Go Through the Stomach to Get to the Heart

***

(MC POV)

I looked at the woman, casually resting her head against my shoulder with a stern gaze. I decided I had to draw a line, or else things might progress too far.

"Emma, I don't think you should be doing this. Remember where we are right now, this isn't professional. Besides, you know who I was just speaking with, right? 

I'm trying to move on as you've always said I should. But what you're doing right now might ruin that, so please, I'm asking you, as both an employee and a friend to stop your actions.

I don't know if you're somehow drunk or influenced by something else, but you might come to regret doing this later on."

She looked up at me for a second before turning away. Her soft body slumped up against me with her head hung down. After a second of her not moving I was just about to reason with her once more before she suddenly started speaking.

"*Sigh* I'm sorry… you're right, I've been just a bit too distraught."

She not only stopped leaning on my shoulder but also got off of my sofa and went back to the one she sat on earlier.

'Huh… that wasn't so bad. She accepted that a lot easier than I thought she would. She didn't even really fight that at all.

Okay, it's kinda awkward between us right now, but we should be able to go back to how it was before, I hope.'

I picked my sandwich back up and started taking bites out of it. After what just happened I didn't know if I should just pretend it didn't happen or what.

In the end, I decided to just stare intently at the sandwich I had as new bites began to form. I tried my hardest to only focus on the sandwich.

'Man… this sandwich… sure is a sandwich. Bread is made of bread, the cheese is cheese, and the meat is probably from an animal.'

Soon I finished that sandwich and still, there was an awkward silence between the two of us. I looked up to see what she was eating and when I saw I became hungry once again.

She had a couple of what I assume were buffalo chicken wrap halves with a side of mini pretzels. With only a glance at her food, I realized how quickly I must've eaten my sandwich. She had only managed to eat half of one of her wraps; meanwhile, I had finished with my food. It didn't seem like I had packed enough either, as I still felt the pangs of hunger emanating from my stomach. I was enjoying my time too much last night with Racheal to think much about my meal for today, so in the end, I quickly made a simple sandwich.

I was practically salivating as I stared at her food, but the sound of my stomach rumbling brought me back. 

*bawr-buh-rig-mahy*

I looked away in hopes she wouldn't catch me staring as I felt my cheeks heat up a bit.

"Ethan? Did you not pack enough to eat today?"

"Uh, maybe not, but it'll be fine. The sandwich I ate should be enough to sate me for a bit."

As if on cue: *bawr-buh-rig-mahy*

"Why don't you have some of mine? You could have the other half of my wrap and we could share the pretzels."

"No, I shouldn't. You packed that meal for yourself, wouldn't you be hungry too if I ate some?"

To be honest my mind was being contested between two sides. One side wanted me to give in to the hunger and accept her offer and the other was still hung up about pushing her away from me earlier. 

I just told her off and yet the next moment I would be crawling over to her to gain a wrap. It just felt like I would've lost all that momentum I gained if I accepted her offer.

"Oh, it's fine! In fact, I think I may have packed a bit too much for myself. I won't be able to finish it. If I can't finish it I'll just have to throw it away."

"Eh? Y-you'll throw it away if you don't finish it?"

'That's such a waste! How could you throw a perfectly good wrap like that away?!'

"It's my food, right? I can do what I want with it."

'I… that's fair… I guess… But I won't let you simply throw something like that away, damn it! Fine! I'll take it if only to save that wrap!'

In the end, my concern for wasting food won out over some petty momentum, definitely not because I was just hungry.

"Alright! I'll take it!"

I reached my hand out and waited for her to give me the sandwich, but all I got in return was her smiling face. I had already forgotten all about what happened moments ago as that wrap was not my primary focus.

"A-are you gonna give me the wrap? Oh, do you just want me to grab it?"

"No, I'll only give it to you if you come over here and sit next to me."

"What's the point? I'm right here, it's not like I'm that far from you."

She picked up the untouched half and shook it provocatively.

"So you don't want the wrap? I'll just throw it away then, it's completely fine.."

My outreached hand was overturned in a grasping motion for a second before I stood up.

"No! Wait!"

I quickly got up and sat next to her, all the while my gaze was on the wrap in her hand. The moment I was seated she gave me the wrap.

I took a moment to look at the creation in my hand and the smell that was wafting throughout the air only made me salivate further.

Finally, I took a bite and felt all the ingredients come together. It was incredible and after just a single bite I felt I had avoided something I probably would've regretted.

"Fufu~ Looks like you're quite enjoying it."

"Yeah, it's-it's amazing, you made this? It feels like there's something different compared to other buffalo wraps I had though."

"Yeah, I did, I added a few extra touches when I made the buffalo sauce. Do you like it?"

"Wait, you made the sauce? Whoa, no wonder it tasted different, it's all homemade."

I saw in the corner of my eye that she turned to me with a slightly perplexed look.

"You like it that much?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?" I said as I chowed down on the rapidly dwindling amount of wrap I had left.

"If you like it that much then next time I'll make some extra lunch for us to share."

"Huh? Yeah! That would be grea- uh, I mean uh I shouldn't. This is all your food, it doesn't feel right if I just started eating it without having to pay you anything."

"Is that really your concern? Well, I guess I shouldn't do it every day, how about just every once in a while? Does that sound good to you?"

"Wouldn't that be inconvenient for you? You'd have to spend a lot of money to do it? Why are you even offering to do so?"

She put on a slightly annoyed face as she heard my questions and answered in a similar annoyed tone.

"Why are you asking so many questions about what I want to do? Can't I just want to make my subordinate happy?"

"Alright…"

Once again, an awkward silence enveloped us.

"Sorry for speaking like that to you Ethan. It's just that I have a bit on my mind right now and after that conversation of ours from Friday night, I started thinking about it a bit more."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

'Frankly, I don't remember anything about our conversation that night, maybe she could help me remember though.'

I sat there quietly in hopes of gaining a bit of insight into that said conversation.

"Are you sure you want to hear about it again?"

'I don't even remember it the first time!'

"It's up to you whether you want to talk about it, but I'll listen if you want to tell me."

"Alright, it's about my husband. I don't think he actually loves me, at least not anymore.

In the past, he used to swoon over me. He used everything he had to get close to me and try to court me. It seemed like his love for me overflowed from a neverending source; yet now it's more like a dried-up basin.

Originally, after our marriage, he would still show his affection for me quite frequently, and eventually, my thoughts began to think along the lines that the man wasn't all too bad. 

I decided that I would make up for all the times I should've been more affectionate, by being the loving wife. But just days after I made up my mind and was about to start, he stopped his act.

His affectionate ways suddenly became very infrequent and whenever we went to any parties the only times when he would bring me up was when he wanted to show me off. Many times whenever he even wanted to interact with me at this point to just to assert his control over me

I didn't know why he changed all of a sudden, I really didn't. Everything was fine from what I could see, but then it just happened and he acted like nothing had ever changed and it had always been this way.

I tried my plan anyway and tried to be affectionate with him in an attempt to potentially fix our situation, but it didn't work, instead, he only pushed me away. It was like my affection was a hindrance or annoyance to him. At the time I thought he might've just wanted me to go through the same thing he went through when chasing after me, but only after a week did I realize his treatment of me was even worse than how I was to him.

The worst I ever was to him was when I blankly stared at his attempts, but I thought it got much better after a while. I would nod with a smile in acknowledgment later on but he would be physical with shoves and pushes when I tried.

After a little while longer I finally figured out why he changed, at least I think I did. One night I thought I would surprise him by coming home early, but what I found was another woman there as well.

They were in our bedroom and I could hear the sounds even while I was walking upstairs. At first, I couldn't believe it, but I needed to know, to see with my own eyes, so I opened the door. It was only a crack, but I saw all I needed.

I made sure that my presence wasn't known before I slowly left the house and started a little habit of drinking. When I came back the next day he even had the gall to ask where I had been.

From that day forth I stopped sleeping in the master bedroom, instead choosing some other quaint location for myself.

Sometime later you came to work and eventually, that tragedy occurred. I felt I might have found someone who could share my pain with, even if the two matters weren't the same at all.

Oh, I'm sorry I didn't mean to spill my whole life story, I must've gotten too emotional."

"I-it's alright…What you went through was horrible."

'That was some trama dump! Oh damn, that was so much to digest. Is that why she asked me out to drink with her that first time?'

"*Sigh* It feels kinda nice to be able to get it off my shoulders. Thanks for listening to me talk for so long. 

Say, I'm curious, Ethan do you think I'm still good-looking?"