Chapter 17

Graves had always maintained a habit of morning exercise. However, this time, he chose not to train within the base but ventured out into the forest beyond its borders.

Exercising outdoors was, in a sense, his way of unwinding.

Since it was the first day of the weekend, he had ridden his motorcycle at full throttle to the edge of the forest before dawn.

Lately, Graves felt a bit obsessed—no matter where he looked, YN occupied his thoughts.

In the office, his gaze would involuntarily follow her figure.

Even after YN changed into a new set of work clothes, his lingering gaze made him realize something was amiss.

His eyes would rest on various parts of YN’s body, especially when she wasn’t paying attention.

He could almost see the curve of her smile and the subtle shifts in her eyebrows when she watched cartoons, as if they were right before his eyes even with his eyes closed.

She had switched from the usual denim shirt and jeans that matched his own to a tailored black suit paired with a matching skirt, with a crisp white blouse underneath—a formal work outfit.

Graves was certain he bore no unusual fetishes, yet he found himself glancing repeatedly at YN’s waist in the skirt and the elegant shape of her legs encased in black stockings.

Her ankles were slender, and the stockings accentuated the graceful curves of her calves. When she walked, the delicate ankles moved with a lively finesse.

Thinking of this made it even harder for Graves to sleep.

After showering, he noted it was only 3:30 a.m.

He had already finished his work, and the four Shadows who had been kidnapped were being rescued by Roz and Oz with a team.

Shooting? Playing ball? Boxing?

Shadow-9527, Shadow-B, and Shadow-O were all absent.

At this hour, only Shadow-A was available to keep him company.

He reached for his phone to call Shadow-A but reconsidered. He still had to train the newly recruited Shadows.

Rousing his subordinates at 3:30 a.m. for shooting, ball games, and combat would surely earn him veiled mockery from the others.

Bored, Graves used his expert hacking skills to break into YN’s phone.

Silently repeating “George, George,” he finally located the chat history between George and YN.

Once inside YN’s phone, its screen mirrored onto Graves’s private tablet, allowing him to see who messaged her and how she replied.

Curiously, George hadn’t sent a single message to YN.

Could he be overthinking?

Recalling George’s expression before he left, Graves’s male intuition told him with absolute certainty that George was interested in YN.

*

“Boss?”

Upon hearing YN’s soft grunt, Graves immediately released his restraining grip on her hand.

“Does it hurt? Did I hurt you?”

Graves had been a little down for not seeing YN during the weekend, but now she appeared in this forest where he often exercised, like a little sprite descended from the heavens.

YN stretched her arm; the hold had been firm, and though brief, it left some soreness.

“Boss, thanks for your concern. My arm still aches a bit, but a little movement helps. Don’t worry.”

The fog in the forest slowly lifted, and so did the gloom in Graves’s heart.

He read from YN’s expression that she no longer bore the fear or avoidance she once had toward him.

Her heart was beginning to accept him.

Graves knew YN’s strength was comparable to Roz’s; had he held her a few seconds longer, she would have drawn the pistol from his tactical belt to retaliate.

Yet, upon hearing him call her “YN,” the fighting spirit she had prepared simply vanished.

Did this mean that the voice of Philip Graves had firmly etched itself into her mind and heart?

Thinking this, and recalling his slight frustration that YN hadn’t waited for him after work or delivered the flowers he sent her, his dark mood lifted completely.

YN had left work on time yesterday.

Graves discovered she hadn’t waited for him because she borrowed a trailer from Shadow 3-1 to divide the bouquet of red roses he gave her into dozens of small bundles, which she then distributed to the female employees at the command building and throughout the Shadow Company.

Watching her hand out flowers to everyone with such joy, Graves could only silently accept his own disappointment.

Next time, he vowed, YN would know that the large bouquet of red roses was from Philip Graves.

Seeing YN’s brows knit slightly in pain from the earlier physical discomfort, Graves stepped forward and placed one hand on her elbow and the other on her wrist, gently massaging to relax her muscles.

“Bo-boss…”

“Sorry, YN, I was too rough and hurt you.”

“No, it’s okay, Boss. No need… to apologize.”

Graves wore black half-finger tactical gloves. Since it was morning exercise, his outfit differed from usual: a black, quick-dry sports shirt and slightly loose quick-dry pants. His baseball cap had fallen onto the pine needles when he restrained YN.

YN glanced at the cap resting on the pine needles, then looked at Graves’s half-exposed forearms, glistening from exercise and heat dissipation.

Ah, she felt an urge to pluck his arm hair.

As Graves massaged her arm, he noticed YN staring intently at it.

“I don’t have any tattoos.”

“?”

She wasn’t even looking to see if he had tattoos; he didn’t need to reveal such personal details.

Upon saying this, Graves’s hands paused their massage. Perhaps YN wasn’t really focused on tattoos, and his eagerness to declare it might seem too eager.

Fortunately, YN didn’t dwell on the topic.

After a brief pause, she withdrew her arm from his hands and bent down to pick up the baseball cap.

The brim was smudged with dirt; she dusted it off, softly blowing the dust away.

“It smells like pine needles.”

Murmuring softly, she noticed the unique scent of pine mixed with the fresh fragrance of shampoo on Graves’s cap.

As she finished cleaning and reached to hand the cap back, Graves had lowered his head.

Taking advantage of the moment, YN smiled softly.

His golden-brown hair was free of gel, resembling the soft, fluffy fur of a golden retriever.

Sweat from exercise beaded his forehead.

YN gently placed the cap on Graves’s head.

She sensed something different about her boss, though she couldn’t quite pinpoint what had changed.

Putting the cap on Shadow-1 Philip Graves felt like being invited into the forest for a coronation ceremony titled “Joy and Love.”

The lingering mist around them had dispersed, and sunlight pierced through the dense leaves, illuminating the ground.

The pine-needle-strewn path she had walked was now alive with puppet soldiers playing string instruments, while birds in the trees sang softly to the melody.

Everything was so beautiful.

“Isn’t today Saturday, YN? Why are you here so early?” Graves asked, puzzled.

Could it be that destiny truly arranged this meeting because he wished to see her over the weekend?

It was indeed a fateful encounter.

“Boss, I came here for an ‘adventure.’”

Just like in fairy tales, the forest was full of strange and wondrous things.

She might encounter mushroom-gathering rabbits, shimmering golden monkeys...

—and an early-rising Philip Graves.

Naturally, Graves, who had been heading in a different direction, now matched her pace and walked alongside her.

“May I join you on this ‘adventure,’ YN?”

YN immediately replied, “Of course!”

Still, thinking of how busy Graves was, she added, “But, Boss, don’t you have work today?”

“No work today is fine; after all, we are going to have an ‘adventure’ together in the forest…”

Graves bent down to pick up a large pinecone.

“An ‘adventure.’”