Reasonable Loss - 33

“I heard the director came to work today?”

“That’s a relief. You must have been worried too, Team Leader.”

Even after arriving at work, the problems didn’t stop. Eunsu held his breath with an inhale and greeted his team members awkwardly.

Most of Eunsu’s team members were women. So they always smelled nice. Perfume or cosmetics, but just clean. In other words, mostly subtle good smells that didn’t irritate the nose or stand out sharply.

But today… the company itself was the problem. From the smell of the plush floor tiles, to printer paper smell, not to mention computer smells. You know, that machine smell when you enter a PC bang.

Realizing his body condition was definitely not normal, Eunsu, before sitting down, subtly pulled the air purifier over and placed it in front of him. It was selfish, but better than vomiting messily in the office, he thought.

In the end, Eunsu went to the bathroom four times in the morning. Not to use it, but to retch. Even that, in case someone was outside, he went to the farthest stall in the least-used bathroom and just spit saliva endlessly.

And around then, he realized he had started ‘morning sickness.’

Rinsing his mouth and brushing his teeth at the sink, Eunsu looked in the mirror. His hollow face looked utterly wretched. Eunsu placed his hand gently on his lower belly and murmured in a voice no one could hear.

“Bomi…. Morning sickness isn’t something you can help, I know, but still, end it as soon as possible, okay?”

Your dad loves eating so much. He says that’s the joy of life.

His weak voice echoed softly through the spacious bathroom.

He somehow endured the morning. Eunsu stared blankly at the dim illustration window. Then his team members approached, saying let’s go eat lunch. While Eunsu was brushing them off, saying he had an appointment,

A familiar smell reached him. His nose, which had been stinging as if from crying or chewing garlic, felt at ease. Eunsu turned his head toward the smell with a bright face. There stood Dokwon in a sharp suit.

“Eunsu. Lunch?”

Dokwon asked with a grin. Eunsu stared at him blankly.

It had been a while since he saw Dokwon looking so put-together. The kind from when they were in that flirty phase, they called it. Proper suit with a tie, hair neatly combed back, company grounds as the backdrop—that Dokwon. He had seen that look a lot at work.

Pathetically, the tip of his nose stung.

Eunsu smiled late and stood from his seat.

“Ah… yeah. Let’s go.”

Dokwon and Eunsu walked, their arms occasionally brushing. The team members gazed at the two as they walked away.

“They look good together.”

“Visual chemistry has to match for it to feel easy on the eyes. Right?”

“I’m a non-marriage advocate, but if the country promoted marriage with a couple like that, I might consider it.”

Then one team member tilted her head and spoke up.

“But did the director always call Team Leader Yoo ‘Eunsu’?”

“No. He used to say ‘Eunsu-ya, Eunsu-ya’ in that super sweet, honey-dripping voice.”

“Maybe he decided to change the title because it’s the office?”

“Who knows. After two years of that, now?”

“What does it matter. As long as he still looks good.”

“Right, right. That’s the best part.”

The team members’ chatter didn’t stop until the two had fully exited the 14th floor.

Eunsu and Dokwon stood in front of the elevator going down. Standing about half a step apart, they looked like typical office colleagues.

“Seeing you at the office feels new.”

Dokwon said, looking at Eunsu’s reflection in the elevator door.

“Yeah.”

Eunsu replied with a faint smile. The short talk ended, and a brief silence fell. Then Eunsu spoke first.

“How was today?”

“Well… my body just knew what to do, surprisingly. It was my first time as director, but it didn’t feel like a first.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. It was like loving you was just the natural next step.”

Dokwon turned his shoulder to look down at Eunsu. Eunsu stiffened for a moment. He had trouble understanding what Dokwon had just said. No, how could he say something so romantic in such a flat way?

As Eunsu shook his head, Dokwon suddenly grabbed his wrist. The handsome furrow between Dokwon’s brows was deeply creased.

“Your face looks bad.”

“Ah….”

Eunsu quickly covered his face with the hand not held by Dokwon. But it was already too late. Dokwon pulled Eunsu close in front of him. Then he probed in a grim voice.

“Is something wrong? Is someone at work bothering you?”

At that, Eunsu widened his eyes. Then he let out a laugh mixed with a lot of wind.

“Pfft… Who would dare bother me.”

“Dare?”

At the oddly alien word, strength entered Dokwon’s eyes. Eunsu shrugged his shoulders.

“The director pops in and out all the time, and even the chairman comes by occasionally, and I make it obvious how thrilled I am—who would dare bother me?”

“Hmm… That makes sense.”

Dokwon nodded as if understanding. Then he gently stroked the back of Eunsu’s hand with his thumb.

“So, why does your face look like that? Did you cry?”

Reddened eye rims, hollow under-eyes, skin that looked somehow dry, and lightly bloodshot pupils. It was a big difference from how Eunsu had looked just yesterday.

As Eunsu was about to say it seemed like morning sickness, that he had no appetite for lunch at all, but he’d eat for Bomi’s sake—a cheerful alarm sounded, and the elevator door opened.

“Uh….”

“Uh?”

“…Uh?”

Eunsu and Dokwon both let out short exclamations at the same time. And someone inside the elevator did the same. Three pairs of surprised eyes tangled in a mess.

Dokwon spoke first. The corners of his mouth split wide into a smile.

“Seongheon hyung.”

The person in the elevator was Seongheon. Eunsu’s mentor, Dokwon’s cousin, and the executive director of the company.

At Dokwon’s casual ‘hyung,’ one of Seongheon’s eyebrows crookedly rose.

“…Hyung?”

He repeated Dokwon’s word with a face as if doubting his ears. Sensing the strange atmosphere, Eunsu tilted his head, but Dokwon, still holding Eunsu’s hand, stepped into the elevator. Then he started a full conversation with Seongheon.

“Long time no see, hyung. I heard you came back from the US.”

“Uh… me too. I heard you had the accident and came to work today.”

“Then you should have stopped by the director’s office. No, I should have gone. I was swamped all morning.”

Dokwon kept smiling gently as he spoke to Seongheon.

“That happens. I’ll go later.”

Seongheon replied steadily to Dokwon’s words but looked at him with strange eyes. Eunsu also found Dokwon odd.

And well he might, because in over two years, Eunsu had never seen Dokwon treat anyone so intimately. Was it because Seongheon had been away from the company for so long? Even so, if they were this close, they must have talked sometimes—why hadn’t he known?

As Eunsu pressed his fingernail into his fingertip in thought, Seongheon grinned and greeted Eunsu too.

“Long time no see, Eunsu. Was it about a month since I saw you late at night at the office?”

“Ah… yes, Executive Director. Around then.”

Eunsu raised the corner of his mouth and bowed his head. Well, whatever their relationship, Seongheon was a good person to Eunsu. It was nice to see him after so long.

As the two made familiar eye contact, Dokwon ran his tongue along the inside of his cheek.

“…You two know each other?”

“Of course. I interviewed Eunsu when he joined through public recruitment.”

“…Really? What a coincidence.”

But why didn’t I know? Dokwon stroked his brow bone with his index finger. Eunsu said, “No need to talk about that stuff,” as he squeezed and released Dokwon’s hand.

Dokwon hated being around other people excessively. He hated it so much that Eunsu worried if he might have a fit, foam at the mouth and faint, or pass out from stress. Especially with alphas—he absolutely never allowed it, no matter what.

It was fortunate there were no alphas on Eunsu’s team. If there had been one or two, Dokwon might have quietly transferred them to another team, or even moved Eunsu instead.

It was also fortunate Eunsu had no close friends. When he went to Europe for college, he naturally lost touch with school friends—if not, there would have been plenty of awkward situations.