Another day at the office went by so fast Jieun could barely blink. A day later after their incident with the bikers, they had gone to the office to report it directly to the CEO of her agency, to which another mandatory meeting was held. As people are more aware of the situation, some had shouted out a few suggestions on what they should do; and some just murmured in disbelief at how someone could harm a sweet and innocent person like Jieun. When the meeting ended and almost everyone had left to go for lunch, Jieun remained seated in the meeting room as she had no appetite from the big breakfast that she and Jihyuk particularly inhaled just a few hours ago. She was at the moment lost in her thoughts, scrolling through her phone absentmindedly. Seri and Hanteo both shot her a look in which she missed, and asked if she needed anything. She shook her head smiling at them and went back to spacing out.
Seri turned to Jihyuk who was at the opposite end of the table and asked if he too needed anything, but he also shook his head and said that he had an afternoon snack to cover him since he also wasn't hungry. When Seri and Hanteo both left, he left the room and came back from the office kitchen with a cup of chocolate pudding in his hand, spoon in the other. He dropped to the chair that he previously sat on and let out a satisfied sigh.
Jieun peeked over to look at him. She watched him tear the lid of the chocolate pudding and dug it with gusto, a small smile playing on his lips. It was a little bit...adorable if she was being honest with herself. To see him so enamored by this little cup of pudding brought a tug in her heartstrings for whatever reason. Maybe she was accustomed to seeing him always looking so heavy with sadness whenever they eat together, or she herself had gotten so heavyhearted as she watched him eat, but the man who was sitting opposite her, pudding in hand and a small smile that was still dangling on his lips, he looks more like an innocent boy to her than a man that held a thousand sorrows; the man she grew to know.
And yet here he sat. A smile plastered on his face, and a smidge of chocolate clinging to the corner of his lips.
"I didn't know you like chocolate pudding?" Jieun broke the silence after a few minutes of watching his content snacking. Jihyuk's onyx eyes shot up to look at her from across the table. He looked a little bit like a deer caught in highlights like he hadn't expected her to notice. Well, to be fair, she had been quiet throughout the meeting.
He swallowed and shrugged his shoulders. "I never knew why people love chocolate so much when I was young, but I somehow grew to like them when I tried it for the first time." He gave her a nonchalant smile and took another spoonful and swallowed before continuing, "At first it was just a piece of chocolate, soon I began to try more snacks or desserts with the flavor, and I grew to love chocolate pudding out of all."
Jieun nodded along and soon found his smile contagious. He was ridiculous. How could a simple cup of pudding have him smiling this much? She had never seen him smile this much before.
"Do you want to try some? I think there's still some coffee spoon left." He pointed to the tray filled with empty cups and coffee packets, and several plastic spoons behind her. Only his innocent and oblivious self would interpret her gaze as her wanting to try the pudding instead of her staring at him in a not-so-innocent way. She shook her head at the thought, ignoring the slight heat in her cheeks as she reached behind her to grab a plastic spoon and made her way across the room to him. She was handed the cup as she sat down gingerly next to him.
It was a single serving cup, branded Chocopudd printed across the cup. Horrible name aside, it did look pretty good. There were dark spots of what she assumed to be some more bits of chocolate mixed with the already chocolate pudding, but who was she kidding, she also loved the flavor. There were a couple of spoonfuls left.
"When did you get this by the way?" She asked out of curiosity. He was always with her, and she never noticed him buying the chocolate pudding for they had never gone anywhere other than her home and the office, save for the grocery shopping that they did several days ago.
"I might have snuck in some during our grocery shopping." He said sheepishly with his cheeks a little puffed out, and it took her a second to refrain herself from reaching out and pinched his cheeks. She let out a teasing smile and dug in. When the spoon slid into her mouth, Jieun found that it indeed tasted quite good. She wasn't a huge fan of pudding in general, but this thing was definitely winning her over. She closed her eyes and let out a satisfied hum.
"Oh my god, this is like...definitely one of the best puddings I have ever had." And that's saying a lot. She had gone to fancy restaurants and had eaten her fair share of puddings, but they don't come quite close to this.
Jihyuk nodded excitedly in agreement beside her. Jieun made to hand the cup back to him, but he raised his hand to stop her.
"You finish it up, Jieun ssi."
"This is yours! I can't."
He placed a gentle hand on her own, easing the cup back towards herself and away from him.
"You look like you could use it more than me today." Jihyuk let the words come out softly.
"Are you doing okay?" He asked after a moment of hesitation.
He knew that she was still feeling down from the meeting. Heck, she was feeling down all morning because she had not wanted everyone to know about the biker incident. After all, it would just cause a hassle and worry them, but the CEO had insisted that everyone should know. She became even more unhappy when the CEO had suggested that from now on, not only will she have to go everywhere with Jihyuk, but also with Hanteo and Seri and several staff, not to mention a few more bodyguards, just how it was used to be when she had to go to big events such as her concert or an award show. His logic was that she would be safe in a crowd, but she did not want to put more people in danger because of her. She had no choice but to follow through since everyone seemed to agree with the idea.
"I'm-" she thought of what to say next as she listed off random words that were forming in her head. She turned to look at Jihyuk and expected him to look back at her with those onyx eyes of his ready to console her with wisdom words just as he always did when she was feeling down, but he was not looking at her but the pudding on her hand. His expression had a hint of longing; with the tiniest look of regret for having given up his precious pudding.
This ridiculously adorable boy.
She felt a lightness in her chest as a small laugh escaped her lips at the sight of him. Jihyuk suddenly looked up at her, frowning in confusion at her sudden mirth. The laugh turned into a full-blown giggle fit, now directed at his dumbfounded expression. She struggled to catch her breath and stop the giggles, but it started again every time she set her eyes on his bewildered expression.
After what felt like ages she inhaled deeply, a hand on her chest. It felt good laughing like this. She couldn't imagine how she went from feeling down to now laughing wholeheartedly at something as simple as this. She inhaled enough breath before answering his previous question. "I'm doing okay now. Thank you for this, Jihyuk ssi, I know how much it pains you to part with your pudding."
Jihyuk's mouth opened and closed a few times before he laughed sheepishly and settled on, "You're...welcome?"
Jieun grinned at him as she took the last spoon of pudding. She rose from her chair beside him and made her way out of the room, but not before she reached down to ruffle his hair slightly as she swept past him.
His hand touched the spot on his head where her hand had touched, a strange smile dangling on his face.
What he didn't tell her was that she was the reason that he grew to love chocolate. His love for chocolate grew from when she had given up her favorite chocolate bar to him all those years ago.
He smiled to himself and left the room, his plastic spoon still in his hand.
YOU ARE READING
As I have nothing to give you, I give you my heart (IU Verse Book#1)
RomanceIn her light, he found her darkness. In his darkness, she found his light.
