⚡️-REWRITTEN ELECEED ALTERNATE UNIVERSE-⚡️

CHAPTER 31: SHENANIGANS AND NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES

It was my phone.

Both hands were preoccupied.

I glanced at Seongha and bit back a bitter sigh. I leaned toward him and whispered. "Hey, can you take one?"

He stared at me, apathetically.

"Just— take one, real quick. Please?"

He sighed, taking one of the coffee cups discreetly, as to not show the chairwoman. It was seamless. It occurred to me as I picked up the phone and answered that he probably already knew what I was up to. The thought struck a little bit of heat to my face.

"Sorry Ihyuk..." the woman across the line began regretfully. "But those two are at it again."

That was all she needed to say for me to know.

I sighed. "Alright, I'll be there soon. Just stay out of there."

The three musketeers were at it again.

I put hung up the call and placed the phone back in my pocket. Seongha handed me back the coffee.

"It seems they're at it again."

Jiyoung sighed, shoulders slumping ever so slightly. "Alright. Seongha, thank you for coming. You're dismissed."

Seongha nodded without a word, and left as soon as he came.

It was only when the door closed that the tension in her body released.

It was a sad sight. The chairwoman has been subjected to this work ever since her parents passed away. But even so, she took it with grace, and not once have I seen her complain. If only she were able to take a vacation, or find a way to enjoy life without having to worry about the organization so much...

I had enough on my own plate as well. Anybody would know. Working as the right hand and closest companion to the president of this organization means that I share the same burdens as she. I have plenty to do, and much more after that.

So I wonder why I'm holding what I have in my hands. Why I go out of my way to bring a little bit of comfort to the table of someone who isn't myself.

Well, if I'm being honest, it's not the first time I've done this, nor is it the first time I've felt... this.

There's a certain feeling that balloons inside my chest in moments like these, where it's only us two, alone. Where we don't have to worry about how tight our ties are or how orderly we outwardly behave, because, well... it's just us.

It's just...

Us.

And it's also thoughts like these that remind me, why I'm holding what I have in my hands. What the gestures I mean to give are supposed to mean. What they're supposed to do.

As she rested her elbows on the table and wearily massaged her forehead, I closed the distance between us and stepped to her side of the desk, wordlessly.

The sound of the paper coffee cup setting on the table seemed to pull her away from her thoughts.

Her eyes, low with sleep and briefly shadowed with the lack thereof, wandered to the cup, and next to me. Her eyebrows furrowed in question.

"I ordered it the way you like it." And offered a smile.

After another second off contemplation, she reached for the warm beverage and took a tentative sip.

And there it was. That look of long-waited relief. The nervousness building in my own chest seemed to dissipate at the sight.

She turned back to look at me. "Why did you..."