Ga Eul went to the sink behind the partition. The drinking is the boss’s responsibility, but cleaning is hers.

It seems like a thorough office cleaning will be needed to erase the traces of the drinking party. Of course, before that, the windows must be opened wide for ventilation. For that, the boss needs to be woken up.

Oops, almost forgot something important. The essential task before waking the boss. Ga Eul tiptoed towards the boss.

At first glance, the boss seemed to be in a deep sleep. Still, to make sure, Ga Eul waved her hand in front of the boss’s eyes. The boss didn’t move at all.

Ga Eul carefully backed away and placed a chair under the wall clock. It was now 9:17. Since work starts at 9, she thought setting the clock back to 8:58 would do.

First, do that and then wake the boss. Send the boss out under the pretext of cleaning. After that, set the clock back to the original time. That was Ga Eul’s plan. It would be perfect.

Ga Eul, standing on the chair, lifted the wall clock to turn the minute hand. Then she turned her head to make a final check that the boss hadn’t woken up.

Their eyes met. The boss was watching her, still sprawled in the same position. Gasp. Ga Eul held her breath.

“What are you doing?”

The boss asked in a dull voice. Just how long had the boss been awake? That expressionless boss. At times like this, it’d be nice if he pretended not to see.

“What am I doing? Haha, hahaha.”

Ga Eul bought time with laughter before saying,

“The clock seemed off, so I was trying to fix it.”

“Really?”

The boss spoke casually while getting up. Then he checked the time on his phone before turning to the wall clock.

“The time is way off? But it was fine until yesterday.”

The boss’s tone was meaningful.

“Right? Is it defective? Haha, hahaha.”

Ga Eul let out a hollow laugh, blaming the innocent clock. Of course it’s off. She had quickly turned the minute hand while the boss was looking at his phone.

Ga Eul quickly realized that she had shot herself in the foot. The boss’s attention was now focused on the clock.

“Hmm, it’s 9:18 now.”

The boss emphasized the “18” unusually. Ga Eul flinched. That means she was 18 minutes late for work.

However, Ga Eul is not one to cower at such things. She quickly regained her composure and set the clock to the time the boss had mentioned, then got down from the chair, acting as if she knew nothing.

“Boss, today…”

“Yes, you’re late today. Again.”

Ga Eul’s attempt to subtly divert the boss’s attention failed. She was going to say that the convenience store part-timer couldn’t come today, so she needed to fill in.

“You know.”

Here it comes. ‘While you guard your leaving time like your life’, it’s that time. Ga Eul rolled her eyes.

“While you guard your leaving time like your life.”

Next will be ‘Do you know how much 20 minutes is worth in money?’, followed by ‘You who receive your salary punctually without doing any work, can’t even keep your arrival time?’. The boss’s repertoire is always the same.

“Do you know how much 20 minutes is worth in money? You who receive your salary punctually without doing any work. How can you not keep your arrival time?”

Ga Eul quickly shook her head. Then, the words she wanted to say whirled in her mind. Boss, just do the first verse.

“It’s not right, absolutely not.”

Words different from those in her head came out of her mouth. Even if it wasn’t right, she had no choice. Ga Eul had to guard her leaving time like her life.

Because after work, she needs to earn money through private tutoring. There’s a reason she can’t keep her arrival time. There are nights when she teaches until late. There are days when she needs to make up classes from early morning. Either way, Ga Eul doesn’t like being late.

“But it’s not like I’m just receiving my salary without doing any work. I manage all three convenience stores, don’t I? I also fill in whenever part-timers are absent. The odd jobs you give me are not trivial either. That’s a secretary’s full workload.”

“Hmph.”

The boss snorted. For now, the flow of the boss’s reprimand, or disciplinary action, or scolding, or nagging, was momentarily interrupted.

In that gap, Ga Eul thought of a way to recover her position. So she hurried to the refrigerator, took out a bottle of hangover cure, and presented it to the boss. It’s a hangover cure that’s always kept in stock for the boss who frequently gets drunk.

“How much is this again?”

The boss asked with a sour face. Is one bottle of hangover cure too weak to offset being late?

“Of course it’s free. How could I charge you for a hangover cure, boss?”

“Yeah. You’ve been doing that until now. Do you have amnesia?”

The boss’s merciless reply came back. What a meticulous guy. He doesn’t even forget that.

“Haha, boss, you have such a good memory.”

Having committed a sin and having something to ask for, Ga Eul couldn’t go against the boss’s mood.

Thinking of Woo Jin’s mother who had begged her to show that Woo Jin had someone he was dating, she had to somehow persuade the boss. To date her. If not dating, then contract dating. If he didn’t like that either, couldn’t he at least pretend to date her?

“Go make some wet towels.”

Ki Dae Un, the boss, said with a gesture as if shooing away a fly. Ga Eul, glad to hear those words, scurried to the sink behind the partition before the boss’s instruction could even hit the ground. It seemed the reprimand for being late was over for now.

Dae Un watched Ga Eul disappear behind the partition with a look of derision. Han Ga Eul giving him a free hangover cure? Impossible.

It would be fortunate if she didn’t overcharge. But that impossible thing just happened. Han Ga Eul said with her own mouth that it was free.

‘She must have something to ask for.’

Reflexively, Dae Un’s face hardened. There was something that came to mind when it came to Han Ga Eul’s requests. Is she going to ask to date again?

Dae Un also knew that Ga Eul had a boyfriend named Woo Jin. The person who introduced Ga Eul was Woo Jin’s father. Woo Jin’s father had said that Ga Eul was his son’s girlfriend.

And Ga Eul had said she wanted to break up with that Woo Jin. She also said she needed to show that Woo Jin had found someone new. That way, Woo Jin would be able to let go of his feelings for her.

While Dae Un was thinking about this, Ga Eul was slightly pondering behind the partition.

With a towel in one hand and a rag in the other. Because Ga Eul kept things so clean, even though it was called a rag, it wasn’t much different from a towel. The boss wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

Ga Eul put the towel back in the drawer and soaked the rag in hot water. She brought it out and handed it to the boss. The boss had already returned to his original sprawled position on the sofa. The boss took the wet rag and placed it on his face.

“I need to sober up. Order some breakfast.”

“What should I order?”

“Order whatever.”

Lazy human. So lazy that he doesn’t even think about what he’s going to eat with his own brain. He always eats whatever Ga Eul orders. Ga Eul made a face at the boss’s rag-covered face.

But she quickly changed her mind and called out to the boss in the sweetest voice possible.

“Boss?”

Ga Eul thought she should try to muster up courage when the boss’s face was covered with the rag.

It seemed like it would be easier to ask him to date if she couldn’t see his face. It would also be easier to accept rejection if she didn’t have to see the boss’s seemingly sarcastic eyes.

“I have something to say.”

“What? Asking to date again?”

Ga Eul was surprised by the boss’s immediate response. Had the boss learned mind-reading?

“Did Woo Jin’s mother call again? Begging you to break up with her son? Every time that happens, you ask me to date you. Saying rumors need to spread in the neighborhood that Han Ga Eul is dating. How many times is this now?”

“The ninth time. And this time, she didn’t call, she came in person.”

“No. How can you ask your company’s boss to date you? And nine times at that. No matter how lightly you see me.”

Despite his casual grumbling, Dae Un’s face was seriously hardened. Irresponsible Han Ga Eul. You shouldn’t do this to me.

Are you determined to torture me? Asking me to date you for the sake of your boyfriend’s future. He muttered inwardly.

‘Stop it. It’s not like I’m asking you to date because I particularly like you.’

Ga Eul, for her part, muttered in her heart. Seeing the boss showing no hesitation in expressing his dislike for dating her, her courage disappeared. But Ga Eul remembered Woo Jin’s mother kneeling before her and steeled her resolve.

“I’ve explained the situation, haven’t I? Do you think I want to do this to the boss of the company I work for? But because of the relationship we’ve built up over time, I’m asking for a favor.”

“Built-up relationship?”

The rag on Dae Un’s face twitched slightly. Finding it ridiculous that Ga Eul expressed his feelings as a ‘built-up relationship’, Dae Un couldn’t help but snort.

“Just three months. Can’t we do it for just three months?”

Ga Eul spoke in the most humble manner possible.

“If I had someone else around me or time to meet someone else, I wouldn’t be doing this to you, boss. As you know, the only men around me are the kids I teach or the convenience store part-timers, and they’re just children. Asking them to date would be a crime.”

“But why exactly three months? Does it take exactly three months for Woo Jin to give up his feelings for you after knowing that you have a new man?”

Whether she was naive, stupid, or overconfident. Annoyed that Ga Eul seemed to take Woo Jin’s feelings too lightly, Dae Un sat up abruptly. As a result, the rag fell from his face.

“It’s the time needed to prevent Woo Jin from returning to Korea. We need to make him sort out his feelings before the fall semester starts.”

Knowing that the boss disliked being tied down, she thought she should make it clear that their dating wouldn’t be permanent. She thought that would increase the chances of the boss accepting the dating proposal. Unexpectedly, the boss was hung up on the three-month timeframe.

“Then isn’t that contract dating? Or pretending to date?”

“That’s not enough. Do you think I haven’t thought of that? Boss, you’ve lived in this neighborhood for a year, so you know. What kind of neighborhood this is. Especially long-time residents here know even how many spoons each other’s houses have. We need to convince such people. It can’t be done with a contract or pretense.”

“Well, that’s true. Is this damn neighborhood full of bloodhounds? Why do they go around sniffing so much?”

Dae Un grumbled, agreeing with Ga Eul’s words. He had suffered from the excessive curiosity of the neighborhood people since moving here.

“And eating meals, watching movies, going to nice places together, it’s all the same, so is there a need to call it contract dating? We can just call it dating. Besides, I like you, boss. You like me too, don’t you? I know everything.”

Dae Un, at a loss for words, thought of all sorts of things for a moment. From ‘Have I been showing my emotions that openly?’ to ‘What does she know to say she likes me so easily?’. While knowing nothing.

You know nothing about what kind of ill-fated relationship we’re tangled in, with what kind of eyes I’m looking at you. Dae Un shouted in his heart.