Work Text:
“I don’t even need one”, Chan insists, running a hand through his black locks. Really, he doesn’t. A personal assistant? He’s just a producer! He doesn’t need anyone to manage his appointments or whatever. What even does a personal assistant do?
In his opinion, Chan is perfectly fine on his own. That he overbooked his calendar 3 times in the last two weeks was just an unlucky coincidence. He’s really not that bad at managing all the projects he’s working on. He has a system. It’s good, it works. Most of the time.
No need to freak out, he tells himself.
Absentmindedly, his left hand wanders to the right side of his ribcage, rubbing soothing circles there for a moment. His elevated heartbeat slows a bit, as he lets his finger wander over the spot where his soulmate mark sits. For just a moment, he closes is yes, focuses on his breathing.
Reminds himself of what the mark means.
It’s a simple truth, a calming certainty, that this job isn’t the only love this life holds for him. Chan lets his mind wander, bask in all the images he’s conjured up with his soulmate. Waking up to a soft smile, sharing walks in the autumn sun, dancing in the living room to one of his songs. Talking about anything and everything, together, forever.
Music will always be his first love, but he knows it won’t be his last.
Across the table, his manager, Seyeon, shakes her head. “You do, Chris”, she says, “and I’m not letting you argue your way out of this. The PA has already been scouted and signed.” “What?”, Chan’s eyes go wide, “Don’t I at least get a say in the hiring process? What if we don’t get along?” Seyeon sighs. “Please just trust me on this, Chris. I’ve chosen her carefully. I’m sure you’ll get along just fine.”
Chan makes a disgruntled sound, somewhere between a huff and a sigh. Sure, his manager knows him quite well. She’d probably be the best person - aside from himself - to choose someone for the position. Chan sighs and sits back in his chair, arms crossed. “I don’t need a babysitter, you know?”, he grumbles, to which Seyeon raises a single eyebrow.
There’s a beat of silence, two pairs of eyes staring. Chan’s shoulders slump eventually. “Fine, but if she messes with my workflow-” “She won’t”, Seyeon interrupts, “and if she does, we’ll remove her. Just try to work with her, Chris. Please?”
♡ ♥ ♡
Rain hammers against the gigantic windows of the café right next to the booth you find yourself settled in. You check yourself in your pocket mirror for the nth time this morning, making sure the way you’ve draped your hair over your shoulder sufficiently hides the mark sitting right behind your left ear.
This whole soulmate business isn’t for you. You consider it a futile mission, to find someone with a matching mark. Always have. There were too many people on the planet, too many pieces that had to fall into place, too many coincidences that had to happen. No, it won’t happen for you, just like it hadn’t happened for your parents, and you’d made your peace with that.
The ring of the door opening pulls you from your thoughts. He’s already halfway to your table, wearing a nice winter coat, blue jeans and a button up shirt underneath. A beanie hides most of his black locks, but the very tips stick out on the sides.
Your mouth suddenly feels just a little dryer.
Damn. Christopher Chan Bahng is gorgeous.
“Y/N?”, he says by way of greeting as he reaches your table. “Yes”, you reply, giving him a warm, professional smile while offering your hand. He shakes it, firm but not too tight. “Chris”, he introduces himself - as if that’s necessary - “I’ll grab myself a drink, be right back.” You nod and watch him disappear towards the counter. A shaky breath escapes your lips. Alright, you can do this.
A little while later he’s settled opposite you, a steaming cup of hot chocolate in his big, strong hands - get a grip, dammit - and a soft smile on his face. “You got here okay?” You hum affirmatively and take another sip of your drink. There’s barely anything left in the cup by now. “Good, good.” It’s kind of endearing how he taps his fingers on the sides his mug; has you relax into your seat just that much more.
After another beat of silence, he takes a deep breath and straightens. You watch as he pulls out a laptop from his bag. “Okay, so”, he starts, tapping away on his keyboard before turning the device to face your way. “This is my current schedule.” He proceeds to explain his extensive colour coding system, and how it spills over to his email inbox. “You’ll get access to all of this, of course.”
Once the ice is broken, you find it surprisingly easy to get into a flow with Chris. Soon enough, you have all the access you need to do your job, and the both of you go over the upcoming appointments that are already set in stone. “And this is the final meeting for the week”, he explains, “I never do meetings on Friday. See, I blocked studio time there.” You nod, taking notes alongside his explanations.
Time flies, as you talk, getting off topic more than once. “I love a good skyline”, you say in response to a song cover for one of his upcoming releases, “always looks like we caught the stars.” He hums. “That’s a nice way of putting it.” His smile is so pretty. Dammit.
The rest of your day is spent in the back of the recording studio, where you start going through his business mails, setting up new signatures with your own contact information and replying to open messages. You find that his calendar system works quite well and only needs a bit of tweaking. Mostly, you account for more breaks - particularly for eating and sleeping.
Every now and then, you look up from your laptop and watch him work. He’s got his headphones on, listening to a track, moving around some parts, adding new ones, humming with the music. There’s something highly attractive about the way he gets lost in his work. He clearly loves his job, and from what you heard, he’s also pretty damn good at it.
A content sigh escapes you. Actually, you’re not sure you want your time with him to end.
♡ ♥ ♡
It’s been six weeks.
“Chris, do you think-” “You can just call me Chan when we’re alone, you know?”, he interrupts, then grins to himself as he watches you blink repeatedly. He’s thought about it since week two of your employment. There’s just something about you, something that he trusts. Something that earns you the right to the name he only lets his friends and family use.
Because he likes you.
He likes the simple rhythm the two of you have fallen into while working. He likes the way you try to hide your blush when he compliments your outfit. He likes the way your eyebrows crease when you scold him for skipping lunch despite the lunchtime you clearly blocked out in his calendar. He likes how you will order him some food after the scolding, making sure he eats regardless of his schedule.
Damn. He likes you.
“Chan”, you start over, “do you think you’ll finish that track before lunchtime? Or should I order in?” There’s a teasing undertone to your words, matched by the smirk on your face. What a pretty face. Chan clears his throat. “Sushi?” You already have your phone out.
The sound of your keyboard, that has now become a constant background noise in Chan’s studio, commences after food is ordered. He watches you for a moment, fingers brushing over the side of his ribs where his shirt feels a bit too tight. It’s like his mark is humming underneath his fingertips, low and steady. Weird.
“Dammit.” The low curse falling from your lips pulls Chan out of his thoughts. He’s blinking now, refocusing his eyes. He hadn’t even noticed them going blurry. “Something wrong?”, he asks, sitting up a bit more straight. You’re staring at something in your hands.
“No”, you mumble, fiddling with whatever it is that you’re holding. It’s too small to make out. Chan raises his eyebrows as you look up. “Well, yes”, you say, “it’s my necklace. It came off.” That’s when you lift your hand, a delicate silver chain dangling down from your fingers. There’s a pendant at the end, a pretty little rose coloured stone.
“You need help putting it back on?” “Uhm…no, no I got it”, you reply, though the blush on your cheeks does not escape him. Chan smiles, as he gets up and moves over to the couch. “It’s no trouble”, he says, “come on. Let me help.” He holds out his hand. You hesitate for a moment, but ultimately give in, dropping the necklace into his palm.
The both of you shift, so your back is turned towards him. “Can you put up your hair?”, he asks, and you comply, pulling up your hair into a makeshift pony tail, held together only by your pretty hands. Chan forces himself not to linger on the elegant shape of your fingers. This is not the time. He carefully places the pendant around your neck and gets to work closing it.
It’s delicate, the clasp, an it takes some finagling to close it up again. Who could blame him if is eyes used the time to wander a bit? Tracing the bottom of your hairline, running over the place your neck meets your shoulders, moving up to the back of your ear. Your left ear. Where -
His breath catches.
Only just can he stop his fingers from touching your skin.
Touching your mark. His mark.
“You done?” Chan almost jumps in his seat when you turn your head. “Y-yeah…uh…all…uhm…all done, yeah”, he stammers, quickly getting off the couch. You squint at him. “Are you okay?” “Yeah, sure, I’m fine. Everything is fine.” You very obviously don’t believe him, if your raised eyebrows are any indication. “I should…uh…finish this track…”, he mumbles, quickly returning to his desk, where he promptly buries his face in his hands.
Holy shit.
You’re his soulmate. His person.
It’s you.
Chan cannot stop grinning.
♡ ♥ ♡
You wonder if he knows how easily you can read him.
Chan’s emotions show on his face, no matter how much he tries to hide them. It’s one of the first thing you noticed about him - one of the first things you were endeared by. Naturally, you never pry. Whatever story his face is telling, it’s usually none of your business. Usually.
But now it’s about you.
It is about you, right?
The way he suddenly gets all jumpy around you, the nervous little laugh that fills the room whenever you tease him, the way that pretty blush has become damn near permanent on his gorgeous face as soon as you’re alone with him. It’s adorable and heartwarming and about you.
It has to be, given the time it started.
With the necklace.
“Here”, Chan places a steaming cup of coffee in front of you. You can’t help but smile, as you watch him take his spot opposite you. The afternoon sun is filtering in through the windows, painting the café in a rich golden light. “Thank you.” His ears are red, as he gives you a dimpled grin.
God, you hope it’s about you.
For a while, neither of you speak, enjoying the calm of the moment. He’s taken you back here a few times during one of the longer breaks you’ve put in his schedule. It’s the café you had your first meeting at, conveniently just around the corner form his office building. A nice change of scenery for both of you, who spend most of your time hauled up in his studio with the occasional excursion to a conference room or the cafeteria.
Eventually, Chan sets down his mug and clears his throat. “So, uhm”, he starts, looking adorably nervous, “I need you to…uhm…to put a time blocker in my calendar. For Friday evening. And for yourself, too.” You raise your eyebrows. “That’s your studio time”, you reply. He doesn’t take meetings on Fridays.
“Not this Friday.”
You squint at him. “What’s this about, Chan?”
His eyes dart around the room, looking everywhere but at you. His blush intensifies, while his fingers begin to drum against his mug. “It’s…it’s a surprise”, he says. Suspicious. You take a deep breath and release it with a chuckle. “A surprise?” That’s when his eyes finally land on you, soft and sweet, pleading you, not to ask any more questions. You sigh, but can’t hide your smile. “Fine.”
Whatever his plans are, it feels oddly right to trust him on this one.
The week passes by without another hitch. Sure, Chan is still being a little nervous around you, which he had not been prior to the necklace incident, but you can’t help but be endeared by it. Something about it just goes straight to your heart.
Despite your better judgement, you let yourself hope a little for something more to happen on Friday.
When the end of the week finally rolls around, you can’t help but feel a little nervous yourself. Chan is oddly absent from his studio despite you having moved his studio session up so he’d have the evening off. He slips out multiple times with a “be right back” and stays gone for a little while before returning with a dimpled grin. You try your best to stay focused on your job. It almost works.
Chan’s hand slowly closes your laptop at 7:43pm. “It’s time”, he says, eyes soft as they meet yours. You swallow. For whatever reason, your mouth has suddenly decided to go extra dry. Chan takes your Laptop out of your hands, places it on the couch beside you, and pulls you to your feet. “Where are we going?” He chuckles, shakes his head. “Spoilers.”
You let him pull you through the office, your hand firmly slotted in his, as he leads you to the elevators. Once inside, he presses the top most button. To the roof. He’s taking you to the roof. Your heart beats just a little bit faster. Absentmindedly, you squeeze his hand. He squeezes back, firm and reassuring.
The view is breathtaking. You can see the entire skyline, lit up like a million sparkling stars, stretched out before you. It almost distracts you from the setup much closer to you - a picnic blanket with several cushions on top, fairy lights strung up along a part of wall that lines the roof, a litany of containers with all sorts of food placed on a little table to the side.
Your breath catches. “Chan…” Wide eyed, you stare at the scene he prepared for you. “What is this?” He lets go of your hand, takes a step back. “It’s…let me show you”, he says, hands going to the hem of his shirt. Your heart stops for a moment as you watch him lift it.
There, on the right side of his ribcage, sits his soulmate mark.
Your soulmate mark.
“Chan…” You sound like a broken record, but you can’t help it. “You’re…we’re….” “Soulmates”, he finishes for you, dropping his shirt. Oh my god. You feel like your heart might escape your ribcage with how hard it’s beating in your chest. This can’t be. Soulmates are not something you just find. Never in a million years did you think you would ever find yours.
But he’s right here, looking at you with those big, beautiful eyes of his, and it all makes sense. Why working with him is so easy. Why it feels so right to be around him. Why taking care of him never felt weird at all to you. He’s your soulmate. You’re person.
He’s yours.
Suddenly, you’re moving, rushing towards him. And he’s right there to catch you, arms wrapping around you like they were made for it, because they were, and your lips crash into his with unbridled passion. He kisses the same way he makes music - with body, mind and soul, putting his whole heart into it, making it a little to easy to get lost in it.
Right here, on this roof, strong arms holding you close, you are certain: there’s nothing in the world that could make you happier than Christopher Chan Bahng.