"As far as I'm concerned we only need half of our goal for the fourth quarter in order to reach our yearly market which is great news for everyone," Donghae shared with the other suits around the meeting table with him. "If everything goes according to plan then rest assured, everyone will have plenty to look forward to for their christmas and year end bonus this year."

The room erupted with applause and soft cheers of congratulations to each other. Sungmin stood behind Donghae with a proud smile but then took notice that some of the board members were starting to pack up their things and nudged Donghae to get to the last part on their agenda. Donghae glanced at him, slightly annoyed, before clearing his throat loudly, effectively gathering everyone's attention once again. 

"I do have one more thing I need to share with everybody before I dismiss today's meeting." Suddenly, Donghae was more aware that his news might not be as well received as he initially thought and felt his hands sweat a little. Closing the folder that he was holding in front of him, Donghae clasped his hands together and looked around the room very carefully before making his announcement. "I just want everyone here to know that this is an important announcement and a decision I made myself. Other than my parents you are all the first ones I'm sharing this news with so I'd appreciate it if it doesn't get leaked until after the party this weekend where I will officially share it with everyone else."

A man who looked to be in his late 60s laughed a hearty laugh at Donghae's words. "Donghae-ah, what is it? You make it sound like you're about to get married or something."

The rest of the room laughed along with the man as though it was the most ridiculous thing they've ever heard. Sungmin and Donghae both didn't laugh while trying to be reticent of the atmosphere before them. When he glanced back at Donghae, his laughter died down followed by the rest of the members in the room  upon seeing Donghae's serious face. 

"Wait...are you?" 

"Yes, Mr. Song," Donghae confirmed staring him in the eye. "I will be making the announcement this weekend at my mother's party which she's informed me you have all RSVPed in."

Several mouths in the room could be seen hanging open while they all stared at Donghae in disbelief. One thought running in everyone's mind which is when the hell did Donghae have the time to date somebody much less get them to agree to marry him?!? 

"I hope to have everybody's support at this new endeavour of mine and I look forward to seeing everyone this weekend." Donghae finished with a smile then proceeded to ignore everybody's shock faces as he pushed himself out of his seat and walked towards the door without looking back. He could tell that they wanted to ask him more questions but he just wasn't in the mood to answer any of them. Sungmin watched after him a little perplexed; not sure whether he should just follow after him and leave the frozen-wide-eyed board members to get back to earth on their own or if he should add something to ease the blow of the news more. 

"Uhh...um...Th-thank you everyone for coming today." He made a quick bow in front of everyone before leaving and running after Donghae. He got there just in time before the latter walked inside the elevator to go up to his office floor. Sungmin rushed in and squeezed himself in between the closing doors. Donghae didn't even look at him and tried to pretend that everything was cool which caused Sungmin to glare at him. "You said you were going to be professional."

"I was," Donghae argued. "I thought I was very professional."

"Well think again!" Sungmin snapped. "Did you not see their faces?!"

Donghae chuckled remembering the old man's surprised expression. "Yeah, that was pretty funny."

Sungmin furrowed his brows and was about to scold Donghae some more if it wasn't for the elevator stopping and the doors opening. Donghae made a quick exit into his office where another suit was waiting for him. He was sitting on Donghae's chair like it was his own while playing with his PSP. Donghae groaned seeing him and left the door open for Sungmin as well.

"What the hell are you doing here?" 

The man finally looked up from his game and grinned mischievously. "Well, I'm here to visit the greatest man to ever live, of course."

"Thanks," Donghae said sarcastically. "But you're in my seat so kindly get the up before I have security throw you out."

He simply scoffed then smirked at Donghae. "I was obviously talking about Sungmin. Who the would care about you?"

Sungmin came in the door just in time to hear that last comment and stop Donghae from strangling the man in front of him. 

"Kyu? What are you doing here?"

Making a complete 180 degree change in his attiitude, Kyuhyun had on the sweetest smile as he flawlessly hid the PSP in his pocket and stood up to greet Sungmin. "Minnie!" He called. "I came to visit you because I missed you." 

Donghae took his seat as soon as Kyuhyun stood up to greet Sungmin with a hug and a kiss. He simply rolled his eyes at the sudden display of affection and hoped that he would take their lovey-dovey act somewhere far away from him. 

"You know any other time I would love to watch you torture Donghae but now's not a good time." Sungmin pulled away from Kyuhyun and glared at Donghae. "We have some things we need to talk about."

"Things?" Kyuhyun raised a questioning eyebrow as he looked back and forth between Sungmin and Donghae. He's never been a fan of their "secret things" even though they almost always involved work. "What kind of things?"

Sungmin sighed and quickly racked his brain for an explanation that will get Kyuhyun out of Donghae's office without outing Donghae's dumb-idiotic plan in the process. "Donghae...he, uh-...just made a contract with someone and we have to make sure that he didn't leave room for any mistake since it's a really important contract." Sungmin gave Donghae a pointed look who was simply smiling back at him innocently. "One could even say his future relies on that contract."

Donghae rolled his eyes at Sungmin's dramatic emphasis to his future but chose to keep his mouth sealed. No matter how tame the latter looks he'd really much rather not be in the receiving end of his martial-arts-temper-tantrums that involves his getting handed to him. Kyuhyun sighed and just placed his hand inside his pant pocket to show the both of them that he intends to sulk about getting kicked out until further notice. 

Donghae didn't mind it too much attention and just went back to talking about business in order to keep his mind off of what Sungmin just said.

"Yah, I still haven't gotten your report regarding those stocks and shipment we did in Japan and Singapore."

Kyuhyun scrunched his face up before complaining. "That's not my fault. Ask your employees why I still haven't gotten the compilation reports on that project."

"Do you have any idea how busy I am? Why the hell don't you go there yourself?"

Kyuhyun released an exasperated sigh and shook his head. Friends or not, he knows Donghae wouldn't just let him off the hook if he messed up on his job. "Fine," he muttered under his breath but both Sungmin and Donghae were still able to hear him. "I wouldn't mind visiting Hyukjae anyway." As soon as Kyuhyun said that he turned towards the door to leave missing the way Donghae and Sungmin stiffened up hearing that particular name.

"Kyu!"

"Who!?"

Sungmin and Donghae both called/asked at the same time with matching wide eyes startling Kyuhyun in the process. He looked back at the both of them with an incredilous look with his hand still on the door. "What the hell is going on with you two?"

Sungmin ignored his question and asked his own. "You know Hyukjae?"

"Uh...yeah?" Kyuhyun knows he had no reason to lie to Sungmin but the way Sungmin asked him made it sound like he wasn't supposed to know him at all. "He's usually the one who submits the reports to me. He's like Kim's personnal errand boy." He snickered at his own joke but seeing the stoned expression on the both of them, he started to wonder if Hyukjae suddenly got himself in trouble. "Why? Did something happen with him?"

"No." Donghae and Sungmin answered together causing Kyuhyun's eyesbrows to go higher. 

"We mean it's fine." Sungmin and Donghae both glared at each other when they said the same thing again.

"What are you doing?"

"Stop that!"

"No. You stop it!"

"Yah!"

Kyuhyun's ears were starting to ring hearing the both of them echo each other like a parrot so as loudly as he could he opened the door and left. It wasn't until the door was shut after him did Sungmin and Donghae realize that he has gone. Once they were sure that no one else was in the room with them, Sungmin stood up from where he was sitting with eyes wide in full panic.

"I can't believe Kyuhyun knows him!" Sungmin freaked out with his hands in his hair. "We're screwed! He's totally gonna see through your charade and kill me for not telling him about it!"

Donghae's brows were furrowed a little as he tried to think of how to deal with the unexpected information that Hyukjae and Kyuhyun knows each other. He would trust Kyuhyun with his life but he wasn't so sure what other implications there could be. Afterall, as much of an as Kyuhyun can be, he still had a high moral ground. He was also not sure how deep this friendship he has with Hyukjae goes. He would need to ask Hyukjae about it and why he failed to mention that he was friends with a Cho heir. 

No wonder he's so simpleminded. 

"Donghae!"

Snapping out of his thoughts, Donghae looked up to see Sungmin scowling down at him. "What?"

Groaning in frustration, Sungmin rolled his eyes and turned away from Donghae just so he can save some of his sanity for himself. He would need to figure out just how much Kyuhyun knows about Lee Hyukjae on his own time. 

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Donghae returned to his apartment unit to find Hyukjae on his back just casually lounging on the sofa. He sighed and made peace with the fact that his sofa was now just another ordinary piece of furniture. What was once a conversation piece now served as a second bed to Hyukjae. An unnecessary loud jingle of keys brought Hyukjae's attention to his arrival. The latter merely peered under his phone at him in acknowledgement of his presence before slumping his head back down and focusing on his mobile game once more.

"Oh. You're home. Welcome home."

Donghae ignored the generic welcome and shoved Hyukjae's feet off the sofa, semi-forcing the latter into an upright position. Hyukjae grunted at the harsh treatment and put his phone down. 

"How was work?" Hyukjae asked seeing Donghae's exhausted face.

"It was fine," He answered while sliding down a bit so that his neck was resting on the back of the sofa. A soft satisfied moan came out of him as some of the tension in his shoulders was released then glanced at Hyukjae. He stared at him for a few seconds wondering whether he should ask him about his day first or if he could just get straight to the point. 

"What?" Hyukjae asked cautiously when he noticed Donghae staring at him. He didn't want to appear uncomfortable in front of the latter but Donghae's crescent-moon-like eyes staring at him like that had him weirdly shifting in his seat. 

Adjusting himself so that he was sitting more properly next to Hyukjae, Donghae turned his body a little to the right so that he was fully facing the other. Hyukjae too turned his body towards Donghae and gave him a curious look. 

Why is he acting so weird?

"You know Kyuhyun." Donghae stated. 

Hyukjae blinked hearing the name. "Yeah," he said unsure why Donghae would suddenly bring him up. "Why?"

Donghae was confused how he could know Kyuhyun and not know about him, the boss of the company he (used to) worked for! 

"You never mentioned him before," Donghae addressed carefully, closely observing Hyukjae's reaction. "Don't you think that's something you should have disclosed?"

"Umm...no?" Hyukjae tilted his head to the side and was at a complete loss. "Why would I?"

Donghae rubbed his eyes and tried not to groan out loud. Why was Hyukjae so clueless? "Do you not know who he is? How long have you known him?"

Hyukjae thought about his answer for about three seconds before giving it to Donghae. "About...t-two years? We went out for coffee a few times but it wasn't like a hang-out thing. We worked on the Kyoto and Nagoya project a year ago when Mr. Kim went on his sabbatical. He was cool and we clicked but it never went any further than that." After his explanation, Hyukjae could see there was still an unsettled look on Donghae's face and finally expressed his concern. "What is this about , Donghae? Why are you suddenly interested in Kyuhyun?"

"Why?" Donghae stressed unknowingly snapping at Hyukjae. "Because he's one of my close friends and Sungmin's boyfriend! That's why." Donghae took a deep breath trying to calm himself. "Does he care about you?"

"What?"

"Kyuhyun! Does he care about you?" Donghae snapped while unintentionally glaring at Hyukjae. "This could ruin my plan and I don't know whether I should tell him the truth because Sungmin would certainly kill me if he's blindsided at the party on Saturday."

"Oh." There was a lot of information to process in what Donghae just shared with him that Hyukjae couldn't even react to Donghae snapping at him. "I-...I don't know. M-Maybe? Maybe not?"

A frustrated sigh came out of Donghae hearing Hyukjae's answer. Then, as though they have mentioned his name too many time, Hyukjae's phone started ringing with Kyuhyun's name on the screen. Awkwardly grabbing for his phone, Donghae stopped him from answering his phone by placing his hand over his. 

"Put him on speaker."

"Why?"

"I need to know what he knows." Donghae's mind wondered back to Sungmin and was curious if the latter cracked afterall. "I just need to know how much damage control I need to do here."

Furrowing his brows at the seemingly deceitful approach, Hyukjae reluctantly answered the call then pressed the speaker icon. Wearily looking at Donghae who was staring intently at him, Hyukjae's voice shook as he said, "Hello?"

"LEE ING HYUKJAE WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO?!"

Grimacing at Kyuhyun's loud and foul language, Hyukjae was nervous if this was what Donghae was talking about. 

"Wh-What?"

"How the hell did you get fired? You did more work the last two years than that old geezer has the last 10 years."

Hyukjae chuckled hearing the familiar insult but when he saw Donghae's hard stare he faked a cough before responding to him. 

"It just wasn't meant to be, I guess."

"And when were you planning to tell me you no longer worked there? I've been waiting for your report and now his royal dickness got on my case that I'm late in handing mines in."

Hyukjae snickered hearing one of Kyuhyun's many names for Donghae but tried his best to not laugh at it. The side of Donghae's mouth twitched at Kyuhyun's words but was able to contain himself from saying anything. A really huge accomplishment considering all he wanted to do in that moment was hit Kyuhyun over the head. He'd gladly let Sungmin kick his if it meant that he could kick Kyuhyun's. 

"Uhm...w-well, Kwanghee's still there. I'm sure he could help you out."

"He's fine but Kim has him on other projects. What can you expect from 0-Hae employees - not that he'd care since he's always too busy."

"Um, K-Kyuhyun, I don't think it's a good idea to keep calling your boss names," Hyukjae tried to warn sensing Donghae's dark aura next to him. "I-I'm sure he has his reasons."

There was an audible scoff on the phone causing Hyukjae to sweatdrop a little seeing Donghae's eye twitch. He could tell it was only a matter of time before Donghae snapped so he thought it'd be best to end the call. However, the thought came one comment too late and before he knew it, Donghae had already grabbed his phone out of his hands and was already yelling at Kyuhyun on the phone. 

"YAH! CHO KYUHYUN JUST WAIT UNTIL I GET MY HANDS ON YOU." Donghae yelled completely forgetting the fact that Kyuhyun has no idea that he and Hyukjae were together. He kept spewing out words that he considered to be threats even though a good many of them were physically impossible or would probably land him in jail but none of that mattered because, just how long has he been talking crap like this about him to Hyukjae? Seriously. No wonder the latter had such a weird idea of him. It was all Kyuhyun's fault!

...

Not that he cared too much about it. He just wanted to make sure his image was clean. To Hyukjae.

...and with everybody else. 

There was silence on the other end of the phone once Donghae was done being creative with his threats. He was a little out of breath from all the shouting but Kyuhyun's questioning tone was all it took for Donghae to snap back to reality and realize what he had just done. 

"...Donghae?"

Hyukjae shook his head unsympathetically at Donghae and stood up from the couch to go to the kitchen to get some water all the while muttering under his breath, "What an idiot."

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

The weekend could not have come fast enough. Hyukjae sighed to himself as he looked at the outfit placed on his bed. In a few hours he would be officially changing the course of his life and he wasn't sure if he was as ready as he thought he was. The familiar sound of Sora's ringtone startled Hyukjae out of his reverie as he answered his sister's video call. 

"Noona," Hyukjae greeted with a half-smile but then noticed her stressed out look. "What's wrong?"

"How big is this party?"

Hyukjae's lips turned into a natural pout thinking of an answer. "I-I don't know. Not too big, I hope. Why?"

"We just received the clothes that Donghae sent for us and Hyukjae I think these clothes are really expensive." Sora's camera went out of focus as she moved around where she was and showed Hyukjae the dress that she was s