Chapter 050
As soon as Joy left the office, a silence descended upon the room.
It must be a clear rejection, right?
I was somewhat shocked, not expecting Joy to react so sharply.
“Yeah. If he doesn’t want to do it, there’s nothing I can do.”
Not everyone thinks the same way.
I sat back down and reached for the documents, but my eyes caught the remnants of broken cookies.
As I swept them away with my hand, the fragments helplessly fell to the floor, breaking into even smaller pieces.
I stared at that scene for a moment before shifting my gaze back to the documents.
***
That evening.
“Why do you look so gloomy?”
As I mechanically moved my hands while eating, a low voice came from in front of me.
Startled by the voice, I looked up to find Evan staring at me intently, having set down his utensils.
“If you eat like that, even the birds will go hungry.”
“Ah….”
Evan’s discontented expression was directed at the plate in front of me.
Looking down, I saw the food still in its original state, untouched.
I had been so preoccupied with the events of the morning that I barely touched my food, and it seemed Evan had picked up on it.
“I just don’t have much of an appetite today. Don’t mind me, just enjoy your meal.”
Upon hearing my words, Evan raised an eyebrow slightly, studying my face before returning to his meal.
I tried to eat again, but my appetite had already vanished.
Instead, watching him quickly devour a portion that seemed to be three or four times my own made me feel as if just observing him was enough to fill me up.
“If you have something to say, just say it clearly.”
At that moment, Evan, who had been engrossed in his meal, spoke up.
“If you counted all the words you almost said but swallowed instead, you would already have a stomachache.”
“Did it show?”
“Yes. So, what is it?”
His words made me laugh awkwardly.
There was something I had wanted to ask him since we started eating, but I had swallowed my words several times.
I really didn’t expect Evan to notice and ask about it.
With his cutlery completely set down, Evan was waiting for me to speak, narrowing his eyes as if urging me to hurry up.
If I didn’t open my mouth soon, he looked ready to come over and pry it open himself.
Under his not-so-subtle pressure, I had no choice but to cautiously speak up.
“What if, when you’re feeling so miserable that you want to die, someone appears who looks at you with pity and offers to help? How do you think you would feel?”
I could see Evan frowning at my words.
He crossed his arms and leaned back slightly, staring intently at my face.
“Is that question related to why you’ve been looking so gloomy today?”
“Well, you could say that.”
Was my face really that messed up?
Unconsciously touching my face at his words, I nodded.
“When you’re in a state where you feel like you could die, it doesn’t matter what someone does in front of you.”
After pausing for a moment, it seemed Evan was contemplating something before he spoke again.
“When you want to die, what does your mood even matter? You have to live first to think about how you felt at that time.”
Now that I had gotten somewhat used to his blunt way of speaking, I nodded along, reflecting on his words.
“Right. You have to live first to even think about it.”
“So don’t be afraid and just give it a try.”
At his continued words, I lifted my head sharply to meet his gaze.
“What do you think I can do?”
“Anything.”
It was just a short reply, but the moment I heard it, I felt the heaviness that had been weighing on me since earlier melt away like snow.
The impact of his words was incredible.
Gaining complete confidence from his encouragement, I began to explain my plans to him one by one.
As I chattered on, he kept nodding along, seemingly not bored at all.
And just as I was finishing my story.
Pfft.
With a faint sound of air escaping, the corners of his mouth curled upward into a smile.
I stared blankly as his fierce gaze softened and his lips turned up.
It seemed like the biggest smile I had ever seen on him.
“You’ve eaten less than a bird, and yet you’re already digesting it from all that talking.”
After finishing his sentence, Evan called over the attendant and asked for more easily digestible food.
Soon, a warm, steaming bowl of soup was placed in front of me.
“You need to eat well to have the energy to work, so don’t think you can get up until that plate is empty.”
Because Evan kept insisting I eat, as if it were a matter of life and death, I finally picked up my utensils again.
It hadn’t been more than a few minutes since I said I had no appetite, but the soup was so delicious that I unknowingly finished an entire bowl right there.
***
The next day.
As I was getting ready to seriously plan things out, energized by Evan’s words from yesterday, I was suddenly interrupted by a knock on the office door.
Knock, knock.
“Come in.”
I was scanning through documents with my eyes fixed on the desk when I stopped my busy hands, as I hadn’t heard a voice despite waiting.
When I finally lifted my head, I saw Joy standing there.
Unlike the usual times when he would come in and plop down on the sofa, he was now sticking to the door, looking a bit shy.
Tick-tock.
It was my side that broke the awkward silence, which felt so loud that I could hear the ticking of the clock.
“Why don’t you sit down if you’ve come?”
“Uh, right.”
As I invited Joy to take a seat, he quickly plopped down on the sofa as if he had been waiting for the opportunity.
I moved to sit in front of him and hesitated, choosing my words carefully before finally speaking.
“What brings you here today? Is there some problem in the border area?”
I asked him without bringing up anything related to yesterday’s events as much as possible.
There was no reason for me to show a different attitude just because he had rejected my proposal yesterday.
After all, the reason Joy was staying here was for the maintenance I had commissioned in the border area.
“No, that’s not it.”
“Then what is it?”
Watching him fidget and shift nervously, I couldn’t help but tilt my head in confusion.
He seemed to have a lot to say, yet all that came out of his mouth were sounds like “Ha, so…” or “That’s not it…”
“Oh, so!”
As Joy suddenly blurted out loudly after mumbling to himself, I flinched in surprise.
“Wow, you scared me! Why did you shout all of a sudden?”
“Ahem, no. I just… couldn’t help it.”
Feeling a bit awkward himself, he scratched his fluffy-looking hair a few times.
It was unlike him to be so fidgety.
Finally, he clenched his fist as if he had made a decision and opened his mouth.
“I’ll do it.”
“Excuse me?”
“The plan the customer mentioned yesterday. I’ll help!”
As I sat there silently after hearing his words, Joy began to move around even more restlessly than before, then spoke again.
“Yesterday, I… I mean, I was a bit…”
“…”
“I must have seemed crazy, but that’s how it is, so just understand, okay?”
I looked at Joy in surprise as his voice rose, noticing that his entire neck had turned red.
‘Could it be that he came to apologize right now?’
If he really had come to apologize for what happened yesterday, it was clear that Joy had never apologized even once before.
Still, I couldn’t hold back my laughter at this messy apology.
“Okay. I’ll accept that.”
Unable to contain my laughter any longer, I chuckled, and only then did I see Joy relax and sit comfortably.
midori
thanks! awww the bonding between evan and dahlia, and joy being apologetic is so niceee