The next morning waking up to get ready for work, I threw my hand to my forehead palming it with a hiss. Standing from my bed, I head over to the kitchen for some hangover relief medication. Instead I find a small take-out soup bowl with a plastic lid over top sitting on the counter. a handwritten note tucked under it, "drink this." it says, a smiley face drawn onto the lid. Pulling off the lid with a groan I gulp it down, hiccuping from drinking it too quickly. During my shower I mostly just stand in the warm water, letting it pour down over my body as I stare blankly at the wall hardly functioning. Taking in deep breaths, I dread the work day ahead thinking about the night before. Although I'm not able to remember exact details, I can recall leaning in for a kiss and getting shot down by LSG. With a groan of discomfort, I scrunch up my face antagonized by replays in my mind of the night before. The feeling of rejection bringing my eyes to welt up with tears. Hopefully today he will be too busy at the filming set to come to the Hook office building. Despite everything, thinking about the hangover soup he'd left for me on the countertop, brings a sweet smile to my swollen and aching head, overall giving me a fuzzy feeling deep inside.
Arriving at the office, I spot Amy half skipping in my direction. Grabbing onto my elbow, she pulls me into the first room she finds shutting the door behind her. With a huge, glowing smile on her face she lets out a squeal and giggle.
"Did you really try to kiss him?" she asks over excited, her question making me feel a bit uncomfortable. Rather than answer her with words, I lower my gaze to the floor with a slight nod of my head and sigh grimly.
"I can't believe I did that." I whine, placing my hand to my forehead using my fingers to rub at the temple.
"No worries, many women here have tried to kiss him too." she jokes.
"Any successes?" I joke along with a forced laugh, followed by a disapproving groan. Amy continues to giggle with a shake of her head and a wave of her hand. I laugh along with her, but secretly I'm debating on whether to hide somewhere or just quit the Hook company altogether.
"I doubt he minds." she shrugs. waving her folder at her face attempting to cool it down and dry the tear streaks that have fallen from laughing so hard. "I just wish I could have been there!" she exclaims, starting to laugh again.
"I'm glad no one was…" I groan. "Hey. yeah. No one was there..." the realization brings a flood of confusion crashing over me. "How did you know about it?" assuming he wouldn't tell anyone, and knowing I didn't. I can't help but to wonder how Amy found out.
"Rick." she nonchalantly answers with a shrug.
"Who is that?" I ask, still riding on the tail tips of confusion.
"He's SG's driver."
"Ah man…" I groan, suddenly feeling a knot forming in the pit of my stomach.
"Everyone knows about it now." Amy laughs once more, opening the door and motioning for me to walk through first.
"A kiss, huh?"
"You heard about it too?" burying my face into my arms on my desk I refuse to look up in the direction of the woman standing at my cubicle wall.
"It's so funny. I can only imagine how he felt at that moment." her laughter ringing out through my small corner.
"Him? What about me?" I screech, groaning loudly into my folded arms. "Everyone is talking about it and judging me on it, i'm sure."
"it's not that serious." she laughs, rubbing her hand across my shoulder. "No one is judging you, we think it's funny. And honestly you're not the first to try." with another pat to my back, she continues on, "we're going to talk about it and joke, because it's fun, but don't worry no one is thinking anything bad." she tries to sympathize. Sitting up with a nod and a sigh, I know exactly what she means. It's the hot story of the week, soon something new will happen and this nightmare will be a thing of the past.
"I'm just so embarrassed." I admit, chewing on my lower lip. "But it's good to know i'm not the first to try." I say in jest, laughing awkwardly.
"well yeah... but you're the first to try on the first day you meet him." she belts out, laughing so hard she slams her hand down onto the cubicle wall knocking the entire corner piece loose. Now both of us begin laughing uncontrollably.
"Do you remember the face he made?" she asks doing her best to fit the corner piece back over the felt fabric.
"Not really…" I admit with a frown as I think back to the night before.
"I bet it was in complete shock and disgust."
Taken aback by her comment I look at her with a look of hurt creeping up onto my face.
"Disgust?" I repeat feeling upset at the term she used.
"Well yeah, obviously he didn't want your kiss or he'd have kissed you, right?" she scoffed, still trying to shove the piece back on. My heart falls to sadness as I think of him feeling disgusted by me, slinking up out of my chair I walk with heavy steps toward the restroom. "I didn't mean it like that!" she calls after me, I can tell by her voice she's annoyed with me for getting so emotional over her playful banter. Staring at my reflection in the mirror, I take in every part of my face dividing it up to self assess my attraction level. With a heavy sigh, I decide she is absolutely correct that he'd be appalled by me. Washing my face with cold water, I nod up at my reflection again raising my fist to the sky. 'cheer up!' I mentally shout, forcing a smile trying to encourage myself.
"At least tomorrow is Saturday." I remind myself, this time smiling in a much merrier way.
Returning to my desk, I find the corner piece lying on top of it with a barely legible note simply saying, "broken." on it.
"That's great." I groan pushing it to the side. Opening my Instagram, I come across a cute photo of LSG holding up a box of band-aids. The words, "Did you get hurt?" in bold print across the top followed by, "you're so clumsy." along the bottom. the boyfriend type ads seemingly most popular right now. Imagining hiking on a mountain trail with him, I can't help but to fall into a lustful daydream after seeing this photo of him.
"Did you get hurt?" he chuckles, pulling my leg forward then opening a band-aid wrapper. "You're so clumsy~" he coos, pressing the band-aid down with his palm over my small scratch on my shin. looking up into my eyes, he thumbs the band-aid lovingly. "Feel better?" he asks with a sweet smile, I swear I can see a sparkle in the curl of his lip.
"Yes." I warmly respond, my cheeks blushing a soft glow of pink. Grabbing my wrist, he gently pulls me closer. Still squatting before me, he brings me down to his eye level. Planting a quick kiss onto my mouth, his tender lips distracting me from the slight sting on my shin. Sweeping the wisps of hair aside from my sweaty forehead, he stands up taking my backpack onto his back and stretching out his hand for me to grab ahold of. "Can you stand?" he asks, looking down at the bruised shin poking his bottom lip out in sympathy.
"Yes, i'm really okay." I remark with a giggle, grabbing onto his hand, rising to a standing position beside him. Throwing his arm around my back, he holds me up in place, snuggly around my waist.
"Lean on me." he suggests, bouncing me slightly up in his arm to get a better hold on me. Pulling my arm up to rest around his shoulder, he kisses my ear smiling at me lovingly. His fingers gripping down onto my waist so I can feel secure that he won't let me fall or get hurt worse. My heart rate begins to grow in speed as the warmth of his body tucked up against mine gives me that familiar swirl of arousal. "here." he murmurs, steadying me so he can retrieve a water bottle from his bag. removing the cap he hands it over to me caringly. The cold water pouring into my throat, refreshing me and instantly boosting my hydration. "This too." he says, peeling the skin of a banana. "Get some energy." he explains holding it up to my mouth, he motions with his mouth for me to open up and take a bite. I oblige, feeling touched to my heart by his sweet gestures, enjoying having him baby me in such a romantic way.
"I only hurt my leg." I manage to mumble over my mouthful of food.
"My baby's precious leg." he corrects, poking his bottom lip out once again in a pout and squeezing small pulses to my waist with his fingers.
"You're so cheesy." I giggle with a shiver. He chuckles knowingly, offering me another bite of banana.
"Because I love you." he informs me meeting my mouth with his, kissing me despite me having a mouth full of banana mush. I stifle a laugh kissing him back while still chewing the food in my mouth, the daydream becoming increasingly passionate.
"You know you need to meet me at the filming site every day, right?"
Jumping up from my chair I throw my hands to my breasts cupping them, momentarily forgetting I am in the Hook office building and not actually exposed under a white tee, up on a mountain trail making out with LSG. I pinch at the wire of my bra correcting it in place awkwardly, worried it was somehow loosened or not on properly. shooting my arms down in front of me, I clasp my hands together clumsily when I notice he's paying attention to my every move; obviously curious as to why I'm touching my breasts so much while in the workplace.
"I'm sorry!" I shout, wringing my hands together feverishly.
"It's okay." he tells you with a laugh. "Just starting tomorrow, make sure you go there." beginning to step away, he turns back adding. "don't come here."
Before I can confirm I will do that henceforth, he walks away again leaving me feeling foolish, my hand tugging at the hem of my blouse roughly in nervousness. I can feel my face is blushing out of control, burning a deep shade of red. Placing my hands on either side of my cheeks I let out a shaky breath. The coolness of my fingers helping to relieve the burn, tapping them around to try and bring even more cool relief. I see his silhouette returning to my cubicle, slightly panicked, I stumble around grabbing at random objects trying to appear like I had started getting back to my work.
"Come on." he says motioning with his hand for me to follow. I perk up with a nod, scurrying quick to get aligned with his heels. "pay attention to how we get there today." he advises, holding the front door open for me to walk through first. "you'll need to come by yourself in the morning, but we can ride back together later."
"got it." I confirm, digging my nails into my purse clutching it tighter against my chest. He's being kind but I somehow still feel apologetic towards him.
"I should have told you to meet me there every day. I'll take it as my fault so no worries." he continues to lead the way to the car waving with a short greeting to all the staff calling out to him in the parking lot. 'He's so well loved' I think to myself as I watch the interactions of him with passing co-workers all smiling happily when they spot him. Once in the car he fixes his clothing and hair with a sigh, looking over at me stiff in the car seat still gripping tight to my bag he grins charmingly. "Relax." he demands with a laugh. I'm trying to sit back and loosen up, but because of the attempt at kissing him last night and now with him walking in on my steamy make-out session with his image on the mountain trail hike daydream, I really can't find myself relaxing anytime soon. not to mention the whole reason he came to the office today is because I failed to show up at the filming site like I was supposed to. Bringing my hand to my forehead I slip down into my car seat wishing it would somehow swallow me up.
"You can be comfortable with me. We need to get close." he says with another gorgeous grin. "I'm easy going, but I expect you to make the effort too and be professional at all times." he finishes. My cheeks flush red thinking he's hinting at my kiss attempt as the reason I'm not professional, the embarrassment almost too much to handle. "...while working." he specifies, clearing his throat.
"I'm sorry." I choke out, swallowing the lump in my own throat.
"Don't apologize anymore." he demands with a chuckle.
"Okay." I whisper clasping even tighter to my bag. Seeing this he laughs once more, now reaching over to pull the bag away from my arms. I release my death grip allowing him to take it from me, watching out of the corner of my eye as he places it down in-between us both on the middle seat of the car. I wiggle into my seat a bit to try and get just a little more comfortable.
"Can you…" he starts. clearing his throat, he tugs at the collar of his sweater. His eyelids flutter as he avoids looking at my legs, I can see he is struggling, it's clear he's failing as his eyes continuously make contact with my thighs. His cheeks blushing slightly, he opens his car window desperate for more oxygen. he turns his head away completely, squirming a bit in his car seat. crossing his legs, he shoves his fist into his pocket resting it against his thigh. I shimmy my skirt down over my thighs a little more, when sitting this tight skirt has a habit of sliding up revealing much more of my legs than is work appropriate. Admittedly I usually wear this skirt on dates and not to the workplace, but having been in a rush I decided to wear it anyway thinking my legs would be hidden under my desk so it wouldn't matter. Stretching his arm to the front seat, he drags his coat back and over my legs while still staring out of his side window. "Maybe you should wear pants." he advises, once again tugging at the collar of his sweater as if being invisibly choked. I adjust the coat over my legs tucking it in firmly to cover any overly exposed areas, feeling shameful of my clothing choice. Turning to Rick, LSG speaks in Korean. having an exchange in what seems like a rushed context of conversation, deriving from the planned route Rick pops a sudden u-turn. soon arriving at a corner convenience store, he hops out dashing in quickly almost at a running speed. Returning to the car he tosses a small plastic container back to the middle seat, not moving his eyes away from the window LSG's hand feels around in that same car seat as if searching for the small circular container. Locating it, he pushes it in my direction. "For you." Mortified to see it is a pair of pantyhose, I gasp jerking my head back and forth between the 2 men while bustling to retrieve it ferociously shoving it into my bag. scrunching my face into a tight grimace, I groan in disgust as my stomach churns almost painfully. I knew there was a run in my pantyhose, but I thought since it was on the upper, inner thigh of my leg no one would see it so I could still wear the stocking casually without worry. My heart rate accelerates wondering just how far up my skirt his eyes could really see since that run was at such a delicate spot. The rest of the ride was in silence, neither me nor LSG having much of anything to say to one another. Before Rick even had the gear shifted to park, LSG swung open his car door diving out; bolting away at the speed of lightning.
"I'm sorry." Rick's apology catches me off guard, staring at his eyes through the rearview mirror I furrow my eyebrows together thinking he was apologizing on behalf of LSG running off in discomfort.
"Oh no, it's okay. I shouldn't have worn this skirt." I alleviate, gathering up my bag and shooting a sincere smile in his direction.
"No no, not skirt." he clears his throat, wringing his hands around the steering wheel. I can see he wants to say more but it's obvious he has a very limited English ability. "I no... the kiss." he motions with his hand and mouth by bumping the back of his hand to his lips. My mouth falls open, heart banging harshly, the breath from my lungs knocked out of it from the sheer shock of him bringing up that failed kiss again. Moving at a faster pace, I throw open my car door preparing to jump out of it as if on a speed mission.
"I'm not upset." I lie swinging my legs out of the open car door first in preparation to scurry away.
"SG is mad." pointing to his chest with his index finger, he hopes I understand what he's trying to get across. "Me, me, mad me." he taps his finger to his chest a few times before gripping onto the steering wheel even tighter, shading them a pale white at the knuckle. I l can see by his expression he is truly embarrassed and apologetic for spreading the gossip around the office building, although he doesn't have the words to express it, I can feel it. So many questions pass through my mind but I know it's pointless to ask since Rick doesn't understand English well. taking a deep breath I force a smile of empathy his way to reassure him I'm okay so he doesn't need to fret over it.
"I better get to work." I mumble, scrambling out of the car.