Emotions spilled over.

Despite knowing that Seol Hee was still struggling to accept her feelings, Eun Woo couldn’t stop them from flowing out.

He found dating troublesome. It wasn’t that he had never dated before, but he never had been so deeply infatuated with someone to the point where he couldn’t pull himself out. Like being friends. Just dating and spending time.

And yet, the other person would eventually grow tired and leave, seeing his emotions not moving much. Lately, even doing such things had become bothersome.

But strangely, it was different with Yu Seol Hee.

Her determination to grit her teeth and do her best in everything was endearing. Even knowing that it shouldn’t happen within the same hospital, even knowing that her heart was not open to me, I couldn’t control myself.

So.

“I like you so much.”
His feelings poured out like this.

Seol Hee seemed surprised, just as Eun Woo had expected. She looked up at him with her cute, round eyes wide open. Would it have been better if it was a more romantic confession? But he had no choice.

He was barely holding back even now. He wanted to reach out and brush away the round tears in her eyes. He wanted to overlap their lips as they had once before, and he wanted to deepen the relationship with her.

Eun Woo couldn’t stop now.

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Thump. Thump. Thump.

Seol Hee hit her head on the cage three times. She came to work an hour earlier than others to walk and play with GomGom. But her mind was elsewhere. The final conversation she had with Teacher Ok the day before kept spinning in her head.

I should forget, I should forget.

She hit her head again. A dull pain spread across her forehead where it had collided with the cage. But the shock was not enough, so she hit her head again.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The action she had taken the previous day popped up in her mind. Seol Hee sighed deeply. Noticing her strange behavior of repeatedly hitting her head on the cage, GomGom looked up at her worriedly.

“Grrr.”
“It’s okay, GomGom. Your sister just has a little headache.”
She reached out and stroked GomGom’s soft fur.

“GomGom, you’re lucky. You don’t have to worry about things like dating.”
She remembered what had happened yesterday. No, she didn’t even need to remember. Despite not wanting to, that was all she could think about all day.

“Ms. Yu Seol Hee. I really like you.”

The words Eun Woo had whispered filled her mind.

He likes me?

At the sudden confession, she wondered for a moment if there could be another meaning to ‘like’. Surely he didn’t mean he liked her as a woman? ‘Likes her as an employee’. ‘Likes her as a tenant’. It must be something like that… right?

But even Seol Hee, who was slow to catch on, could tell. The way Eun Woo looked at her with moist eyes, biting his lower lip and looking at her with a tense face, anyone could tell it was sincere.

Each time the fluorescent lights in the office corridor flickered, light poured from his eyes.

Teacher Ok likes me?

It wasn’t that she hadn’t thought about it. They had kissed and gone out to eat. She had heard talk about them dating.

But the reason she was so flustered was…

Seol Hee had never heard someone confess they liked her.

The reason she started dating her exboyfriend Chanjeong was that during a drinking session, Chanjeong had said, “Hey, Yu Seol Hee, let’s go out.”

A lame proposal.

No one else had ever confessed their feelings to her.

Especially not with such a soft, passionate gaze. And it was none other than Teacher Ok.

Seol Hee had turned into ice at his very serious words. Not knowing what to say, her mouth hung open.

“Was it too sudden?”

Seeing Seol Hee blankly staring at him, Eun Woo lifted the corners of his mouth in a small smile. A soft laugh.

“Uh, I… ”

Even though she didn’t know what to say, she felt like she had to say something. But the words that jumped out of Seol Hee’s mouth were something she herself couldn’t believe.

“Thank you… really… for liking me.”

Remembering what she had said the day before, Seol Hee hit her head on the cage again.

“Am I an idiot?”
Even though she was flustered and it was sudden, ‘thank you very much’?

She wanted to die. Instead of being surprised by Seol Hee’s words, Eun Woo laughed as if amused.

“Well, then.”
“……”

“Let’s call it a day. You must be tired. Good night.”

And then, Eun Woo returned to his room. After the door closed with a thud, Seol Hee walked aimlessly around the room, screaming a silent scream. She was afraid that if she made any noise, Eun Woo might hear her.

I should die. I should die!

‘Thank you for liking me,’ the worst response ever. I should have just kept my mouth shut. No, I should have fainted, what was that!

No matter how angry she was at herself, or how much she wanted to change everything, he was gone. She couldn’t lift her head out of embarrassment.

I will meet Teacher Ok today… What should I say? Worried, Seol Hee kept looking at the clock. What should I say when he comes? What expression will he have on his face?

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