After working all morning at the office, I finally have my long awaited break that I had been waiting for. I stretched my aching muscles when I leaned backwards in my chair, before standing up and remembering that Han Min-Jun gave me a bag of cookies that he bought from Leal Café before. I quickly grabbed my bag and looked for it ...Found it! Now I will take this opportunity to leave first and avoid Han Min-Jun, so he won’t catch me again and continue bothering me. When I was done tidying and arranging the papers on my desk, I stood up and left the office.
When I was going to turn a corner in the hallway, I had to avoid running into some employees that were carrying stacks of paper and take-out coffee mugs, so I jumped out of the way. Only then did I notice that the main cause of my misfortune was walking towards me. I quickly did an U-turn in the opposite direction to avoid him, but in my hurry I forgot I was so close to a wall that I managed to bump my head into it so hard that it made me see stars.
"Mr. Baek-Yang?? Are you alright?!” Han Min-Jun quickly came closer to hold me when he saw my collision with the wall.
"I'm alri-ri-right.." I stuttered because my world was still spinning in circles around me.
'Damn, it really hurts!' My head felt like it had been smashed with a baseball bat. This is too embarrassing for a 23-year-old man like me to bump into a wall just because I was trying to avoid someone.
"No, you're clearly not alright!" Han Min-Jun exclaimed and effortlessly lifted me in a bridal carry. I tried to get away from his hold by moving my body and thrashing violently, but his grip was so tight that it made it impossible to escape him.
"H-hey put me down!!" I protested to Han Min-Jun.
Han Min-Jun only smiled at me, ignoring my pleas and continued to carry me straight to the company's clinic. It’s like I weighed nothing. Damn this bastard!
"He has a lump on his forehead, but there's nothing else wrong or to worry about," Doctor Han Ho-Seok said after checking me for injuries. "Don't forget to put an ice pack on your forehead again later or when you get home." The doctor said as he gave me an ice pack after checking my injuries. I placed it against my forehead.
"See, I’m not that hurt!" I said to Han Min-Jun, the one who brought me to the clinic.
I couldn’t look directly at Han Min-Jun’s face, because I was still embarrassed about how he had carried me when he brought me to the clinic.
"Yes, Doctor Han Ho-Seok.'' Han Min-Jun acknowledged the doctor's directions. "I just wanted to be sure you're alright Mr. Baek-Yang.” He looked at me worriedly.
"Okay, okay just stop looking at me like that!"
He was grinning at me. "What ever do you mean by 'like that', hmm?" Han Min-Jun teased me about my predicament.
"Hey, don't just go to a world of your own and forget I am here too. Also, you are still in my office. This is a clinic, not a dating site for you love birds." Doctor Han Ho-Seok scolded us with a frown.
I flinched when I heard Doctor Han Ho-Seok, and my face immediately flushed red in embarrassment." Wha-what do you mean by love birds? Doctor, we are not like that, right Mr. Han Min-Jun?" I hit Han Min-Jun with my elbow. "We are just colleagues in the office!"
" ..Yeah. It's like Mr. Baek-Yang said." Han Min-Jun complied with a sigh.
"See?!" I reasoned out to the doctor.
"Oh really? Sorry for the mistake then, my bad." Doctor Han Ho-Seok apologized lightly.
I just sighed in relief when it seemed like Doctor Ho-Seok believed me. "It's okay, everyone makes mistakes every now the-" I was cut off when Han Min-Jun suddenly pulled me up and the ice pack I had been nursing my forehead with ended up falling to the floor.
"Mr. Han Min-Jun? Hey what are you-!" The sudden way Han Min-Jun pulled me to his side left me flustered.
"Checkup is over, bye Doc." Han Min-Jun said his goodbye to Doctor Han Ho-Seok in a casual way that could be taken as rude, as we both left the clinic.
"Hey! What's your problem?! I'm not done talking to the doctor and you were being too rude!" I scolded him. He could've taken his own checkup too since we were here anyway.
I just don't want you to smile at anyone who's not me. He whispered in an annoyed voice, so quietly that I didn't hear it clearly.
"What? Did you say something?"I asked him, frowning.
"I said our break is almost over so we should go get something to eat in the cafeteria."
"I don't need anything because I was planning to eat the cookies you gave me." I waved around the bag I had had on me all this time in front of his face.
"Well, you need something cold for your forehead and I need to buy a drink, so let's go." Han Min-Jun reasoned with me.
Before I could say anything else, he pulled me along with him towards the cafeteria.
So much for trying to avoid this man.
After buying our cold drinks from the vending machine, we went to sit at one of the tables in the cafeteria. I pressed the cold juice can Han Min-Jun insisted on buying for me on my forehead while eating the crumbled cookies I had.
"Mr. Baek-Yang, is it not to your liking?" Han Min-Jun asked me, taking a sip of his iced coffee while I was quietly munching on a piece of cookie. He probably noticed that my behavior was off.
"O-oh, I like it very much, don't worry." I replied honestly, looking at the cookies he bought for me, and how they were now crushed. It must’ve happened earlier when I ran into the wall and hit my head.
"Really? Then why the long face?" he asked me again.
‘Well, first of all mister, it's your fault. If you didn't bother me this morning until now, my day would've been perfect and quiet and secondly, now even the cookies you bought were crushed. If I told you all of this, would you understand? No. Right? So stop asking me already and leave me to eat in peace.’
"What long face Mr. Han Min-Jun? See, I'm smiling." I tried to force my smile.
He still didn't look quite convinced, but smirked at me anyway. "Okay Mr. Baek-Yang."
While I was eating the last remaining cookie that I had inside the bag, out of the blue I felt a hand brushing by the side of my mouth. In surprise I flinched away from the sudden touch.
"What are you doing Mr. Han Min-Jun?!" I asked, eyes wide,
He just smiled at me, "You had cookie crumbs on your face." Han Min-Jun explained to me softly.
I felt heat rushing to my face because of the embarrassment and vigorously rubbed around my mouth with the back of my hand to make sure there was nothing left for him to wipe for me.
"T-thank you but if you had just told me, I would've taken care of it myself!" I wasn't sure if I should be thankful or scold him for breaking my personal boundaries again.
"Okay Mr. Baek-Yang, next time I will do just that." he promised to me while smiling that infuriating smile of his.
When we left the cafeteria together, we threw out the cookie bag wrapping and Han Min-Jun’s drink can, as well as the ice pack that was used for my forehead before returning to the office.
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