Work Text:
Present day
Sleek black-heeled boots clacked against the marbled floors of the company building at exactly 7:56 AM. Shiny blond hair glistened in the morning sunlight coming through the floor-to-ceiling windows. A pristinely white blouse, not a dress shirt though. It was one of the satin ones, tied with a ribbon right under the chin. A coffee cup in one hand, a full document folder in the other.
"Good morning Mr. Yoon!"
A graceful smile, and an elegant nod in the receptionist's way just as he pressed the elevator's button.
The doors opened and he stepped inside, immediately glancing to the left in the mirror, making sure his lip tint and blush were still in place. He was satisfied with what he saw.
He arrived at the top floor and passed by two more employees on his way out of the elevator, both of them bowing to him with reddened cheeks.
Sounds of his steps reverberated through the long hallway as he made his way to the biggest office on this level, walking by his own desk situated right next to the big oak door.
He knocked and didn't bother waiting to hear "come in" before pushing it open at 8 AM sharp.
~
Seungcheol had always had an eye for pretty things.
When he was five-years-old, he cried because of a beautiful bird he saw while on a walk in the park with his nanny.
Oh, Cheollie, you're such a tenderly hearted boy, aren't you? Mrs. Park said while wiping off his tears and promising she would bake him his favorite yeast cake when they get back home.
When he turned thirteen, he was gifted a reflex camera for his birthday. The first memory card he filled up consisted of photos capturing calm sunsets over the busy city's panoramic view and Mrs. Park laughing in the kitchen while baking his favorite sweet treats.
When he was twenty, a visual storytelling professor congratulated him on winning a photojournalism contest, surprised that he was handing the main prize to a business management major.
And when he was twenty-seven, he met Yoon Jeonghan.
He wouldn't be exaggerating if he said that his life had changed forever. After two years of knowing the other, he was still completely sure of that.
A delicate, but witty smile. Soft, but confident eyes, and this certain angelic feel that Jeonghan seemed to exude at all times.
Too bad he couldn't have that all to himself in these circumstances.
"Excuse me? Earth to Cheol!" a light flick to his forehead pulled him ouf of his thoughts.
"Sorry, Mingyu. You were saying?"
"That Carnation’s new product launch needs to be put off for a couple of weeks once again, thanks to the dickheads from the manufacturing. I swear to God if I have to listen to their excuses one more fucking time I'm gonna turn them into these godforsaken eyeliners,"
"Jihoon mentioned something about them causing problems again. Let me guess. Packaging issues as always?"
"Yes! Seriously Seungcheol, you need to meet up with them ASAP and put your intimidating face on to sort it out at last or we're gonna have to look for a new contractor because I killed them all."
"That won't be necessary. The negotiations have been arranged for today at 8:45."
Jeonghan entered the office along with sparkling fairy dust following his footsteps.
Or that's what Seungcheol saw anyways.
"The meeting is in B12, here's the agreement from September the manufacturer signed, along with the weekly reports on the process and most of the relevant invoices. I notified the in-house lawyers to accompany you. The contractor representatives are arriving in thirty minutes," Jeonghan placed the coffee cup he was holding on the desk. “Double shot of espresso. Thought you might need it today.”
He narrowed his eyes at Seungcheol and sighed.
"And your tie is crooked Cheollie. How many times do I have to show you how to do it properly?" he undid the tie before swiftly tieing the dark strands of fabric correctly.
"Thank you, Hannie.” Seungcheol hoped his pupils didn't turn into hearts as he said that.
Jeonghan smiled softly and smoothed his tie once again.
"You're welcome, don't be late.” were the last words that left his mouth before he patted Seungcheol's chest and headed for the door, bowing softly to Mingyu on his way out.
(Fairy dust. Leaving lots of fairy dust behind.)
Silence filled the extravagant office of the CEO.
"You're such a fucking pussy, you know?"
A blink, then a cough. "Get out of my office and get your ass back to work before I cut your paycheck, Mingyu.”
"I don't get it. You play house with him all the time and still deny that there's something serious going on between you two.”
And there was. There was so much going on between them.
~~~~~~~
2 years ago
“What am I even doing here?”
“What you should’ve done a long time ago. Loosening up a little!” Mingyu’s excited mood didn’t really make Seungcheol feel better.
It’s been a year since he was officialy appointed as the CEO of Lotus Inc., his father signing the entire company over to him after he passed away unexpectedly several months prior. Years of neglecting his heart condition finally caught up with him, causing Choi Hajoon to collapse on his way to work one day.
Seungcheol was barely twenty-six at that time and nothing could’ve prepared him for the words of his late father’s lawyer, when he told him he was now the rightful owner to all of the company’s assets. Freshly finished with his master’s degree, he was petrified. His mother on the other hand, was fuming.
How could he leave it all in the hands of a literal child?! was her first reaction. She couldn’t believe her husband left her with nothing (but two houses, a villa by the seaside and a couple of cars. A tragedy indeed.). She clearly wanted to finally have an official authority over Lotus’s operations, so her dissapointment was palpable.
Seungcheol was surprised as well, but he had a feeling his father did it on purpose. His parents’ fights and silent treatments were getting bigger and longer for quite some time already. Hajoon must’ve changed the conditional will he had confected a while ago, switching the company’s beneficiary from his wife’s name to Seungcheol’s, in case of any serious emergencies.
The urge Seungcheol had to please his strict mother was still strong, though. Ever since he was a child, he always put great effort into everything he did, yearning for her praise and approval unwaveringly. Sadly, he rarely ever actually earned it. His father’s constant absence wasn’t exactly welcomed, either.
Thus, he couldn’t exclude his mother completely and his soft heart made him promise he would value her feedback on running the company accordingly. She only scoffed at his words.
He had to go through proper training first, and all of his father’s most trusted employees took part in introducing him to Lotus’s usual proceedings.
It did feel like a death sentence, of sorts. He hoped to start working in a smaller branch of the concern at first, already knowing that escaping the business world completely was certainly out of the question. He would still have time for photography then, could still try to make a name for himself in field he adored so much. Life apparently disagreed with that.
His CEO-in-training era ended all too soon and before he knew it, he was standing in the middle of a huge conference room to give a speech about his ascension as Lotus’ chairman. He tried to keep it short and did fairly good - in Jihoon’s words. You were just fine. Trust me.
Now, Seungcheol was standing in the middle of a high-end club, wishing he could just go home and maybe go for a swim in his pool. Or sleep. Preferably till noon.
His wishful thinking reminded him of the next day’s agenda. He was going to participate in interviewing several candidates for the position of his personal assistant. Remi, who was initially only Jihoon’s secretary, struggled to keep up with both of their workloads from the beginning, finalizing tons paperwork and forwarding endless phonecalls. He didn’t hold it against her and definitely wasn’t expecting her to additionally keep track of his annoying schedule. She was the one who willingly volunteered to help him stay organized, sensing his unease when he first learnt that his father didn’t have anyone hired as his own assistant. How the man kept track of everything by himself was so beyond Seungcheol.
“I’m going find Jihoon and Soonyoung. Go get yourself a drink or something. You promised you’d dance with us, don’t even think about escaping!” Mingyu patted Seungcheol on the back and disappeared into the sea of people on the dancefloor. Seungcheol sighed. He couldn’t really remember the last time he actually had fun.
His eyes skimmed over the crowd. Everyone’s faces looked exactly same to him.
Except for one person.
Their blond, slightly curly hair had blue highlights in them, shining in the club’s colorful lighting. A white ribbon was tied around their neck, the skin glistening with sparkly shimmer. A see-through, flowy pale blue top fluttered around with their every move. Oh, how he would love to capture them with his camera right then and there.
The ethereal stranger glanced in Seungcheol’s direction and their eyes met for a moment. He couldn’t avert his gaze, an invisible force keeping it in place.
The person seemed to enjoy the attention though, judging by the smirk on their lips and the way they eventually made their way through the crowd over to where Seungcheol was standing, gracefully passing between the sweaty bodies.
The time stopped. All that mattered was them looking at eachother.
“Hi,” Seungcheol swore he heard angels singing in the background when he heard the other’s voice. “Wanna dance?”
Seungcheol hadn’t danced in years, but he found himself ready to fulfill every wish this person would ask of him. He didn’t trust his voice to come out normally so he just nodded, the stranger offering him a beautiful smile in return.
A slender hand grabbed his own and he was pulled onto the dancefloor at last.
It felt weird, being surrounded by so many people all at once, all of them moving in different ways, but still somewhat following the rhythm of the song. Seungcheol paid them no mind, though.
They stood in front of eachother unmoving at first. The stranger must’ve mistook his trance for shyness and a moment later they grabbed his hands to place them around their hips, maintaining eye contact the whole time. Their own hands were put behind Seungcheol’s neck.
They started swaying their bodies to the music, first tentatively and then more confidently as time passed.
Seungcheol felt drunk off of this moment, even though he hadn't had any drinks all night. The beauty in his arms was that much intoxicating.
At some point, they twisted themselves in his grasp, putting their head on his shoulder and tilting it slightly to look at him with hooded eyes.
Seungcheol couldn’t help himself and slowly dragged his lips on the delicate skin of their neck, inhaling the sweet floral scent that reached his nose. He got all the way up to their ear before he nipped at it lightly. The stranger let out a soft gasp.
They turned over yet again, and leaned into Seungcheol to whisper:
“Let’s get out of here.”
~
Seungcheol had never kissed anyone this feverishly in his entire life. He had the person who captured his full attention of the night pressed against the wall, in the dimly lit hallway leading to the back entrance of the club.
The stranger was reciprocating his actions with equally as much enthusiasm, hands tangled in Seungcheol’s hair, grabbing it from time to time. Their lip gloss tasted like the sweetest strawberries he’s ever tasted and probably will ever taste. He was ready to grovel at their feet for the rest of his bleak existence.
At some point he moved onto their neck and proceeded to suck on it, enough to leave small, red marks behind, tugging at the ribbon with his teeth. He put his knee between their legs, making them pull at his hair even harder and drag their fingernails over his back.
“I-” they let out with a shaky voice, stopping Seungcheol who raised his head to look at them.
“You’re so perfect,” he said, dazed with lust before the other managed to continue, smiling now.
“And you’re so, so addicting,” an exhale and a drag of smooth fingers against Seungcheol’s cheek. “But as much as I would love to move further with this, I really can’t. I have something important to do in the morning and I can’t afford screwing it up,” they replied with audible regret and started detangling themselves from Seungcheol’s hold. “My friends are probably wondering where the hell I am, anyways.”
Seungcheol felt an unpleasant shiver running through his body. Of course he couldn’t have this person all to himself tonight, life always twisted his plans in one way or another.
“Can I at least know your name?” he asked hopefully.
The pretty stranger was clearly amused as they replied.
“Wouldn’t it be more fun if you didn’t?”
Seungcheol’s expression must’ve looked like the epitome of dissapointment.
“Oh my God, you’re adorable,” they took out a small object out of the backpocket of their pants and grabbed Seungcheol’s forearm, writing something on his skin. A mauve lipliner was then placed into Seungcheol’s palm when they finished.
“Keep it.” and with a kiss to his cheek, they went back inside the club, not bothering to turn around anymore.
Seungcheol had no idea what just happened. He raised his forearm to look at the scribble.
Hannie.
~
Jeonghan kept nervously bouncing his leg the entire time he waited for his name to be called out.
He couldn’t really figure out why. He managed to get home at a fairly reasonable hour after yesterday’s random escapade, washed away the blue dye out of his hair and woke up on time in the morning. He even made it early to the company he was applying for a position in, ten minutes before the agreed upon appointment.
Normally, he would never go out the day before a job interview like that, but Seungkwan somehow got his hands on free passes to one of the most luxurious clubs in the city, one that they were trying to get into for ages. They would expire the next day (that’s probably why he got them for free), so with a promise of ending the night early enough for him to still be lucid in the morning, they decided to go out.
His neck was itchy because of the amount of concealer he had to apply to cover up the small, red marks adorning it. A tremor went through his body when he thought about the person with the plushiest lips, the prettiest eyes and the nicest arms he’s ever seen. The person he didn’t even introduce himself to properly.
He closed his eyes for a moment. He knew he made the right decision for his current situation, it would probably be just a pointless one night stand, anyways (If he already imagined his whole life with the man by his side when he was falling asleep last night, was nobody’s business).
Seungkwan was also the one who suggested Jeonghan to work at Lotus, the company that he was currently employed in as a receptionist. Apparently a spot opened for the position of the CEO’s personal assistant, something Jeonghan was definitely good at. His previous experience at a renowned fashion magazine office must’ve meant something. Right?
(“Please, please, please, please! It’s gonna be so fun, we could go out for lunch together, and we could also carpool in the morning, and we could gossip about everyone, and-”
“Okay, okay, calm down, tiger. I’ll apply.”
“Yay!!!”)
He knew he was amazing at his job. If the number of times he managed to get his old boss out of a scheduling issue, the countless hours he spent arranging her documents in the most dilligent way, and the fact that he knew her calendar, and also her, like the back of his hand, were any indication.
The bitterness he felt when he was told his contract won’t be getting renewed resurfaced, yet again. She’s looking for a fresh face, my ass. She knew he was worth much more than she was paying him and just wanted to get rid of the problem, before he even started considering asking for a well-deserved raise. That old, wrinkly viper.
Jeonghan pitied her a little, though. The person who would be working in his spot didn’t look like they could even spell Gabbana without double checking.
He glanced at his watch. Two more minutes till his scheduled interview time. There were three other people waiting in front of the conference room along with him, all looking like they were about to jump off a cliff. He knew they were all probably asked to arrive at the exact same time. A corporate classic.
The chair he was sitting in sqeaked when he straightened up his posture. He was not stressed at all, but the weird feeling in his gut remained as he waited for his turn. By the time a short man got out of the room to call out his name, he was the last person left in the hallway.
He took a deep breath as he entered the room with confidence. All air left his lungs though, when he saw the man sitting on the other side of the desk. HIs hands turned sweaty and the marks on his neck started itching even more. He considered turning back and just leaving the building to never come back. Then he remembered his landlord’s notices about the unpaid rent, piling up on his dining table.
He pinched himself. He was The Yoon Jeonghan, after all. There was nothing he couldn’t use the good old ‘fake it till you make it’ tactic for.
The guy from yesterday finally looked up from his phone and Jeonghan could see the recognition in his eyes, the realization literally dawning on him in real time. His mouth opened slightly.
“Please, have a seat.” the short guy gestured to the chair in front of the desk, unaware of the turmoil going through the other men’s heads. He sat down as well and adjusted his glasses.
“I’m Lee Jihoon and this is our Chief Executive Officer, Choi Seungcheol. He’s the one whose assistant position you’re applying for,” because of fucking course.
“So, we gotta say your resumé has definitely picked our interest,” the guy named Jihoon started with a polite smile. “I cannot imagine working for Vogue’s editor in chief being a particularly easy task.”
“I won’t say it wasn’t a challenge. I can confidently admit though, that I really enjoyed the job. My boss kept me on my toes all the time, but keeping track of her work was extremely satisfying and fulfilling.” he tried to ignore the other pair of dark eyes in the room, their gaze boring into his skull. He decided not to glance in their direction too much.
After a series of standard job interview questions, Jeonghan’s anxiety was slowly dissipating. Maybe he wasn’t as royally fucked as he thought. Jihoon appeared to be quite pleased with his answers so far, but the CEO hadn't even said anything to him yet.
Jihoon seemed to finally notice it too, because he turned his head towards the other man, his expression puzzled.
“Seungcheol,” he called out, startling him. “Don’t you have any other questions for Mr. Yoon?”
Seungcheol coughed and cleared his throat. Jeonghan swore he saw his cheeks tinted with pink for a split second.
“I... I don’t, actually. I believe that would be all from us. We’ll be in touch.” his voice sounded clipped, as if he was holding something back.
Jihoon gaped at him, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.
Jeonghan’s eye twitched for the final time. He was so not getting the job.
He managed to bow politely as he said his goodbyes. He quietly made his way towards the door and started bracing himself for sleeping on Jisoo’s couch, once they finally kick him out of his apartment in a few weeks.
~
“Okay, enough with the bullshit,” Jihoon took off his glasses angrily and stood up from his seat. “What the actual fuck was that?! He was literally made for the job!” he glared at Seungcheol, not understanding his friend’s actions at all.
Seungcheol’s entire body burned.
“Seungcheol!” he was properly mad by now. “If you don’t tell me what it-”
“He’s the person I met yesterday at the club.” his words silenced Jihoon completely.
“Oh.” he replied after a few moments.
“Yeah. Oh, indeed.” the CEO rubbed his eyes, not quite believing the absurdity of the situation. The delight of seeing the beauty from the day before once again was overshadowed by the circumstances of their encounter.
“Maybe... he didn’t recognize you? Or maybe it wasn’t even him, why are you instantly assuming the worst?”
“He didn’t look at me once throughout the interview, Jihoon,”
“So? Maybe he was just shy or something, stop-”
“His neck was covered in concealer,” Seungcheol was sure his ears were as red as the lipsticks their brands were selling. “And I would never forget a face like that.”
Jihoon turned to look at him with raised eyebrows.
“Okay... you animal,” he sat down next to Seungcheol again. “What are we going to do about it, then?”
Seungcheol thought his life couldn’t get any more complicated. Apparently it could, and it actually did. Right before his own very eyes.
~
Jeonghan got into the elevator and fought the urge to just slide down onto the floor completely, letting out the biggest exhale of his existence. He pulled out his phone out of the messenger bag he was carrying instead.
>Regina George and the Other Two<
hannie<3
SOS
the guy i made out with yesterday is the ceo of lotus
aka the one who’s hiring for personal assistants
aka the one i would be directly working under if i got the job
seungkwannie(*⌒―⌒*)
YOU MADE OUT WITH CHOI SEUNGCHEOL????!??!????!!?
YOURE FUCKING WITH ME
meredith grey wannabe!
hannie<3
i wish i was
emergency meetup at jisoo’s for dinner?????
jisoo>.<
oh my god.
of course, come over at 5, I’ll tell Seokmin to buy some wine on his way home
hannie<3
tell him to bring cherry cake too :c
~
“We should all kill ourselves.”
“Noooo, please, not before I finally ask Hansol out,”
“Hannie, come on,” Jisoo said calmly, placing a big slice of the cake on Jeonghan’s plate. “Maybe he didn’t even realize it was you? Maybe you’re just reading into this too much.” he reasoned, licking the icing sticking to his fingers.
“You should’ve seen his face, Jisoo. He literally told me to get the fuck out, even the other guy was surprised,” he groaned, pressing his forehead down against the table. “I’m never getting the job. I’m going to get evicted and I’ll live on the streets until someone finally murders me,” he lifted his head and took a bite of the cake, almost moaning at the sweet taste. “This is so fucking good, by the way. You need to suck Seokmin’s dick from us, or something.”
Jisoo blushed, thinking about his sweet boyfriend. Apart from bringing them the expensive wine and the dessert, he also went out to visit his parents to give the three of them the space they needed to talk in peace. Maybe he actually will be getting something more than a kiss when he comes home tonight.
“You know, I don’t think it’s as big of a disaster as you’re making it out to be,” Seungkwan took a sip of the wine before he continued, pointing his fork at Jeonghan. “Think about Meredith Grey. She literally slept with Derek, found out he was basically her boss the next day, and then she married him,” he frowned. “And then he died, I’m pretty sure. I don’t know, I haven’t watched the later seasons yet.”
“I don’t think the logic of Grey’s Anatomy applies to my situation, Kwannie. Thanks for the reassurance though.”
“No problem, babe.” Seungkwan chirped, gulping the rest of his wine in one go.
“Wait, I don’t even know what this Choi Seungcheol guy looks like,” Jisoo added, grabbing his laptop, “Let’s Google him.”
A shiver went through Jeonghan’s body, just thinking about Seungcheol’s face. And his body. And his tongue.
Jisoo opened the browser and typed the CEO’s name into the search bar. A standard Google knowledge panel appeared on the screen, with Seungcheol’s age, date of birth and a couple of photos as well. Jeonghan blushed looking at the handsome man.
“Oh. my. God,” Jisoo gaped, while Seungkwan gasped, almost standing up from his seat.
“What the hell?! He’s twenty-fucking-seven?! I didn’t even know that and I work at Lotus!”
Jisoo clicked through a few of the displayed pictures, one of them portraying a sweaty Seungcheol in a skin-tight shirt, clearly coming back from a run. Jeonghan gulped at his friends’ whistling.
“Fuck it, let’s hope you actually follow in Meredith Grey’s footsteps. Minus Seungcheol’s death, I guess,” Seungkwan’s voice broke the momentary silence. “Seriously, this man is a catch of the century, though. Just report it to the HR once you start fucking him, or whatever. It really doesn’t have to be that deep.” he said, pouring himself another glass of wine.
“Yeah, he has to hire me first for that to happen. And it’s highly unlikely so far.” Jeonghan grumbled, taking another bite of his cake.
His phone pinged in the background, making him roll his eyes. It was probably just one of Duolingo’s annoying notifications anyways.
He grabbed it from the counter, the screen lighting up with a new message. He almost choked on the food he was chewing when he saw the text.
>Unknown<
Hi, it’s Lee Jihoon from Lotus. Considering You were the best candiate for the assistant position so far, we want to invite You for a second interview on Thursday, at 10:30. Let me know if that works. Regards.
~
Jeonghan was pretty sure that if this interview didn’t kill him, nothing ever would.
He was sitting in a chair opposite Choi Seungcheol, in the CEO's ridiculously big office, both of them looking constipated as hell. How does one navigate a situation like this, anyways?
He did a double take of the man's appearance and figured he should've guessed that he was some kind of a hot shot businessman right at the first glance. The expensive aura he was surrounded by called Jeonghan poor in seven different languages.
Unfortunately Seungcheol was also still the hottest man he'd ever seen, so in this case he would probably execute the eat the rich saying without thinking twice if he could. He wanted to high five himself for managing to catch his attention those couple of nights ago, but none of it even mattered anymore.
"I assume we're here to talk about, um... our... previous encounter?" he said, starting the inevitably toe-curling conversation and hoping to sound as indifferent as possible. Probably failing at that while he was at it.
"Listen, Jeonghan," hearing his own name from Seungcheol's mouth, spoken in such a smooth and deep voice was... admittedly life-changing. Or at least could be, if not for the current circumstances.
"I would hire you on the spot at the last interview if not for that night," he continued with a serious look in his eyes. Okay, fair enough. That meant he still had a chance of getting the job, right?
"But I don't want you to feel... like I expect something to happen between the two us if you start working for me. I just don't think this is a good idea, all in all." well, fuck. Jeonghan had to quickly come up with a reason compelling enough for Seungcheol to reconsider his decision.
"I understand, S- I'm sorry, do you want me to call you Sir?" the way the CEO's ears reddened was enough of an answer, but he still gave him a breathless reply.
"No, please. We're the same age, just call me by my name,"
"Alright,” what a pity. “I see what you mean Seungcheol, but I don't think this is that big of an issue. We could just-" he paused, bracing himself for the sour tasting words he was about to utter.
"We could just forget about what happened altogether. It doesn't have to change the fact that I would like to help you with your work as your personal assistant and that I really want this job," was that persuasive enough? He needed the job, actually.
This was the only permanent job offer he could take if he wanted to be able to pay his bills and save enough money to finally fullfil the dream he had since high school. Sure, he could apply to work at a store or a café, or maybe even both at the same time, and he actually did a few months ago after he was fired.
He'd never felt as tired as he was back then, his coworkers hated him for whatever reason and for the three months of working like that, he saved up a minimum amount of money. Which he was almost immediately forced to spend on three plumber visits and then, as a final nail to the coffin, his landlord increased his rent.
So why not try for a position with a much higher pay, one that he had enough and more of experience for? He knew from the beginning that his previous job description on his resumé would catch Lotus's recruiters' eyes.
"It's not like we have a ton of history together. I don't see why we can't put it all behind us in the past." he finished, gaze hopeful. The creases on Seungcheol's forehead didn't disappear, though. Maybe he should simply let it go and be on his merry way.
"I can of course excuse myself if it's-"
"No, no, I'm just...", the CEO trailed off, looking to the side for a moment. "Let's do a month of trial period. We'll see if it works for us, but most importantly for you," he turned his head and fixed his eyes on Jeonghan's own for a second.
Wait... Weren't CEOs supposed to be... assholes? Rude and entitled? Authoritative and vicious? He was strangely touched by the man's seemingly genuine kindness.
There was no way Jeonghan was going to forget about their, albeit short, time together, if this continued. Fuck the universe for sending a picture perfect guy his way and then making him painfully unavailable right after.
"So? What do you say?" Seungcheol's voice brought him back to reality.
"Yes," he responded without much hesitation. "I would love to do the trial period." he smiled, feeling a huge weight getting lifted off of his shoulders. Seungcheol smiled back at him, too and Jeonghan felt a little faint at the sight.
They stood up at the same time to shake eachother's hands and when they did, a flicker of palpable electricity ran through their skin like a small bolt of lightning. Jeonghan could see Seungcheol obviously noticed it as well.
Who knows, perhaps that was the first sign. Of what? Jeonghan would rather not dwell upon it too hard.
~
>Regina George and The Other Two<
hannie<3
i just got out of the interview
seungkwannie(*⌒―⌒*)
fucking hellllllll im literally about to pee my pants from the nerves
how did it go?!?!?!
hannie<3
pretty sure he was more embarrassed about this whole thing than me
said he doesnt want me to think he expects anything to happen between the two us if he hires me TTTT
jisoo>.<
aww that’s nice of him!
seungkwannie(*⌒―⌒*)
oooooh a gentleman
bet he would fuck you like a slut if he had the chance
hannie<3
i know right
such a tragedy
jisoo>.<
why do you two always have to ruin everything
anyways, did he actually hire you?
hannie<3
i thought he was going to let me go but we settled on doing a trial period for a month
told him i really want the job and that we should just forget about what happened between us in that club
no meredith grey storyline for me i guess
jisoo>.<
I think it’s for the best
derek dies anyways
you’ll do amazing as always and you’ll be able to start saving up again!
seungkwannie(*⌒―⌒*)
AND get an eye candy for a boss
as a cherry on top
full package !
~
“See you at lunch! You’ll be alright as always, remember to stay fabulous!” Seungkwan blew Jeonghan a kiss before he entered the elevator near the reception on his first day at Lotus. He didn’t quite know what to expect, but had a feeling the atmosphere was not going to be as uptight as at his last job, so he wasn’t particularly stressed about that. He was stressed about a couple of other things, though.
When he arrived at the top floor, he immediately noticed an empty desk set up near the entrance of the CEO’s office, one that defiitely wasn’t there the last time he was here. A short woman holding a stack of papers was leaning against it and going through something on her phone. Jeonghan figured she was the secretary Seungcheol selected to familiarize him with the workplace. She looked up when she noticed Jeonghan making his way towards her and widened her eyes for a moment as she looked him up and down.
He almost stopped in the middle of the hallway. Oh no, did he manage to ruin his blouse already? He glanced down and saw that his clothes were still perfectly in tact. What the hell, then?
“Good morning. I’m-”
“Hi!” her initally surprised expression was quickly replaced by a wide smile. “You must be Jeonghan! I’m Remi,” she extended her hand for Jeonghan to shake. Her grip was crazy strong for such a small frame. “Seungcheol has a meeting till 11:30 and he asked me to show you around for the next couple of days to let you get used to everything. You can leave your stuff at this desk, it’s going to be yours from now on anyways,” Jeongnhan smiled at her too, placing his bag on the chair and pulling a notepad out of it. No harm in taking a couple of notes here and there.
Remi spent the next two hours guiding Jeonghan through Lotus’s building, from the floors occupied mostly by board members, through the ones with several conference rooms, to a couple of those taken up entirely by a few of the company’s branches.
“Obviously, those are not all subsidiaries that Lotus owns. Around twenty others have their own headquarters and operate on a slightly more independent level. They still report to us in the end, though,” Remi explained, while clicking yet another button in the elevator, currently on their eleventh trip.
Jeonghan was definitely no stranger to a proper corporate work environment, since he pretty much grasped the nitty-gritty of it at his last job. However, the sheer scale of Lotus’s sphere of activity started gradually intimidating him with every other word that left Remi’s mouth. He wasn’t even aware they owned half of those businesses and he couldn’t believe Seungcheol was actually the Chief Executive Officer of it all at such a young age. Although, thanks to the extensive Google research he conducted on the man with his friends over the weekend, he knew it wasn’t his conscious choice to take over Lotus so soon.
BREAKING NEWS: Choi Seungcheol to inherit his father’s legacy at the age of 26
JUST IN: Choi Hajoon leaves Lotus Inc. in the hands of his juvenile son
The future of the world’s most influential beauty giant all up in the air. What’s next for Lotus Inc.?
From what Jeonghan had gathered so far, the company was doing great, really great even. The respect he had for Seungcheol was increasing tenfold with each passing second he spent in the building.
He also had a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that he just casually made out with the country’s youngest and hottest soon-to-be billionaire. Seriously, what were the chances?
“Your Teams account has been set up already, but you still need to visit the IT department to finish the registration processes. I also prepared you a little cheat sheet with all of the extension numbers in our landline system,” she handed him a piece of paper when they returned to the top floor once again. Jeonghan widened his eyes when he saw the sheet was filled up from top to bottom on both sides.
“Wow, thank you Remi. You didn’t have to, really,” he honestly couldn’t thank her enough. He wasn’t expecting such levels of kindness right on his first day.
“Please, it’s nothing. I understand it can be a little overwhelming at first. I wouldn’t want you to get discouraged straight off the bat,” he smiled at her at that. He had a good feeling about this whole thing, after all.
“Oh! I almost forgot,” she leaned in and looked at him seriously. He was a little surprised at the sudden vibe change.
“If Choi Jiwoo ever enters the building, and she surely will at some point, hide in the bathroom, or something. Under any circumstances: Do not. Talk to her. Understood?” he nodded slowly and wrote the name down on his notepad before asking about the mysterious woman with a frown on his face.
“Choi Jiwoo? Who is that?”
“Seungcheol’s mother.” woah, okay. Remi was almost suppressing a shudder when she said that.
“Anyways!” the smile came back to her face instantly. “I think that’s it for today. If you have any questions just text me on Teams or give me a call. I’m usually in the room on the far left of this floor with the rest of the secretaries. It’s kind of a pity your desk is so far away from us... We love getting to know new faces around here!” she was honestly so adorable, Jeonghan resisted squeezing her cheeks from the cuteness aggression. Her words seemed genuine, too. “You’ll have to figure out the rest of the details of your responsibilities with Seungcheol himself, since I’ve never assisted him as much as you will. I’m sure you’ll be fine, though.” she patted his shoulder encouragingly.
“Thank you, Remi. I’ll keep all of your advice in mind.”
“No problem! Bye for now!” and with one last wave, they parted ways, Jeonghan returning back to his desk by the CEO’s office. He rolled up the sleeves of his blouse slightly as he sat down and cracked his fingers. It was finally time to make this place more organized than it has ever been.
~
Seungcheol couldn’t sit still throughout the entire meeting in the morning, something clearly trying to keep him on high alert and anxious. He had a feeling what it was, but he didn’t like the idea of being affected by that to such an embarrassing degree.
He has yet to see the main subject of his thoughts today though, since Remi probably informed Jeonghan about his early schedule and took time to break him in the Lotus’s work environment just like Seungcheol asked her to, the day before.
When someone knocked on his door, he wasn’t expecting that he was about to lose his mind in the next thirty seconds. On the other hand, he probably should have.
"Hi, sorry to bother you," Jeonghan closed the door behind him and started walking towards Seungcheol slowly, his heeled (Jesus fucking Christ) boots highlighting each of his steps with fanfare. "Remi walked me through the company's basic operational tasks and I started sorting out your schedule. I wanted to ask a few questions about..." his words faded in Seungcheol's ears, his brain unable to process them in addition to Jeonghan's appearance. The man's previous more casual outfits were nothing compared to this.
The creamy white blouse he had on was silky and flowy, the bow strings in the middle giving it an even more elegant feel and making the assistant look properly angelic. In the soft light coming through the windows his blonde hair resembled a literal halo. Maybe Seungcheol was actually in heaven, somehow? But how did they even let him in?
He looked at Jeonghan's rosy cheeks and noticed that the color matched the hue of the tip of his ears as well as the side of his neck. Seungcheol realized he must've been staring at him like a creep and probably made him uncomfortable. Way to go, tiger! No heaven for him in the near future.
"Is... something wrong?" Jeonghan asked and Seungcheol couldn't physically stop himself from eyeing his silhouette up and down slowly once again (Creep!). The assistant raised his eyebrows suddenly.
“Wait, is there some kind of a specific dresscode I forgot to ask about?” Jeonghan looked down at his clothes with a frown. Seungcheol, in his typical loserly fashion, still hasn’t said a word back. “I think Remi wanted to say something about it too, when she first saw me-” the assistant rambled on.
“There is no dresscode. You just look really good and they’re too afraid to tell you.” Jihoon joined the conversation suddenly, both men not even registering the moment when he entered the room. Jeonghan widened his eyes at his words.
“Oh, um. Thank you?” the tips of his ears turned even more pink for a second. What was Seungcheol thinking, hiring the personification of beauty as a mere assistant?
“No problem, it’s good to see you again, Jeonghan. Hopefully you won’t get sick of Seungcheol’s annoying ass anytime soon,” the insult sobered Seungcheol up completely. This motherfucker- “And don't even think about referring to me as Mister, by the way. Makes me feel old.”
A small smile appeared on Jeonghan’s face and Seungcheol had to force himself to look away this time. He felt very much dissapointed with his own behavior, acting like he actually did expect something in return from the other man. The thought disturbed him deeply. That was definitely the last thing he wanted.
“Do you mind giving us a second? I just need to talk to Seungcheol about something urgent.” Jihoon continued.
“Of course, it’s good to see you too, Jihoon. I’ll come back later, have a nice day.” Jeonghan bowed politely and left the room in three strides. The silence was quite literally ringing in Seungcheol’s ears.
“Dude,” Jihoon slapped his back a little too hard for it to be a friendly pat. “At least try to pretend like you’re not five seconds from mauling him six ways to Sunday, Jesus Lord.” he took off his glasses and rubbed at his eyes tiredly. Seungcheol ran his fingers through his hair and held back a whine. He needed to get a grip, like right the fuck now.
“Have I always been so pathetic? Be honest,” he asked, not necessarily wanting to hear the answer, especially not from Jihoon.
“You’ve been reaching new heights, lately, that’s for sure,” Jihoon put his glasses back on and gave Seungcheol a pointed look. “It’s kind of like he cast a spell on you. It’s fascinating to watch, really.” he sighed, seeing the misery on the CEO’s face. “You know you can always let him go? After the trial month, I mean.”
“Yeah,” Seungcheol swallowed. “I’m not sure if I want to, though.”
~
Seungkwan couldn't have been more ecstatic when Jeonghan went up to the reception at lunchtime so they could go out together and grab something to eat. The last time he's seen him so happy was... two days ago actually, but that was besides the point.
They ended up sitting in a cozy family restaurant just a few blocks from Lotus and the owners, who were already very familiar with Seungkwan, thought he finally brought his significant other with him for lunch. They couldn't stop giggling about it once they've ordered and waited for the food.
"Maybe we should've said we are actually a couple? Could've scored a free dessert or something," Jeonghan said, still amused while he took a sip of his iced coffee.
"Bold of you to assume they won't give their favorite customer a dessert on the house nevertheless," Seungkwan replied, doing an imaginary hair toss gesture, making the other shake his head.
"Okay, enough chitchat. You need to tell me absolutely every single thing that happened today. With time stamps," Seungkwan leaned forward against the table and narrowed his eyes. "Although maybe leave out some juicy details for when we meet up with Jisoo."
"There isn't much to tell and there are definitely no juicy details. Everyone is nice and helpful. That's about it," and it was an honest truth. His desk was pretty much set up completely and Remi was very insightful with her explanations of the company's usual proceedings. Every other employee he passed by smiled at him, but some people stared at him like he was an alien. He was a new face around though, so it was only natural.
"Oh, come on, you know what I mean! What was Seungcheol like? What did you talk about?" he paused and then whispered-yelled conspirationally. "Did you make out in his office?!" Jeonghan gave him an unimpressed look.
"No you idiot, we didn't even see eachother much. I just set up his calendar and asked about a few things I should keep in mind. End of story," he left out the part where Seungcheol's gaze lit his insides on fire and it was the most invigorating thing Jeonghan had felt since that faithful night. All that with a simple look. He was so thoroughly fucked it was getting freaking ridiculous, but he feared there was no going back now.
"Uh, you're so boring, Hannie." Seungkwan leaned back against his chair with arms crossed at his chest.
"Boring?! You mean I'm not a whore like you apparently expect me to be?" they glared at each other silently, but a moment later their order arrived, the conversation long forgotten and not relevant anymore. The delicious smells filled up their senses with the sweetest warmth imaginable.
Until two women dressed in suits entered the restaurant and sat down in the booth a little further behind them. They paid them no mind at first, just enjoying their food in comfortable silence. Once the women started talking, however...
"That reminds me, have you seen Mr. Choi's new assistant?" Jeonghan stopped chewing his rice and Seungkwan eyes almost popped out of his skull.
"Oh my God, yes! Isn't he beautiful? I thought he was some kind of a model at first!"
"I know right... He and Mr. Choi look so good together, like those hot celebrity couples on Instagram," at this point the assistant’s face was entirely set up in flames. Huh?
"Yes! Wait, what if they're already secretly dating?! That would be crazy!"
"I doubt it, but I do think they should kiss. At least for the plot." the women started giggling together to themselves and Jeonghan was sure his blood pressure could've blown up this entire place if he tried hard enough. Not him getting shipped with Seungcheol on his first day at work. What the fuck!
Seungkwan grabbed his phone from the table and started frantically tapping on the screen.
>Regina George and The Other Two<
seungkwannie(*⌒―⌒*)
jisoo youre going to piss yourself when you hear what just happened
people at lotus are already fujoshing out over jeonghan and seungcheol together
~
Seungcheol should’ve hired an assistant thirty five thousand years ago. That was his main conclusion after the first two weeks of Jeonghan’s time at Lotus.
He got briefed about his schedule everyday in the morning, the meetings in his calendar (fixed up entirely by Jeonghan too, of course) were color coded and all of the documents he signed were sorted alphabetically, each one dilligently marked according to its source and type. He didn’t even have to deal with annoying phonecalls and keeping track of the endless reports he received on a daily.
Irritating moments didn’t completely disappear, of course. Today for example, no matter how much time Seungcheol spent staring at the stupid file on his computer, nothing made sense. His electronic signature was there, sure, but he could not for the life of him remember why he signed it at such a late date and what for. The title of the invoice didn't reveal much either.
While the fact that he didn't have to keep up with his work to such a frustrating degree as before with Jeonghan's help, he still didn't like the idea of bothering his assistant too much. Unfortunately he had to suck it up this time, the matter at hand being quite urgent and all.
He did hear some chatter outside of his office as he approached the door, but he wasn't expecting to see Mingyu sitting halfway on Jeonghan's desk, both of them laughing and smiling at each other like there was no tomorrow. He didn't even know when they met.
A wave of peculiarly ugly jealousy spread through Seungcheol's chest. Yeah, sure, Jeonghan had to be attracted to him in one way or another, at least in the past, but there was no way he could compete with Mingyu's looks of all people. His friend was absolutely stunning. Annoyingly stunning even. And he was also an amazing friend to make matters worse.
Images of Jeonghan becoming disturbingly close with Mingyu seared themselves into Seungcheol's subconsciousness. An overwhelming desire to prevent them from coming true brewed in his mind, eventually spilling over the edge unceremoniously.
"Mingyu," he didn't mean for his voice to come out so harsh, but he couldn't do anything about it. He just knew the effect his friend had on people ninety-nine percent of the time: they were wrapped around his finger after a simple five minute conversation. Mingyu stopped laughing and a shadow of realization flickered through his expression.
"Yeah, yeah, sorry, no gossipping on the clock! I'm getting back to work. It was nice to meet you, Jeonghan. I'll see you around." he leaned away from the assistant's desk and patted Seungcheol's back with a thud before walking away.
Jeonghan clearly didn't know what was going on, unsure what the scene that just unfolded in front of his eyes meant.
"Is everything alright?" he asked, standing up from his chair. "Did you need something?"
Seungcheol figured he should explain himself, even if he didn't technically have to. It was slightly embarrassing to air out his unreasonable attitude like that.
"Just a question about a file I needed," okay, this was a good start. Now onto the less work-appropriate topic. "I'm sorry about that... thing with Mingyu, by the way. He has a way of charming everyone and their mother included, with only a few words. Didn't want him to bother you too much." he finished and instantly felt like the biggest loser in the world. Yes, that is my extremely good-looking friend who makes me feel a little insecure sometimes, do you still think I'm hot?
"Hm," Jeonghan hummed in response and then continued, "He is really handsome, so it's only natural, I guess," okay, ouch. If Seungcheol had a tail, it would surely curl up underneath his legs.
"Yeah. Yeah he is," he replied, glancing down and even managing to sound like a dejected puppy. What was wrong with him today? Why did he care so much about this?
"He's not my type, though," Jeonghan's words made him lift his head, mouth hanging open. Huh? Mingyu was everyone's type, this was just not possible. "So you don't have to worry about me seducing one of your precious employees." he folded his arms against his chest with an amused smile. Seungcheol huffed out a quiet laugh before responding.
"I was more worried about him seducing you, if we're being honest,"
"Well, I have a thing for guys with poutier lips and bigger eyes. So I think I'm safe on that front." Seungcheol didn't really know what that was supposed to mean. Did he know anyone who matched those features? He wasn't sure.
"Anyways," Jeonghan shook his head. "About that file?" right, he actually came out of his office with a purpose.
He racked his brain about a guy who would fit the specific description for the rest of the day, until he looked in the mirror in his bathroom before taking a shower in the evening. It was better if he didn't think about it too much, though. For the sake of his own sanity.
~
For the past couple of weeks of working for Seungcheol, Jeonghan couldn’t help but start noticing how respected as a boss the man was. There was none of that freight in his employees eyes that the assistant could see at his previous workplace on a daily basis. The atmosphere in Lotus’s building always gravitated around a busy but relaxed hustle and bustle of the offices. Not once did he feel the tight and stressful ambiance he was used to when working his old job.
He did have a hunch that something was going on when he entered the building one seemingly ordinary Thursday. People were running around the lobby and discussing something in hushed tones. At least three secretaries he passed by were making frantic phonecalls and he almost got slapped with a document folder as he was leaving the elevator at the top floor.
Nothing could’ve prepared him for the look on Seungcheol’s face when he entered his office.
He was talking with Mingyu when Jeonghan walked in, his eyebrows drawn together and his jaw tight. Whatever happened must’ve been a pretty big deal for him to forego his usual calm and collected demeanor.
Mingyu smiled at him, opening his mouth to probably greet him, while Seungcheol went straight to business.
“Notify the board about an emergency meeting in the conference room next to my office. The in-house lawyers too. Attendance mandatory.” Jeonghan didn’t trust himself to reply verbally whatsoever and just nodded, feeling the heat of an incoming flush on his face. Holy shit?
Now, his previous boss’s bitchy attitude would never draw a reaction of this caliber from him. There was just something so painfully attractive about Seungcheol losing his cool for a moment. Or maybe not even losing his cool, just displaying the authority he obviously had over everyone who worked at Lotus, Jeonghan included. He tried to calm down at his desk first before making all of the necessary preparations.
A breathless Remi briefed him on what transpired at the company. Apparently their recently acquired subsidiary has been faking their internal financial reports for at least a couple of years, rendering all of the documents fraudulent and useless. There was no way of knowing the actual numbers now, unless an entire investigation would be instigated. Jeonghan obviously didn’t know the details of the deal, but he imagined the next few weeks to be a little more than stressful for Lotus’s employees.
The members of the board started dutifully arriving at the meeting, Seungcheol already seated in the middle of the long table and talking with a couple of them in quiet tone. Jeonghan stood near the entrance, waiting for everyone to come, before he could close the door and allowed his eyes to wander. From the CEO’s silky hair, through the bushy eyebrows crowning his face, to the supple lips. From the big watch resting on his wrist, through the pearly white shirt, to the smooth fabric of the blazer resting on his shoulders. The assistant bit his own lips involuntarily.
"He's hot as fuck when he's angry, isn't he?" a deep voice startled Jeonghan and sent him into a coughing fit. Mingyu was standing next to him, sporting a knowing smirk. Has he actually been droolling, or something?
"Well, I- It's- I don't-" he stuttered, struggling to find a fitting response. I know? You think so? I wish he just pushed me against the wall and had his way with me?
"It's not a big deal, you know," Mingyu's face stretched into his million dollar smile. It was honestly so unfair how gorgeous he was. "We all want Seungcheol to get a little mad at us sometimes." he stepped away from Jeonghan after saying that, leaving him even more speechless than before.
He glanced at Seungcheol's frowning expression once more, feeling that same heat spreading through his belly yet again.
Hopefully he would someday stop thinking about the other man's hands on his own hips, his strong arms caging him against the club's wall or the way his hot breath tickled the sensitive skin on his neck. The way his touches lit his entire body on fire, fire that he had not been able to extinguish since then.
Seungcheol's gaze landed on him from across the room. Jeonghan might've imagined it, but he was pretty sure he saw the frown on his face softening momentarily.
Damn it. So much for the let’s forget this ever happened thing.
~
“How on Earth do we have so much shit to do this week? Has it always been like this or am I tripping?” Jihoon slumped on the spare chair in Seungcheol’s office and rubbed his hands across his face.
“Don’t even get me started. I couldn’t make it to Daisy’s confabulation yesterday and that alone is going to set me back by three million light years. We should start cutting their budget for the tons of paperwork they generate daily. Maybe even hourly,” Seungcheol massaged his temples, hoping for the pulsating headache to magically cease.
“Better not. They will find a way to print fifty reports for that too,” they both laughed at Jihoon’s words. Seungcheol sometimes wondered where they kept all those piles of useless documents. The basement? Or maybe they burned it regularly to make space for new ones?
“Anyways, are you ready to leave for that on-site meeting at Jasmine? The driver is picking us up in twenty minutes,” Jihoon stood up and smoothed out his crooked blazer. The other man frowned.
“Wait, what? I’m supposed to meet up with our spedition contractor’s executive in an hour,” he vividly remembered personally arranging the time and place of the negotations. Surely he wouldn’t forget-
Oh. That must be what the weird I think I’m missing something important feeling was about, when he first suggested the meeting date to their business partners in question. Oops. Big oops. Jihoon sat down once again and groaned.
“Please tell me you didn’t overlap your schedule again, you stupid fucking idiot. You literally have an assistant now,” the man’s dissaproving gaze could kill. Seungcheol felt like it would end him in approximately forty-five seconds. “Jeonghan takes care of stuff like that for you. If I were him, I would force you to make the embarrassing phone call of clearing your dumbass shit up-”
"If you're talking about the meeting with Kim Sangwoo I've already rescheduled it for tomorrow", Jeonghan suddenly appeared in the doorway, joining the conversation and walking inside the office. "I called the executive's secretary and sorted it out immediately, you should be able to see the changes in the calendar on your computer, Seungcheol. I also brought the shortened version of the report from the Daisy & Co. conference that took place yesterday, the one you couldn't attend? And also coffee," he placed the cup on Seungcheol's desk along with the documents he was holding, "As a treat before you leave."
The CEO was speechless. The headache gradually pressing against his skull simmered away with each sentence that left his assistant's mouth. Jihoon was at a loss for words too.
"Um," Jeonghan looked a little uncomfortable at the silence. "I'll be right outside if you need me." and with that, he left the room after offering them a small awkward smile.
Jihoon raised an eyebrow at Seungcheol.
"Well. If you had any doubts about keeping him here, I guess you have your answer now. Your animalistic urges be damned," he shook his head and turned around to leave too, not letting the CEO respond in any way. “And keep track of your goddamn schedule. Jeonghan isn’t going to replace your brain anytime soon. You should be kissing the ground he walks on for fixing this.” the door clicked shut when he exited the office.
And Seungcheol was so, so fucked.
But also so fucking relieved. He figured it would be best to actually follow Jihoon’s adivce and at least try to overlook his suffocating attraction towards Jeonghan for the sake of keeping his work more organized and less headache-inducing than it had ever been. As selfish and twisted as it sounded.
First, he had to properly thank Jeonghan for cleaning up his mess, though. Perhaps without the kissing the ground part. (Perhaps.)
~
“Just so you know, if you put down any more ‘draw two’ cards, I’m shoving the entire deck up your ass,” steam was almost coming out of Seungkwan’s ears when he finished arranging the twenty six Uno cards he was currently holding.
“Sure, babe,” Jeonghan grabbed a marshmallow from the table, only one card between his own fingers. If Jisoo put down a blue, or a three, he was surely going to win this round. Like he did with the four before.
“By the way, when are you finding out if you’re staying at Lotus permanently? Isn’t the trial month going to be over sometime this week?” Jisoo asked and drew a card, frowning when he saw what it was. He didn’t put anything down in the end, causing Jeonghan to draw as well.
“This Friday, actually,” Jeonghan swallowed the marshmallow before replying.
Just thinking about it made the sweetness in his mouth turn a tad bit nauseating, the sudden wave of stress making him want to throw the candy up instantly. He knew he was doing fairly good at the job, not to mention the fact that he got along with pretty much everyone who worked closely with Seungcheol as well. His experience definitely shone through his daily tasks and it felt really good, if he was being honest. He loved showing off his capabilities.
He also knew there were other factors that would determine if he was going to keep the job or not. And in terms of those... He had no idea how to feel. He picked up a card from the deck on the table and giggled upon getting ‘draw four’ this time.
“And? Do you think you’ll stay?”
“The real question is how long Seungcheol and him manage to stay as friends before he inevitably bends him over the desk in his office,” Seungkwan added, acting all smug, right before Jeonghan placed down his card and he gasped. “You fucking bitch.”
“That’s for opening your stupid mouth,”
“Just say you want the deck up your ass and go. Oh, wait! You would rather for it to be Seungcheol’s-”
“Don’t you dare finish that sentence, you-”
“Excuse me? Can we leave the part where you start throwing slippers at eachother for after the game, please? I asked you a question, Hannie,” Jisoo rolled his eyes and brought the two of them back to reality. They apologized but still glared at eachother half-seriously.
“I mean, hopefully Seungcheol lets me stay? I don’t think he could possibly poke at my work in any way, it’s all going to depend on whether he thinks it’s working out for us or not.” and that was the thing he was the most nervous about, since there was no way of actually figuring out what was going on in the CEO’s head.
Thank God it went both ways, though. If Seungcheol was able to hear Jeonghan’s own thoughts about himself, he would surely fire him, effective immediately. His will to stay professional was hanging by an extremely thin thread whenever the man was within a three-meter radius.
“Not to sound like a broken record, but I genuinely believe he can’t stop thinking about you and your unfortunately stunning, but still annoying face. Trust me, it’s a matter of when and not if.” Seungkwan suddenly pulled a ‘draw two’ out of the cards in his hand, followed by another one from Jisoo. Jeonghan didn’t even realize he didn’t have any of his own to pass on the eight cards he was about to draw.
Seungkwan ended up winning the round this time.
~
Seungcheol’s eye has been twitching the entire day, since the moment he stepped into his office in the morning. He knew damn well what was the cause of it this time. Today marked the final day of Jeonghan’s month long trial period at Lotus. He would have to make a decision whether to let him go, or offer him an indefinite employment contract to sign at the HR’s floor.
It wasn’t that hard of a choice to make, generally speaking.
On one hand, Jeonghan’s presence in the company improved the workflow and communication between Seungcheol himself and other departments by a tenfold. Turns out it did make a difference for someone else to keep track of his schedule apart from his forgetful ass.
He could see other employees enjoyed working with Jeonghan as well, his suave and bewitching attitude enchanting everyone around him like a spell.
On the other hand... Not thinking about Jeonghan’s skin underneath his fingertips, his breathy sighs or the way he simply looked at Seungcheol that night, has proven to be one of the greatest challenges in his life thus far. And he just happened to run an entire freaking company on a daily. Deep in his thoughts, he didn’t even register the knocking against his office door until he saw the assistant actually standing in the doorway.
“Hi, you wanted to see me?” Seungcheol was never going to get over how effortlessly celestial Jeonghan looked on and ordinary Friday. He coughed into his hand and gestured for the man to come in.
“Right, yes. Please, have a seat,” Jeonghan walked over the chair in front of his desk and sat down as instructed, letting out a shaky exhale and folding his hands in his lap. Like there was ever a reality where Seungcheol wouldn’t let him keep the job. Or more like: where he would deny himself being able to see Jeonghan everyday for free. (Well, technically not for free, but those just semantics. Details.)
“I wanted to talk to you about extending your contract, of course,” the way Jeonghan’s eyes sparkled with anticipation made the CEO realize the final decision was set in stone a long time ago. Maybe even before they met. “I don’t think there is much to say besides the fact that I would be honored to have you work with me as my assistant indefinitely.” he smiled at the instant relief appearing on Jeonghan’s beautiful features, getting a little dizzy. He was losing his mind at this point. Maybe this was a bad idea, in the end?
“Oh my God, you have no idea how nervous about this I was. Although it should probably be me who’s honored to be able to work for you.” yeah, no it definitely wasn’t. If anything, this was literally meant to be, or whatever the devil sitting on his shoulder was whispering to him.
And if he actually increased the pay on Jeonghan’s final employment agreement a little, then well. Surely no one was going to hold him accountable for that.
~
>Lotus Hottest + Cheol<
Jihoon
So
What’s the verdict?
mingoo^^
please tell me he’s staying
please please please
cheol!
he’s staying
obviously
mingoo^^
!!! :DDDDD
Jihoon
Good
Now let’s see how long you keep it in your pants
cheol!
>:(
~~~~~~~~
1 year and 10 months ago
It finally happened one day.
The quiet hallways of Lotus Inc.'s company building echoed with her footsteps, the high heels she was wearing making the sounds even louder.
Every employee she passed by bowed to her deeply, ready to grovel at her feel if she asked them too. She didn't even spare any of them a single glance.
Maybe if Jeonghan was sitting at his desk, he would've noticed the shift in the air. Maybe she would've just ignored him altogether and he wouldn't have to come face to face with the most terrifying woman he'd ever seen.
Seungcheol and him were discussing something in his office when Choi Jiwoo walked in without knocking, startling both of them.
Jeonghan knew who it was immediately, despite never meeting the woman before. Her resemblance to Seungcheol was almost uncanny, although Jiwoo's eyes didn't carry the kindness her son usually did. The CEO stiffened all at once when he saw her.
(Jeonghan also Googled her name, some time ago. She was apparently a founder of an extremely luxurious clothing brand he’s never even heard of.
The clothes were ugly, anyways. And he was a self-proclaimed expert on the matter.)
"Slacking off as usually, I see. Should've expected it from you, though.” she hissed at Seungcheol, almost making Jeonghan recoil at the tone she used. How could she speak to her own son this way?
She started walking towards Seungcheol, when her piercing gaze fell on Jeonghan, unfortunately. She frowned, eyeing him from head to toes.
"And who even is this... boy?" Jeonghan was sure she was going to murder him in that moment. Remi's words from all those months ago finally started making sense.
Hide in the bathroom, or something. Under any circumstances: Do not. Talk to her. Understood?
Seungcheol spoke up eventually, his voice unnaturally quiet, as if he was afraid.
"Mom, hi. This is Jeonghan. I hired him a while ago as my personal assistant.” Jeonghan bowed at the woman, politely. Although it probably wouldn't help his case, whatsoever.
“Well, I’m not his boss. Tell him to leave us alone. Now.” her words managed to give Jeonghan goosebumps. What shocked him more, however, was Seungcheol’s petulant demeanor as he turned over to look at him.
“Right, I’m sorry. Jeonghan, could you excuse us for a moment?” he said, tone flat. Jeonghan still noticed the shadow of a silent apology through his eyes. After bowing one last time, he wasted no time in exiting the room, wanting to get out of there as fast as possible.
He sat down at his desk outside, unsure what to do next. He busied himself with setting up Seungcheol’s meetings for the following week and was about to make a phone call, when Jiwoo stepped out of her son’s office. She walked up to Jeonghan slowly, like a snake waiting for the best moment to attack.
“Don’t think I didn’t notice the way my son looks at you,” she seethed through her teeth, “If you prove to be an inconveniece to this company, or me, in any way,” she paused, standing right before Jeonghan, face leaning down menacingly.
“I won’t hesitate to get rid of you.” and with that, she turned towards the elevators, leaving the assistant with a pounding heart and sweaty hands.
What the fuck was that?
His thoughts gravitated to all of the times in the past couple of months, when he considered the possibility of actually giving into the temptation of trying to make some kind of a move on Seungcheol.
It seemed like the universe strongly disagreed with that.
He finally grabbed the phone he left on his desk earlier that day, seeing that he had a couple of messages and missed calls from Seungkwan.
>seungkwannie(*⌒―⌒*)<
SHES HERE
HANNIE YOU NEED TO HIDE SHES GOING TO SEUNGCHEOLS OFFICE
HANNIE!!!!!!!!
(2) missed calls from: seungkwannie(*⌒―⌒*)
oh no :(
~
“You survived, though. We should be celebrating”
“Well, she didn’t say much to me, to be honest. She just ordered Seungcheol to tell me to leave them alone in his office. I don’t know what happened inside after that.” Jeonghan replied, deciding to omit their conversation from outside of Seungcheol’s office. He wasn’t sure what to make of it yet.
“There’s been a couple of instances where people had to go home early, because she said something awful to them. Guess you got lucky.” Seungkwan replied, putting a slice of tofu in his mouth.
“I don’t get it. How can you be so cruel towards your own child?” Jeonghan was digging at own his lunch, both of them sitting at a restaurant Seungkwan apparently frequented all the time during his breaks. He finally took a spoonful of his ramen, marveling at the savory taste filling his mouth. “Man, this fucks.” he commented, Seungkwan clearly looking satisfied that he enjoyed the food.
“I’m pretty sure Seungcheol’s father was a lot more pleasant to deal with when he still ran the company. Probably wasn’t at home much because of his job, though.”
Jeonghan suddenly felt really sorry for the CEO. Growing up with a distant father and an over-controlling, mean mother? He suspected Seungcheol’s childhood wasn’t particularly filled with fond moments with his parents.
“Things got even worse when Seungcheol inherited the entire company after his father’s death. It’s like she became evil incarnate,” Seungkwan flinched, having the displeasure of dealing with her once before.
“Thank God she only comes over once or twice a year. I think that’s how often Seungcheol sees her too.” he continued, finishing his meal.
Jeonghan had a bad feeling about Choi Jiwoo. And his intuition rarely ever failed him.
Especially when the next day, Seungcheol completely changed the solution for the spedition problem they were discussing before Jiwoo interrupted them. He only insinuated about his mother’s influence in making the final decision. If that was his immediate reaction to a work-related issue, Jeonghan could only imagine what would happen if she told him to throw Jeonghan himself away.
He vowed, right then, unsure to whom:
Seungcheol was officially off the table for him. He had to suck it up and get over his stupid crush. As much as it pained him to do so.
~~~~~~~~
1 year and 8 months ago
“Is there something on my face?” Seungcheol asked, feeling Jeonghan’s gaze on him for the past ten minutes. They were waiting for one of the bigger conferences of the year to start, bracing themselves for the countless hours they were most probably going to spend there. Seungcheol’s butt was already starting to hurt from sitting down. Jeonghan shook his head.
“I’ve just been wondering why you never wear a tie to work,” he said, making the CEO look at him, a bit surprised at the statement. “Is it a preference or... do you just not know how to tie it?” his tone was audibly amused.
Now, Seungcheol honest to God tried to learn the wicked ways of tieing a tie properly, watching a tutorial after tutorial, but it would never actually end up looking how it was supposed to. Always crooked, always uneven. Not to mention that he would forget how to do it by the next day. He just decided not to bother himself with wearing a tie altogether anymore. The silence was enough of an answer for Jeonghan.
“Oh my, you seriously don’t know how to!” the smile on his face blinded Seungcheol for a second, forgetting that he was literally being made fun of at the moment.
“It’s not a big deal. I’ll teach you tomorrow.” were Jeonghan’s final words before the conference began, Seungcheol only managing a nod (and a gulp) in response.
~
"Is it really necessary-"
"Yes. Now, follow my instructions.” Jeonghan placed the loose tie around Seungcheol's neck, a spare one already hanging around his own.
To Seungcheol's credit, he really did try to focus. It was kind of hard when the most beautiful man in the world was standing in front of him though, give him a break! He ended up instantly screwing up the first two steps like an idiot.
"No, not like that, you need to-" Jeonghan paused, looking somewhat conflicted. Eventually, he walked closer to Seungcheol and grabbed his hands that were resting on the smooth fabric. The CEO sucked in a breath. It had been a while since Jeonghan and him were this close.
"I'm going to guide your hands, pay attention.” the assistant instructed, making Seungcheol feel a little faint. Who knew he was into getting bossed around? (He kind of did, though.)
Jeonghan’s long fingers resting on his own were not helping, either. Thank God the man wasn't looking into Seungcheol's eyes. Until.
"Hey, you're not even trying to-" Jeonghan finally lifted his head, gaze catching right onto Seungcheol's. They kept the eye contact for a long excruciating moment. Seungcheol could bet they were thinking about the exact same thing.
Maybe it hasn't been that long.
And maybe it has?
"You know what, you're right, you don't need to wear a tie, what am I even talking about,” Jeonghan let out an awkward laugh and stepped back all at once, "Sorry for bothering you. I'll get back to work.” he left the room in a hurry.
Seungcheol didn't know what to make of this situation.
On one hand: there was something deliciously electric in the air when they were close to eachother.
On the other hand: the way Jeonghan backtracked didn't make Seungcheol feel that much more optimistic about ever going out with him for real. They weren't friends before he hired Jeonghan, after all. They were... literally nothing.
Maybe Jeonghan simply wasn't looking for anything serious? Maybe if something did happen between the two of them, it would be purely physical and no strings attached?
Would that be enough for Seungcheol?
Would it be... appropriate? They made out with eachother beforehand, sure, but this was a whole lot of different.
He couldn't tell, as of now. Although he suspected "no" was the answer to both of these questions. He took the tie off of his collar.
The thought of not being able to get closer to Jeonghan however, made him feel more frustrated than ever. He cursed the world for putting them in this fucked up position. They could've just met at the club, maybe slept together and moved forward with their relationship as any two people attracted to each other would. But no, of course not.
Maybe he could at least learn how to tie the damn tie? The people pleaser in him never took breaks, apparently.
It was alright, though.
The smile on Jeonghan's face when he noticed the tie Seungcheol was wearing the next day, would make everything worth it.
~~~~~~~~
1 year and 6 months ago
Muffled voices were coming out of Seungcheol’s office when Jeonghan came back from his lunch break. He knew the CEO wasn’t supposed be in any scheduled meetings at the moment, so he assumed it was probably a quick visit from Mingyu or Jihoon. When he knocked and opened the door with an intention to simply inform Seungcheol about an important phonecall he missed, it turned out he was right. He nodded at both of them, currently stood in front of the executive’s desk.
“Hi, sorry for the intrusion. I just wanted to tell-”
“Jeonghan!” Mingyu interrupted with a big smile on his face. “Just the man we need right now,” he walked up to Jeonghan and put his arm around the assistant’s shoulder, pushing him further into the room. He didn’t really know how to respond to that, so he waited for the other to continue, visibly confused.
“Mingyu, leave him al-”
“Shut up, Seungcheol. We’re going to this newly opened karaoke club tonight, after work. This old fart,” Mingyu pointed his finger in Seungcheol’s direction. “Says he doesn’t want to go, but he definitely will once you come with us!” his voice was cheery and eyes were crinkling like two crescent moons. It was really hard to say no to a face like that. Jeonghan glanced around the room.
Seungcheol looked consipated. Jihoon was giving him a smug smile, obviously knowing something Jeonghan didn’t.
Would it really hurt to just not give a fuck for once and go with them? Technically it was just a harmless outing with his coworkers. And his really hot, really out of his league boss. What could go wrong?
A lot of things. It was Friday, though and many rules didn’t apply to Fridays in Jeonghan’s humble opinion.
He finally shook his head with a quiet laugh.
“Alright, alright, I’ll go. What time are we meeting up?”
~
Jeonghan wasn’t aware that high-end karaoke clubs even existed. Then again, the only time he’s ever been to any luxurious club, was that one time when he met Seungcheol. And made out with him, on top of that.
He had to admit he was having fun. Soonyoung from finance ended up joining them as well, and apparently he was the missing puzzle piece for the party to start properly. Him, Mingyu and Jihoon were currently busy belting out some Destiny’s Child song.
(They also almost made Seungcheol and him sing a duet of Candy In My Ears. Jeonghan didn’t want to imagine how that would end if Mingyu hadn’t challenged Soonyoung to do it with him instead.)
The drink in Jeonghan’s hand was ridiculously expensive as he leaned back onto the bar, but Seungcheol was bullied into paying for all of their tabs (as he should), so he didn’t paticularly care about the price. It was pretty tasty, too.
“I’m sorry they made you come,” Seungcheol’s voice brought him back to reality, the man also leaning back against the counter next to Jeonghan. He seemed to have pulled his blazer off sometime earlier, rolling up the sleeves of his dress shirt as well. Jeonghan was so normal about his forearms on display like that. At least he tried to be.
“I’m here because I want to be. No one forced me, don’t worry about it.” he smiled at Seungcheol, the man reciprocating it instantly.
“Well, I hope they haven’t scared you off, yet. Singing is kind of their thing. Mingyu and Jihoon used to be in a band when we were in university,” Jeonghan turned to look at him, surprised.
“Wait, we? You went to university together?” he asked, suddenly really curious about Seungcheol’s youth. If he was being honest, he wouldn’t mind to know every single detail about the man. The good and the bad. The full package.
“Yeah,” Seungcheol replied, tone melancholic “Seems like a lifetime ago.”
When Jeonghan was about to respond, he noticed a tall figure making its way towards him from the other side of the club. Oh God, not Youngjae from accounting. Anyone but him.
"Shit," he cursed, all of the times he had to decline Youngjae's advances at his previous job flashing before his eyes. The man could be really persistent at times, so much that Jeonghan used to hide in the bathroom just to avoid bumping into him on his way home after work.
At first, he was honestly flattered that someone was this insistent on courting him, enjoying the extra attention as any young adult deprived of affection would. Especially considering Youngjae's handsome features and tall physique.
But Youngjae had a fatal flaw - the man didn't know what "no" meant. To a terrifying degree.
He would insist on taking Jeonghan out for lunch everyday, going as far as forcefully dragging him out of the building when he tried to decline. He also managed to get his hands on Jeonghan's personal phone number, texting him all the damn time even when he stopped replying. The block he received for that felt very much deserved in Jeonghan's opinion.
The last straw was definitely Youngjae showing up at Jeonghan's apartment, obviously uninvited, having somehow found out his exact address. Jeonghan couldn't sleep that night, afraid of what the man would do next if he kept rejecting him.
The problem was solved with the help of Seungkwan, who picked Jeonghan up from work one time, with an obnoxious kiss to the other's lips.
("Would you really do that for me?"
"Kissing you to get rid of some idiot dude who keeps bothering you? Please. I've done worse.")
For some reason it did get Youngjae to back off entirely. He could apparently excuse stalking, but drew the line at pursuing a taken man.
"What's going on?" Seungcheol's voice from beside him sounded worried.
There was only one idea Jeonghan had at the moment. He turned towards Seungcheol and leaned into his personal space slightly. The CEO raised an eyebrow.
"A guy who used to harass me at work is coming towards us,” he explained, earning an alarmed frown from the other man. "Could you pretend to be, like, really into me or something for a second?" he asked, eyes hopeful.
Seungcheol seemed clearly taken aback at the request and Jeonghan was sure he would refuse. He eventually nodded slowly and immediately went straight to business.
He put his warm hands on Jeonghan's waist, making him gasp and then leaned in to put his lips near his ear.
"Is this okay?" he whispered, already moving his thumbs against flustered Jeonghan's hips. His touch felt invigorating, instantly reminding the assistant about their first ever meeting.
After a moment of hesitation, he finally put his hands around Seungcheol's neck, drawing their bodies together even closer.
"More than okay.” he murmured back, fingers caressing the other man's nape delicately, trying to sound as casual as possible. Their eyes met for a long, intense moment.
How amazing it would feel to just dive right in and kiss Seungcheol the way he did their first and last time, all those nights ago. Jeonghan would love to just screw everything and do it. He knew he couldn't, though. He turned to the left to see if Youngjae was still lurking around, feeling only partially relieved when it turned out he was no longer near.
"I think the guy got the message,” he smiled and reluctantly detached himself from Seungcheol, "Thank you.” the man proceeded to step back as well.
"No problem.” he replied, smiling as well, albeit a little awkwardly.
Except there was a problem. Jeonghan's gigantic and unwavering crush on Seungcheol, that is.
~~~~~~~~
1 year and 4 months ago
"I thought this day would never end,” Seungcheol loosened his tie, as he and Jeonghan were making their way out of Dahlia & Co.'s offices.
Gruelling hours of meetings, negotations and tons of documents were always a must when it came to this particular subsidiary of Lotus. Seungcheol now knew why his dad never spoke highly of Dahlia. It was as if they relished in turning even the simplest of discussions into a literal trial in court.
"Good thing that was the only busy day of the week,” Jeonghan mused, walking beside Seungcheol with four folders in his hands. The palpable evidence of today's hard work.
"What do you mean? I thought we were launching Foxglove's rebrand on Thursday.” Seungcheol asked, a clear surprise in his voice. The rebrand was all they focused on for the last couple of weeks. He was well aware things got even more hectic closer to the D-day of an important event. Jeonghan smiled at his response.
"I managed to get you out of a few meetings where your presence isn't absolutely necessary. Thought you might want to skip the ones you could be notified about with a simple, short report,” he explained, clearly enjoying Seungcheol's stunned expression.
The CEO still couldn't believe how easy his work has become since Jeonghan was hired as his assistant. He really felt like his decision to let Jeonghan work for him despite everything, was more than just a selfish whim.
"What would I even do without you? Thanks, Hannie.” the words, along with the nickname left his mouth involuntarily. He stopped walking when he realized what he said.
"God, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to, it just slipped-" he rambled, embarrassment written all over his face.
Sue him, but their first encounter was permanently engraved into his brain. The lipliner Jeonghan gave him was still buried deep in the contents of the drawer by the desk in his office.
He failed to notice Jeonghan's amusement and the way he leaned in slightly. He tightened Seungcheol's tie and smoothed out his blazer. One of the elevators chimed in the background, its door slowly opening, as he replied:
"No problem, Cheollie.” and with a final smile in Seungcheol's way, he stepped inside the elevator, leaving Seungcheol alone with his own thoughts and a bright red blush on his cheeks.
~~~~~~~~
1 year and 2 months ago
Jeonghan couldn't wait to just go back to his hotel room and sleep for the next twelve hours straight.
Seungcheol and him were currently on a business trip in Japan, the CEO getting invited by one of Lotus's new potential contractors. If they managed to partner up with Gladiolus, the company in question, they could finally expand their luxurious skincare development to different labs and diversify their and their daughter companies' product ranges.
The negogations were endless, though. There also had to be a translator present, since Seungcheol didn't speak much of Japanese, and Gladiolus's representatives weren't fluent in Korean nor English either.
Jeonghan understood pretty much everything, since his mother forced him to attend extra curriculars from Japanese in high school. He didn't really mind, he really enjoyed learning the language anyways, even if he didn't use it that much on a daily basis. Being able to watch dramas without subtitles was enough of a pro to him.
Gladiolus had a small makeup brand under its management called Wisteria Beauty too, and Jeonghan had to admit he was kind of intrigued by their products. He wanted to check out their official store nearby in his free time after the meetings were over (and of course: after he slept for the next twelve hours).
He was fighting the urge to fall asleep on the table in front of him, when the doors to the conference room opened suddenly, an agigated group of people coming in. They bowed their heads to Seungcheol and requested a word with the Gladiolus representatives, excusing themselves.
They proceeded to explain an issue they must've encountered, the higher ups' faces turning sour at their words immediately.
Jeonghan shared a look with Seungcheol. Whatever happened had to be quite big of a problem. The translator filled them in on the details.
Some kind of a product launch event, slash beauty workshop was about to start at Wisteria's store, but apparently all of the models caught a stomach bug and were unable to show up. To find a replacement this fast, on such a short notice would border on a miracle. Jeonghan didn't want to imagine how stressful the situation was.
One of the people from Wisteria glanced at him briefly and their eyes widened.
"You! You could be our model for the workshops!" they let out excitedly, everyone in the room turning their heads towards Jeonghan. He flushed under the attention. What?
"Oh my God, you're right! He's got the perfect cheekbones!" another person added, deepening Jeonghan's blush, his face now crimson red. This couldn't be real.
"I'm sorry, what is happening?" Seungcheol asked, obviously confused by the sudden commotion around his assistant.
"They want Mr. Yoon to model for their event." the translator explained, a small smile on her lips. Okay girl.
The Wisteria people surrounded Jeonghan all at once, inspecting his features from up close and talking over eachother with great enthusiasm.
"Wait," he interrupted, finally getting over his initial shock. "I can't just leave, I'm literally working right now."
"I don't see a problem," Seungcheol replied, making Jeonghan gape at him. "I'll be fine here on my own. You can go, I'm serious." he smiled.
Everyone was looking at him, the air around the room filled with expectation.
While he'd never modeled professionally before, he was no stranger to wanting to look nice. And he assumed they would make him look exceptionally nice at the workshops.
Fuck it. He wanted to get out of here anyways.
"Okay... I can't promise to know what to do but I'll try to help out." his expression was sheepish when he saw the relieved smiles the others gave him. Especially when he noticed Seungcheol's not-so-small smirk.
~
"I can't believe you've never considered modelling when you're this beautiful. Agencies would be fighting over you, left and right!" Jeonghan didn't know what to reply to that besides a quiet thank you.
They gave him a silk white tank top and cleansed his face by far, the stylist curling his blonde hair into soft waves. He was supposed to be getting a full glam at the event today, as Wisteria was launching a brand new, full line of products. The makeup artists were going to demonstrate on Jeonghan's face how to use them most efficiently. A piece of cake, really.
“There’s nothing to be stressed about. You just have to sit still and look pretty. Which you’re already doing by the way.” the girl, Misato, spoke again, reassuring him confidently.
Jeonghan wasn’t particularly bothered by the modelling part of the task. He was more concerned with literally skipping his work to do it, a bit uncomfortable about leaving Seungcheol all to himself for the rest of the day. The man was his boss for God’s sake.
The assistant was kind of surpised at the number of people who showed up to the event, the entire rather small place packed to the brim. Sadly, the workshops had to be cut short nevertheless: originally there were supposed to be three models, each presenting a different makeup look. They had to work with what they had at present, and they only had Jeonghan.
Yua, the primary makeup artist responsible for the demostration, was incredibly well-versed in her craft. Her hand was gentle, but steady at the same time, all of her explanations easy to understand as well. Jeonghan was sure he would by trying out the techniques she showed in his own routine.
He wasn’t aware what kind of a look she created on his face till she finally gave him a mirror at the end of the presentation.
It definitely wasn’t something he would wear on a daily basis, but holy hell it was beautiful.
Black eye pencil was skillfully smudged across his eyelids creating a wing, the center covered with silver iridescent shimmer. His inner corners were extended by smaller black wings too and he had no idea how Yua made it look so smooth and stunning. It was like his own eyes have changed their shape completely. The highlighter on his face was applied all the way up to his temples and the blush on his cheeks was dirty red, giving his appearance a sultry feel.
Misato tied a black shawl around his neck to finish the look and took a couple photos for Wisteria’s Instagram page. She gave Jeonghan a tight hug when she was done.
“Our team is forever thankful to you for helping us out today. Thank you, thank you, thank you!” she repeated, squeezing his sides. He chuckled and patted her on the back.
“It was my pleasure. Yua is a serious professional, I don’t think I’ve ever looked this good,” he smiled at the makeup artist who was just walking up to him.
“I’m glad you like it,” she bowed humbly. “It was an honor to work on such a stunning face. Wisteria would like to offer you all of the products from our new collection as gift. You can also keep the clothes, of course,” Jeonghan shook his head at that.
“No, no, there’s no need-”
“We insist. We would also like to offer you a ride back to your hotel, or wherever else you’re staying.” now that he could appreciate. He recalled it took him and Seungcheol about forty minutes by car to get to Gladiolus’s offices in the morning and Wisteria’s store wasn’t that far off from them. Going back by public transport or paying a fortune for a cab didn’t sound too appealing for him.
“Actually-” he started, a chime from his phone interrupting his words.
>Seungcheol<
hi, I’m done with the meetings
I’ll pick you up from the event, just let me know when you’re done :)
“Actually... someone is picking me up already.” he replied, smiling at the screen, missing the amused look Misato and Yua shared.
~
Seungcheol was very much interested in what they did with Jeonghan at the workshops, as he walked inside of Wisteria Beauty’s store. He wasn’t surprised when his assistant was offered to model for them on a whim, the moment they laid their eyes on the man. The stares Jeonghan would get whenever him and Seungcheol appeared at any meeting together didn’t go above the CEO’s head, after all. Jeonghan was drop-dead gorgeous, everyone and their mother knew that.
He noticed the back of Jeonghan’s blonde hair (Which he could recognize anywhere, okay? He was a pro.) and made his way over where he was talking with two other people.
"Hannie? Are you ready to-" all air was sucked out of him when the man turned around.
Jeonghan always looked beautiful to Seungcheol, no matter what he wore or how much makeup he put on. This rendition if Jeonghan, though? He could go to war for it. He could worship the grounds he walked on. He could get on his knees and beg for a single glance sent in his way, for even the smallest of acknowledgements.
The makeup around Jeonghan's eyes made him appear so fierce, Seungcheol almost whimpered. He suddenly wanted to have the man all to himself, to admire, to cherish, to love. To do other, more unspeakable things too.
"Um, Cheollie? Is everything okay?" Seungcheol finally registered what the other was saying, realizing he basically malfunctioned for a second. The two women standing behind Jeonghan were giggling to themselves.
"Yeah, you- you look really nice. Really, really nice." he replied after clearing his throat. So much for not being a loser.
"Oh, I-" the tips of Jeonghan's ears became a lovely shade of pink. "Thank you.” he looked down with a shy smile on his lips. Seungcheol was going to lose his mind.
"Shall we... go, then?" Jeonghan continued, lifting his head.
“Y-Yeah! Yeah, after you, please” how many times was he going to embarrass himself in front Jeonghan, Seungcheol would love to know. He gestured for him to go first, the assistant turning around to say his goodbyes to the women behind him before walking towards the exit.
“How were the meetings? Did you convince them to consider our offer?” Jeonghan thankfully steered the conversation to a work-related topic as they got inside the car Lotus rented out.
“I’m not sure” Seungcheol sighed. Gladiolus’s executives didn’t seem too keen on partnering with Lotus, even after hours of negotiating the possible terms and conditions of the deal. “We’ll just have to wait for their official response. Maybe they’ll come around.”
Jeonghan only hummed, looking out the car’s tinted windows. Seungcheol was still trying to keep calm and not stare at the him for too long. It was kind of challenging, to be fair. He felt the tension rising between them steadily and decided to stop it before it was too late. Too late for what? He would rather not think about it.
“So... how were the workshops?” he asked, heart skipping a beat at Jeonghan’s radiant smile.
“They were so fun. I wasn’t expecting the final look to be so different from what I’m used to, but I think it’s-” he seemed to remember Seungcheol’s reaction to seeing him just a moment ago. “I... like it. I liked the whole process too. The makeup artists were amazing.” he was blushing oh so stunningly. Here goes not making things awkward between them, though.
The rest of the ride back to their hotel was peaceful, both Jeonghan and Seungcheol keeping quiet, already tired from the day’s events. The CEO couldn’t wait to order the biggest dinner on the menu and inhale it all at once.
When they arrived in the lobby, his assistant bid his goodbye and started walking away towards his own room. Seungcheol was suddenly hit with an urge to do something. He wasn’t sure why. Perhaps it was the hunger.
“Wait!” Jeonghan stopped in his tracks and turned around at that. “Maybe we- Maybe we could get dinner... together? If you... would like to?” he stuttered, to cap it all of. When was he going to stop being so pitiful?
Jeonghan wasn’t expecting the request, if the look on his face was any indication. He tilted his head to the side slightly, not replying yet. Oh no.
“I get it if you’re tired, we don’t have to, I was just thinking-”, Seungcheol tried to backtrack, pausing when the other man moved closer to him once again.
“Relax, Cheollie. I would love to,” he smiled teasingly. “But only if we get a snack afterwards.”
Seungcheol realized he would get Jeonghan all the snacks in the world if he asked him too. All the things in the world. Even if he didn’t ask. Even if he didn’t currently look like the epitome of Seungcheol’s every wet dream (which he always did, let’s be honest).
“Anything you want, Hannie.”
~
This work trip was going to murder Jeonghan sooner or later.
He placed the bag and clothes he was holding on the table in his hotel room, head spinning just at the thought of Seungcheol and him getting dinner together.
Together. Just the two of them. Having a meal. At a restaurant.
Although Jeonghan could probably classify their relationship as friends by now, they didn't spend much time outside of work, except for a couple of instances when they went out with Seungcheol's friends. This was going to be a new territory for them and he felt incredibly nervous for some reason.
He sprayed some perfume onto his neck and grabbed a smaller bag hanging on one of the chairs. One glance in the mirror confirmed his appearance was still in tact. With one last deep breath he finally left the room in a stride.
Seeing the other man sitting on one of the couches near the hotel entrance enlightened Jeonghan as to where the sudden nervousness was coming from.
The setup was painfully date-like. Jeonghan's full night out makeup and Seungcheol's three piece suit didn't help its case, either.
Maybe he should've politely declined? Seungcheol was off-limits to him, after all.
Ah, what the hell was he even talking about? This was not a date, it couldn't be. They were just two friends getting dinner. Friends do that all the time, right?
The CEO lifted his eyes from the phone in his hands and smiled in Jeonghan's way sweetly. Seriously, his end was scarily near.
"Ready to go? I found a nice place nearby. We can just walk there, if you don't mind."
"Sure, lead the way.” Jeonghan hoped he sounded nonchalant enough to mask what he was actually feeling. And he was feeling a lot.
The initial awkwardness was eventually replaced by casual small talk, their chemistry overshadowing the underlying tension that was pressing against Jeonghan ribcage. It was so easy to just get lost in Seungcheol's presence and forget about anything else.
How was he able to book them an omakase meal in such a short time was beyond Jeonghan. What could you expect from the CEO of one of the biggest cosmetic concerns in the world, though. Booking the most luxurious restaurants in three seconds was probably included in the position from the start.
Jeonghan has never experienced fine dining on this level of lushness. He felt overwhelmed by the whole setting, especially when Seungcheol told him not to worry about the bill. Not that he was complaining: the check was probably closer to his monthly salary, than the most expensive clothes he owned. And there weren't many of them, anyways.
The butterflies in Jeonghan's stomach must've quadrupled by now and he was going to fly away if this continued. Their conversations were getting more and more comfortable with every minute passing.
"You need to tell me something more about Mingyu's and Jihoon's band from your university days. I'm afraid I need to know more," the information was swirling around in Jeonghan's head for a while.
"It wasn't anything serious, to be honest. They would just fool around in the recording studio Jihoon's uncle owned from time to time. They were pretty good, I have to admit. Jihoon's songwriting skills are no joke,"
"And you did not participate at all?" the way Seungcheol's face reddened told Jeonghan all he needed to know. "Oh my God, you totally did!" let the fun begin. "Did you play any instruments?" he wasn't going to let go of that so easily. He was getting it out of Seungcheol one way or another.
"No, I..." his neck was becoming pink too. "I used to... rap. Occasionally" he mumbled.
Now that, was a fucking vision. Jeonghan felt an embarrassing wave of arousal just thinking about Seungcheol with a mic in his hand, (preferably) a tight shirt and a confident smirk on his lips, commanding the whole crowd with his words like some kind of a ruler.
"If you get me drunk enough someday, I might show you a video or two from our performances. No promises, though." he sipped on his drink, unaware of the not-so-innocent images flashing in Jeonghan's mind.
"I'll keep that in mind," he replied, thankfully stopping himself from moaning out loud in time. A win was a win.
"Speaking of music, my friend, Seungkwan, plays in musicals at the local theatre every once in a while. He actually works at Lotus too." a little lore drop on his part couldn't hurt, either.
"Wait, isn't Seungkwan the name of one of the receptionists? I had no idea you knew eachother." this genuinely took Jeonghan off guard. Seungcheol knowing who Seungkwan was? Interesting.
"And I had no idea such a hot shot boss like you would know your receptionist's name. Seungkwan would be surprised too, I'm sure." Seungcheol chuckled, his dimples fully on display. What a heavenly sight for Jeonghan's pleasently buzzed mind.
"I'm happy to break stereotypes for you, Hannie."
Holy fuck, weren't they literally flirting just now? Shit, shit, shit.
Jeonghan needed to keep himself in check. It was so hard for him not too act on the sparks bouncing through the air whenever they interacted.
"Anyways, I'd love to see Seungkwan perform. Just let me know when and where." Seungcheol continued as if nothing happened.
The rest of their meal thankfulky remained in the safe territory of light-hearted stories about their friends and discussing a couple of pending work-related issues. When it was time to pay and leave, Jeonghan tried to pretend he wasn't embarrased about letting Seungcheol cover the cost entirely. Tried and failed, obviously.
There wasn't much he could do about it even if he wanted to. He decided to swallow his pride this time and told Seungcheol the snacks will be on him. The CEO muttered a quiet Sure, Hannie with an amused smile on his face as a response.
The tranquil evening's breeze was a relief compared to the scorching heat of the day from earlier. They took a quiet stroll through the city streets, Jeonghan keeping an eye on any food stands they could approach. He was going to get the damn taiyaki against all odds.
It took some time, but they eventually stepped onto a street filled to the brim with people and small food vendors. The fragrant smells and vivid colors were truly mesmerizing. He suddenly felt like an ordinary tourist, walking through the bustling corners of Tokyo with his boyfriend in tow. Wait. What?
He spotted a taiyaki stand and immediately took off in that direction, telling Seungcheol he will handle it over his shoulder.
"Hi," he smiled at the young cashier. "We'll have two pieces of the taiyaki, please." his fluent Japanese seemed to surprise her and she only responded with a small nod. She must've heard Seungcheol and him speaking to eachother earlier, since they didn't look that much foreign, after all. She grabbed the pastries and put them on a small paper plate.
Jeonghan was about to take his wallet out of his bag, when Seungcheol suddenly reached out his hand, pressing the card he was holding against the payment terminal before the assistant could even react. He glared at the man.
"Hey! It was supposed to be my treat!" he pouted.
"Hannie, come on. I'm not letting you spend your money on me, be serious." Seungcheol's reply left no room for further discussion. Jeonghan pouted harder.
The cashier turned around and whispered to her friend at the back in Japanese:
"The sugar daddies are getting younger and younger these days." Jeonghan's heart stopped at her words. Was it because he was still wearing the makeup from the damn workshops and Seungcheol was in a full suit?! What was this unprompted stereotyping?!
Jeonghan grabbed their treats and started walking away from the stand wordlessly, Seungcheol following closely behind.
"Is something wrong?" the CEO asked, not understanding the reason behind Jeonghan's sudden strange behavior. What he didn't know, wouldn't kill him, in this case.
"It's nothing. Eat." he extended the hand holding the plate towards Seungcheol, still embarrassed.
“No, what happe-” Seungcheol’s words were silenced by Jeonghan putting the entire taiyaki right into his mouth, stuffing it with the sweet pastry. He widened his eyes and tried to take a bite off of the treat.
When Jeonghan glanced in the vendor’s way, he noticed the two girls were whispering to one another and looking at them. These brats. He angrily took a bite of his piece as well, quite surprised at the flavorsome taste. They were lucky the food was actually great.
“Sorry, you have a...” Seungcheol gestured towards Jeonghan’s mouth, guiding him to where he most probably got the bean paste smudged. Because of course he would make a mess of himself on top of everything. He quickly wiped at his mouth to get it off.
“Is it okay now?”
“Not yet, it’s actually- Wait let me just-” time slowed down when Seungcheol reached out his own hand towards Jeonghan’s cheek, brushing tenderly against his smooth skin. Honestly, what on Earth was in the air that day?!
“Now it’s okay.” he even had the audacity to smile innocently and go back to eating his own dessert without missing a beat.
Jeonghan didn’t know how he was going to move on from today’s events, feeling a little overwhelmed by it all to say the least. His phone buzzed with a notification in his bag.
>Regina George and The Other Two<
seungkwannie(*⌒―⌒*)
@hannie<3 did you and seungcheol have kinky sex in the hotel room yet or what
Right. They didn’t get to that part yet. And they probably wouldn’t for a very long time. If ever.
~~~~~~~~
1 year ago
“Holy shit.” Jeonghan hissed as he sat down at his desk. The start of the day wasn’t looking too promising.
His ankle was throbbing angrily, sending out constant waves of pulsating pain through his entire right foot. It was a miracle he even managed to get to work at all.
Last night, he finally went out for grocery shopping, figuring it was right about time to stock up his fridge again. The three eggs and two yogurts were starting to straight up laugh at him.
He was visiting his parents last weekend, his mom sending him off with at least ten home cooked meals. Thus, he didn’t really feel like cooking at all for the past week.
When he was walking up the staircase to his apartment (his building obviously too old to actually have a built-in elevator) with all the shopping bags, he stumbled, losing his balance and twisting his ankle in an ugly way, as he fell on his ass to the ground.
The loud thud from the hallway alerted one of his neighbors, an elderly Mrs. Lee who would often ask him to visit claiming she had no one to play cards with anymore. She panicked upon seeing him laying on the floor, groceries scattered around and helped him with the rest of the way up to his apartment.
She also insisted to look at his ankle, inspecting it for any serious injuries. She brought him an ice-pack, along with some ointment and wrapped a bandage around his entire foot. He thanked her profusely, promising to let her win the next time they played old maid.
He didn’t have enough time in the morning to change the bandage, already knowing it would be a bad day when he missed his first alarm. The thought of having to take the subway and the bus to get to work made him want to throw himself out of the balcony. And he didn’t even have one.
Getting a ride with Seungkwan this time was out of the question since it was his day off, but Mrs. Lee came to the rescue yet again. She convinced her grandson, Chan, to give him a ride, the kid picking him up on his own way to university. He couldn’t believe she actually did that for him.
Seeing the blush on Chan’s face as he kissed both of his cheeks in thanks when leaving the car, was definitely quite amusing as well.
He got a few suspicious looks when he made his way through the company lobby, limping. He didn’t really care until meeting Soonyoung in the elevator, who was giving him a knowing smirk.
“What?” he asked, truly unaware what the man was smiling for. The doors opened at the finance department’s floor, Soonyoung turning towards him on his way out.
“Someone had fun last night, huh?” he said as the doors closed, leaving Jeonghan flustered.
Just perfect. Not only was his ankle probably busted, but everyone thought he got fucked yesterday as well.
He was finally sitting down, thankful to every deity out there that Seungcheol’s day would be as peaceful as it has ever been. No meetings, no trips around the city. He just needed to sort out a few documents and inform the CEO about his schedule.
Right, he needed to get up from his seat in order to do that. He felt nauseous just thinking about it.
After a few deep breaths, he managed to lift himself up, grabbing the document folder he needed to give to Seungcheol.
Every step felt like he was going to collapse with the next one. He was basically seeing stars when he knocked on the office door, pushing it open and trying to lean his weight against it.
Seungcheol was sitting at his desk as usual, going through something on his computer when he noticed Jeonghan and offered him a sweet smile. Jeonghan tried to smile back, but it probably turned out to be more of a grimace.
He started walking towards the desk slowly, trying to hide his pain as well as he could. He apparently couldn’t hide it well enough.
“Is everything okay, Hannie?” Seungcheol’s smile was replaced with a worried frown as he stood up from his chair.
“Yes-” Jeonghan started but ended up letting out a whine, not anticipating the sudden wave of pain shooting up his leg. “I guess actually no.”
Seungcheol was by his side in an instant.
“What happened? Are you hurt? Can you sit down?” asked, gently wrapping his arm around Jeonghan’s shoulder and leading him towards one of the couches in his office.
“I- I think I twisted my ankle yesterday,” he stuttered, suddenly feeling extremely shy in front of Seungcheol. His hand on Jeonghan’s back wasn’t exactly helping, either.
The CEO sat him down and then literally kneeled on the floor, gesturing towards his injured foot.
“May I?” he asked, as if Jeonghan would deny him of anything, when he was looking up at him like that. He managed to nod, gulping and trying to calm down his stupid heart.
Seungcheol carefully untied his shoe (a sneaker this time, since the prospect of wearing his usual dress shoes sounded like a death sentence in the morning), and pulled up his pants, fingers tenderly brushing against Jeonghan’s swollen skin.
“It doesn’t look good to me, Hannie,” his eyebrows were furrowed, as he was putting Jeonghan’s shoe back on. “I think you should get it checked by a professional. Let me drive you to the hospital.”
“What?! No! It’s probably nothing, trust me. I’ll feel better tomorrow,” Seungcheol didn’t need to know that was the exact same thing Jeonghan told himself yesterday, when walking out of the bathroom turned out to be the hardest thing he’d done in a while. “We’re literally at work, too. It’s not like we can leave, just because I’m clumsy and I tripped on my feet on the way home last night.”
Seungcheol didn’t look too convinced.
“I don’t think we have anything important to attend to, today. Do we?” he raised an eyebrow in challenge. Motherfucker must’ve seen his empty schedule.
“Come on, Hannie, don’t be stubborn. I’m not letting you sit around here, when your ankle might be broken. Let me do this for you.” he added, his eyes pleading, still kneeling in front of Jeonghan.
And Jeonghan was a very weak man for people who were on their knees for him. Or maybe he was just weak when it came to Seungcheol. Maybe even both of these things combined. He nodded, not having the energy to protest anymore.
Seungcheol smiled, standing up and reaching for Jeonghan’s hands to help him up as well. Then, he put his hand around Jeonghan’s waist, grabbing his arm to place it on his own shoulder, making the other man lean his entire weight on him.
“Just hold onto me.” and with that, they went out the door.
There weren’t many people in the hallway at the time, just a secretary walking towards the elevators as well. She gave them a shocked look. Jeonghan knew she would make sure the whole company heard about this by tomorrow.
Seungcheol’s private elevator wasn’t anything special. His car, when they arrived at the parking exclusive to board members, on the other hand...
Maybe Jeonghan should’ve expected Seungcheol to drive a car of an electric Cupra Tavascan’s caliber, but he still did a double take, when he saw the SUV they were walking towards.
He felt extremely out of place when Seungcheol helped him sit down at the front. The CEO was usually humble enough for Jeonghan to forget about his wealth completely.
Seungcheol started the car, smiling at Jeonghan and making sure he was comfortable. He would be left with a twisted ankle and a heart attack by the end of this.
When they pulled up onto the busy city streets, Jeonghan realized they were going in a different direction than he assumed they were supposed to.
“The nearest hospital is the other way around, Cheollie,” he said, not really understanding where Seungcheol was driving them.
“I know.” he glanced at Jeonghan for a moment. “I’m taking you to a private cilnic my family frequents.” his reply far too casual for what he said.
Jeonghan’s mind blanked. What?
“Before you protest,” Seungcheol must’ve noticed the conflicted expression on his face. “They’ll look at your ankle immediately, instead of making us wait countless hours at the ER,” he continued, but Jeonghan wasn’t convinced at all. A private clinic?
“What the about the fees, Seungcheol? There is no way I can afford to pay for the appointment, probably for an RTG too, and-” he stopped when he felt a steady hand on his thigh. He was going to die before they even manage to take care of his ankle.
“Hannie,” Seungcheol’s tone made Jeonghan lift his head and look straight at him.
“Don’t worry about it,” he removed the hand from Jeonghan’s leg and proceeded to drive as if nothing happened, his words sounding final.
Jeonghan’s throat has never been drier. Whether it was Seungcheol’s words, his touch or his kindness in general, Jeonghan was going to lose his mind because of it all. He racked his brain to remember the last time he felt this way about someone.
When they arrived at the clinic, Seungcheol scanned some kind of a card to open a barrier to an underground parking. He parked the car swiftly and got out, walking around it to open Jeonghan’s door. He made him hold onto his arms, helping him get down as well, gaze even more worried than earlier when Jeonghan winced.
“I have an idea,” he said, closing the door and locking his car. “Just trust me. Okay?”, the look in his eyes was making Jeonghan dizzy.
“Okay.” was all he could reply, before Seungcheol bent down slightly, put one of his hands under Jeonghan’s knees and lifted him up, placing the other hand on his back.
“What the- Seungcheol, are you insane?! Put me down!” a yelp left his lips and he grabbed the other man’s neck to support himself in his hold.
“I thought you said you’d trust me.” Seungcheol pretended to pout. Jeonghan was literally going to perish if this continued. In a place where they healed people, for God’s sake!
Seungcheol made his way towards the stairs, saying they only needed to get to the ground floor and it would be faster than waiting for the elevator. Jeonghan kept quiet the whole time, not really trusting his voice to come out as anything but a moan, at the display of strength.
They arrived at the front desk at last, the clinic being fairly small all in all. They didn’t even pass anyone on their way there and Jeonghan figured that meant it truly was a place only for the most important of poeple. Some of the walls were painted grass green, the rest of them pearly white. Not that Jeonghan cared about the interior that much, he just really needed a distraction from being carried like a literal damsel in distress, by Seungcheol to make matters worse.
“Seungcheollie! Oh my!” the receptionist stood up when she noticed them. “What happened here?” she was eyeing Jeonghan curiously.
“Hi, Mrs. Min. This is Jeonghan and we think he hurt his ankle pretty badly. Could you please notify Dr. Jeon about our arrival? I already texted her on our way here.” Seungcheol explained swiftly, the woman getting to work right away and grabbing the phone to make the call. Jeonghan patted him on the shoulder.
“You can put me down now,” he said, gasping when Seungcheol only adjusted his hold.
“Not until we’re in the examination room,” he looked down at Jeonghan. “I can’t stand seeing you in pain.” the heartfelt confession leaving his lips like a spell, rendering the man in his arms speechless.
Before he even considered replying, they heard rushed footsteps coming from the end of the hallway. A middle-aged woman appeared in front of them, another man around their age standing next to her, thick glasses resting on his nose.
“Seungcheol! It’s been a while, dear. Right this way. I’ll look at your friend’s ankle and Wonwoo will take care of the X-ray.” she led them into an empty room on the left, where Seungcheol finally placed Jeonghan on one of the beds. Dr. Jeon crouched down and lifted his pant leg, taking off his shoe to reveal the injured ankle. It was swollen enough for Jeonghan to actually start panicking a little, his breath quickening.
“It doesn’t look too good on the outside, but we’ll see what the X-ray says. If it’s just a sprain, a cast might not be necessary,” the doctor said, clearly noticing Jeonghan’s distress. “Let’s get the photo taken, Wonwoo’s probably set up the RTG already. Seungcheol, if you don’t mind?” she nodded towards Jeonghan. Oh no.
Seungcheol picked him up once again, with little to no effort whatsoever. Jeonghan was so normal about this.
The X-ray thankfully didn’t take long at all, the photo in the doctor’s hands in less than five minutes.
“Just as I suspected, it is a sprain,” Jeonghan released the breath he was holding. Thank fuck.
“It’s a pretty severe one, though, judging by the swelling. I’m afraid you won’t be able to work for a couple of days,” okay, that wasn’t a particularly good news. “We’re going to give you a prescription for stronger pain medications and a special salve, Wonwoo will apply the first dose for you here. I’ll fill out the sick leave forms, but you’ll have to notify your workplace as well.” she continued.
“Thank you, doctor.” Jeonghan smiled, nodding politely.
“I’ll take the documents,” Seungcheol jumped in. “He actually works for me.” what the hell, sure. It was true, anyways.
“Great! Follow me, then.” if Dr. Jeon was surprised, she didn’t show it on his face. They made their way out into the hallway, leaving Jeonghan with Wonwoo alone in the examination room.
An awkward silence filled the space, as Wonwoo got to work on his ankle, the salve feeling cold against his skin. He knew the man wanted to ask questions. Presumably a lot of them. He was either too shy to start asking, or just couldn’t decide which one to ask first.
“Do you actually work for Seungcheol?” okay, so it was the second option. Jeonghan smiled, trying to ease the inescapable tension.
“I do. I’m his personal assistant,”
“Hmm”, Wonwoo hummed quietly. “I’ve never seen him doing this much for just an ordinary employee.” his voice was calm, but his words themselves sent Jeonghan into a spiral. He knew people could get the wrong idea because of this. He thought about his response for a long second.
“I’m not trying to interrogate you,” Wonwoo beat him to it. “I just think Seungcheol cares about you a lot, that’s all.” he added gently, the corners of his lips lifting up a little.
Jeonghan didn’t know what to say to that.
“Try not to break his heart, though,” the sudden warning making Wonwoo’s calm demeanor appear eerie, “It’s too fragile for him to handle it.” he finished, wrapping up the ankle in a fresh bandage.
“All done.” he added at the end and proceeded to quickly leave the room without another word, leaving Jeonghan flabbergasted and kind of spooked. This day could apparently only get weirder.
His phone chimed from his backpocket. He pulled it out and cursed when he saw the messages.
>Regina George and the Other Two<
jisoo>.<
seungkwan is at my place already, we’ll pick you up from work hannie~
when exactly do you plan to get off today?
“Shit.” Jeonghan totally forgot about their hangout, too engrossed in whatever the hell this morning was.
“What is it?”, Seungcheol suddenly appeared in the doorway, a couple of papersheets in his hand.
“Nothing serious. I just forgot I was supposed to be meeting up with my friends after work today. They’re asking what time they should pick me up from the office.” cancelling would probably be the wisest idea, since he wouldn’t be able to leave his apartment once he got there. The place was too small to move the entire meetup there, either.
“Where are you meeting up, then? If it’s at their place, I can totally drop you off,” because of course Seungcheol would offer that. Jeonghan shook his head.
“You’ve already-”
“I insist.” the CEO interrupted, walking up to Jeonghan, ready to pick him up once again.
Well. It’s not like he could find an excuse good enough to be able to refuse.
>Regina George and the Other Two<
hannie<3
i had a bit of an accident yesterday and went to get my ankle checked at the hospital
im coming over now hehe
they put me on sick leave ;(
seungkwannie(*⌒―⌒*)
??????????? excuse me ????????????
what happened???????????
is it broken???????????????
WHOS DRIVING YOU??????????
~
Jeonghan knew his friends were never going to let him live this down. Not when Seungcheol was standing in front of Jisoo’s place, Jeonghan in his arms as if it was the most normal thing in the world, waiting for the door to open.
When it finally did, Jisoo was standing on the other side, his mouth on the floor, eyes wide open.
“Hello,” Seungcheol greeted, seemingly unaware or just ignorant of the situation’s insanity. “I’m Seungcheol. I took Jeonghan to the hospital to treat his ankle. He should be resting for a couple of days. Can I come in, to put him down on the couch, or a chair?” his tone was perfectly polite. Jeonghan felt like he was in high school once again, coming home from a first date with a boy and awaiting his parents’ approval.
Jisoo blinked a couple of times and finally recovered from his shock enough to be able to reply.
“Oh my God, sorry! I’m Jisoo, yes, please come inside.” he moved out of the way to let them in. Seungcheol entered the living room, gently placing Jeonghan down on the couch. Right then, Seungkwan came out of the bathroom.
“Is Hannie doing al-” the words dying on his tongue when he saw who was standing in the middle of the apartment. “Fuck!” he yelled, making the three other men turn their attention towards him. Jisoo was stopping himself from giggling, Jeonghan from facepalming and Seungcheol actually smiled at him.
“Hi, Seungkwan. Make sure to reapply the salve on Jeonghan’s ankle every six hours or so. It should help with the swelling,” he looked at his watch. “I’ll be going now. Bye, Hannie.” and with a last final glance in Jeonghan’s way, he left the apartment in stride. Jisoo and Seungkwan stared at the man currently sitting on the couch in disbelief.
The silence that fell upon them meant Jeonghan had a lot of explaining to do. It was broken by Seungkwan first.
“Fucking hell,” he clutched his head in his hands, comically. “Choi Seungcheol knows my name!”
~~~~~~~~
10 months ago
“Someone should go to jail for it being so hot in goddamn September,” Jeonghan fanned himself with the three document folders he was holding.
“I’m afraid Mother Nature cannot be held accountable like that, Hannie.”
“We could always try, you know. Never underestimate the power of business lawyers.”
They were on their way to one of the lower floors for an important quarterly board meeting regarding Lotus's operations. While Jeonghan didn't attend those in the past, Seungcheol requested his presence this time, claiming the assistant's notes were better than any report anyone else would ever try to submit to him. Besides feeling flattered to the moon and back, Jeonghan was actually kind of excited to finally be a part of the conference.
"See you there, I guess? I'm gonna take the main elevator," Jeonghan said, already pressing the button.
"Come on, let's just take mine together. It will be faster and less of a hustle." Seungcheol suggested instead.
Well, it did make perfect sense, so Jeonghan didn't even protest. He replied with a calm "Sure" and soon after they were descending onto the tenth floor of Lotus's headquarters.
Jeonghan was going through the list of groceries he was about to shop for after work, when a piercing shriek echoed in his ears, the sound more terrifying than anything he'd ever heard. His ears buzzed and he felt goosebumps appear on his skin.
The elevator stopped abruptly. He vaguely registered Seungcheol's voice muttering something along the lines of Shit, not now and pressing a button on its wall.
All in all, there weren't many things that Jeonghan was particularly scared of. Spiders or any other insects were indifferent to him, even extremely tight spaces rarely ever phased him and he usually giggled during horror movies he occasionally watched with Jisoo and Seungkwan.
There was one, very specific scenario he was petrified of, though.
"Hi, pretty sure we're stuck in an elevator at Lotus Inc." Seungcheol's voice was coming from some kind of an outside space in Jeonghan's current perception of reality.
"Yeah, everything's fine, we're currently around the thirtieth floor-" was all Jeonghan heard before his thoughts drifted to an incident from his hometown, from literal twenty years ago.
("Broken elevator crashes down twelve floors, trapping two girls underneath it at the impact" the headline on the news was highlighted in red on the TV screen in the Yoon household's living room.
"Oh my, what a tragedy. These poor kids")
Although elevators in an of themselves didn't scare him, there was a quiet voice at the back of Jeoghan's head that whispered about the drastic consequences of a possible breakdown of one.
It wasn't rational, but biggest fears hardly ever were. At least that's what he told himself in that moment.
"Hannie..."
First failed attempt at taking a deep breath.
"...little pale..."
Second, and a third one right after. Both unsuccessful.
"...you-" the document folders Jeonghan was holding fell onto the ground, passing through the trembling palms of his hands.
What if there was a fire happening and they had no way of getting out? What if the elevator was about to go crashing down from even higher then the twelfth floor? What if the impact doesn't kill them but paralyzes them completely? What if it does end up killing them and-
"Jeonghan, look at me."
Strong hands rested on his forearms, the touch breaking through the chaos of Jeonghan's conciousness.
"I want you to focus on my voice and inhale when I count to three, okay?" Jeonghan's cheeks started getting wet, he didn't even notice when his eyes welled up with tears. He tried to nod, but he it felt like he didn't have any control over his body.
"One, two, three and inhale," Seungcheol took a deep breath first, Jeonghan somehow managing to draw in a shaky one.
"Just like that. One more time: one, two, three and inhale," this time more air flowed through his lungs, finally allowing him to actually register the details of the space around him.
That included details of Seungcheol's face, too.
His eyelashes were ridiculously long, framing the depths of his gaze in the most beautiful of ways. His lips were so plush, Jeonghan envied the version of himself that was able to taste them all this time ago.
"I'm sorry for making a scene." he wiped off the tears on his face with the sleeve of his shirt, calming down. Crying like a baby because of getting stuck in an elevator was really high on the embarrassment scale in his mind.
"You don't need to apologize for your emotions, Hannie." and there Seungcheol was, being his annoying perfect self as usually. Jeonghan suddenly became very much aware of the heat that penetrated the entire enclosed space. Right, no AC. Who would've thought.
"I- I think we need to notify the board that we'll be late it to the meeting,” he remembered what they were even taking the elevator for and figured it might be a good idea to let others know what held them up.
"I'm just going to let Jihoon know to reschedule it altogether. There's no point in them waiting for us for God knows low long." Seungcheol pulled out his phone and made the call instantly.
Jeonghan felt his blouse gradually sticking to his body with each passing second. The lack of the makeshift folder-fans in his hands reminded him why he dropped the documents earlier and he bent down to pick them up, grimacing at the fresh memory while he was at it.
"Yeah, we're alright. I talked to the maintenance people, they should be sending someone over soon," Jeonghan could hear Jihoon's voice over the phone.
"Well, I'm not sure about my schedule, but-"
"Thursday." the assistant supplied, guessing what their conversation was about. Seungcheol didn't seem much surprised.
"Thursday should be fine." he smiled in Jeonghan's way in silent thanks. He ended the call right after that with a brief goodbye and sighed.
"Now we wait."
Jeonghan couldn't help but think how Seungcheol and him kept getting into these... situations. Was it the universe's doing of coming up with clever ways to make them spend more time with eachother? Or maybe they were just mere coincidences, sometimes facilitated by one of them and sometimes not so much.
It was like a quiet, but firm push to get them to know one another. Even if it involved twisted ankles, broken elevators or Jeonghan applying for Seungcheol's assistant position in the first place. They probably wouldn't have crossed paths again after that night at the club, they just wouldn't have any good reason to.
Or maybe they actually would have?
Maybe they would've met like any two, ordinary young people, maybe they would've gone on a couple of dates and then fallen in love-
"Hannie? Is everything okay?" Seungcheol's worried voice woke him up from the sudden daydream. It was a pleasant one, if he was being honest.
"Sorry, I spaced out for a second," he tried for a smile, unsure if it came across as one. This was not the right moment to wonder about what-ifs of it all.
There was a beat of awkward silence, both of them apparently uncertain how to resume the conversation. A surprise, since it usually came quite naturally.
"So... let's just sit down? I don't really feel like standing in this heat." Jeonghan spoke up, already lowering himself to the ground. The temperature was one thing, but his legs were still a little wobbly, the fear from before merely hidden at the back of his mind. Seungcheol followed soon after.
More silence.
"The first time I flew a plane I vomitted three times because I was so terrified of the turbulence." the CEO spoke up, breaking it while looking at the elevator's ceiling. Huh?
"What? Seriously?"
"Yeah. I think I was around nine or ten," yeah, so the fear was age appropriate and completely normal. How reassuring. He must've noticed Jeonghan's doubtful look and continued swiftly.
"It took me like, seven years to get on a plane again, though. My dad had to book us train and ferry tickets back from Japan that first time, since I refused to go back any other way. He wouldn't take me on any business trips with him for the longest time, so I get it." his gaze landed on Jeonghan and immediately softened.
"There is no such thing as irrational fears or whatever it is that people want to call them. If something scares you, it just does and you either try to get over it or you don't. Fearless people are a myth and it's not shameful to be scared."
Jeonghan was touched by the time Seungcheol finished his monologue and he kind of wanted to cry nevertheless. His literal employer was making sure he didn't feel bad about an uncomfortable panic attack he just went through. The person who was going to spend their life with Seungcheol by their side was already so fucking lucky.
Too bad it wouldn't be Jeonghan himself.
"Thank you, Cheollie," he hoped his voice wouldn't betray the way his chest was about to heave yet again. "Your words mean a lot to me." like always. He would rather not think about the you mean a lot to me, too that almost escaped his mouth.
The atmosphere in the tight space of the elevator was heavy. Jeonghan needed to find a way to ease the tension or else he was going to explode.
"If you were to be in any place in the world right now," Seungcheol looked at him curiously. "Where would you want to be?" he finished the question and could literally see the gears turning in the other man's head, quickly catching up with what Jeonghan was trying to do.
"Greece. Preferably Crete," he replied. Jeonghan frowned.
"So you would want to be in a place comparably hot and unbearable to the one we're in right now?"
"Yeah. I probably wouldn't be wearing a full suit to the beach, though." Seungcheol said with a nonchalant grin, while Jeonghan's mind went haywire. Images of the man's sunkissed back and strong toned arms lit up a fire in his belly. Be normal, be normal, be-
"What about you? Maybe Iceland in that case?"
"A rollercoaster," his reply earned him a surprised laugh and a raised eyebrow from Seungcheol. "Any rollercoaster, really. I like the idea of controlled rushes of adrenaline. Not the ones imposed on me at random," he was obviously alluding to his earlier crashout.
"Have you ever been to an amusement park, or something?"
"No, sadly. Unfortunately none of my friends are particularly on board with the idea. Have you?"
"Once, with Jihoon and Mingyu while we were still in university. Mingyu passed out on one of the rides, but didn't even remember it until the mid-ride photos were up afterwards and he was out cold in ours," he shook his head at the memory. "We should go together someday,"
"You're right. I've already embarrassed myself enough in front of you, it wouldn't be as pathetic as with other people," Jeonghan smiled when he saw the unimpressed face Seungcheol was making.
"You know I didn't mean it that way,” his voice was soft. “Now I'm curious, though. Are there any actual countries you would want to visit?"
Jeonghan thought the question through for a hot minute. He didn't necessarily care for the US and he never really thought much about Australia, for example, but it did intrigue him in a way. He's been to Japan for that business trip a couple of months ago and he adored it, but if he was honestly going to pick one country to give as the answer, it would be-
"France. Preferably Paris," he said at last, becoming momentarily self-conscious about his choice. "It's basic but I feel like I would love it there," because what's there not to love? The fashion, the architecture, the people... It was all so romantic. And so out of Jeonghan's reach.
"It makes sense. For you to be a Paris enjoyer, I mean," Seungcheol smiled, Jeonghan mirroring him too, although he wasn't quite sure what that meant. "I hope you end up visiting it sometime in the future." the CEO added.
"And I hope you go to your Greece someday as well."
For reasons unknown, the air in the elevator thickened once more. And Seungcheol's next words would only make things worse.
"God, I need to take this off." oh no.
Seungcheol shrugged off his blazer and dropped it onto the ground next to them, loosening his tie and proceeding to undo the first two buttons of his white shirt. Jeonghan could see the droplets of sweat glistening on the CEO's skin. If he was standing his knees would surely be buckling by now.
The scene was basically playing in slow motion in front of his eyes. The air around them got even hotter than it was beforehand. And it was pretty dang hot already.
The only thing Jeonghan could do with his own attire was... not much, besides maybe rolling up the sleeves of his blouse. Unless he decided to undress completely and he figured he couldn't really do that in these circumstances. It was an intriguing thought to have, though. The initial fear had evaporated from his body and must've gotten replaced by delirious horniness. Maybe he was getting a heat stroke after all.
"Much better." Seungcheol groaned, and oh heavens, Jeonghan was so fucked. (Or at least he hoped to be. So goddamn bad.)
"How-" he swallowed. "How much time does it normally take for the maintenance to arrive?", in the end, he landed on putting his hair up in a small ponytail, freeing his nape of the filthy and sweaty strands. For a second he was sure he saw the shadow of a blush on Seungcheol's face.
"I can't tell. Maybe an hour?" the CEO sighed tiredly. "I'm sorry.”
"What?" because what was this man even talking about. "What could you possibly be sorry for?"
"For making you come to the meeting even if you didn't technically have to, for making you take my elevator instead..."
"Okay... yes, and? If you went alone, you would still probably get stuck anyways. At least now you have company," Jeonghan paused and grimaced. "Although, I don't know if a paranoid idiot can be classified as a good one."
"You're always a good company to me." Seungcheol replied, a forlorn look in his eyes.
Before Jeonghan had the time to process his response, the elevator jostled, making both of them jump to their feet from where they were sitting.
Oh God, they really were going to fall down and crash and break all of their bones, the fire brigade will have to pull their massacred bodies out of the debris-
Seungcheol slid Jeonghan's hand into his and squeezed it.
"They're probably getting us out, everything’s fine. I'm right here." he said calmly. Maybe Jeonghan was seriously going to die, just not of the cause he assumed so at first. An unforeseen turn of events, for sure.
The elevator doors creaked loudly, someone clearly trying to force them open. A moment later Jeonghan and Seungcheol could see the maintenance people, who were standing... actually a bit below them?
"Hi, sorry for the wait, it turned out to be more of a complex issue than we had anticipated. We're going to have to ask you to jump out, since we can't move the elevator further down or up in any way." one of the guys supplied.
Great. Just great. Not only were they basically drowning in their sweat, but they would also have to parkour their way out of this situation. Jeonghan felt his heartbeat quickening.
"I'll go first and then I'll help you, is that alright?" Seungcheol offered, probably having noticed his growing distress. He only nodded in response, the lump in his throat not allowing him for anything more.
Seungcheol kneeled down and grabbed one of the maintenance guys' hands, making the whole thing look a little less terrifying than it initially seemed. Maybe Jeonghan could actually get out without a scratch. Maybe.
A single glance downwards made his blood freeze momentarily, the fear from before enveloping his body and mind with full force once more. He could definitely tell they got stuck at that godforsaken thirtieth floor.
"Hannie," Seungcheol voice reached his ears like he was some kind of a distant guardian angel. "Just get closer to the edge and grab onto my shoulders. You can even sit down if it's more comfortable this way." he extended his hands to make them easier to reach for. The assistant still wasn't too convinced.
"What if I-"
"I won't let you fall."
Jeonghan was sure he was in some kind of a movie when he heard that, his mind almost blue-screening. He swallowed and decided he was not going to get defeated by a freaking elevator, of all things. Not today, Satan. He sat down by the edge, blood leaving his face with his every move.
The next few seconds were blurry, especially when he felt warm hands around his waist and solid ground underneath his feet.
"I've got you.” Seungcheol whispered into the narrow space between their faces. Jeonghan had never swooned this hard in his entire life. Even despite the near-death (in his opinion) experience from a moment ago.
"Thanks." he murmured back, somehow managing to step back from the man to take a look at the scene around them.
A small crowd of people gathered near the commotion in the hallway, most of them looking at him and Seungcheol with shocked expressions. It suddenly hit Jeonghan what was so scandalous about their appearance.
Their damp hair, sweaty necks and crumpled clothing didn't leave a lot of room for imagination to supply what was allegedly going on inside that elevator. Add Seungcheol's tie hanging loosely on his neck, his unbuttoned shirt and lack of blazer to the mix and the image literally painted itself. Not to mention their little stunt while getting back down onto the floor. Damn it all to hell.
"Hannie! Jesus fucking Christ, are you okay, did you-" Seungkwan's frantic voice stopped abruptly when he stood in front of them "Oh." God, not him too.
"Seungkwan, do you mind checking on Jeonghan while I talk to the service guys about the repairs they'll be doing?" one glance at Seungcheol confirmed that he himself noticed how the whole situation might've been very easily misinterpreted. Although his sheepishness wasn't particularly helping their case.
"Yes! Yes, of course, yes. Hannie, let's go to the bathroom to freshen you up." Seungkwan's grip on Jeonghan's arm as he lead him towards the restrooms was bordering on deadly. He kicked the door open, pushed him inside, slammed it, locked it and then crossed his arms on his chest with raised eyebrows.
"Here I am, worrying about you being stuck in that giant fucking metal tin can, scared to death and here you are, doing the nasty with Seungcheol in there. Explain! You have ten seconds." he put both of his hands up, showing ten fingers in front of Jeonghan's face and already putting one down. This dramatic bitch.
"There was no AC, we didn't do anything, I had a panic attack. See, I did it under four!" Seungkwan's face immediately twisted in worry despite his joke, his hands reaching to rest on Jeonghan's cheeks for a moment.
"Oh no, I'm so, so sorry, babe. Do you feel okay, now? You need to drink some water, like right this instant. Maybe we should just leave early and go to Jisoo's," he rambled, inspecting Jeonghan for any serious injuries in the meantime and pulling out a bottle of water from God knows where. The assistant took it with a quiet thanks and marveled at the refreshing feeling after taking a small sip.
"I don't think I can leave just like that without-" his phone chimed, interrupting his reponse. He pulled it out of his pocket to check out the notification.
>Seungcheol<
Jihoon moved the board meeting to Thursday, you can go home early
I don't think there's any point in staying in the office today
you deserve to get some rest
"Wow," Seungkwan was obviously peeking at the messages on the screen. "Would you look at that? It's settled then, we're going to Jisoo's. I just need to smooth talk my manager about letting me go home, too."
~
“So he comforted you and calmed you down,”
“Yes,”
“And he also held your hand when you were scared of the elevator moving,”
“That’s correct,”
“And then he literally caught you in his arms when you were jumping out,”
“Pretty much,”
“And you didn’t give him head, or anything?!”
Jeonghan choked on the popcorn he was chewing. Betty Cooper was currently kissing Jughead Jones on the TV screen in Jisoo’s living room, where the three friends were discussing yet another one of Jeonghan’s peculiar adventures with Seungcheol. After a short coughing fit, he glared at an unimpressed Seungkwan sitting on the other end of the couch.
"Why do you always insinuate that I'm sleeping with him whenever we're together somewhere?! Cut me some slack, oh my God," he groaned putting his head in his hands. Jisoo patted his shoulder gently.
"First of all, we're just joking-"
"Are we, though?"
"Shut it, Seungkwan. Second of all, don't you think the atmosphere between Seungcheol and you is a little... intense? You know what I mean?" Jisoo grabbed a fistful of the popcorn from the bowl on Jeonghan's lap.
"Literally. Don't even get me started on that carrying you over the threshold moment from last month. That was fucking insane." Seungkwan supplied, taking a sip of the mimosa mocktail he whipped up before they turned the TV on.
Jeonghan didn't know how to reply to that. They were both right, he couldn't deny that the relationship he accidentally developed with his boss was a little less than appropriate. What was he supposed to do about, though?
"Well, not that it matters what we think about this whole thing. What’s your take on it?” Jisoo grimaced when he saw what was happening on the screen. Riverdale’s plotline was an unsolved mystery of its own.
His attraction towards Seungcheol was purely physical at first, he was certain about that at least. If nothing was stopping him, he would for sure end up in bed with him without much convincing needed. After getting to know the man however, finding out how kind-hearted and selfless he was, made all of the admiration for his looks a little deeper than just surface level lust.
Not to mention their chemistry. They worked together like clockwork, understanding and complementing eachother’s personalities like perfect puzzle pieces. Jeonghan had never felt such a magnetic connection with anyone he’d ever met before.
“Oh my God, you actually have a crush on him,” Seungkwan gasped, covering his mouth. Jeonghan felt a little hot under the collar at his words.
Because of course he fucking did. Who wouldn’t?! Was there any point in trying to act the fool now?
“Whatever, it’s doesn’t matter anyways. I can’t do anything about it and it’s better this way, end of story.” he didn’t even believe his own bullshit.
“Better? You could have a meaty rich man by your side, how is that worse?” Seungkwan reached for the TV remote and paused the show, turning his body completely towards Jeonghan.
There were several reasons, of course. Their conversation about agreeing to forget about what happened that night altogether, the fact that Seungcheol was literally his superior and also... Seungcheol’s mother. Obviously. In what world would any type of romantic connection work out between the two of them?
“I just- I just don’t want things to get complicated. Right now they’re just complicated in my head and it’s fine. I can handle this.” he thought he could, in all honesty. He wasn’t so sure about that anymore.
“We get it, Hannie, we really do, but... If we can see it, that means it’s not only in your head anymore, you know?” Jisoo gave him a sad smile. It kind of made Jeonghan want to cry.
“Well,” Seungkwan pressed play on the TV once again. “At least you’re not pregnant with twins with your cousin as the baby daddy. Polly Cooper can’t relate.”
~~~~~~~~
9 months ago
This was not going to be a good day.
“Oh no! I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to, it’s-”
Jina stared at him, horrified. Someone pushed her on their way out of the elevator, making her grab onto the nearest thing she could reach to support herself. It turned out to be Jeonghan’s arm.
“It’s okay Jina,” he tried to smile at her. “It’s not a big deal.”
Except it kind of was.
Almost the entire left sleeve of Jeonghan’s blouse was ripped off, hanging on by a few threads. It wasn’t anything his sewing machine couldn’t handle, but it was literally the middle of the day. And he was about to leave with Seungcheol for an important conference in another city.
He weighed up all of the options he had. He could either rip the other sleeve off and pray to whatever God who was listening that it would look fairly normal, or just tell Seungcheol that he wasn’t going to make it to the conference.
It’s not like his attendance was particularly necessary. It was more of a request on Seungcheol’s part, claiming he would be more at ease with Jeonghan by his side.
The assistant examined his ripped blouse once again. He would be more of an embarrassment to Seungcheol if he showed up looking like this. Sigh. He had to tell him he was not going to be participating after all.
Seungcheol was standing near the floor-to-ceiling windows in his office when Jeonghan entered the room. He turned around at the sound.
“Han-” a pause. “What happened?” his eyes widening at Jeonghan’s appearance. “Did someone-” he started, a stern expression making its way onto his face.
“No! No, nothing like that!” the assistant reassured, deciding to ignore the butterflies swirling around in his stomach at Seungcheol’s worry. “Just a small accident. I’m afraid I won’t be able to accompany you to the conference, though,” he continued, already seeing the dissapoinment in the CEO’s eyes. “I don’t think the shirt is salvagable as of now. And we’re supposed to be leaving in fifteen minutes”, he looked down at the ripped sleeve once again, grimacing. Impeccable timing, indeed. Seungcheol was frowning when he lifted his eyes.
He began walking towards Jeonghan, taking off his blazer. The assistant opened his mouth to protest. No fucking way.
“Cheollie, don’t be ridiculous-” he had to be dreaming.
“Hannie,” Seungcheol’s tone shut Jeonghan up immediately. “I really need you to come with me. Just put the damn thing on.” he placed the blazer on Jeonghan’s shoulders, clearly satisfied with himself.
Jeonghan was speechless. He shook his head, trying to calm down his racing heart.
“And what are you going to wear, huh? You’ll look like an intern if you show up to an event of this importance without a jacket on,” he finally replied, imagining all the looks they would get if people noticed their outifts.
Because it wouldn’t be paritcularly difficult to tell whose blazer Jeonghan was wearing. Despite being the same height as Seungcheol, the other man was just... broader. In every sense of the word.
“My dad used to keep a clean suit in his office at all times. I thought it was kind of ridiculous, but he assured me it would eventually come in handy. If not to him, to me,” he explained. “I guess the time has finally come.” he was way too casual about this, in Jeonghan’s opinion.
He opened one of the bigger cabinets standing against the wall and it did, in fact, reveal a whole suit on a hanger. He took the jacket off of it and put it on without another word. He looked back at Jeonghan with a winning smile.
“All set. We can go now, no?” he raised an eyebrow at Jeonghan in challenge.
The assistant sighed. He shrugged off the blazer losely resting on his shoulders and put his arms through the sleeves properly. The scent of Seungcheol’s cologne enveloping his body made him feel faint.
Maybe it was going to be a good day, after all.
(The only person who gave them a suspicious look, was none other than Jihoon. As usually.)
(“Keep it, it looks really good on you. Oversize is trendy this season, right?”, Seungcheol’s smile was blinding when he drove Jeonghan home at the end of the day.)
~~~~~~~~
8 months ago
Seungcheol’s eyes felt incredibly heavy that morning. He told himself it was just because of the weather, but he knew it must’ve been the insomnia he’s been struggling with for the past couple of weeks. Every night, he tried to fall asleep to no avail, something clearly keeping him up and wide awake. It was starting to get a bit annoying, especially at work, when he couldn’t afford for his mind to be so hazy and unfocused. He closed his eyes for a moment, as if that was going to be enough. A pipe dream, really.
A slam of his office’s door woke him up abruptly, a frown making its way onto his face when he saw Jeonghan walking towards his desk with determination.
“Hannie, what is-” he choked, when the man pushed his chair from behind the desk and climbed into his lap. Soft lips crashed into Seungcheol’s own, sobering up or dazing him completely, he couldn’t really decide.
Jeonghan tugged at the strands of his hair, pushing his tongue into Seungcheol’s mouth and letting out an obscene moan. The sound echoed through the room, causing the CEO to pause and lean back from the man on his lap.
“What are you-”
“I need you to fuck me,” Jeonghan interrupted, his breathing shallow, right before he attached his lips to Seungcheol’s again, biting at them teasingly.
Seungcheol was stupefied. He lightly pushed Jeonghan away once more.
“R-Right here?” he must’ve hit his head on his way to work or something. There was just no way this was really happening. He couldn’t stop it from escalating either, for some reason not even knowing how to. It was like someone else had complete control over his body.
“Right here, right now. Please, Cheollie. I want you so bad.” Jeonghan whimpered and Seungcheol knew he could not refuse for the life of him. He put his hands on the other’s waist, the fabric of the blouse he was wearing scrunching up slightly and allowing him to drag his fingers on the smooth skin underneath it.
Their kisses were messy and wet, drool almost running down their chins, the loud noises they were making filling the entire room.
Jeonghan took off Seungcheol’s tie and ripped the first few buttons off of his shirt, latching his lips onto the exposed chest, hands reaching for his belt buckle. He put his lips next to the CEO’s ear next, nipping at it delicately.
“Wake up, Cheollie.” he whispered breathlessly, Seungcheol not quite registering the words, too busy losing his mind.
“Hello? Cheollie, wake up!” the loud voice made his eyes shoot up open, an unimpressed Jeonghan standing in front of his desk. Not in his lap anymore, apparently. What a shame.
“I- What- How-” a strong wave of embarrassment went through his entire body. Of course it wasn’t real.
“You fell asleep at your desk,” Jeonghan replied, crossing his arms on his chest. “You were literally drooling. Must’ve been a good dream, huh?” oh, he had no idea. Seungcheol gulped, wiping at his mouth like a kid.
“Sorry. I haven’t been getting much sleep lately,” Jeonghan’s expression turned worried in an instant at his response.
“Maybe you should go home today, then? I can switch up your schedule if you want me to?” he suggested.
It sounded nice, Seungcheol had to admit. He would probably struggle to fall asleep as usually, though. He didn’t see a point in messing up his day and complicating Jeonghan’s work at the same time.
“There’s no need. I’ll take a nap when I get back. Thank you, Hannie.” it was just a small lie, anyways.
“Okay... But please, buy yourself some melatonin, or something. We can’t have you dozing off in the office,” the tone of his voice was gentle now. “I’ll bring you a coffee. Be right back.” Jeonghan smiled and turned to leave the room.
Seungcheol dragged his hands across his face, tiredly. He was literally going crazy, it wasn’t even funny anymore.
(He managed to fall asleep the second he fell onto his bed that evening. What did he dream about? Well. That’s between him and God only.)
~~~~~~~~
7 months ago
Something felt amiss, when Jeonghan arrrived at his desk in the morning at 8:00 AM as usual. He couldn’t really pinpoint what was making him feel that way, so he decided to ignore the weird hunch for now. Maybe he was just becomig schizophrenic. Hopefully not.
He looked at the meticulously arranged calendar standing on his desk, the three meetings Seungcheol had with their most important trading partners making him sigh deeply. It was going to be a long day.
After a few moments of making sure that everything he prepared earlier was still in-tact, he stood up and made his way towards the CEO’s office, a notepad with a written down to-do list resting in his hands. He was looking at it, as he opened the door.
“Hi, Cheollie. Please be-” he lifted his eyes, pausing momentarily.
The office was empty.
He blinked. Was he that blind? He glanced down at his watch to confirm it was, in fact, the right time to be at work. He stood in the middle of the empty room in silence.
Seungcheol usually arrived around thirty minutes before Jeonghan, apparently to avoid morning traffic. The assistant wasn’t sure if he believed him, but it did sound plausible. Something must’ve held him back this time.
Just as Jeonghan was about to leave the room, someone came running in, almost bumping into him with full force.
“Hannie! I’m so sorry! The investor I was meeting up with yesterday made me drink so much wine in the evening and I collapsed on my bed at like, I don’t know, 3 AM, and I didn’t-” Seungcheol rambled, Jeonghan taking in his appearance in the meantime.
Sweat running down his forehead, hair tangled up as if he just woke up (he probably did) and a crumpled suit, surely supported his words. So did the way his shirt was buttoned up.
The first half of the buttons was put through the wrong holes, pulling the fabric across Seungcheol’s chest and making him appear even more disheveled.
“-set up any alarms, I probably look like-” he continued, stopping when he saw Jeonghan’s amused expression.
“A mess...” he sighed. “I’m so sorry. I know we have a busy day ahead of us. I fucked up. I wish I could fire myself.” the way he hung his head make him look like a small puppy. Jeonghan was even more amused by now. He placed the notepad he was holding on one of the couches and walked up to where Seungcheol was currently sulking.
“Cheollie, calm down. You’re not even late,” he started, trying to tame the other man’s unruly hair. “You still have ten minutes left before the first meeting.” he added, satisifed with the result, failing to fully register how close to eachother they were standing.
“This right here, is pretty fascinating, though,” he moved onto Seungcheol’s shirt, unbuttoning it swiftly, gaze lowered and focused. “You managed to miss almost every single-”
He lifted his eyes, gasping at the proximity of Seungcheol’s handsome face to his own.
“Hole.” the last of the buttons came undone, leaving Seungcheol’s shirt half-open, his bare chest peeking through. Jeonghan’s fingers were still clutching the fabric, brushing against the skin underneath.
The atmosphere in the room changed, their position a clear reminder of the first time they ever met (or rather what they did that faithful night). Jeonghan couldn’t get a single word out at the realization, reminded of Seungcheol’s hands on his waist and the fiery kisses on his neck all at once.
The man in question seemed pretty stunned too. He briefly glanced at Jeonghan’s lips, reaching out to touch him. Oh God.
“Hannie, I-” he began, voice low, only to get interrupted by someone else entering the office.
“Seungcheol, could you-” Jihoon, always the one to witness their most questionable moments, stopped in his tracks abruptly. His eyes widened, mouth falling open, before he shook his head dissaprovingly at the sight in front of him.
“At 8 AM? Seriously?” he grimaced, turning to immediately leave the room. “Sterilize the place after you’re done. Jesus fucking Christ.” the doors closing behind him.
The sound sobered Jeonghan up, making him jerk away from Seungcheol in an instant, his face burning. They stared at eachother for a moment in complete silence.
“I think- I think I’m gonna leave now,” he took a few steps back towards the exit, heart still beating out of his chest. “The meeting is in the conference room next door. Your checklist in on the couch” he gulped. “Okay, bye!”
He bolted out, slamming the door behind his back, chest heaving. This was a territory he swore he wouldn’t go back into. Not after starting this job and especially not after Seungcheol’s mother’s words, which were still keeping him up at night from time to time.
He suspected it would be extra difficult to keep his true feelings in check from now on.
~~~~~~~~
6 months ago
No number of champagne glasses would make Jeonghan enjoy himself at this godforsaken party. Who knew businessmen could be this boring. Oh, wait! Everyone, actually.
Maybe if Seungkwan was here, or even Mingyu, he could ignore everyone else’s stuck-up asses, but unfortunately none of them were present.
He didn’t even realize it was a party at first, the event concealed as a networking meetup in Seungcheol’s calendar. In the middle of the day, on top of that!
The said man left his side right after they arrived at the venue, apparently to actually do some networking. Whatever the hell that meant.
Jeonghan didn’t originally plan to drink, but then some guy asked him about crypto and he decided to finally end his own misery, grabbing a glass from one of the wandering waiters.
Just thinking about the situation made him grimace. He gulped the rest of his champagne in one go.
“Getting drunk on company time? How scandalous of you, Mr. Yoon.” the voice whose owner he knew very well reached his ears, causing him turn his head to the left, where Seungcheol was standing with an amused smile.
“I’m afraid you were the one who dragged me here, Mr. Choi.” he teased back, the blush on his face either from alcohol or Seungcheol’s words. Probably both. The CEO’s gaze softened.
“I’m sorry, Hannie. I forgot the Parks love turning anything into a party, even an awkward one at 12 PM.” he replied, his tone audibly apologetic.
“I was joking, Cheollie. At least I get to do nothing for a while.” Jeonghan smiled reassuringly, but he didn’t really mean his words. He would rather be doing anything other than this, he just didn’t want to make Seungcheol sad. Like, ever.
“You’re right. I’m usually the one responsible for doing that. Nothing, I mean.” Seungcheol joked with a playful glint in his eye.
A little flirting never killed nobody, Jeonghan figured.
“Exactly! Maybe I should get an assistant too, you know. We could just hangout while they do all the work.” he said, making Seungcheol laugh, the sound gracing his ears like the prettiest melody.
“Oh, my! Look at you two! Such a beautiful couple! How long have you been together?” an elderly lady suddenly appeared by their side, a bright smile on her face.
Jeonghan swayed a little, almost having to grab on Seungcheol’s arm to stabilize himself. They shared a panicked look.
“We’re not dating,”
“We’re just coworkers,”
They explained, speaking at the same time. Jeonghan was sure his face was about to set up in flames. Hadn’t he heard this one before?
“Aww, that’s such a shame,” the lady kept going. “You just look so good together! Like a match made in heaven!” she clapped to support her words, making both of them even more embarrassed.
The fact that they both knew she was right - well. Some things were better left unsaid.
“Grandma! Jesus, are you harassing people again?” a tall guy joined the conversation, pulling the lady away from the two flustered men.
“I was just admiring young love, Yeollie.” she explained, still looking at them like she was about to coo.
“Grandma, please. I’m sorry about her, she doesn’t know what she’s talking about half the time.” the shook his head, already walking away, smiling apologetically at the pair and leaving them alone. Alone and speechless.
Jeongan didn’t know how to move on with conversation after that encounter. The elephant in the room felt too big for him to ignore it and act like nothing happened. The alcohol in his veins must’ve gotten to his brain already, prompting him to reply with a smirk on his lips.
“Wow, we got our first blessing. Where is my ring, darling?” he batted his eyelashes, delighted to witness the blush appearing on Seungcheol’s cheeks in real time. He put down the champagne glass he was holding onto the nearby table.
“Maybe this was the other half the time, when she actually knew what she was talking about. But what do I know?” he added lowly, turning to walk away, leaving Seungcheol even more stunned than before.
The situation officially cemented the inevitable change in their relationship. For better, or for worse.
~~~~~~~~
5 months ago
The tension between them was slowly getting unbearable. It was only a matter of days before one of them snapped. Or both of them, in this case.
“You’re being unreasonable. Of course you are allowed to pull out of the deal if they haven’t met the agreed upon terms and conditions,”
“I appreciate your input, Hannie, but you know very well that it would do way more damage than good right now. The product launch would get postponed even further, given any partner of ours would even consider taking over an unfinished project. We need to push through with this deal and maybe consider terminating the long-term contract we have with them afterwards,”
“So? How are you so sure they won’t pull the same stunt once again? They are going to cause more problems, you should shut them out now. The sooner we leave those leeches the better.”
“You’re not even listening to what I’m saying.”
“Well, are you?!”
“Stop acting like you know better than me!”
“Maybe I actually do!”
Their raised voices echoed around the room, the atmosphere buzzing with electricity. Their faces kept getting closer with each shout, now barely inches from one another. He realized that he literally yelled at his boss after finally seeing the agitated expression on Seungcheol’s face.
He didn’t have time to pull back, before he heard the office door opening, a fuming Jihoon standing in the doorway.
Jeonghan had half the mind to at least step away from Seungcheol, right before Jihoon started yelling at them.
“Do you really have to be fighting so loud in the middle of the fucking day, with meetings going on all around and important clients literally walking through the fucking hallways?! Stop acting like teenagers and get your shit together!” he exclaimed all at once, his demeanor compensating for his height entirely. He began closing the door, before adding over his shoulder: “And get fucking laid for fuck’s sake!”
The loud slam and Jihoon’s outburst rendered both of them speechless for a hot minute. Jeonghan recovered first, although his cheeks were painted with a soft pink hue.
“God, I’m so sorry. I just really want to help you out with this problem. I’ve been a bit frustrated these couple of weeks to say the least,” thank God Seungcheol was more of a friend than a boss. At his old job he would’ve been probably kissing the door handle as of now. His gaze softened.
“It’s fine, I get it. I haven’t been much relaxed lately, either,”
They stared into each other’s eyes silently, neither breaking eye contact, before Seungcheol spoke first, his voice taut.
“I’m sorry about Jihoon. He just... talks... sometimes, I guess.”
Jeonghan thought about his response for a moment. He could totally laugh it all off and ignore the unspoken agreement hanging in the air that Jihoon was, in fact, correct. He could also... have fun with this, for his own amusement.
Seungcheol’s mother wasn’t going to find out about it, after all.
He put a strand of hair behind his ear seductively and stepped closer to Seungcheol with poise once again. He placed his hands on the other man’s collar and pretended to adjust it innocently.
A lovely blush settled upon Seugcheol’s face and the sides of his neck. It fueled Jeonghan’s confidence steadily. Fuck it, he thought to himself. It’s not like they haven’t made out with eachother the very first time they met, boundaries have already been crossed a long time ago. Plus, he was just so horny, he would literally combust within the next few days if he didn’t act on it.
If this was the only way to be with a man he was surely falling head over heels for, the man he could never possibly have all for himself... He would gladly take what he could get. He hoped it wouldn’t bite him that hard in the ass later on.
He would much rather prefer someone else biting him there anyways.
“Maybe he was right, you know? It’s not a completely unknown territory for us,” he purred quietly. “Don’t you think so, Cheollie?” his fingers skimmed the skin under the collar’s fabric teasingly. He was so going to hell for this. His unplanned, years-long sex abstinence apparently bothered him in ways he wasn’t even aware of.
Seungcheol’s lack of response and his panicked expression made Jeonghan backtrack a bit. Oops. He tried for a smile, stepping away from the man and hoping to ease the tension he created. Reluctantly.
“Relax, I was kidding. Maybe you actually do need to get laid,” he said, pretending Seungcheol’s reaction didn’t hurt him, even just a little.
“Let me know what you decide regarding the manufacturing issue, I’ll set up the meetings.” were Jeonghan’s final words, before he turned to leave the office.
When he reached his own desk, he cringed inwardly. He definitely crossed a line out there. Damn him and his horny ass.
Hopefully Seungcheol would forget about the situation soon.
~
Seungcheol couldn’t stop thinking about it, Jeonghan’s words reverberating in his mind like a mantra for the rest of the day. It was a long one at that, the appointments he had to attend stretching out till almost 7 PM and there weren’t many people left at the company by the time he could finally go home. He grabbed his car keys and got ready to head out, Jeonghan still incessantly filling all of his thoughts.
His fever dream about them in his office from a while ago, resurfaced from the depths of his conciousness as well. Considering today’s events, maybe it wasn’t just wishful thinking on his part. Maybe. He opened the door and almost bumped into someone standing on the other side of it.
Jeonghan had his hand raised as if he wanted to knock, his eyes wide.
“Um... I just... I wanted to say sorry, for earlier, I mean...” he stuttered, blushing. Seungcheol was going to die.
“I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable... And I’m pretty sure I did, so I’m really sorry for that,” he rambled, avoiding looking Seungcheol in the eye. “I hope I didn’t make things too awkward between us.” when he finally lifted up his gaze, the CEO couldn’t stand to see the regret that was swimming in it. So, after a beat of silence, he decided to do something he’d wanted to do for a long, long time.
He leaned in, capturing Jeonghan’s lips in a heated kiss, forgetting about everything else while he did so. The assistant yelped, clearly surprised, but he didn’t waste any time in reciprocating the kiss, grabbing onto Seungcheol’s arms to steady himself.
The CEO pulled them back inside the office, shutting the door and pressing Jeonghan’s back against it, hands placed on his waist, squeezing lightly. Right where they belonged from the very first moment he saw the man in that club.
The heated kiss quickly turned into a full-blown makeout session, both of them gasping for air in-between every other glide of lips. Seungcheol felt so drunk off of Jeonghan, trying to savor every moment, not quite believing this was really happening. His hands roamed on Jeonghan’s back, his arms and eventually his ass, making him let out a loud moan into his own mouth.
Seungcheol was aware he wouldn’t be able to stop himself if they got any further with this. While the thought of taking Jeonghan apart in his office sounded like the hottest thing ever, he didn’t want to give him the ‘quick fuck’ treatment. He wanted to enjoy this opportunity to the fullest, prefereably in his bedroom. He managed to lean away, although with great effort, and took the sight in front of him in.
Jeonghan was a vision in an of himself on a daily basis, but Jeonghan with swollen lips, messy hair and hazy eyes? Belonged in the Louvre. Or once again: in Seungcheol’s bedroom.
“Why- why did you stop?” he breathed out, trying to catch some air.
“I’m not going to fuck you in my office,” Seungcheol brushed Jeonghan’s hair out of his eyes. “I can’t properly take care of you in here.” he murmured, relishing in the way the man in his arms shuddered at the words. Jeonghan put his hands behind Seungcheol’s neck and leaned in to whisper directly into his ear:
“Then take me home, Cheollie.”
~
The ride back to Seungcheol’s place took the longest fifteen minutes of Jeonghan’s life. They kept their hands off of eachother in the car, but once they got to the elevator they couldn’t possibly wait the rest of the way up. Jeonghan didn’t even have time to process how the building had a separate elevator just for the CEO’s use, his apartment taking up the entire top floor.
At some point, Seungcheol put his hands under Jeonghan’s thighs and lifted him up, still sucking on his neck relentlessly. Jeonghan almost creamed his pants like a hormonal teenager.
Seungcheol carried him to his front door, opening it with a passcode and stepping inside without much effort. The hallway itself was the size of Jeonghan’s whole place. His legs tightened around Seungcheol’s waist and he whined at the back of his throat.
“Please, hurry up. I’m about to lose my fucking mind here.”
The look Seungcheol gave him would’ve for sure made him weak in the knees if he was standing on his own.
“Oh, Hannie,” he licked his lips and squeezed Jeonghan’s flesh. “I’m gonna make you feel so good. You’ll be losing your mind either way.”
~
A strong arm around his waist was the first thing Jeonghan registered when he woke up, a couple of hours into the night. He turned to the left, where Seungcheol was still sleeping, his mouth parted slightly. Jeonghan wanted to coo.
When his eyes got used to the darkness, he noticed the small alarm clock on the nightstand, which told him it was nearing 3:00 AM. He suddenly felt incredibly overwhelmed with the last evening’s events.
Endless strings of Why did I do that echoed through his mind, single-handedly convincing him that it would be better if he left the apartment now, than anytime later.
He carefully removed the hand settled around his body, thanking the heavens that Seungcheol was apparently quite a heavy sleeper. He collected his clothes carelessly scattered around the bedroom and proceeded to leave the place, when he thought he could at least thank the other man for what transpired. He stepped into the spacious kitchen to grab a post-it note and a marker from the counter, ignoring the dull ache in his back the whole time.
Thank you for last night ;) I had something to take care of in the morning. See you on Monday!
He placed it on the dining table, took a one last look towards the bedroom, and left the penthouse to call an Uber back to his place. A strange emptiness filled his body all at once, as he stepped into the cold night.
~
“I swear he’s so handsome. Even in the freaking work clothes, I don’t know what it is about them, but he makes them look so hot... And he’s also so shy... And kind of awkward as well but also really sweet... And he asks me about my day every time I see him... Guys... I think I’m officially in love,” Seungkwan sighed, stuffing his mouth with a big piece of the margharita they ordered.
“Okay, okay, Kwannie, we get it, the bar is in hell for you. Did you finally manage to give him your number?”
“That’s the thing, I actually didn’t! Ugh!” he said with his mouth full. “I had this cute note prepared for him a couple of days ago, I even sprayed it with my perfume, but people kept wanting something from me, and we still didn’t have the chance to talk properly, just the two of us... Eventually, I accidentally shredded the note with some documents I had to get rid of and-”
The conversation flew over Jeonghan’s ears and he zoned out for the nth time of the evening. Memories from the night before flooded his brain relentlessly, Seungcheol’s hands trailing over his skin as if he was some kind of a deity to be worshipped, his tongue and the heat of his body on top of his own kept clouding his mind, keeping him constantly unfocused. A hand on his shoulder pulled him out of his thoughts.
“Is everything alright, Hannie? You’re being so quiet.” Jisoo’s worried expression made Jeonghan feel bad. He knew he couldn’t possibly keep it from his friends for much longer. He swallowed and braced himself for their reaction.
“I slept with Seungcheol last night.”
Silence fell upon Joshua’s living room, the hum of the ceiling fan being the only source of any sound. The pizza slice slipped out of Seungkwan’s hand straight onto the fancy carpet, while Jisoo’s mouth fell open. Jeonghan looked down at his hands resting in his lap.
Seungkwan’s shrill scream pierced through the quiet.
“No fucking way!” he let out, his voice excited.
“Did you go on a date with him?” Jisoo asked, definitely with less enthusiasm than Seungkwan, but still obviously amused.
Jeonghan’s lack of response was alarming for both of his friends. They immediately sat by his side on the floor.
“Did you not want to?”
“Was he bad?”
“Seungkwan!” Jisoo hissed.
“N-No, he... I-” Jeonghan put his head in his hands and exhaled slowly. “It was amazing. He was actually the best I’ve had... ever, probably.”
Jisoo’s gaze softened. He rubbed his friend’s arm softly.
“Then what is it, Hannie? We can see something is troubling you.”
Jeonghan was aware that he got into this mess entirely by himself and that made him feel all the more frustrated.
“I just feel- I just feel like I want to keep doing it... with him,” he swallowed. “But I know I won’t be able to keep my true feelings hidden for long... This is just me, chasing the impossible and lying to myself that we could be something more... than friends with benefits, I guess.” his voice wavered.
“How can you be so sure of that, though?’ Jisoo mused, furrowing his eyebrows. ”From what I’ve heard, he seems pretty capable of liking you back, as well?”
“His mother terrifies me,” Jeonghan confessed, remembering her words from months ago. “And he seems to really value her input on everything that has to do with the company and I- I think if she told him to kick me out at once, he would not hesitate to comply at all.” a lone tear escaped his eye and slowly travelled down his cheek.
“Hannie...” Jisoo put his hand around Jeonghan’s shoulder and squeezed it lightly. Seungkwan grabbed his hand and started rubbing the back of it tenderly.
“Well, if he ever does that, we’ll have no choice but to cut off his balls. And maybe also shave his mother’s head while we’re at it.” he said, managing to make Jeonghan chuckle at last.
“Wait. What did he say in the morning, tough? Did you talk about setting any boundaries, or something?” he added.
“I... actually left... in the middle of the night... before we had the chance to...” Jeonghan replied, sheepishly, making Seungkwan groan.
“I’m sorry to break it to you, then, but if you want to continue this arrangement, you will absolutely have to talk to him. Sex without communication never ends well.”
“Look at you being the voice of reason Kwannie,” Jisoo teased, while Seungkwan scoffed. “He is right, though. Just please, think if that’s what you really want right now, Hannie. We only want what’s best for you and want you to be aware of the consequences your decision might bring.” he continued, caressing Jeonghan’s hair and making him sigh.
“I know.” the front door opened just as he quietly finished his sentence.
“Hi everyone! Oh dear, is something wrong?” Seokmin appeared at the entrance of the living room, his eyes setting on the scene in front of him, clearly worried. Jisoo smiled, and got up to greet his boyfriend properly.
“Hi, baby,” he kissed the man on the lips. “We were just talking about something important. How was the shoot today?” Seokmin put his hand on his waist and kissed his lover’s temple sweetly.
Jeonghan glanced at them, aching jealousy spreading through his body at the sight of Jisoo with his rich, compassionate and loving actor partner. He wondered if he could ever get the chance to have something like that for himself one day.
~
Seungcheol spent the first thirty minutes of his day in the office staring into the ether mindlessly. He didn’t really know what to do with himself. Didn’t know how to stop thinking about his night with Jeonghan and most importantly, its aftermath. Or lack thereof, to be exact.
“Morning,” the voice, whose owner occupied his thoughts incessantly, made his heart skip a beat and do a backflip on top of that. “You’re having lunch with the executives of Iris Ltd. at 12:30 today, the driver will pick you up at 12:15. Jihoon said he’s coming too. Hyejin from Jasmine’s branch called and asked for-”
“Jeonghan,” he interrupted. “Can we talk? Please?” he knew he sounded pathetic, even to his own ears. He might’ve imagined it, but he was pretty sure he saw Jeonghan flinch at his words, before sighing deeply.
“I had fun. So much fun, actually.” he replied calmly, causing Seungcheol to stutter.
“I- You- I mean. I’m glad. I had a lot of fun as well.”
Silence.
“So,”
“So,”
They were looking at each other expectantly, the air around them thick with tension. Seungcheol involuntarily let his eyes roam over Jeonghan’s figure. He gulped when the other man leaned over and put his hands on the desk in front of him, smiling knowingly.
“Maybe we should do it again sometime. Or a couple more times, even. If you’re up for it, that is.” he said, making Seungcheol’s mind go blank.
Would he like to sleep with Jeonghan again?
Yes, very much.
Would he like to do it without any feelings between them whatsoever?
Not really, no.
He thought about Jeonghan’s smooth skin underneath his own fingertips, about his voice when he told him to keep going, please and about the scratch marks from his nails, still present on his back.
He would love to do that again, actually. And maybe more if the other man allowed him.
It became clear to him at that moment: Jeonghan wasn’t really looking for anything serious. If that was all he was going to get from the most captivating person he’d ever met, he would gladly take whatever he could.
Well, maybe not gladly. With immense longing and excruciating yearning, but he wasn’t going to complain. Not now, at least.
~~~~~~~~
4 months ago
"That would be all from me. If you require my assistance, I will be right outside at my desk." Jeonghan sent a smile towards the man currently occupying one of the sofas in the executive's office along with Seungcheol himself. He bowed respectfully and quietly left the room.
The guest followed the assistant's retreating figure with his eyes all the way to the door.
Seungcheol's eye twitched. Kim Donghyun was supposed to be one if his father's oldest and most trusted associates. This would be extremely easy to overlook though, if he uttered even the first syllable of an inappropriate comment towards Jeonghan.
"Is Jeonghan a model for one of the brands under your company?" don't do this to yourself, old man.
"No, sir. He's my full time personal assistant."
"Oh, please, ditch the sir. We're equal business partners right now." Donghyun smiled crookedly.
This was Seungcheol's first time meeting the other man as the rightful CEO of Lotus Inc.. He knew of him beforehand though, as he usually attended the anniversary galas his father used to throw every year when he was still alive.
Seungcheol remembered him as the man with at least three young girls or boys hanging off his arm throughout the whole night, while his wife socialized with her friends on the other side of the room. The sight always left a bitter taste in his mouth. Eventually he asked his father directly: Why to do you even keep in touch with such an asshole?
Donghyun was apparently one of the few people who helped with the company's biggest financial crisis around thirty years ago. Seungcheol's father was thankful to the sleazy man till his last breath.
Too bad Seungcheol didn't give a slight fuck.
"Hmm... what a shame. He could really make a career for himself with a face and body like that, don’t you agree?" Donghyun mused, fingers scratching his chin, as if deep in thought.
Seungcheol offered him a tight-lipped smile. He needed to finish this meeting ASAP before he ended up having to be escorted in handcuffs out of the building by the police for killing the man.
"I believe we should move onto the-"
"When your father was still the one in charge," Donghyun interrupted suddenly, the ugly smile never leaving his face. "His assistant was an elderly lady, Lee Yuna as far as I recall. She was your father's first employee. Used to bring him all kinds of desserts every day," he huffed, then added with a grimace. "Wasn't much of a view, though."
Seungcheol kept quiet. He knew the woman fairly well. She was definitely more of a family friend than his dad's employee later on and he never hired anyone else to replace her after she retired. He didn't appreciate Donghyun speaking about her this way.
The older man sat up a little straighter and leaned in slightly, smirking.
"So, tell me. How satisfied are you with Jeonghan's work? The one after hours included, of course," he tilted his head, amused with the situation. "Tell me all of the details." he added at the end.
In hindsight, Seungcheol should've expected this. Should've been prepared for the man's inappropriate remarks and should've anticipated his disgusting behavior. Should’ve still tried to remain professional. And he did, at least so far. He guessed that it was Jeonghan's mention that set him off.
He stood up, and stepped forward, towering over Donghyun.
"Were we supposed to gossip about my employees today? I don't think so." he hissed through his teeth.
Donghyun had the nerve to chuckle at that.
"Seems like I've hit a sensitive spot. Don't worry, it happens sooner or later anyways," he stood up, standing at Seungcheol's level. "Judging by your reaction he must be seriously irreplaceable. Would you be willing to share him, from time to time? Name your price."
The last comment was Seungcheol's final straw. He grabbed Donghyun by the collar and seethed. "Get out of my office before I throw you out the window myself."
Donghyun didn't seem that much surprised at his outburst, but it did wipe off the smirk from his mouth. It got replaced with a slight frown.
"You would think I'd deserve at least some respect after helping Hajoon rising from literal rock bottom all those years ago, but I guess he forgot to teach his son manners before leaving this world,"
"Well, guess what, Donghyun," Seungcheol tightened his grip on the other man's collar. "I'm the one in charge now. And I couldn't give two fucks about what happened thirty years ago between you and my father. You are a disgusting piece of shit, and literally everyone knows that. Here's what we're going to do now," he leaned in.
"I'm going to walk you all the way down to the parking lot, and I'm going to make sure you leave this place and never set your filthy foot in here ever again. Understood?"
Donghyun raised his eyebrows.
"And how exactly are you planning to do that, son?" his tone challenging.
Seungcheol began dragging him towards the door, only letting go right in front of them.
"I have my ways." he stated confidently and opened the door.
Jeonghan raised from behind his desk when he saw both men leaving the office.
"Is there a problem?" Seungcheol could see the confusion in his eyes as he asked the question. The meeting was supposed to last for at least an hour after all.
He hoped the poker face he practiced for years wouldn't fail him now.
“It turned out Mr. Kim has something more important to do right now. I'm just walking him down to his car." he replied calmly. Too calmly, for what he was actually feeling.
Jeonghan seemed even more confused than before. He nodded and bowed to Donghyun politely.
"In that case have a nice day, sir."
Seungcheol knew he should've just dragged him outside forcefully when he saw Donghyun walking up to Jeonghan's desk. Just as he was about to pull the man away, he noticed the door to the office nearby opening. Two women were discussing something with Jihoon animatedly, as the three of them walked out of the room. Seungcheol knew he couldn't afford to make a scene right there in the hallway.
He clenched his jaw and dug his fingernails into the palms of his hands when he heard Donghyun speak.
"It was lovely meeting you, Jeonghan. I hope to see you again soon." he grabbed Jeonghan's hand and placed a kiss on the back of it.
The assistant looked at the man with a raised eyebrow. He also glanced at Seungcheol briefly.
"It's time to go, Donghyun." the audacity of this dickhead, Seungcheol thought to himself. He grabbed the man by his shoulders and started leading him away, looking back at a bewildered Jeonghan once again.
He led him all the way to his private elevator at the end of the long hallway. Once inside, he pressed the button leading to the underground parking reserved for the board members and important clients.
The doors to the elevator closed. The two men turned towards each other, a triumphant expression settled on Donghyun's ugly face.
Seungcheol didn't need any more reasons to punch him. So he did.
The sound of the blow echoed through the small space. Donghyun clutched the side of his face, appearing to be shocked for the first time that day.
The elevator chimed, doors opening once again. Seungcheol threw Donghyun out onto the concrete ground of the parking lot.
"Don't bother even considering ever coming back here." were the last words the other heard him say, before the elevator took off again.
He got out on the ground floor, passing through the lobby and earning a few surprised looks, along with timid greetings from his employees. He rarely ever had any business to attend to down there, after all.
He went straight into the office of the chief of security right by the gatehouse, knocking before opening the door. The chief spit out his coffee upon seeing him.
"Hi, Mr. Jung. Do you have a minute?"
"Of course, boss. What is it?"
~
"Jesus lord, why is everyone whispering about something today," Jeonghan approached Seungkwan's desk with a stack of envelopes in his hands. He placed them on the receptionist's counter and frowned. If there was anyone who knew what was going on, it had to be Seungkwan. "Fill me in on the fuss, please."
"Oh. my. God. You're never going to guess what happened. For the first time in literal years someone was officially declared as a persona non grata of the company building," Seungkwan replied excitedly. He leaned in to add, lowering his voice. "And by Seungcheol himself!"
Jeonghan's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Why did no one tell him about this?
"What?! Who?" he tried to remember if anyone who Seungcheol crossed paths with recently could piss him off that badly.
Seungkwan grabbed a post-it note to scribble something. He held it up for Jeonghan to see.
Kim Donghyun was the name he wrote on the piece of paper.
Jeonghan gaped at the note while Seungkwan continued.
"Not that I knew this old fart personally, but both times I saw him were against my will and I did not enjoy them. He was eyeing me with such a disgusting look, eww!" he pretended to retch.
"Who?" another voice joined the conversation, as a man in a DHL uniform approached the counter with a big package in his hands.
Seungkwan's face stretched into the widest of smiles, his eyes sparkling.
"Sollie!" he said cheerfully, clapping his hands.
The delivery man blushed under the other's look. "Hi, Seungkwan." he replied shyly.
Jeonghan took that moment as his cue to leave, glancing at the receptionist knowingly. He wasn't going to interrupt his weekly dose of flirting with Hansol. He nodded at both of them with a small smile and headed for the elevator.
As he waited for it to arrive, he wondered about Seungcheol's decision to literally ban Donghyun from the building. He tried to make sense of it, to no avail.
Until he remembered Donghyun's words, when he was leaving Seungcheol's office the other day and stopped by his own desk to try to hit on him shamelessly. He felt a wave of heat spreading through his body.
That couldn't have been the reason. Or could it?
Seungcheol never ended up telling him what exactly happened in the office that day after he walked away with the other man. When Jeonghan asked about it, he just said they’re going to have to go over their plans some other time.
Don’t worry about it, Hannie. All’s well now, was everything he said with an indecipherable look in his eyes.
~
“Please tell me Soonyoung was lying to me when he said you deported Kim Donghyun out of the country,” Jihoon burst through Seungcheol’s door, panting as if he was running all the way to the office. He fell into the chair in front of the executive’s desk.
Seungcheol blinked. He didn’t remember doing that.
“I didn’t.”
“Thank God! I thought you’ve finally gone mad,” Jihoon stood up to leave, but sat down once again abruptly.
“Wait... that still means you must’ve done something...” he eyed Seungcheol suspiciously. He just hoped whatever his friend did, it wouldn’t put him behind prison bars.
Seungcheol knew Jihoon would find out one way or another. Better let him know personally before he would figure it out on his own. He sighed.
“Let’s say I might’ve uninvited him from our company. Permanently.”
Jihoon stayed silent, but quirked an eyebrow.
“And I also broke ties with him business wise,”
A frown was sent his way this time.
“That’s all?”
“That’s... the official version,”
“Okay... so what’s the unofficial one, then?”
Seungcheol hesitated for a moment before answering.
“I punched him in the elevator and then pushed him out onto the ground in the parking lot.”
Jihoon’s mouth fell open.
“You- what- are you out of your goddamn mind?!” he sputtered, standing up fully and placing his hands on the CEO’s desk.
“Do you comprehend the sheer size of the shit we could step right into, because of your ‘rebel’ moment? Why did you even-”
“The cameras in my elevator are turned off and the ones in the garage don’t reach the area around the elevator doors. I’ve already wiped off the camera footage from my office as well.” Seungcheol had a feeling this damage control wasn’t necessary though. Donghyun’s influence in the industry has dwindled over the years considerably. He was sure the old man wouldn’t even stand a chance before Lotus’ lawyers in court.
Besides, he would probably find a pretty, naive young person to sleep with elsewhere, unfortunately.
Jihoon halted his outburst and sat down, still uneasy.
“Okay... And what was your motive behind all of this, exactly?”
Seungcheol didn’t necessarily want to relay what Donghyun said about Jeonghan that day. It was ringing through his head every couple of hours anyways. Jihoon must’ve noticed that there was a clear reason behind his (admittedly reckless) actions, his piercing gaze softening slightly.
“He... he alluded to Jeonghan working with me only because we’re sleeping together. He even asked if I could ‘share him from time to time’ and said that I should ‘name the price’,” just thinking about it made him want to drown that dickhead in the nearby street well.
Jihoon’s expression morphed into one of anger yet again.
“The audacity of this irrelevant motherfucker. I swear, if I hear a word of him still striking new deals despite behaving like this all the time they’ll have to put me in a straitjacket,” he said, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes.
“You’re not even sleeping with Jeonghan, what the hell was he going on about.”
Seungcheol pondered for a second. It seemed like it was finally the right time to tell his closest friend about the other questionable decisions he’s been making lately. Now or never, he thought to himself. He couldn’t keep it in for much longer, the floodgates were open.
“I- I actually kind of am, though. Have been for a while, it just sort of happened, it’s- I think that’s why I overreacted so much, I didn’t even-”
“Whoa! Whoa, stop right there. You finally got your shit together and asked Jeonghan out?!” Jihoon’s hopeful gaze made Seungcheol feel even worse about it all. He looked away.
“Wait... don’t tell me you got yourself into some kind of a casual sex relationship...?”
Silence was enough of an answer to that question.
“Seungcheol...” Jihoon started, the tone of his voice gentle, but still dissapointed.
“I can’t even look at myself in the mirror anymore. What if that’s exactly what I’m doing? Forcing Jeonghan into sleeping with me, because he thinks he owes it to me or something?” saying his worries out loud made them seem even more real than before.
“Well, did you? Force him into anything, I mean?”
“Of course not... I could never,” he sounded more offended at that assumption than he thought he was. Feeling like a kicked puppy at the ripe age of twenty-eight.
“Seungcheol, listen, I’m not going to lie to you and say that the situation you’ve got yourself into is not complicated. I’m not going to tell you what to do either, because you’re a grown ass man, a Chief Executive Officer might I add, and I know you’re capable of critical thinking. However,” Jihoon folded his hands in front of him. “I am going to tell you something else: this is hurting you. I know you’re probably trying to convince yourself that you’re fine, but we both know you’re not,” he paused, then seemed to remember something.
“Did this whole thing start when I told you guys to get laid when you were fighting in your office that one time? I feel partially responsible for your misery now,” Jihoon looked somewhat apologetic. Seungcheol shook his head.
“You were sort of right though. It was really nice to unwind after long weeks of the godforsaken negotations with Dahlia’s executives,” the other man nodded, immediately understanding what he was referring to. Those times were literal hell on Earth. “It’s just... the aftermath I cannot really deal with. Him leaving almost instantly after, as if he’s running away from me, I... That’s the worst part, I think.”
“Well, I think you should just talk to him about it. About your feelings, for once, you know?” Seungcheol’s upbrining didn’t really teach him that ability, though. He was used to bottling everything up, until it eventually spilled all over his life. Conflicts weren’t resolved in a healthy way in the household he grew up in.
“Or, you could just ask him to stay the night. See how he reacts. Test the waters.”
Seungcheol didn’t have the chance to reply though, as someone frantically knocked on his office’s door.
Jeonghan appeared in the doorway, as if their conversation somehow summoned him to the room.
“What are you still doing here?! You have a meeting in three minutes with the people from Sage Cosmetics! Dear God,” he quickly walked over towards Seungcheol, who stood up from his chair in the meantime.
“Sorry, I’m coming. I was discussing something important with Jihoon,”
Jeonghan went up to him and attempted to style the neglected auburn strands falling into Seungcheol’s eyes messily.
“Why do you look like you just woke up?! It’s almost 11:30!” he moved onto Seungcheol’s shirt then, smoothing it out and adjusting the collar. "It won’t get any better than this I fear. Hi, Jihoon.” he finally glanced at the other man in the room, who was clearly enjoying ‘the show’ with his arms folded on his chest.
“The meeting is in C5. The documents you’ll need are already in the conference room. Now shoo!” he pushed Seungcheol towards the door slightly, who turned back to offer him a warm smile on his face and an equally warm “Thank you, Hannie.”
When he left the room, Jeonghan noticed Jihoon’s expression.
“Why are you smirking like that?” he squinted at him.
Jihoon stood up wordlessly and also headed for the door.
“They should write a book about you two.” and with that, he left the room, leaving Jeonghan with his thoughts in the giant office all by himself.
~~~~~~~~
3 months ago
Seungcheol was on a mission. He was going to ask Jeonghan to stay the night after they had sex this evening. No, scratch that, he was going to make Jeonghan stay the night. And cook him breakfast in the morning. And maybe cuddle with him on the couch as they watch a movie together. And-
He was pulled out of his daydreaming when something fell on the ground with a loud thud.
He stopped kissing Jeonghan, currently sat down on a dresser in the hallway of Seungcheol’s apartment and panting heavily. His lips were swollen and his blond hair was a total mess. Seungcheol almost forgot to check what they actually managed to knock over because of the sight in front of him. He finally bent down to pick up the square object.
A framed, painfully awkward photo of him and his parents from when he got his bachelor’s degree. How ironic. He scoffed and put it face down, back on the dresser.
“Was it something important?” Jeonghan asked breathlessly, pulling Seungcheol in by the collar of his shirt.
“No,” he replied, going in for another heated kiss, Jeonghan moaning in appreciation. His hands found their usual favorite spot in Seungcheol’s hair, carding through the strands slowly with his long fingers.
Seungcheol put his own hands underneath Jeonghan’s thighs and effortlessly lifted him up. Jeonghan immediately put his legs around his waist in return.
All of their worries were swiftly forgotten, flying away, as they got to the bedroom at last.
~
Stranded breaths filled the dark room. Seungcheol slumped on top of Jeonghan, overwhelmed with the intensity of their passionate time together. He was really close to being severely addicted. There was no way he was going to let Jeonghan go this time.
The other man patted his shoulder, letting him know he was too heavy. Seungcheol rolled over onto his back, twisting his body and reaching onto the bedside table to grab a box of wet wipes he kept there. He sat up, wanting to clean Jeonghan’s skin properly.
The man in question was currently laying face up on the bed, still catching his breath. Seungcheol took note of the tremble in his legs and the red marks on his hips, storing the image away in the depths of his memory, hoping to never forget the heavenly sight. He pressed his fingers on the still-forming bruises and relished in the way it made Jeonghan shudder.
Seungcheol was a very, very weak man.
When he finished cleaning them both up, he lied down again and wrapped his arm around Jeonghan’s shoulder in the meantime.
Jeonghan, apparently lucid enough now, turned his head to the left and kissed Seungcheol’s cheek, murmuring a quiet “thank you” into his ear. He started shuffling around, clearly wanting to get up from the bed, moving from Seungcheol’s embrace while he was at it.
The CEO’s eyes widened. His plan!
He grabbed Jeonghan’s forearm, catching him off guard and making him gasp softly. He moved to sit closer behind him and stared at the back of his head for a moment. He started placing soft kisses on Jeonghan’s nape, sliding down to the side and nipping at his shoulder shortly after.
“Cheollie, I don’t think I have the energy to go again,” Jeonghan whispered into the silence, glancing down to the left where he could see a bit of Seungcheol’s face, making him lift his head to look up.
“I’m not asking you for a round two,” he murmured back. “I’m asking you to stay with me. For the night,” his voice hopeful, “Please.“
Jeonghan turned to look at him properly, clearly hesitant. Seungcheol could tell, by the way he averted his gaze at all costs.
“Come on, Hannie. I know you’re tired. I’m not letting you go home like this.” he insisted, not quite sure if he was being persuasive enough.
Jeonghan took a deep breath, his chest rising slowly. He looked straight into Seungcheol’s eyes as he exhaled.
“Alright. I’ll stay.”
~
Jeonghan opened his eyes lazily, the roaring thunder from outside the window rousing him from his peaceful sleep. He closed them once again, when he remembered what he did last night. Something he swore he wouldn’t ever do, to avoid getting attached even more than he already was. Screw him and his hazy mind.
A quiet voice at the back of his conciousness whispered that it was too late now.
He sat up and glanced at the empty side of the bed on his left. Maybe Seungcheol went to the bathroom, maybe he could still leave without running into the other man. Just when that thought crossed his mind, a sweet smell from outside the door reached his nostrils, causing his stomach to rumble loudly.
Because of course Seungcheol would insist on making him breakfast.
Jeonghan decided it was a losing battle. The imaginary line was crossed a long time ago, anyways.
He untangled himself from the tousled bedsheets and placed his feet on the floor, wincing when his back started aching. Seungcheol was going to split him in half one of these days and he wouldn’t even notice until it him the next morning.
He grimaced when he thought about putting on yesterday’s clothes. He strongly believed in his no outdoor clothes at home policy, especially when it came to his dress pants and white blouses he wore everyday to work.
Just as he was picking up his underwear from the ground, he noticed something laying on the bedside table on his side of the bed. A towel, a toothbrush, a neatly folded black t-shirt and a pair of dark blue shorts along with some boxers. He sighed. He was so gone for this man.
He got up and went straight into the en suite bathroom, taking in the entirety of the sizeable room. On the right, there was a big shower cabin that could fit at least two people at the same time (he decided not to think about that too hard) and on the left, a big bathtub, one of those that could be a jacuzzi if one so desired. He tried to remember the last time he took a bubble bath. Too long ago.
In the end, he decided to take a quick shower, already feeling like he overstayed his welcome. Although he couldn’t stop himself from breathing in Seungcheol’s body wash when he rubbed it on his own skin.
The towel felt incredibly soft as he dried himself off after a few minutes. He put on the shorts, foregoing the underwear (sue him), and slipped into the oversized t-shirt. The collar was big enough for his collarbones to be showing. He brushed his teeth and grabbed a hair tie from one of the counters near the sink, trying to remember if Seungcheol’s hair was long enough for him to need them.
For the first time since he started sleeping with Seungcheol, he actually had the chance to appreciate the man’s spacious penthouse. It was visibly furnished by a professional, but still managed to have a lot of Seungcheol’s personal touches.
Like the photos. Photos everywhere. In the bedroom, on each one of the hallway’s walls and even in the bathroom. Panoramic views of the city, portraits of who he assumed were Seungcheol’s friends, recognizing Mingyu in one of them, and beautifully framed various shots of nature. It reminded him of Seungcheol’s insistence on changing a few pictures from one of their daughter companies’ campaigns. He obviously knew what he was doing.
Jeonghan made his way towards the kitchen, navigating the big apartment. He found Seungcheol standing in front of the stove, a black tank top clinging to his body and showing off his toned arms. His legs were covered by a pair of grey sweatpants (Jeonghan gulped), his hair tied in a half-updo. So it was, in fact, that long. He noticed Jeonghan standing by the entrance after a few moments, offering him a wide smile.
“Good morning! I hope you-” he dropped the spoon he was holding suddenly, his mouth falling open. His eyes stopped on the clothes Jeonghan was wearing.
Jeonghan glanced down at his outfit. There was nothing special about it to warrant a reaction this strong. Maybe he just looked ridiculous.
“Does it look bad? Sorry, I’ll change when I’ll be getting ready to leave-”
“No!” Seungcheol yelled, startling Jeonghan. “You look really nice Hannie,” he continued more calmly, his tone apologetic. “I just wasn’t expecting you to actually wear those.” he finished, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.
They stood in silence for a short moment, both not really knowing what to say. Jeonghan finally realized the unknown nature of the situation. This was painfully domestic for their extremely work-oriented relationship. He had to admit he could easily get used to it. But he also hated that he could.
“So... I think I’m gonna get going-” he started, when a loud thunder shattered through the sky unexpectedly, making them both flinch at the sound. Seungcheol shook his head and walked up to where Jeonghan was standing.
“No, you’re not, Hannie. You’re staying for breakfast. And then you’re staying some more until it stops raining.” the seriousness in his voice took Jeonghan aback. He wanted to protest, but he had to admit that going home in this weather would be at least a little bit traumatizing. He granted Seungcheol a small smile.
“Okay, I will. What’s on the menu, chef?” he said, Seungcheol happy face making him forget about every worry he’s ever had in his life.
Seungcheol gestured him to sit at the counter, where a full plate of food was already waiting, a cup of coffee placed on the side.
They fell into an easy conversation, while Seungcheol made breakfast for himself. Jeonghan’s heart was the fullest it’s ever been. His stomach was pretty full as well.
“I don’t think it’s common for important CEOs to cook on their own. Shouldn’t you have a whole kitchen staff preparing your meals, or something?” Jeonghan teased, enjoying the pink tint of Seungcheol’s ears.
“I... I had a nanny growing up,” that checked out. “And she insisted on teaching me how to get around the kitchen. She kept saying saying it would be an easy way into my special someone’s heart...” he trailed off, looking Jeonghan straight in the eye and then clearing his throat.
Jeonghan felt his cheeks burning.
“My parents run a restaurant back in my hometown,” he replied at last, feeling the need to break the charged silence. “I have two left hands when it comes to cooking though, so they never really pushed me towards it. I helped with waitering instead, with Jisoo and Seungkwan, actually,” he laughed, thinking about that time with his friends.
“We would replace salt with sweetener on the tables for the most annoying customers. I think my mom suspected it was our doing when they never ended up coming back to the restaurant again, but she didn’t say anything,” he giggled, failing to notice Seungcheol’s fond expression on his face.
“We were supposed to come to the city together and actually rent an apartment, the three of us. But then Jisoo met his boyfriend and moved in with him almost instantly,” he still remembered his friend’s devastation, when he told them he would be living with Seokmin instead. He recalled his own dissapointment as well, but it did make sense for Jisoo, though. His family was even less well-off than Jeonghan’s and he wasn’t really sure if they could afford to help him with moving out at all, even with the scholarships he got.
“We never actually found a place that would be enough for Seungkwan and I, all of them being too expensive, too small or all in all just terrible,” the gigantic mold in of the modern accomodations they searched through, flashed before his eyes.
“Seungkwan ended up living in a dorm, since his parents could afford to send him to university right away.” there it was, the bile in his throat again. “And I’m renting a studio a little futher away from the city center,” he finished the story, realizing he just lowkey trauma-dumped on Seungcheol.
“I think that’s enough of my fascinating lore for now. Sorry for the impromptu biography.” he smiled sheepishly. Seungcheol shook his head.
“I would listen to you talk all day if I could.” he replied, the look in his eyes a mixture of hope, desperation and something else Jeonghan couldn’t exactly pinpoint.
“You already basically do that, Cheollie.” he tried to steer the conversation away from the more serious topics. Or the ones he couldn’t really stand to think about for too long.
They thankfulky managed to keep the talk light for the rest of the breakfast, Seungcheol telling him about all the other dishes he could cook on his own.
When they finished the food, Seungcheol offered him some more coffee and suggested watching a movie in the living room. What the hell, sure, Jeonghan thought. It’s not like he wasn’t enjoying himself a little, the siuation eerily similar to the delusional scenarios plaguing his mind from time to time.
Seungcheol’s presence in such a casual environment was soothing his soul on a deeper level, but it was a highly dangerous territory as well. He was afraid he would not be able to stop once he started indulging himself in moments like these.
“So,” Jeonghan started, getting comfortable on the couch. “I think it’s time for you to tell me something about all these photos you have around here.” he said, glancing around the room curiously, its every wall with at least one framed picture decorating it. Seungcheol blushed.
“It’s... a hobby of mine,” he replied, curtly. Jeonghan gave him a encouraging look. He had a feeling it wasn’t just a hobby.
“I don’t really have much time for it now, if we’re being honest. Back in the day, I used to take photos everyday, even every hour when I felt like it,” he smiled, obviously thinking about that time with fondness.
“I was always walking around with a digital camera, immortalizing every moment we spent together. That’s actually how I met Mingyu and Jihoon,” a snicker left his lips.
“I was at some kind of a party, I didn’t even know who was the host. I accidentally took a photo of them making out on the dancefloor,” he started laughing, while Jeonghan opened his mouth in shock.
“Wait, what?! They’re dating?!” he couldn’t help but ask, the curiosity about their relationship chewing him up from the inside for a while already.
“No, I don’t think they ever really were. They were just hooking up at that time, I’m pretty sure,”
Jeonghan wondered how they managed to do it, not developing any feelings towards one another and even remaining as friends afterwards. He wasn’t that good at the casual sex thing, after all.
“Anyways, I didn’t really mean to take a photo of them, the lighting was just so gorgeous that I needed to capture the scene. Jihoon noticed the flash and nearly punched me in the face. Mingyu stopped him and asked me to show them the picture. They actually loved it,” he kept smiling, while telling the story.
“It turned out they were majoring in business management as well, just a year below me. We stuck together after that and we still do, thankfully. They offered to work with me right when they heard about my dad’s passing. I don’t know what I would do without them,” the smile on his face was replaced with a slight frown for a moment.
“I-I even set up an Instagram, where I uploaded my photos from time to time. It’s nothing special, but I could... show you, if you want?” he was looking at Jeonghan like an expectant child, who waited for their parents to compliment the drawing they did. Just for the adults to ignore the effort completely.
Considering Seungcheol’s mother behavior, Jeonghan didn’t think the mental image was particularly far away from the truth.
“Of course I do,” he replied, his heart skipping a beat when the other man beamed.
Seungcheol went back to the kitchen to retrieve his phone and sat back down on the couch, a little closer to Jeonghan then before.
He handed him the device, his Instagram profile opened and ready for Jeonghan to go through.
There were actually over three hundred posts on the account, the photos creating the prettiest layout Jeonghan's ever seen. He marveled at the different perspectives and angles, all of the shots edited skillfully, bringing out their beauty even more. The last picture was uploaded over four years ago.
"These are amazing, Cheollie. You're really talented." he glanced up from the phone, giving Seungcheol a radiant smile. He could see the other man preening under the praise.
"Thank you. It means a lot to me." and Jeonghan believed him with all his heart.
The username was the next thing that caught his eye, although he didn't really understand what it meant.
sound_of_coups
He would make sure to follow him later on, even if the man stopped posting his work altogether a long time ago. Maybe he could convince him to try doing it again. He suspected why he didn’t anymore, though.
"I'm guessing your father's death was the thing that made you too busy to continue?" he asked, giving back Seungcheol's phone.
"Yeah, that was definitely the main reason," he sighed. "Although my parents never really cared about my hobbies, anyways. They would’ve probably found it ridiculous if I told them I wanted to focus on photography instead of business. Guess it just wasn't in my cards." it broke Jeonghan's heart to see the man looking so dejected. He understood the feeling of not being able to pursue your interests all too well.
“My turn for the interrogation,” Seungcheol turned his body towards Jeonghan, a smile returning to his lips. “How does one find themselves on the market for personal assistants?” he asked, then backtracked instantly, when he saw his companion’s surprised expression. “Sorry, I’ve just been wondering for a while, you don’t have to ans-”
“It’s okay, Cheollie,” Jeonghan reassured. “It’s not a particularly interesting story, I’m afraid,”
“I’m all ears.” Seungcheol leaned back, waiting for him to start.
Jeonghan breathed in. It’s been a while since he told anyone about the initial plan he had, when first coming to the city.
“I wanted to go to fashion school. Still do, if we’re being honest, but I don’t think I’ll ever end up actually going,” he laughed, bitterly.
“Why not?” Seungcheol replied, a frown resting upon his handsome features.
“I- I just can’t afford it, as of now,” Jeonghan stuttered, for the first time ever feeling intimidated by the other man’s wealth. He didn’t feel embarrassed about coming from a humble background 99% of the time, having to work hard for his own goals wasn’t something he was ashamed of. Talking about it with Seungcheol, though, made him a tad bit shy. Sitting in the man’s luxurious penhtouse probably contributed to that feeling, too.
“When I applied for my previous job, I did it solely because I wanted to save money for the tuition, the prospect of working at a famous fashion magazine agency definitely an added bonus. I was hoping that would somehow substitute actually majoring in fashion. And to be fair, it did, to an extent,” he started picking the skin around his fingernails.
“I wasn’t really expecting to like the job that much. Sure, my boss was demanding and ridiculously snobbish at times, but I honestly enjoyed the part where I could organize her day from start to finish, making sure all of the plans followed through. Being able to do that and keeping an eye on the newest trends, promising designers and fancy high-end clothes? Sign me up,” he remembered that one time, when he sneaked into the VIP dressing room during a high-profile photoshoot. A thrill went through his body at the memory.
“My parents supported me as much as they could,” he eventually got to the less pleasant part of the story. “But... the situation turned sour with the family business back home unexpectedly and they couldn’t help me anymore. I had to start paying off my rent with the money I had saved up for the tuition. When my boss fired me I-” he paused, the ugly feeling he tried to bury deep down resurfacing yet again. He suddenly felt a warm hand engulfing his own cold one.
“You don’t have to dig up those feelings, Hannie,” Seungcheol started tracing delicate patterns on Jeonghan’s palm. “I’m sorry for making you recount the unpleasant memories.” his voice soft.
“I started saving up again, though,” Seungcheol’s hand grounded him and prompted him to continue, despite the other man’s words. “Thanks to you, actually. My paycheck is definitely higher than at my previous job.” he smiled, looking down, shyness coming through once again.
“Hannie, I-” Seungcheol’s squeezed Jeonghan’s hand. “If you ever need anything-” he gulped. “Just let me know. Please.”
The pleading gaze he was giving Jeonghan made his heart skip a beat. As if it was Seungcheol’s own fault that Jeonghan wasn’t particularly drowning in money.
“What more could I possibly ask of you, Cheollie?” he replied quietly, his voice just above a whisper.
The atmosphere in the room steered into a different direction yet again. Their confessions echoing through the walls, their hearts aching for one another painfully. Jeonghan had an idea what was going to happen next.
They moved at the exact same time, meeting in the middle and crashing their lips, desperately clutching on eachother’s clothes. If Jeonghan thought he could ever deny himself Seungcheol’s closeness before, now he was sure he could never. He held onto the man’s arms, appreciating what he assumed were years of hard work at the gym.
Seungcheol shifted his kisses onto Jeonghan’s neck, eventually sliding down to the exposed skin of his collarbones. His hands rested on Jeonghan’s thighs, and the touch hazily reminded him about his decision to skip underwear earlier that day in the bathroom. The anticipation of Seungcheol’s reaction exhilarated him to an embarrassing extent.
When Seungcheol finally started moving his fingers upwards, a thrill went through Jeonghan’s spine and he let out a loud whine, making the other man bite his right clavicle.
Seungcheol got all the way up to his groin and paused, realizing Jeonghan wasn’t wearing anything underneath his loose shorts. He looked up, gaze unfocused and groaned upon seeing Jeonghan’s seemingly innocent expression.
Right when Jeonghan was about take off the shorts completely, someone rang the doorbell, the sound making both of them jump off of eachother in an instant.
It was Saturday, so it couldn’t have been a delivery and he doubted Seungcheol ordered any food. He was also pretty sure he didn’t have any neighbors on his private floor.
“Fucking hell I-” Seungcheol’s face paled. “I forgot I told Mingyu and Jihoon to come over today.” he rambled, panicking, but still frozen in his spot.
Jeonghan would’ve found it hilarious if not for the fact that he was literally making out with his boss just a minute ago. Who also happened to be Mingyu’s and Jihoon’s boss.
Well. They were Seungcheol’s closest friends, so they would’ve probably found out sooner or later. He doubted they would care much. This was just going to be an extra shameful walk of shame.
Seungcheol stood up abruptly, his hair in disarray and a frantic look in his eyes.
“Just- Wait here!” he said and disappeared into the hallway a moment later. Jeonghan got up from the couch, trying to figure out where he ended up leaving his bag this time. He was pretty sure he saw it in Seungcheol’s bedroom, who probably moved it there when he woke up earlier in the morning.
He needed to get out of this place, as gracefully as leaving in Seungcheol’s clothes without any underwear would allow him to. He quickly walked into the bedroom, grabbed his bag, stuffing it with the clothes from last night and braced himself for the encounter, already hearing voices coming from the hallway. He realized his dress shoes were still by the door, where he carelessly shrugged them off yesterday. There was no way in hell he would have the time to put them on without slowing down his escape.
Damn it. He searched around the room for anything that could serve as a temporary shoe, or even a slipper, going as far as opening Seungcheol’s closet (which turned out to be a whole other room, but he didn’t have time to unpack that at the moment). He thankfulky spotted a pair of black Converse, looking as if they were worn once or twice tops. They fit perfectly.
After putting the shoes on, he checked himself out in the mirror, not really minding the final look. He adjusted his ponytail and placed the bag on his shoulder, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. Hello, awkward moment, my good old friend. It’s been a while.
He opened the door and went out of the room, walking towards the hallway. Jihoon and Mingyu were standing by the entrance to the living room, Seungcheol hovering over them funnily.
“Guys, please, just-”
“Oh my God, what could possibly be more important than a hangout with your dearest-” Mingyu halted when he noticed Jeonghan, his eyes almost popping out of his skull.
“Friends.” he turned towards Seungcheol, whose face was redder than a tomato. Then towards Jeonghan. Then towards Seungcheol again.
Jihoon was standing next to Mingyu with a raised eyebrow, clearly unimpressed. Jeonghan suspected he knew about their relationship already, he probably just wasn’t expecting to witness it in 3D.
“Hi. I’m leaving.” Jeonghan said, halfway towards the entryway, an apologetic smile on his lips. He tried to ignore the three pairs of eyes following him all the way to the door. He grabbed the handle and almost fell to his knees when he exited the apartment. He exhaled as if he just ran a marathon and took out his phone out of the bag resting on his shoulder.
>Regina George and the Other Two<
hannie<3
im gonna need at least 15 business days to process everything that happened today
seungkwannie(*⌒―⌒*)
omg what did u do
did u stay over at seungcheols place after fucking him and made out on his couch in the morning when his friends came over or sth
hannie<3
....... no comment
seungkwannie(*⌒―⌒*)
YOURE SHITTING ME
you need to buy me a tarot deck asap!!!!
~
Things were changing.
Jeonghan could literally feel the shift in the air between him and Seungcheol.
Their usual conversations at the company went above and beyond work-related topics, stretching long enough for Jeonghan to remind himself he was supposed to be doing his job, too. He would also come over to Seungcheol’s place for entire weekends, staying up and watching movies after movies since the other man had never seen the absolute classics.
(Finding out Seungcheol cried at romantic comedies was a great revelation as well.)
They would text, they would call, they would spend most of their time together.
And they would have a lot of sex. Like, a lot of it.
Once the never staying over rule was broken, Jeonghan couldn’t pretend anymore: he wanted Seungcheol constantly. All the damn time. There wasn’t a surface in Seungcheol’s apartment that they haven’t tried to bone against like animals. Unfortunately, his office was still off-limits, both of them having enough decency to keep their horniness in check on company time.
Jeonghan’s favorite spot was definitely the bathtub. He could be biased towards bubble baths, though.
The problem was: they haven’t really talked about it. Whatever it was, in this case.
Seungkwan whacked his head with a slipper, when Jeonghan finally told his friends what Seungcheol and him were up to.
("Are you insane?! What did I fucking tell you about sex without communication?!")
There was... something exhilarating about treating it like a secret just between the two of them. Jeonghan finally felt like having Seungcheol physically was perfectly enough for him.
Or that’s what he liked to tell himself, to afraid to admit that he broke the resolution he’d made a long time ago.
The epiphany came one unsuspecting Monday evening, when Jeonghan was lying on the couch in his own apartment (which became kind of a sore sight after spending so much time at a literal penthouse).
He was mindlessly scrolling on his phone, when a notification from Instagram appeared at the top of the screen. He jumped when he saw what it said.
sound_of_coups created a new post
Jeonghan rubbed his eyes, assuming they were playing tricks on him. When he realized it was, in fact, real, he opened the app, wondering what made Seungcheol upload something after all this time. His heart almost stopped beating when he saw the photo.
It was a picture of Jeonghan himself, laying on Seungcheol’s couch, body turned the other way to gaze out the window at the setting sun. Orange rays of the golden hour were spreading through the living room, bathing his silhouette in the soft light. Seungcheol must’ve taken it on his way back from the kitchen, or maybe the bathroom, when Jeonghan wasn’t paying that much attention.
There was no point in lying to himself anymore. Jeonghan was undeniably in love with Seungcheol. And he had an inkling the feeling might be mutual. It was just a hunch, though.
~~~~~~~~
2 months ago
"Do you really have to go back today? We could just laze around at mine, binge watch that series we've been wanting to and-"
"No, no, no, don't tempt me, Cheollie. I really, really need to clean my apartment today, I've been spending all of my free time at yours lately."
Seungcheol pouted. He got so used to Jeonghan coming over to his place straight after work on Fridays that the prospect of spending the rest of his weekend alone was as depressing as it could get. They got so close over the past couple of weeks, he felt like high-fiving himself in the mirror every day. He couldn’t believe what had become of his life.
The fact that they also started doing more of... other things, well. He couldn’t complain about that, either.
“Oh my God, not the pouting. We’ll see each other on Monday, anyways. I think you’ll live.” Jeonghan smiled and he was right, in a way. But spending time at work was not the same. Both of them knew that.
“Bye.” he leaned in to kiss Seungcheol on the cheek sweetly, before opening the door and getting out of the car. He turned one last time to wave at him and entered his appartment building, disappearing behind the front doors.
Seungcheol lingered by the entryway for a while longer, wondering if he could maybe convince Jeonghan to change his mind. He shook his head and finally turned on the engine to drive away. He needed to stop being such a clingy loser.
The next intersection would lead him out of Jeonghan’s neighborhood completely, but he noticed something laying on the passenger seat as he was about to take a turn. He recognized the object as Jeonghan’s phone and figured it must’ve slipped out of his pocket when he was leaving.
How convenient. It was like some kind of a sign from the Gods to go back and return it to him. He started driving to Jeonghan’s building immediately. One couldn’t go about their life without their phone in this day and age, right? No ulterior motives. No flaming desire to see the man again. Nope, absolutely not. He parked his car and made sure to put the phone in his pocket safely. (See? No ulterior motives, indeed.)
He grabbed the handle of the building’s front door fully expecting it to be locked, but it seemed like it didn't even have a functioning lock. Not a particularly good sign for starters.
If he remembered correctly Jeonghan lived on the fourth or maybe fifth floor. He looked around for an elevator but surprisingly found none. Didn't the building have around eight levels? And people just casually used the stairs on a daily basis? Damn.
The hallway was not quiet, he could hear two or three people talking about something on one of the higher floors.
After climbing four sets of stairs the voices became clear enough for him to understand the words exactly.
"Youngjae, please leave, I've told you I'm seeing someone already-" wait, was this Jeonghan's voice? And who the hell was Youngjae?
"And I've told you that I know you're lying to get rid of me. When are you-" Seungcheol finally noticed the two people whose voices were echoing through the hallway. One of them was indeed Jeonghan, currently talking to an incredibly tall and agigated man. This didn't look like just an ordinary conversation between friends, in Seungcheol's opinion. He decided to act on the suspicion immediately.
"What is going on here?" the relieved look in Jeonghan's eyes when he saw him told him everything he needed to know. The tall man turned around and furrowed his eyebrows.
"And who even are you?"
Seungcheol had an idea who this person was, vividly recalling that one time in the karaoke club where Jeonghan asked to him to pretend to be really into him to get rid of some guy. As if he ever had to fake it, but sure.
Seungcheol would never want to impose on Jeonghan in anyway, but it's not like the words that were about to leave his mouth meant something, right? (Sure.)
"I'm his boyfriend, actually. And I would appreciate if you stepped away from him now" he knew he could be intimidating if he wanted to and he tried his absolute hardest. He witnessed the shock appearing on the other man's face in real time which then morphed into anger as he turned towards Jeonghan. If he dared to say or do anything else...
"Should've guessed you were a whore through and through from the beginning. Why did I even-" he didn't manage to finish his sentence as his body slammed into the nearby wall. Seungcheol couldn't remember when was the last time he got this mad.
(He could. Two months ago, to be exact.)
"Any more words from you and I'll throw you down these stairs in five seconds." he seethed, hands gripping the man's collar and obstructing his airways slightly. He didn't mind being shorter than him at all, clearly having more strentgh and muscle than the lanky dude. His face was becoming comically red. Maybe he was in fact going to strangle him and-
"Seungcheol, please...", a quiet voice from beside him made Seungcheol backtrack. "Let him go. I think he got the message." he took a glance at Jeonghan and cowered under his pleading gaze.
He unwillingly let go of the man, but not without pushing him once again for good measure. For his own amusement, too.
"I sure hope he did. Now get lost before I change my mind about letting you go, you roach." he would honestly spit on him if Jeonghan wasn't watching. He's never seen someone so big move this fast and he wouldn't be surprised if the guy was going to fall down the damn stairs on his own.
His initial rage passed and was quickly substituted by worry. He turned around and delicately grabbed Jeonghan's trembling hand.
"Is everything alright? I came because you left your phone in my car, did he do anything-" his eyes fell on the handprint on his exposed forearm, "-to you."
He should've gotten here earlier. He should've just walked Jeonghan to his door, should've made sure he was safe, should've-
"It's- It's fine. I just bruise easily, I guess. It's not a big deal and it doesn't hurt so-" the breath he took shook through his body like a thunderstrike. Seungcheol couldn't bare to see it.
"Do you... do you want me to stay here with you for a while? Until you calm down, at least?" he offered, already making up his mind about insisting to stay even if Jeonghan declined. There was no way he was going to leave him alone after something like this.
Jeonghan lowered his head and seemed to think something through in silence. Please say yes, please say yes, please-
"Actually... if it's not too much trouble... can we go back to your place, maybe? I don't-" he swallowed. "I don't think I want to stay here tonight. Please?" the question at the end was barely above a whisper.
Seungcheol once again realized there weren't many things he wouldn't do for the other man. Maybe there actually weren't any. He squeezed Jeonghan's hand to support his next words.
"We can do anything you'll ever want, Hannie."
Seungcheol was crading through a sleeping Jeonghan's hair later that evening, when he realized something else, something much more serious.
The beautiful man was nestled against his side on the couch in the living room, where they were supposed to watch a movie together. The events from before must've exhausted Jeonghan both mentally and physically.
And Seungcheol was just so in love with him.
The thought exhilarated him suddenly, flowing through his veins like some kind of a drug and making his heart flutter.
God, what if he was in love with him from the very start? It wasn't that much improbable, the feeling from the first time he saw Jeonghan was one of the strongest things he's ever felt, after all.
A snore interrupted Seungcheol's musings. He chuckled and manouvered Jeonghan to grab him from underneath his thighs, draping his body to rest onto his own. He stood up from the couch and carried his peaceful frame towards his bedroom. Even though he called it their bedroom for a while now.
Seungcheol's and his lover's bedroom. It did sound good, didn't it?
~~~~~~~~
1 month ago
Jeonghan gathered his stuff from beside his desk and checked for the thousandth time if the train to his hometown did, in fact leave in thirty minutes. It was better to be safe than sorry, the connection was the only one he could catch without having to go through three changes at some random stations he's never even been at. He figured it was about time he thought about getting his driver's license. Fuck the stupid trains once and for all.
He grabbed his coat and made his way into Seungcheol's office to give him some final information about his schedule for the rest of the week. He was going to be absent for three full work days, after all.
His mother's birthday celebration was something he could not miss for the life of him, not in a million years. The party was obviously going to be held on Saturday, but her actual birthday was today. He really wanted to surprise her and the rest of his family and arrive a bit earlier, missing all of them more than ever. When he told Seungcheol about it, the man didn't even stutter while suggesting he should take the entire week off.
They unfortunately had a little too much work for him to leave just like that on Monday though, but Seungcheol insisted for him to go earlier anyways.
(He even offered to drive him back home himself. Jeonghan would honestly readily accept, if not for the inevitable questions he would get when his family would catch a glimpse of the man. And a glimpse of his fancy car. And a glimpse of Jeonghan's lovesick expression that appeared on his face whenever he looked at Seungcheol.)
"Hi, Cheollie. I'm about to leave, do you have a minute?" he entered the office, Seungcheol immediately standing up from his chair with a soft smile.
"Sure, Hannie. What is it?"
"I just wanted to brief you about the rest of your schedule. Remember about the phonecall from Jasmine you missed. Carnation's founder has been trying to arrange negotiations about the terms and conditions of their contract, but I think it has to do with the manufacturing issues as always," Seungcheol leaned against his desk and folded his arms with amusement. Jeonghan decided to ignore that for the time being and carried on. "And don't forget about the board meeting on Friday, I sent over the report template to Remi. She should be able to take care of it, but if she won't just let me know-",
"Hannie," Seungcheol interrupted him and stood up to walk a little closer to Jeonghan. "Please don't think about work on your time off. We'll be fine here, I promise not to burn the company down in your absence," his smile reflected through the room like the prettiest of sunsets. Jeonghan shook his head and chuckled.
"We'll see about that, Mr. I Check My Calendar Once A Week," he laughed some more when a pout made its way onto the CEO's face. Then he remembered why he was here in the first place. "Anyways, I've gotta go now," he added, glancing at his watch.
"Are you sure you don't want me to give you a ride to the station?"
"It's fine, really. Just a short walk, I only have one bag with me anyways," Seungcheol still looked unconvinced, literally on the verge of another disarming pout. This was very dangerous for Jeonghan's heart. "Come on Cheollie, you're busy today. You can pick me up when I get back on Sunday, if you want to," the man's eyes lit up at the words.
"Of course I do. Text me once you get home safely," very dangerous, for real. Double kill with a cardiac arrest and a heart attack. Simultaneously.
Expectation weaved itself into the atmosphere between the two of them. It was definitely the time for Jeonghan to leave, like right this moment, if he wanted the walk to the station to actually be more pleasant than annoying.
He wondered if Seungcheol was thinking about sharing a goodbye kiss as intensely as he was too. His office was a sacred space of sorts, tainted that one and only time the moment they started this whole... thing. He figured it should remain that way at last.
"So... See you on Sunday," he said, the words leaving a slightly bitter taste in his mouth. What a bummer.
"Bye, Hannie." on the other hand, Seungcheol did look a bit constipated when he replied. Maybe he was thinking about something else as well. Too late for that, unfortunately.
With one last nod, Jeonghan turned around to leave the room. He suddenly realized he won't be seeing Seungcheol for the next four days. Ninety-six hours. Five thousand seven hundred and sixty minutes-ish.
Maybe it wasn't all that late?
He paused and felt like some kind of an omnipresent force pushed him in the CEO's direction once again.
"Is everything-" Seungcheol's words became muffled when Jeonghan put his hand on his cheek and placed a tender kiss on his plush lips. He pulled away and looked straight into the stunned man's dark eyes.
"Bye, Cheollie. I'll miss you." he patted his chest affectionatelly and finally left the office, butterflies swirling through his stomach and fireworks actively going off in his mind.
Not a bummer, after all.
~
Jeonghan’s delighted parents’ smiles were worth every single minute spent on that smelly train. He was pretty sure he saw tears gathered at the corners of his mom’s eyes.
“You’re acting like I just came back from the dead, mom.” his face was currently getting squished by her hands lovingly.
“With how rarely you visit us it just feels like it, honey.” she placed at least ten kisses on both of his cheeks, making him giggle like a little kid.
Yoon Soojin couldn’t thank both of her kids more for the birthday gift Jeonghan and Areum pitched in on. Since she always complained about her nail polish getting chipped off when working in the kitchen, they got her a fancy hybrid gel nail kit, with a UV/LED lamp, ten bottles of sparkly polishes and all of the necessary equipment to get her started instantly. Jeonghan suspected the next time he came home, everyone (including his dad) would have their hands maniqured to perfection.
His childhood bedroom felt just as warm as it did all those years ago. He was definitely thankful his parents decided to leave it be as it was, even after so much time had passed. It was such a sight for sore eyes and being able to bury himself under all three of his favorite blankets was just an added bonus.
Although the pleasant warmth spreading through his body might’ve had a slightly different source.
>Seungcheol<
im home!! everything’s fine~
thanks for letting me know :)
I’ll miss you too
I always do
have fun and rest a lot
Jeonghan’s heart was pounding when he got the messages and he must’ve done a terrible job at hiding it, since his sister gave him a very strange look. He’d better braced himself for The Conversation sooner or later.
It didn’t particularly help that Seungcheol’s texts kept coming throughout the days. Sometimes it was just a simple how are you, other times a photo of Mingyu falling asleep at his desk at work. One, very faithful and memorable time, Jeonghan received a picture of the moonlight illuminating the city streets and bathing them in its icy hue.
>Seungcheol<
[picture]
full moon looking good
big night for werewolves
wait what the hell are you doing out on the streets at 11 pm
on a thursday?
[picture]
went for a run :p
Jeonghan dropped the phone to the ground and almost let out a high-pitched yell. Did Seungcheol just sent him a motherfucking thirst trap?
It was a selfie, taken from a bit of a higher angle, clearly to show more of his upper body, covered (thankfully) by a skin-tight and slightly wet shirt. His forehead was sweaty, the strands of his hair sticking to it and he was giving the camera a wink that scrunched up his face adorably. Thank God no one else was in the living room to witness Jeonghan’s embarrassing freakout. He picked up his phone from the carpet and saved the photo to his gallery like the simp that he was.
An idea popped up in his head right then and there, when he realized whose shirt he was wearing at the moment. He didn't even remember packing it, but he was certainly not going to complain, especially not now. Maybe he could actually have... a little bit of fun. Two can play this game, for sure.
He adjusted his position on the couch, shrugging the blanket off from his bare legs. He made sure his freshly washed hair was sitting against his shoulders just right and brought his phone upwards to take the picture. A blush crept up on his face when he saw the final result. It wasn't even that suggestive, but the concept of sending it to Seungcheol kind of was, though. His hands trembled with anticipation when he typed out the message.
>Seungcheol<
[picture]
i'm cheering you on from my couch ;)
His entire body buzzed when he saw Seungcheol typing out the response. The three dots kept disappearing and showing up again at least three times in a row.
>Seungcheol<
cute shirt
looks good on you
really good
And Jeonghan burned. From head to toe.
~
"Sooo, when are we going to meet the guy who's been making you smile at your screen the whole week?" Jeonghan almost dropped the knife he was holding and clutched his chest at his sister's voice. He scowled at her.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," he went back to chooping up the cabbage, feigning ignorance. There was no way she was going to believe him, though.
"Oh please, cut the crap. The last time I’ve seen you this smiley and giggly was when you were texting that jock idiot in high school. I might’ve been ten at the time, but I wasn’t that clueless. Spill the beans,” Areum leaned against the counter, stealing a piece of the unevenly cut vegetable from the cutting board. Jeonghan sighed. Time for The Conversation was finally upon them.
"There may be... someone," he looked down at his hands, wondering if he should start talking by himself or just let his sister forcefully pull the information out of him. She raised her eyebrows, expecting him to continue.
"Okay... And? Why are you being so secretive about it? Did you get yourself into some kind of a scandalous affair with your boss, or whatever?"
See, he was never good at lying when it came to his dating life. It was like his neverending sass and indifference vanished when love was the topic of the conversation. Or any type of feelings to be fair. Areum must've noticed the conflicted expression on his face, as she usually did, but this time she misinterpreted it in the worst of ways.
"Wait, shit seriously? Did you actually manage to seduce some sleazy middle-aged married dude-"
"No! No, oh my God, no! Seungcheol's the same age as me... And single as far as I’m aware," well, so much for trying to keep it a secret.
Was it really one, though? All of Jeonghan’s closest friends knew about their relationship, Seungcheol’s own as well. Why wouldn’t he want everyone else to know, too?
Although he was damn well aware why, Choi Jiwoo’s face flashing through his mind like a computer virus.
“How is he single if he’s dating you?” Areum asked with an awkward frown. A moment later her eyes twitched in understanding. She was not happy with the conclusion she very easily came up with. He couldn’t blame her.
“So he’s not. And why is that?”
“It’s complicated,” he wished it wasn’t every night before going to bed. Every morning he woke up and everytime he saw Seungcheol’s face in the office at work. Areum sensed it wasn’t just a stubborn fuss on his side and she put a gentle hand on his shoulder.
“Alright. But if you need me to kick some ass, just give me a call, okay? My right hook is getting better and better these days.” she smiled when she saw his entire body relaxing with a quiet laugh.
“I’ll keep that in mind. You can start by chopping the rest of the cabbage, though.” he snickered when she rolled her eyes at him, but took over the task without complaining.
Sunday was all but a blur to him. From the tight hugs of his family in the morning, to the radiant smile on Seungcheol’s face when he picked him up from the station, dutifully waiting on the platform for his train to arrive.
But the way he only grabbed his hand when they were hidden in the safety of his car... had to border on on the edge of heartbreak a little. Just a teenie tiny bit.
~
>Areum<
put two and two together and googled the seungcheol guy
if you don’t get with him anytime soon i’ll have to use that right hook on YOU.
~~~~~~~~
Present day
Seungcheol swore he felt (and heard) his back cracking when he finally stood up from his chair in the conference room. He was seriously going to have to visit the chiropractor Jihoon reccommended to him some time ago.
He shook hands with Carnation’s manufacturing representatives and resisted an eye roll at their offended faces, before turning to leave the conference room. He couldn’t believe they thought Lotus was going to let all of their unfulfilled commissions slide infinitely.
The two unbearable hours of back-and-forth negotations were quickly put at the back of his mind when his eyes fell on Jeonghan waiting for him in the hallway.
“Hey, how did it go?” the love of his life asked. Seungcheol was never going to get enough of seeing the man.
“As well and as bad as it could,” he sighed. “A lawsuit is on the way I’m afraid.” the next few weeks were undoubtedly going to be frustrating.
“Well,” Jeonghan’s face twisted in worry as he took the documents from the meeting out of Seungcheol’s hands. “It was going to happen sooner or later. The shit they were tring to pull on us was getting ridiculous at this point,” he continued as they proceeded to walk towards the elevators.
“I know,” Seungcheol replied. “I just don’t like dealing with lawyers that much,” he pressed the button on the wall and involuntarily put his hand on Jeonghan’s back when they walked inside of his elevator. “They piss me off for no reason.”
“Lawyers piss everyone off. That’s literally their job.” the assistant joked with a witty smile, instantly lifting Seungcheol’s mood. He wanted to lean in and give him a kiss so bad right then.
If he was being honest, he wanted to kiss Jeonghan constantly for the past couple of weeks, whether it was in his office, at his apartment or even at some business meetings. He felt a desperate need to let other people know that the man was his and vice versa, propriety be damned.
It was getting increasingly more difficult to pretend he was alright with the current state of their unlabeled relationship. He knew exactly what had to be done regarding that.
You see, Seungcheol had a plan of sorts. He’s had it for a while now, but there was always something holding him back from making sure it followed through. One time it was an unexpected issue at work that kept them basically nailed to their desks for the whole week, the other time an emergency with one of Jeonghan’s friends or his own. The universe had to be testing his patience at this point.
“You know, I was thinking... Do you have any plans for this Friday?” he asked, nervous as if he was a middle-schooler. The assistant looked at him curiously.
He was going to take Jeonghan out for dinner. Not an ordinary one obviously, since he was planning to rent out an entire rooftop of a luxurious restaurant one of his friends owned. He would confess his feelings with the view of the city’s skyline and then take Jeonghan home to make love to him all night long. Happily ever after was within an arm’s reach if it all worked out.
A couple of months ago, he might’ve had some doubts about the possibility of Jeonghan actually liking him back. Now, he was almost sure the man was at least a tiny bit interested in him as well. Unless he was the type to kiss all of his friends goodbye, which honestly - fair. Nevertheless, Seungcheol hoped he was the only one getting that treatment from him. Thoughts and prayers on that front.
“Other than... the usual, I don’t think so,” Jeonghan replied with a smile, his emphasis on that one word making the CEO want to fall to his knees. “Why do you ask?” they were about to reach his office in a few seconds. Seungcheol could do this. Right?
“I wanted to ask if you would like to-” he grabbed the door handle and pushed it open, letting them inside the room. The words died on his tongue when he saw someone already standing in the middle of it. Jeonghan froze as well. God, why now?
“Finally. How incapable are you if a simple meeting lasts that long?” Seungcheol’s mother was never a pleasant sight. Not then, not now and not ever.
“Mom,” was all he could utter in response. This was not how today was supposed to go.
“I’ll excuse myself,” Jeonghan said after sending a polite nod in Jiwoo’s way. Seungcheol suddenly felt like a failure of the decade, remembering the last time his mother basically made him throw Jeonghan out of his office.
“Stay. You’ll be useful today,” her words stopped the assistant in his tracks. As bad as it sounded, this was not a good sign, at all.
Seungcheol had a nauseatingly bad feeling about her unexpected visit. As it stood, their relationship could be basically classified as ‘no contact’ - they rarely every spoke to eachother in any setting since that one time from about two years ago, when she suddenly barged into his office similarly to today. Come to think of it, it was highly suspicious how little control she tried to impose on him lately.
He kind of forgot how small being in the same room as her made him feel. And that unfortunately meant she was about to strike harder than ever now.
“Mom, what are you-” a single raise of her finger shut him up in an instant, like a hard punch to the gut. So much for standing his ground, huh?
“We’re bringing back the gala commemorating Lotus’s founding this year. This Saturday, to be exact,” her tone was full of finality and her gaze was cold as ice. It took Seungcheol a few seconds for her words to sink in completely. Gala? This Saturday? What even-
“Jeonghan,” Seungcheol could see the slight shudder going through the other’s body when Jiwoo started talking directly to him. “You’re going to take care of the guest list, the itinerary draft and the PR part of the planning.”
She rarely ever joked about anything, so she must’ve been actually serious now, too. Seungcheol had a hard time processing what exactly was happening at the moment. The gala was an annual event before his father’s death and he almost forgot it was ever even a thing.
When he was younger, his father insisted for him to attend it every year. He was usually intimidated by the density of important business people per square meter it brought on and it felt weird to think about it from the perspective of a host. An unfortunately quiet and timid voice at the back of his mind was screaming at him to just simply protest against his mother’s sudden decision to organize the event once more, at such a short notice. To no avail.
“Since my son trusts you so much, I expect all of the demands to be attended to by Friday. You will report to the venue manager I hired, who will report back to me about your progress.” she shoved a piece of paper into Jeonghan’s hands and proceeded to make her way towards the door, stopping and turning around one last time right before reaching it.
“You’re having lunch with the executives from Delilah Investments in fifteen minutes, Seungcheol. Do everyone a favor and don’t embarrass yourself too much.” with a final look of disdain thrown at the CEO, she left the office in two strides.
Those might’ve been the most eventful two minutes of both Seungcheol’s and Jeonghan’s year. They stared at eachother wordlessly, before speaking at the same time.
“I-”
“You-”
Seungcheol sighed. He felt a twinge of an incoming headache.
“I... I had no idea about the gala, I don’t know why she thrust it all upon you, it’s-”
“Calm down, Cheollie, I know that,” Jeonghan took a deep breath. What a disaster. Seungcheol wanted to die a little. The encounter with Jiwoo just ruined pretty much everything.
“Anyways, you should get ready for the lunch. Delilah is a big deal, even for Lotus,” the assistant sounded like he was trying to distance himself from the situation. “I’ll... get started on the preparations, I guess. Good luck.” he smiled and brushed his hair behind his ear, giving Seungcheol an encouraging look. A moment later he frowned and walked up a little closer to where he was standing. He tightened the black strands of fabric around the CEO’s neck and leaned away.
“Always the damn tie, isn’t it?” and with that, he exited the room as well.
~
Jeonghan was trying to be in three places all at once that morning. His desk, to prepare the documents for Seungcheol’s schedule, the gala’s venue, on the phone with its manager to ensure the requests he provided will be met on time and also in the secretaries’ room, gathering contact details of all of the invited guests. He didn’t even want to imagine the state of his hair from the running around he’d been doing.
It wasn’t that difficult to figure out why Seungcheol’s mother was making him take care of it all. The condescending look she gave him in the CEO’s office earlier that week was enough of an explanation, but he still wondered how she managed to find out about their relationship. Although it wasn’t even a proper relationship to begin with. Just an... arrangement, of sorts. That was all there was to it. (Like hell.)
Jina and Remi were talking about something excitedly when he entered the room. It was quite easy to catch up with the topic of their conversation, though.
“I would definitely wear that one red dress we saw at the mall last week. With red lipstick of course, and pearls. Not that I own pearls, but you know what I mean,”
“Oh my God, yes, it would be so stunning. I think I would go for... a suit, maybe. That white one I wore a year ago? You remember, right?” Jina turned her head towards Jeonghan when he walked in and waved at him with a smile. “Hi, Jeonghan.”
“Hi, what are you guys talking about?” he walked to one of the shelves and pulled a thick binder out of it, flipping through the sleeved pages.
“We’re imagining what we would wear to the gala if we were invited! We’ve got so many ideas, I’m so sad we can’t go,” right, employees were not invited to the event. It was supposed to be extremely high profile, only for Lotus’s most important business partners and clients.
Jeonghan had to admit that he did wonder if it applied to him as well. He was just an assistant after all, and while he was sure Seungcheol wouldn’t mind if he came, maybe would even want him to, he knew Jiwoo would most probably kick him out of the venue straight away.
“Anyways, now that we’re at it, what about you? I’m sure you would wear something fabulous as always,” Remi tilted her head in amusement and placed her hands under her chin.
“I haven’t really thought about it that much,” a lie, because he obviously had. He had a lot of outfit ideas in mind, some of them more refined than others, but all of them chic and elegant in their very own way. He wanted to go to that stupid goddamn gala so fucking bad. He would be the star of the night, he just knew. Remi bursted out laughing after a beat of silence.
“Pfft, yeah, sure. Come on, don’t play dumb, we know you have it all planned out already,” Jina said, raising an eyebrow at him. They probably wouldn’t have cared as much about his answer, if not for the fact that they found his Instagram account a couple of months ago, pestering him about the outfits in his photos for about two weeks on end. While he acknowledged his impeccable sense of fashion, he feared the entire company must’ve stalked his profile by now.
He kept the account public, though. Let them see!
His phone started ringing right when he was about to reply. The name of the venue’s manager that displayed at the top of the screen made him roll his eyes. What now?
“Sorry girls, I have to get this.” he waved at them and giggled when he saw the unimpressed expressions on their faces.
“We will get it out of you sooner or later!” he heard one of them yell when he left the room, bracing himself for yet another annoying phone call.
~
“What the fuck do you mean you’re not going?! Of course you are! You’re the big boss’s boyfriend, you are literally the first lady of the company. You have to go!”
“How many times do I have to tell you that we’re not even officially together?! I’m more of a side chick if we’re being specific,”
“You are in desperate need of a lobotomy, Hannie.”
“Okay!” Jisoo stood up from the couch there were sittinig on, clapping his hands. “Shut up, both of you. Hannie, we can tell you actually really want to go, you don’t have to pretend in front of us. We know you too well for that.” he shook his head, dissaprovingly.
“I don’t- You- This-” Jeonghan sputtered, Jisoo and Seungkwan crossing their arms in front of their chests with raised eyebrows. “Alright” a big sigh left his lips. “I really want to go.” he finally admitted, not having the energy to protest anymore. His friends cheered.
“Let’s go! Do you know what you’re going to wear, yet?” Seungkwan asked, excitedly clapping his hands.
Jeonghan loved dressing up, he wanted to go to fashion school after all, for God’s sake. He was well aware of stealing the spotlight of every high school party back in the day, people whispering about him for days on end. It always felt like he was putting on an elaborate, but still subtle costume, carefully selecting his persona for each particular night.
One of the outfits he debated on was even ironed and hung on a clothing rack by the door in his apartment. He couldn’t really picture the whole look in his head, though. Something was amiss and he wasn’t exactly sure what was the problem.
“You need to help me figure out what’s wrong with this fit,” he grabbed his phone from Jisoo’s coffee table and opened the gallery, his friends already sitting beside him and waiting for the big reveal. He found the photos he was looking for and zoomed in on one of them.
The outfit was simple, but chic and classy at the same time. It consisted of black, flared dress paints, and an equally black, off shoulder, long-sleeved top. He knew it was not the most extravagant thing he’s ever worn, but he needed to tone it down for the sake of the heavily business-oriented event.
Besides, despite Seungkwan’s words, he was still just an irrelevant assistant to the boss in everyone else’s eyes. Unnecessarily dressing up would be considered a bit of a sad faux pas on his part.
“I love it! I’m not sure what’s wrong with it, though. Maybe it’s just the angle?” Jisoo started, tilting his head to the side with a frown.
“I think I know,” Seungkwan’s words made the other two turn towards him, curiously. He smirked before continuing:
“We need to dye your hair black.”
~
This entire week was testing Seungcheol in unimaginable ways. His mother appearing out of nowhere to announce the gala a week before it was supposed to be held, her insistence on making Jeonghan run around and oversee every bit of the planning and the fact that he hadn’t even talked to him much during the past couple of days, were all quite frankly making him angry. The countless meetings with one particular trading partner his mother kept arranging weren’t easing his frustrations either.
But of course, to make matters even worse and more miserable, Jeonghan wouldn’t be spending at least one day of the weekend at his apartment.
The gala would obviously take up the entirety of Saturday and his mother told him about yet another random highly important business meeting on Sunday, of all days. Friday was out of the question as well, since Jeonghan had made plans to hang out with his friends beforehand. The CEO was giving him a ride to Jisoo’s place right after work and he wasn’t particularly happy about that. He wasn’t even trying to hide his dissapointment, as childish as it seemed.
“Why the long face? Tomorrow is going to be fine, Cheollie. Don’t worry about it too much,” Jeonghan said, when Seungcheol parked the car in front of the apartment building, apparently misintepreting his sour mood.
“No, I’m just-” he thought for a moment if saying this at that moment was a good idea. He figured he truly had nothing to lose anymore. “I’m just sad you’re not coming to my place tonight.” he was looking straight at Jeonghan’s face, trying to take a full note of his reaction. The way his eyed widened momentarily, the way his cheeks tinted with the loveliest shade of red and the way his lips parted in surprise, all made Seungcheol strangely proud of having that kind of effect on the man. Down bad was an understatement in his case.
Silence filled the entire the car for a hot minute. A very hot minute, in Seungcheol’s opinion. He was about to (reluctantly) break it to release the tension, when Jeonghan chuckled to himself lowly.
“We see eachother everyday and you still aren’t sick of me?” he said with a lopsided upturn of his lips. He was surely trying to lighten up the atmosphere, possibly even taking Seungcheol’s response as a simple joke. And he was certainly not joking this time.
“No,” Seungcheol replied, once again witnessing the effect his words had on the man in real time. “I literally can’t get enough of you.” he continued, feeling as if something possessed him that night. Honestly, it might have.
They were both just looking at eachother for a moment and Seungcheol wondered how on Earth he managed to control himself for so long before finally giving into the temptation of having a taste of this. Of closing the short distance between their faces, capturing Jeonghan’s lips in a heated kiss and stealing his breath away. Of how real it felt nowadays, compared to those two, long and cruel years ago in that club. Maybe even to their first night together from several months back.
Jeonghan opened his month slightly during the kiss, allowing Seungcheol to deepen it and gasping a moment later, tugging on his hair and putting his arms around his neck. When they finally separated to catch their breaths, he put his leg on the side of Seungcheol seat and skillfully manouvered himself onto his lap, somehow still looking graceful while doing so. The CEO didn’t even realize two people could fit in there like that, but the more you know. And he was definitely glad he knew now.
He didn’t feel the need to take the lead, letting Jeonghan guide their tongues and nibble on his lower lip occasionally. Was it appropriate to do all this in a technically public space?
Did Seungcheol give a shit, though?
A subtle grind of his beloved’s hips against his crotch ignited a different kind of fire inside of him, one that wouldn’t be put out so easily. He grabbed Jeonghan’s waist a little tighter, pulling the blouse he had on out of his pants and putting his hands on the delicate expanse of skin underneath it. They moaned almost at the exact same time, overwhelmed, and pulled away from eachother slowly.
Seungcheol had always loved admiring Jeonghan from this angle, feeling like he was worshipping him as a deity, basking in his dazzling glory. He also found that decorating his neck with a plethora of marks was just easier to do this way, especially when he wore a V-neck shirt like today.
Or maybe he was just a freak. Either way, he latched onto Jeonghan’s collarbones like a man starved and licked his lips at the sweet scent that filled his nose. Jeonghan threw his head back, letting his hair flow down his nape freely. It was getting so long these days, Seungcheol couldn’t wait to be able to braid his golden locks some time in the future.
Because the future that Seungcheol had been envisioning for himself for a while was full of Jeonghan and Jeonghan only. Waking up each morning with Jeonghan by his side, sharing every single second of the day with him and being able to show off his affections however he wanted, were all a big and so far unreachable part of Seungcheol’s precious dreams. He wanted to finally reach for them, he needed to, actually.
Screw the plan. Screw the dinner on the rooftop, screw trying to be perfectly romantic about it. He was going to tell Jeonghan he loved him right the fuck now and nothing was stopping him from doing that. He detached his lips from the man’s neck and lifted his head, placing his hand on Jeonghan’s cheek in the process and hoping to catch his hazy gaze.
“Hannie-” he stuttered, the reality of what he was about to do dawning on him heavily. “Hannie I need to-” a sudden sound interrupted him, his phone ringing through the car’s narrow space.
Time froze as they looked at each other without saying a word, the ringtone still going off in the background. Jeonghan blinked and shook his head, before taking Seungcheol’s phone out of the small holder near the gearbox, pulling away from his touch. His face was unreadable when he twisted his hand to show him the name of the caller on the screen.
Mom
The temperature inside the car dropped by at least ten degrees. Seungcheol stared at the phone, unsure what to do with... everything. He opened his mouth a couple of times and closed it like some kind of a dumb fish, not knowing how to proceed with the situation. The call went unanswered after a few beats, an even louder silence replacing the ringtone’s sound. The mood was ruined spectacularly.
Jeonghan closed his eyes and put the phone in Seungcheol’s other hand, quietly removing it from its (rightful) place on his waist.
“I think you need to call her back,” he said, his voice close to a whisper. “And I have to go.” he glanced to his left and frowned, probably contemplating how to get back to his seat. His cheeks were as rosy as cherries in the spring and Seungcheol still hasn’t said a thing like the pitiful loser that he was. Jeonghan extended his hand to reach for his bag and put a strand of hair behind his ear, avoiding the CEO’s eyes at all costs.
“I’m gonna leave through your door, I’m not flexible enough to go back to the passenger’s side now,” he smiled, a little more awkwardly than usual. “Goodnight.”
Seungcheol knew he couldn’t confess his feelings then, despite his earlier decision to forego any big romantic gestures. It just had to be a good moment, even the location didn’t matter that much. For all he knew, he could do it at the gala tomorrow and not give a single fuck. A sudden realization made his heart skip a beat or two. Or a hundred.
“Wait!” he grabbed his hand before Jeonghan could open the door, grip firm but hopefully not overwhelming. The man looked back at him, surprised. “You’ll be there, at the gala, right? I didn’t ask you directly or anything because I thought it was a given, but I know employees aren’t officially invited, and-” he rambled, in disbelief that the possibility of the man just simply not attending the event occured to him so late. “Please, tell me you’re coming?”
Jeonghan smiled. He leaned over and placed a lovely kiss on Seungcheol’s warm cheek.
“See you tomorrow, Cheollie.”
~
“Hi, I’m here-” Jeonghan stopped in his tracks halfway through Jisoo’s hallway, coming face to face with both of his friends’ unimpressed faces as he closed the front door behind him. Uh-oh? “What’s going on?” Did he forget about something?
“What do you think, whore?” Seungkwan said, making Jeonghan’s eyes widen. What the hell?
“You spent twenty minutes inside of Seungcheol’s car before coming up here, Hannie,” Jisoo supplied, his arms crossed against his chest. “We saw you,” he grimaced.
“On his lap! Sucking face! In the parking lot! What if a child was passing you by, huh?!” Seungkwan added theatrically, placing his hands on his hips. Jeonghan couldn’t believe this was happening.
“Oh my God, you- Why were you even looking?!”
“Excuse me?! We were worried! As your hopelessly devoted friends!” apparently hopelessly ridiculous as well. Seungkwan’s flare for dramatics was getting bigger and bigger these days.
“Ugh, calm down, we didn’t even do anything,” Jeonghan said, flinching before his next words. “His mother called him and I left right after,” he continued with a bitter taste in his mouth.
It felt like a metaphor, of sorts. She was always going to stand between the two of them, no matter the circumstances. Seungkwan’s features softened momentarily, his faux annoyance getting replaced by anger all at once.
“I swear, the next time I see her I’m gonna spit on her ugly Louboutins,”
“The world is ending if you’re calling Louboutins ugly,” Jisoo said, lifting up the atmosphere like he presumably intended.
“If you think about it, it literally is, so. Fuck the stupid shoes,” Seungkwan shrugged and started making his way back into the living room. “Wait,” he paused. “Did Seungcheol pick up the phone?” his left eyebrow was raised to the sky. Jeonghan shook his head in response.
“You know what, maybe he should’ve,” Seungkwan continued, detouring into the kitchen to grab a bottle opener from one of the drawers. “She would’ve gotten a well-deserved heart attack if she heard you moaning into the mic, or something,”
Jeonghan couldn’t bring himself to laugh at the joke. Was he going to live with the anxiety and uncertainty forever? Was it possible to remove Seungcheol’s mother from their lives entirely? He highly doubted that.
“Alright!” Jisoo chimed in clapping his hands, thankfully pulling Jeonghan out of his grim musings. “Enough chit-chat. We’ve got things to do, am I right?” he pulled a comb and a pair of scissors out of his pockets and gestured towards the two boxes of hair-dye laying on the coffee table. Seungkwan cheered as he opened the first bottle of wine of the evening in the meantime.
“Now we’re all set,” he poured the Chardonnay into the glasses he lined up on the counter and raised one of them into the air.
“To the salon!”
~
Seungcheol’s head was hurting. It was actually pounding if he was being honest.
The gala had barely started, the invited guests still arriving at the venue one by one. Seungcheol was already getting sick of it. The number of hands he shook and the polite smiles he sent other people's way had to be around two hundred at minimum.
It was quite nice to reconnect with some of them, though. The last time he saw Minghao and Junhui must've been when they were still in university.
He was busy thinking about the time he would be going to bed tonight, as if trying to manifest for it to come faster. Hopefully, Jeonghan would be included in the package as well.
"Stop slouching," a sharp voice pulled him out of his thoughts, his back straightening at the command immediately.
"You will be giving the welcoming speech soon. I hope you've rehearsed enough. If I see you stuttering even the slightest bit," Choi Jiwoo raised her finger, reminding Seungcheol of the exact same moments during his childhood.
How embarrassing. Here he was, the rightful CEO of Lotus Inc., one of the biggest cosmetic concerns in the world, and still cowering before his mother like a teenager.
"I won't." he replied, trying to maintain the eye contact with her piercing gaze. The urge to please her against all odds still planted in his mind like a parasite.
She opened her mouth to say something more, but her eyes fell on a place behind Seungcheol, the words dying on her tongue.
Seungcheol turned over, the time stopping when he saw who just entered the room.
"At least he managed to look half-decent." she said, walking away, her words fading in the background and not relevant anymore.
A black-haired nymph stood by the entrance, clad in all black attire as well, his collarbones bare. Slightly heeled boots, crimson blush placed right under his eyes and a timid smile dancing on his lips. The beauty made his way towards Seungcheol, passing other people who gasped at his sight. They were probably unsure if he was in fact real, or just a figment of their imagination.
"Hi, Mr. Choi. Are you the host of this evening?" Jeonghan said, stopping right before Seungcheol, his voice velvety.
If the CEO was an unsuspecting character in a tale about dashing sirens, who drowned their victims by luring them into the water with their voices and ethereal beauty, he would gladly accept his fate. Maybe even thank Jeonghan in the meantime.
Seungcheol realized he still hadn't said a single thing, too entranced to form any coherent thought. He was pretty sure a pathetic whine would come out of his mouth if he tried to speak right now.
Jeonghan looked around awkwardly, putting his hair behind his ears, clearly not knowing what to do.
"You-" Seungcheol began, his voice hoarse for whatever reason. "You're the most beautiful person I've ever seen." he let out in one breath. Jeonghan's eyes widened at the compliment, his exposed neck turning a light shade of pink.
"Thank you," he replied at last, flustered. "It's been a while since I had dark hair. I was afraid you wouldn't like it." the light tone of his last words easing the atmosphere slightly.
Seungcheol felt a bit offended. As if he could ever possibly think that Jeonghan looked bad in something.
"I love-"
"Seungcheol!" his mother's voice interrupted him, causing goosebumps to rise on his skin, "Stop fooling around. It's time to start the event" she grabbed his arm and started leading him towards the small stage set up on the other side of the big ballroom.
He managed to look back at Jeonghan for only a split second, seeing him mouth a "good luck" his way with a smile.
He stood in front of the microphone situated in the middle of the stage, the entire venue quieting down at the sight. He had to admit, it felt good, being respected by so many people. Minus his own mother, that is.
A deep breath. The speech he prepared wasn't long anyways. Jiwoo wanted to say something too, after he was finished with his part, so he decided to keep it short and concise.
"Good evening everyone, I'm Choi Seungcheol," he smiled at the crowd, his eyes easily finding Jeonghan further in the back. He was rewarded with an encouraging nod by the other man.
"Thank you all for coming so numerously to the gala celebrating Lotus's founding. Although this year, it's more of a commemorative event held to honor my late father, Choi Hajoon," he paused, looking through the crowd, now completely silent. "It's wonderful to feel that my father's legacy continues to live on, without fail. I hope you haven't been too dissatisfied with his son's leadership, though. I’ve heard he's awfully young." a murmur of low laughter could be heard at his joke.
"As in the previous years, a charity auction will take place first. Please, bid to your heart's content," just one more sentence, his mother's speech and he will go back to Jeonghan's side for the rest of the night. He could to this.
"Thank you, for your attention. My mother, Choi Jiwoo, would like to say a few words as well." he nodded, the applause ringing in his ears and stepped away to give up the microphone to Jiwoo.
She walked up towards it, her stern gaze eyeing the crowd, a prideful, confident smile on her serious face. Seungcheol somehow had a bad feeling about this.
"Welcome, welcome. Oh, how good it feels to stand here once again, after all this time," she started, her voice seemingly pleasant and warm.
"These trying times are all about alliance. About forming bonds, bonds that would help with strengthening the industry through our company as well,"
Seungcheol tried not to show any signs of the confusion he felt inside. What was this woman even talking about?
"That is why," she paused, the anticipation of the crowd palpable. "I am delighted to finally announce my son's long-awaited engagement to Lee Minju, the daughter of Lee Minsung from Delilah Investments!" a wave of applause reached Seungcheol's ears, before it was replaced by loud ringing.
He wasn't aware of what was happening in the room anymore, in complete disbelief of what his mother had just done. A strong, painful grip on his arm brought his conciousness back, his eyes registering two other people standing next to him on the stage. Flashes of multiple cameras hit his face.
Oh my God, he thought to himself, Jeonghan.
Seungcheol needed to get to Jeonghan immediately, explain to him that he had nothing to do with this.
His eyes scoured the back of the room, his heart beating out of his chest when he realized Jeonghan wasn't there anymore. He resisted the urge to fall to his knees right then and there.
When his mother finally finished her speech (or whatever the hell this shitshow was), he jumped off the stage and ran through the crowd towards the exit, not really caring about Jiwoo's angry voice calling his name from the back.
~
A shaky exhale left Jeonghan's mouth once he stepped out of the hotel's lavish lobby into the chilly night's air. He glanced at his phone, making sure the Uber he ordered to Jisoo’s place would be arriving shortly.
Dark clouds settled over the sky. He hugged his coat closer to his body, regretting not bringing a scarf for his exposed collarbones.
He shouldn't have let himself hope. He shouldn't have let his sudden surge of confidence blind him for what truly stood before him. He shouldn't have come here at all.
And yet.
"Hannie! Oh my god, I didn't think you would actually leave I-" Seungcheol burst through the door, pulling Jeonghan out of his thoughts at once.
He turned around and looked at Seungcheol, who was breathlessly running his hands through his neatly styled hair, messing it up completely.
"I- I don't even-" he stuttered, eyes glassy and gaze unfocused. Jeonghan's never seen the other man this distressed. It made him want to reach out, smooth the creases forming on Seungcheol's forehead and take him into his arms.
"I had no idea this was going to happen tonight," he finally stated.
"I know, Cheollie-"
"I could never- I could never even think that she would ever go this far, I should've-"
"Cheol, it's okay, calm down, please-"
"I would never want to marry anyone other than-"
"Seungcheol!" Jeonghan stepped over and cradled Seungcheol's face in his hands.
"Don't- don't finish that sentence. Please"
Tears were slowly falling down the assistant's cheeks by the time Seungcheol grabbed the hands holding his face. He looked down and swallowed. As he glanced up, Jeonghan immediately noticed the seeds of brimming determination planted in his gaze.
"I'll go back and tell everyone that it's not happening," he let out finally.
"No, you will not do that,"
"Hannie, you don't-"
"I want you to listen to me now," the tears were now fully obstructing his vision. "Being with me will never bring you the opportunities that marrying Minju will." how did he manage to say it all without stuttering was beyond him. He let go of Seungcheol's face.
"Her father owns the biggest lab facilities in Italy. Becoming their prime business partner would secure the company's future and probably finally increase the price margins as well."
Here he was talking business with his heart actively breaking. The grind truly never really stopped.
"You could appear in public with her by your side without worrying about snarky comments in the press afterwards. Associating yourself with such a gorgeous and universally loved woman will also probably boost the sales just like that. You could-" he hiccupped suddenly.
"You could start a family with her," he added softly, glancing down at the ground and chuckling to himself bitterly. By the time he lifted his eyes, Seungcheol's lovely face was covered in silent streams of tears as well.
"I could never give you what she can. We both know that." he smiled sadly, his Uber pulling up to the hotel's driveway behind him.
He stepped towards the other man one last time, smoothing Seungcheol's tie and adjusting his jacket. He combed through his messed up hair and wiped his cheeks from the tears with the cuffs of his coat.
"It's okay to let me go Cheollie. I'll be fine," he whispered. "I'll see you on Monday."
With those last words, he kissed Seungcheol on the cheek, bittersweet, and turned on his heel to get into the car.
Drops of heavy rain fell onto the ground as he closed the door.
~
“There you are! What the hell were you thinking, running off like that?! You haven’t embarrassed me enough already?!”
Jiwoo stepped in front of Seungcheol, basically emanating her furious aura, the look in her eyes wild and crazed. He didn’t want to deal with her right after his entire world crumbled to the ground and got buried six feet under on top of that.
It all started making sense. The countless meetings throughout the week and keeping Jeonghan as busy as possible with the preposterously last minute preparations. She knew.
What was her business in all of the scheming was wholly beyond Seungcheol. Why did she go to such lenghts to make sure they wouldn’t be together openly? He was convinced she stopped caring what her only son was up to a long time ago and he apparently couldn’t have been more wrong.
“What did I tell you about replying to me when I ask you a question? Don’t make me-”
“Why?” he asked, not letting her finish. “Why are you doing this?”
“I suppose I should’ve guessed you would have absolutely zero knowledge about further increasing the company’s influence on the market,” she replied, her words dripping with venom. “The cooperation would obviously-”
“No, mom,” he interrupted her once again. “I don’t give a flying fuck about your imaginary business plans.” he couldn’t care less about propriety anymore. “Is it because of dad? Because of the company? Is it always going to be this way?” he sounded hysterical at this point, trying so hard to understand the motive behind her actions.
Everyday, he tried not get too bothered by the fact that his mother hated him. And every once in a while he tried to imagine what having a loving and functioning family would feel like.
“You know damn well you’re not fit to be Lotus’ rightful CEO. I would’ve found a quick and easy way to demote you three years ago if I really wanted to,” Seungcheol had never seen her looking this vicious, this engulfed by hatred. “Since you’re still in the position, I’m pretty sure I haven’t actually done anything yet, no?”
So it was about him inheriting the company instead of her. When was it not?
On some especially difficult days, he let himself wonder what would it be like to simply hand it all to her like she’d always wanted.
But he knew that deep down, he would never do that. Although not exactly as experienced as other people in the industry, he was good at his job. He even grew to enjoy it greatly over time, seeing the responsibilty as more of an opportunity rather than a burden, or an attempt to get control over something his mother desired more than anything else in the world to get back at her.
He enjoyed the endless meetings and negotiating with, more often than not, ludicrous clients. He found himself liking the idea of being the final decision maker, the one in charge of making sure the company operated to its highest potential at all times. Although most of it probably couldn’t be achieved without his trusted and irreplaceable employees.
And of course, Jeonghan.
“Your boy toy was the easiest nuisance to get rid off, by the way,” she said as she started walking back towards the hotel.
Seungcheol saw red for a split second. It was one thing for her to hate him, but going after Jeonghan was the last thing he could tolerate at the moment. He grabbed her arm, startling her slightly and seethed through his teeth as calmly as possible.
“If you dare to do anything to him-“
Jiwoo laughed, her intitial surprise gone in the blink of an eye as she twisted out of his grip.
“Maybe I should invite him to the wedding. Maybe you should, since you love him so much.” she said as her last words, before turning around and leaving Seungcheol all alone with his broken heart beating loudly in his ears.
~
“He’s getting married,” Jeonghan stormed iniside Jisoo’s apartment, startling both of his friends who were nestled on the couch in the living room. “He’s getting married to a daughter of- of another businessman, t-to a woman, I- I need to r-resign and find a different job and- and-” he was pacing back and forth in the hallway, hiccupping and trying not to choke on his tears. Jisoo grabbed his arms in a steady grip to ground him for a moment.
“Hannie, slow down. From the beginning, please- Seungkwan, where the hell do you think you’re going?!”
“To kill Seungcheol, obviously. I’ve had enough of his bullshit already,”
“Sit the fuck down and-”
“His mother w-was the one who announced the e-engagement,” Jeonghan interrupted, his voice quivering from the sobs shaking his body.
“Okay, calm down for now, and take off your coat first. Seungkwan, bring me the makeup wipes from the bathroom, please”, Jisoo pulled the coat off of his shoulders and made him sit on the couch in the living room, grabbing three pillows and a blanket to put over his shivering body.
“I knew-” a loud hiccup interrupted him. “I knew this wasn’t going to end well. Why did I even bother having my hopes up,”
Seungkwan stepped into the living room carrying the requested makeup wipes, two boxes of tissues, a bottle of water and a large box of strawberry sorbet. He placed it all on the coffee table and sat down on the couch as well.
“You were literally almost dating him. I think there was a lot to have your hopes up for. Now drink.” he handed Jeonghan the opened water bottle.
Jeonghan took a couple of sips, the chilly liquid invigorating him instantly.
“What exactly happened, Hannie?” Jisoo asked softly, putting the largest blanket around the three of them. Jeonghan took a deep breath.
“Jiwoo suddenly went up to mic and said she has an important announcement to make. Then she said she’s really happy to finally tell everyone about her son’s long-awaited engagement to Lee Minju, or something like that. Then everyone started clapping and cheering,” he said in one breath, as if the words were burning his mouth. “And then I left.”
“What did Seungcheol say about it, though? Did he know? Did you even talk to him, or did you just leave?” Seungkwan prodded, very much aware of Jeonghan’s tendency do avoid direct confrontation.
“To be honest, I wasn’t going to... initally,” he cowered under his friends’ judging looks. “But he found me when I was waiting for my Uber in front of the hotel and-”, his eyes welled up with tears once again.
“He said he had no idea what was going on and he was ready to call everything off. I... I think he wanted to say he would rather be marrying me instead...” he managed to finish, not exactly fond of the still fresh memory.
“What?! Then what the hell are you even crying for?! You should be running away with your man to get married in Paris or something as we speak.”
“Seungkwan, stop it,” Jisoo’s warning tone made Seungkwan glare at him. “But seriously, what’s wrong with him wanting to marry you, instead of going through the engagement his mother imposed on him? You clearly both want the exact same thing.”
“Do you not get it?!” Jeonghan yelled back with exasperation.“The entire business scene of the city, maybe even the whole country, knows about the engagement now. Not mentioning the articles that are going to appear in the news soon, some probably already up online. Imagine the extent of damage to the company’s reputation, if he cancelled everything just like that, can you?” once he started, he couldn’t stop, “Because I can. Very much so. And I don’t want to be the one responsible for that.” his breath hitching as he finished.
Both Seungkwan and Jisoo kept quiet at his outburst, waiting for him to cool down before saying anything.
“It was like fighting a losing battle anyways,” he added, more softly this time. “We were doomed from the start.” he looked down at his fidgeting fingers.
His friends shared a look. They had to admit, it was a difficult situation to find oneself in.
“Hannie,” Jisoo began, reaching out to grab Jeonghan’s hand. “I’m sorry. We obviously don’t fully understand the stakes here. While I do think you could still figure something out between the two of you, Seungkwan and I will support you in whatever decision you end up making,” Seungkwan nodded, patting Jeonghan’s head on the other side. “Whether you decide do resign, stay, or even move away-”
“Or pierce the tires of his mother’s car and throw toilet paper at her house,” Seungkwan interjected, Jisoo sending him a doubtful look.
“What? Been there, done that. Just say the word, Hannie.”
“No, I... I think resigning is the best option here. I can’t afford leaving right away, though, I’ll stay until I find a different job and then remove myself from his life indefinitely. I guess.” Jeonghan sniffled. Maybe he could try waitering at his parents’ restaurant back home as he did in high school.
Going back to square one.
Seungkwan and Jisoo hugged him tightly, hating to see his best friend in such state. They stayed cuddled up together for a while, Jeonghan’s breath evening out in the meantime, sobs no longer shaking through his body.
“Okay!” Seungkwan grabbed the TV remote from the coffee table, along with the tub of strawberry sorbet he brought earlier.
“It’s time for the annual Mean Girls rewatch!” he said with a smirk, making Jeonghan smile too for the first time of the disastrous evening.
~
The next few days were all but a blur for both Seungcheol and Jeonghan.
It hurt Seungcheol, to see Jeonghan behaving like nothing happened between the two of them.
It hurt Jeonghan, to witness the aftermath of Seungcheol’s mother decision, the other man constantly anxious, as if literally at her mercy. He thought it wouldn’t bother him that much. After all, their relationship was mostly hidden, a secret they were too afraid to release out in the open. He eventually decided he couldn’t stand it anymore.
Seungcheol was sitting at his desk at the time, when Jeonghan entered his office holding a stack of documents. He looked up and offered his assistant a sad, tired smile.
“Here are the files you asked for. They weren’t digitalized yet, so you’ll have to go through them like this.” he placed the papers on his desk, mirroring Seungcheol’s expression.
“Thank you, Jeonghan. As always.” he replied, trying to remain calm and indifferent.
Jeonghan nodded and proceeded to quickly leave the room. Seungcheol sighed, solemnly. Better get this over with now, since he was never good with keeping the physical copies organized. He grabbed the files, all dilligently covered in plastic sleeves. All except for one sheet at the bottom of the stack. He pulled it out, curiously.
Just when he thought the week couldn’t get any worse, his eyes fell on Jeonghan’s resignation letter.
~
It was one of the worst nights of Seungcheol’s life, for sure. The constant Congratulations, about time you’ve settled down! were drilling holes into his brain and making his palms sweat. The spacious interior of his childhood home felt suffocating, his mother’s voice in the background piercing his ears like a thousand syringes.
She insisted on throwing an extravagant engagement party for her son and his fiancée, inviting God knows how many of her stuck-up friends.
This is wrong, kept echoing in his mind, thoughts gravitating towards Jeonghan incessantly. He almost considered actually taking up Mingyu’s offer from earlier that day.
(“If it’s catastrophically bad, I can just call you and say I’ve got a particularly explosive case of diarrhoea at the supermarket and you need to pick me up.”
“Thanks Mingyu. I’ll keep that in mind.”)
"No offense to the chef, but all of these taste like moist paper sprinkled with sugar." someone sat on the chair next to him with a huff.
Minju and him have exchanged maybe a maximum of ten words since their engagement was announced the week before. Seungcheol didn't want to get to know her more, in all honesty and as mean at it seemed. He tried for a smile, but it probably turned out as more of an awkward grimace. She shook her head in return.
"We haven't really met properly before today and... I can see you don't want this a thousand times more than me, but-" a thrill of panic went through Seungcheol's spine at that. He needed to stop her before she ended up getting the wrong idea about their hypothetical relationship. There was no way they could have any type of connection other then casual friendliness.
"Minju, I- I need you to know that-"
"I'm a lesbian." she deadpanned, cutting him off. "So rest assured, I am not interested in you either, if that's what you're concerned about." she finished, smiling and shoving a raspsberry tarte into her mouth. He gaped at her. Alright...?
"What I'm trying to say," she swallowed the pastry first. "Is that I'm not hoping for any kind of love story. I made a deal with my dad and that's the only reason why I'm here. Point, blank, period." her in theory fierce monologue contradicted with itself in practice. She was only getting into a full-blown marriage... Because her father told her so?
Seungcheol had a bit of a vague idea about Lee Minju's character. An ambitious biotech engineer, taking the science world by storm with her research on biomarkers associated with the early onset of neurodegenerative diseases. She was a force to be reckoned with and a much needed inspiration for other talented women in STEM. The general public definitely agreed with that. Minus the incels, of course.
"I'm trying to get a patent on my diagnostics tool I've been working on, but I need to find at least a couple of investors first," fair enough. Her father was one of the obvious choices in this case, wasn't he?
"If you think my lovely father stepped up as one, you couldn't be more wrong. He cut me off financially after learning I prefer kissing girls over boys in my free time," her eyes were shooting lightning bolts when she said it. "He also blacklisted me on the market somehow, leaving me high and dry, and so pissed I almost broke down the door to his office when I found out." she took a deep breath, calming herself down momentarily.
Seungcheol wasn't as confused about the situation as he probably should've been. It sounded eerily familar to how things went by in his own family as well. Although he was also incredibly impressed by the sheer dedication to her work.
What was he getting out of marrying Minju, however, was beyond him.
"I'm guessing it was this for the investment money, or nothing?" he asked, Minju replying with a snap of her fingers.
"Bingo. That's how the fascinating story goes for me," she leaned against her chair and frowned. "I thought we were both getting into this as willingly as possible. I'm sorry if it's the other way around for you." Seungcheol could tell she was being genuine.
"It's... fine," it very much so was not. "What's done is done."
He was going to have to eventually learn how to live like this, even if that was the last thing he wanted to do, like ever. A supercut of his painfully short time with Jeonghan flashed through his mind, the vision causing his heart to ache silently.
"Okay, so... Now tell me about the person who's been on your mind the entire evening," Seungcheol blinked at her words, not sure how on Earth she figured him out so quickly. Was he that easy to read?
"Come on. Don't tell me there's no one, we both know that's not true." Minju raised her eyebrows in amusement. He sighed before answering truthfully.
"His... His name is Jeonghan," he looked down, the sound of his beloved's name tingling his own lips like thousand sparks.
He would do anything to get to hold him again. Hold him close and feel his warm breath against his skin, hear his laughter and lay his head on his lap while they watched TV in his apartment for hours on end. He didn't think it was possible to ever miss someone this much.
"Hmm," Minju was, for whatever reason, not so much surprised with his response. "Would you look at that. Not us getting ourselves into a lavender marriage." she replied jokingly, probably trying to ease the atmosphere. It was so ridiculous and unexpected in the moment that it did actually make him let out a quiet snort.
"You know," she continued, looking around them and slightly lowering her voice. "This doesn't mean that you can't still be with him for real. You don't have to worry about me at all, I'm serious." he was moved by the sincerity of her words, unprepared to hear something like this from a woman he was literally set to marry. Against both of their wills, but still.
He knew he could never do it to Jeonghan, though. Keeping their relationship unlabeled was one thing, but keeping it a secret from the entire world? He knew it would break both of their hearts all over again, sooner or later.
"I don't know if we've ever even been together for real." he said, the cloud above his head turning sickly grey once more. Minju stayed silent for a few seconds.
"I'm sorry. Again."
"Don't be. No point in that."
The hum of constant chatter in the background sounded more akin to screaming to Seungcheol's ears. Could time have possibly passed even slower through this torture? Unlikely. Minju spoke up first.
"Things finally started making sense, I gotta say. With your mom and all." Seungcheol figured he must've misheard her.
"My mom?"
"I've seen her with my dad more times than I've actually seen him this past year," what the hell? "Pretty sure she's been recently trying to become one of the major shareholders of Delilah too."
Seungcheol's thoughts were running a hundred miles per hour while he processed all of this information. Is that what all of his meetings with Delilah’s executives regarding possible copartnership were for? Is that why Jiwoo suddenly appeared in his life after close to two years of complete silence?
Is that what she set up the engagement for? So she could quietly and gradually take control over Lotus from behind the scenes?
Seungcheol wasn’t registering his surroundings in that moment, his consciousness taking him on a literal drip down the memory lane instead.
(He was standing on a small stage set up in the school’s gym. His costume was uncomfortably itchy, but he really liked it overall. The bunny ears he was wearing were really fun. Not to mention that he was really proud of finally acting out his role perfectly. Him and his classmates were all lined up before bending down to bow before the audience, a sizeable number of parents and teachers alike. He saw one of his friends’ mom clapping excitedly and smiling from ear to ear. He scanned the crowd for a familiar face. He found none.)
(His hands were trembling slightly, when the professor handed him his graded essay. The marks were already out in the register and he dreaded coming home after classes today. He doubted his mother would appreciate him getting a 79 this time.)
(“Um. A smile might be good?” the photographer was puzzled as he stared at Seungcheol’s parents, both currently on their phones instead of looking at the camera. Seungcheol wanted to cry when he caught a glimpse of other people’s families happily celebrating their children’s graduation day. He didn’t even know why he begged them to come so much.)
(“Mom, I- I don’t know why dad switched the names on those documents, I’m sure-”
“I don’t want to hear a word from you right now.” her words burned his ears like the loudest of explosives. “Hajoon has made a choice. Good thing he won’t be able to witness the inevitable afteramth of his foolish decision.”)
(“When are you going to teach your employees competence? The state of the company is unacceptable as of now.”)
(“Slacking off as usually, I see. Should’ve expected it from you, though.”)
He stood up from his chair, ignoring Minju’s voice calling out his name in confusion.
Jiwoo was standing beside Minju’s father and talking with three other people. She noticed him and grimaced when he approached her.
“Hi, mom,” he still didn’t want to make a scene despite his mind telling him to everything but keeping it cool. “Can we talk, please?”
She rolled her eyes at him.
“Can’t you see I’m busy, Seungcheol? We’ll talk later, don’t bother me right now.” Perfect. They were going to have to do it this way, apparently.
“Alright then. I’m sure these gentlemen won’t mind the intrusion. It’s kind of urgent.” he smiled at the people next to her, proud of himself for managing to stay calm thus far.
“When were you going to tell me about your weird plan of becoming Delilah’s primary shareholder to gain control over Lotus’s operations externally?’
He could see the flash of surprise on her otherwise stern face.
“Stop being ridiculous,” she shook her head, feigning disinterest and using her, for some reason exceptional, acting skills to good use. “This is just normal business practice. I’m aware you aren’t exactly endowed with grasping the-”
“When does it end, mom? When are you going to let other people know you hate me more than anyone else in the world?”
This was it, this was the moment he was standing up for himself after all those frustrating years of tolerating her behavior towards him. The scared little boy inside him grew up, leaving his fears and insecurities behind him at long last. Moving on, and moving far, far away at the same time.
“No, this is not normal. You are not normal,” his ears were ringing and it was getting increasingly hard for him to breathe without hyperventilating. “I’m your son. Your fucking family, in case you’ve forgotten and I think you have,” he had to keep going now, feeling almost close to hysterical.
“I don’t know how you’re able to live with yourself, how you’re able to wake up each morning, knowing you’ve failed in every aspect of being a mother. Of being a human,” he took a step towards her, ensuring she heard him loud and clear. And also everyone else. “So guess what?” he was strong enough to do this. He had to be.
“I hate you too. I hate that I have to live with the thought of being tied to you forever, I hate-”
“Oh, shut up already, you disrespectful brat!” she cut him off, the anger coming off of her in nearly palpable waves.
"I should've gotten rid of you just how I got rid of your excuse of a father!" she yelled, her voice booming through the large house.
It was pin-drop silence for what felt like an eternity. Every single person in the room was holding their breath, witnessing the explosion in real time. Jiwoo was quite shaken up as well, obviously not intending to let that slip. Although that moment passed very quickly.
"You're useless, all of you! Not an ounce of cleverness, not an ounce of resourcefullnes!" she threw the glass of champagne in her hands on the ground, shattering it into sharp pieces, the liquid splashing on the floor. She grabbed a plate from one of the tables next. Seungcheol instinctively moved in front of her line of sight, to shield the rest of the people, including Minju who was ended up standing directly behind him.
"Mom, stop, what are you-"
She threw the porcelain dish at the wall as well, one of the shards piercing through her fingers, drawing blood. A few gasps left the guests’ mouths, the air in the room getting thick with uneasiness.
Seungcheol had never seen his mother act this crazy before. She’d always appeared to be perpetually mad, for sure, but usually still maintained a somewhat cool and collected attitude. The dangerous glint in her eyes was scaring a deeper part of Seungcheol, one he thought he wouldn’t have to dig up ever again. He still had yet to process her words from a moment before.
I should’ve gotten rid of you just how I got rid of your excuse of a father!
It was one of those things that just didn’t happen to people. You could maybe see it in a TV show, or read about it in a book, but you could never possibly experience it in real life. And yet, there they were.
Jiwoo was showing her true colors to the world, once and for all. She would no longer only be perceived as this cutthroat and fearless businesswoman. Seungcheol knew the journalist hiding in the corner of the room would make sure of that.
He wanted to pity her. He couldn’t really bring himself to do it, though, as of then.
Adrenaline flowed through his veins steadily, filling him with a peculiar sense of confidence that overshadowed the inevitable ache in his chest. He suspected the feelings would catch up him with either way, no matter how much he tried to suppress them.
“There hasn’t been a day in my life,” she hissed at him. “When I didn’t regret having you as my son.”
Her words where the last and final nails to the coffin of their relationship. Seungcheol met his mother’s murderous gaze head on and seethed right back at her face.
“Good.”
A couple of things happened right after the other, Seungcheol’s response triggering a chain reaction of events.
Jiwoo grabbed a knife from the table she was standing next to.
Minju’s father seized her from the back, holding her by the shoulders and trying to stop her from releasing the knife in Seungcheol’s direction.
Minju screamed from behind him, holding a phone with a dialed emergency number on the screen.
Seungcheol didn’t flinch, didn’t move a single muscle. He didn’t even blink.
As he looked into his mother’s wild eyes, he physically felt the remnants of his attachment towards her crumbling and falling down the steepest of cliffs.
~
“So,” Minju walked up to him, looking at the scene unfolding in front of them. “I guess no lavender marriage for us after all, huh?” she joked. Jiwoo was currently squirming against the policeman’s grip, handcuffed. Seungcheol’s mind had never been this messy.
He was watching his mother get arrested after confessing that she had something to do with his father’s sudden death. How was he supposed to move on with his life with this information?
"I don't know if there's any point in saying that, but are you okay?" she asked. Seungcheol thought about his answer for a moment. The next few weeks would obviously be a lot more stressful than usually, but... His chest felt strangely light despite of it all.
"I... think I will be. Eventually." he replied, releasing a relieved sigh along with it. They both kept quiet for a while, digesting everything that happened over the past couple of hours.
"Thanks for letting me know about my mom, by the way," he continued, Minju just waving her hand dismissively at that.
"Also... It wouldn't even be a lavender marriage in the first place, you know?" he said, Minju getting the hint immediately. She shook her head with a smirk.
"Damn it! Of course you play for both teams, you've got it basically written on your forehead with a sharpie." she barked out a laugh when she noticed his unimpressed expression.
Looking at her smiling face, he remembered about the promise her father made to her. He was determined to make sure she got the patent finalized at last.
“Minju,” she turned her head towards him and hummed. “If I can do anything for you, please just say a word and-”
“It’s okay, Seungcheol, don’t worry about me. I’m pretty sure you have somewhere else to be right now.” her face stretched into the kindest of smiles. He knew exactly what, or rather, who she was referring to. “Tell Jeonghan that I would love to meet him someday.” she continued, her expression taking a slightly mischievous turn. He laughed quietly, shaking his head. He would never in a million years expect the evening to steer so far away from its beginning.
“Hello? What are you waiting for?! Go!” she ushered, pretending to push him playfully.
“Yes, yes, I’m going,” he put his hands up in surrender. “I just need to have a word with the housekeeper about the rest of the guests and I’m on my way.” she squinted her eyes at him. “I swear!”
He was once again, on a mission. This time, he wouldn’t be asking Jeonghan to stay the night, though. He would be asking him to stay for a lot longer than that. No big deal, right?
~
Jeonghan slumped onto the sofa, pulling his favorite fluffy blanket around himself and closed his eyes for a moment. Three job listings websites were opened on his laptop, though he couldn't bring himself to actually browse through the offers.
Maybe he could just apply for his previous job. The person who took over his position didn't seem like they would be learning how to spell "Gabbana" anytime soon anyways.
It has been more than two years, though. The chances were low. Never zero, still.
A loud thunder grumbled from afar, as if mocking him.
Just as he was about to grab his laptop from the coffee table, he heard frantic knocking against his front door. The power probably went out in Mrs. Lee’s apartment because of the storm yet again, and she kept forgetting where her fuse box was.
He stood up, sighing as he saw his tired expression in the hallway mirror. Whatever, it's not like Mrs. Lee would notice his tear-stricken face and the bags under his eyes.
He unlocked the door, preparing to come face to face with his next-door neighbor.
He froze upon seeing Seungcheol standing in his doorway. Drenched to the bone, hair sticking to his forehead funnily, but the expression on his face was fierce, if not a bit scary.
Seungcheol stepped inside Jeonghan's apartment, making the other almost trip on his feet, and closed the door behind him with a loud shut.
"What are you-" Jeonghan's words were muffled by lips crushing into his, wet hands cradling his cheeks delicately.
The initial instinct to kiss back was quickly replaced with worry and he pushed Seungcheol back slightly.
"What is- what is going on?" he asked, his voice coming out hoarse.
"It’s over. The wedding’s off," Seungcheol replied, brushing his damp bangs out of his eyes.
Jeonghan's mouth fell open, horrified.
"What?! Why-"
"No, Hannie, I want you to listen to me now," his voice coming out determined, ringing through Jeonghan's small apartment. A thunder shattered through the sky at his words.
"I was a coward. I still am, to be fair, but I've had enough. Enough of my mother trying to sabotage my happiness because she still feels betrayed by my father leaving the company to me instead of her," he let out in one breath.
"I'm tired of every decision I make being a fucking business deal, every thought running through my head feeling like some sort of transaction for all of this. My life is forever tied and dedicated to the company and I can't escape it. When we first met, I wanted to be selfish for once. Wanted to keep you only to myself, wanted to have something in my life that I didn't have to share with anyone. I shouldn't have..." he trailed off.
"I shouldn't have let you become my assistant. I should've taken you out for dinner, should've charmed myself into your heart properly instead of... this. Whatever this is."
"I was selfish then, still," he continued. "I did think about letting you go after the trial month and maybe trying to pursue you properly then, but you turned out to be every executive's dream assistant. You made my work so much easier, keeping it more organized than ever and I just-" he stuttered and then whispered softly. "I just wanted to keep you for a little longer,"
Jeonghan's heart was hammering uncontrollably in his chest. He couldn't believe what had become of yet another evening he intended to spend wallowing in self-pity.
"When you suggested sleeping together casually, I should've said no too, or just tell you directly that I can't do this no-feelings-attached thing. Not with you at least, but I thought it would be enough for me. And it obviously wasn't,"
He took Jeonghan's hands into his and looked deep into his eyes.
“I know that somewhere along the lines our relationship became more than just physical. I know we haven’t talked about it, I know how confusing it must’ve been for you to get tangled up in the mess my mom made instead. I’m so so sorry for that. I- I deserve to beg for your forgiveness,” he dropped to his knees, still holding Jeonghan’s hands, eyes glassy.
“I love you, Jeonghan. Please forgive me for hurting you for so long. Please don’t make me let you go.” he looked up at Jeonghan pleadingly.
Jeonghan stared at him incredulously, not fully comprehending what was happening before him. He couldn’t believe that Seungcheol had somehow managed to convince himself that he was the villain in this story. That he needed take responsibility for everyone else’s decisions.
That he was the only selfish one.
“Oh, Cheollie...” he slid to the ground where Seungcheol was kneeling and put his arms around the other man’s neck, fingers grazing the short hair on his nape. Seungcheol immediately put his hands on his back.
The embrace was enough to calm their racing hearts and somehow also the raging storm outside, as well. Golden sunset emerged from behind the dark clouds, bathing the entire room in warm hues just before disappearing under the horizon. Seungcheol hugged Jeonghan even tighter and let out a quiet sob. Jeonghan moved away from the hug to wipe off his tears.
“I was selfish too, you know. I could’ve withdrawn from applying for the position at your company after I saw for whom I would be working. But I wanted to stay with you as well. For as long as possible. Even after-” he paused, taking a deep breath. Finally telling Seungcheol about his mother’s words from nearly two years ago seemed like such an abstract concept now.
“Even after your mom told me she would ‘get rid of me if I become an inconvenience to her or the company’...” he whispered, a heavy weight lifted off of his chest at last. Seungcheol on the other hand, looked like his whole world just crumbled all over again.
“She- She told you... what?” more tears fell down his cheeks, dark devastation in his gaze. Jeonghan couldn’t stand it, his own eyes becoming watery at the sight too.
“It was when- when I met her for the first-”
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I had no idea she said that to you, I-” Seungcheol hiccuped, a tremble racking through his body. “I can’t- I can’t believe she-”
“Cheollie, look at me,” Jeonghan interrupted, hoping his voice would ground the man. “None of this is your fault, do you hear me? None of it matters now, okay?” he kept rubbing circles against Seungcheol’s skin trying to soothe him despite being more emtional than he has ever been himself. He realized he needed to say everything he wanted to, before they both went crazy.
“That... That first night when we slept together, I thought to myself that having you physically would perhaps make up for how much I wanted us to be together emotionally as well. What I didn’t see coming, was my feelings for you only deepening with each night we spent. Hell, it felt like I was falling for you all over again whenever I saw you at the office each morning,” he chuckled, his fingers still resting on Seungcheol’s soft cheeks.
“I’m sorry for not communicating properly, for not seeing how much it was hurting us from the beginning,” regret started filling up his body from head to toe. It was quickly replaced by another feeling, though.
“And of course I love you too. With all my heart,” he leaned in and placed a soft kiss on his now lover’s lips.
They stayed in each other’s arms for a long time, simply breathing in the moment and calming down, their conversation taking a severe toll on their minds.
When cuddling on the floor became a not so comfortable prospect, they proceeded to move onto the couch, before realizing that Seungcheol’s clothes were still dripping with water.
Jeonghan actually offered him his t-shirt that he managed to grab on his way out the last time they slept together, as well as a pair of sweatpants he also took, a couple of weeks before. Seungcheol raised an eyebrow. I’m going to steal some more the next time I stay over, Jeonghan replied nonchalantly.
They finally sat down, enjoying each other’s presence in comfortable silence and intertwining their hands in a warm understanding. Nothing was truly certain yet and they had a lot to talk about still. They just wanted to bask in the peace and temporary tranquility a little more.
Finally, Seungcheol broke the quiet with a heavy exhale.
“She admitted to having something to do with my father’s death,” he let out, catching Jeonghan off guard.
He was puzzled for a second before he realized Seungcheol was talking about his mother. He thought he must’ve misheard, but the other continued slowly.
“It turns out she had recently acquired quite a substantial amount of shares from Minju’s father’s company and was looking for some kind of a twisted way to gain influence over Lotus’s operations. Hoping that our close cooperation with would lead to merging the companies together, or something,” he continued, his eyes shining with hidden anger, but mainly dissapointment.
“Minju made me realize that. Apparently, our parents have been meeting up at her father’s mansion for at least a year now,” the mention of Seungcheol’s would-be wife still made Jeonghan tense up.
“You would definitely get along with her.” he chuckled at Jeonghan’s uneasiness and kissed his temple tenderly. He swallowed and looked at their joined hands.
“I immediately demanded answers from my mother. She told me to stop making a scene, but I- I just couldn’t do it anymore. Something just broke within me I guess, all of her resentment towards me flashed before my eyes and I knew I had to stand up for myself, even with all those people around. We started arguing and she got so mad, she accidentally screamed about being the who ‘got rid’ of my dad,” he stared into the air, gaze blank.
Jeonghan couldn’t believe Choi Jiwoo treated her own family like some kind of elaborate business enemies, going as far as literally killing her husband. After the initial shock, a wave of immense sadness went through his body, when he thought how isolating it must’ve felt for Seungcheol through all these years.
“Everyone was stunned, even my mother herself. I’ve never seen her look so lost,” he closed his eyes for a moment, squeezing them tight.
“And then she literally lost her mind. I don’t know how else to describe it,” his voice was flat when he said it, the events from before probably still fresh and painful in his memory.
“She started spewing so much hatred, started throwing glasses and plates to the ground and at the walls, it was-” he paused and took a deep breath. “It was terrifying. Minju’s father stopped her from throwing a knife at me.” he frowned, eyes still shut, while the confession drew a gasp out of Jeonghan’s lips. His heartbeat quickened, the fear of what could’ve happened sending him into a momentary spiral.
“Minju called the police and the security guards of the house helped with keeping my mom... Basically restrained until they arrived.”
Jeonghan was listening to his story with bated breath, each detail more shocking than the last. He kept their hands intertwined, adding his other hand and delicately drawing patterns on Seungcheol’s skin with his fingers, in hopes of soothing him even a little bit.
“The police came and handcuffed her after taking everyone’s statements. Then they drove off. Then I drove off, too.”
He chuckled humorlessly and lifted his head to look Jeonghan in the eyes, his own turning glassy and unfocused.
“So now... My dad’s dead and my mom’s going to be in jail for... Killing him, I guess?” it felt like his words shattered his heart into a thousand sharp pieces all over again. Jeonghan’s one was close to breaking either.
“I don’t know why, but-” he stuttered, his voice cracking. “It’s just feels like I’m all alone now. Even if that isn’t true at all. Even if- Even if they’d always made me feel the loneliest.” silent streaks of tears were streaming down his face like tiny waterfalls.
Jeonghan shuffled on the couch and took Seungcheol into his arms, crading his head and stroking his still damp hair as small sobs shook through his body, the emotions overflowing and pouring out of him in waves. Jeonghan knew he had to let him get it all out. At the end of the day, the drought is always the very worst - sometimes drowning is necessary to be able to breathe freely again. As ridiculous as it may sound.
Seungcheol calmed down after a few long minutes, burrowing his face into Jeonghan’s neck and embracing him back. Jeonghan kissed the crown of his head and held him even closer to his body.
“I’m sorry.” he said, feeling the need to apologize to the man on behalf of the whole universe.
“You have nothing to be sorry for, Hannie.” Seungcheol replied quietly, tightening his hold around Jeonghan’s frame as well.
“Yeah, but someone has to be, you know,” his response made Seungcheol huff out a tickly puff of air into his skin. They were going to be fine.
“I’ll have to take part in the official questioning regarding my dad’s death,” he said, tone dejected. “As if the nightmare couldn’t just- Couldn’t just end.” he added tiredly.
“At least the wedding’s off. Some random journalist my mom invited asked me about it on their way out and I told them to just go to hell already.” it was Jeonghan’s turn to snort at that.
While he deeply empathized with what Seungcheol went through, some inner incredibly selfish part of him was secretly glad with how things turned out in the end. A dark shadow that was looming over them for the longest time was lifted off, finally letting the warmest rays of sunlight peak through. Jeonghan realized something all of a sudden. He frowned and released Seungcheol from his hold, the man’s lovely face coming into his view.
“Why were you soaking wet if you got here by car?” he tilted his head in confusion.
“Well,” Seungcheol started, rubbing the back of his neck, “The streets were packed and I didn’t feel like waiting in the traffic, so...” he looked at Jeonghan with a blush on his cheeks. “I parked the car on the side of the road and ran the rest of the way here in the rain.” he confessed, leaving Jeonghan speechless for the nth time this evening. He stopped counting anyways.
“All the- Oh my God, are you insane?!” he smacked Seungcheol’s shoulder lightly. In reality, he was actually about to swoon hard, absolutely astonished by the man’s determination to get to him as fast as possible. To tell him he loved him. To be with him.
“You do make me feel a little insane sometimes,” Seungcheol replied, smiling. “So yeah. I guess I am.”
Jeonghan was starting to smile as well. He leaned in to lay a featherlight kiss on Seungcheol’s lips and placed a hand on his cheek as he moved away for a moment.
“I’m glad you are,” he whispered softly. “It would be embarrassing for me to be the only crazy one here.” his words made the other man let out a bubbly laugh. He bit Jeonghan’s upper lip suddenly, turning their previous innocent peck into a much more intense, proper kiss.
Their struggles were not over yet, they were entirely sure of that. But everything felt a little bit more bearable and less threatening, now that they had eachother at last. They knew they could get through anything together, whatever rocks the future might throw them upon.
They kissed unhurriedly for a long while. At some point Jeonghan put his arms behind Seungcheol’s neck and manouvered himself on top of his lap. They broke the kiss and shared yet another emotional embrace.
“Minju is a lesbian, by the way,” Seungcheol stated randomly into the silence, making Jeonghan jerk back funnily, before both of them started laughing without a care in the world.
~
(As the evening progressed in more than one way, Seungcheol noticed Jeonghan’s open laptop laying on the coffee table, the job listing websites still visible on the screen.
Jeonghan was letting out quiet whines from underneath him on the couch, fully going crazy because of his lover’s mouth on his neck.
He huffed and tried to pull him back down when Seungcheol stopped his actions altogether, looking Jeonghan in the eye as he asked:
“Are you still resigning, though?” he asked with a pout on his face.
Jeonghan just honestly wanted to continue making out in that moment, so he replied swiftly:
“No. I’ll be at the office on Monday, same time as usual. You have two meetings with investors that day, by the way, and you were also requested on-site at one of our subsidiaries’ branches. Now hurry up and eat me out before I actually do apply for a different job.”)
~~~~~~~~
3 years later
Pastel rays of the morning sun shone through the glass windows of Lotus’s lobby as he entered the building at 7:56 AM. His long stylish coat almost dragging against the floor, the black leather of his gloves glistening prettily. He took off his sunglasses and smiled at the security guard by the entrance.
“Good morning, Mr. Choi! It’s good to see you again.”
“Good morning to you too, Mr. Jung.”
He made his way towards the private elevator he was now accustomed to using, sliding off one of the gloves. He scanned his fingerprint and entered inside when the doors opened.
He glanced to the left to look in the mirror, frowning when noticing he apparently forgot to apply any lip product today. He was going to have to search through his drawers for some vaseline, at least.
The elevator chimed as it arrived at the top floor, people already bowing to him as he walked through the hallway. He threw the coat on his desk chair and took the other glove off. He glanced over the calendar he kept there and turned on his heel.
He opened the door to Seungcheol’s office at exactly 8:00 AM.
~
Seungcheol’s always had an eye for pretty things.
When he was twenty-seven, he met Yoon Jeonghan and swore his life would never be the same again.
When he was twenty-nine, he almost lost him, their fragile and confusing relationship nearly falling apart because of his deranged mother.
And when he was thirty-two, he actually married him.
“Excuse me, do you know if Mr. Choi is available right now?” the voice Seungcheol loved and cherished the most filled the office, his head jerking up in surprise. He got up from his desk to walk over to his husband, who was already walking up to him as well.
They met halfway, Seungcheol literally picking Jeonghan up to spin him around a couple of times like they haven’t seen eachother in years.
“I missed you so much, Hannie, you have no idea. I spent most of my time here, I couldn’t stand our apartment without you.” he inhaled the scent of Jeonghan’s hair and kissed it. Jeonghan pulled away and narrowed his eyes.
“You and your dramatic ass. I was at my parents’ house for five days, not five years, Cheollie,” he placed both of his hands on Seungcheol’s cheeks. “They miss you too, by the way. Probably even more than they miss me.”
“Perks of being the perfect son-in-law, baby.” Seungcheol was forever thankful to the Yoons for welcoming him to the family with open arms from the very beginning of their (official) relationship.
They ended up sitting on his desk chair, Jeonghan halfway across Seungcheol’s lap with his hands carding through the hair on the back of his husband’s head.
“How are the preparations for the Pansy X Beauty opening event going, by the way? I’ve heard they had some problems with the venue.” of course Jeonghan would keep track of the company affairs even on his days off.
“They managed to keep the one agreed upon initially, I’m pretty sure everything’s basically ready now. They asked me to say a few words at the beginning of the event,” he huffed. “You know how I feel about giving speeches.”
“You’ll be fine,” a peck to Seungcheol’s lips.
“What if you take my breath away and I won’t be able to say a thing on stage, hmm?”
Jeonghan giggled, mirroring his lover’s wide smile.
“Then I guess you won’t be fine. I am stealing the spotlight, whether you like it, or not.”
“I always like it,” he placed a strand of Jeonghan’s hair behind his ear affectionately. “I hope you steal the spotlight of my days for the rest of my life.”
“You’re such a cheeseball, dear lord,” he teased back, but a pink blush appeared on his cheeks nevertheless.
“I forgot my lip tint today, by the way. You don’t happen to have anything I could use, do you?” he touched his bare lips, pouting. It was like a piece of him was missing.
Seungcheol smirked. He opened one of the nearest drawers of his desk and took something out of it.
“How about this one?” he placed a familiar mauve lipliner in Jeonghan’s palm and watched his eyes widen with recognition.
“You really kept that?! Oh my God, I can’t believe you!” Jeonghan crashed his lips fervently against Seungcheol’s.
And Seungcheol thought to himself, that some secret moments are all worth it in the end.
fin.