Mr. Kim brought a book with him to the rooftop as he had been doing for the past week.

However, this Monday afternoon Mr. Kim had a different goal, other than reading.

He wanted to talk again to Mr. Lim, beyond simple greetings, and ask when they should get coffee together.

Mr. Kim sat on the bench, his book was open in his hands but he wasn't reading. Rather, he was listening for the sound of the door opening.

After a few minutes had passed, the click of a door opening and the scent of baked bread wafted through the air.

Mr. Kim shut his book and sat beside him.

"Hello Mr. Lim," he said.

"Good afternoon Mr. Kim. Are you reading again today?" Mr. Lim spoke.

"Yes, I am. It's become a habit now."

"It's the same for me." 

Mr. Lim as always was scrolling through his phone, seemingly reading articles. The conversation between the two never seemed to move past a simple hello, or a polite how are you.

Mr. Kim didn't want to  let the silence linger long, however, it was Mr. Lim who spoke again first.

"Mr. Kim, I heard you have a new intern you're training," he said.

"Yes. Mr. Kang." 

"I heard he's quite entertaining," 

Saying that Mr. Kang was entertaining was another way to say that he was a handful. Throughout the department, it was quite well known about how the new intern didn’t know much of the basics. 

And how he would enter a complete set of data, only to delete it once he was finally done.

"He certainly keeps me busy with teaching him."

"I'm sure it's hard. I hope that you're able to take breaks when needed. Honestly, I wanted to scold the team leader. For assigning you an intern who's an alpha."

"Mr. Lim,"

"I didn't think that you needed me to though. Although as his boss, I was still a little disappointed in his consideration for his employees."

"Mr. Lim, thank you for worrying about me."

"It's no problem Mr. Kim."

"And thank you for not doing anything."

"There's no need to thank me, Mr. Kim."

There was another short pause between the two. Although they both weren’t talking, the two didn’t pick up their book nor phone, they simply sat and lingered in the presence of the other. Mr. Kim, who was still somewhat affected by others' pheromones, was able to breathe deeply when with Mr. Lim. Like he had talked about with Dr. Choi, he most definitely liked the scent of his pheromones. They were somehow soothing to him, a warm scent that isn't too overwhelming and helped wash away the stress from recent events.

A chime from Mr. Lim’s phone was heard. 

"I guess it's time to head back to work," he said.

"It seems so.”

"I'm looking forward to tomorrow."

Mr. Kim hadn’t forgotten about wanting to ask if Mr. Lim was free this weekend. Maybe it was because he was nervous, but his replies became shorter.

"Me too."

"Then, have a good day Mr. kim."

"Yes. You too, Mr. Lim."

Mr. Lim smiled and started to head towards the door.

"M-Mr. Lim."

The man being called looked behind him,

"check your texts."

Because he couldn’t find the words to say it outaloud, Mr. Kim realized he could simply ask through text. Although it wasn’t ideal, it was a start.

After the door shut behind Mr. Lim, he pulled out his phone from his pocket and quickly tapped on the screen. This time, it didn’t take over thirty minutes to type something.

[This weekend, would you like to get coffee together?]

[I'd Love to]