Tsunami Advisory
Chapter 17
It was all because of that damn dream. Ever since that day, Hae-il’s gaze had been hopelessly ensnared by Danbi’s lips.
On days when she applied lipstick to her naturally vivid lips, tearing his eyes away became pure torture. Whenever she reported something or answered a question, the soft movement of her plump lower lip overlapped without fail with the vivid images from his dream.
Those lewd lips that had panted out his name while swallowing him whole. He became morbidly curious about the contours of the body hidden beneath that baggy black T-shirt she wore every day—underneath that shoddy scrap of fabric. Before he knew it, his eyes were relentlessly pursuing only Danbi in the office, during meetings, and in the fleeting moments they passed each other in the hallway.
The T-shirt that fell loosely below her chest made her silhouette look bulky. But for that very reason, on the rare occasions when she put her hands on her hips or stretched, the momentary glimpse of her slender waistline drove Hae-il completely out of his mind.
An impulse surged within him to seize the pale, slender ankles precariously exposed beneath her jeans. He wanted to leave an indelible mark of himself somewhere on her skin—anywhere.
The deeper these wicked thoughts grew, the more Hae-il sought Danbi out.
“Danbi-ssi. Come here for a moment.”
Using work as an excuse, inventing new tasks out of thin air, or blowing up the scale of meetings when all else failed, he created every possible opportunity to cross paths with her. Yet the more he did, the paler and darker Danbi’s face became, her expression hardening like stone. And the more she stiffened, the more Hae-il’s insides boiled with dark, frantic anxiety.
Acknowledge me already, please.
Just say something so we can be comfortable looking each other in the face, even if it’s not about work. I’ll accommodate everything for you.
You waited over ten years for me. So why are you making it feel like I’m the one who waited for you all this time?
A surge of indignation and annoyance welled up straight to the pit of his stomach.
“Let’s begin the meeting.”
During the meeting called regarding Project B, Hae-il caught Danbi exchanging glances with a man sitting opposite him. Judging by where he sat, he seemed to belong to the Planning Team. Were they close? Well, while carrying out projects, collaborating with various departments was a frequent occurrence.
When the man lightly clenched his fist in a cheerful gesture of encouragement, Danbi responded with a soft, smiling gaze he had never seen before. That smile was so excessively bright that it blatantly grated on his nerves.
A subtle vibe, as if a ‘woman’ were interacting with a ‘man.’ Well, they were lightly acquainted, but not close enough to be informal, so she could be like that, he told himself, doing his best to suppress the unpleasant sensation.
That evening, there was a company dinner to commemorate the official kickoff of the project. He resolved that tonight, over drinks with Danbi, he would establish a proper relationship with her.
No matter how shy Danbi was, with the help of alcohol, she would surely pour out everything honestly like a burst dam.
Arriving at the restaurant with such high hopes, Hae-il naturally scanned the tables, intending to sit next to or across from Danbi. However, in the seat in front of Danbi—the spot he had taken for granted as his own—a dark figure was already planted firmly. He recognized him at once. It was that very Planning Team bastard who had exchanged cryptic glances with Danbi in the meeting room earlier that day.
What on earth was this bizarre situation? How could they dare let a man from another team take that seat when the Team Leader hadn’t even sat down yet? How did it make any sense that I, Han Hae-il, am wide awake, breathing in the very same space, yet she doesn’t spare me a single glance because she’s busy flirting with some other guy?
“Oh, Team Leader Han, have a drink too… Just like the CEO, you really are…”
Hae-il, who barely managed to take a seat at the table right next to Danbi’s—the closest one available—half-heartedly brushed off the flattering remarks of the Director beside him as he mechanically filled and emptied his glass. Yet every single nerve in his body was directed toward Danbi.
Ha, there was that look again. Danbi was shooting that man another charming, eye-smiling look. At that, the man chattered on even more triumphantly. Anyone watching would think they were a brand-new couple. Feeling his stomach twist, Hae-il downed his soju in one gulp like water. The searing heat of the alcohol rushing down his esophagus felt like it was pouring fuel onto his fury.
What was she actually doing? Was she trying to make everyone at work misunderstand? If a guy was blatantly hitting on her like that, shouldn’t she know how to cut him off? That frustrating girl hadn’t changed a bit from when she was seventeen. Back then, she couldn’t even draw a proper line with that bastard Lee Suhyun and let herself get dragged around, and even now, well past thirty, she was accepting it all with that same dazed face.
Fool. Clueless idiot. Moron.
I, Han Hae-il, am right here, so where on earth are you looking? Not in the United States, but on Korean soil, at the very same workplace, sitting at the table right next to yours watching all of this.
Grit. Hae-il unknowingly ground his front teeth against the rim of the shot glass. It felt as though the sound of shattering glass was echoing in his ears. Right then, the conversation exchanged between Danbi and that guy drifted into his ears.
“May I wipe it for you?”
“Ah, it’s all right. I can go to the restroom later and—”
“Mm, but it looks a bit funny.”
Before long, Danbi craned her slender neck, bringing her face closer to the man, and the man, as if having waited for this, raised a napkin with a tender touch and wiped the corner of her mouth.
Ah, these two, seriously. In an instant, uncontrollable rage made Hae-il’s hand tremble, and the shot glass he had just refilled plunged helplessly to the floor.
Crash! With a sharp sound, the shot glass shattered, scattering fragments everywhere.
Only then did Danbi’s startled gaze finally land on Hae-il. An undeniable embarrassment lingered in her eyes. But it was distinctly different from the flustered confusion tinged with fluttering excitement he had seen in the past.
Danbi hastily excused herself, saying she would go to the restroom. The eyes of the people startled by the broken glass lingered on Hae-il for a moment, but paying them no heed, he continued to glare at the man still sitting across from Danbi’s empty seat.
As soon as Danbi disappeared, the man checked his reflection on his phone screen and adjusted his appearance. Anyone could tell he was glaringly conscious of Danbi. It overlapped strangely with how Hae-il himself had adjusted his clothes in front of the mirror before coming here.
Hae-il let out a quiet snort. Despite how she looked, Danbi was someone whose standards were in the sky. She had liked him so much—there was no way she would be attracted to a man with such utterly plain looks. Even when Lee Suhyun, who was on the quite good-looking side, had put in so much effort, she had only said she was scared, far from fluttering.
Though he tried his best to reassure himself that way, the knot in his chest refused to unravel. Danbi’s soft eye-smile directed at that man earlier—its lingering image flickered behind his eyelids, grating on Hae-il’s nerves. At this gathering tonight, the one who received Danbi’s gaze longer and deeper was clearly that Planning Team guy, not him. That fact hit him with suffocating humiliation.
“Anyway, please put in a good word with the CEO…”
Hae-il mechanically took the drinks offered by the other team leader next to him, who was chattering on about something. Without touching a single bite of food, he had emptied two bottles of soju in succession, his insides boiling with anxiety and fury.
He couldn’t take it anymore. He couldn’t wait for her any longer. He couldn’t keep pacing himself to Danbi’s sluggish tempo.
Hae-il tossed the last drop of soju roughly into his mouth, slammed his glass down onto the table with a sharp clatter, and pushed himself up. At his sudden action, all eyes at the table snapped to him at once. But Hae-il had not a shred of composure left to care about the astonished looks of the people around him.
“Phew… Excuse me, I’m going to the restroom for a moment.”
A month had already passed since their reunion. Danbi had finally shattered the very last ounce of Han Hae-il’s patience. Unable to remain seated like this, Hae-il went in search of Danbi.
Where are you, Lee Danbi? I put my thriving life in the United States on hold and came all the way here just to see you.
Look at how immense an opportunity cost I paid to come here.
Why do you keep making me search for you like this?
Even if you can’t cling to me out of gratitude when your first love appears right before your eyes…
You clueless idiot… fool… stubborn bear…
Shaking his head in an effort to clear the alcohol weighing heavily on him, he looked around inside and outside the restaurant. As Hae-il lingered in front of the establishment for a moment, a familiar, sweet fragrance drifted to the tip of his nose on the breeze. It was that very scent that faintly drifted from Danbi’s body whenever she passed by.
As if possessed, Hae-il followed the scent, step by step.
A few paces away from the restaurant, inside a dim alley where even the lamplight was swallowed by shadows, he finally found Danbi.
