"Jihyo ssi, can I talk to you for a moment?" Gwon asked. They had just wrapped up a meeting with the junior designers and were making their way out of the meeting room.
"Sure." She replied. They walked towards her office and went in. She turned on the lights and settled her things on the table before turning around to face him.
"So what is it?" She asked, thinking it will be something important, given that he sounded rather serious about it.
Gwon placed his briefcase on the couch and tucked his hands into his side pockets.
"I just wanted to know if you're feeling alright." He said.
"Ne?" She blinked, momentarily taken aback by his question.
"I'm fine." Thanks for your concern." She added shortly. She looked at him, and he looked back at her. An awkward silence fall between them. She thought she saw softness in his eyes. One that made her temporarily forget about his arrogant and cold attitude.
After awhile, Gwon broke off the stare by shifting his gaze from her to the office door. He took a quick glance at his watch then picked up his briefcase
"I have another appointment to attend." He said, and headed for the door without waiting for her reply.
He grabbed the handle but before pulling the door open, he stopped and turned around to look at her.
"I just don't want the project to be affected. Don't think too much." He said.
And with that, he opened the door and left.
***
"Don't you think that it's weird?"
"What's weird?"
"Were you not listening?"
Eyes focused on his laptop screen, Gary lifted his fork and poked a mini sausage then put it into his mouth. "I just hate hearing that name." He said, while chewing.
Jihyo crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him. "So you were listening."
He nodded but he was still focusing on his work.
She pushed down the laptop screen just enough that it lightly touched the tip of his knuckles, forcing him to stop what he was doing and look at her.
"I rarely have the time to come up to visit you. Shouldn't you spare me some of your time?" She voiced out.
A light chuckle escaped from his mouth. He shut his laptop close and shifted it aside. Now, his attention was on her. Only her.
"Apple?" He pierced an apple slice with a fruit pick and held it towards her
She looked at the apple slice and then at him, her frown easing into an amused smile. It wasn't because of how he managed to do a wordplay ('apple' sound similar to 'sorry' in Korean). It was the way he was looking at her - the crease between his brows accompanied with a little pout - it was impossible to be upset with him. She ate the apple while he looked on.
"Don't get too close to him." He said. "He's not as-"
"As simple as he seems to be?" She completed his sentence. He responded with a nod. Ever since he was aware that she would be working on the same project with Gwon, he has always been telling her the same phrase and it seemed like he won't stop until the end of their collaboration.
"He may be arrogant and a little self-centered but I don't think he's as bad as how you described.." She caught his expression and her voice faded into a mumble and then, into silence.
They looked at each other for a moment, then he finally spoke. "Previously, you said you dislike him. Now, whose side are you on?" He kept his voice nonchalant, trying to act as though he didn't mind her talking about him, or even, defending him even when they only have thirty minutes of their break time left to spend with each other.
"Yours, of course." She answered. "I dislike him, and I still do. It's just the way that he had been acting recently. It feels different. "
"Because of the concern that he showed? Is that why you're speaking up for him?"
She could sense the agitation in his voice even as he try his best to hide it. She sighed inwardly. She didn't came up to pick a fight with him. Maybe it was a mistake to mention about Gwon. She grasped one of his hand and stroked the back of his palm with her thumb.
"I'm not speaking up for him. I thought telling you this will be the right thing to do. I thought you will be interested to know." She said softly. "But I guess, that wasn't the case."
He let out a sigh and said, "I didn't mean it that way." He flipped his hand over to hold hers. "Let's stop talking about him. I've something more important to share with you."
She wasn't entirely happy with the way he responded but still, she obeyed and stopped mentioning about Gwon.
"What is it?" She asked.
He pull out a piece of paper from the middle slot of the paper tray, and passed it to her.
It was a letter of promotion that he had received from Dre in the morning. He was officially promoted to the position of a senior interior design consultant with a pay rise of $500.
"The timing of this promotion couldn't be better. We can set aside some money to create a little playroom for our child." Gary said.
Jihyo looked up from the paper. She was elated to hear this piece of good news but somehow, she couldn't bring herself to smile at it.
Gary noticed that. "You don't look happy." He said. He wondered if it was because of what he said - about their child. Something that she was still quite sensitive about.
She put the paper on the table and shook her head lightly. "I'm happy for you. But this would also means that you will be busier from now onwards."
"Eyy. I'll be handling a few more projects but that doesn't mean I won't set aside time to spend with you. I need to make sure that our Hyo Yeon is well-fed too."
She broke into a smile after hearing his last sentence. "You're still insisting on that name?"
"Can't I?" He grinned cheekily.
"It's a girl's name. What if it's a boy or even twins?"
"Then we will name him, 'Yeon Jun.' And we will have both names if it's twins." His smile got wider at the thought of it.
She was surprised by how fast he managed to come up with the names. Sighing in defeat, she pinched his cheeks and then smiled at him, "what should I do with you?"
