Please Be Quiet And Take Off Your “Something”

“At least, today you are going home early.”

“Yeah.”

They sat at their desks that faced each other and opened a bag of snacks with a rustle. As Na-Yool switched on her monitor, Seung-Jae handed her the snacks from the cafe. She happily accepted them.

“Oh~ Lee Seung Jae! Those are expensive foreign snacks. How generous!”

“I know you like them. The red ones.”

“Yeah, I do. Thanks for the treat.”

“Go home early today and enjoy your long-awaited date with your boyfriend. You need a change of air.”

“……” Na-Yool flinched at the unexpected blow.

Or was it not one?

“Last weekend. Was it a trip for your 200 days anniversary?… You said you originally had planned to go to Gapyeong with your boyfriend…”

“……”

“You had to cancel it, right? Because the President suddenly dumped a load of work on you on Thursday. You looked really upset.”

“……”

Me?

Upset?

When?

Na-Yool was dumbfounded. So dumbfounded that she had nothing to answer back.

Dumbfounded by the fact that she had completely forgotten about Sang-Hoon past lunchtime, even though having to read and listen to his drunk epic bullshit in the morning had left her absolutely stunned.

To think he was such an insignificant existence!

“Ah… I’m really sorry.” Seung-Jae abruptly apologized, stroking his brown hair. What exactly was he apologizing for was a mystery to Na-Yool. She stared at him with an interrogative look and asked:

“…Huh? About what?”

“You already had to postpone the trip with your boyfriend for two weeks. Three weeks ago, when the project was rejected because of me. You were dragged into it to substitute for me…”

“Aah… that.”

Na-Yool answered indifferently, as if she talked about nothing of importance, which was in line with Sang-Hoon’s insignificant existence.

“Thanks to you, it ended well.”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

Right now, it was too cumbersome to explain that they had broken up. Not that it was hard to talk about it, but just troublesome. One thing she knew was that, above everything else, Seung-Jae had a keen interest in other people’s love life. If she were to mention the break-up, he would obviously investigate the why and the how. She had suffered from it already the previous time.

Besides, right now, not only Seung-Jae, but anyone would be a bother. And at this moment, she couldn’t care less about Sang-Hoon. It was therefore too much of a pain to whine about him.

This morning should have been enough for an interrogation.

“You apologized before too, didn’t you?”

“Still, I am sorry.”

“If you know, then all is good.”

“Cheer up, Ms. Na-Yool.”

“Yep.”

As she brightened up, Na-Yool opened her sandwich’s plastic wrap energetically. It was time to fill her stomach.

Look at you Sang-Hoon, becoming dust in an instant. After all, I don’t need any man in my life.

Chapter 5 – Monday afternoon, 6:40 p.m.

After she stared blankly for a while somewhere above her InDesign screen, she slightly looked down to check the time. Today as well, it was already 6:40 p.m.

Naturally, ‘already’ did not exactly explain a time such as 6:40 p.m. at Ethical Communications. Although all seats close or far-off from Na-Yool’s were empty, most of her coworkers did not leave work, but only disappeared from their respective seats to have dinner. Some would not even be able to enjoy it and stay locked up in conference or editing rooms until nighttime.

Every day, Na-Yool was very likely to be working overtime with them, but at least not today. Anyway, whatever happened at the company today., she was determined to avoid it and go straight home. Weirdly enough, she even finished her work effortlessly and there was no task to suddenly be forced to take on either.

It was an unbelievably normal end of the day. One of the seldom times in recent days where she could leave early. She turned off her computer and cheerfully tidied up her desk, when Seung-Jae, who had not eaten dinner, raised his head from his desk with a long face.

“Ms. Na-Yool, are you leaving?”

“Yeah, I’m going home.”

“It might feel like a Saturday to you. Finishing so early in a while.”

As Seung-Jae said, with a little exaggeration, it was worth comparing to a work-less Saturday, therefore a true miracle.