Aksel, while his face was carrying the annoyance from his tense phone conversation with Luce the night before, saw Damien and suddenly forgot everything. He grinned.
"You were late this morning, right?"
"Did Sybille tell you?" Damien started grumbling with a laugh as he unbuttoned two of his collar buttons.
"I'm only three minutes late. And it was because of her!"
"She didn't say anything," said Aksel as they stepped into the elevator cabin. "I just knew."
"How did you know?" Damien felt uneasy for a moment when his voice came out a little too mischievous, just as a few more people stepped into the elevator. Talking to him like this… could sound flirtatious.
As Damien got lost in his thoughts, Aksel's hand entered his line of sight, reaching toward his face. Damien quickly stepped back, and Aksel's hand was left hanging in the air.
Since they were at the back of the elevator, luckily no one witnessed the awkward moment.
Usually… if there was even the slightest chance, Damien would never avoid Aksel's touch. But it was different now.
Yet, he couldn't allow Aksel to think that it was different either. "Haha," Damien laughed and ran his fingers through his hair.
"You must've figured it out from my hair. I didn't even have time to look in the mirror."
Everything's normal... Damien smiled and turned toward a spot in the elevator where his reflection showed, starting to fix his hair. Act natural.
Acting natural was hard. By now, Damien's cheeks already ached as he kept fixing his hair.
He had invited Aksel to go out for lunch together this morning, so Aksel wouldn't think he was avoiding him.
And... Damien wanted to see him too. It wasn't like he was capable of avoiding him for more than two days anyway.
"What should we eat?" Aksel asked after a while. Damien turned his head toward him.
Usually, he would say whatever you want. Ha… Could that also be taken as flirtatious?
Damien held himself back from sighing.
"As long as we eat quickly, that's fine," was what finally slipped past his lips.
Ugh... That, too, Aksel could take as rude. As if saying whatever we eat, let's just get back to work.
Before Damien could explain how busy things were, someone in the elevator tapped his shoulder.
"Mr. Damien, I wanted to ask about the candidate list you prepared for tomorrow's interviews…"
"Ah… of course."
Damien let out a relieved breath. And from there, everything until the moment they ate and came back really did go normally.
"They must still not have figured out how to deal with you," Damien said when they stopped in front of the company building on their way back.
Aksel shook his head. "I didn't think they'd still be trying after three years."
Damien laughed.
"If a blood-bound alpha heir who could take over the whole company suddenly appeared in my workplace, I wouldn't let him go either," Damien said, shading his eyes with his hand.
The midday sun was blazing. The beams of light gliding over Aksel's golden hair, the way the sunlight fell all the way down to his lashes, gave his face that… indescribable look, even more scorching.
Unlike Damien, Aksel wasn't someone who smiled often. But on his face, there was always a gentle expression that left people, everyone around him, and even his enemies, helpless.
This must have been one of those rare moments—and everything must have been truly natural—because Aksel smiled at what Damien had said.
"A shareholder like you could've struck terror across our whole floor," he said.
For a moment, Damien thought to himself that it felt like he needed to shield his eyes not from one sun, but two blazing overhead.
"Then I'm not on the right floor," Damien murmured, his heart stinging. He would love to work at the same floor with him, so he could see him time to time.
As the warm breeze tossed his bangs, Aksel stepped forward with his tall frame, blocking the sun for Damien.
"Ah, finally…" Damien laughed and lowered his hand. "Thanks, otherwise my corneas would've burned."
"Are you staying for overtime?" Aksel asked, and for a moment Damien, rather than lifting his head to look up at the imposing figure standing over him, turned his gaze away.
He shook his head. "Yes, I've got a few things, and the interview preparations will probably drag on."
"Can't Sybille delegate that to someone else?"
"Sybille… she might be training me for the head of HR position…" Damien said with a grin.
He was even surprised that he had forgotten about it for a moment. This was big news. If that absurd, never-should-have-happened moment hadn't occurred, this was exactly what he had planned to tell Aksel that day.
"Damien…" Aksel's eyebrows rose the moment he heard it, and when his arms lifted again, Damien quickly accepted that he had no choice but to give in this time.
Aksel hugged him tightly.
As Damien laughed and hugged him back, he lowered his head when they parted so as not to meet the eyes of anyone who might've seen them, but Aksel still held him by the elbows and asked,
"When did you guys talk about this?"
"Recently… when the news about a new department came up, Sybille brought it up. And when she saw I was willing… now we're slowly testing me out. So, basically… I could become a department leader any day now!"
With the greatest delight on his face, Aksel pulled Damien back into his arms, and Damien's lungs filled with his scent.
"We'll celebrate this," Aksel told him.
Damien shook his head.
"Hey, of course. But don't tell anyone, Aksel. If word gets out, then the whole floor will turn into vultures against me!"
As Aksel grinned, he slowly let go of Damien and shook his head.
And in that moment, a figure walking toward them behind Aksel entered Damien's line of sight.
It was Edme.
Damien didn't let a single crack appear in his smile. He sighed inwardly and pretended to check his watch as he murmured.
It seemed it was time to leave and give Aksel some space.
"I… promised Sybille I'd get her coffee. I'll grab some before going back up. See you, okay?"
"See you."
As Aksel watched Damien's retreating figure, he called out again.
"Don't drink coffee during overtime, Dam. You won't be able to sleep."
Without turning back, Damien lifted his hand in a gesture of agreement and kept walking, only picking up his pace instead of throwing back a retort like he normally would have.
Yes, not much had changed, had it? Except for a few things.
Aksel sighed.
Still, something about Damien's retreating figure felt wrong to him. Damien should return to his old self in a few days. Right? Warm, cheerful, and talkative.
Aksel impatiently tapped his foot lightly against the ground without realizing it.
At the same time, Edme stopped beside him, following his gaze.
"Aksel! Have you had lunch yet?"
As Aksel's eyes shifted to Edme, he gently looked at him and smiled.
"Yes."
As they entered the company building together, Edme was telling Aksel how important it was not to skip meals in work life.
"I never skip meals!" Edme's eyes sparkled as he spoke.
With his arms crossed, Aksel leaned back against the elevator wall, comforted by the fact that they were alone in the cabin—for as the heir, he always had to stand tall—while he continued listening to Edme.
"And… you shouldn't skip meals for socializing and introducing yourself to people, either! Even though I get shy sitting at the busiest table… I still try. You should… hang out with the management team more often at lunch, too."
"Maybe," Aksel said briefly, brushing off the suggestion since he knew the true face of the management team.
"I'll accompany you, they seem to like me..." As Edme scratched his cheek, embarrassed from talking too much about himself, he smiled.
"Sorry, I talked too much, didn't I?"
"Not at all," Aksel said with a smile.
Edme's smile widened. It was hard to see this alpha smile, as if his every genuine facial expression was hidden and not revealed if not necessary.
When the elevator door opened and someone else stepped in, Aksel straightened up again on his feet.
Edme glanced at him and giggled quietly. That meant Aksel could feel comfortable beside him, didn't it?
---
"If you stare at the screen any closer, I'll start to think you're nearsighted."
Mike, from the desk next to Damien's, scratched the belly he had long since grown out and called out to him.
Still focused on the spreadsheet on the screen, Damien smiled.
"I'm not nearsighted. I'm just a very dedicated employee."
Mike chuckled and turned his eyes toward the window, where the sky was already dark and filled with city lights, silently cursing that they were still stuck in the office.
Was this damn omega taking his work so seriously, or was he dragging his feet just to ruin Mike's life?
"If you can stay here this late…" Mike leaned forward and nudged Damien's chair by the armrest. "Your love life must be pretty lifeless, Damien."
Damien's face tightened, his frozen smile lit starkly by the glow of the screen that sharpened his pupils.
Mike laughed. "Bullseye, right?"
Damien pulled his eyes from the screen, leaned back in his chair, and looked out the window.
"Ha… is it that late already?"
The best thing to do here would probably be not to answer.
Mike and Damien had been working side by side for over a year. And Mike… was a chatterbox.
"Haha, yeah," Mike muttered when he realized he wasn't getting an answer, still staring outside.
"Feels like everyone but us has gone home to their partners's side already."
Damien smiled, then started transferring files onto his laptop, and finally turned to Mike with a wide grin.
"Hey… your voice just sounded really melancholic for a second, Mike. But you still have a chance! I've been hearing that these days, people want to marry hardworking, mature men who are a little older. So… there's always a chance, okay?"
As Damien slipped his laptop into his bag, he savored the quiet victory. Mike didn't make a single peep until he packed up his things, wished Damien a dry good night, and left.
---
Before going inside, Damien wanted to walk a bit in the residence park where he lived. When he sat on one of the benches, his fingers inevitably wandered to that link on his phone—the one he knew would only upset him but couldn't resist.
It was the company's confession forum.
For Damien, whether he knew what people were writing about him behind his back or not, it was painful either way. Did it even matter?
He couldn't deny it to anyone. Not even to Aksel.
Hey, don't be ridiculous, me liking you? What nonsense—this was something he couldn't say.
Some thought his silence was arrogant, others called it a shameless omega move.
As Damien's eyes froze on one comment, he swallowed, his calm expression faltering.
Finally, he exited the site and swore to himself never to read it again.
What he had read… was disgusting.
"Hah, that certain someone probably caught the scent of money and clung to him back in grade school. That's how omegas are, after all. Money and a seat in the company? Hop, they're climbing right up to your lap. Pathetic."
"Which bastard could it be…"
Maybe it was Mike.
Damien wasn't someone who knew how to directly snap at people, and he knew plenty of people had been annoyed with this mask he wore around others since long ago.
"It could be anyone…" Damien muttered, rubbing his face, when his phone rang.
"Sybille, what's up?"
"Hey… Uh, hey Damien. You can hear me, right? You're on speaker."
"…Yes?" Damien laughed, pressing his finger to his temple.
"Yeah? Okay then! Listen."
"Please stop yelling, Sybille."
"Oh, sorry. Okay. I just wanted to let you know I won't be coming to work tomorrow. I mean—I can't. I'm passing the candidate interviews tomorrow to you, okay?"
"Hey—"
"Anyway, bye!"
As Damien stared at the screen showing the call had ended, he couldn't help but laugh.
Sybille really was like an unstoppable natural disaster, at least enough of a landslide to make you forget everything else.
Damien went up to his apartment.
He needed to go over the candidates' CVs for tomorrow.
At least when he was alone, he could give his face a rest and allow himself to frown freely.
Really, when he got home, aside from the scratching loneliness in his ears, all the headaches left him immediately.
You could call that happiness.
"You can be happy up to this point," Damien murmured to himself as he opened his laptop, catching the time inching toward midnight.
"But any more happiness than this is forbidden! Understood?"
Understood.
Damien smiled to himself again.
Click, click, the sound of the mouse. And the screen's glow hit his eyes.
But just seconds later, Damien shut the screen and buried his face tightly in his hands.
"Hic, hnnh, huu…"
No, it was nothing near to what he wished for.
At that exact moment, as if he could sense it, a notification came in from Aksel.
Damien reached his phone and opened the photo Aksel had sent.
It was a picture from Aksel's home, of him holding a stuffed toy in front of a bag.
It was a white plush rabbit with dark brown spots. Damien knew this plush very well.
Another message popped up under the photo.
"Look what my mom sent me."
Damien wiped his tears and chuckled, standing up from where he sat.
It was one of the two plushies they had won together from the claw machine.
'Dam, this rabbit looks just like you, haha! This one's mine.'
Unlike Aksel, the very first thing Damien had packed in his suitcase when returning to the city had been his own plush, the teddy bear Aksel had won for him, which still sat on his bed.
He went and grabbed it, snapping a photo.
'The teddy bear plush looks nothing like me,'
Aksel had pouted back then, unhappy with the prize he'd gotten and not wanting to give it to Damien.
Damien had hugged the plush to his chest and burst out laughing.
'Hey, you'll hurt his feelings. He's my teddy bear now!'
Aksel must not have taken the rabbit plush with him, so Aunt Giselle was sending it to him now.
As Damien's smile faded, he sent Aksel the photo of the teddy bear plush, typed a message, and left both the phone and plush on the bed.
"Haha, look, his friend's here too. Good night!"