Chapter 79 - A Sudden Visit

“What was worse was that Mr. Pittman was never clear on what he wanted. When he threw a hint at me, I had to catch on and get it done just by reading the room. There were so many things that I had to get done before it was brought up. Even though I was already so out of it, I got yelled at again for not doing my job properly.” Emma sighed and shook her head as if recalling a nightmare. “I missed you very much, Yeonwoo.”

She reminded me of my little sister. I instinctively almost patted her shoulder before stopping myself. Emma was my colleague, not my younger sister. Instead of patting her shoulder, I smiled. “In any case, thank you for your concern. I don’t plan on quitting anytime soon. If I ever do end up writing a letter of resignation, I will give it enough time—”

I paused in the middle of my sentence. Of course, it was good manners to give it enough time to train the next person even after writing the resignation letter. For some reason, however, I recalled how life could be unpredictable. Even last time, I had never expected that I would be quitting like that.

Just then, the door burst open without so much as a knock. Emma and I both looked toward the direction of the sound in surprise. When we saw who was standing in the doorway, however, we were even more shocked.

Keith was staring at us with a pale face, frozen in place.

Act 17

“Mr. Pittman,” Emma muttered in surprise. And that was it. Nobody else out of the three of us spoke.

‘Why did he come here so suddenly?’ That was my first thought. Keith didn’t even blink as he stared intently at me. It was like he was challenging me to provide an excuse. Of course, I had none prepared.

As the head secretary, however, I had to step forward at times like this. I squeezed out my brains and asked, “What is it, Mr. Pittman? I was just about to return to my office. Was there something you wanted me to do urgently?”

Thankfully, my voice sounded the same as usual. I was quite certain that my expression was the same, too. I knew I had maintained my composure because Keith’s face, as he gazed at me, remained unchanging.

I glanced at the clock that was hanging on the wall. There were still almost 15 minutes left of lunchtime. It was strange that he had come back already. Including the time spent on the road and on eating, one hour of lunchtime wouldn’t be enough.

“…Why didn’t you answer my calls?” Keith murmured quietly.

“Your calls?” I quickly checked my phone and swallowed a shallow breath. There were three missed calls, all from Keith’s number. Perhaps I had pressed the wrong button and muted the phone. I hurriedly enabled sound and vibration and looked up. “I’m sorry. It was in the wrong setting and I didn’t know…”

Even though I had apologized, he continued to remain silent. Just as I was getting increasingly anxious, Keith lightly bobbed his finger and gestured for me to follow him before turning around.

“See you later,” I quickly said farewell to Emma and left the secretary’s office. From beyond the closing door, I saw Emma staring at me worriedly.

*

*

Keith didn’t say a single word as we walked down the hallway. I quietly followed after him. I planned to remain silent until Keith spoke first.

“Oh—” I exclaimed instinctively. Before I could pass him, Keith had pressed the elevator button. Soon, a small ding sounded and the door opened. I hurriedly stretched out my arm and kept the door open, stepping over to one side. I got into the elevator after Keith.

While the machine ascended, I silently stared at the floor number signal. Just as I was meaninglessly chewing on the changing numbers, I noticed something strange.

‘The scent…’ A second later, I instinctively looked up at Keith. At almost the same time, Keith looked down at me, too. For a moment, we just stared at each other, as if to challenge each other to be impatient and open their mouth first. Of course, I couldn’t hope to win against Keith.

“Um, it just feels like your pheromones smell a little stronger than usual…” I muttered.

Keith shot back right away. “Is there a problem? I heard that you were taking meds.”

I didn’t know what to say. Had I asked something I shouldn’t have?

“Oh… Yes.” I lowered my gaze, flustered. Whether he was exuding a lot of pheromones or a little was his choice. I had asked him to hold back on it before, but that was before I started getting panic attacks. If anything, these days, I should be asking Keith to let me smell his pheromones. If Keith was exuding more pheromones, that was a good thing for me.

It wasn’t rare for people’s scent to get stronger or weaker depending on their emotions, not just during intercourse. Thanks to that, I often ended up catching onto how Keith was feeling even when I didn’t mean to. Judging from past experiences, Keith must not be feeling very stellar. I couldn’t possibly ask him why outright in this situation. Instead, I decided to beat around the bush.

I asked, “Is there something you want me to do?”

“What?”

Just then, another short ding sounded and the elevator came to a halt. I hurriedly got out first and pressed down on the button to keep the door open for Keith. As Keith walked along the hallway, I followed after him and continued, “You came all the way to the secretary’s office. If there was something you wanted me to do…”

At that moment, Keith jolted. Albeit for a split second, I definitely saw his back flinch. I tilted my head in confusion. Keith continued to walk without turning around. “I just wanted to check what was next on my schedule.”