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"What does it mean," Evankhell asks out of nowhere one day, as she is prone to doing, "when your stomach feels empty and your face feels tight, but only around one specific person?"
She pulled Ro away from his paperwork for this. The stacks of paperwork he's been catching up on for her – and, frankly, Hansung and Quant as well. All three of them know that if they procrastinate long enough, Ro will eventually get frustrated and do all of the catching up by himself. Hansung likes to jump in at the end, to make sure that Ro doesn't do anything he wasn't supposed to.
Evankhell and Quant? Well. Regardless of however Ro may feel about them on a normal day, it's actually for the best that neither of them do any more desk work than absolutely necessary. There are only so many potential outcomes, all of them involving fire.
They've been standing on the balcony for at least a solid ten minutes, more than enough time for Ro's stomach to sink at the thought of all that paperwork still patiently waiting for him, and this is the first full sentence Evankhell has said to him.
What does it mean, he repeats the words in his head, around a specific person?
"Empty?" Ro questions. “And your face feels tight?”
Evenkhell's default expression is a scowl. She doesn't seem to realize that. So that's most likely one question answered.
Who does Evankhell scowl at enough that much?
Life is so much easier when Hansung is the one pulling him away to ask random questions. Terrifying, but at least the experience is over quickly. He at least gets a free cup of coffee out of it.
"Like when you look at someone,” Evankhell continues, “and… even if you just cleared a full buffet table, your stomach twists like you're in need of more?"
"Are you sure you're not just hungry?" Ro asks.
He knows nothing of Evankhell's eating habits, but she knows little to nothing of moderation in every other aspect of life. It's the "one specific person" part that's catching him off guard, however. Since she's confronting him about it, maybe she likes Lero-Ro himself, or –
He follows Evanlhell's gaze as Hansung and Quant burst through the door. Quant looks a few shades paler than usual, and Hansung is laughing. And Evankhell's eyes follow them as they walk.
Great.
Ro thinks he knows what's going on now.
"You've been around as long as this world has existed." Lero-Ro is very skilled at keeping his expression and face neutral. Even so, he thinks Evankhell can tell he's surprised. "How have you not had a crush?"
She shrugs. "Is that what you call it? ...I just didn't recognize the symptoms."
"You make it sound like you've just caught the flu."
"Are they similar?"
Ro shakes his head, but it's not an answer, it's exasperation. He's aware that Evankhell is going to think he's being gutsy around her. Something his boss will probably keep in mind for the future. He just can't help it though – the word “unbelievable” escapes on his next breath before he can even think about stopping it.
Evankhell likes Hansung.
Evankhell likes Hansung.
He almost wishes Evankhell had confessed to him instead.
“That's because Quant's stupid,” Ro says, in a last ditch attempt to derail this train of thought. His boss and the head administrator cause enough problems individually. Putting the two of them together would make everything ten times worse. “Stupid people tend to cause those types of reactions.”
Then, because his own mind is his enemy as much as everything else in this Tower is, it supplies him with another thought – what if it's actually Quant she likes?
Not possible.
There are way, way too many things that could go wrong with that scenario. But Hansung...?
“It's not Quant,” Evankhell replies, a bit snappishly, before Ro's thoughts can finish spiraling even further out of control. “I know exactly how I feel about Quant, and that he's a dumbass.”
“Obviously.”
Ro can't help but picture Evankhell and Hansung together. They compliment each other, tall and short, muscular and cunning, masculine and feminine. Together, there's a chance they'll make his life absolutely miserable. “Are you going to tell him?” he asks anyway.
“That he's a dumbass?” Evankhell narrows her eyes at him. “Think he already knows.”
“Hansung.”
The men in question have wandered far enough, they've almost disappeared from sight. Hansung says something inaudible; Quant nearly trips over his own feet in response. He looks distraught. Ro thinks he can relate, as the air around him seems to get thicker while he waits for Evankhell to answer.
Poor Quant, he continues to think.
Quant is already Hansung's coffee shuttle and Evankhell's pack mule, and not even he has done anything to deserve a world where Evankhell and Hansung are unified in their slave driving. His already sour day is only going to get worse if Evankhell takes the first step forward and says anything –
Ro moves quickly, only one step behind her. Compelled to protect Quant by a dip in his stomach and an itch in his palms that he doesn't quite understand either.