The sight befuddled him then he turned to glance at the glowing desktop. A long document appeared on the screen with a gazillion red and green marks.

“What are you doing?” he asked and waited for her to wake up. When she didn’t he nudged her with his knuckles, “Hey. Wake up.”

He watched her move then finally lift her head up sleepily, blink her eyes, click her tongue against until she awoke. With a heavy sigh and a hand pressed against her forehead she muttered, “What?”

Sehun waited for her drowsy mode to end and watched her become stunned when she finally saw him. Sitting back in her seat with immediately straightened shoulders she turned to stare at the screen. A moment of silence wafted over them before she hesitatingly allowed her eyes to move in his direction. He stared back at her merely dumbfounded with why she was still here and that she had stayed behind to finish work.

“Um…is there something you need?” she wondered, anxious.

“What are you doing?”

Choonhee glanced back at the computer screen, “Work.”

She appeared more nervous by the second but he decided not to say anything.

More intimidated, she quickly clarified, “It’s because I made a mistake, and I was told they need this by morning. You know, so I’m just making up for my wrongdoing.” Then adding with a nervous laugh, which didn’t help at all ward off her awkwardness with him, “It’s what I should do, right?”

She was weird. Nowhere near how he imagined her to be once she started work. That too, he decided not to comment on.  

“And it’s taking you this long?” he questioned.

This time she seemed fluxed by the question and only smiled in reply. He wanted to go home. A voice at the back of his head whined.

“Move,” he gently pushed her out of the seat. Obediently sliding out of it he sat down and began scrolling through the document. “How far are you?”

“Only fifteen pages in.”

“Fifteen?!” he repeated, astonished. Swerving back to the computer he gazed at the total page number of two hundred pages and nearly felt a headache bombard him. Turning, he shot her a gaze of incredulity and irritancy mixed with disbelief.

He found himself muttering, “You’re even worse than I thought.”

“Sorry,” she apologized.

Biting down on his tongue he scrolled back up the document to find errors and holding back his annoyance, quickly made swift corrections. It was only when he moved the mouse around did he notice the two internet pages minimized on the screen.

“What are these?” he wondered. “Are you playing around?”

“N…no!” she immediately denied.

Doubting her he pulled them up and became even more dumbfounded when he saw an online dictionary and punctuation and grammar page. Sehun turned to stare at her, standing beside him with hands clutched in front of her, like a student being scolded in the office by a teacher. It was ridiculous, almost pathetic, he thought. He couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for her.

“Are you an elementary student?” he asked. “You…” he cut himself off with a heavy sigh and rubbed his temple, confused, frustrated, and tired. “Never mind. Did you eat?”

“No.”

Pulling out his phone from his jacket he gently tossed it onto the tabletop, “Call for a double set of noodles.”

When Choonhee didn’t take the phone he turned away from the screen for the nth time. “What are you doing?”

“Oh…yea,” grabbing the phone quickly he heaved another sigh.

He couldn’t understand what was going on with her. This didn’t seem like such hard work, yet she hadn’t been able to do it. Sehun wanted to know if she was messing around with him. Choonhee had always been smart, independent, and capable. The thought startled him even more that this was perhaps the first time he was helping her with something.

The noodles arrived fifteen minutes later and it took her five minutes to slurp the food down. All the while he worked he listened to her hungrily satisfy herself and wondered about how long she had been starving. Out of the blue wealthy Lee Choonhee looked like a hungry homeless child.

“Here, have it,” he pushed his half-eaten bowl toward her.

“Really?!” she asked, voice raised excitedly. Without waiting for his reply she grasped it within her hands and bit her lower lip as she stared down at the food.

Sehun shot her a glance, again wondering about what was wrong with her. She seemed…so unusual but at the same time, like a child who needed caring for.

Switching his attention back to the computer he thought about what was wrong with him. Maybe it was just really late and he was really tired.

“Do you like writing? You’re moving through that so fast,” Choonhee commented from the chair she had pulled up beside him.

“Anyone can write,” he muttered.

“Does that mean you were a good student when you were younger?” she asked then giggled to herself. “I almost can’t imagine it.” When he turned to look at her she quickly added, “I mean, you know…as a child. When…we didn’t know each other. Or do I know about that?” Adding one of her infamous awkward laughs she scratched her head, “I must’ve forgotten.”

Without offering her a reply he turned back to work.

Leaning over the arm of her chair she cooed, amazed. “You’re good. No wonder you’re CEO.”

A sense of pride at the comment flittered through him and he almost smiled but catching himself in time, stopped. And he forgot for a moment that Choonhee never complimented him about such petty things.

Yawning loudly and stretching her arms out, Choonhee leaned forward against the table, resting her head onto her arms. From out of the corner of his eyes he could see her watching him work. A part of him remained thrilled over the fact that her eyes were on him while feeling the stars twinkle over him. A few minutes later when all grew quiet and all he could hear were the humming of the monitors around him, he turned to find her asleep.

She looked relaxed and carefree. Well obviously, he thought, he was doing her ridiculous work for her. But he felt no desire to complain at the moment. His eyes roved over her face, sinking in a sight he’d never seen before, his heart fluttering up to his throat.

Sliding out of his jacket he folded it up and reached over to gently lift her head up, placing the material under her head as cushion. He listened to her sigh and readjust her head before pulling her chair closer to the table so she didn’t have to lean forward as much. With one last look at her he turned back to the pc and continued with editing, allowing a tiny smile to crawl onto his lips.

\\\\\

Awaking with a groan, Namjoo sat back and pressed a hand to the back of her neck. She was slightly sore from sleeping in such a bad position. Tiredness spread through her before she glanced up at the ceiling and turned to look around. She’d forgotten she was still at the office.

An array of dim light shone into the room and standing up, turned around to look out the window. The gray sky met with her eyes and in the distance the sun was slowly starting to rise. Turning back around she thought to immediately head home, shower, and change. She didn’t want to be at work in the same outfit, smelling.

That would be no way to impress Kai, she thought but the worry dispersed when she caught Sehun sleeping in her chair. Confusion slapped her in the face until she spotted the two empty bowls from last night and the USB sitting beside the keyboard. Realization washed over her as she recalled the events of him discovering her last night.

Embarrassed and nervous she pressed her fingers against her lips and gently nibbled on her nails while deciding what to do. It was obvious that she couldn’t leave him behind and fetch a cab herself. Then she thought about how insanely tired he might be and it was all because of her.

What an awkward and strange situation she’d created for herself, she thought. With a sigh she reached forward to gently shake him awake.

“Uh…wake up,” she called. It felt weird calling him by name, for some reason she couldn’t’ depict. It was even stranger to call him Vice CEO. Namjoo wasn’t used to titles nor was she used to letting his name roll off her tongue.

“Hey, it’s morning,” she weakly shook him again and quickly pulled her hand back when his head suddenly drooped to the side. The speed of the impact had him opening his eyes when he caught himself and leaned back to stretch. Namjoo hated standing there, watching him awake. The awkwardness made her want to shrivel up and disappear.

She watched him peer around before their eyes caught. Flushed with more embarrassment, she averted her gaze.

“Uh…it’s morning,” she said, as if he wasn’t aware and reached up to touch her hair.

The wheels on her chair loudly rolled backwards when Sehun shot up abruptly and tugged at his button down.

“Oh…uh…” Namjoo quickly handed him his jacket. “I think…it’s a little wrinkled. Sorry.”

Sehun took it from her without saying a word and she couldn’t help but wonder if he was upset about having stayed overnight. It would help, she thought, if he at least said something so she wouldn’t have to stand on edge all the time fearing if he was upset or something. That strong face of his didn’t help very much.

Turning on his heels he started toward the doors, saying what she thought was, “Lets go.”

Shuffling after him she asked, “Where are we going?”

“Where do you think we’re going?” he asked sounding irate.

Namjoo glanced up at his back which she felt even looked irritated. “I don’t know…”

He sighed and rustled his hair furiously, “Home. Where else would you go at this time?”

She followed him into the elevator, shooting him a quick look. “Oh…”

\\\\\

The ride back to Choonhee’s home was insanely silent and Namjoo felt nervous the whole time. The only few words she said to him where, “Thanks,” when he dropped her off in front of the borrowed home. As she hurried up the stairs she could hear his engine roaring off into the distance and dreaded returning to work to see him.

Namjoo quickly planned for a shower and a moment of relaxation, but felt the comforting thoughts disappear when she spotted Hayoung in the kitchen. She was having dinner with her parents, was what it looked like. Slightly freezing she ran her eyes over them and nodded when Choonhee’s parents gazed her way.

“You’re home?” Lee Kwan asked without any percentage of affection or worry. It was a rather dry statement. “Go take a shower and come down for breakfast.”

“Yes.” She answered, trying to ignore Hayoung’s stare. Quickly turning she started toward the stairs, hoping to have the door locked before Hayoung could come in.

Relief swarmed through her when she successfully closed the door and locked it. Stripping her clothes off she started toward the bathroom and the warm water for a shower.

\\\\\

Namjoo didn’t expect to escape Hayoung when she headed back downstairs. Right after breakfast – before she could even finish her plate, Hayoung rushed her out of the house saying they were going to be late for work. In just a few seconds she was trapped in the passenger seat with no way out.

“I heard you weren’t home last night.” Hayoung began.

“Oh…” Namjoo breathed. “I was finishing up work.”

“Really.” She didn’t sound persuaded.

“Yes,” Namjoo added, “they needed some editing done for today’s meeting.”

“Editing,” Hayoung repeated. “You can edit?”

Namjoo glanced at the woman through the corner of her eyes and anxiously smiled, “Well…I’m just…doing the simple stuff.”

By the end of this charade she was going to end up with ulcer due to all the stress, Namjoo darkly imagined. There had not yet been a moment she felt relaxed or at peace.

Refraining from sighing she focused her view on the sight outside the window.   

\\\\\

When they arrived at the lobby and started toward the elevator with an evenly fast pace, Hayoung wasn’t surprised to see Sehun rushing for the machine. Pressing the button to keep the door open she watched him pause in front of the gaping doorway, glance at them once, as if debating whether it was safe to share the elevator before stepping inside.

Irritation and a slight satisfaction simultaneously fluttered through her as she asked, “I called earlier. You didn’t pick up, so I called your house. Your mother said you didn’t go home last night.”

She could feel Namjoo stiffen up from behind her but Sehun stood as coolly as ever, unaffected by her taunting.

“Yes,” he answered. “I had some work to finish up.”

“Thought you did most of it yesterday.”

“I wanted to catch up on some stuff. It’s not highly unusual to try and be an overachiever.”

Hayoung raised a brow then glanced back at Namjoo, “I heard Choonhee stayed behind to finish up some important work too. Maybe you two ran into each other or something.”

“No.” he denied. “I didn’t even know she was here.”

A smitten smile crept onto Hayoung’s lips. She knew damn well he was lying, but she still felt good. If Namjoo was getting her hopes up, his lie would shoot her down by making her feel worthless of his attention.

Coming to a stop the elevator doors opened and Hayoung stepped outside, “That was fast. We’re on your floor, Choonhee.”

\\\\\

Namjoo didn’t know how or why Hayoung succeeded in making her feel dumb when she walked out of the elevator. She couldn’t explain the feelings spinning through her.

It was weird.

For the rest of the morning she sat at her desk praying no one else would hand her work to do. The only thing she did was start going through online grammar and punctuation pages to try and teach herself the simple knowledge an elementary student already knew. She quickly minimized everything when footsteps neared and she saw a group of co-workers filing in front the doorway. The woman from yesterday started toward her with a bright grin plastered to her face.

“You did a pretty good job with the editing,” she commented. “Thanks a lot. I hope you didn’t have to stay very late last night.”  

“Ah…” Namjoo breathed with a smile, “it’s alright.”

Not like she did a particular thing anyway and she thought about how Sehun had sat in her chair, eyes immersed in correcting every one of her wrongdoings. God, she felt so bad for it.

“Keep up the good work,” the girl said then walked off.

With a quiet sigh Namjoo turned back to her computer somehow feeling guilty that she was taking all of Sehun’s efforts. She hadn’t properly thanked him. Then she finally wondered why he suddenly came by last night. No one, she was sure, knew she had stayed behind to do any work. Well that was except for Kai. Had Kai told him and asked him to check up on her? Then she recalled the tense atmosphere from before yesterday’s lunch and doubted it.

Still, they were friends she supposed.

“Dozing off?” someone questioned.

back into the world of the office Namjoo spotted Kai. There was that grin on his face that said he was happy to see her and that shy feeling transmitted through her veins.

“Of course not.” She said. Her eyes trailed to the lame Microsoft background on her pc then turned to look at him with the urge to discover why Sehun had come by last night. The curiosity was getting to her. “Yesterday, did you contact Sehun to tell him I stayed behind for work?”

The grin slowly eased off his face and he looked humorless. “I didn’t call anyone.”

“Oh…”

Bad turn, Namjoo quickly realized. Anxiety quickly ate her up when she thought about the heavy tension she had felt from both of them combined yesterday.

“Why?”

“Nothing. It’s nothing.” Namjoo assured. “Really. Sorry I asked.”

Kai observed her momentarily before putting back on that bright grin. “If you say so.”

Silently breathing a sigh of utter relief she quieted. When he didn’t disappear she turned back to look at him. “Um…is there something you need?”

“Actually, yes.”

Namjoo frowned.

“Today,” he started, “I’m borrowing you for lunch.”

The rest of the week passed by peacefully with Namjoo picking up slow work and successfully re-teaching herself the basics of grammar until that Friday night.