The stack of papers Dinan had been grateful for yesterday because they saved her during her lunch break was back to earning curses from her mouth that morning. Of course, it was because she had to hand those papers over to her supervisor.
Dinan really wasn't ready to come face-to-face with Ganin. Not because of the feelings she'd once had for him during her high school years, but because all her ridiculous behavior from years ago was almost certainly still etched in Ganin's memory.
The most annoying thing about her entire past was the fact that Dinan and Ganin had never really known each other. It sounded absurd, of course. Dinan herself questioned where her common sense had been when she was eighteen.
Dinan obviously couldn't act as though they were old friends meeting again and trying to make small talk by exchanging updates.
And yet here Dinan was, standing right in front of Ganindra Wibisana's office door with a stack of folders in her hands. Before she could knock, the door suddenly swung open. Dinan felt her body go rigid at once. On the other side, Ganin's eyes widened in surprise at the sight of Dinan standing stiffly in front of him—wondering whether the woman was still breathing.
His gaze dropped to the stack of folders in Dinan's hands. Ganin realized the situation and cleared his throat. “Come in.”
He shifted aside to let Dinan pass. From behind him, Ganin could see that Dinan's body looked a little too rigid, considering she wasn't a special-forces operative.
“These are the documents that need to be reviewed.” Dinan placed the thick folder on the desk. She decided to speak as little as possible, avoid eye contact, and get out of the suddenly suffocating room immediately.
But Dinan turned around too quickly without realizing Ganin was only two steps behind her. Fortunately, she had good reflexes; her body stopped before she collided with the rock-solid figure in front of her. Even so, the sudden movement made Dinan jerk backward slightly, and her waist struck the edge of the desk.
Dinan let out a quiet groan, then pressed her lips tightly together as she endured the pain in her waist, keeping the curse gathering in her mouth from escaping.
“Dinan.”
One word.
Her own name, spoken by the man she least wanted to hear say it that day. Dinan had never even heard Ganin say her name back then.
“Yes?”
Her eyes stared at Ganin without blinking. She really did have good reflexes—eye contact with the person she was speaking to.
Up close, Ganin was annoying. Too calm. Too handsome. Too much as if they had never shared a history, even though Dinan had already buried that history along with her white-and-gray school uniform.
A history Dinan herself didn't know what to call. The foolishness of a young girl swept up in love, and a boy who never paid her any attention. It sounded pathetic, but it described the history between them well enough.
“You're the assistant manager?”
“Yes.”
“Have you worked at this office long?”
“Four years.”
The answer came out just like that. Dinan immediately regretted it because it sounded as though she were showing off her years of service, when all she wanted was for the conversation to end.
Ganin nodded. “Then you must know this company pretty well.”
“When it comes to the work, maybe.”
The conversation should have ended there. But Ganin looked at her with an expression that was difficult to read.
“You don't seem to have changed much.”
Dinan felt the back of her neck grow hot.
That sentence could mean anything. It could mean she still looked the way she used to. It could mean Ganin was just making small talk. Or it could mean Ganin remembered too much.
“On the contrary,” Dinan replied. “I feel like you've changed a lot.”
“Gotten older?”
“More… like an office guy.”
Ganin laughed softly.
Dinan regretted it immediately. Not because her answer was bad—although it was—but because that laugh sounded just like it had back then, when Ganin laughed at his friends' jokes on the basketball court. The difference was that back then, Dinan had to pretend to walk through the hallway just to hear it.
“It's nice to see you again,” Ganin said so easily that Dinan almost thought he had actually been looking forward to this meeting, judging by his tone.
Dinan smiled awkwardly and nodded. I don't, she said to herself.