Defence

55

- - - - -

"Did Ok Taecyeon come in for work?" Donghae asked from behind his dark desk.

"Ah...yes..." Secretary Jung hesitantly replied. "Do you want me to call him up?"

"No, you can go out now." Donghae said.

When the door closed he opened a side drawer and took out the white silk box holding the ring safely. It wasn't a good idea to go see her today, after all. Victoria would want some space to herself. He worried again if he'd made her feel uncomfortable.

- - - - -

In the light of the afternoon Yoona added some makeup onto her face and eyed herself in the mirror. Feeling unsatisfied she took off her makeup and redid it a few times until eventually she got tired of how long it was taking her. Adding a last touch of blush she finally headed out.

Walking through the automatically revolving doors she noticed Taecyeon talking to the receptionist behind the circular desk about something. He turned around when the receptionist nodded toward her and Yoona smiled at him.

"Afternoon," she greeted. "Are you hungry?"

"I wasn't intending to go out," he told plainly.

Why? He always agreed for lunch.

"I'm inviting you out today, you won't reject my offer, will you?" she asked.

In the end she found herself sitting with him at casual restaurant with two bowls of soup in front of them.

"Did you already move out of the apartment yesterday?"

He nodded recalling he'd only done so because of the argument they'd had. He still felt guilty and angry about it.

"How did you find the apartment? Is it ok?" she wondered.

"It's fine," he replied solemnly.

Yoona glanced at him to see that he'd been staring down into the soup the whole time. "Is something wrong? Did something happen?"

"It's nothing," he assured.

"It doesn't look like nothing," Yoona pointed out. "You're obviously upset about something. I always talked to you about my problems, I don't mind listening to whatever's on your mind."

"It's just an argument," he reluctantly answered.

Yoona felt surprised at the mention of an argument. What in the world would Victoria and Taecyeon have to argue about? Money? The apartment? But it seemed so childish. Would they really fight over things like that?

"You and Victoria?" asked Yoona carefully. "What about?"

That his plans to take her out to dinner had disappeared as soon as he'd spotted a car outside his apartment. As soon as he opened the door to hear an outright proposal. Because Victoria never rejected his offer. Then he'd tossed the ring case at the door and almost had a fight with Donghae. And that was where things spun off. Where he'd had an argument with Victoria accusing her of this and that. Then he just left.

"Taecyeon?" Yoona called.

Taecyeon grabbed his spoon, "Lets eat. I have about 15 minutes before I need to go back."

There was no doubt that he'd been absentminded the whole time during lunch. He never responded to her questions and when he did he gave answers that were totally off-topic. She didn't know if she should be worried about it or not but as often as she felt disappointed with his lack of attention, she was feeling the same way again that day.