The night grew deeper and Jongdae finally got his sleep near to two in the morning, but awoke to another hectic day at work. He hadn't even had time to be puzzled about the seniors' sudden discord towards him, or about the unusual enormous amount of work given to him. All he was worried about was if he would be able to finish all the work he was given. 

 

The morning came and went as if it just dropped in for a quick obligatory visit, and soon noon arrived. It was a normal day, and just like any normal day, the trainees went out for their lunch. 

 

Hyejin stayed, though. She had brought a kimbap from a roadside stall near her house for lunch that day because she bought one too many the night before, and was just coming to unwrapping it when she noticed him at his desk. 

 

Jongdae stayed too — not that he ever went out, anyway. The only difference that afternoon was that his usual sandwich was not on the table, and neither was he chewing anything else. Instead, he was slumped over his desk, working on yet another document. 

 

 

"Not eating?" Hyejin finally asked, having gathered enough curiosity to break the work-filled silence after watching Chen for a while. "It's lunch time now, you know." 

 

He looked up at Hyejin and seemed like he hadn't noticed she was still there (that was strange to her — Chen was a normally observant person). Still, he gave her a smile and reached into his bag, digging for his sandwich, but his hands came out from his bag empty. 

 

"Silly me. Guess I forgot to pack food today," Chen shrugged, then glanced down at his work for an instant before looking back up again at Hyejin with friendly eyes. "You go ahead with your lunch, I'm fine." 

 

He went back to his work, and Hyejin eyed him for a moment before unwrapping her kimbap. The rice had gotten a little hard, and somehow the cucumbers didn't seem to crunch well like they did normally. She chewed her food slowly, and couldn't help but look up at Chen again. Even her favourite crab-stick seemed to taste a little chalky in that day. 

 

What broke the silence this time was a soft growl from Chen's stomach. By that time, Hyejin had stopped eating, and her hand had slowly lowered from until it rested on the desk, kimbap still clutched within. She watched him as he ignored its soft whines for food and instead drank another sip of coffee. 

 

"You're hungry," Hyejin said, as if it wasn't obvious enough. She immediately felt stupid again like she always did, but realised she didn't have to. 

 

Because strangely, it didn't seem obvious to Chen. He chuckled and looked surprised when his stomach grumbled again. "I guess I am. Oh well, it's okay. What can I do? The office canteen is closed today anyway. Skipping lunch for one day is fine, don't worry." 

 

"Look, I know this is going to sound a little gross, but you can have the remainder of my kimbap if you don't mind, you know." 

 

Chen laughed. "I'm really fine. What's a little hunger? I'm a man. You go ahead with your food." 

 

"Is work that hard? You didn't even notice that your stomach was growling," Hyejin said, her concerned voice lowering to almost a whisper. 

 

He shook her head and beamed at her in response. "Nope, it isn't. See? I'm fine." Chen got up and did a dumb dance, arms flailing about. Hyejin soon found herself chuckling. 

 

"Alright, alright. Stop dancing, you. You're fine," Hyejin said before tossing the remainder of her kimbap into the bin. "But I'm not and I'm hungry so you should accompany me to lunch." 

 

Chen shook his head at Hyejin. "Go get something from some stall nearby and bring it back to the office, I'll accompany you and watch you eat then." 

 

Hyejin beamed knowingly. "I was thinking more of Ox Bone Soup today. You can't possibly bring that back, can you?" 

 

"Ox Bone Soup? It's not even winter!" 

 

"Who says you can only have that in winter? I'm craving for it today and I hate eating alone. So be a gentleman and come along." Hyejin got up from her seat and tottered to Chen's desk. 

 

"Nah, sorry, Jasmine. Can we have that after work someday? Not during lunch and not today." 

 

"But why? I'm really hungry, you know." 

 

Chen sighed. "You know I don't go out of the office for lunch on workdays." 

 

"Yeah, why don't you? The office canteen food is horrible, you'll get sick of sandwiches soon and there's a lot of great food in close proximity from the building. You should give it a try. Please, Chen? Both you and I can't skip lunch." 

 

Chen opened his mouth to protest, but didn't say anything in the end, and looked down at his feet instead. 

 

And in that instant, Hyejin wondered if she had gone too far. All she wanted to do was to get Chen to have some food because it wasn't good to skip meals just because of work. What if the reason Chen didn't go out of the office was because of some issues that didn't allow him to be outside for too long or something? What if he wanted to hide whatever it was? Hyejin probably had pressed too hard. 

 

"Wait, on second thought you don't have to come with me," she hurriedly said. "I'll — I'll bring some food back. I-I don't have to have Ox B —" 

 

"No, I'll come," Chen suddenly said resolutely, then swallowed. "Where's a good Ox Bone Soup place? " 

 

Hyejin blinked at Chen. "It's alright, you know. I'm sorry if I —" 

 

"Do you want to see me do the stupid dance again to prove its okay?" Chen asked, and Hyejin smiled. 

 

"Are you sure you're alright with coming?" She asked softly. 

 

"Look, I know I've trolled you a lot, but do I look like I'm trolling you right now?" Chen asked, then made a peace sign at Hyejin. "No, I'm not. So let's go, Jasmine. Why does it seem like our roles have reversed now?" He chortled. 

 

_______________________________________

 

 

Chen swiped dust from his car key which he had accidentally dropped on the street just then. Examining it closely for scratches, he rubbed the shiny, metallic parts with his finger gently. 

 

"Tell me again why we're walking instead of taking the car," he said, still fumbling with his key.  

 

"Parking," Hyejin replied Chen, continuing ahead after glancing at his fallen car key. "There's no where to park. And besides, the weather today is great for walking." 

 

"I haven't walked out like this in a long, long while," he mused. 

 

"Come out more often, then," Hyejin glanced at Chen this time. "You're cooped inside that building almost twenty-four-seven." 

 

Chen was surprised at how busy the streets were at lunch time. Man, he hadn't gone out of the office for lunch for so long. They weren't exactly bustling — no, not in this area — but it was still undeniably busy. Beneath the animated chatter and complaints of the office workers who worked nearby lay a mass of fast footsteps and a cacophony of shoes on the floor. Every one seemed to be in some sort of a hurry. Chen, however, ambled slowly along beside Hyejin, although seeing the rushed citizens made him a little rushed inside too. 

 

Did he make the right choice by going out today? 

 

Chen took a long breath of weekday afternoon air, something he hadn't smelt for so long. The sun seemed to hang extra high that day, and it was hot, but he kept his hands in his pockets — he figured it wasn't wise to let Hyejin see his sweaty palms and trembling hands. 

 

A breeze blew, and leaves from nearby trees rustled in a steady rhythm. 

 

Chen knew he had to forget two years ago. It just wasn't worth it. Yes, he probably did make the right choice. How did a small thing from the past become a phobia in the present? He had to make it stop. It sounded ridiculous even to him that he was getting sweaty palms just from going out for lunch. 

 

"What do you want to eat?" Hyejin suddenly asked, breaking his train of thought. 

 

"I thought you said you wanted Ox Bone Soup?" Chen cocked his head at Hyejin. 

 

"I was just kidding about that. There's no Ox Bone Soup places nearby. I just wanted you to have some food, honestly," Hyejin admitted, shrugging. "So! Where do you want to go?" 

 

"Are you serious? Means you would have eaten your kimbap if I had food?" 

 

Hyejin looked ahead instead of at Chen. "Hmm… yes." 

 

Chen felt a grin spread across his face. He glanced around. "Anywhere, honestly. I'm just hungry." 

 

"Of course you are. Let's just go to the Chinese food stall there, then. They serve really delicious black bean noodles." 

 

"Great! Chinese sounds like a great option." 

 

Nope, that wasn't a lie — not technically. Chinese did seem good, but Chen never did eat black bean noodles (he preferred the spicy seafood noodle soup Chinese restaurants and take-outs always had as an alternative). Strangely enough though, he didn't feel anything bad about eating it this time. 

 

He smiled the way to the restaurant, and Chen didn't realise, but his hands had long stopped trembling in his pocket. 

 

Maybe it just felt really, really nice that someone cared this much whether he ate or not.  

 

 

 

When they finally got a seat in the restaurant and had ordered their food (Chen beamed at the person taking their order while he was doing so — he smiled at everyone, Hyejin realised.), Hyejin dissolved into the silence between them. Silence, once again. 

 

Which was broken, thankfully for her, once more by Chen. "Claustrophobic people would definitely not survive here," he commented, shifting his stool nearer to the table. The restaurant, as usual, was packed with the lunchtime crowd and servers shouting orders into the kitchen in their own dialect. If one didn't like close contact with strangers, then he definitely wouldn't enjoy this place, no matter how good the black bean noodles were. 

 

"Wait, you're claustrophobic? I'm sorry! Are you feeling it now? Want to go somewhere less crammed?" Hyejin asked, picking up her bag in case Chen wanted to leave. She knew how it felt. It was horrible, and she knew it was only right of her to bring Chen elsewhere if he didn't like it there at the Chinese restaurant. 

 

"I'm not," Chen grinned. "I like the atmosphere. Don't worry about me so much, I'm fine." 

 

Hyejin released her grip on her bag handle and let out a small smile. "Oh," she said. "Then that's a relief." 

 

"You aren't claustrophobic right? Okay, I mean of course you aren't. You brought me here," Chen said, then laughed. Hyejin found it admirable how Chen didn't ever seemed embarrassed or awkward if he said something that sounded slightly dumb. 

 

"You know," Hyejin started. "Actually, I am claustrophobic. Like seriously claustrophobic — I freak out and can't breathe. But it's only when I'm alone and all by myself in a small space. When I'm with other people it doesn't freak me out that much. So yeah, I don't mind it here." 

 

Chen nodded, like he really understood. Hyejin nodded back, just because she didn't know what else to do. 

 

"So how does claustrophobia feel like?" Chen asked just as their meals were being served. 

 

Hyejin drummed her fingers on the table, then tried to explain. "It's like… you feel like you're going to die but you don't want to, and you can't breathe and your heart is just there palpitating and you feel like it's a nightmare but reality at the same time. And then you aren't sure whether you're better off dead." She paused, then looked at Chen, laughing. "Does that make sense?" 

 

He nodded as he smiled, then motioned for her to go on. 

 

"It's just… scary. Paranoia. A bête noire. I don't know," Hyejin kept her smile. "I just don't ever want to go through it again. Every time I go through this stupid thing I just feel like dying." 

 

"Okay," Chen finally said. "I'll do my best to make sure that doesn't happen whilst you're in the office or with me." Chen felt a strong sense of responsibility that he should care for Hyejin as her direct senior. If anything happened to her or anyone else in his team, he definitely wouldn't be able to get over it. Staring down at his black bean noodles, he decided to let the smell waft into his nose slowly before tasting it. 

 

"Tuck in," he said in the end, breaking yet another silence. "The noodles are going to get cold." Hyejin immediately stirred her noodles around in a big motion and started to slurp them in hungrily. Chen played with the little bit on his chopsticks, then placed it carefully into his mouth. 

 

Hm. It wasn't that bad. In fact, it wasn't bad at all. 

 

"It's good!" He exclaimed gladly, before proceeding to stuff more noodles into his mouth. He thought he heard Hyejin laugh softly at him and was too red-faced to continue for a scintilla of a second, but soon started again, however, due to the irresistibility of the smell (How had he missed this for so long?), only to hear Hyejin's laughter ringing in his ears again. 

 

"What's so funny?" He asked, mouth full of food. 

 

Hyejin seemed embarrassed at first that he noticed her laughter, but smiled amicably at Chen after a while. "I'm sorry in advance if this sounds a bit weird. I'm not good at putting my thoughts into words." 

 

"What? Do I eat strange?" Chen said. Hyejin just laughed. 

 

He then rolled his eyes and frowned, slamming his chopsticks down in a huff. "I'm not eating anymore." He crossed his arms. 

 

Chen waited. 

 

Hyejin's eyes widened. "No, no, no! I'm sorry! I shouldn't have laughed, please don't be angry. Sor—" Chen cut Hyejin off before she continued apologizing. He was satisfied enough. 

 

"Troll! It was a troll!" Chen cheeked, grinning at Hyejin. Yes, this was what he wanted. She always gave the best reactions. "My acting was bad here. Why would you fall for something like this? Do you think I'm this petty?" Chen asked, guffawing. 

 

Hyejin seemed to take a while to process what was going on, but when she finally did, she took a deep breath and brushed up her fringe. "Hey, at least I care whether you're angry or not okay?" Hyejin retorted, kicking Chen lightly under the table. 

 

"Okay, okay, that's true. So — why were you laughing just now?" 

 

"I am so going to regret telling you this." 

 

"It's fine. Just do it," he tried to persuade. 

 

"Alright… it's because I've never seen anyone eat black bean noodles this enthusiastically. I mean, I know you're my senior and I shouldn't be telling you this but —" 

 

"You're weird, Hwang Hyejin," Chen suddenly cut in. "Have I told you that? And I smell jasmines again, oh my." He couldn't keep a chortle from escaping. 

 

"Sorry," she sheepishly said, rubbing her neck. 

 

"Don't keep apologizing, Jasmine! You've done nothing wrong, okay?"  

 

"A-at this rate our noodles are really going to get cold," she stuttered awkwardly, picking up her chopsticks. Chen noticed Hyejin's large eyes once again, those that sparkled especially when she was being her awkward self. 

 

He smiled. 

 

______________________________________________________

 

 

Lunch, for Hyejin, turned out to be surprisingly… enjoyable. 

 

Hyejin never thought she would be able to fully relax in the end eating with just one person — usually when that happened there would be tons of awkward silences which Hyejin absolutely hated. (Initially she thought she was going to regret having just Chen go out with her for lunch, but she was glad that didn't turn out to be the case.) 

 

Hyejin honestly had surprised herself when she blurted out everything about her claustrophobia to Chen. Usually, she liked to keep her fears bottled up in a tight jar, and never shared them with anyone. Only when she really had panic attacks from that phobia did she tell people about it. Why then, did she reveal it all to Chen out of her own accord? 

 

She'd thought about it, and she realised something that honestly made her really thankful to have Chen as a senior. It was also probably be the reason why she revealed her claustrophobia. 

 

Hyejin knew she could completely be herself around Chen, and he wouldn't mind one bit — he wouldn't be trying to hide his embarrassment for her, or mock her straight out front, or make her feel like she had done something wrong. He would just smile very sincerely and be weird with her, and empathize with her, and care for her. 

 

She was sure of it — and would probably never forget what had happened when they were eating. 

 

About halfway through their noodles, Hyejin felt something form in , and she grabbed her cup to drink some water. But because she was basically the Queen of Awkward Moments, that something decided to pop right out without her control. 

 

As a burp. A loud, uncouth burp. 

 

Chen looked at Hyejin. Why did this kind of thing always happen especially when she was with this particular senior? She felt like she was about to die of embarrassment, and instinctively she looked directly wide-eyed at him — but luckily that heart-sinking feeling only lasted a few seconds. 

 

Because instead of judging her or doing anything to make Hyejin feel worse, Chen just laughed. 

 

Not in a mocking way, but in a personable, friendly way. "The noodles are that good, huh?" He had asked, before slurping up a big portion of noodles into his mouth and letting out a loud burp himself (gaining many glares from the people around them, but he didn't seem to really mind). 

 

Hyejin had felt her initial embarrassment fizz into tiny goosebumps on her arms: not those awful ones — the nice kind of goosebumps, like those you have when you're really touched, because that was exactly how she felt at that time. 

 

"Why are you staring at me like that?" He raised his eyebrows, still smiling. 

 

"You have something on your face," Hyejin said in the spur of the moment, pointing at a black spot on Chen's left cheek. Well, she wasn't lying, at least not really. There was something on his face, but that wasn't the reason why she stared. 

 

"Speak for yourself! You've got sauce here, here, here, here…" He pointed at different parts of Hyejin's face, and Hyejin used the back of her palm to wipe off whatever it was on her face, but somehow she couldn't clear anything away — the back of her palm always came out clean. 

 

"It's still there, right?" Hyejin asked, dabbing at her face with a tissue while Chen watched her. She noticed Chen still hadn't bothered to clean the spot of black bean paste on his face. 

 

"Yeah, and you have some on your hair and your white blouse as well," he said, still staring straight at Hyejin's face, now cocking his head thoughtfully to one side.  

 

In a panic over her white shirt, (she would never be able to get a black bean paste stain off) Hyejin gasped and looked downwards but didn't find anything, and that was when she realised she had been trolled again. Chen had by then stopped gazing thoughtfully and was grinning at Hyejin with his usual energetic vibe again. 

 

"Did you —" She started. 

 

"Ha! You fell for it! Yes, I trolled you!" 

 

"I'll get my revenge," Hyejin warned as she rolled her eyes playfully at Chen. "Soon." 

 

"Okay, if you manage to successfully troll this Troll King I'll gladly give you my title." 

 

Hyejin chuckled, but looked down at the table this time, and there was no response from her for a while. "Thank you," she finally said softly. 

 

"For what? You haven't earned my title yet." Chen had a jubilant smile on his face. 

 

"No, not for that," Hyejin explained, then used a small voice to continue. "Thank you for letting me not be so embarrassed when I do weird stuff. And for letting me be Hwang Hyejin." She was sincere about that — very sincere. 

 

"That's nothing to thank me for. When aren't people weird?" Chen said, but despite what he said he seemed to smile even wider. He reached out to Hyejin and patted her head. "But still, no problem at all, Jasmine. And I like it that you're Hwang Hyejin." 

 

____________________________________________

 

The office was empty when Hyejin and Chen returned, but Chen decided not to do anything about Taehwan, Jinkyung and Chaeyoung being late, just for that day. Hyejin had planned to continue doing the work she hadn't finished, and plopped down on her chair, stretching for a bit before blinking at the computer screen, forcing her half-dead brain cells to resurrect and work again. 

 

"Hey, Jasmine. Hwang Hyejin. Come here." She heard Chen's voice from behind her, and she turned around immediately. Chen was at the coffee machine, and seemed to be making drinks. Hyejin walked over slowly, then bent relaxedly over the counter top. 

 

"I need some caffeine to get me working," Chen explained casually. 

 

"What are you making? It doesn't look like coffee to me," she asked, eyeing the two cups of drinks Chen was stirring simultaneously. Hyejin couldn't smell anything yet, but it looked like some type of tea — she wasn't sure though: Chen didn't seem the sort who would go for a cup of tea when he needed a caffeine boost. 

 

"You'll know what it is," he said, smiling as he handed a cup over to her. "Here." 

 

Hyejin glanced at the mug in her hand, then squinted at Chen. "Thanks, but… you didn't drug it, did you?" 

 

"Fine, I'll take it back if you don't want it," he said, reaching for the drink, but Hyejin was faster in bringing it out of his reach. 

 

She laughed. "Just kidding!" Then she realised something. "Wait — is this counted as a troll? Did I just troll you?" 

 

"Obviously I knew you were kidding," Chen grinned. "You definitely wouldn't think that a guy as good-looking as me would drug your drink. You didn't, Hwang Hyejin. The title is still mine, and you have a long way to go." 

 

Hyejin made a face at Chen, then let the aroma of the tea waft into her nose. 

 

It was a familiar smell, one she would recognize anywhere. "Jasmine," she smiled, then turned to look up at Chen questioningly. "You don't look like the type who would drink Jasmine tea."

 

"Correction — not 'dont', but 'didn't'." He raised the cup to his mouth and took a sip. "Now I do. Don't ask why." 

 

Hyejin held the warm mug with two hands and drank the tea appreciatively. Jasmine tea was her comfort food, but was surprised Chen enjoyed it as well though. Many didn't like the lingering, strong taste of the tea. 

 

"Isn't it bitter?" She asked. 

 

"Yes," Chen replied matter-of-factly. "But it's an acquired taste. The first time I drank it I thought it was absolutely horrible, but now I'm starting to enjoy it." 

 

"I thought you would get sick of anything jasmine because you kept talking about how I smelt," Hyejin chuckled. 

 

"That's kinda acquired too," he beamed. "It was overwhelming in the beginning but now it's fine, and in fact I..." His voice trailed off, and Hyejin stopped drinking just to look up at Chen. 

 

"You…?" She prompted, but Chen just shook his head and said that it was fine. 

 

 Then Hyejin remembered something she had been wanting to ask him for the longest of time. "Why Chen?" She blurted (Hyejin would probably never stop being awkward and abrupt). 

 

He seemed puzzled. "Why me?" 

 

"As in, why did you introduce yourself as Chen? I mean, I know you were trolling me, but out of all Chinese names you could have chosen… Why Chen?" 

 

"You're so random, jasmine." 

 

"It's called curiosity." 

 

He seemed to think for a while before answering. "Actually, I learn Chinese for fun, and a few days before your first day here I came across this Chinese word "chén" that meant daybreak. I thought the Chinese character for that looked absolutely stunning. That's probably the reason why I blurted it out. Yeah, blurt — I don't plan my trolls beforehand, you know?" 

 

Hyejin nodded. So that was why. 

 

"But seriously, since we're on that topic, why do you keep calling me Chen? My name is Jongdae and everyone calls me that except you." 

 

Hyejin shrugged. "I guess the name Chen just stuck. Why not you just get everyone to call you Chen, then? I mean, since I can't seem to get myself out of calling you Chen and you seem to want everyone call you by just one name." 

 

"I didn't say that!" 

 

"You imply it," Hyejin said breezily. 

 

He thought for a while, before crinkling his eyes up into a smile. "Nah. I'd rather not. I'd like to keep Chen as a secret between you and me."