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Chapter 13
Dangers of Office Romance
They both left the Vietnamese noodle shop and went back to the company.
Shi Won turned to look at his face and saw him give out a comfortable expression.
'Is this man comfortable with me…'
In the beginning she felt that she was very conscious of him but come to think of it he was actually the one who was more conscious of her and thought of her more.
She felt that he wasn't doing it to put on an act but he was actually putting a conscious effort to take care her even the small things like noticing her expressions.
Manager Moon suddenly stopped in front of a coffee shop on their way back and Shi Won stopped walking.
"You don't drink coffee during lunch right?"
"Uh… yeah…"
Manager Moon turned his head and began walking once more.
'How did he know?'
Shi Won did not drink coffee during lunch. Shi Won is very sensitive to caffeine so if she drinks it during lunch time, then she won't be able to sleep at night.
Slowly, she looked at Manager Moon and he also looked at her eyes and raised his lips.
"Because I've never seen you drink coffee during lunch before.
Shi Won was so surprised that he was so meticulous and that he would notice those small things about her. She knew that he was very meticulous in his work but she didn't expect that he would be so concerned about the little things about her.
Shi Won slowly opened her mouth because she wanted to check how much he knew about her.
"You're the sensitive type aren't you?"
"Me? I guess so."
Manager Moon looked at Shi Won and he shrugged his shoulders.
'It could happen because we see each other too often right?'
Shi Won thought that she was thinking too deeply into his words. Shi Won began looking in front of her and walked.
"Thank you for lunch today."
"Yeah. Me too."
When they went back to the office, they were met with stares from their coworkers. So they just greeted them and went back to their seats.
Shi Won went to brush her teeth in the women's restroom.
*Knock knock knock knock
Suddenly she heard a knocking sound from behind her and she opened the door of the women's room.
"Hey!"
"Unni!"
Shi Won almost had a heart attack from their sudden appearance and they came towards her, forcing her to step backwards into the room.
"What did you eat?"
"Is he mad?"
"Did he even talk?"
At the sudden barrage of questions directed at her, Shi Won gave an unfair expression as she squinted her eyes and looked at the two of them in annoyance.
"Hey, can you ask one at a time?"
A female coworker who was passing by decided to speak up first.
"Assistant Manager Han, did you eat lunch with Manager Moon? How did you solve the problem of your outburst towards him at the company dinner?"
Shi Won smirked and gave a small laugh at the three women who were huddled together towards her.
"Wow. Manager Moon sure is popular. He just asked out a female worker to eat lunch together. What's wrong with that?"
At Shi Won's response, the three women turned their heads to look at each other then looked back at her with disbelieving eyes.
"Why are you putting it like that? It's not that Manager Moon is popular. It's that the person he asked out to lunch today was you."
"Ah, is that so?"
The three women simultaneously nodded their heads.
"We just talked about whatever and had a conversation."
"Is that all?"
"Then what else is there?"
The three female coworkers expressed disappointment in their eyes and went back outside.
Seeing their expressions, Shi Won gave a terse laugh and looked at them and asked.
"What in the world were you guys expecting?"
"No.. we weren't expecting anything. We just don't know anything about Manager Moon's style. He's usually very cold to everyone so we thought that he would be angry at you or something like that."
"We just ate lunch."
"Aieee.. I waited for you for no reason."
"I'll leave first."
The female coworker left first and only Shi Won, Assistant Manager Kim and Manager Park were left in the room.
They looked disappointed and they sat on the chair and looked at Shi Won who took out a toothbrush and squeezed out toothpaste.
"But did you really only eat lunch? Manager Moon didn't say anything?"
'You're pretty. I wanted to have you all for myself.'
Suddenly his words came back up in her mind and her heart began to beat faster and she was worried that her face would get red, so she turned her body slowly.
"Yeah. He said that don't drink and say that again."
"Really? He's more lenient than I thought."
Shi Won pretended to have no interest and began brushing her teeth.
Shi Won's heart began to beat faster because of his words and behavior towards her and Shi Won began brushing her teeth furiously to hide her face from them because they might become suspicious.
'Anyway, he's a strange man. Why does he say those things?'
If they know that he says those things they will be surprised and get heart attacks.
Shi Won imagined their expressions and laughed to herself.
"Hmm hmm…"
Shi Won imagined him and laughed by herself and tried to hold it in so she shook her head furiously.
"What are you doing? Assistant Manager Han?"
"I don't know. I'm too tired?"
The two of them looked at Shi Won with confused eyes who was laughing randomly began to shake her head and they left the room.
Shi Won was too nervous back when she was alone with Manager Moon, but now that she's back in the company, where her nervousness was gone, she finally realized what he said to her.
"Wow… I'm awkward?"
She couldn't tell anyone and she was alone in this situation. She took a deep breath and entered back into the office.
Manager Moon's spot was still empty and she sat down in her seat.
She looked at her monitor and sighed.
She had a lot of work in the morning so she wasn't able to work on the project and just looked at the monitor in gaze because she was dumbfounded at the amount of work left to do.
She thought that she didn't have much time to do the project because her schedule is filled with things to do in the afternoon too.
'I'm working night shift on a Monday…'
As she was taking a deep breath, she heard something behind her and turned around.
The back of his head looked really cold. If someone his head with a needle blood probably wouldn't come out.
'No matter how many times I see him, I can't adapt to him.'
Although there should be a clear line between work and relationship. Isn't he going too far? She tried to organize herself in her head and she came up with strange imaginations about him.
'We will probably be the only ones left in the office tonight? I'll ask him then.'
Shi Won made the decision in her mind with a determined shine in her eyes.
**
*taktaktaktak
You could hear Manager Moon's loud typing throughout the office.
"Manager Moon, Assistant Manager Han, I'll head home first. Hurry up and go home."
"Yes. Goodbye."
As the last coworker left only they were left in the office.
When she looked at the clock it was already 9 o'clock.
She already submitted a file but she got rejected so she was working on correcting her mistakes.
This should be enough right? She thought.
In fact, Shi Won cannot stop complaining about Manager Moon because he keeps on making her redo her work. But she cannot refuse him because all of the work that he sends up to the bosses, are always approved.
Rather, he always gets compliments, that's why Shi Won doesn't say anything and listens to him.
Now, the monitor screen became blurry.
*Yawn.
Shi Won suddenly closed her mouth and raised her eyes.
Manager Moon's typing sound stopped.
*Tak
He hit something on the desk and Shi Won turned her head to look at him. He took off his glasses and put them on the table and stretched his arms out and frowned.
He pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers.
He slowly turned his chair to her so Shi Won quickly turned back to her monitor.
Silence.
She felt his eyes on the back of her head and she thought that it was really awkward being watched.
*Turn
"Oh my God!"
Manager Moon stretched his hand and turned Shi Won's chair, so her body leaned on one side and she was surprised at being suddenly faced by him.
He slowly leaned down towards her close to her face and looked deeply at her eyes. And Shi Won shrinked back into her chair and looked down.
"Wh-what are you doing?…"
Now that she was seeing him without his glasses for the second time, Shi Won was able to adapt to it a little. Why would he go around covering his eyes like that? Her pupils skimmed over his fine face and she slowly turned around.
*Began typing again
Suddenly she was once again quickly turned around by Manager Moon, who grabbed the sides of her chair and turned it around so that their pupils were facing each other.
"Uh!"
Manager Moon spread his legs and moved his chair towards her and put her legs in between his.
"What are you doing!!!? You scared me!"
"Are you tired?"
In contrast to Shi Won's surprised voice, Manager Moon gave out a soft and warm tone. So she bit her bottom lip. She realized that her knees were touching his legs, this made her heart beat faster and bit into her lips even harder.
"You're lips… look like they're hurt.."
"Ah…"
Shi Won gently parted her lips and slowly moved back into her chair.
Seeing her expression Manager Moon smiled.
*Thump thump
He didn't put on a forced smile. It was a genuine one. And seeing his expression she without her knowing she was dazed by his good looks with her mouth wide open.
Shi Won turned her body away from him in fear that he might hear her loud heart beat that is gradually getting faster.
"You must be tired…"
"N-no. Just a little."
"Then let's stop and go home."
"Yes? But I'm not done with… You told me by today…"
He said to finish it by today, is he giving me more time… Is he just being more understanding of her situation?…
Manager Moon gently lifted up her chin to see her injured lips and gave a small chuckle.
"I finished all the work…"
"…"
"Therefore, we can go."
"What? You finished it by yourself?"
Manager Moon folded his arms and nodded his head.
Then what was the point of her work so far… It's already 10, looking at the time, she let out a sigh.
"Then why… didn't you tell me…"
Suddenly, she saw that his eyes are bright red so she stopped her words.
Then that means that as soon as he got the file yesterday… did this man not sleep?…
He should sleep properly, if he didn't sleep…
"Did you sleep?"
Shi Won asked in a soft voice, which made his eyelashes slightly move.
"Moderately?"
Manager Moon turned around and gave her a tired smile.
"I'm grateful that you did all the work but next time let me do my job. You got tired for nothing…"
Manager Moon slowly lowered his eyes and laughed before speaking.
"I just did. Anyway, I don't want to send you home just yet…"
He straightened his back and stretched his arms and then put his hands behind his head. And Shi Won, who saw such graceful actions from him, her brain momentarily shut down and couldn't help but stare in wonder.
She couldn't help but stare into his eyes that seemed to glitter brighter than the stars. She couldn't hear anything else but his voice which mesmerized her which resounded in her ears.
Shi Won finally found out the dangers of an office romance.
'I might get a heart attack.'