MM 127

The sound of the keyboard occasionally echoed through the office. Yu-young stared at the monitor with a serious face, then closed his eyes for a while to rest, or fiddled with his phone before returning to the screen again.

Originally, it was a task that could be dealt with before the sun set. However, since he couldn’t just wait for Do-won without anything to do, he figured it would be better to pass the time casually while waiting. Yu-young could already hear the sound of applause in his mind a week from now.

He was about to save the work sheet, which he had nearly completed, with a contented expression. Then, the door to the team leader’s office opened, and Do-won walked out.

“Assistant Han.”

“Oh, Team Leader.”

“I was wondering if I was making you work too hard, so I came out for a bit.”

It was already 10 p.m. and even though Do-won had been working late with him, he didn’t look tired at all.

Yu-young brightened up and checked his phone. He had been getting a little hungry and tired, and now seemed like the perfect moment to do what he’d been wanting to do: “Team Leader, can I… do that thing now? The one I said I wanted to do with you earlier.”

Hearing Yu-young’s energetic question, Do-won leaned casually against the empty desk beside him, tilting his head slightly to the side. He closed his eyes lazily and smiled.

“Sure. I don’t know what it is, but go ahead and start.”

Yu-young’s heart raced in excitement as he looked at Do-won, who gave the command with a relaxed air, like a well-fed beast. Why did he always stir up feelings like this? He murmured to himself, trying to push away the impure thoughts. Opening the delivery app, he held it out toward Do-won.

“Team Leader, then, please choose something from here. What kind of food do you like? [visit our site]Chicken might be a bit hard to clean up afterward, so how about tteokbokki?”

Yu-young’s simple wish was to share a late-night snack like this with Do-won at the office. That’s why he had carefully chosen the menu. Of course, it would be something easy to eat without leaving any mess, just like the sandwiches he had eaten earlier for dinner. After working so hard, it was only natural to feel hungry.

“…”

It seemed that Do-won hadn’t expected a late-night snack at all. He blinked for a moment, then burst into laughter, but not in his usual way. It wasn’t a simple chuckle but a surprised, repeated laugh, leaving Yu-young to wonder if he had said something wrong.

“Uhm… Do you not like late-night snacks?”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just…”

Do-won averted his gaze for a moment, then looked back at Yu-young with a warm smile, still laughing.

“I guess I expected something else, and now I feel like a beast. This is a feeling I’ve never had before, so I’m a little embarrassed.”

“…Huh? What…?”

“Anything’s fine. Order whatever you like. Just call me when the food gets here.”

Despite his earlier comment about feeling embarrassed, Do-won seemed quite cheerful. With that, he turned and walked back into his office.

‘What exactly did he expect…?’

Yu-young stared blankly at Do-won’s retreating back, and only then did his face begin to heat up. He couldn’t help but catch the hint [stolen content]of meaning behind the words about feeling like a beast.

‘Don’t imagine anything. Ugh, bad thoughts…’ Yu-young kept repeating this in his mind as he quickly ordered the tteokbokki.

‘…I’m crazy.’

Normally, he’d be eagerly anticipating the spicy, chewy rice cakes and crispy fried snacks, but today, Yu-young couldn’t focus on that. Instead, his mind kept wandering back to what Do-won had expected.

‘Wait a minute. I don’t even know exactly what he expected. I shouldn’t be imagining things alone.’

With effort, Yu-young slapped his own cheeks to refocus. He tried to turn his attention back to the file on the screen, but it was no use. His concentration had already drifted far away.

Let’s just stop here. Yu-young decided quickly and closed the file, turning instead to the picture frame on his desk. It showed a pure, untouched snowy field—one of those peaceful sights that always made his heart feel warm.

‘…I want to go to such a place with Team Leader someday.’

As he gently stroked the frame, deep in thought, he suddenly sensed Do-won’s presence behind him again.

“What’s so nice about that? It’s like you’re treating it like your lover. You’re always putting it up and wiping it down, caressing it.”

“Ah…”

In Do-won’s hand was the reference material he had promised to give earlier. Yu-young took it from him absentmindedly, but then a playful glint appeared in his eyes.

“Team Leader, could it be… you’re jealous?”

“Jealous? It’s more like sometimes I feel like you love that picture more than you love me. It makes me feel kind of weird.”

That’s jealousy, isn’t it? Yu-young thought to himself but managed to stifle his laughter before it escaped.

When he said that, Do-won really did seem a little sarcastic, but at the same time, his expression was very complex. Strangely, Do-won was acting in a way that Yu-young couldn’t quite understand as he looked at the photo.

“Oh, Team Leader, that’s impossible. It’s just a photo,” Yu-young said.

“You have a stack of his photos at home, looking at them, hugging them. It drives me crazy,” Do-won muttered.

Listening to Do-won’s subtly whiny tone, Yu-young thought he sounded like a child throwing a tantrum, but he couldn’t help the smile that spread across his face.

“I want to bite him, he’s so cute,” he thought, barely suppressing his impure impulse.

Trying to sound mature, he added, “No, it’s just that I don’t have a picture from you. If you can give me that wave picture from the other day, I’ll frame it, put it on my desk, clean it every day, and cuddle with it. How about it? Pull it out and give it to me.”

Do-won couldn’t help but laugh at Yu-young’s attempt to get the photo as a consolation prize. Just then, Yu-young’s phone started ringing.

“Oh, it must be the delivery. I’ll go down and get it,” Yu-young said.

“Let’s go together. It’s dark,” Do-won replied.

Together, they rode the elevator down to the first floor, and in Do-won’s hand ​unauthorized copy​was a heavy bag filled with the tteokbokki that Yu-young had ordered. The aroma filled the empty office.

As he unwrapped the bag, Yu-young said excitedly, “Somehow, I don’t think you’ve ever eaten anything like this while working late.”

“Today is the first time,” Do-won responded.

“Why don’t you eat it? It’s so delicious….”

“Because it’s probably more efficient to work fast, then go home and eat. Isn’t that usually the case?”

Yu-young thought about the times from last year and the year before, when he, Ju-yeon, and Yoon-seok would order late-night meals and eagerly eat everything on the delivery app. He didn’t bother mentioning it, though.

“Still, it’s nice to make a special memory with you,” Do-won said, with a faint smile, handing Yu-young a pair of chopsticks he’d carefully prepared. Meanwhile, Yu-young quickly tore open the packaging.

“I’ll eat well.”

“Me, too.”

With the usual greetings, they began eating the tteokbokki. The spiciness of the tteokbokki was softened by the plum-flavored drink that came with the savory fries.

Yu-young liked spicy food, so he gulped down the drink after each bite, breathing out, “Haa,” as he did. Do-won smiled as he watched Yu-young eat, his lips turning red and plump.

As they sat across from each other, eating their late-night snack, Yu-young realized that this situation didn’t feel real at all. The other team members probably couldn’t imagine Do-won working late and eating tteokbokki like this. Only Yu-young could see Do-won’s face, sitting across from him, eating late-night snacks with such a sweet expression. A giggle escaped him at the thought.

Do-won stirred his chopsticks a few times, then put them down, watching Yu-young eat. He wasn’t visit our siteusually the type to observe someone eating, but he didn’t seem used to this kind of late-night eating.

“Is this what you’ve been wanting to try with me?” Do-won asked.

“Yeah. Somehow, with you… Hehe… Ha… I thought it would be fun,” Yu-young replied.

“That’s simple. I thought you were going to do something big.”

It was spicy, so Yu-young filled his stomach with half the drink and half the tteokbokki. After quickly finishing the tteokbokki, they started cleaning up the mess from their late-night snack. After neatly tidying up, they brushed their teeth, and before long, Do-won had turned off the lights in the team leader’s office.

“Uh… Are you leaving?” Yu-young asked.

“Yes, I’m going. I don’t want to keep our Assistant waiting. We need to save him the trouble,” Do-won said.

Yu-young realized that without him, Do-won would have stayed late on his own. He shrugged a little, but then resolved to spend more time with Do-won from now on. He cleared his desk and put on his jacket.

“Shall we head out then?”

“Ah, Team Leader, wait a minute,” Yu-young called out.

Watching Do-won turn off the lights and prepare to leave the office, a mischievous glint flickered in Yu-young’s eyes. He boldly approached Do-won, grabbed his collar, spun him around, and kissed him on the lips.

“I was wondering if you were expecting something like this,” Yu-young said, grinning.

Do-won’s eyes widened at the unexpected kiss. Seeing the look of utter disbelief on his [stolen content]face, Yu-young realized that he hadn’t expected it at all.

‘What. Isn’t this… Ah, embarrassing.’

If I hadn’t thought of this… I’d be the only one getting excited, Yu-young thought, covering his blushing face. He coughed awkwardly and turned away, about to tell Do-won to hurry up and leave the office.

But then his body jerked back around. Do-won’s smiling face was right in front of him.

“You’re not going anywhere. You’ve set the man’s heart on fire,” Do-won said with a smile.

“Ah, Team Leader…!” Yu-young jumped up, his whole body stiffening in surprise at Do-won’s unexpected action. Picking him up as lightly as a doll, Do-won sat him down on the empty table. He gently rubbed Yu-young’s face, locked eyes with him sweetly, and whispered, “How did you expect this?”

“How did you know I was expecting this, huh?”

“The table is breaking…!” Yu-young exclaimed.

“It won’t break if our Assistant sits quietly,” Do-won replied, playfully kissing Yu-young on the lips a couple of times. He laughed softly.

“Though it will break if you do something else.”

“Da, what else?”

“I don’t know. I’ll leave that to your imagination.”

Brushing Yu-young’s hand away from his face, ​unauthorized copy​which was already burning up to his neck, Do-won leaned in and kissed him again.

Their pheromones mingled sweetly in the dimly lit office. Their laughter echoed in the office for a long time afterward.