Chapter 3: SHE.
THE SUBTLE CLATTER of cutlery softly echoed in the room , along with the faint ticking of the clock in background which read 00:34 , while jumin ate his dinner in silence , every so often dropping a slice of fish onto elizabeth the third's plate , who kept nudging his leg with her paw from beneath the table as if to demand for more . had it not been for work , jumin would never eat at such an hour .
but today he couldn't simply leave the office until he was done ― not when there were many employees working overtime , still . it wouldn't look good if their boss walked away in leisure , not caring about the deadlines since he'd been the one to set them .
the lighting of the room was dimmer than usual ― set accordingly to change with time ― letting the glow of the city from the floor sized windows dominate the glow of the night bulbs .
he was tired , and yet sleep did not come to him , which was the reasons his hands moved slowly atop the plate , uninterested in the elaborate dish prepared by the chef . ding ― ! ! the notification bell of his phone rang from beside his hand , where he kept the phone earlier .
involuntarily , his eyes fell on the flash on the screen which stated he had an email : from ophelia chan .
interest suddenly piqued , he put the fork down to swipe the notification open .
📨 : hey there ! sorry for the late night disturbance . i was extremely busy with office work today and sending the product analysis report completely slipped my mind . thanks a lot for your patience :D _attachment included_
the tone of the email was rather . . . conversational , for a work related email , jumin mused . there was an emoji at the end , which unknowingly made a small curve appear on the corners of his mouth , and the next second he found himself typing a reply .
📨 : it's alright , i was having dinner anyway . i had a busy day at the office too , there was a deal with our old client that needed some paperwork sorted out , and hence i had to stay back like some of my accounts team members . have you eaten ? i hope you have , sleeping with an empty stomach isn't good for health .
he pressed the reply button , picking the cutlery back up to resume finishing his meal . on the other hand ― lying on her bed in her pajamas , with her laptop on her lap ― ophelia was surprised that she'd gotten a reply so soon , if one at all . she was just reporting the progress to him , was she not ?
don't tell me he found a problem with the report that quick , she prayed ― far too familiar with the way clients in advertising business acted ― before opening the mail . the way he'd replied to her email like a text made her laugh , and ophelia decided to play along .
📨 : dinner at this hour ?! gosh you must've been working hard T^T and thanks for reminding me ! now that i remember it , i didn't really eat much other than a burrito in the late evening . i think i should grab something right now .
jumin turned immediately at the sound , having walked away to put the plates in the sink . wine glass in one hand , he swiftly went to pick the phone up , frowning as he read her mentioning she had forgotten to eat . placing the glass of wine on the table , he typed back .
📨 : as the director , it wouldn't be very courteous of me to not follow the deadlines when my employees are pushing themselves to meet it . also , it is odd how you put so much attention to detail in your reports , how could you forget something as simple as eating ? make sure to grab something nutritious but not heavy , my nutritionist informed me human body's metabolism is slow when asleep , hence eating something heavy could cause problems . even i chose to not eat the salmon my chef had prepared for me , and went for the salad instead .
his reply was opened seconds after being sent , making a guilty ophelia lie through her words as she munched on a bar of chocolate .
📨 : ooh , really ? i like salmon , i wouldn't have shown the restrain if i were you lol 😂 but thanks for the information , i will keep in mind to not eat anything unhealthy right before bed from now on .
jumin smiled at her reply , turning to look down at elizabeth who was purring , rubbing herself on his leg for attention . " i'm sorry , elizabeth the third . i can't stroke your fur right now , i have to reply . " he explained , to which the cat responded by sitting on top of his foot . turning his attention back to the phone , he replied .
📨 : my chef is rather good at miso glazed salmon , if you wish to taste it , you can just tell me and i'll ask him to prepare it for you . he's rather good at cooking in general , actually , since he used to work in a five star hotel before working for me . gourmet dishes are his specialty .
ophelia looked at the message with a faint smile as she turned to lie on her stomach ― somehow the director's manner of talking amused her greatly , his speech seemed almost innocent , in a stark contrast to his position .
she was about to reply , when a reminder popped on her phone ― meeting tomorrow ! ― making her sigh . quickly typing , she didn't wait to see his reply and switched her laptop off , turning in for bed .
📨 : you're sweet ^^ thanks for the offer . now i must go to sleep , i have a meeting today . you should go to sleep too ! you need the rest ! night night 😴
and while ophelia had no qualms about ending the conversation for the sake of work tomorrow , jumin was disappointed . he was enjoying talking to her far too much to actually look at the time ― she must've been tired ― he thought , kneeling to pick the cat up from his feet .
" that was inconsiderate of me , " he mused aloud , looking at the cat , " right , elizabeth the third ? "however , unlike ophelia chan , the cat simply meowed at him in answer . ah well , he had a long day ahead too , she was right , he should rest .
the next morning when ophelia opened her eyes to shut the alarm off , she found a notification from jumin han in her inbox . jolting up from her bed in surprise , she opened the message , childlike excitement apparent on her face .
[text] : i wanted to apologize for keeping you up last night , and texted you because i find phone messengers to be more convenient than emails . i am sure you agree , since we already have each others phone numbers .
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
grievancesofhamlet
grievancesofhamlet FIRST OF ALL!!! I'm extreme sorry for the delay in updating these stories. i was caught up with life and couldn't find it in myself to write however i am back with a bunch of chapters stacked so stay tuned and don't forget to leave a comment and a review! i'd appreciate it greatly if you did <3
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