What happens in Tokyo stays in Tokyo. Minho decided.

The actor had enough of being constantly haunted by the image and the touch of Kibum’s hand in his after their night of shopping together. And if that wasn’t severe enough, Minho hated how he became highly conscious of himself around Kibum ever since that little incident of physical contact and how he turned all jittery with his senses on full alert every time his personal assistant came near. Kibum didn’t seem to know how much he was affecting Minho because one thing was for sure – Minho kept his emotions well hidden under his usual cool, calm and rather detached appearance (he was an actor, mind you). Still, behind his appearance, Minho couldn’t stand what he was reduced to anymore. He did not want to deal with such weird emotions, of which he still couldn’t understand (or maybe didn’t want to understand). What’s more, Minho was tired of having to act even off camera. And so, the actor decided that he shouldn’t let whatever happened in Tokyo affect him anymore.

It was stupid actually. Kibum obviously didn’t think much of it seeing how his personal assistant was still naturally going about his job, and if Minho could add, seemed even happier and friendlier on the job as he carried out Minho’s orders. Come to think of it, Minho felt so dumb because he clearly was the only one affected by that simple meaningless action. And as Minho looked at his hand once more, he curled his fingers into his palm and reminded himself that that was going to be the final time he would think about how Kibum’s hand felt in his.

“Is there something wrong with your hand?”

Minho glanced up to see the object of his thoughts looking concernedly back at him.

“You’ve been looking at it and spacing out awfully a lot the past few days, ever since we came back from Japan.” Kibum commented as he settled down in the chair next to Minho. “Did you injure yourself or something?”

“No, I’m fine.” Minho shook his head and waved his hand around nonchalantly. “Just got a lot on mind, that’s all.”

“You want to talk it out?” Kibum asked like a friend would, “We have the time anyway.”

They had arrived early at the set of the drama that Minho was currently filming and were waiting for other scenes to be filmed first before the director needed Minho on set. But looking at how one of his co-actors kept fumbling over his lines, Minho knew Kibum was right when he said they had the time, in fact, more than enough time to talk.

“So?” Kibum asked again, pressing for an answer because frankly, he had nothing better to do.

The simple question brought Minho’s attention back onto his personal assistant. He wasn’t lying when he said he had a lot on his mind so since Kibum offered and initiated the conversation, Minho decided he might as well not let the opportunity go to waste...

“Well, there is one thing that I am wondering about…” Minho began as he turned his body towards Kibum.

“Yeah? And what’s that?” Kibum replied, very much eager to hear what Minho had on his mind.

“Why did you apply for the job as a personal assistant?” Since he couldn’t possibly talk to Kibum about how the short lived moment of them holding hands in Tokyo was driving him crazy, Minho took the chance to ask about something else he had been curious about right from the very beginning instead. The actor also hoped that Kibum might just unknowingly clarify the questions that had been troubling him as well.

Kibum pressed his lips into a thin line, and after a moment of hesitation, eyed Minho while letting out a breath. “You know what I'm going to say right?”

“That it's none of my business?” Minho bobbed his head up and down, rubbing his nose indifferently. “I know... it was worth a try though.”

“You know what?” A playful grin appeared on Kibum's face. “I like going against you.”

Minho raised an eyebrow in question. “Your point is?”

Kibum shrugged and answered as if he was talking about the weather. “Well, I quit school and needed a job that could pay well so here I am now.”

As he waved his arms about and gestured to the surroundings, Minho gaped in utter surprise that he had gotten an answer so easily out of Kibum's mouth.

“You quit school?!” Minho looked as if he had just heard that the impossible had happened. “Just like that?”

Kibum nodded. “I didn't see the point in studying anymore... I don't mean studying entirely, because I still think I’ll return to school one day, what I mean is studying business specifically.”

“Business?” Minho raised the volume of his voice. “Are you kidding me? You’re telling me you actually gave up a business degree?!”

Kibum stared at Minho weirdly. “Why are you getting so worked up, Minho?”

“You were a business undergraduate...” Minho muttered out loud. “And now you're my personal assistant, isn't that a major, I don't know, downgrade?”

“You mean the stupidest decision ever?” Kibum smiled bitterly and shrugged. “That's how society thinks. I tend not to subscribe to the views of society.”

“You've got character, Kibum.” Minho almost wanted to stand up and give his personal assistant a round of applause.

“I know.” Kibum agreed with a laugh and then expressed his thoughts. “You know Minho, you for one should know about going against what society tells us is right... or else you wouldn't have stepped into the entertainment industry.”

“I tend not to subscribe to society's views too.” Minho threw back the same words Kibum had used as a reason to explain his decisions in life and then added, “I follow my heart.”

Kibum smiled. “Well, that makes two of us then.”

“And I thought we would have nothing in common...” Minho flashed a smile in return.

As the two shared a smile with each other for a moment too long, the outstretched silence suddenly made things awkward. The atmosphere between Minho and Kibum had never been this pleasant before. And in less than a second, both of them looked away, turning their heads in opposite directions because they were unable to maintain such eye contact with each other lest the atmosphere grew even more uncomfortable. Pretending that nothing had happened, Minho went back to reading his script even though he already knew his lines at the back of his hand while Kibum shifted in his seat, sniffing and wondering what he could do to occupy the time when all of a sudden, the vibration in his pocket caused him to jerk in his seat. Kibum took out his phone and froze when he saw the caller. Minho immediately sensed that something was wrong and turned back to look at his personal assistant who was doing nothing more than staring at his phone.

“Aren’t you going to answer that?” Minho couldn’t help but ask upon seeing the lighted screen of Kibum’s phone.

“It’s my mum.” Kibum simply answered, only moving his mouth as his eyes were still stuck on the screen of his phone.

“And?”

“I can’t answer it.”

“Why not?”

“You know how I told you I quit school…” Kibum bit his bottom lip, only releasing it when he looked towards Minho who nodded slowly at him. “Well, my parents don’t know about that.”

Well, that cleared up everything. Minho had connected the dots together and now knew exactly why Kibum had acted the way he did when he had eavesdropped on his personal’s assistant phone call. The actor’s mouth formed an ‘O’ and decided he was in no position to say anything to Kibum.

“Are you thinking that I should just tell them the truth?”

Yet, his personal assistant could read his mind and Minho suddenly felt as if he was an open book. He kept his cool, even though he was a little worried inside that Kibum could see through him so easily, and decided it was best to focus on the issue at hand first.

“Well… you can’t hide the truth forever.” Minho reminded Kibum. “And you don’t want to end up lying continuously just to cover up one lie.”

“I know, I know, I know.” Kibum said just as his phone began vibrating again, this time, thankfully, only vibrating twice indicating that it was a message instead.

“Your mum?”

Kibum nodded as he read the text message out loud. “Are you in class? Call me when you see this.”

Kibum then looked back at Minho with a helpless expression on his face. “Tell me, how would you go about telling your parents you quit school because you decided there was no point in studying anymore?”

“Kibum…” Minho didn’t have to apologise out loud but his tone was enough to express that he was sorry he didn’t know how to help Kibum answer his question.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll figure it out.” Kibum presented a slight smile to Minho.

And at that moment, Minho couldn’t resist reaching out to squeeze Kibum on his shoulder encouragingly. “It’s tough, I know, but you’ll feel much better if you come clean with your parents. You’ll be fine, Kibum.”

Even though Minho’s words were pretty much useless, Kibum found himself feeling comforted by the fact that he had Minho to give him that little assurance. In that moment in time, the personal assistant even suddenly found his boss rather charming… and was that a spark he felt when Minho touched his shoulder? If Kibum were to be completely honest, he had to confess he was captivated by this side of his boss…

“Minho-ssi, you’re up!” The director’s assistant shouted as she came running towards them.

Minho nodded and immediately got out of his seat. “I’ll talk to you later, Kibum.”

And as the actor walked away with a smile to finally begin his long day of filming, it came to Kibum that his feelings were getting a little out of control. This was just wrong, so wrong. He shouldn’t even be feeling anything at all. This was supposed to be strictly business; Minho was his boss and no emotions should be involved. Kibum knew all this, he could tell right from wrong, but somehow, he didn’t find it a problem at all because like Minho said, he was one who follows his heart. And Kibum believed that if he felt something, it meant something. Yet, whether or not something could happen out of it, well, time would only tell. For now, he had a phone call to make… and a challenge to overcome.

Author's Note: decided to update first because i can't seem to end the next part any time soon. hehe. a short chapter (slowly developing minkey's relationship) but i hope it's still a good read to keep you occupied for the time being. i did promise i'll update asap. (: 6 days to my first exam, 6 days to SMTOWN SG. which means the next update will take some time... for now, enjoy the second half of November, lovely readers! <3