4. Company Dinner (1)
"We're planning a team dinner today. How does that sound?"
On a Wednesday morning, halfway through the week, Seo Eungyu leaned his body to the right and asked quietly. Mun Dawon turned to look at him with a haggard face.
The man's face was impeccably fresh. It was incredibly annoying that after keeping her up all night with that strange greeting, he himself looked brimming with energy.
She had stared wide-eyed at the ceiling until two in the morning. "Sleep well, Dawon," played on repeat in her ears. By the time she finally fell into a deep sleep, she even dreamed of Seo Eungyu. It was a small mercy that she couldn't remember the details.
"We're just going to eat something delicious and get closer, so you don't have to drink."
She didn't really want to get closer. But since he was her superior, she nodded and said she understood.
"Yes. I'll let Supervisor Jeong Juhwan know as well. Where should I make the reservation?"
"I'll take care of it. Is pasta okay?"
Anything was fine as long as it wasn't that wretched dried monkfish. When she nodded once more, the corners of his mouth lifted even higher than before.
Bewilderment rose in Mun Dawon's eyes. Grinning, he gestured with his chin toward her monitor. She frowned and looked at her own screen, where the messenger icon was flashing crimson.
[You nodding silently without a word is just like old times.]
Her frown deepened. Had she been like that? So what? It wasn't even a particularly funny habit.
The sound of typing came from right beside her.
[I smiled because you were cute.]
Mun Dawon, who had been staring at the monitor, froze solid. The message she had just received was far more shocking than when a client had hurled abuse at her last year.
"Thank you. This is Seo Eungyu of the International Contract Team."
The man who had just dropped another bomb answered the incoming phone call nonchalantly. She hurriedly closed the messenger window.
She had definitely told him not to speak casually to her, but that he constantly overstepped boundaries was one thing; the fact was, there was absolutely no intimacy between them that would warrant calling each other "cute."
Yet Seo Eungyu tried to close the distance one-sidedly without even giving her time to erect barriers. He didn't consider her reluctance in the slightest.
So the word "cute" itself was laughable. If they weren't at the company, she would have pointed a finger at him, demanding, "Who do you think you are to call me cute?"
Mun Dawon fumed with a flushed face by herself until lunchtime. It was only when a worried junior colleague pressed a chocolate into her hand that she finally managed to calm down.
* * *
Supervisor Jeong Juhwan had already arrived at the restaurant first. She approached the table, busily calculating the seating arrangements in her head.
If she sat next to Jeong Juhwan, Seo Eungyu would naturally sit across from her. The chances of brushing against him would decrease, but on the flip side, she might end up eating while facing him.
Conversely, if she sat across from Jeong Juhwan, the worst-case scenario of Seo Eungyu sitting beside her could occur. But there was also the best-case scenario of him taking the diagonal seat.
"Assistant Manager?"
Seo Eungyu called out to her; she was standing there blankly. He seemed to have just arrived as well.
"Sit down."
He pointed at the seat across from Jeong Juhwan. She pretended not to see his hand and sat down in the seat beside her junior. She also pretended not to see the way the corners of his mouth twisted at a strange angle.
"Order whatever you want to eat comfortably. You can order alcohol too."
Seo Eungyu settled into the seat across from her. An excited Jeong Juhwan opened the menu. She also needlessly feigned enthusiasm, responding eagerly to the junior who was deliberating over the menu.
"I left my car here, so I'll have a beer. Would you like one too, Senior?"
"I drank too much on Monday, so I'll pass today. I'll have an orange ade."
"I'll have an orange ade too."
Mun Dawon glanced sideways at the grinning man. Today, that smile of his pricked at her nerves more than ever. She wanted to see his relaxed smile wiped off his face.
"I'll switch to beer. I'm suddenly craving it."
However, Seo Eungyu simply wore a deeper smile. Burning with irritation, she took a big gulp of beer the moment it arrived, not even thinking of clinking glasses. Jeong Juhwan awkwardly clinked glasses only with his superior.
Contrary to what Mun Dawon had steeled herself for, that evening's dinner wasn't so bad. Seo Eungyu, who had been acting sly throughout, returned to being a normal person while eating.
Perhaps it felt that way because she was drinking. A moderate amount of alcohol and carbohydrates were bound to lift a person's mood.
"Senior, did you drive?"
"Ah... I need to call a designated driver."
She squeezed her eyes shut and then opened them, looking at her phone screen. Normally, two glasses of beer wouldn't get her drunk, but since there had been a company dinner starting Monday, overtime yesterday, and a sleepless night, the alcohol had fully hit her.
"Then can I ride in your car, Senior?"
She looked up, alternating her gaze between the junior in front of her and Seo Eungyu, who was calculating the bill.
"Juhwan, you live in Dongbu-dong. Didn't you say the Deputy Director also lives in that direction? You two can go together."
A disappointed expression rose on Jeong Juhwan's face. He lowered his voice even more.
"It's a bit uncomfortable going with the Deputy Director. If we go to Anho-dong, one more drink with me—"
"You said you left your car here, Supervisor."
Seo Eungyu, who had finished paying before anyone knew it, cut in on Jeong Juhwan's words. The junior, snapping to attention, stood straight.
"Yes, Deputy Director."
"Then take a taxi home. I'll take Assistant Manager Mun home."
Seo Eungyu pulled out a fifty-thousand-won bill from his wallet and handed it over. Jeong Juhwan accepted it with a sour expression.
"Then how will you get home, Deputy Director……?"
"I left my car here too. I'll drive Assistant Manager Mun Dawon's car to take her home, then take a taxi."
It was an absurd detour. The two men lived in the same neighborhood and had both left their cars; they could simply share a taxi, while she called a designated driver to get home, and that would be that.
Mun Dawon stopped searching for the designated driver's number and shook her head. Her head had logically sorted everything out, but because of the alcohol, it took a long time for the words of refusal to come out of her mouth.
"No, I—"
"See you tomorrow then."
Seo Eungyu supported her and led her to her car parked in front of the restaurant. Opening the passenger door, he practically pushed her inside, then walked around to the driver's seat and adjusted it with practiced ease.
Mun Dawon blinked slowly and rolled down the car window. Then she waved at the junior standing there blankly, holding the fifty-thousand-won bill.
"Get home safe. Tomorrow, uhh……."
Before she could even finish her words, the passenger window rolled up smoothly. She quickly pulled her face back in before her chin could get caught and glared at the driver.
"What are you doing right—"
"Is now the time to be waving goodbye so cheerfully?"
With a stiff, rigid face, Seo Eungyu started the car. As he entered the main road, there was none of the beaming smile he'd worn at the restaurant.
"Not even knowing what a man's intentions are."
At the muttering that followed, she fixed him with a pointed stare. But contrary to her will, the hard look in her eyes kept softening.
"Then what are your intentions?"
His lips, which had been running off so smoothly, clamped shut. She traced the shape of his lips illuminated by the passing streetlights with her eyes, then swallowed hard.
Her throat was parched.
When she turned her gaze back out the window, a cafe selling coffee for fifteen hundred won a cup caught her eye. She licked her lips.
"Coffee."
"Hmm?"
"I want coffee."
She heard a dry laugh from beside her. But the car he was driving smoothly pulled over to the side of the road.
"What do you want to drink?"
"Iced Americano."
Seo Eungyu didn't argue further; he walked to the takeout-only shop and ordered coffee. Meanwhile, Mun Dawon opened the window and admired the man's back.
His wide shoulders and long, straight legs showed off the long coat to its best advantage. The moment she thought that his appearance was outstanding, her stomach seemed to rebel against that thought, tying itself in knots.
"Why are you sticking your face out like that? Your nose is red."
Seo Eungyu returned to the car and handed her the cold coffee. Sucking vigorously through the straw, she briefly had the illusion that her mind was clearing.
When the car, which had been driving smoothly, stopped briefly at a traffic light, he took the iced coffee out of the cup holder. Her gaze followed it as if bewitched.
Her eyes settled on the lips holding the white straw.
Despite the man's rather sharp eyes, his lips seemed to be what gave his overall impression such softness. The corners of his mouth turned up slightly, so he looked like he was smiling even when expressionless.
But... why were his lips so red?
Honk!
Mun Dawon's body flinched at the sudden blare of a horn. Perhaps he had been startled too, for Seo Eungyu set down the coffee and stepped on the accelerator in a hurry. The car lurched forward.
She thought she heard a curse for a moment. She looked at him again, but his lips were pressed firmly shut, just as they had been moments before.
Her gaze shifted to the leisurely street. Unlike Seoul, which was full of cars everywhere and always, the roads of Hanseong Innovation City were usually sparse except during the commute hours of public institution workers.
The car was driving smoothly, and thanks to the heated seats, her back and bottom were warm. Her stomach was full, and two glasses of beer had made her eyelids heavy. The coffee she held in both hands was precariously tilting.
Drowsiness poured over her so heavily that she momentarily forgot who was beside her.
* * *
The subtle scent of fabric softener brushed past the tip of her nose. Mun Dawon slowly blinked. Something heavy slid down smoothly.
When she looked around, she was still in the car, and Seo Eungyu was in the driver's seat. The car had stopped. Looking out the window, she saw a familiar building.
"Ah....... Have we arrived?"
"Yes, twenty minutes ago."
Seo Eungyu picked up the coat that had fallen to the passenger floorboard. She couldn't easily reply and just moved her lips. Although he had volunteered to be her driver, she felt sorry for dozing off so peacefully while someone else drove her car.
"You should have woken me."
"You looked tired today."
The man who had been gazing at her intently opened the door and got out, putting on his coat. She hurriedly followed him out.
"Go on inside. Wash up and get some sleep."
As he had the night before, Seo Eungyu turned his back on her. When she rubbed her arms against the biting cold, his deeply embedded scent suddenly burst forth.
"Um, hey."
Mun Dawon called out to the man in a small voice. He stopped walking and turned around. She agonized fiercely until the moment she blurted out her next words.
"Would you like... to have something warm before you go?"