By Zephyria 
After a few more meaningless exchanges, Ian apologized for taking up his time and returned to Gyeoul. He mentioned grabbing a meal together sometime, but as always, it was bound to be just a formality.
The two of us having a meal together? Just imagining it made me feel like I’d get indigestion.
Ian must have decided to help Gyeoul, because he opened his laptop and started working. Thanks to that, they finished two hours earlier than me and left the office together. Only the water droplets on the cup remained on the desk, leaving a trace.
As the whole world darkened and the clock hands passed midnight, I finally got up from my seat. It was much later than expected. If I continued like this, it might cause an unmanageable disruption. That was something I really couldn’t allow.
I turned off the office lights and locked the door. It seemed like a special measure was needed.
∗ ∗ ∗
“He left it again.”
Every morning, a dessert was placed on my desk. One day it was a macaron, the day before it was a chocolate cookie, and today it was a lemon candy. The variety was diverse. It wasn’t like I came to work late, but it always neatly occupied its place.
Taking off my coat, I glanced at one spot. The culprit was peeking and looking at me. Did he really think I didn’t notice his gaze? If so, he was definitely an idiot. No, he was definitely a complete idiot.
‘Are you my Secret Santa, Darling?’
He was doing something cute that I hadn’t even done in high school. Things I mumbled about wanting while passing by were magically placed on my desk the next day. It was too obvious that he was listening to my words.
At first, I suspected that Ian had left them. He was the closest to my seat, and I didn’t even say it that loudly. I only mumbled it once in a while when I felt like I was going to die from low blood sugar while working, and the only person around me who would listen and give me something was Ian.
I picked up the candy and looked at the culprit, who was pretending not to notice. If he had just left a note, I would have thanked him. What was I supposed to do with this? The sound of the crumpled wrapper rustling in my hand spread everywhere.
‘Seriously, this idiot…’
Did he really think I didn’t know? It was obviously him. Who else would take care of me like this besides him?
The sentences swimming in my mouth bumped against the roof of my mouth. Ignoring the idiot who didn’t look at me until the end, I sat down. There were already desserts piled up in the drawer that I hadn’t even finished eating yet.
If I didn’t stop him, the drawer would be filled with snacks from the foolish idiot, and there wouldn’t be enough space for documents, or they would rot and I would have to throw them away. What was such a big deal about sharing a meal? It was quite a devotion to buy them every day.
Soon, I came to the conclusion that I would see how far he would go. Yi-tae wasn’t consistent enough to keep it up for long, so he would give up soon. As always.
I took out a candy and put it in my mouth, pouring the rest into the drawer. It seemed like I wouldn’t have low blood sugar for a while. I frowned at the sourness of the lemon that tingled on my tongue. I was wide awake from the morning.
The busy schedule was from next week, so I handled the data to be used for today’s meeting. If it went on like this, the work would be very difficult, but I was sure that the results would be better. Ian had also helped with the revisions, so there shouldn’t be any problems.
Flipping through the pages, I suddenly had a concern and called him.
“Ian.”
“Yeah.”
He answered casually, as if he was focused on something else. But I didn’t give in and asked him. Even if he seemed so indifferent, he usually answered diligently.
“Wouldn’t it be better to remove the graph on page 13 of the PPT? I think there might be some backlash.”
“Just leave it. If it doesn’t work, another team will argue.”
“……Okay.”
I was still disappointed. It was negative data that contradicted our argument, but it was information that other teams needed to know… Instead, seeing this would make them think that aggressive marketing should be avoided.
Sighing deeply, I got up from my seat and took out a macaron from the pantry refrigerator. If I only ate sweets like this, I might get diabetes.
“Aren’t you eating too many sweets?”
Ian, who finally took his eyes off the monitor, said as he looked at me returning to my seat.
“I am, but I have to eat everything that’s there.”
“You’d follow a stranger if they said they’d give you chocolate.”
“I wouldn’t.”
Ian completely turned his body to the side and tilted his head. He didn’t used to be like this, but these days, he immediately pointed out anything he didn’t like. Of course, it wasn’t to the point where I felt bad, and I definitely felt like he was caring about me.
He suddenly took the macaron that was on my desk. I was robbed in broad daylight. Looking at him in bewilderment, he examined the paper-wrapped macaron quite brazenly.
“Did you find out who gave it to you?”
“Well, roughly.”
Since I suspected Ian, I asked him first. Then Ian frowned, as if he was quite displeased to be misunderstood. Who, who, when. He grilled me about these things and then lectured me that I shouldn’t eat anything given to me by strangers outside of the company.
Did he think I was a child? I was even older than him!
The moment it was revealed that it wasn’t Ian, there was only one person who would do this. I hadn’t confirmed it yet, but I could be sure just by his suspicious attitude.
He put the macaron back on the desk and said as if there was something he didn’t like.
“It seems like someone here likes you.”
It was a funny story to hear if you knew who the other person was. The person I had dated grandly and broken up with miserably liked me again. …Did that make sense?
Instead of answering, I just laughed. The laughter that burst out in the air disappeared without a trace.
“That’s not about Ian, is it?”
I turned the target to Ian before the joke became a rumor like the truth. So far, no one had ever taken a joke as the truth. Just looking at Ian’s attitude, it was too clear that he didn’t love me.
Not only was he not the only one I played these jokes on, but I also believed in the sincerity of his firm denial in the past.
He relaxed his face, which had hardened at my joke.
“It’s always been like that. Are you just realizing it now?”
“I like handwritten letters more than food. Keep that in mind.”
“Okay, I will. Should I write you one every day?”
Ian, who was smiling mischievously enough to show his teeth, picked up a memo. A neatly written confession covered the macaron.
Gyeoul, I love you. I can give you a green card.
Could this be called a confession?
But if I received these notes every day… that might change things. No matter how little sincerity I felt in the confession, if it was done every day without fail, it would feel real.
I tore off the memo and stuck it in my work notebook. I pushed him, who had a very confident expression.
“That’s an attractive condition.”
“Go do your work now.”
Because Ian was so chaotic, the thought of the Secret Santa was pushed to the back of my mind. The ridicule that he would become a house elf if we lived together also disappeared.
The hot gaze that I often felt was bearable. Sometimes I wanted to shout at him to stop looking, but what could I do if I was handsome? His eyes would naturally go there. I could understand that much.
Time flew by. While processing the collected information, the meeting time was already approaching. Some teams had already taken their seats in the conference room. I grabbed my work notebook and materials.
It was the moment of truth. I didn’t mind working overtime just for this day. Could I properly persuade the experts in each field who were gathered here? Of course, Ian would be in charge of that, but I was just flipping through the materials out of unnecessary worry.
“…Are you worried?”
I heard the sound of a chair being pulled out from the next seat. Looking up, I saw Yi-tae, who looked even more emaciated, sitting down. Suddenly, I thought that if I could just win him over, it would pass. After all, the development team was the one who created the results.
However, the empty cans that had been increasing terribly over the past few days came to mind. He seemed to drink herbal tea from time to time, but it didn’t seem like the amount of Energy Drink he was opening had decreased.
The macaron I had taken out in the morning came to mind.
He was a mad dog when it came to work, not hesitating to bite, but seeing Yi-tae, who was almost half dead, made my heart soften.
I answered quietly, as if whispering.
“I think there will be a lot of backlash.”
“I saw the data. It’ll be okay.”
You said it casually, as if that’s really how it would be, without a hint of doubt.
I wanted to ask for the basis, but I heard the sound of tapping on the microphone. All the lights went out and the manager’s greeting began.
Do what you want.
A very crumpled memo was stuck on my materials.