31

" Maybe I should ." I said .

" I'm curious about ine thing the kiss is terrible ?"

Tom chimed in, "So the kiss is bad?"

Both of them stared at me intently, anticipating my response. I remained silent, allowing the silence to hang in the air. Finally, I spoke up, stating simply, "It was a kiss."

Tom noticed my momentary pause and inquired, "Why did you stop for a second? Do you actually like the kiss?"

James joined in, expressing his doubts, "You're not being honest. If it was just a kiss, why did you hesitate?"

In that moment, I regretted blurring the boundaries between my colleagues and friends. Collecting my thoughts, I reiterated, "It was just a kiss, nothing more. It's not a big deal."

However, their skeptical expressions showed that they didn't fully believe me. Tom repeated his question, "So it wasn't bad then?"