Chapter 20: Can We Start The Picnic?
TL: Pineapple
Editor: Isalee
She inhaled a deep breath to calm her furiously beating heart and slowly exhaled.
"Yes. I miss you too."
You could clearly see her face, which was lit up by her phone screen. Her hand began to get all sweaty.
'What's going on?! Why isn't he replying? I'm seriously about to panic right now!!'
Whether it was because he was happy or really surprised, he didn't say anything, so Shi Won thought he hung up on her. She looked at her phone screen to check.
'Why isn't he speaking? He didn't hang up yet.'
"Hello?"
[Yes…]
"What are you doing! I thought you hung up on me."
Manager Moon laughed because Shi Won spoke in a really soft and timid voice when she told him that she missed him, but now her voice was back to normal.
[Hahaha. I'm sorry.]
"You're embarrassing me…"
She pouted as she turned to her side and put the phone over her ear.
[I didn't hang up the phone. But my mind shut down for a bit.]
[You laid down on your bed to sleep right? Hurry and go to bed. I should probably hang up now. I'm getting the urge to head over to you right now because I keep hearing your voice.]
"..Yes?..Ah…Yeah.."
[Good night. I'll call you again soon.]
"Yes. You too."
*Daze*
After the call ended Shi Won stayed still for a long time.
Her room was really dark, but the moonlight came in from the window and she blinked her eyes.
"Haa…"
She finally took a deep breath while still in the same position.
'I'm getting the urge to head over to you right now.'
She was reminded of his voice.
He was a very talented man.
Recently, Manager Moon had been using words that would make her feel giddy and she always felt more self-conscious around him.
Although she dated several men before and they told her some sweet things, their words never made her feel this way before.
She turned her body and tightly closed her eyes.
She closed her eyes to go to sleep but couldn't because of her furiously beating heart.
"What do you mean sleep well? After you made someone like this…"
**
-Morning-
"Ah! That's right!"
Shi Won totally forgot that today was the day of the picnic, so she began to pack her things.
She packed training pants, a t-shirt to sleep in, and looked around her closet.
"Hmm…"
She began to examine all her clothes in her closet and chose several pretty outfits to pack.
"Right. It's still a company picnic and if I go dressed too casually, that's not good right?"
If she wore the same clothes as last year…
She knew the reason why she packed pretty clothes and mumbled to herself, "Why is there so much luggage?"
Of course. In the morning, she needed to put on BB cream, then makeup, perfume…and a woman needs a lot of clothes.
She packed everything, which is why it was so heavy.
Shi Won smiled more than usual and went out.
She thought to herself that she wasn't doing this for someone else.
"Everyone get ready to leave."
"Okay. The advance team told me that they have already arrived and are setting things up."
Three o'clock.
On picnic days, they usually finished their work early to take-off, so they all felt pretty good about leaving work earlier than usual.
Shi Won also got done early and prepared to leave.
There were 30 people going to the company picnic.
There were many people that weren't going to the picnic, so they used their own cars and carpooled to get to their destination. Shi Won checked the list to see who she was going with.
"Han Shi Won."
Upon hearing her name, Shi Won turned her head back to where the voice came from.
"Uh. Do Hoon oppa."
He man who started work at the company around the same time as her, and was in the same department as her.
He was also going to the picnic and came up to her with a smile.
"You're in the same car as me. I checked everything."
"Ah… really?"
"Let's go. It's been a long time since we've went on a trip together like this."
"You're right."
He looked really excited while looking at Shi Won, but she gave him an awkward smile.
Four years ago, when he entered the company with her, he was really bright and polite.
He was very kind and always took care of those around him, so he had a good reputation in the company for being a good person.
He was tall and had a nice face. He wasn't particularly handsome but everyone said that he wasn't bad looking.
Shi Won wasn't that comfortable with him.
Two years ago in the winter.
One late night, he got drunk and confessed to her.
'I only look at you. You don't know right? How much trouble I go through… I like you…'
She didn't accept his confession.
She only saw him as the nice and kind oppa. She didn't think of him in a romantic way.
After that, they never talked about that time and Do Hoon treated her the same as usual. He didn't portray any negativity around her.
"Are you doing well these days? Yoonjae said that he misses you."
"Ah. Is he well? Has it been one year already?"
"Yeah. He's not bad. He says that he has a girlfriend now."
They just talked about their lives.
"Oppa, you don't have anything going on right?"
"I'm me. Well, nothing too exciting… I'm still single…"
"Ah…"
"What about you?"
"Me?"
"Didn't you have a boyfriend until recently?"
Shi Won didn't reply but she turned her eyes away from him.
"Ah… I'm sorry, I made a mistake."
"Ah! It's okay. Don't worry about it."
As he apologized about mentioning her breakup, she wasn't thinking about her breakup.Instead, Manager Moon's face popped up in her head.
"I'm okay. A lot of time has passed since then."
'I no longer have a hard time because of him…
I have another man now… Also, I'm losing my mind right now because of him.'
"Is that so. Then that's good. Ah that's the car! Let's go. Manager! We're here."
Suddenly, he grabbed her wrist and Shi Won was pulled along by him.
"Ah, Assistant Manager Han Shi Won? Hello. I'm Choongmoo team's Manager. I'm Manager Lee. I heard a lot about you from Do Hoon."
"Ah. Manager! When did I do that?"
"I always thought that you were very pretty when I saw you."
"Ah.. thank you. I'm not that pretty… haha…"
'Ah… how uncomfortable.'
Shi Won felt really uncomfortable, so she closed her lips.
"Uh. Oppa. Can you let go of my wrist?" said Shi Won to Do Hoon who was still holding onto her wrist.
"Ah. Sorry."
The warm hand disappeared from her wrist.
"Assistant Manager Kim is coming. Everyone's here. Let's go!"
The people inside the car that were heading to the picnic just conversed to each other about their lives. Shi Won stared out the window as she occasionally smiled at their conversation and answered their questions.
"Are you okay?"
Do Hoon asked Shi Won with a concerned expression because she didn't seem too excited to be there.
"Uh? Umm…I.."
*Ring*
Shi Won took out her phone from her bag that began ringing.
"I just didn't sleep that well…"
She stopped mid-sentence and Do Hoon stared at her intensely.
Shi Won's eyes prettily looked down and her lips slightly smiled at her phone. Do Hoon put on an unhappy expression as he saw her looking happy while looking at her phone. But Shi Won didn't notice at all.
[I'm headed there now. I'll probably arrive around dinner time.]
It was Manager Moon's text message.
"Why am I so happy…"
Shi Won mumbled and smiled unconsciously. She noticed that someone was looking at her so she turned to him. She caught Do Hoon staring at her and her phone.
"Why? Do you have good news?"
For some reason, she felt that he was in a bad mood even though his voice was the same as usual.
Shi Won smiled embarrassedly and spoke.
"Ah. It's nothing."
"Really?"
"Yes."
Do Hoon smiled and began talking to the others in the car.
Shi Won felt like she was caught doing something she wasn't supposed to do and her heart beated faster as she breathed nervously.
She opened her phone again and checked the message.
[Drive carefully. I'm headed there now also.]
She pushed the send message and turned her head back to the window, trying not to smile so that the others wouldn't notice.
Finally, they arrived at the picnic area and went to the lodge to unpack their stuff.
"Unni! You're here! You came with Assistant Manager Kim Do Hoon?"
"Yup."
"I'm so jealous. When we go back, save me a seat in that car."
"Really? You can take my spot then. I'll go in another car."
"Seriously? That's a promise! I'll finally be able to talk to him for a bit."
"Keke, are you that excited?"
"You should think of it as a blessing. To think that you're passing him off… Kim Do Hoon is pretty popular. He has a lot of admirers in the company. I have to get on his good side during the picnic!"
"Do whatever you want."
Shi Won answered without any thought and went into the lodge. They threw their things in the room and everyone laid down on the floor at the same time, exhausted.
"Aigoo… I'm exhausted…"
"We still have time right? Have the men prepare the food."
"Yeah. It's been forever since I've been away from my kids and husband. I'm not making food here."
They weren't young anymore; who would still have the energy to move around after a long drive? All they wanted to do was take a nap.
"Hey, but who're you gonna pick later?"
Of course, today's main event was the Love Picnic Game.
"Anyway, ahjumma will pick someone, and they probably won't pick me. So I'll just pick some young man."
Everyone laughed and smiled at her comment.
"If you're interested in one of those young men over there, then do well!"
"I'm gonna choose Assistant Manager Kim Do Hoon!"
Assistant Manager Kim Na Rae raised both of her fists and cried out.
"Hey, almost 80 to 90 percent of the females here will pick Kim Do Hoon! But the problem is who Kim Do Hoon will choose."
"I hope it's me."
"Hey. Assistant Manager Kim Do Hoon is mine."
There were many voices around her that were playfully teasing each other.
Shi Won didn't know that there were so many females that were interested in Kim Do Hoon, so she thought that it was very interesting.
"Shi Won unni? What about you?"
"Huh? What?"
"Who are you going to choose.."
"Mmm… I don't know…"
"Don't choose Assistant Manager Kim Do Hoon. He might just choose you because he's close with you."
"Okay. You do what you want." Shi Won replied while laughing.
Come to think of it, she hadn't decided who she was going to pick.
Shi Won raised her eyes and observed the males that were working.
Everyone was chatting with each other and they were doing nothing, so the team manager shouted at the females in the room.
"Aiee! Did you ahjummas come here to sleep? Is this a sauna? Hurry and get out!"
All the females reluctantly got up and put on their shoes to go help.
"We're almost done preparing dinner, so you come help and wash the vegetables!"
"Okay∿"
"Everyone get up! Shall we start the picnic?"
Since the oldest woman, Director Park, clapped her hands and spoke to everyone, they all got up.
Shi Won also got up and helped prepare dinner.
Shi Won was chatting with a co-worker when someone said,
"Uh! Is that Manager Moon?"
There was a trash car that was doing its best to come up the hill.
Shi Won's lips kept on going up unintentionally so she looked at the trash car but turned her head away from it.
"Huh? Is that not Manager Moon?"
'Huh? Is there another person in this company with the same trash car?'
Shi Won abruptly raised her head.
Shi Won's mouth slowly opened wide in shock.
"Omo! Isn't that Manager Moon? Oh my God. He looks like a completely different person!"
Everyone's eyes widened in surprise as they saw Manager Moon's figure come out of the car.
His hair was still the same untidy mess, but his trademark glasses were gone and he was wearing a green shirt and training pants. He looked really muscular and graceful at the same time.
He looked like a sportswear model that appeared in celebrity magazines. Shi Won's mouth unconsciously opened so wide from her shock that she had to consciously close them.
/ /