At Doh Yihyun’s low voice, Seo Jeongun’s smile deepened.
“Didn’t you hear me? Let’s have lunch. Together.”
Even though he had clearly stated yesterday that they were nothing to each other, Seo Jeongun acted as if nothing had happened and pretended to be close. It seemed an executive had nothing better to do.
“Why would I have lunch with you, Executive Director?”
Without leaving even the slightest opening, Doh Yihyun cut down the proposal in one stroke.
In the first place, his morning sickness was so severe that he was in no condition to eat. Since morning, he had not put anything in his mouth except water. Once the nausea settled a little, he had planned to step out briefly and grab a simple salad.
“Because I want to eat with you. Let’s go.”
Despite the sharp refusal, Seo Jeongun persistently urged him.
“I’m sorry. I’m busy.”
Ignoring him, Doh Yihyun resumed his work.
It was not exactly a lie. If he wanted to reduce overtime, he could not afford to waste time during working hours.
“You have so much work that you can’t even manage lunch? That’s strange. Our company doesn’t overwork people like that. Or have you been given some unfair instructions?”
Seo Jeongun tilted his head and tapped his chin lightly with his index finger.
There was no one in Taewoon Trading who did not know that Doh Yihyun was a workaholic. Seo Jeongun knew that as well.
‘The unfair instruction is coming from you right now.’
However, even Doh Yihyun could not openly rebuke his superior.
“Ha.”
With an annoyed sigh, Doh Yihyun glanced around the office.
It had already been ten minutes since lunch break started, and the office was empty.
Fortunately, his team members were not there. Just yesterday, after he had gone to the executive office, they had bombarded him with questions about what happened. When he did not answer, they quickly lost interest.
If they saw this scene now, he would be pestered with talk about Seo Jeongun for at least a month.
“Shall I look into it myself? Or are you going to stand up now?”
Doh Yihyun raised one eyebrow. Seo Jeongun had a peculiar way of threatening people.
Judging by his attitude, even if ignored, he would stubbornly stick around. Reluctantly, Doh Yihyun rose from his seat.
“Let’s go.”
Smiling brightly, Seo Jeongun shamelessly held out his hand.
Doh Yihyun glanced indifferently at the hand hovering in midair.
As if telling him to hurry and take it, Seo Jeongun flexed his long, straight fingers.
“I’ll handle lunch on my own.”
Leaving him just like that, Doh Yihyun walked straight out of the office. As long as he took care of lunch, Seo Jeongun would have no grounds to nitpick.
“Ha ha.”
A low laugh followed from behind.
Fortunately, Seo Jeongun did not follow him out.
Despite Seo Jeongun’s strange behavior, Doh Yihyun showed little reaction. He had seen enough odd people in his life to be unfazed.
He did not know what had caught Seo Jeongun’s interest, but if he ignored him for a few more days, he would surely lose interest and back off. Just like others had before.
Contrary to Doh Yihyun’s expectations, Seo Jeongun was rather persistent. Nearly ten days had passed, and he showed up unfailingly at every lunch break.
If he had been blatantly pushy, whether he was the chairman’s grandson or granddaughter, Doh Yihyun would have reported him for workplace harassment immediately. But Seo Jeongun would simply smile faintly, invite him to eat, and withdraw cleanly when refused. The problem was that he returned again the next day.
He always came about ten minutes after lunch break began. For the first two days, things were quiet. But on the third day, an employee from another department happened to pass by and saw Seo Jeongun and Doh Yihyun alone in the office.
Seo Jeongun leaning in and whispering quietly, and Doh Yihyun sighing with a dark expression.
The peculiar sight quickly turned into a rumor that “Executive Director Seo secretly scolded Team Lead Doh.”
As soon as the Accounting Team 2 members heard the rumor, they rushed over to Doh Yihyun. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
He had expected them to be excited and ask all sorts of questions about Seo Jeongun, but instead they were worried about him. Since there was no way Doh Yihyun could have made a professional mistake, they suspected a personal issue might be involved.
Leaving Doh Yihyun in the middle, the team members held a heated debate. In the end, the majority voted for the theory that “they crossed paths in the hallway and Doh Yihyun failed to greet him, so he got on his bad side.” One team member grumbled that Seo Jeongun might be narrow minded despite appearances.
‘Did I really do something wrong and get on his bad side?’
Doh Yihyun rubbed the back of his neck indifferently. Whether Seo Jeongun disliked him or not did not matter, as long as it did not interfere with work.
After checking the time, Doh Yihyun packed his bag. Eight in the evening. Although it was past official working hours, it was earlier than usual.
While waiting for the elevator, he frowned faintly at the descending numbers.
As the days passed, Doh Yihyun became increasingly sensitive to other people’s pheromones. The problem was that he still had a rejection reaction to pheromones themselves, regardless of whether they belonged to Alphas or Omegas. At its worst, it even triggered dry heaving.
The narrow elevator interior was unpleasant, thick with the remnants of other people’s pheromones. If he had it his way, he would take the stairs, but the Doctor had repeatedly warned him not to overexert himself.
Hiss, hiss.
Doh Yihyun sprayed himself with an unscented pheromone neutralizer. It was another habit he had developed since becoming pregnant.
Spraying it on himself had little effect, but he had no choice. Spraying neutralizer on someone else’s pheromones was essentially saying, “Your pheromones are so disgusting I can’t stand them.”
He tucked the neutralizer deep into his bag. He had no intention of hiding that he was an Omega, but there was no need to flaunt it either.
Ding.
With a clear chime, the elevator doors opened.
Doh Yihyun took a deep breath. His neatly fitted vest and jacket pulled taut. He intended to hold his breath until he reached the first floor.
“Heading home now, Yihyun? What a coincidence.”
There was an unwelcome guest inside.
Tilting his head, Seo Jeongun smiled softly with his eyes. His naturally tousled hair slid smoothly across his forehead.
Doh Yihyun frowned involuntarily. It was their second encounter of the day.
“Get in.”
Seo Jeongun deliberately held down the open button and waited for him.