By Zephyria 
Cheon Tae-rim thought. Kang Hae-ah is strange today… Usually, he was different from most people, but even if you put aside the fact that he was ‘Kang Hae-ah,’ Kang Hae-ah was strange today.
The strange signs started in the morning. Today, Hae-ah woke up early, unlike usual. Since they started living together, he had never woken up earlier than Tae-rim, but today, not only did he wake up early, but he had also finished showering, changing, and preparing breakfast, and woke Tae-rim up wearing an apron.
Wondering if this was a dream or reality, Tae-rim filled his stomach with the food Hae-ah made. He vaguely felt that something was strange… but today he was smiling a little bigger and talking more, so he thought it was just an unusually good day.
“Have a good day, Tae-rim-ssi.”
Then he kissed him on the cheek, so
“I will.”
He kissed him back with a smack and went to work.
And all through lunch, Driver Oh Geon-min’s report texts continued. According to the contract, Driver Oh had to send Tae-rim report texts every time Kang Hae-ah moved to a new location. It might have been a cumbersome clause, but it hadn’t been a problem so far. That was because Hae-ah had been living a reclusive life recently, despite his reputation as a celebrity.
But today was different. From 12 o’clock, Oh Geon-min sent new texts every 30 minutes, going to a flower shop, a department store, and a tailor shop. Then, around 1:20, he suddenly sent a long text,
[CEO, I will end the report texts here today. The writer says he has something important to tell you in the evening, so please tell him to meet you at the restaurant where you had your first date.]
After sending the long text, he stopped contacting him.
Because of that, Tae-rim’s mood was very unsettled. He wondered if Hae-ah was angry that he had put Oh Geon-min on him like a spy, so he tried calling Hae-ah, but he didn’t answer Tae-rim’s call even after the signal rang a dozen times. For the first time since they started dating, he left a missed call record on Kang Hae-ah’s phone.
And around 6:30 PM, AOM was turned upside down.
‘Fucking hell….’
For the first time in his life, Tae-rim regretted not killing someone sooner. No, if you look at the facts, that wasn’t the first time. He seemed to have felt a similar regret when he finally filed a lawsuit against Kang Il-hae through the court.
But today’s regret was a little different. A backlash doesn’t always come from malicious acts. Today, CEO Cheon Tae-rim regretted the good deeds he had done in the past. In the early days of his relationship, when everything in the world seemed happy and he was able to generously overlook other people’s mistakes, saying ‘Haha, yeah, that can happen,’ he bitterly regretted not firing the stupid new employee and giving him a new opportunity.
The team leaders, who had all missed their quitting time, rushed into the CEO’s office as if they had made an appointment. Only one of them had a pale face, and the rest had complexions so red that they could have been written with paint dipped in a brush.
Two seasons ago, there was an incident where a new employee made a simple setting mistake and caused the entire computer network to be checked urgently. The problem was that the employee, who already had a record, had entered the wrong number into the main computer network this time. If he had reported ‘I’m really sorry, I made a mistake’ and quickly called all the teams in the company, as he had done before, the problem would have been solved a long time ago.
But the new employee was timid and introverted, and didn’t want to be called into the CEO’s office again to be ‘reprimanded.’ He showed a terrible level of avoidance. As soon as he realized that he had repeated the same mistake for the second time, he made the excuse that his mother had been in an accident and was hospitalized, and left work early.
And then all hell broke loose. As of 6:30 PM, the data for today was newly updated on the computer network and synchronized with the company’s infrastructure. It was fortunate that the meticulous team leader checked it one last time before leaving work. If they couldn’t fix it right away today, the data with the wrong unit of numbers would be sent to five partner companies starting at 5 AM tomorrow.
While the team leaders were sitting down and discussing solutions, running around, Tae-rim pressed down on his throbbing temples.
‘I should have killed that bastard back then…. Why did I let him live? Why didn’t I kick him out and let that idiot work at my company?’
Why, indeed. It was because his eyes were covered with a ‘Hae-ah filter.’ His heart was so full and happy with the first love he had fallen into that even an incompetent and irresponsible idiot seemed like a talented person who could grow in a good direction if given a new opportunity.
“CEO?”
Si Eun-cheol patted Tae-rim’s shoulder, placing a new document in front of him, who was lost in thought. Then he whispered in a small voice so that only Tae-rim could hear.
“Shouldn’t you call home first?”
At the word ‘home,’ Tae-rim finally thought of Hae-ah. After checking the clock, which was well past 7 PM, he quickly picked up his phone and got up from his seat.
With a fiercely crumpled face and eyes that looked like he would kill someone, the CEO, holding a phone in one hand and sticking the other in his suit pants pocket, was watched by his subordinates in nervous tension.
‘Answer, please answer the phone…. Hae-ah.’
The sound of Tae-rim moving his toes and hitting the floor rang heavily twice, tap, tap… and then,
―Hello?
A soft voice was heard from the receiver.
“Yeah, honey.”
Tae-rim stretched out the end of his voice and called out ‘honey’ two more times. The muscles in his face relaxed softly in an instant, and the dark energy that had been hovering over his dark shoulders disappeared like the end of the rainy season.
“You haven’t arrived at the restaurant yet, have you? Honey, I’m really sorry. There’s a problem at the company that’s hard to deal with right away, so it looks like we won’t be able to eat out today.”
Whether the surprised team leaders’ heads flew off or not, whether Kim Min-soo and Si Eun-cheol clicked their tongues or not, the only thing important to Tae-rim was Kang Hae-ah on the other side of the phone.
―Ah…. Is it a serious problem?
“It’s a problem that will take some time.”
―Okay, I understand. I haven’t left yet either. Don’t worry about me and cheer up.
It sounded like an orchestra was playing beyond Hae-ah’s voice, so Tae-rim felt a burning thirst. He answered brightly, but that was it, and he could feel an unavoidable disappointment in the voice on the other side of the phone.
―Tae-rim-ssi. Then… call me before you come home. I have something to tell you.
“Something to tell me?”
―I can’t tell you now. Anyway…, I’m busy, so I’ll hang up.
Then the phone hung up. Tae-rim stared intently at the phone screen as if trying to read the expression of his lover, who wasn’t right in front of him. He wondered if today was an anniversary he had forgotten, but he couldn’t think of any other schedule.
‘If not… why did Hae-ah hang up first? Usually, Tae-rim-ssi hangs up first, no, you hang up first, no, Tae-rim-ssi hangs up first, …he has to say that five or six more times….’
He muttered lowly and stuck his phone in his pocket. As soon as the CEO turned around slowly, the team leaders raised the decibel of their conversation as if they hadn’t eavesdropped on the phone call.
In the end, the massive overtime work ended only after they had completely overhauled the infrastructure and cleaned up the data that would be sent out incorrectly. They didn’t gain anything and were just cleaning up someone else’s mess. Tae-rim couldn’t even feel the passage of time properly because he was suffering from wasteful work.
When the impression became more fierce due to the heavy fatigue and the ‘Hae-ah filter’ that had been on his eyes became blurred, his phone started ringing with a ‘buzz’ sound.
[Hae-ah is calling]
Tae-rim checked the name on the screen and looked out the window, then was startled. Just a moment ago, the sun was setting, but now it was completely dark. Not only was the sky dark, but even the building of the electronics company across the street had all the lights turned off except for the lobby and the research and development floor.
Vowing to definitely file a lawsuit against the fucking new employee, Tae-rim packed his bag. Stained with all sorts of worries, anger, and embarrassment, he tapped the phone screen repeatedly. He opened the contact page and found ‘Hae-ah is calling.’
By the time he finished tidying up and opened the door to the CEO’s office, his thumb was pressing the call button on the screen.
“Hello?”
―Honey. Where are you?
“Hae-ah, I’m really sorry. I’m just about to leave work….”
The electronic clock on the wall was pointing to 11:57. Tae-rim closed his throbbing eyes and pressed the elevator button. The numbers on the display panel slowly started to rise.
―Are you still at the company? 13th floor?
“Yeah. I’m about to go down….”
As soon as he answered, the phone hung up. Confused, Tae-rim checked the communication status at the top of his phone. At that moment, the elevator door opened with a ‘ding’ sound.
And Kang Hae-ah was there. He was wearing a pure white suit with a wrinkled wave-patterned shirt, and a pink ribbon tie was tied around the collar. In his left hand, he held a bouquet of flowers with half of the petals fallen off, and on his head, he wore a tulle that was soaked with rainwater and askew.
“Hae…ah….”
As Tae-rim opened his mouth as if groaning,
“Wait.”
Hae-ah raised his brown eyes and glared at the king of rules, Cheon Tae-rim, who was unusually irregular today. The long sigh of ‘hoo’ seemed to contain the fatigue of running around all afternoon in frustration.
“…Don’t say anything. I have something I wanted to say… something I was going to say today.”
Then Hae-ah pointed at the elevator door. Cheon Tae-rim, who quickly understood the small hand signal, reached out and grabbed the door that was about to close automatically. Through the gap in the door, which he forcibly fixed by widening it with his strong grip, he looked at Kang Hae-ah, who was pouting his lips discontentedly with a face that was more beautiful than ever.
According to the original plan, it was a confession that should have been given on his knees after filling their stomachs with the same menu as their first meeting in a restaurant where only the two of them existed. After waiting endlessly for Tae-rim, sitting in the center of the restaurant that had been perfectly set up with even an orchestra called in, as soon as he received the phone call announcing the overtime work, he had to pay the reservation fee and various business trip expenses and move the location to his house.
But it was too early to give up. Hae-ah had a specially made cake, a pure white suit that was matched to the wedding concept, and a beautiful tulle that he didn’t like but was sure Tae-rim would be happy to see. He mustered up his courage again and had people install lights in his garden. He also moved all the flowers and decorations that were used to decorate the restaurant and decorated them.
And after about an hour, the Tae-rim he was waiting for didn’t come, and instead, the wind started blowing unusually and it started to rain. There was a risk of electric shock, so all the lighting equipment had to be removed and all the flower petals were wilted.
Hae-ah had ruined two proposal events in one day. He was upset, angry, and frustrated, and very hungry, but it was still too early to give up. At least one thing, the confession he would give on his knees, remained with him.
As Hae-ah slowly bent down, Tae-rim awkwardly bent his waist to follow him. Because of that, the two people’s gazes and postures became very strange. Kang Hae-ah was sitting on one knee, and Cheon Tae-rim was facing him and kneeling on both knees like someone being punished.
Laughing ‘haha’ out loud, Hae-ah took out the script he had put in his suit pocket. It was a sentence he had already memorized after reading and refining it a hundred or a thousand times, but he was so nervous because the situation was so different from the plan that he had to read the written words after all.
“…I’m simple. Only when I’m next to Tae-rim-ssi…. When I think of Tae-rim-ssi. All my old, other problems disappear and are forgotten, and I’m just Hae-ah. I become Hae-ah.”
His lips, which had been pouting, dried up with tension. His voice, which had been trying to sound relaxed, trembled at the end. His pronunciation was also awkward, unlike usual, and his gaze, which should have been meeting Tae-rim’s eyes, was fixed on the flat letters in the script.
Still, Kang Hae-ah confessed.
“I want to keep going, just as Hae-ah. Tae-rim-ssi’s Hae-ah. I just want to live as Hae-ah.”
Letting out a hot sigh, he thrust his hand into his pocket.
“So, Cheon Tae-rim-ssi. …No, um…. Cheon Tae…rim.”
“……”
The wedding ring, which had already been crafted five months ago, was slipped onto Cheon Tae-rim’s thick ring finger.
“Cheon Tae-rim, I want to keep… only being next to you. I only want to think about you. Marry me….”
Receiving the lovely confession as a more tired salaryman than ever, Tae-rim’s eyes were almost purple. With thick tears welling up and feeling a stinging sensation at the tip of his nose, Tae-rim barely managed to speak.
“If you’re going to speak informally… you should call me Hyung, Hae-ah.”
Then Hae-ah went ‘ah’ and nodded slowly.
“Tae-rim Hyung. …Ah, no. Tae-rim Hyung….”
At the end of the whisper, the two men’s lips met. As his shoulders hit the closing elevator doors, Tae-rim grabbed Hae-ah’s cheeks and kissed him haphazardly. It was a hot kiss where breaths mingled and body scent burst forth.
“I love you.”
And he answered.
“I love you, let’s get married.”
His voice, almost declamatory, soon became tearful.
“Please let’s get married, live with me… live with me forever, Hae-ah.”
At that moment, the second hand of the clock ticked towards midnight, an event that wouldn’t happen twice in a lifetime. Kneeling in the cramped elevator of about one pyeong where flower petals were scattered haphazardly, the two men embraced each other. Enjoying the lingering feelings that echoed and repeatedly washed over them, Tae-rim sniffled.
Burying his face in his shoulder, Hae-ah whispered.
“Tae-rim…, Hyung. Are you crying now?”
“…Be quiet.”
Then a ‘haha’ laugh burst out. Burying his head in Cheon Tae-rim’s broad chest, and with his arms around the waist of his tender-hearted lover, patting his back, Hae-ah laughed. At the end of the laughter, there was a sniffling sound.
“Let’s go home now.”
Finishing the uncool proposal, the two left the 13th floor.
Beta Test Ended: Side Story END