Finally, Elias's pen stopped spinning. His gaze flicked to her hands, then slowly up to her angered face.
He didn't flinch. Didn't look intimidated in the slightest but he stared at her. If anything, there was a bit of curiosity in his eyes, reflecting on those thin-rimmed glasses.
"Do you usually confront your superiors like this, Miss Han?" he asked quietly.
"Only the ones who enjoy tormenting me!" she shot back, voice trembling with restrained fury. "And so far, there's only been one cruel and wicked superior. So congratulations."
For a moment, they just stared at each other. Her heart hammered, because she knew she was doing something reckless.
She could just say she was moving to the influence. She didn't drink but with that much coffee she's had in one day, it was enough for her entire body to shake up in excitement due to the adrenaline.
'I'll make him talk. I have to make him talk.' her thoughts hammered, spinning in circles in her head.
But just then, he smiled. A small, knowing curl of his lips that made her want to slap him so badly.
Was this funny?
Her anger flared.
"Do you think this is funny?"
"I think," he said softly, "...you care too much about what I think."
That was the last straw.
"You—!"
She leaned forward, grabbing his collar in pure, reckless frustration, but he stood suddenly as if triggered by a defense mechanism.
"What is the meaning of this?" He asked, his face clenched.
"I'm not going to let you walk out of here before you give me an answer." She demanded recklessly.
"I don't think I have the obligation to listen to your rants and give you what you want," he said, attempting to take her hand away from his collar.
But as he did, she stumbled forward, flinching, as if afraid he might strike her. The sudden movement threw them both off balance. Her hand slid up his chest, clutching at his coat for support.
He reached out instinctively to steady her, but their scuffle only tangled further. Her other hand caught on his lapel, and the rose-shaped brooch pinned there slipped away, falling on the papers on the table with no sound of alert.
Before either of them could register what was happening, the momentum carried them closer and her lips collided with his.
The world went still for a moment.
How did that scuffle lead to them kissing?
The air between them immediately changed into something far from violent and into something tender.
Elias froze, his hands instinctively gripping her arms… he could feel something was wrong. His brooch... it was on the desk where his eyes could see.
And then, in the next second—
A faint shimmer rippled around him.
Two soft, dark grey-colored fox ears twitched atop his head, similar to the grey tail that suddenly appeared behind him, glowing faintly under the office light.
Isabelle's eyes widened. Her grip on his collar loosened, and her mind went blank.
What… what the hell did she just see?
For a moment, the world around her didn't feel real.
Isabelle blinked once, and then twice, but the image didn't change.
Her boss, the ever-composed Elias Yoon, stood before her with a pair of fox ears twitching nervously on his head and a soft, tail brushing faintly behind him... And then that expression on his face... It didn't even feel like him anymore.
Her voice came out shaky.
"Is this… some kind of costume?"
No, it couldn't be real. This must be a dream, right? He was like a beast, but beasts weren't real, right? Right?
She wanted to slap herself awake when she heard him sniffle.
'Sniff?'
The expression on the indifferent Elias Yoon was something she had never seen before. Something she couldn't have ever imagined.
He looked shy, with a flash on his face, like someone getting bullied.
It was a complete 180 degree turn from his usual personality, as if he had become someone else entirely.
"Y-you... Why did you have to interfere?" He asked but she was struck too much by this sudden innocence to react.
Was this really not a dream?
She took a hesitant step closer.
"It's a surprise costume and you're role playing, right?" She asked but he squinted his eyes.
"I'm not," he spoke honestly, which was quite the first for her.
"If it's not then, w-where did it come from? You weren't wearing anything a second ago." She reached her hand for his ear but he became very defensive.
"Don't touch—"
But curiosity had already won. If the cold and indifferent Elias Yoon that made her life a living hell told her no, she'd very much like to go with yes.
So, before he could finish his words, she touched them. Her fingers brushed against one of the ears.
It was warm.
Not the synthetic heat of fabric or rubber, but real, living warmth that pulsed faintly beneath her fingertips. The ear twitched at her touch, soft fur sliding against her skin and she froze.
So did he.
It moved. The ears moved. She definitely felt them twitch against her fingers. Then, they were real?
How was this possible?
Elias inhaled sharply, a quiet hum escaping him as she moved her fingers even more.
He looked uncomfortable, as if... aroused?
Her heart skipped. His face had gone completely red.
It was such a strange, intimate sight how this usually perfect man had suddenly come undone by something as simple as her touch.
Her throat went dry.
The elegant composure she'd always hated was nowhere to be seen, and staring at this reaction from him... it made her want to mess with him much more.
Her eyes fell down to the moving tail behind him, curling in agitation.
Ah, is the tail real as well?
This was insane?
'I didn't think I had such an insane kinky side to be having a dream like this.'
She had no other way to explain it and concluded it was a dream. What else could she say to explain this situation?
She decided on that and then reached for his tail. But the moment she grabbed it, his void shuddered violently.
"Ngh..."
The sudden moan made Isabella pace herself from him, as if he were a virus she had to get away from.
This... This was too real to be a dream.
"W-what… was that?" she whispered, her pulse racing.
He turned away, one hand covering his ears and the other covering his face in shame.
"You... you're not supposed to touch them."
"W-why?"
"They're… sensitive."
She watched the tail curl towards his front, as if trying to hide what he had in his lower half and she gulped.
What in the world was going on?