It had been about three days since Ga-eul had left Ki-tae alone.

“Dazzling…”

Ga-eul opened her eyes to the sunlight streaming through the large window in her studio.

Thinking she would just rest her eyes for a moment, she ended up falling asleep again.

The chilly season was starting to set in. Ga-eul, upon waking up, took off the cardigan she had on and looked down at a painting she had finished the night before.

“They’re all dried up.”

Three paintings already completed before hearing the news of the next exhibition from the director and one more completed over the past three days. She wanted to paint at least six.

No matter how much the director praised her paintings lately, there were always shortcomings.

That’s why it was good to paint as much as possible.

Now, which paintings among these would make it to the exhibition?

Certainly, compared to the first exhibition, the paintings for the second one looked better to the naked eye, but she wanted to be more careful.

Lost in her thoughts, Ga-eul suddenly looked around at her messy studio and her own appearance, both of which had become a mess.

Well, should she wash up and continue in the afternoon?

Ga-eul pushed the easel aside and began roughly cleaning up her studio.

Rrrr… Rrrr…

Just as she was about to leave the studio, a phone call came in.

Without even checking the caller ID, Ga-eul answered the call and cheerfully said,

“Hello.”

“Did you sleep well?”

“Yes.”

Hearing his voice early in the morning, Ga-eul burst into a bright laughter. Even though she had taken a nap on one side of the studio, she still felt energized, as if fatigue hadn’t caught up to her.

Ga-eul asked,

“How about you, sir?”

He answered with a slightly blunt tone,

“I didn’t sleep well.”

“Why?”

“Because someone wasn’t next to me.”

“What… What’s that?”

When Ga-eul replied a bit shyly, he responded quite seriously.

It wasn’t a joke.

Surprised by his serious answer, Ga-eul lightly laughed and left the studio. When she came outside, she noticed that the garden had taken on a brownish tint, signaling the arrival of autumn.

The fallen leaves, scattered about, made a pleasant sound when stepped on.

Playing with the fallen leaves, Ga-eul walked through the garden.

She wanted to talk a bit more with him, so she aimlessly took another lap around the garden.

He asked a question,

“Where are you?”

“I’m just outside for a moment, looking at the garden.”

“Behind the main building?”

“Yes.”

“You’re not sleeping again in the studio, are you?”

“…Haha.”

To the sharp question, Ga-eul responded with an awkward laughter.

He sighed, and this time, with a somewhat affectionate tone, he said,

“Go to the subsidiary building to sleep. You might catch a cold sleeping here.”

Due to the chilly weather, it was now definitely impractical to sleep in the studio.

Ga-eul readily agreed to Ki-tae’s words.

“Yes. Got it.”

“Good. You’re kind.”

Bubbling sounds.
His voice alone was pleasant to hear, calm and soothing, but suddenly, through the phone, noisy sounds started to seep in.

Hello. Hello. Amid the noise, occasional clear greetings were exchanged with him.

Are you on your way to work?

Ga-eul made a guess and asked.

“Is the boss on his way to work now?”

“Yeah. I just arrived at the office.”

Hello, Director of the Headquarters.

Another greeting came through the phone.

However, he didn’t respond. He was too busy talking to me to spare a moment for them.

Instead of answering them, he threw another question at me.

“So, how many paintings have you done?”

“I’ve finished three that I had prepared in advance and one more over the past three days.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, a total of four.”

Thinking it might be a mid-term check, Ga-eul replied in a somewhat formal tone. After all, there was the position of a CEO and a painter between him and me.

For a moment, he didn’t say anything.

Ga-eul expected him to give advice on the upcoming exhibition since his tone was somewhat serious when he asked how many paintings she had done.

After a while, he broke my expectations and asked firmly,

“So, when are you going to play with me?”

They promised to go on a date during the weekend. If not, he declared that he would come rushing in immediately.

After briefly stopping by the annex and washing up, Ga-eul, who suddenly received a flying text, picked up her phone.

Checking the sender, it was from him.

He must be working, so when did he send this?

Despite her confusion, Ga-eul lifted the corners of her mouth and checked the message.

‘From Paul.’

He suddenly sent several pictures of Paul. Starting from the adorable sleeping figure with his favorite round-shaped body to the playful image of chasing a fishing rod toy. He even included a cute photo of his round tail.

He, who had said he didn’t like cats, was now taking perfect care of Paul. Amused by this fact, Ga-eul let out a small laugh. Then, she began to browse through the remaining pictures.

‘I have to drop by the office to take care of Paul.’

At the end of the massive pile of pictures, there was a short message attached.