Chapter 2:

Donghae wakes up with the worst headache he has ever experienced. He groans and ruffles his orange hair, knowing that the two bottles of wine he had last night were extremely strong. Luckily, Donghae has quite a high alcohol tolerance, so he's still able to get up and get ready for work.

When he finishes showering and is having breakfast, his phone rings suddenly. Picking it up, a smile unknowingly appears on his face as he realizes Hyukjae has just texted him.

"Hey, hyung! ^^ It's me, Hyukjae. Are you up now?"

"Hi, Hyukjae. Yeah, I just woke up, and I'm about to go to work. :D" He excitedly texts back.

"Oh! I have to go to school soon, too. Hope you have a great day at work!! ^^"

The simple text makes Donghae feel like there is butterflies in his stomach and he suddenly feels much more energized. He goes downstair to take his car out, ready to go, but not before texting back to Hyukjae.

"Thank you, dude. ^^ Have a great day at school too... even when school is boring as . xD"

Donghae drives to his company, the famous East Sea Inc. that almost everyone in Seoul has heard of. By "his" company, he does mean that it is his - he is the goddamn boss, after all. That's right, the so-called beggar Lee Donghae, who was dumped last night because he was "poor", is actually the boss of the richest, most powerful company in the city, who is also driving a Lamborghini to work.

Donghae parks his car in the special spot reserved for him in the garage, walks out with an expensive elegant black suit, a pair of Aviator sunglasses on his eyes and his long orange hair lightly flowing in the wind, making him practically looks and smells "like a boss". The security as well as some employees bow at him and he bows back with a smile, all the while heading straight to his office.

- Good morning, sir. - The secretary, who has been waiting inside, bows at him and hands him a handful of files. - These are the important files that should be taken of and some contracts waiting to be signed as well.

Donghae brings the files to his desk, takes off the sunglasses and gives her a smile. - Then I shall sign the contracts first, after that I will take care of these files. Will you please check them again for me, just in case?

- Got that, sir. - She nods but frowns at the sight of his puffy and red eyes. - What's wrong? Were you crying yesterday?

- Oh... well... - He chuckles while signing the contracts. - Just relationship problems.

- Somebody dumped you again? - The secretary sighs. - I told you sir, you should just introduce yourself as the boss of this company instead of pretending to be a poor guy all the time.

He furrows his eyebrows at her words. - But then, they will just stay with me for my money, and I hate that. You know that, Je Ah-noona. - Then he pouts indignantly. - And could you stop with the "sir" already?! I'm younger than you for God's sake!!

- The boss deserves respect, sir. - Je Ah coolly replies but smiles at her boss' cute pout.

As Donghae goes through the files, he thinks back about Je Ah's words. He can't help but knows that she was true to a degree. Most girls and many guys desire a successful, rich lover who can promise them a great life. He knows that if he introduces himself to be the boss of East Sea Inc. right in the first meeting, they would be much, much more interested.

Yet, he has always pretended to be poor. He even went out of his way to rent a cheap apartment, the one he is currently staying, when his real house is a huge blue mansion in Pyeongchang-dong, one of the richest parts in the city. 

Donghae has a reason to do all those stuffs, though. He used to date a man when he was 26, after inheriting his parents' company for 2 years. They went for half a year before Donghae accidentally heard his boyfriend talked to a friend of his, that he was just using Donghae to get some money and he was not fond of him at all. After beating the guy to a bloody pulp - he has quite a temper, after all - Donghae became suspicious of anyone wanting to date him. He never accepts other people' confessions anymore but goes to find someone on his own, and will always hide the fact that he's rich from his dating partners so he can see if they actually like him or not. Since then, Donghae's relationships never last more than a month. His most recent girlfriend is the longest one, and he almost wanted to settle for good with her, before finding out that she was someone else already, of course.

It's sad to never be able to find someone that can truly like you, but Donghae doesn't mind that. He would much rather have his heart broken early than to be used just for money like that boyfriend of his. He unknowingly scoffs at that, his mood suddenly becomes sour.

But then his phone rings, signalling a new message, and Donghae hurriedly opens it, hoping the message to be Hyukjae's. True enough, Hyukjae has texted him back and his lips curves up at the words.

"Sorry for the late reply, hyung! I was having my first two periods. And school is actually not that boring for me! :D Well, at least English is very interesting. Maths, on the other hand... :("

Donghae winces a bit at the word "English". He didn't do bad at school, quite a good student in fact, but he can never understand English. He has to admire Hyukjae that the boy finds such a subject likable.

"You love English?! Well, damn. That is my most hated subject back then, I can never understand those strange words!! I always have to ask others to translate for me whenever I stumble upon an English sentence. TT_TT I loved Maths, though. 8D And it's okay, I was busy taking care of the files so I don't mind!!"

He hits the "send" button, finding himself unable to wait for Hyukjae's reply.

* * * * *

- Hyukjae, mind explaining why you are smiling so stupidly?

Hyukjae lifts up his head to see his best friend, Sungmin, staring at him like he's an idiot.

- Hyung, my smile is not stupid.

- It is. You are smiling like an excited monkey. - Sungmin notices the phone in Hyukjae's hand and smirks. - Is it because you are texting your girlfriend?

- What?! - Hyukjae widens his eyes. - No, hyung!! This is just a cool guy I knew since yesterday. He is quite an interesting man. - He smiles fondly at the thought of Donghae.

- You only knew him since yesterday? - Sungmin frowns. - Is he in this school too?

- No, hyung... I accidentally knew him when he called me by mistake, thinking that it was his ex-girlfriend. She had cheated on him and he really didn't take it well, so I ended up trying to comfort him. He's really cute. - He stares with dreamy half-lidded eyes at the phone, lips curve up unknowingly.

- See?! You are smiling like an idiot again!! - Sungmin points at his face accusingly. - You like him, Hyukjae!!

- Don't be stupid, Sungmin-hyung!! - Hyukjae waves his hand in dismissal. - I may like him as a friend, but certainly not in the way you're implying. - Yet he still finds himself grinning at Donghae's text which just arrived, excitement running all over his body.

- Yeah, yeah, whatever makes you happy. - Sungmin scoffs before going to the cafeteria. Hyukjae absently bids him goodbye, his eyes still glued on the phone, hurriedly texts back.

"Oh, that's sad. But you know, I can always help you, I'm pretty good at English!! In fact, I want to have a job that requires as much English as possible in the future. 8D By the way, Donghae-hyung, are you a secretary? You were saying that you had been busy taking care of files, so I just assume so. :0 Or an accountant? You like Maths, so it's also most likely. :) "

Donghae hesitates a bit at the part Hyukjae asks about his job. For a moment, he considers lying again, that he's just a secretary. But then he decides to just tell the truth. This boy is not his boyfriend, why should he lie? It's not like Hyukjae will become an important part of his life or something... he guesses.

With that in mind, Donghae replies honestly about himself:

"Actually it's more than that, Hyukjae. I'm the boss of a rather large company. The boss is in fact the one who has to take care of every files, appointments and contracts in the company, you know?"

He hits the "send" button, half expects a reply like "OMG its so cool" or "u r awesome i think im starting to like u again" because that's pretty much his ex-lovers reactions after they asked to break up with him and he revealed his true self.

But again, what Donghae receives doesn't match his expectation at all.

"The boss? Like... the CEO? Wow, at only 28? That's so cool, but at the same time, I don't think it's that great. No offense, hyung."

Do