Going into work two days later was far more hectic than Minseok could have ever imagined.

            He’d spent practically all of Sunday alternating between taking a few conference calls, checking his emails, and thinking about the previous night, about the party, about Jongdae. After their time on the room together, they only saw each other a couple more times. Once was when a group toast was called for, and another when the night was winding down and Minseok was ready to leave. He didn’t have much of a chance to talk to Jongdae one-on-one though, seeing as they were in the formal, public sphere, but both times he caught the boy smiling over at him lightly, to which he’d smile back. He probably found some sort of comfort in the fact that Minseok was at least somewhat close to his age, and a lot more open about things than others were. That little thought had Minseok’s heart racing a little, his eyes fluttering shut as he wondered what the boy thought of him.

            Going into work the following Monday was a bit of a drag, but he pulled himself away from his thoughts and resigned himself to being at the desk all day and hopefully scheduling a few negotiations with any possible investors he’d spoken to at the party. There had been quite a few people promising him follow-ups that night, but those promises were empty when it came to the real world. Behind the glamor of the chandeliers and champagne, nothing happened unless it was written down in contract. While he would’ve loved to hope and assume that his appearance at the dinner party would bring in great results, he knew that chances were, it would be another uneventful day of keeping the company upright until his father healed.

            He hadn’t expected this though.

            “Executive Kim!” his secretary screamed—actually screamed—the second he stepped out of the elevator. Minseok barely had time to notice just how chaotic everyone on his floor seemed to be before his secretary was ushering him over to his office while muttering frantically to herself. “Hurry, hurry.”

            “Seungwan? What’s going on?” he questioned, but allowed himself to be practically dragged to his desk. The woman was a Beta, but she was damn strong when she had her mind set on something.

            “A request for a meeting came in this morning,” she mumbled, and Minseok didn’t even get the chance to ask why that was so shocking before she continued. “It was from Kim Industries.”

            What.

            “They’ll be here in 20 minutes to discuss,” she explained further, laying out all sorts of reports and other things in front of him. “They’ve already suggested some proposals and had them faxed in as soon as the meeting was agreed upon. You’ll have to take over from here, in place of the President.”

            “I… I understand, thank you Seungwan, you’re dismissed” Minseok barely managed to force out the words as everything sank in. He desperately tried to think, to make sense of everything in his head.

            Why would Kim Industries be interested in any sort of relations with them? They practically owned most of the music industry on their own, from the artists to the producers to the composers to anything else in between. Meanwhile, Minseok’s own company—or well, his father’s—was a simple consultancy firm that was only sort of well-to-do. No, he couldn’t say that; the work his father had done with the company was top notch, and was only staggering now because of his health issues and, as a result, insecurities in the media.

            He furrowed his eyebrows as he scanned all the paperwork on his desk and thought. Was that really the reason why Kim Industries was interested in working with them: because they were well-known? It hardly seemed necessary when they likely had hundreds of other firms and freelances workers available at their beck and call. Really, the company’s founder and CEO was terrifyingly powerful— a middle-aged Alpha who could tear anyone down for even looking at her wrongly. Did that sort of person really reach out to them, to Minseok? Especially after their reputation had taken a plunge?

            A thought fluttered through his head, but he quickly shook it off. It couldn’t because of… it couldn’t be, right?

            “They’re here, Sir,” he heard Seungwan calling to him through the intercom, and he quickly thanked her for telling him before standing up and walking over to his door. Regardless of the reason, Kim Industries had offered them a great deal; it was now or never for the company, and Minseok wasn’t planning on stepping down from it.

            Minseok was both surprised and not surprised at all when he saw Jongdae standing by his secretary’s desk.

            The boy was dressed as immaculately as he was during the dinner party, from the well-fitting black slacks matching his tailored blazer, which covered the baby blue dress shirt he wore as well. A maroon silk tie accompanied the outfit, the splash of color somehow suiting the boy perfectly. From afar, however, it was hard to tell that this was the same person as that night. Gone was his usually pleasant, if not a bit forceful aura that he had when socializing. Instead, his eyes were steeled, arms crossed, and cat-like lips pulled into a slight frown. It wasn’t hard to see why—the whispered reached Minseok’s ears immediately, and the very first breath of ‘Omega’ had his lips curling downwards in distaste. Jongdae wasn’t entertaining people anymore though, wasn’t focusing on his courtesy for the sake of social propriety. He was here to do business, and from the way he looked, Minseok could tell that he’d do what was needed to get work done.

            “It’s good to see you, Jongdae-ssi,” Minseok greeted pleasantly as he stepped towards him, and he tried not to show his surprise when the younger boy’s attitude did an entire 180^o shift.

            “Minseok-ssi!” he exclaimed, so cheerful to a point where Minseok wondered if he should tell the boy to tone it down a bit. After all, it would do no good if that cheeriness was mistaken for carelessness in the office. He’d seen it happen too many times with up-and-coming managers who were too excited and found themselves getting shot down and ruined for good. Jongdae’s… status, certainly wouldn’t help his case. “How are you?”

            “Quite well, thank you,” he responded simply, but Jongdae thought nothing of the formal response. They were in the professional sphere right now, after all. Gesturing to Jongdae as well as to the people around him (all Alphas, interestingly enough, and all looking ready to tear Minseok’s head off), he continued, “If you’re ready, we can head to the conference room now and meet my team.”

            “Yes, let’s.”

----

            Working out a deal with Jongdae had been even easier than he imagined.

            He’d requested financial consultancy in relation to one of their subsidiary’s upcoming sponsorships. Apparently, Jongdae was currently in charge of the marketing department at said subsidiary. Settling the terms and conditions was relatively straightforward, following most of the basics of a regular contract in their company. Really, had it been from anyone else, Minseok would’ve just brushed the entire thing off as another client, but this was far from something he could brush off.

            After all, even if it was a simple, one-time deal, news of a group like the Kim’s doing work with their company would spread like a wildfire, either skyrocketing or plummeting their reputation, depending on how the job was carried out. If they did well, they’d gain the favor of not only Kim Industries, but many others in the professional sphere. Not the mention, even if this particular instance was a one-time job, it held great possibility for continuous deals and, eventually, possibly clientele’s loyalty. On the other hand, were they to fail, it would practically confirm then and there that the company was dying off without the founder at its helm.

            Somehow, the risk only made Minseok feel more determined to succeed.

            “I’ll admit, when you said we’d be seeing each other soon, I didn’t think it’d be this soon, especially not here,” Minseok commented as the finance department heads dispersed and left the conference room. Jongdae smiled at him, gesturing to his team to head on out until eventually, the only people in the room were the two of them and two tall Alphas with blank eyes and fists clenched behind their backs. Bodyguards? That was certainly new, though not too surprising the more he thought about it.

            “I’d heard good things about your work beforehand,” Jongdae replied lightly as he organized his files to put back into his briefcase. “Talking to you that night, I figured what I heard was probably right.”

            “Oh? And what was it that you heard?” Minseok questioned with an eyebrow raised, his lips turning up in amusement. Jongdae chuckled and raised his eyebrows suggestively.

            “That it’s impossible to stay away from Kim Minseok.”

            Coming from anyone else, Minseok would’ve found the comment crude, lame, and maybe even a little bit annoying. But somehow, when Jongdae said it, he just found himself laughing, shaking his head fondly.

            “You’re really something, y’know that?” he shot back, and Jongdae just sniggered in response.

            “I’m going to take that as a compliment.” Minseok rolled his eyes and shrugged, but he was cut off before he could even speak up again.

            “Hyungnim, we should be leaving,” one of the bodyguards (he assumed, at least) spoke up gruffly, and Minseok raised an eyebrow when Jongdae just waved the man off.

            “I’ll be a few more minutes, Jongin-ah,” he said lightly without even turning to look at the Alpha. “You and Sehun head down, I’ll meet you by the car.”

            “You know we can’t do that, hyungnim,” the other Alpha, Sehun, insisted, his face blank save for the desperation swirling in his eyes.

            “I’d like to talk to Minseok about the plans for a few more minutes,” Jongdae said, his voice clipped yet somehow still friendly, just like how it sounded when he spoke to people at the party two days ago. Distant, but still amicable at the surface level and, more importantly, forceful. “The board meeting doesn’t begin for another half an hour, that’s plenty of time for us to return.”

            “We’ve been ordered to you back to the company safely, hyungnim.” Clearly, Minseok wasn’t too far off with his bodyguard theory, and it looked like this situation wasn’t going to dissolve without someone making a scene.

            “And you will, just wait a couple minutes, will you?”

            “But—”

            “Okay then!” Minseok cut in quickly, and Jongdae raised an eyebrow at him for it. “How about I head down to the lot with you and we talk on the way down, hm?” Sehun and Jongin were glaring at him, but Jongdae just shrugged in acceptance.

            “That’s fine, too, I guess,” he complied, and Minseok let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. Nodding, he ushered the trio out of the conference room and to the elevators.

            Despite what they said, the elevator ride down to the ground floor was relatively quiet, save for the small talk that they occasionally engaged in as an attempt to break the awkwardness. Minseok tried once to talk to Sehun and Jongin, but immediately shut himself up when the two straight-blank ignored him. Instead, he turned his attention away from conversation, only ever speaking up to greet whoever else entered or left the elevator on their way down from the top floor. He used the time to observe Jongdae instead.

            It was interesting, really. Nothing about the boy read as Omega besides his scent. For one, he was in crowded, constricted areas with multiple Alphas and the occasional Beta, yet showed no signs of discomfort, even though he was unmated. The fact that he was unmated was another thing—having an Omega in high positions wasn’t entirely unheard of, just extremely rare. But those Omegas were always old women, mated for many years with their fertility coming to an end as they aged.  Or well, almost always, he supposed, seeing as Jongdae was here now—young, eager but somehow still cold Jongdae who could probably bring down entire corporations with the snap of his fingers. Even the man’s aura was odd, one that didn’t demand control, but still expected it as though it was as normal as breathing. Every look he gave someone with was filled with power, but his actions were courteous, polite, and restrained. He was the perfect Omega, and the perfect Alpha, all in one.

            “I’ll send out emails to schedule upcoming meetings, would that be fine?” Jongdae questioned as they stepped off the elevator and walked through the lobby.

            “That should be fine, I’ll see to it that my secretary adjusts the directors’ schedules accordingly,” he replied easily as he nodded to the doorman in thanks as the glass doors were opened for them.

            “Have her adjust yours as well, if you wouldn’t mind.” Minseok cracked an amused smile at this.

            “Are you intending on having me present the whole deal, Jongdae-ssi? I do have other work to attend to, you realize.”

            “As do I,” Jongdae shot back cheekily. “But supervision is key in ensuring good business, is it not?”

            “I suppose so—”

            “Hyungnim, the car has arrived,” Jongin said shortly, and Jongdae sighed and nodded.

            “Yes, yes, I’m coming, Jongin-ah,” he relented, waving the boy off as he turned to face Minseok properly. “Well, thank you for your hospitality today, Minseok-ssi, and I look forward to working with you.” Minseok nodded, but before he could parrot the sentiment, Jongdae exclaimed, “Ah, of course, I don’t believe I’ve given you my card yet?” He reached into his jacket’s inner pocket to reveal a crisp white business card and handed it to Minseok. “In case there are any details you’d like to review with me directly.”

            “Hyungnim,” Sehun spat out, his foot tapping against the ground impatiently as he held open the car door. Jongdae sighed and nodded.

            “I’ll be seeing you, Minseok-ssi.”

            “Y…yeah, I’ll be seeing you. Ride safely, Jongdae-ssi.”

            It was only after the car had left the loft, after Minseok had gone back inside and to his desk, did he realize that there was something written on the back of the business card.

----

            Three rings, and then a groggy voice was snapping with no pleasantries.

            “You better have a good ing reason for calling me now, it’s way too earlier for your —”

            “Calm your , it’s literally a one hour time difference between Beijing and Seoul,” Minseok interrupted as he stared up at the ceiling of his bedroom. He barely slept last night, too lost in thought, and so he laid there at 7 in the morning, half an hour before he had to go get ready for work. “You needed to get up in like 15 minutes anyway, didn’t you? So, really, I’m helping you and making sure you don’t sleep past your alarm and miss your plane. Again.”

            “That was one time you ,” the voice snarled back. “I swear to god I’m going to hang up on you if you don’t tell me what’s wrong in like five seco—”

            “A cute boy gave me his number and I don’t know what to do Lu Han help.”

            “…What the .”

            Minseok sighed into the phone, staring up at the business card he’d received yesterday. On the front, it was all normal, all professional as to be expected as the son of the CEO of such an important company. On the back, though—there laid the problem. Scribbled neatly in black ink probably from a ballpoint pen, was a single phone number, followed by a simple ‘I’d like to get to know you better! ^O^’ message. It was so cute and so cliché but so wrong all at the same time and Minseok wanted to tear his hair out because of it.

            “You literally disrupted my beauty sleep because you don’t know what to do about a cute boy giving you his number?” Lu Han’s tone was flat in a way that would’ve sounded menacing to anyone else, but Minseok had dealt with the boy enough to know that he was incapable of doing any actual harm to him… probably. “I’ve had enough of your never call me again with your ing middle school crush sh—”

            “Just listen to me, you nugget,” Minseok said with an exasperated groan. “Look, the fact that he’s cute isn’t the problem.”

            “Then what is?”

            “Everything else! Like he’s six years younger than me.”

            “That never stopped you before.”

            “And I’m doing business with him.”

            “We ed when we first worked together, and we’re doing fine.” Lu Han was literally the least helpful piece of to ever exist and Minseok honestly wondered why they were friends.

            “Except he’s the second son of the Kim Industries—”

            “—Oh .”

            “Exactly.”

            “Wait, back the up, since when did that old CEO have a second son? I thought he only had one kid.”

            “Yeah, well apparently he has two. That gala this past weekend? That was his, he hosted it. And to make things even worse, he’s…” Minseok trailed off, and Lu Han made a frustrated sound.

            “He’s what? C’mon, if you’re spilling the beans you gotta spill the whole can, dude.”

            “…He’s an Omega.”

            “Oh .”

            “Exactly.”

            “Wait, , give me a second.” Minseok furrowed his eyebrows together as he heard ruffling sounds on the receiver, and rolled his eyes when his phone call got interrupted by a request to FaceTime. Begrudgingly, he sat up from the bed and accepted the request, chuckling as he saw how messy and flustered Lu Han looked. “Oh shut the up, Kim. Just tell me more about this Omega boy.”

            Sighing, Minseok delved into an explanation about everything he knew and thought about Jongdae. Lu Han, for what it was worth, listened attentively, saying nothing but a few affirming or pitying noises at the right parts. Minseok left out whatever he could about their time on the balcony together, not wanting to sound too infatuated with the boy (he knew he was failing, though).

            “Well ,” was all Lu Han had to say after he finished speaking, and Minseok groaned.

            “Do you see why I have no idea what to do now?”

            “Yeah… yeah, I do.” Lu Han paused, eyebrows furrowing as he thought. “Honestly, though… I’d say go for it.”

            “Dude, what the fu—” Lu Han shook his head and cut off his protest immediately.

            “Hear me out,” he insisted, and Minseok leaned back against his headboard and nodded. “I mean, he seems like a generally nice person overall, and if he’s into you and you’re into him, why not go ahead with it? Sure, the business partners thing may be weird at first, but the deal’s only short-term, and it may even help with business. No one’s saying you gotta go straight ahead and elope, but what’s wrong with a couple dates or something? I mean, it’s not like you’re getting any younger.”

            “Okay, but what if he’s not actually interested in me, but it’s just because of his instincts? Like what if—”

            “Bro, chill,” Lu Han cut him off with an amused grin. “Think about it—he’s surrounded by plenty of Alphas on a daily basis, yet did nothing about that. Honestly, sure, he may be on suppressants bu—”

            “Supressants?”

            “Oh god, you’ve never been around an Omega besides your mom, have you?” Minseok shook his head and narrowed his eyes. “It’s to control heats, . Unmated Omegas have heats and urges that can get pretty uncontrollable, so this boy of yours is probably taking pills to control all of that. Meaning none of interest in you is from instincts, it’s au naturel, my friend.”

            “Please get that greasy smile off your face now before I fly over there and punch it off of you,” Minseok deadpanned, about ready to hang up when Lu Han just wiggled his eyebrows in response. “Aren’t you supposed to be helping me?”

            “I am, though,” Lu Han insisted, eyes suddenly softer and smile more genuine. “Look, you’re thinking too much about this. Clearly, he chose not to let any of this—from his career to his status—stop him or hold him back, so why should you? From the looks of it, you’re not forcing him into anything, so why not just accept that and go along with it?”

            “But…”

            “No buts. You are going to call him and get yourself some cute , or so help me God I will find this boy and flirt with him for you.”

            “…Thanks, Lu.”

            “Anytime.” And with that, he ended their call, and Minseok groaned as he fell back against the headboard.

            Maybe Lu Han was right. Maybe he was just overthinking this. After all, at the end of the day, Jongdae was just a regular, very pretty boy who was a tad bit shameless and cheeky, but wasn’t that still okay? Pulling up his messages, he opened up a new message to Jongdae, who he’d added to his contacts as ‘Chennie’ the previous night when he was sleep-deprived and a tad bit tipsy from all the rosé he’d drunk. As he typed, he pictured the boy’s face that night at the party, when he’d first mentioned the nickname. The surprised but fond look that Jongdae had graced him with was etched into his mind like a beautiful ceramic carving, just like many of the other expressions Jongdae had shown him in the past few days.

            Pressing send, Minseok could only hope that he wouldn’t screw this up. 

yayyy another chapter with some more xiuchen! ft jongdae flirting kaihun being protective twats luhan being a piece of and minseok being hopeless
so rly just another day in the life of exo (lol)

ok i gotta go see my best friend off at the airport now so i cant say much but hope you enjoyed the chapter and ill fix any formatting issues later bye guys!