It was a busy day. In the morning, there was Seo Woo’s sudden visit, and in the afternoon, I was preoccupied with changing desk positions and various documents and cooperation matters.

Tae Hong had checked Hae Jin’s desk position and was away on an external schedule.

I was on the phone and email all day dealing with documents and business matters.

“Jung Hae Jin, aren’t you going home?”

Only then did I realize it was time to leave. Time concept disappeared as the letters on paper didn’t tell the time.

“I’m not finished with work yet.”

It was almost done, but I was considering whether to get ahead on tomorrow’s work. Some team members left, saying good work.

After the bustle of their departure quieted down, Hae Jin refocused on the documents. She thought she should look at one more file before leaving.

“Aren’t you going home? Jung Hae Jin?”

Yeon Jung, whose voice alone was irritating, stood next to her, perfectly ready to leave.

Earlier when Seo Woo came, she had an expression of great curiosity seeing her in the team leader’s office. But she didn’t ask anything directly.

She must have been busy handling the flood of work before Yeon Jung could ask.

“Even if the team leader left, who’s going to appreciate you working overtime?”

It seemed like the subject and object were reversed, but she wasn’t doing it for appreciation, but because she wanted to.

“Ms. Kim, please go ahead. I still have work to do.”

The strong perfume she gave off as she passed by made her head dizzy.

“It’s always the incompetent ones who stay late.”

With her nose held high, Yeon Jung walked away, deliberately swishing her long hair as if she were the victor. All that remained in her wake was a stubborn lingering scent.

“Hah.”

Only after dealing with Yeon Jung last did she find herself alone. She tilted her chair back as far as it would go and closed her eyes.

She had received a message from Tae Hong saying his external schedule would end late, so it would be difficult to leave together.

If that was the case, considering the expected time of arrival at home if she left at peak rush hour, and the time it would take to quickly prepare a meal at home, the most efficient option was to have dinner at the office.

“What should I eat?”

She stretched out her body, falling into a happy contemplation. When working with team members without her dedicated mark, she often ordered in when time was short or the cafeteria menu was tiresome.

“I’ve decided on you today!”

From menu decision to order completion, hesitation was a luxury. With the thought of working until the delivery arrived, she got up.

While reading the remaining materials, her phone rang. It was a call from the delivery driver saying he had arrived. With an excited heart, she went down to receive the food.

As she was about to go back up with the ordered food, the elevator that had already gone up was stopped at the Strategic Planning Team’s floor.

Who could it be? Since only the Strategic Planning Team was on that floor, someone must have come. Thinking a team member must have forgotten something, she got on the elevator.

She naturally thought a team member would be there, but no one was. She put down the food on her desk and looked around, only to find the light on in the team leader’s office that had been off.

He had clearly said he would go straight home. Hae Jin slowly approached the team leader’s office. Just as she was about to knock, Tae Hong was on the phone with someone inside.

“So are you properly looking into it?”

Because of Tae Hong’s rather serious voice, Hae Jin couldn’t knock on the door.

“Investigate all the latest related materials on Park Seo Woo and send them over.”

She hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but in the empty office, it naturally became a situation of overhearing the only sound.

“What about the information I asked for last time?”

Park Seo Woo, and other information. Hae Jin’s lips became parched.

“Without any mistakes, bring everything from start to finish.”

It was an uncharacteristically sensitive and sharp response. The silence returned inside, as if the call had ended. Eavesdropping wasn’t her style, so she felt awkward.

Should she make her presence known, or not? Her thoughts eventually led to whether she should quietly go home or not.

While she hesitated, unaware of Hae Jin’s feelings, the door opened.

“What are you doing here?”

She was so startled that her tense body lost its center of gravity and stumbled. Trying not to fall, she stepped back slightly, but lost her balance completely.

Tae Hong’s large hand, standing like a wall, wrapped around Hae Jin’s waist. Hae Jin leaned her back against Tae Hong’s arm. His grip traveled up her waistline.

She tried to stand up, but it was just free will; he didn’t seem to want to let go.

“Well.”

Although this situation was clearly not the first, she couldn’t control herself under his gaze and touch. Could the promise to approach one step at a time be kept?

“Have you had dinner?”

She quickly changed the subject before her thought circuits stopped. But it didn’t work. His face came closer. His breath grew heavier.

“I haven’t eaten.”

The missing object in the sentence might be due to her still racing heart. Thinking so, Hae Jin wrapped her hands around his.

“I have some delivery food. Would you like to eat together?”

Tap tap, she slowly patted and caressed his large, warm hands. As if gently coaxing, she stroked his hands for a while, and his arms slowly loosened.

**

“Is this dinner?”

This was Tae Hong’s first words as he opened the packaging with Hae Jin. His brow furrowing was a bonus. Hae Jin’s mouth watered, but it didn’t seem to be particularly interesting food to Tae Hong.

“Why? Don’t you like this?”

The food set up with bright red broth looked so spicy that just looking at it made one’s tongue tingle.

“Do you like spicy food?”

“I can’t get enough of it.”

Hae Jin felt her head go mushy in front of spicy food. Spicy tteokbokki was soul food for Hae Jin, who often sought out spicy foods.

“You didn’t think I lived on dew alone, did you?”

A suffocating silence began at that moment. Whether it was because of the food or Tae Hong’s frowning face, she knew the atmosphere in the conference room wasn’t very good.

Tae Hong didn’t even pick up his spoon, just crossed his arms and stared at Hae Jin to the point of embarrassment.

“I’m joking. I lost my mind in front of spicy food.”

It was a joke because he seemed to dislike it. Tae Hong took one spoonful and put the spoon down again. But Hae Jin’s eyes sparkled after tasting one bite.

“This place is really good.”

Hae Jin’s spoon slowed down because of Tae Hong, who looked like he was seeing a rare sight.

“Team leader, why aren’t you eating?”

One look at Tae Hong’s face, then one bite of food. The procession of food into her mouth continued uninterrupted.

“I feel like I’m sinning against my stomach if I eat this.”

“Is that so? I feel like I’m treating my stomach to luxury.”

Concluding that their soul foods didn’t match, Hae Jin ate deliciously whether Tae Hong ate or not.

“You eat spicy food well.”

“I love it beyond just liking it.”

Tae Hong subtly pushed the bowl of food towards Hae Jin.

Although it was a gentlemanly gesture as if yielding, his expression of ‘you eat it all’ was not hidden.

Now that the competitor was gone, I’ll eat well. Hae Jin smiled, her bright red lips forming an arc. And then, without minding, she continued eating one spoonful, two spoonfuls.

“They say people want to eat spicy food when they’re stressed, right?”

Hae Jin now seemed to be feeling the spiciness rising, as she eagerly ate the steamed egg dish placed beside her.

“There is such a saying.”

“Is that true for Jung Hae Jin too?”

Is it, Hae Jin scooped up some of the spicy broth. Then one corner of her bright red lips subtly rose.

“I did feel stressed.”

Although he had no interest in the meal, his eyes sparkled with interest in Hae Jin’s stress.

“Does ordering such bright red food mean the stress level is high?”

Can it be seen that way, she hadn’t particularly thought about it, but it seemed it could be possible.

She wondered if it was an instinctive order to unconsciously relieve work stress.

“If the color of the broth is directly proportional to the intensity of stress, I guess it could be seen that way.”

Hae Jin, who had been eating well, put down her spoon. Now she seemed to have lost both her sense of taste and focus.

Although she wasn’t unable to eat spicy food, she had been more ambitious than usual, pretending to eat well because Tae Hong was in front of her. She stuck out her reddened tongue slightly to cool the spicy heat.

“What could be the stress that made Jung Hae Jin fall into this tingling sensation?”

It was Tae Hong’s mutter to himself, but it wasn’t inaudible. His question also restored her lost focus.

But was the man sitting across from her without stress? If Hae Jin relieved it with spicy food, what did he use to relieve stress?

This was Hae Jin’s curiosity. As she stared at his face with the question mark, were his lips always that red?

She straightened her back as she recalled the sensation that had touched her waistline. When her gaze fell on his reddened lips, she remembered the lips that had met hers.

The tingling sensation on her lips was incomparable to the kiss they had shared. If the spicy taste made her want to give up midway, the spicy taste of his kisses was addictive.

What would it be like to taste it once more?

As Hae Jin kept unable to take her eyes off his lips, Tae Hong leaned his upper body completely forward and approached Hae Jin.

“Jung Hae Jin.”

The name called seductively flowed from those red lips. Instead of an answer, the red lips opened halfway.

“Shall I guess?”

His long arm extended straight, touching the tip of Hae Jin’s chin. His slender, long fingers passed over the tip of her chin towards her lips, which were not just bright red but even swollen.

Before she could feel where his fingers were, her eyes, caught by his gaze, took him in. She hoped she looked enchanting in his pupils.

Could she keep her promise to approach one step at a time? She knew it was becoming more difficult and challenging the more time she spent with him.

He said he would wait, so she could come slowly, but as time passed, Hae Jin sensed that she wouldn’t be able to wait.

Her Adam’s apple bobbed as she swallowed at those eyes smiling too kindly.

“I think I know.”

Without realizing it, she tightly closed her eyes. If she closed her eyes and blocked out the sight, could she hide her violently beating heart?