Ha-min, who arrived at work earlier than usual, went to see Ye-jun. Ye-jun's desk was piled high with coffee, and he was asleep, face down, his face sunken. Judging by his attire, it seemed he hadn't finished work the night before and had stayed up all night. Ha-min approached Ye-jun and woke him up.
“Mr. Yejun, it’s time to wake up.”
Yejun wakes up, wiping his saliva at Ha-min's voice.
“Uh..oh, yes…”
Ha-min sighs and says after seeing Ye-jun's tired-looking face.
“Haha..I forgot and missed the end of work..haha”
Ha-min's heart burned as he heard Ye-jun's words. It wasn't a mistake, but Manager Kang's fault for not being able to leave work. Ye-jun, who had been watching the situation closely, smiled sheepishly and stood up.
“Haha..! Manager, do you want to go get some coffee..? Haha”
Ha-min says while looking at the coffee piled up on Ye-jun's table.
“I think Yejun has already eaten enough..”
Ha Min takes an orange drink out of his bag and hands it over.
“Try this instead of coffee today.”
Yejun receives the drink that Ha-min gives him and thinks to himself.
‘Ha..is the manager an angel..’
After the meeting, Yejun, feeling weak, tried to leave the conference room. Then, Manager Kang blocked the door and called out to him.
“Hey rookie, did you do everything I asked you to do yesterday?”
“Yes..! I did it all.”
Manager Kang looks at Ye-jun, who is exhausted, with suspicious eyes.
"Did you do it right? What can I possibly believe?"
"Haha.. I did it right.. haha"
Yejun laughed off Kang Daeri's words. Then, from somewhere, Ha-min's voice was heard.
"Yejun!"
Yejun was stunned by his name when Ha-min came up to him and spoke.
"Yejun, you worked hard all night last night. Leave work early today and go home to rest."
"Yes..? Is that okay..?"
‘That’s so nice!!! I should just stay home and sleep well..’
Ha-min whispered in Ye-jun's ear so that only he could hear.
"Of course. You've worked hard for two days. Go home and rest."
"yes..!"
After hearing Ha-min's words, Ye-jun excitedly walked out of the conference room. Manager Kang, who was watching them, became annoyed and went out with the employees during their break time to talk about something. Ye-jun, who was preparing to leave work, was about to enter the break room when he heard Manager Kang's voice call his name and hesitated before opening the door.
"Mr. Ha, am I the only one who finds that bastard Nam Ye-jun annoying?"
The employees begin to react to Manager Kang's words.
“It’s just that… Manager Yoo is the only one who takes care of me.”
“Oh, I fucking hate that guy. He looks so gay, f*ck.”
“ㅋㅋㅋ He does look gay ㅋㅋ”
“Hey, but Manager Yoo takes such good care of me, so I should at least do my job well.. I can’t even do my job, so what?”
“Oh my, it’s so pitiful to be born like that. It’s so pitiful.”
Yejun quietly listened to their conversation from behind the break room door.
"Is it right for me to listen to this? Why does everyone hate me? What did I do wrong?"
Yejun thought he'd held on well, but hearing his employees' words broke his heart. He muttered, unconsciously holding back the urge to cry.
“..I worked hard”
Then, Ha-min comes in from another door.
“What are you doing here? You’re not doing any work.”
The employees were flustered by Ha Min's sudden appearance and were talking nonsense. Then Manager Kang spoke.
“Ah, Manager Yoo, haha. I was just talking about employee Nam Ye-jun.”
"Mr. Nam Ye-jun? What are you talking about?"
"Ugh, just... this and that... You don't have to know, sir haha"
"Ha... Manager Kang."
"yes?"
"I guess there's nothing better to do here than cuss out your employees? You're acting like a paycheck Lupin. Should I give you more work?"
"Huh..?"
At Ha-min's words, the other employees quickly left. Manager Kang also took note and left. After dealing with this, Ha-min left the break room. Then, he found Ye-jun, crouched behind the break room door, crying. Ha-min was surprised to see Ye-jun's red eyes and said, "I'm sorry."
"Yejun, why aren't you home from work? Are you crying? What happened?"
Yejun is startled by Ha-min's sudden appearance and runs away to the bathroom, covering his face.
“Uh..it’s nothing.”
“Uh..Yejun..!”
Ha-min followed Ye-jun, who had fled to the bathroom. Ye-jun entered the stall and cried. It was so hard. He had worked so hard to get here, and now he had to be treated like this. But another part of Ye-jun's mind was also thinking of something else. What good would it do if all he had endured up until now crumbled because of those words? Couldn't he even endure that? He whipped himself. Ye-jun sat there crouched and cried. Ha-min, worried for Ye-jun, cautiously knocked on the stall door and called out to him.
“..Yejun..?”
Yejun is startled when he hears Ha-min's voice and quickly wipes away his tears as he speaks.
“Huh..?”
“…Can you please open the door?”
Yejun wiped his tears and opened the bathroom door. His eyes were red, and it was obvious he'd been crying. But he tried his best to hide it, smiling as he spoke.
“Haha.. Was it too long..? Sorry.. hehe”
Ha-min's heart ached when he saw Ye-jun.
“What’s wrong?”
“No..! It’s nothing.. haha”
"No, it's not like that. Tell me. I'll help you in any way I can."
Yejun paused after hearing Ha-min's words. Earlier, the employees had mentioned that Manager Yoo was particularly considerate of him. Yejun agonized over whether or not he should say this. But he decided not to say anything. He wasn't a child, and he didn't think there was any reason to talk to someone younger than him. Yejun left Ha-min behind and left first.
"No.. haha I'll go home from work first."
Ha-min, watching Ye-jun's back as he left the room first, felt worried. He then looked from afar toward where Manager Kang was, and thought to himself.
‘Oh, it’s because of that kid.’
-pm6:10
After work, Ha-min came out and contacted Ye-jun first.
Ha-min drove to Ye-jun's house to have dinner with him. Ye-jun came out of the house after Ha-min arrived and met him. Ha-min got out of the car, looked at Ye-jun, smiled affectionately, and said,
“Would you like to eat?”
Yejun refuses Ha-min's words.
“Ah..I already ate..”
“Oh, then would you like to go to a cafe?”
Yejun felt burdened by Hamin's request, but he nodded, thinking, "This is nothing, since he takes such good care of me." The two drove to a nearby cafe. The atmosphere was very cozy and quiet. After ordering and receiving their drinks, Hamin spoke to Yejun first.
“I heard everything that happened earlier.”
“Ah..haha..it’s true..”
“…..”
Ha-min's heart ached at Ye-jun's words. How could he react like this after hearing such words?
Ha-min answers Ye-jun's words seriously.
“Yejun, you didn’t do anything wrong. So don’t blame yourself too much.”
Yejun was overcome with emotion at Hamin's words. "When was the last time I received such comfort?" Yejun said with a smile, trying his best to control his pent-up emotions.
“Haha, thank you. For saying that.”
The two spent time like that, and Ha-min took Ye-jun home.
“Take care and come back later.”
“Yes! Thank you for today.”
Ha-min muttered quietly to himself as he watched Ye-jun's back as he entered the house.
“See you tomorrow, Yejun hyung.”
.
.
.
.
The two often had private meetings and ate together or went to cafes.