarcoating, considering it came from Si-Jin’s mouth, it was a high praise.
“If you could not do it, I wouldn’t be paying you in the first place.”
It was not a high praise; it was the highest of them all. Na-Yool glanced at the side of Si-Jin’s stern face, who was driving while looking ahead without a single hint of a smile.
“Still, I won’t take you to the office.”
“I did not mean that… Then I will send you the Merian pamphlet draft over the weekend.”
“Good.”
“But for now, please go to the office. You must return to work anyway, Mr. President, and probably have a lot of work to catch up on, so you should go quickly.”
“That should be the least of your worries.”
“I also have a small matter to take care of. The documents I have here in my bag, I was going to hand them to Seung-Jae today, so I will just go back home after dropping them—”
“Throw it on the back seat. I’ll pass them on to him.”
Looking straight forward, it was already the opposite direction to the company. When she suddenly recognized the alley in which the car just pulled in as one close to her apartment, Na-Yool muttered, flustered.
“…So fast?”
“Pack your things.”
“…What?”
“For now, just the essentials.”
“What?” Na-Yool asked again like a broken record. Si-Jin looked up at her apartment complex closing in without sparing her a glance, and asked:
“Is there an elevator in the building?”
“…What in the world…”
“I thought you wouldn’t like having a man going in and out of your home on a day like today. If there is no elevator, I’ll go with you to pick up your luggage.”
“……”
“If there is, pack lightly and come down.”
“Where the hell is this conversation going?”
“We will go to my house.”
She indeed asked ‘where’, but was swiftly presented with an astonishing destination. Na-Yool was mind-blown, gasping with her mouth ajar before asking again:
“…Why?”
Her head was filled with the sole word ‘why’, and ‘why’ again.
“Aren’t you going to move houses anyway?”
It can’t be that you will keep living in this house, right? Such unspoken pressure was transmitted through his gaze. Na-Yool acquiesced with a nod as if possessed.
“Of course. After something like this happened…”
“But you can’t move out right away.”
“Yes.”
“Then pack up.”
“…What are you saying…”
“Let’s date.”
“…I don’t understand what you…”
“I want you to bother me.”
“……”
“So let’s do it. Let’s be in a troublesome relationship.”
The bomb dropped completely out of nowhere and pinned Na-Yool alone on the spot.
Indeed, within the few seconds it took to casually drop it, Si-Jin had naturally gotten off the car as they had reached their destination, leaving Na-Yool behind.
She was sitting in the car without its owner, a rather dull-witted expression on her face. Until Si-Jin, running out of patience, opened the front passenger door.
“Aren’t you getting out?”
“……”
The cold air from outside rushed in along with his voice, but it was not enough to snap Na-Yool out of it.
Si-Jin leaned towards the passenger seat and asked again.
“You don’t want to go home yet?”
A hint of affectionate concern was mixed with his previously very monotonous tone. Na-Yool stiffly turned her head to look at him. Si-Jin softly continued.
“You think it will remind you of this morning?”
“……”
“Are you afraid?”
It would be several times more difficult if she could not catch on the intention implied in such a tender, calm voice. But surprisingly, Na-Yool did not get it at once. She just kept on staring blankly at Si-Jin with great focus.
Because her time was still stopped about a minute ago when bombs fell one after the other.
“Are you okay?”
“…Okay, no, not okay.”
Na-Yool paused on a completely noncommittal answer. Si-Jin squinted his eyes, but not like his usual insistent gaze to get a straightforward answer out of her. He silently leaned towards the passenger seat with no sign of irritation and waited for her to gather her wits.
30 seconds passed. Then Na-Yool, who kept staring at Si-Jin with eyes twitching nervously, pushed him away in shock as if he had suddenly closed the distance between them. It was a completely delayed reaction. Si-Jin remained still and only straightened back his body along with a look of full understanding.
“Seems like you’ve not recovered yet.”
When Si-Jin expressed his understanding like this, not only through his eyes but even his mouth, Na-Yool could not help but laugh in awe. However, her still bewildered gaze aimlessly wandered between Si-Jin, the alley, and her apartment complex. Understanding? About what? After casually dropping bombs, how can you calmly move on to another topic, on your own whim…
“…Just now, do you know what you said to me?”
“I asked if you were okay,” Si-Jin replied with confidence.
Na-Yool ducked down and touched her forehead, a headache coming on. They must have been living in different times and spaces. A space where a lag of about two minutes separated them.
“…Not that, before.”
“I asked if you were afraid to go up home. Or maybe, reluctant? Either way, tell me if you’re uncomfortable.”
“……”
“I’ll pack what you need for you.”
“Wrong, wrong.”
Na-Yool hurriedly waved her hand in dismissal and grabbed Si-Jin, who seemed about to head for her apartment by himself.
“Before that.”
It felt so surreal that she could not even say the words herself. Si-Jin tilted his head and said it.
“Let’s date?”
While Na-Yool had painfully beat in vain around the bush, Si-Jin’s reply was straight to the point. She blanked, and their eyes met.
“……”
“We can talk about it while going up. No?”
The shock of being invited to pack her things to live at his house was not even gone that he was already asking her out. Not only that, but he even suggested discussing it on their way, casually, while climbing the stairs, just like two people discussing what to have for dinner tonight. Who would do that?!
Haha… Na-Yool scoffed completely stunned out of it, and Si-Jin once again gave her a slightly concerned look. As expected, her condition was worrisome.
At this point, who was the one not in their right mind?
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