𝐒𝐏𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒 - ★彡[ᴀʟʜᴀɪᴛʜᴀᴍ]彡★

𝟗 - '𝐃𝐎𝐍'𝐓 𝐆𝐎.'

I turned to him in surprise, parting my lips to say something and then stopping myself. What was I supposed to do? How was I supposed to respond to that? His eyes were clouded over, almost pleading me to stay. His hair was slightly tousled, falling in front of his eyes as he continued to hold onto my arm.

"What?" I could only manage to say that. Out of all the things I had expected from him, those words were probably one of the last on the list. My heart was running marathons as he continued to stare at me. I was the one reflected in his eyes. No one else but me. That alone was enough to make my chest ache. It felt tight, an emotion full of nervousness and elation. He didn't say anything more, just continuing to stare into me, his eyes boring through mine and never once looking away.

"Mr. Alhaitham, I think you're delirious," I managed to laugh out nervously, "you ought to get some rest."

I said that, and yet his grip didn't slacken.

"No. I won't let go," he stubbornly gripped onto my arm tighter. "Listen to me."

I bit my lip nervously as I listened to Alhaitham's words. Everything he was saying right now couldn't really be trusted, all of it could just be his sickness and they were just him speaking in a delirious state—

"Whenever I'm around you, you always act so nervously. Even though I've shown that I'm incompetent for this job, you're the one who continues to believe that they're the one whom is the problem. It's frustrating. You won't even point out my faults, instead you just blindly follow whatever I say. Sooner or later, it's..." Alhaitham trailed off, his hand slipping from my wrist.

"Yep. You're definitely delirious." He would never say something like that. He's never been sick before, huh... I'm almost glad no one else saw him like this.

It appeared as if he had passed out, which was honestly a relief. I don't know how much more of that sort of talking I could handle before my heart exploded. God, I've played too many otomes. Tons of scenes of the MC caring for sick characters flashed through my mind, and I distinctly remembered the glee I had felt while playing them. But this... this was far different. I took several deep breaths to steady my heartbeat, trying to pass all the words he said as a sick person's rambling.

Later that day, he had woken up again with absolutely ZERO recollection of what had happened. Honestly, I was pretty pissed. Perhaps I had expected him to subvert a normal human being in that aspect, but he demanded me to tell him exactly what had happened after he had to lie down.

"What did I say?" he demanded, his voice stoic and questioning. "Tell me."

"Nothing much," I shrugged. "There's no need to worry, you didn't do anything at all."

Alhaitham folded his hands on the countertop, his negotiation face coming out. "I'll do anything you ask if you tell me. This is extremely important. I've never been unable to recollect what happened to me in the past, so I need to fill in the missing gap."

"If you're that adamant, alright," I sighed. "Here's exactly what you said. It's embarrassing, so just bear with me..." Clearing my throat, I began to speak in a deeper tone of voice to impersonate him. "'Whenever I'm around you, you always act so nervously. Even though I've shown that I'm incompetent for this job, you're the one who continues to believe that they're the one whom is the problem. It's frustrating. You won't even point out my faults, instead you just blindly follow whatever I say.' See, it wasn't that bad, right?"

When I turned to look at my boss, he was pale as a sheet. It looks like his soul left his body. Pfft.

"I apologize for saying such outlandish things. It appears as if I lack a semblance of emotional maturity when I am delirious." Alhaitham looked conflicted as if the realization didn't make much sense to him.

"It's fine." I shrugged it off to make him feel better. "Now, for my request. Starting from today, I'd like us to eat our meals together."

Even though I had no idea what brought this on, I couldn't help it. This panging feeling in my chest could really only mean one thing. Sure, I wasn't supposed to ask for anything. But I couldn't help but admit that I had grown intrigued by Alhaitham, and wanted to learn more about him.

I hope I'm not developing a crush on my boss...

It would've been rather scandalous in other situations, however, I believed it would be somewhat beneficial here. So long as these feelings don't strengthen, all would be well.

After all, there's no way he would ever reciprocate them.

Hi guys! I wrote this when I was sick so I apologize if it's weird. I wanted to get an update out :)
Thank you for 10k+ reads! I appreciate it greatly and am indebted to all of you. I started school so I've been a lot busier.
From this point onwards, the romance begins!!
Much love, wasabi <333

EDITED (✓)