IFHY .. nct

TWENTY-THREE

tilly swept a strand of bright orange hair behind her ear as she dropped her bag in johnny's office. they had lockers in the break room, but tilly and the others were used to leaving their stuff with johnny since it was closer, and had a lock on the door.

she then flicked the lights on and tidied up a bit, just straightening some paper files and drawing an 'x' over the previous date in their erasable white board calendar.

she jumped when the lights turned off, looking over her shoulder to find johnny standing with a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. tilly faced the calendar, her back to him, as she spoke. "didn't know you were coming in early, boss."

though she couldn't see him, tilly smiled when she imagined him cringing at the title. "please, we don't have to do the whole boss thing."

"okay. mr. suh, then."

johnny was grinning with her now. "mr. suh is my father."

chuckling, tilly clicked the lid back on her expo-marker and faced her boss as she leaned against his desk. "i didn't think you had any appointments scheduled this morning..?"

"i don't," johnny said as he scratched the back of his head. tilly tried not to stare as his tattooed biceps flexed with the movement. "i know you're scheduled, though. i wanted to talk to you about last night."

tilly's face burned at the memory.

as planned, the group met at doyoung and his fiancée, sumin's, cafe. they chatted for a little over an hour after the sun set before deciding to go to a bar ten recommended. it was fine until about the third round of drinks, when tilly's tolerance started catching up to her.

she told her friends all about the looks she received from across the bar, but that's all she told them. she failed to mention the dancing. the touching. the whispers. the ride home.

tilly looked away, johnny's deep gaze burning her exposed flesh. nothing had happened, not in the literal sense. and yet...

and yet.

tilly hadn't realized how close johnny was to her. he probably didn't, either, as two steps with his longs legs would carry him mere inches away from the orange-haired woman. she could feel her breath catch in her throat as her eyes darted across the plains of his face.

"i, uh..." tilly stuttered dumbly. "you said you wanted to talk?"

blinking, johnny leaned away from her slightly as he nodded. "right, yeah. um, listen tilly, i wanted to apologize. i'm your boss, and i shouldn't have acted the way i did. there are rules in place to prevent things like this."

she heard him. she understood what he was saying, but she couldn't pull her eyes away from his mouth. she could tell her action was distracting him, but tilly didn't know how long it had been since someone had touched her like that. his hands had only grazed the small of her back as they danced together, but it was enough.