Chapter 33
Ender was slumped over in a hopeless state, shocked that his godlike sunbae was avoiding him. Having only experienced his always proper, razor-sharp demeanor… Anschel inwardly marveled at how a person could become so broken.
But he couldn’t just tell Ender that Harriet actually liked him and was just confused after finally realizing his feelings, so not to worry.
Just then, Ender suddenly jumped up from his seat. His handsome face brightened. At the same time, the door clicked open. The one who entered was Harriet, leaning on a cane. Anschel looked at Harriet and asked.
“Is it raining outside?”
“Hmm… no.”
But Harriet was completely soaked from head to toe. He dripped water everywhere and smiled bitterly. Ender quickly approached and carefully dried Harriet’s head and body with a cloth.
Anschel had just vividly witnessed Ender burying his face in that towel and inhaling deeply moments ago. He tried his best to forget that memory.
“I’ll get you something warm.”
“Thank you.”
“Where did you get so wet?”
“Just at the lake…”
‘So he went to the lake when he disappeared.’
Anschel squeezed a new paper cup so hard it crumpled, then barely managed to release his grip. He sighed as he threw the paper cup in the trash. Then he took out a new one and poured warm barley tea. Fortunately, the barley tea that had just been in the kettle was still warm.
“Here you go.”
“…Mm.”
Harriet took a sip and put it on the table. Then he turned his head toward Anschel who approached. Behind him, Ender could be seen carefully taking care of the paper cup with a happy face.
“Anschel.”
Anschel became anxious.
“Yes.”
“Come here for a moment.”
‘No, why on earth…’
Anschel felt cold sweat running down his back. Ender’s red eyes, which had been tending to the paper cup over there, now turned toward Anschel. It was a look that said, “Who are you to whisper with our sunbae?”
‘How would I know that…’
Anschel wanted to cry.
To make matters worse, Harriet’s face turned red again. Simultaneously, there was a crack sound as the table fractured. Ender’s aura began to rise little by little inside the office, as if about to cause a gale.
‘Lord Buddha, please save me.’
“How can I make Ender like me?”
“…”
“…”
“…Pardon?”
Anschel, now quite accustomed to missing the timing, responded with dotted eyes.
He had a more stupid expression than when he had answered Ender’s demand that he become president. Several strands of hair from his 2:8 hairstyle fell onto his forehead.
“I mean… I’d like you to help me make Ender like me.”
Harriet’s expression became shy again. Behind him, Ender, who had been watching this situation as one of the background characters, stood frozen with the paper cup in hand.
It was a scene where someone might mistakenly think Harriet was confessing to Anschel. Anschel was so dumbfounded that he thought to himself:
‘Just breathe…’
More than that, his face was stinging so much he couldn’t bear it. Anschel unknowingly closed his eyes with tears flowing.
* * *
‘Why are you doing this to me?’
Looking at Harriet’s quite serious expression, Anschel shifted uncomfortably before sighing. He was already afraid of what would happen if Ender McGuire found out that Harriet Alster, the man sitting in front of him, was currently parking his bottom in Anschel’s container.
Anschel was already diligently accumulating death flags with Ender. If he didn’t get elected as president, he might really be found as a cold corpse in that northern sea.
But Harriet in front of him, despite pushing Anschel to the edge of a cliff in real time, was holding a pen like a student ready to study.
‘Besides, there’s no way the Colonel didn’t hear those words from that distance earlier.’
Perhaps that’s why, surprisingly, Ender had easily separated from Harriet and Anschel. However, his intense red eyes looked as though they would devour Harriet. He was now quietly waiting for an opportunity like a shark that could swallow its prey in one bite once it was within reach.
Anschel found it difficult to grasp what the Colonel was thinking.
“First, if the other person has good feelings for me…”
In truth, Ender would rush over with joy if Harriet just breathed nearby. In this situation, only Harriet, the person concerned, didn’t know this.
But Anschel couldn’t just blurt out, “Colonel Ender loves you, bang bang!” without any hints. Seeing Harriet seriously studying, Anschel responded seriously too. It was due to his chronic personality.
“The first step is to start with light skinship. Ah… since the other person might be uncomfortable, let’s try to avoid touching without permission.”
While saying this, Anschel thought that Ender had already gone far beyond light skinship. Seeing Harriet’s white head listening very seriously to this obvious talk and even taking notes, Anschel thought he seemed like someone who would be fun to tease.
Of course, if Ender McGuire found out he was being teased, he might kill Anschel before making him president.
“Second is conversation. Even when you’re apart, you can share what you’re doing by talking on the phone.”
Anschel said this and asked Harriet to take out his mobile phone.
Harriet took out what looked like a flip phone that older people might use, and smiled awkwardly.
Yes, I thought as much.
Anschel nodded. After receiving the phone and checking its contents, he was shocked.
“Why haven’t you saved anyone’s contacts??”
“I don’t know how to do it.”
“…”
Anschel made an accurate prediction that Harriet might be a more formidable opponent than expected. He cleared his throat and tapped in his superior’s number from memory while speaking to Harriet.
“You were using a smartphone the other day…”
“That’s military-issued.”
Ah, so private use is not allowed. But didn’t he use that to browse the internet and go on home shopping? It was quite amusing.
After finally entering Ender’s number in Harriet’s phone, Anschel sighed. For the first time, Ender McGuire was entered into Harriet’s phone. Just for this, Ender might be so moved he’d shed tears.
“Now let’s try sending a text message.”
“Hmm…”
Harriet swallowed a groan as if a bit troubled. Anschel decided to help a bit more since he was already helping.
“You write the person’s name here, then write your message. It’s better if you add an emoticon at the end.”
[Engel, what are you doing?◐]
Wait, what is this weird document?
Anschel asked in shock.
“Engel?”
“Ah… when I typed ‘En,’ it automatically…”
“Damn autocomplete…”
Anschel muttered as if he didn’t feel well.
Calling Ender McGuire “Engel” was so funny that a passing dog would laugh its belly button off. But Harriet, who enjoyed morbid humor, was different from the start, and seemed to really like it as he was savoring the text without correcting it.
Anschel was about to seriously advise that if he wanted to seduce someone, he should never make such humor, when he accidentally pressed the send button.
That weird document!!!!
“It sent.”
Harriet said with a small, troubled smile. He was truly a person whose emotions were impossible to read. It was fortunate that at least his facial muscles moved when it came to Ender.
There was no reply for a long time. While waiting for a reply, Anschel was explaining to Harriet about relationships from friendship to lovers, senior-junior relationships, office romance, campus couples, and so on.
Then Anschel’s phone rang. It was his personal phone for private use. The caller was Angela.
“Yes.”
– Help me!!!
Anschel frowned at Angela’s urgent voice.
“What’s wrong?”
– The, the Colonel, the Colonel has gone crazy!
Colonel? In this town, the only person with the rank of Colonel was Ender McGuire. Anschel asked urgently.
“What happened!”
– The Colonel is writhing around!! He seems to be in a lot of pain, and suddenly after checking his phone…
“…Ignore him.”
Anschel cut her off in a cold voice and pressed the end button. Then he looked at Harriet, who was still holding his notepad.
“It might take some time to get a reply. Let’s continue.”
The two conversed with very serious expressions, as if seen from a distance, they might be engaged in a 120-hour debate. Sweat rolled down Anschel’s cheeks. Even Harriet’s white face had a slight blush.
Both panted and grinned at each other like comrades. Of course, Harriet still had a serious face with a very faint smile. Finally, Anschel said.
“And this is my personal preference, but I like having my ears cleaned.”
Surely, if you’re lovers, you should use each other’s thighs as pillows, clean each other’s ears, or brush up each other’s hair.
“Of course, that’s just my personal preference. Please don’t take it as reference.”
Anschel said it as a joke, but already on the last page of Harriet’s notepad was written “thigh pillow, ear cleaning.” The two became very close in a short time and finally parted.
Ding-dong-.
As Harriet was limping away from Anschel’s container, a short bell rang on his mobile phone. Checking his phone at the brief sound, Harriet smiled slightly. His eyebrows, which had been sloping downward, lifted a bit.
[Yes^^ Sunbae. Can we talk on the phone?]
His cute junior was truly too lovable.
Just as Harriet clicked open his phone to call, he heard someone approaching from the front. Ender McGuire was standing before Harriet’s eyes in a disheveled state. His face was red and he was panting as if he had been running.
The military base was quite far from Anschel’s home, but it seemed he had run the distance in one go. His red eyes and usually neat black hair were a bit messy. That appearance was so pretty that Harriet unknowingly raised his hand.
“Come here, Ender.”
Ender approached slowly and removed the phone from his ear.
“I wanted to talk on the phone, but I wanted to see your face.”
“Mm… me too.”
Harriet gestured with a small smile. It reminded him of their academy days. Ender always appeared suddenly like that in front of Harriet.
Of course, back then, he couldn’t bring himself to approach and just circled around Harriet. But now he had grown so large, bigger than Harriet, and walked alongside him.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
