Sweet Admiration (MewGulf AU)

🌻Chapter 9

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When he returned to the office, he recorded the day's lack of progress in the logbook and began to work on business proposals for the next day. Actually, since Gulf was still inexperienced, he was just typing and copying proposals Kao had already made.

"Everyone starts with making copies. Just remember this is part of the job, and concentrate." Kao said as he unloaded a pile of manuscripts on Gulf's desk. Gulf looked up at him with a look of disbelief. Kao returned his look with a grin and calmly walked away.

He had no choice, so he quickly finished typing and gathered up the pile of manuscripts.

He went to make copies at the copy machine near Human Resources and stared boredly at a row of nearby cabinets.

Suddenly, something caught his attention. Among the various files and items on the crowded shelves, there was a framed photograph in the corner.

It looked like it had been taken at the time the company was established. There were a lot fewer employees then, about eight men and women stood beside each other, smiling.

Among those faces was one Gulf immediately recognized.

It was Mew. Gulf took the picture in his hand and examined it closely. Mew was wearing a dark suit and looked very grown up. There was no doubt about it---Mew had the appearance of an outstanding member of the society. And he definetly hadn't lost any of his unique appeal. He was beautiful.

It was difficult to explain exactly how, or in what way he was beautiful, but he possessed a certain refreshing beauty that normal men didn't have.

"What are you looking at?" a voice from behind asked, releasing Gulf from his absorption with the picture.

As he turned, he saw Bow smiling. She peeked at the picture in Gulf's hands.

"Oh, this picture here," he said.

"Ah, that's the picture that was taken when the company first began," Bow explained. "I wasn't working here at that time, but it seems the company was started with just those members. There's President Soga, Manager Tamano from Systems Development...Ahaha, Manager Miike has his eyes closed!"

"Do you know this person?" Gulf pointed to Mew, and Bow's eyes began to sparkle.

"Yes, that's Executive Sir Mew. Doesn't he look like he could be a model? Everyone says that he totally looks like Prince Charming. President said that Sir Mew had a lot of agents try to scout him when he was a student...Ah, that's right, the president was one year ahead of Sir Mew at university, that's why they established the company together."

"Does he come here a lot?" Gulf asked.

"No, now that you mention it, I haven't seen him at all lately. But he's involved with a lot of other companies, so I'm sure he's very busy."

"Is that so..." Gulf was a bit disappointed. This reaffirmed his belief that he wouldn't get to see Mew after all. He gave one last lingering look at the picture he held in his hand, at Mew's sming face.

This is probably the only way I'll ever see what P'Mew looks like now.

Before he saw the picture, he only remembered Mew's face as he had looked 12 years earlier, a junior high school student.

"Oh, that's right!" Bow suddenly exclaimed. "We're going to have a welcoming party for you, Gulf. The president is super excited about it! All our co-workers will get together and celebrate. Right now, he's muttering to himself in his office, trying to figure out where we should have the party."

Gulf looked up at Bow's face.

"The president is here right now?" he asked.

"Hmm? Yes, he just returned. He seems to be in a good mood and is reading magazines in his office."

There was something more important than a welcoming party right now, something much more important than deciding which restaurant they would go---the company housing!

With nothing but a vague "Please wait a little longer," Gulf's patience was wearing thin at the delay. Alsk, the hotel bills were piling up. He didn't even care if he couldn't stay at the company housing at this point. He could find a boarding house or an apartment by himself---all he wanted was to know exactly what was going on.

With an angry look on his face, Gulf returned the picture to the shelf and made up his mind.

He was going to complain to the president directly.

He didn't like this unsettled feeling. He wasn't thinking about quitting the company, but he decided he would talk to the president himself if he had to.

"G-Gulf?" Bow stammered, and watched, dumbfounded, as Gulf walked briskly towards the president's office.

TBC