Chapter 11: Nothing happened

Large and round, sparkling and beautiful amber eyes.

A gray furball with eyes that are pretty but unmistakably not human is looking down at me.

“…Ugh…”

While sitting on my chest with its heavy body, no less.

No wonder my chest felt so stuffy; this thing was crushing me.

…But, who is this?

I don’t have a cat. I don’t have any pets at all.

If I had to pick a favorite animal, it would be a dog rather than a cat, and even with a dog, I couldn’t dare to raise one when it’s hard enough to feed myself.

…In the first place, where am I?

Forcibly turning my unmoving neck, I looked around the room, but it didn’t resemble my room as I remembered it in any way.

My room isn’t this big. There’s no bed this big and fluffy, and there’s no vanity table or anything like that. Because I don’t wear makeup.

This isn’t my room. It’s not my house either. Then where the heck am I?

Why does my head hurt so much, and what on earth happened last night…?

“Are you awake?”

“…?”

Huh.

What was that, just now? That voice.

I think I heard a voice I shouldn’t have heard, a voice I absolutely shouldn’t have heard…

“Here, have some honey water. It’ll help with the hangover.”

Honey water? Hangover?

Incomprehensible words stirred in my head. What on earth happened yesterday…?

“…Ugh…”

Ah.

The moment my eyes met the owner of the voice, a groan unconsciously escaped my lips.

The moment I met someone I shouldn’t have met in a place like this, in a state like this, yesterday’s memories flashed through my head like a panorama.

“Ah… Ugh…”

Although not clearly, like an Emmental cheese riddled with holes, there wasn’t a single part I properly remembered.

I seemed to know that I had done something very embarrassing, that I had said something very rude.

“Team Leader… Why… are you here…”

“Is it a problem that I’m in my own house?”

My house, she says. That means…

“This is… Team Leader’s… house…?”

“Yes, unit 1304 of Dong-an Hillstate, it’s my house.”

Good heavens.

Why am I in this person’s house? A place I’ve never been to even when we were dating.

My memory is hazy. Did Team Leader bring me to her house? Why on earth? With what ulterior motive?

Did I cause some kind of accident? I must have? Otherwise, there’s no way I’d wake up in someone else’s house, let alone my boss’s house. What on earth did I do…?

“Do you remember anything about last night?”

“…No, not at all…”

But no matter how much I rummaged through my hazy memories, there wasn’t a single scene that clearly came to mind.

“Um… Did I perhaps make some kind of mistake…?”

“You didn’t do anything particularly rude, so you can rest assured. You don’t have to worry about receiving any disadvantages in terms of performance reviews or work-related matters either.”

I know that Team Leader isn’t the type to bring personal feelings into work. Those words are probably sincere, too.

But that’s not the problem. The problem is… that I, Cha Hye-won, not as Team Leader but as a person, got involved with someone I’ve already broken up with again, and caused some kind of incident.

“Drink up.”

After gently placing the cat that was sitting on my chest to the side, Team Leader handed me a mug, which I took with both hands.

The honey water I drank as soon as I woke up was warm and sweet.

“…”

After being somewhat freed from the hangover, my melancholic and sluggish brain began to function normally.

In other words, I was now fully feeling the awkwardness and pressure of waking up in the house of my ex-girlfriend and boss.

“…Ugh…”

The air feels so heavy that I think the cat that was crushing me earlier was lighter.

It’s as if I’m feeling gravity several dozen times stronger all by myself. Is this what astronauts feel when they return from space?

“…”

But what makes me feel more burdened than anything else is Team Leader’s gaze, staring at me from across the way.

A chilling, razor-sharp gaze that doesn’t betray any emotion. That gaze was targeting my neck, as if ready to cut it off at any moment.

“Come to think of it, do you usually eat breakfast?”

“Uh… Yes.”

I don’t know why she’s suddenly asking about breakfast, but I usually try to eat breakfast without fail.

If I don’t have even a simple breakfast, I often have a hard time concentrating on work because I’m hungry all morning.

Students who often skip breakfast in their school days would inevitably find themselves eagerly waiting for lunchtime at some point.

The same goes for the company. If you skip breakfast, your brain will demand food, and you can’t concentrate on work with an empty stomach.

“I should be treating you to at least a simple meal, but… I’m not a very good cook.”

“I, I appreciate the thought.”

No, heavens no. Not at all.

If I were treated to a home-cooked breakfast in this situation, I would have blown my brains out from embarrassment and burden.

“…Wait, what time is it now? I have to go to work…”

“Today is Saturday. There’s no overtime left either.”

“Ah.”

I hastily tried to turn on my phone to check the time, driven by the instincts of an office worker, but I barely regained my composure at her words.

Is it fortunate that it’s a day off? It must be? If today were a weekday, I would have had to go to work in this state, without even being able to wash properly.

“…Um… Ahem…”

Then… should I go back soon? Rather than just dawdling around in someone else’s house, wouldn’t it be better for me and for her to go back quickly?

We’re not in a relationship where we can laugh and joke around, and we’re just full of reasons to be awkward, so it would be better for Team Leader if I disappeared from her sight quickly. Yes, it definitely would be.

Grumble

That’s when it happened.

A very anticlimactic sound that didn’t suit this tense situation was heard.

“…?”

That sound definitely didn’t come from me, from my stomach.

Meow

And it definitely didn’t come from the cute and chubby thing next to me that was constantly washing its face.

Which means, the only one left is…

“…”

There’s no one but her.

“…Team Leader, if you don’t mind…”

That’s when it occurred to me. A way to repay Team Leader for the trouble I caused, even if only a little.

Of course, I can’t guarantee whether this will be enough to repay her. But well, it’s better than doing nothing, isn’t it?

“Would you… like to have breakfast together? I can cook a little, a little bit…”

A man who cooks. In other words, a veteran self-sufficient person.

I’m quite interested in cooking, and cooking is my hobby in the first place.

“Yes, let’s.”

Fortunately, she readily accepted my reckless proposal.

Then all that’s left is… to show my skills.

…..

Ah, come to think of it, I forgot to ask.

“Did anything… happen between us? Last night.”

No matter how much I don’t want to face the reality, I have to hear the whole story anyway.

“…No.”

But Team Leader shook her head and replied.

“Nothing happened.”

When she slightly lifts her beige cardigan, her slender arms and shoulders are revealed as they are.

Suddenly, I had the thought of leaving a mark on that fair skin. Like defiling a blank canvas.

“…”

No, if I’m going to leave a mark, it should be in a more intimate and deeper place.

For example, on the nape of her neck, in a place that she wouldn’t easily notice…

Maybe I was crazy at that moment. No, I’m definitely crazy.

“Haa… Haa…”

My breathing became rough, and all I could see in my narrowed vision was his disheveled body.

Before I knew it, my hands were unbuttoning his shirt one by one. Carefully, with trembling hands, like a child receiving a Christmas present unwrapping the packaging.

“…”

Was it because he was a man? She wasn’t wearing underwear.

How did she manage to not get caught all this time? Was it because she was wearing a cardigan that it wasn’t visible?

Unlike her innocent and pure, childlike impression, her chest had its own curves.

Skin glistening with sweat, sweat dripping between them.

“Older sister…”

This, this, it can’t be helped.

It’s more stimulating and captivating than the magazines I saw when I was young, or even the adult movies I saw when I was older.

A photo printed on paper, a video broadcast on a huge screen.

It couldn’t be compared to seeing it with my own eyes. There was no comparison.

“Why…”

My body had already escaped my control. My overly honest instincts were trying to devour him like a beast.

A storm of ecstasy, a frenzy danced in a crucible of excitement and came to grip my body.

“Why… did you leave me…?”

“…”

The next moment, as if nothing had happened, it disappeared without a trace.

“I… really tried… I really tried…”

My hands stopped. As if frozen in place.

My vision also returned to normal. As if I had woken up from a dream.

“But why… so coldly…”

Yes, that’s right.

This shouldn’t have happened, I’m not someone who deserves this.

I was swept away by desire and forgot. My place and my limits.

How I treated him, what wounds I left.

“…I’m sorry…”

But what torments me more than anything else is his attitude.

“Because… I’m not good enough…”

Even after coming this far, he doesn’t blame me and puts all the responsibility on himself, his absurdly kind and fragile personality.

“…Ugh.”

That personality, that attitude, made me ashamed.

It rebuked me for succumbing to instinct for a moment, and made me face the disgrace I had committed.

“…Don’t apologize.”

I can’t love you anymore.

Because I’ve become someone who doesn’t even deserve to love you anymore.