Chapter 7

How long has he been awake?

An unbearable silence settled over them.

The sound of Danbi swallowing nervously filled the air, painfully loud in the stillness.

Their wandering gazes met several times, neither knowing where to look.

The firm lines of Doyoung’s eyes softened languidly. His heavy gaze came to rest on Danbi’s lips.

A warm breath escaped between her slightly parted lips.

At that moment, Danbi’s senses abruptly snapped back into focus. Only then did she become aware of the sensation of her entire body pressed against Doyoung’s in an embarrassingly suggestive position.

She planted her hands against Doyoung’s chest and set her feet on the wooden floor.

“I-I’m sorry. I thought you were asleep…”

“What were you planning to do?”

Doyoung slowly sat up. The corners of his lips curled upward, as though he were struggling to suppress a laugh.

“Is it something you can’t do while I’m awake?”

Danbi jumped in surprise and frantically waved her hands.

“W-What would I ever do to you, Senior!”

Her entire body grew hot, as if she had leaped straight into a blazing fire.

She rubbed her cheeks with the back of her hand, trying to cool the heat rising to her face.

“If anything, I could understand if you did something to me. But considering the difference in our builds and strength, there’s no way I could do anything to you.”

“What couldn’t you do to someone who’s asleep?”

“……I couldn’t.”

“What couldn’t you do?”

Come to think of it, what was it that she couldn’t do…?

Even though she’d said those words herself, she couldn’t make sense of what they meant. What had she intended to say?

All she’d wanted was to take a closer look at Moon Doyoung’s face, and now she was in a situation where she was being treated like a pervert.

It was too embarrassing to honestly admit that she’d been admiring his face.

She was still fidgeting with her fingers, desperately searching for something to say, when Doyoung chuckled and headed toward the kitchen.

Danbi could only stand rooted to the spot, watching him move.

“Want a can of beer?”

“……”

“Beer tastes especially good after coming out of a half-body bath.”

Even in the middle of all this, her appetite was alive and well.

It was a tempting offer, but Danbi didn’t have the nerve to sit across from Moon Doyoung and casually gulp down beer as if nothing had happened.

She timidly approached him, snatched the can of beer from his hand, and dashed into the small room.

“Thank you. I’ll enjoy it!”

A moment later, the bedroom door slammed shut.

Doyoung couldn’t seem to tear his gaze away from the door behind which Danbi had disappeared, her wet hair flying as she ran.

Just before the door closed, the image of Danbi smiling brightly lingered before his eyes like an afterimage.

Only after a long while did he finally look down at his own hand.

He tried to cool himself with the cold can of beer, but the sensation of having held Danbi’s wrist was still vivid.

The moment their skin had touched, a sharp jolt of electricity had shot through him, piercing his heart.

It had lasted only an instant, yet the aftereffects lingered endlessly.

He could feel his face, which he’d desperately kept composed, suddenly flushing hot.

He dragged his large hand down over his face.

Then he muttered in a low voice, barely audible even to himself.

“Moon Doyoung, you’ve lost your mind.”

An inexplicable smile spread across Doyoung’s lips.

“Why is everyone gathered in the break room first thing in the morning?”

The lavish breakfast Doyoung had prepared for Danbi hadn’t been a one-time thing.

These days, he was showcasing a variety of dishes, changing the menu every single day.

Once again, Danbi hadn’t been able to refuse Doyoung’s request to have at least a bowl of rice before leaving. She headed to work, patting her now considerably fuller stomach.

But something was different. The atmosphere in the Strategic Planning Team was unusually unsettled.

“Danbi, you haven’t heard the news yet, have you?”

“What news?”

“About Team Leader Park. He’s been put on standby.”

Danbi gasped and clapped a hand over her mouth.

He was the same man who, just yesterday when she left work, had grinned at her and given her a lecherous look while wishing her a good evening.

“Why all of a sudden?”

It really had come out of nowhere.

Team Leader Park’s sexual harassment was nothing new. Even before Danbi had joined the company, countless employees had been subjected to his disgusting stares.

Had everyone joined forces and put pressure on the higher-ups? If so, she could have contributed quite a bit of pressure herself.

“I knew it would come to this. That man has no idea how times have changed, and he keeps going around spouting all sorts of nonsense.”

“There must have been countless sexual harassment complaints against him by now. But Team Leader Park was the HR director’s senior from university, so no matter how many times we reported him to HR, it was useless.”

“Maybe the two of them had a falling-out. Or perhaps someone went straight to the chairman.”

“Come on. Who would be reckless enough to do something like that unless they were a completely clueless new employee?”

At that moment, the chatter abruptly stopped.

Everyone’s gaze converged on a single person.

With so many pairs of eyes brimming with suspicion and curiosity suddenly fixed on her, Danbi flailed both hands in alarm.

“It wasn’t me!”

Judging by their expressions, nobody believed her.

“I’m serious! It really wasn’t me!”

Before she knew it, Heejin had approached and was gently patting Danbi on the shoulder.

“You’ve had such a hard time all this while, haven’t you? Thank you for having the courage to do something about it. Thanks to you, Danbi, we can finally breathe a little easier.”

“Assistant Manager, I really…”

Before Danbi could even finish saying, It wasn’t me, the employees, each wearing a sympathetic expression, left the break room one after another, offering a few words as they went.

“I’m grateful too, Danbi.”

“You really are different from the older generation. I’ve learned something from you.”

“I know exactly how you feel. I used to pray that Team Leader Park would get into a car accident on his way to work. Thank you for stepping up and taking one for the team.”

While Danbi blinked repeatedly in bewilderment, the employees streamed out like the receding tide.

Soon, only Danbi, Heejin, and Kanghyun remained in the break room.

“Assistant Managers… What if Team Leader Park really thinks I was the one who reported him and comes after me to threaten me…?”

“Don’t worry. That man is all talk. He’s never laid a finger on anyone. Why? Because he’s a coward. He doesn’t have the guts to actually do anything. What could a coward like that possibly do to someone like you, Danbi, who acts before she even thinks? Nothing. I guarantee he won’t dare do a thing.”

“But I really didn’t do anything…”

“You have nothing to be intimidated about. You did the right thing. Everyone’s grateful to you for making things better, so hold your head high.”

Even Kanghyun, who had been quietly listening until then, chimed in to support her.

Danbi looked back and forth between the two of them, utterly dumbfounded.

Heejin grinned and poked Danbi in the side.

“If you’re really worried, why don’t you take this opportunity to get yourself a boyfriend?”

“A boyfriend? Out of nowhere?”

“Someone who works at the same company would be even better. You could commute together and stick by each other all day at work. Then there’d be no chance for anything dangerous to happen.”

Oh! That actually made quite a bit of sense.

However, Danbi immediately composed her expression and declined.

“No. I’ll carry self-defense items so I can protect myself.”

At her firm response, a flicker of disappointment crossed Kanghyun’s face.

Heejin, who had been about to continue, pressed her lips together.

Danbi’s mind was made up.

The wounds left by her contract marriage, which she’d believed would bring her love, had not yet healed.

She didn’t think she was ready to meet someone new, so she’d turned down every man who had approached her.

Besides, wasn’t she currently living with her ex-husband?

When Danbi returned home after working overtime, she heard the sound of stew bubbling away in the kitchen.

“You’re late again today. Eat first, then go wash up.”

“Senior. Have you been waiting to eat dinner because of me?”

“Not because of you. I just didn’t want to eat alone.”

Doyoung placed a spoon and chopsticks at Danbi’s seat and gestured with his chin for her to sit down.

Danbi lowered the corners of her eyes as she looked at the table laden with an extravagant spread.

“You’re like a house spirit who does all the chores for you.”

She was genuinely grateful to Doyoung for preparing so much food so that she could fill her empty stomach the moment she got home from work.

But the more he did for her, the more indebted she felt.

Suppressing the conflicting emotions of gratitude and unease swirling inside her, she sat down.

“Thank you for the meal.”

She scooped up a generous spoonful of steaming rice and stuffed it into her mouth.

Doyoung smiled brightly and placed a side dish on her spoon.

His unfamiliar tenderness caused her wariness toward him to ease a little.

First, she wanted to tell him the good news. She had a whole mountain of things she wanted to talk about in front of Doyoung.

“Senior. Do you remember Team Leader Park, the one I cursed out on my way home that time?”

He nodded without changing his expression.

“Team Leader Park was put on standby today.”

Doyoung’s hand, which had been moving his chopsticks, paused for a moment. Danbi continued without paying much attention.

“You know what being put on standby means? Um, how should I explain it? Anyway, you can think of it as practically being fired.”

“Good for you.”

Doyoung replied with a chuckle.

“I think I’m really lucky. Just thinking about wasting years of my life under that damn team leader made my future look so bleak. But I didn’t want to transfer to another team because I liked the other people there.”

“What if the new team leader turns out to be an even worse person than Team Leader Park?”

“That won’t happen.”

“Why not?”

“Whoever comes, they’ll be better than Team Leader Park.”

Danbi widened her eyes for emphasis, driving the point home.

Her spirited attitude reminded Doyoung of an energetic rookie employee, and he burst into a soft laugh.

“Tell me about the other team members, too. I’ve already heard a lot about Assistant Manager Woo Heejin and Assistant Manager Ji Kanghyun, the ones you’re close to.”

“Ooh! You have a good memory, don’t you? You even memorized the names of my assistant managers.”

“Didn’t you say there were about five people on your team?”

“Yes, that’s right. Did I tell you that much? There are normally six of us, including the team leader, but since the position is vacant right now, Manager Seok Giyoung is basically in charge.”

Danbi excitedly began rattling off stories about her coworkers.

From the fact that Manager Seok was trying to quit smoking to how Assistant Manager Jung was newly married and practically oozing affection.

Doyoung responded at the appropriate moments, listening to Danbi’s stories with genuine interest.

“But, Senior. You know…”

After chattering excitedly for quite some time, Danbi cautiously spoke up, her voice suddenly subdued.

“From now on, you don’t have to prepare meals for me, too. I’ll take care of my own food.”

“You don’t need to worry about that. I’m already cooking for myself, so I might as well make yours, too.”

Doyoung flatly refused.

Still, she was living under his roof, and having him feed her every day on top of that was a considerable burden. Her debt of gratitude was piling up layer by layer.

“Then I’ll transfer some money for living expenses as soon as I get paid. I can’t keep relying on you forever.”

Doyoung put down his spoon and gazed steadily at Danbi.

“Just accept my kindness as kindness. Don’t make things awkward for me.”

His calm, lowered voice sounded gentle, yet there was something faintly domineering about it.