Without looking away from her computer screen, Seulgi reached for the pile of snacks next to her. There were 4 or 5 small containers of Pringles. She had no idea how her near obsession with this particur snack got out. Probably Nayeon. (Suddenly, as her sixth sense kicked in, Nayeon popped up like an angry meerkat. She gred around, looking to see who was talking about her.) But she kept getting small offerings of Pringles every now and again.

  She got something warm, pliable, and sweet smelling. Taiyaki? Where on Earth would someone get taiyaki around here? She was not going to compin. She picked up the near addiction to the golden, fish-shaped, fkey goodness of the baked pastry while on a business trip to Japan. Even better, it was still warm.

  Whoever brought her this earned a small prayer of thanks. They, whomever ‘they’ were, knew her well enough to have left a napkin, too. She kept typing right handed while gobbling the treat in her left. The red bean paste had just enough sweetness to satisfy her craving.

  After brushing the crumbs off her hands and wiping her mouth, she got a bnk sticky note out and wrote ‘Thank you for the taiyaki!’ and stuck it on her snack bowl’s side facing the door. The courteous person deserved thanks. She was sure they’d see the note soon enough. Seulgi didn’t know that this was going to lead to another Pringles-like bout of taiyaki just randomly showing up at odd times. And just like with the Pringles, she is not going to compin. She mused that there are much worse things to be addicted to.

  After this brief interlude and one small satisfied burp ter, she got back to work. For a few hours, then she took a small walk around and used to dies’ room.

  With this taiyaki, she was able to keep her energy up until lunch.

  When noon rolled around, everyone just started showing up. Everyone brought their brown bag equivalent and started camping in her office forming an impromptu picnic. No one bothered to ask her opinion. She was fine with it until someone pushed the ptop screen down, nearly catching her fingers.

  That was when Jackson handed her the lunch that she brought. He even warmed up the parts that were supposed to be warmed. He also brought her some fresh tea. It is times like this that she thought that if there was no Gillian, she’d be tempted to break her own No Dating Co-workers Rule. She smiled at Jackson, and he reciprocated.

  Even Bhuwakul joined them for lunch. He gave her a quiet, interrogating look as if to ask ‘Still OK?’ Seulgi just smiled in return and he just rexed with a boneless grace that she could not imitate, no matter how hard she tried. Not even Suki, who she was convinced was actually made of rubber, could match him.

  Then the owner came by, looking at her from the entrance so he did not interrupt the goings on in her office. In much the same way that Bhuwakul did, he arched an eyebrow at her. She winked back and he wandered off, satisfied.

  Her attention was pulled back by Min-jin who pointed at the sticky note and asked: “Who brought you taiyaki? I’ve been looking for some around here, but none of it was as good as the real stuff.”

  “I have no idea, it just showed up. And it was still warm. Maybe someone in the building is making it in a supply closet so they don’t have to share?”

  And the conversation devolved from there. There were more and more ridiculous suggestions of how that warm delectable pastry showed up. It didn’t take long for ughter to join the increasingly stupid conversation.

  There was a warm, homey glow to the room that can only happen when the people are friends. Even Bhuwakul participated in some of the banter. No one cared, as he was – in a weird way – still part of the family. He was that weird cousin from far away that just shows up, frequently uninvited, but never unwelcome, and makes himself at home.

  The conversation was free flowing and diverse, tripping from topic to subject to conversation point, and swirled around in a natural synergy that could only come with friends.

  At about ten till the hour, everyone got up and started cleaning up what little mess there was in the office.

  Seulgi started to get up to help clean, as it was her office, after all. But, instead, she got pushed back into her seat, ever so gently, by both Bhuwakul and Jackson. They both had tiny frowns.

  It was obviously not pre-pnned, but they were like a pair of over-protective bookends. While tempted to giggle, they were both so earnest that it would have been unpardonable to ugh at this moment.

  So, she obediently allowed herself to be pushed back into her seat. Her boys, again, had a tiny smile at her acquiescence. Everyone else in the office watched this small interpy and they were all smugly amused. She might have been able to get away with ignoring one of her boys, or maybe the other, but she could not challenge both of them. Especially both of them together.

  She tried a deadly gre at whoever had the temerity to start giggling. It was an effective gre, except that there was absolutely no heat behind it. It was a good attempt anyway. Seeing this, everyone burst into uproarious ughter, totally destroying any attempt of Seulgi gring at anyone.

  The new floor manager outside her office started knocking on her door frame and told them all to quiet down, it was interfering with the people’s ability to work. Which, naturally, had the opposite effect and made them even louder. One intrepid soul behind him yelled ‘No, it isn’t!’

  This person had to be new because everyone else in the entire company knew better than to try this tactic. This new person scuttled off in embarrassment. There were some quiet scoffs and one or two openly mocking ughter from the floor, too. Evidently, this overly officious person was not making a very good impression.