Sweet Admiration (MewGulf AU)

🌻Chapter 24

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"Hey! How's it going?" Gulf had returned to the office after visiting clients all morning, and had his mouth full with a rice ball, when someone slapped him on the back. Trying not to choke on his food. He coughed and turned around to see President Soga standing before him, in a great mood.

"Oh, it's going well. Thank you."

"Is Mew bullying you? He's a bit strange, so he can be hard to get along with."

Gulf personally thought President Soga was much weirder than Mew, but he just smiled. "Not at all. Things are going well."

Lately, Mew had been a lot more sociable, and the stubborness he had when they first moved in together seemed to have disappeared. They ate breakfast together, and when they had free time, they would watch TV together. They even exchanged normal conversation like friends. Unlike before, it seemed natural now. The nervous mood they had between them at first was gone. Their life together had transitioned to a peaceful, quiet existence.

Soga said Mew was hard to get along with, but it was only that way at first. Undernearh his shrewd mask, Mew had been hiding a quiet and kind personality.

"Well, I'm glad to hear it," Soga said. "I'm sure it's been an inconvenience, but it's only temporary, after all. As soon as we get proper company housing, you are the first priority. Just wait a little longer."

"Temporary?" That was the first Gulf had heard of it.

Ignoring Gulf, Soga continued. "Ah, that's right! After work today, we're throwing a welcoming party."

"What? We already had one, though." There had been one about a week earlier with the Sales and Human Resources Departments. Gulf was sure President Soga had been there...

Soga replied, as if it was completely obvious, "No, this time we're having it with the Systems Development Department. They just hired some new employees yesterday, so you can meet them, too."

"I see..."

"Ask someone from HR for specifics, okay? Well, I'm busy, so I'll see you later!" After saying everything he wanted to say, Soga left like a gust of wind.

"Another welcoming party..." Even though they just had one, now Gulf had to go to another one. He wasn't happy that he wouldn't be able to fix dinner that night, but it was a company event so he had no choice.

At any rate, he figured he should probably let Mew know that he would be home late, so he took out his cellphone. It was his first time calling Mew, and he was a little nervous that his roommate might be annoyed that Gulf was going out of his way to contact him over something like this.

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"Didn't you already have a welcoming party the other day?" Mew echoed Gulf's words to Soga earlier. Gulf explained to him that this time it was with the System Development Department.

"Soga always thinks up stuff like this. He's so weird. As long as he has an excuse to drink alcohol, it doesn't matter what the occasion is."

"He kind of said the same thing about you." Gulf said, chuckling.

"What do you mean?" Mew asked.

"You both said each other was weird. He asked if you were hard to get along with."

"He's saying a bunch of nonsense again." Mew clicked his tongue in exasperation. Just imagining what his face must look like at that moment made Gulf laugh.

"So, anyway, like I said, I'll be late tonight. I don't think I'll be able to make dinner, so go ahead and eat without me."

"Don't worry about me. It's not like you're my personal chef, you know. I'll think of something, so just have fun."

"But I prerty much am your personal chef..."

"Well then, you're fired!" Mew said sharply, and hung up. However, Gulf knew that that was just Mew trying to be funny, so he was a bit happy at the other man's protest.

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He had to go visit clients with Kao later that afternoon. Lately, he had gotten used to his job. At first, he felt like he was just Kao's assistant, but lately, he had been able to share his own ideas during meetings with clients. He was a lot more familiar with his clients than before, and there were times when they bounced project ideas off each other. He realzied that his skills as a salesman were growing, and his job was starting to get more interesting.

Kao had told him, "Soon you'll have to go around to clients by yourself, so you better prepare yourself!"

Gulf looked forward to the day when he would be recognized as a full-fledged member of the company. They returned to the office after 6:00 p.m. and then headed towards the location of the party. It was at a nearby yakiniku restaurant. There were alteady many people there from Systems Development that Gulf had never met before. They worked in a different floors, so they fidn't have many opportunities to interact. A large group of women arrived after Gulf, and he found out they had recently joined the System Development Department.

Gulf sat in between a group of women. Yoshimi, a young woman around the same age as him,offered him some drinks. They both exchanged phone numbers. He was having a lot of fun for the first time in a long time.

After the restaurant closed at 9:00 p.m., the girls dragged Gulf to a bar. Around 10, he was finally making his way home. The girls were really excited about going to another bar, but he somehow escaped. He staggered towards the train station, grateful that tomorrow was Saturday.

Gulf wasn't very good at holding his liquor. If he drank too much, he wouldn't feel well, and there was always a nasty hangover waiting for him the next day. He knew he had to wake up early to make breakfast, so he hoped he wouldn't have one this time.

TBC