Looking at the monitor, I blinked rapidly while my head pounded, body heavy from exhaustion. ‘Crap, that coffee did nothing… I’ve been staring at the same place for who knows how long.’ I cursed inwardly with a groan. Leaning back in my chair, I screwed my eyes shut, pinched the bridge of my nose, and heaved a sigh. ‘I shouldn’t have tried to finish those last two episodes.’ I stared up at the ceiling, frustrated. ‘What was I thinking, pushing myself that hard for an anime. I wouldn’t be feeling so awful if I just paid attention to the time instead of acting like I was still in highschool.’ A small part of my brain registered that the elevator had dinged with the arrival of more of my co-workers.

“Ah, Mr. Baek-Yang, you’re here early! How’s your morning been?” Han Min-Jun greeted, stepping into my office space. I removed my hand from my face and turned to look at the menace, "My morning is fine, Mr. Han Min-Jun." I answered and offered him a certain stiff business smile I reserved for him and annoyances like him.

My obvious lie was caught immediately, Han Min-Jun looking my face over and being taken aback by how ragged it was. "Are you alright, Mr. Baek-Yang? What about the urgent matter you mentioned yesterday, how was it?" He asked me while worriedly eyeing me, "Is that why you are looking like this?"

"I said I was fine.” I rolled my eyes, turning away from him to try and start working again, or at least pretend to. “And about the thing from yesterday… I managed to take care of it, so you don't need to worry about it anymore." I explained, hoping he would understand my tone for once. ‘Oh, I still need to do this…’ I gathered up a small stack of papers then spun around in my chair to face the person standing between me and a peaceful day.

"Can you step back please? I need to go get this copied and sent out..." I stood up from my seat before he could say anything else, my shoulder bumping against his as I walked past. While standing at the door before the printer section, I glanced behind me once and watched as Han Min-Jun headed back to his cubicle. ‘About time he minded his own business.’

‘The morning was awfully quiet today. Because of the lack of sleep my eyes keep closing, but I tried my best to focus on working on the documents in front of me. However, the weird feeling of something missing kept bothering me. Like my day is not complete. I noticed Han Min-Jun and I haven’t talked after exchanging greetings this morning. I should be happy that he stopped doing annoying things to me. So what is this feeling of emptiness? It's impossible he had a change of heart right? He’s kept pestering me everywhere since Monday morning.’ I huffed, pouting slightly. ‘Well whatever, I don't really care about how he behaves towards me. The sudden change was just a bit surprising, but I should be happy to have my peace again. ...Right?’

I looked at the digital clock on my computer screen and noticed that I could take the break that I'd been waiting for half a day. I got up from my swivel chair and walked out of the office and to the hallway where I came across some other employees strolling about. I continued to walk past the usual employee resting areas until I finally arrived at the door at the end of an empty corridor. Knowing the door was unlocked, I walked in. As soon as I moved past the threshold I heard a metallic clunk when my feet stepped on the old staircase. It had been neglected and left almost unused for years. Seemed like after the elevator had been built the stairs were now only a relic of the past.

As I ascended the rusty old staircase I could hear concerning creaks as the metal strained under the weight of my steps. Reaching the end, I could see an equally old door that had ‘Ro-f Ac-e-s ’ written on it with faded red letters. The paint was peeling off at the edges and the text was almost unreadable.

I pushed the door open and I was greeted by a gust of wind that tousled my hair. The sight of fluffy white clouds that covered a clear blue sky as the afternoon sun glared down at me was a breath of fresh air compared to the stuffy office. I looked around the familiar desolate area with a few benches and as always it was empty, no one else in sight. Not a lot of people knew that they could even access the place and if some did, I never saw anyone here at the times that I had come by. Fully stepping outside, I headed straight towards to my right where I knew a small weathered white metal cabinet with one of the benches right beside it were located.

‘I only keep lollipops up here to try and curb that old bad habit of mine. I quit smoking forever ago but if there was something nice in my mouth I feel less like I’m going to fall back into that addiction. Stress habits are the worst.’ I opened the first drawer where I thought I had hidden the box but it was not there. ‘Huh, I guess I remembered wrong...’ I opened the second drawer and saw what I was looking for.

When I finally found the box of lollipops that I had hidden previously, I happily got a random flavor out. As I was unwrapping it, I started thinking that something was a bit off. ‘Aren't there a bit too many left? I was pretty sure that the last time I checked, there were only 4. It's more than that now though...?’ I squinted at the amount of candy in the box, but popped the one I had unwrapped into my mouth anyway. ‘I don't remember restocking, but well, whatever.’ I could feel the sugary sweetness spreading in my mouth as I put the box back in its hiding spot. It's like I went to heaven when I tasted the sweet tanginess of the orange flavored lollipop. I sighed contently and sat down on the nearest bench next to the cabinet.

"I missed eating these..." I was feeling a bit better, despite being tired. Sugar really lifts my spirits quite like nothing else can. While I was admiring the view from the rooftop, someone suddenly snatched the lollipop out of my mouth. "Hey-! What the hell is your problem?!" I yelled, spinning around to face the person who’d intruded on my relaxation time. I hadn’t even heard anyone approaching.

"You should eat proper food first before eating sweets Mr. Baek-Yang, it's not good for your body." Han Min-Jun chided me.

‘It's more dangerous to suddenly yank lollipops from people's mouths. What's he even doing here, I thought he'd lost interest and would leave me alone now.'

Han Min-Jun aimed at the open trash can by the door to the rooftop, and I watched in horror as my barely touched lollipop flew in a perfect arc through the air in slow motion. It went straight in, even from this distance. I frowned. 'Hateful jerk.'

He suddenly dropped something on my lap. It was 2 lunch containers stacked up together. "...What is this for, Mr. Han Min-Jun?" I asked, flicking my suspicious glare between the containers and him. ‘Why is he giving me a free lunch? He can’t bribe me for friendship like I was a stray cat.’

"Eat." Han Min-Jun ordered, sitting down next to me with our shoulders brushing and without saying another word.

I blinked and stared at him in disbelief. "Why would I eat whatever you bring me when I'm not even feeling hungry?"

"Really, you're not feeling hungry, not even a little bit? I didn't get to eat anything for my breakfast so I'll just go ahead and eat this myself then." Han Min-Jun said and retrieved the lunch boxes from my lap.

‘What's the point of giving me your lunch if you yourself didn't eat any breakfast? This guy really makes no sense, weirdo.’

From the first container I could smell the jajangmyeon’s savory sauce that was covering the thick noodles. At a glance the contents of the first box were already amazing, so my curiosity got the better of me when Han Min-Jun was moving his hands to the next, smaller container. I eagerly watched as he carefully opened it. I saw a gleam of golden brown before I could smell the appetizing aroma of the fried chicken, accompanied with strips of bulgogi and a strong stinging smell of garlic right in the next compartment. The smell of the foods drifted to my nose and made my stomach growl from hunger. I heard Han Min-Jun laugh at the sound.

‘Damn it!’ I cursed inwardly as I flushed in embarrassment and anger, covering my stomach with my arms and looking away. I was not going to be caught staring. ‘So embarrassing...’

"Are you sure you're not hungry at all, Mr. Baek-Yang?" He asked me with a coaxing tone while smiling teasingly.

‘Damn this stomach, even my own body betrayed me!’ I thought back to the plain slice of toast I’d eaten many hours ago and cursed myself for not thinking ahead at all and spread peanut butter or jelly or something on it. Maybe if I ate something more substantial while I avoided this annoying guy on my way to work, all my efforts wouldn’t have felt so futile. Or at least they wouldn’t have come back to bite me in such a shameful way. "Ahm... Maybe just a little bit." I avoided Han Min-Jun's eyes. "The lunch boxes that you brought are yours, Mr. Han Min-Jun, I wouldn’t dare to eat your food when you didn't have any breakfast yourself." I told him a sensible excuse to turn him down.

"Mr. Baek-Yang… Don't worry, we can share the food I brought, I can't finish all of this on my own anyway." Han Min-Jun sounded touched and handed me an extra pair of disposable chopsticks.

I was a bit happy by his willingness to share his food with me. I can't just let this opportunity pass to eat my favorite food, for free! "Okay if that's what you're saying, I'll take you up on your offer." I snatched the chopsticks from his hand, snapping them apart and into two. "Thank you for the food!" I thanked Han Min-Jun and immediately dove in to pick up a piece of golden fried chicken from the lunch box.

And so we started to eat and I was not regretting my decision to give in this time to eat with him. It was all so delicious that it lifted my mood even more, I could even forgive my stomach's earlier betrayal. "Did you cook all of this Mr. Han Min-Jun?" I asked him, stuffing my mouth with another piece of fried chicken.

"Yeah, I am the person assigned to cook at home today, why?" Han Min-Jun answered me easily, taking a bite of Bulgogi to his mouth.

‘Oh. Hm, so he knows how to cook? How nice, I suck at that kind of thing... He sure is talented. If this guy is ever going to marry, that woman will be super lucky to have him as a husband. Who wouldn't like to have a spouse that can cook?’ I hummed noncommittally. "No reason really, I was just a bit curious. That's all."

We finished the rest of the meal in silence. After clearing the 2 lunch boxes away we stayed to rest for a while, leaning backwards and looking at the sky and the clouds slowly drifting by.

***

(Han Min-Jun’s POV)

After a moment of prolonged silence, I noticed that Baek-Yang had fallen asleep. His sleeping face was so cute that it made me smile. He must've been really tired.

"Hmm-mmh..." Baek-Yang made a sound, still asleep.

‘...Cute.’

The blonde shifted, his head fell onto my shoulder. Baek-Yang snuggled closer as he made it his pillow. I let him, even tried to make it more comfortable for him.

I silently studied his face. "Sleep well Baek-Yang." I whispered into his ear softly and secretly planted a kiss on his forehead. He frowned slightly in his sleep.

'He looks like an Angry Cockatoo.' I chuckled by myself at the comparison.

I carefully took my phone out so as to not jostle the sleeping man and took a picture of him while he slept against my shoulder. ‘He'll never find out about it, right?’

As I looked at the picture I had taken, the sleeping face on my phone screen made me smile again at how adorable it was, just begging for me to make it my home screen background.