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the one with the rudolph nose
WHOEVER SAID THAT you didn't have to deal with adolescent acne once you were post-adolescence was full of shite.
Nala scowled at her reflection in the mirror. It really wasn't that bad, she supposed, if she tilted her head just-so to prevent the ceiling light from reflecting on it. And if she squinted a wee-bit, it could easily pass as a teensy mosquito bite.
"Everything's okay," she murmured to herself. "It's just like the solar eclipse, right? Don't look directly at it. It'll be fine. Everything's..."
"—alright?"
Nala nearly fell off her chair at that voice. That familiar voice. It reminded of dark chocolate and red wine, because that was just how rich and sinful it sounded. It was also the voice that occasionally starred in her fantasies—daydreams, erotic dreams at night, random little reveries in the shower...
Okay, focus.
Fixing a bright smile on her face, she dropped the mirror and turned to the man standing by her desk. "Oh, hi, Seung Jae!" And if she sounded a little breathless, it was only because she'd been taken aback. Not because those fantasies flooded back through her mind.
Definitely not.
Dressed in his usual outfit—jacket, jeans and a thick overcoat due to the snow outside, he'd leaned one hip against her desk, with his satchel resting on the other. The clipboard that came with his job description was already in his hands. He quirked a wry smile that made him look adorably boyish and said, "Sorry to bother you. It's just that these need to be signed..."
"Yes, of course."
She scrambled for a pen while perusing the document. Shipment details, payment, blah-blah-blah. All that registered was how close he stood—close enough that she could smell his delightful aftershave...
And the fact that there was a ginormous pimple on her nose. Red and shiny and everything.
"Um, how long have you been standing here?" she ventured at last.
He let out a polite cough. "Long enough."
Bloody freaking hell. Okay, don't panic, she thought. Solar eclipse, remember?
Angling her head slightly, she distracted herself with signing off the document. "I was just—uh, well, my face is...going through a bit of a rebellious phase, I think. It's not that I don't take care of it, because I do. But every once a month, it's like my hormones crap all over my face and..."
Stop talking, Nala.
She bit her lip to shut herself up and finished signing. "There you go. Sorry you had to wait so long."
"That's alright." He shoved the clipboard back in his bag. "It's really not that obvious, you know?"
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely. You still look..."
The rest of his sentence was cut off when music suddenly played in the background. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Her colleagues played songs through the speakers all the time—whenever the big boss man wasn't present, that is. And, since it was Christmas, lively carols were all the rage.
But then she realised what the song was.
Her cheeks flushed scarlet and her hand flew to her face to cover that offending spot. Behind her, she could already hear sniggers from her fellow colleagues. One of them must've turned the volume a fraction louder, because the next moment, the song was all but blasting from the speakers.
Seung Jae seemed to sense her mortification, because he took a step back. "I should get going," he said, with a smile that could only be sympathetic. "Have a good day, Nala."
With a sinking heart, she watched him leave. Everytime. Everytime she thought she could make some progress with him, something (like her stupid hormones and her stupid colleagues) dragged her two steps back.
As soon as he was out of sight, she grabbed the nearest file and lobbed it at her friend. "I'm going to kill you, Stella bloody Banks, for playing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer when I have a pimple on my nose!"