off limits ✧ zb1 applyfic

✧ thirty four

As soon as she'd finished her lunch, Narae had hurried up the stairs, all the way to the student council office, a ziploc bag full of mufffins in her hand. When looking for Gunwook, she knew exactly where to find him. After all, he was too much of a workaholic to loiter around the cafeteria for an entire hour. He was a bit too serious for his own good, especially when it came to his stomach, but that was fine. Today, she had a solution to that.

When she finally spotted the door to the student council office, she watched as a guy walked out of it, stretching his arms out, ready to yawn. She approached him quickly.

"Excuse me, is Gunwook in here?" she asked, pointing to the room he'd just left.

The student blinked for a second, before nodding. "Oh yeah, of course," he said with a sigh. "He's still working on checking the profit from the festival, so he's refusing to go eat, even though he's forgotten to pack a sandwich. This guy, I swear..."

"Oh, that's fine!" Narae hurried to say, waving the bag of muffins in front of him. "I brought him some food, so no need to worry!"

The corners of his lips turned up. "Ah, that's a relief! Good thing he has such a caring girlfriend."

Before she could correct him, he'd already walked past her, apparently eager to go get his own meal. Narae stood in the corridor for a few seconds, a bit puzzled. Did it seem like something a girlfriend would do? In her family, bringing food to someone was a bit of a love language, especially when it came to her, with her inability to remember when it was time to eat. But in a different light, it did seem a bit more intimate than that. Well, it's not like she'd lovingly packed him an entire lunchbox, with sausages cut in the shape of octopuses, or bunnies made of rice. Just simple muffins. Nothing to misunderstand.

Brushing it off, she knocked on the door, and only opened it once he told her to enter. She pushed the door open, peeking her head into the frame. Gunwook was sitting behind a desk, head buried in a pile of paperwork, his tie lying on the back of his chair. He looked up at her, and his eyes widened.

"Narae? What are you doing here?"

Giving him a smile, she slipped into the room and closed the door behind her. "Your classmate told me you weren’t going to eat, but I have food for you."

"You do?" he said, trying to get a look at the bag.

She took a step closer to the desk. "Yup, muffins! You must have quite the reputation, you know. He seemed worried that you weren’t taking good care of yourself. He even thought I was your girlfriend!" she exclaimed jokingly, but Gunwook did not laugh.

Instead, he started choking, one fist over his mouth, and the other hand hitting his own chest. When he finally managed to calm down, he passed his hand over his face, his cheeks turning redder by the second.

"Ahem, I should probably clarify that with him," he muttered, averting his eyes from hers. "So, um, you have food?"

Narae nodded, sliding the ziploc bag over the desk. "Yes, but I thought you had a sandwich packed, so it's only dessert. Sorry about that."

He grabbed the bag, shaking his head. "No, you have nothing to apologize for. This is already more than enough. Thank you for thinking of me." He opened the bag, before looking back up at her. "I have to ask though, why? Why are you doing this for me?"

Did she need a specific reason? Narae shrugged, as she watched Gunwook grab one of her muffins and take a bite of it. She'd had the sudden want of baking over the weekend, the kind of whim that comes and goes, and now she had a whole batch of muffins sitting there, that even Taerae wasn't able to finish in its entirety. She might as well give them to someone. And to Gunwook, she had much gratitute to show.