Remarks Easy to Misunderstand
"Charlotteee... come on, let's have just a little more to drink? I've got so many canned highballs at home."
"...Just one can."
"Hah...!"
At any rate, I helped the Team Leader—already drunk all over again—inside, and a spacious house welcomed us in. Unlike Baek Eun-hwa's place, this one had been a detached house from the start. It was more than big enough for one person to live in comfortably, so of course it felt easy to settle into.
Ideally I would have just put her to bed like this. But the Team Leader, already drunk, still wanted a little more to drink—and I didn't particularly mind either way.
"Haaah.... This is so nice...."
We changed into something more comfortable first, then set up another round in the living room. The Team Leader was in a short-sleeved shirt and shorts that I assumed were what she normally wore around the house, and she'd handed me a matching set of her own....
The problem was the size. The Team Leader was a little taller than Saran and a little shorter than Baek Eun-hwa, so nothing quite fit me. The shoulder line refused to stay put and kept sliding down, over and over. It was a bit uncomfortable, but this wasn't my house, so what could I do?
"It's been so long since I spent time at home with someone else. Feels weird...."
"Does it?"
"Yeah, it's not like I'm seeing some guy or anything.... All I usually do is work and catch up on the news."
"Maybe you should pick up a hobby? I don't really have one either—just browsing social media, but..."
"Mmm... I probably should, but there's nothing I particularly want to do. Work at the Association keeps me pretty busy, so making a hobby and actually making time for it is... too much of a hassle?"
"I guess that's fair...."
We just talked, nothing special, enjoying highballs and a bag of snacks. Thanks to the half hour or so she'd spent transformed earlier, the Team Leader had sobered up a little, and one canned highball... well. She'd been drinking for a good ten years at this point. One can wasn't going to get her seriously drunk.
"Charlotte, do you like the work these days?"
"Yes, I do."
"Hehe. That's a relief...."
"That's only possible because you take such good care of me, Team Leader. And you really do take excellent care of us."
"I'd like to take even better care of everyone on our team."
"Heh."
She'd always been a genuinely good person. The only exception was when she was thoroughly drunk—that was when she'd rub her chest against me and lose all control of her body. Anyway, more than thirty minutes had passed, so of course she was feeling it again.
We chatted away about ordinary things, and the highballs went down easy, one after another, until... naturally, the Team Leader started getting drunk all over again.
"Heheeh......"
"You always get like this when you're drunk, Team Leader."
"Hm? What do you mean?"
"Like this..."
Leaning on the person you're drinking with. Hugging them. Nuzzling them. I wanted to finish the sentence that way, but I stopped myself halfway. If I said anything more, she might say something even weirder. If I made the wrong comment, she might start rubbing those enormous things all over me.
Quiet and even-tempered as she usually was, alcohol brought out a completely different side of her. Better to keep things ordinary than to go poking at that.
"Team Leader, when are you planning to sleep tonight?"
"You don't like talking?"
"It's not that. My head's just starting to pound. I think I'm a little... drunk too. Maybe we should go to bed soon...."
Half of that was to get the Team Leader to sleep. The other half was because I wanted to sleep myself. I'd drunk far less than she had, but that didn't mean I'd drunk little... my head had been swimming for a while now. The last thing I needed was to keep drinking, say something weird to the Team Leader, and do something weird. Those were things I absolutely, absolutely could not do.
"You're not sleepy?"
"Mmm... this is fun. I wouldn't mind talking a little more...?"
"Haha...."
"What, our Charlotte doesn't like that?"
"It's not that I don't..."
...This drunk old lady really was a handful.
Of course she was just teasing, and she'd get ready for bed soon enough. But I was usually the one teasing her, so having the tables turned was awkward and embarrassing... and also kind of fun.
"Nnngh... alright, let's go to bed.... You look pretty sleepy too, Charlotte. Yeah. Let's brush our teeth first."
"Yes, Team Leader."
Fortunately she headed straight for the bathroom, and the two of us brushed our teeth together. She used her own, of course, and I just tore open an unopened spare. After a thorough brushing and a proper face-wash at the sink, we headed for the Team Leader's bedroom... I mentioned I was fine sleeping on the sofa, but that suggestion was promptly ignored.
Which left me about to share a bed with the Team Leader, who still smelled distinctly of alcohol. I'd gotten pretty used to sleeping next to other girls lately. Still....
"Hehe..."
"Haha..."
...Sleeping all proper and composed like this was bound to feel awkward. When I'd slept with Baek Eun-hwa, it had been work. With Batori and Saran, they'd been so drunk they could barely move. This was clearly different.
It wasn't me who pulled me onto the bed—it was the Team Leader, and we were both drunk... and then there was her scent. Roses, I supposed. Surrounded by clothes and blankets and a bed and a room all full of that sweet, floral fragrance, my thoughts started drifting in a weird direction all on their own.
If I had to put a word to it: dirty. Thoughts I generally shouldn't be having about the Team Leader, arriving perfectly naturally.... Honestly, when someone this pretty keeps rubbing her chest against my shoulder and whispering in that sweet voice, isn't it normal for your mind to go somewhere it shouldn't? Even if it isn't, that's how I saw it. Misunderstanding would be more than justified. Not that I was actually enough of an idiot to misunderstand for real.
"It's weird, lying down with a kid like this.... Feels like I'm doing something I shouldn't."
"It's not that weird."
"At my age, the only kid I spend time with is my niece. That's as far as it goes."
"We're both women, so what's the problem? Sharing a bed isn't an issue, and we're only like this because we both got drunk."
"Hehe. I guess that's true."
We talked like that, facing each other under the covers. It was a different kind of conversation from the ones I'd had with Baek Eun-hwa—awkward, but not unpleasant. After two years of knowing each other, we had a decent amount of information about one another, and we were pretty close psychologically. Of course it would feel that way.
"Thanks for hanging out with this old lady today. I really mean it."
"You don't have to call yourself that, Team Leader."
"Hehe. Once you're past thirty, that's what you are. What else would I be?"
"I've told you, you look young. I've always just thought of you as a pretty unni."
"That's a nice thing to hear......"
The Team Leader still showed no sign of wanting to sleep. Instead of using a pillow, she was propping her head up on her arm, keeping the conversation going..... I didn't mind, but she was clearly having a good time. She wasn't even putting her head on the pillow—she was holding it up with her hand. Planning to keep talking like this.
"You really didn't have to look after an old lady like me, but you even came back to the office for dinner. I'm so grateful... it's been so long since I had this much fun spending time with someone."
"Let's do this again. It's not that hard."
"Yeah.... Okay."
...Was she like some kind of elderly shut-in?
I didn't know the Team Leader's daily routine or schedule in any real detail. But living alone in a house this big, it made sense that she might feel a little lonely. Well, I didn't know the specifics.
"But having someone else in my bed really is a first in a long time. I've lived alone ever since I moved into this house... I don't mind it, though."
"Living alone is boring, yeah...."
"You think so too? Well, of course it is, when you're home by yourself."
"I used to get bored too, when I was living alone all the time."
Just from the fact of living alone, there was nothing harder to guess at or understand than another person's heart, so I simply kept the conversation going as usual. The topics drifted through the things we'd talked about outside, ordinary office life, what it was like living alone. The more we talked, the more familiar I became with the person who was the Team Leader. Two years had passed, and yet in this respect she felt no different from the day we'd first met.
"If someone like you, Charlotte, spent time at my house every single day... I think I'd be so happy. That makes me happy just thinking about it."
"Even if you like it, having me over at your house every single day... wouldn't that be uncomfortable in its own way?"
"Would it?"
"It's your personal space. If I'm here like this, you'd keep having to think about me. I'd be imposing."
"Hehe. You think I'd fuss over a kid so much younger than me for a reason like that?"
...Would she not?
One thing I kept noticing as I talked with the Team Leader... the way she thought was definitely different from mine. Of course that was true of anyone. But with the Team Leader, we were fairly close and there was a clear age gap. Maybe that was why it stood out more.
"And I really, truly mean it when I say it would be wonderful to have a little sister like you, Charlotte, greeting me at home with that bright face every time."
"Huh..."
More importantly. ...This old lady. She kept saying things today that people could easily misunderstand.
Of course she didn't mean anything bad by it. She was just talking that way because she felt comfortable with me. But generally speaking, remarks like that were bound to create a strong misunderstanding in the other person. Wasn't that just obvious?
"Hehe."
Well, contrary to my thoughts, the Team Leader was looking at me with a thoroughly pleased expression. Fortunately, we talked a little more after that and then drifted off to sleep at a reasonable point. We'd already had quite a bit to drink, after all. As we talked, our gazes naturally started to droop, our heads nodding, and falling asleep right there in the bed was the most natural thing in the world.
The fact that at some point I'd scooted all the way over toward the Team Leader and ended up practically hugging her... that was just sleep-talking. That was a reasonable explanation, right...?
Anyway, the moment I came to, I felt something powerfully soft against my face, and it felt incredibly good. So good I felt a little guilty about it.