Chapter – 12
“So, you were eating candy at work again, I see.”
Taeeuk, who had tasted a faint strawberry flavor throughout the kiss, murmured as he lowered his long eyelashes.
“It’s just… my mouth was bored.”
In response, Taeeuk lowered one hand and slid open a desk drawer with a *drrrruk* sound.
What emerged from the drawer was a new glass jar filled with strawberry candies.
It seemed Taeeuk had bought it in advance after seeing Seol-ah’s candy jar, which was almost empty and showing the bottom.
As Seol-ah’s pupils trembled seeing it, Taeeuk tore the wrapping paper and opened the lid of the glass jar.
He pulled out one candy with his long fingers and presented it in front of her mouth.
“……”
As Seol-ah hesitated and then slowly opened her mouth, Taeeuk popped the candy inside.
As she closed her mouth again and slowly rolled the candy with her tongue, Taeeuk stared at her with darkened eyes.
“Too sexy. I can’t take it. Give it here.”
“……Huh?”
“It’s confiscated.”
Then, without hesitation, he pressed down firmly on her lower lip with his thumb.
As her mouth opened slightly, Seol-ah’s face flushed hot as she panted.
Seizing the opportunity, Taeeuk moved closer and pried his way between her lips.
Their slippery mucous membranes rubbed against each other; he licked and sucked around her lips.
*Smack, chook— Smack.*
“Ha… Team Manager…?”
An unintentionally sensual moan escaped her, and she tightly shut her eyes.
‘I can’t believe a sound like that came from my mouth.’
Drool trickled from the corner of Seol-ah’s mouth.
“Aren’t you going to give me the candy?”
Finally realizing what he wanted, Seol-ah slowly pushed the strawberry candy forward with the tip of her tongue.
Taeeuk, having received it, promptly crunched it up and ate it.
“Delicious.”
Taeeuk gently wiped the drool that had trickled onto her chin with the back of his hand, gave her lips another quick *smack*, and then pulled away.
Seol-ah, her waist now freed from its confinement, held her pounding, nearly bursting heart and trembled faintly.
Taeeuk was casually wiping his lower lip with his thumb.
‘I thought the Team Manager was only gentle. I can’t believe he did something like this. Maybe the Team Manager is a much more sensual person than I thought.’
The act of passing the candy from mouth to mouth felt strangely sexual and suggestive to Seol-ah.
‘Well, he is a man, after all…’
Here I am, my face still bright red, trying to catch my breath, while he just wipes the glistening saliva from his lips, adjusts his tie, and maintains his perfect composure again.
‘How can he act like nothing happened after doing all that? But even that side of him is sexy…!’
*Knock, knock.*
It was right in the midst of her reverie.
Seol-ah, who had been staring at Taeeuk with heart-shaped eyes, was startled out of her wits by the sudden sound of knocking on the office door.
“Team Manager, it’s Park Ruby. May I come in?”
Ruby’s bright, cheerful voice seeped through the door.
Seol-ah hurriedly smoothed her hair and checked if her shirt had come untucked.
Seeing this, Taeeuk paused for a moment before answering.
“Yes, come in.”
No sooner had the words fallen than Ruby, as if she had been waiting, abruptly pushed the door open.
“Ms. Kim Seol-ah, you may go out now.”
Following Taeeuk’s instruction, Seol-ah, holding a file folder against her chest, bowed her head.
“Yes, Team Manager. I’ll be going then.”
Seol-ah walked across the center of the office and left.
Ruby glanced sidelong at Seol-ah, whose face was flushed as if she had a fever, as they passed each other.
Unaware that the candy jar Taeeuk had given her was hidden between the file folder and her chest, Ruby quickly approached Taeeuk.
“Ms. Ruby, what can I do for you?”
Hearing Taeeuk’s dry, businesslike voice asking Ruby the purpose of her visit, Seol-ah closed the office door.
Even as she returned to her desk, Seol-ah’s face was burning hot, like someone who had come down with a fever.
She sat at her desk, tapping her heated cheeks with the back of her hand.
Even as she threw away the empty jar she had placed in front of her monitor and replaced it with the new candy jar, she couldn’t shake off the lingering sensation of that strangely intimate kiss she had shared with the Team Manager.
Her heart, heated by an internal fever, kept thumping, preventing her from focusing on her work.
‘How foolish…’
How could she have been so confused about such a man?
Thinking it was Jeong-wook at the matchmaking meeting and making that mistake was truly a foolish thing to do.
‘The Team Manager is such a romantic and wonderful person. How could I have misunderstood and hated him, even for a moment?’
To think I misunderstood that he was seeing another woman behind my back.
‘How could I not tell identical twins apart and cause such a mess? But if I meet Jeong-wook again, I might not be able to tell them apart again. Honestly, it’s because the two men look exactly alike.’
‘By the way, when will the Team Manager come out of his office again? I wish he’d bestow upon me the favor of showing me that handsome face once more. It would boost my work efficiency, after all.’
Even while working, hoping her superior would show himself, she kept sneaking glances over the partition.
At some point, Seol-ah found her own behavior laughable and mocked herself.
But there was no helping it. It was all because the Team Manager was so cool and made her heart flutter.
***
Ruby tucked her hair behind her ear and stared at him as if mesmerized by that sleek face.
She had knocked on the Team Manager’s office door as if barging in, holding just any report, for no particular reason.
“Ms. Ruby, what is the matter?”
When Taeeuk asked, Ruby didn’t have much to say.
She had just come in because she couldn’t stand the sight of Seol-ah spending time alone with Taeeuk in his office and wanted to interrupt.
“Team Manager, there’s a part of this report I don’t quite understand, so I came by for an explanation. I hope I’m not interrupting?”
“Not at all. What are you curious about?”
“This part here, I still don’t quite get why it’s marked this way…”
Ruby opened the file folder and held it out to Taeeuk, who was sitting at the executive desk.
Listening to his voice as he slowly read through the document and continued his explanation, she felt her ears might melt.
His considerate yet firm voice, his reliable demeanor as he explained things confidently, his broad shoulders, his perfectly ironed shirt without a single wrinkle, and his glowing skin…
It was a perfect chance to observe Taeeuk up close.
This spacious Team Manager’s office always had a faint, pleasant scent of the citrus fragrance he used daily.
So, Ruby always felt good whenever she came in here. But…
This morning, as Ruby parked her car in the company’s underground parking lot, a strange scene caught her eye.
Taeeuk was parking his car diagonally opposite hers.
Delighted at the thought of going up to the office with the Team Manager, Ruby quickly pulled out her lip tint to apply another coat, just as she was about to get out.
But then, the passenger door of Taeeuk’s car opened, and who should step out but Seol-ah?
At that moment, Ruby’s hand, which had been applying the tint while in the driver’s seat, froze.
She fixed her gaze ahead, holding her breath, watching to see what was going on.
After getting out of the car, Seol-ah started walking, then briefly looked back, gave a slight bow towards the car, and turned her steps away again.
While the tinting on both her car and the Team Manager’s was dark, making it hard to see inside, it was clear that the Team Manager must have been in the driver’s seat.
“This is strange. Why is Kim Seol-ah getting out of the Team Manager’s car first thing in the morning? Their homes are in different directions, so carpooling doesn’t make sense. How did they meet up in the morning?”
It was suspicious. She felt utterly displeased. So, the moment she got up to the office, she scurried over to Ran-jeong, her close friend in the team.
Calling her out to the employee break room, Ruby began gossiping about Seol-ah, her face full of distaste.
“You know what, Ran-jeong? Guess what I witnessed this morning? I saw Kim Seol-ah getting out of the Team Manager’s car today! They came to work together!”
Ran-jeong, holding a paper cup of coffee, looked at Ruby with a puzzled expression.
“Maybe they just happened to meet near the company in the morning?”
“No, I know for a fact that Kim Seol-ah doesn’t have a car and always takes the elevator from the first floor. But even if they met right in front of the company, why would he give her a ride and go all the way down to the underground parking lot together? You know how congested the road in front of our company is. Wouldn’t it be easier for Kim Seol-ah to just take the elevator from the first-floor lobby like she always does? Don’t you think?”
“Now that you mention it, that’s true. Why did they get out of the car together in the morning? That’s really strange.”
“It’s definitely strange, right?”
With her arms crossed, Ruby’s eyes flashed as she glared towards the break room door.
“…Those two, something’s fishy. I can smell it.”
