This time Doun was looking at an empty chair.
On the afternoon of February 16, Seorin found him inside the agreed public dining entrance. As she had joked, she arrived at the actual time even if he came early. From the waiting place staff had shown him, he studied chairs instead of a menu. He looked up when she said his name.
“Actual chairs today.”
“Then stop drawing them and try sitting.”
They followed the worker with their small bags. A place facing the door was available now. Seorin chose it; Doun sat opposite. As her body eased, she realised how much she had wanted the view. It was good without him reserving the chair for her beforehand. They had chosen from real vacancies. If necessary they could have asked elsewhere.
She accepted the dining glass instead of unpacking her bottle. They chose their own food. Doun considered a larger portion, then took a small one. Less hungry? He had eaten breakfast late. She would keep her own portion. A shared meeting time did not align the meals before it.
Was he wearing the outfit he had searched for yesterday? Yes. Good search result, she said. He had merely found clothes that were there already. They laughed within the joke's actual scope.
Her bag was lighter: no exhibition leaflet or company notebook, a smaller bottle, and a book left at home. What book? A story she had not finished. She had not left it behind because she wanted to explain it all today. He had many unfinished things too.
Perhaps next time they could talk about scenes each remembered. She did not want a meeting admitting only people who finished the book. Under that condition, he could speak too, Doun said.
Her bowl arrived steaming; his plate had a cold side dish. She raised the first spoon and lowered it again. Too hot. He started offering water, then withdrew as she took her own glass. Thanks, she said; she had water now. An offered hand need not complete every journey.
Once it cooled, the food was less spicy and a little sweeter than expected. How was it? Now she could answer as someone who had actually eaten it. Good, briefly. They smiled at the earlier untasted side dish.
An adult colleague passing towards another table recognised them. A friendly greeting, then a question: out together today too? Seorin's hand stopped over the spoon. Doun glanced at her instead of answering immediately. They had not settled how much to say at work.
“We arranged to have a meal together personally today.”
It was true. She called it neither work nor coincidence. The colleague accepted it and went to their own table, without assuming a right to the remaining questions.
Quiet sat briefly between them. Seorin stirred her food. Was that answer all right? Doun asked. Saying the truth felt good. Freezing as if caught did not.
He too had been unprepared and looked at her first. He had not meant to give her the answer to carry alone, though it might have felt that way. She did not dislike him checking her face. They had both failed to find words in the same moment.
Keeping details private at work differed from speaking as if they never met. He agreed. They settled that either could state a personal meeting when asked. Private conversation and work material retained their own boundaries. There was no need to seek the colleague's table and provide a new announcement.
She had already said what happened. Doun breathed more easily. Seorin returned to the food. Choosing a relationship did not need to become an examination performed before everybody else.
He sometimes felt awkward after saying only a short equipment sentence to her at work, as though the wish to meet that evening had been hidden too. She had sometimes heard short words as disappointment. They looked at each other as people learning those facts for the first time.
She did not want to require another expression during every task. When she wanted something, she could actually say it later. He could too. A working face need not be read as a relationship answer.
The food had cooled while they talked. Seorin liked that today. Had important conversation regulated the temperature? Doun asked. The dining place offered no such function. They had talked a long time themselves. They began eating again.
At the end they each paid for their own portion. His small plate did not describe a small feeling. She nearly made that joke, then left it. He had eaten breakfast late. The answer was enough. Every difference did not need the relationship attached to it.
Outside was less cold than expected. A short public pavement walk fitted their return times. Seorin said she wanted to hold hands. He agreed and offered the comfortable one. A little room remained between their steps.
If the colleague saw them walking, personal arrangement would still answer it, she said. Yes. Doun lifted their hands a little, then let them fall naturally. These were not hands held for display. She smiled at the movement and kept walking.
They stopped before a bookshop's large window. She did not intend to buy anything today. He wanted only to look too. Looking could end without carrying an object away. Sunlight reflected across the lettering behind the glass.
The end of one title was hidden from both positions. They moved slightly. Everything seemed to acquire a reference face lately, he joked. Today they could get home without knowing the concealed letters, she said. They actually left without reading more.
It was an afternoon in which a small unknown could remain. She felt his glove fabric through her own. The bare hand at the exhibition belonged to the same person, with a different sensation. She did not take off a glove to make today's touch match.
At a broad corner they stepped outside passing traffic and paused. He was glad they had come together. She was too. The answer did not erase the tight face she had made in the dining place. That moment could exist inside a good afternoon.
After hesitating, Doun said he wanted to kiss her. Seorin looked at him. The surrounding sound seemed farther away for a moment.
“Briefly, now, I'd like that.”
He did not pull hard on the hand he held. She stepped closer, and he waited for the movement. The kiss was short. Afterwards they drew apart. She almost covered her smile with a hand, then left it visible. He smiled too.
Was it all right?
“Good. I'm a little embarrassed now.”
Both answers were true. They made no promise to do more here. She asked whether to walk again. Yes. Afterwards they asked again about holding hands. The earlier yes did not authorise every later closeness at once. The second question did not feel graceless.
Near the fork Seorin admitted she was reluctant to finish. He was too, but his chosen homeward time was near. She understood. Saying she wished for more did not require him to extend the evening in order to receive the wish. He wanted to meet again, he added.
So did she. The next date could follow their actual schedules. They had not decided to share a home or assign every rest day to each other. Two people going to separate houses had shared this stretch. That did not make the walk less tender.
After releasing hands, Doun crossed first. When Seorin looked back before crossing her own way, he lifted his hand lightly. She lifted hers too. Yesterday outside work each had another task; today each still did. This wave simply felt a little warmer.
She reported her actual arrival. His answer came later while he washed his hands at home. She left the gloves in a dry place near the entrance. The memory need not disappear without them held in her hands.
That evening she boiled water. The afternoon meal had been eaten; if she was hungry at night she could feed herself again. Keeping a meeting alive by staying hungry seemed absurd enough to make her laugh. She took a small snack with the warm drink.
She thanked him for hearing her after the colleague's question. He was glad they could talk together. They had not arrived knowing every answer. That made her easier. If another awkward moment came, it could be asked about when it actually happened.
Company materials entered none of the conversation. Doun's responsibility for old line work had not disappeared in a kiss. Seorin did not summon guilt first to test every good moment either. In actual work, each would answer what belonged to them. Today's feeling could not answer in their place.
She checked tomorrow's starting time and set the alarm. Company rather than dining entrance. The desk's empty part needed no work notebook. Exhibition leaflet and light personal bag could remain her own things.
Next morning the designated company receipt reported an answerer connected through Eundam's existing Business Support route. It did not identify the first delay-value setter. The person could explain the role in receiving and passing the resend request, with relevant assignment records. Seorin had not agreed to attend. She would first read the real role, consent and permitted material, then choose the question she was actually assigned to ask.