PIA 100

Nothing had ever gone well when postponing something. Whether it was assignments, exam preparation, or tasks with visible results, or even intangible things like apologies or confessions.

Postponing always ended in disaster.

Even knowing this…

“Aah—!”

Ji-an tore at his hair after hanging up the phone. There was no doubt he was going to sell the officetel. There was no reason to hesitate. But what use was it now? He should have sold it to someone else long ago.

No, but why was hyung-nim buying it?

For a moment, he felt a question close to resentment, but that wasn’t the important thing.

“Hyung-nim, how much do you actually know?”

Ji-an gripped his phone with both hands and blurted out a question to the empty air.

“……”

This wasn’t the time to be like this.

Looking back, he realized he hadn’t done anything for Jeong Hee-seo. Besides eating well and acting cute, what had he done? The thought crossed Ji-an’s mind that he had been occupying a place by Jeong Hee-seo’s side like a hamster living off its cuteness alone.

Time was ticking away. Ji-an clenched his fists and sprang up from his seat.

* * *

After a long and painful business report meeting ended and some were going to take stomach medicine, Secretary Yoon knocked on the General Manager’s office door again. Knock knock, after two knocks, even without a response, being able to open the door and enter was a privilege unique to Secretary Yoon.

But why was he being glared at? Secretary Yoon blinked a few times and hesitantly asked,

“Um… Should I come back later? But actually, I can’t postpone this. Something urgent came up that I need to ask about. Like, really urgent.”

“What is it, speak.”

For someone telling him to speak freely, he didn’t look like he wanted to listen. Jeong Hee-seo closed his eyes, touching his forehead as if he had a headache. Before speaking, Secretary Yoon gently placed the hangover remedy he had brought on his desk.

Unlike Secretary Yoon who had just played along yesterday, Jeong Hee-seo had been drinking at a frightening pace. So he had prepared this on the way to work this morning.

“Well, Mr. Ji-an sent me a message. He’s asking why you drank yesterday.”

Jeong Hee-seo, who had been touching his forehead, turned his gaze back to Secretary Yoon at those words. Whether it was a proper hangover or due to psychological reasons, shadows had settled heavily on the face of his usually composed boss. Secretary Yoon blinked a couple of times at this rare sight.

“What should I reply? I was about to just send what I know, but you know, I have loyalty to you, General Manager. So…”

“Ha… Do as you see fit.”

“How exactly do you mean by ‘as I see fit’?”

As Secretary Yoon shrugged with an exaggerated gesture, Jeong Hee-seo touched his forehead again.

“It seems you’re aware that you showed a somewhat different side yesterday.”

“……”

Secretary Yoon didn’t miss this rare opportunity to tease his boss. It was almost a shame that he couldn’t see his facial expression because of the hand covering his forehead. Jeong Hee-seo had looked unwell since arriving at work and throughout the morning meeting. The General Manager’s face, marred by worry, had been a rare sight that all the staff in the adjoining office had been whispering about.

‘Gasp.’

Secretary Yoon hurriedly covered his mouth with his hand. He had caught a glimpse of Jeong Hee-seo’s ears turning bright red as he slightly lowered his head.

‘Is acting drunk in front of a young lover such an embarrassing thing?’

It’s unclear why it felt like he had seen something he shouldn’t have. Feeling like his own face might turn red if he stayed in the General Manager’s office any longer, Secretary Yoon flapped his hands and deliberately raised his voice.

“Then I’ll just tell him frankly that you drank heavily because you were upset.”

“Yoon Woo-young.”

“W-why are you calling me?”

Secretary Yoon unconsciously took a step back.

“No. If you say it like that, it sounds like I’m blaming Ji-an.”

“……”

For a moment, an unpleasant remark almost rose from within him. Secretary Yoon pursed his lips and swallowed his words as he watched Jeong Hee-seo sit up.

“I’ll handle it myself. Don’t reply.”

“Yes.”

“Thanks for this.”

Jeong Hee-seo picked up the hangover remedy, patted Secretary Yoon’s shoulder a couple of times, and went into the rest area prepared inside the General Manager’s office. Even that was unusual, so Secretary Yoon forgot to say any words of modesty and just stared blankly at his retreating figure.

‘What should we do about our General Manager?’

They say late bloomers in love fall the hardest, and Jeong Hee-seo seemed to be a prime example of that.

Jeong Hee-seo, who came inside thinking he might lie down for a bit, headed towards the window instead of the bed. He drank the hangover remedy that Secretary Yoon had prepared for him in one gulp and opened his phone.

He first checked if there were any messages from Ji-an.

[Hyung-nim!]

Ji-an had set a picture of a strawberry cake he had eaten recently as his profile photo. His chat name was simply <Ji-an> with no status message. Compared to the flashy, glittering profiles of the young staff in the secretarial office, Ji-an’s profile was rather modest given his lively personality.

There were 24 unread messages piled up. The last one simply said “Hyung-nim!”, making it difficult to guess the content before opening the chat.

Jeong Hee-seo opened the message window, unaware of the smile creeping onto his face.

[So, I’ve been thinking…]

[I’ve been so shameless all this time, haven’t I?]

[Always just receiving things, so I thought hard about it.]

[Is there anything Hyung-nim wants?]

[Is there anything I can do for you…]

[But there’s nothing. You lack absolutely nothing…]

[No matter how much I think about it ㅠ3ㅠ]

[Seriously…]

[ㅠ_ㅠ]

[So I decided to give you homework. It’s absolutely not because I don’t want to think about it myself. Don’t misunderstand.]

[So the homework is.]

[Drum roll please]

[Dumdumdumdumdum]

[Think of something you want from me.]

[How about it?]

[Are you in a meeting right now, Hyung-nim? You haven’t read this.]

[It might be harder than you think?]

[You can’t say you don’t want to do it.]

[Oh, and I’ll wait for you in the company lobby during lunch.]

[I have something to give you.]

[I’m on my way now. I left a little early, hope that’s okay since you’re the boss…]

[I’m almost there.]

[I’ll be waiting, so take your time.]

[I miss you.]

[Hyung-nim!]

The second to last message had arrived just moments ago, according to the timestamp. Jeong Hee-seo, who had been reading the messages with a smile, suddenly looked up when he checked the time. He instinctively looked down out the window, though it was impossible to see anything from this angle.

[I’ll be down in five minutes.]

After putting a simple answer in the message window, Jeong Hee-seo quickly left the General Manager’s office.

It was unclear what change of heart had occurred, but suddenly he was saying cute things like asking what he wanted, and now he was waiting in the company lobby.

Since they started living together, Ji-an had not set foot near the company building, as if he had been waiting for the right moment. Even when Secretary Yoon and the secretarial staff invited him for lunch, Ji-an had persistently postponed and avoided it.

He hadn’t thought deeply about it before, but now the reason why Ji-an was uncomfortable with the company building became clear.

Coincidentally, there were also many messages from Jeong Han-joo and Jeong Hee-young on his phone. The family group chat was buzzing with talk about wedding gifts. Most of the over 100 messages were about Jeong Hee-young manipulating Jeong Han-joo into making appointments with an in-demand jewelry designer.

In the past, he would have ignored the flood of messages, but now he found himself reading through them, albeit with a disinterested expression. Perhaps because the topic was ‘marriage,’ he felt compelled to pay attention.

Jeong Hee-seo scrolled through the message window with a furrowed brow, forcing himself to read.

While doing so, a photo of Jeong Han-joo and Seo Ji-hyuk trying on wedding gift samples caught Jeong Hee-seo’s eye.

Seo Ji-hyuk, who appeared in the photo together, looked so gentle that it was hard to believe he was the one who had thrown water in Ji-an’s face.

There were quite a few suspicious aspects in his behavior, and he briefly considered tipping off Jeong Han-joo. However, he thought that ultimately, whoever it was, it was Jeong Han-joo’s choice.

‘He has a nature of coveting what belongs to others.’

If anything, Seo Ji-hyuk seemed to be the one full of greed and jealousy. In his eyes, this aspect made him resemble Jeong Han-joo, the youngest sibling. He didn’t think such a temperament was entirely bad. In some ways, it meant he was a person with strong energy, of course, if it ignited in a good direction.

Jeong Hee-seo was rather cold in this aspect. Even if Jeong Han-joo was his family, he considered the choice of a spouse to be outside his concern.

Jeong Hee-seo’s interest and desire for control only activated when it involved his own person, namely Ji-an.

“Tsk.”

What on earth did Ji-an like about Jeong Han-joo…

No matter how he thought about it, the soft and cute-natured Ji-an and Jeong Han-joo didn’t seem to match at all.

Ji-an had liked him for a long time, and it must have caused him a lot of heartache. If only Jeong Hee-seo had met Ji-an much earlier, he could have made sure he never felt so small, showering him with love.

No, even if they had met long ago, his work-obsessed self might not have recognized Ji-an and passed him by. There’s no guarantee that Ji-an would have liked him instead of Jeong Han-joo back then. Perhaps he and Ji-an met at just the right time.

As these thoughts ran through his head, a glint of realization crossed Jeong Hee-seo’s eyes.

[Give me that hard-to-get ring designer’s contact information too.]

Just before getting off the elevator to arrive at the lobby, Jeong Hee-seo sent a separate message to Jeong Hee-young.

[Why do you need a ring?]

The reply came as soon as he sent the message. Along with a mischievously smiling character emoticon, a cheeky question followed.

Jeong Hee-seo didn’t bother to reply, switched his phone to silent mode, shoved it into his pocket, and crossed the lobby. Ji-an was standing just less than 20 meters away, causing his steps to automatically quicken.