My Co-Worker Hates Me

Chapter IV

We're soon facing the first days of the year and with that, my vacation ends. I get to work at 7:50 AM and I'm met with Porsche already at his desk, looking at the screen of his phone but his eyes looking distant.

"Hey. I thought you'd be out of my office by now." I say.

He looks up from his phone, in surprise and shows me a bright smile.

"Nice to see you, too." He says as he rolls his eyes. They will move all my stuff today but Park said he'd come in the afternoon, so you'll have to bear with me for a few more hours." He jokes.

I can't help a sense of relief go through my body.

"I guess I have no choice." I reply. He shows me his middle finger.

I leave my stuff on my desk and head to the cafeteria, grab my cup of coffee and get back to my office. Porsche still looks distracted, like something is keeping his mind very busy.

"You look stupid." I say.

He rolls his eyes but sighs before answering.

"I came early today and had breakfast at the cafeteria, I heard two girls talking when they thought no one else was around..." He starts. "They were saying just how handsome we are" he laughs at the same time as I do "but then, one of them said that it was too bad one of us was gay for dating a transgender girl." He looks ashamed at telling me this.

It does piss me off a little bit to know this, to know that people talk about my business when there's absolutely no reason to. Don't misunderstand me, I've never felt ashamed of my past or my sexuality but when people start to spread information, there is always a hint of disrespect that comes with it, which is what I hate the most.

"It's true that I dated a transgender girl, she is the girl I told you about before." I tell him.

He stays silent for a minute while I can basically see his thoughts through his face.

"I didn't know you liked men." He admits while looking me in the eye.

I start to get pretty worked up but when I'm about to tell Porsche off, I notice he's said it with no bad intentions. He looks low key very ignorant about how disrespectful what he said is, so I decide to just educate him about it.

"So first of all, I do like men but I've never dated one before, and it's not something I go around telling everyone because it's really no one's business. It's just like how I don't go around telling people I like women." He raises his eyebrows in surprise, but looking like he's understanding my point. "Second, Saengdao is a girl, no matter what. I don't tell people she is trans because at the end of the day, it doesn't matter. What matters and that she is a woman, and she feels a woman, she should never have to explain why she is a woman to anyone, because no one has to explain their gender." I tell him, he starts looking ashamed. "It's pretty rude to completely disregard her identity and her gender. I hate people talking about her, cause they normally do it in a derogative way and I hate hearing that, when they do it intentionally." I add.

Porsche blushes from neck to ears and immediately looks mortified. He looks funny all red in the face.

"I'm sorry." He apologizes. "I couldn't help my curiosity but be sure, I'm just asking out of curiosity only, never with a hidden intention to be disrespectful." He assures and I believe him. Deep in my body, I know the man doesn't have an evil bone.

"I know." I tell him. "That's why I gave you an answer."

That seals the topic but I notice he's still deep in his thoughts after that, although not for much as he's distracted easily with the work load waiting for us. He plays his music again, now this English boy band that have been separated longer than the time they were together, but whose songs I've actually come to enjoy quite a lot since I've been sharing a closed space with Porsche.