"Assistant, be a doll and pick up my dry cleaning from Dara's. Yes, that place an hour away from here. Hurry up now, we wouldn't want you to go home too late because of some clothes that needed picking up."

"P.A, the bird is flapping its wings and caw-cawing at me. Take it out on a walk or a fly or something."

"There goes your hair again, flying all over the place. It looks like a bird's nest for crissakes."

"Cancel my appointment with Yokoshina and call up Tsukimori instead. Tell them I changed my mind. If they get angry, you're on your own. Just make sure to get me that meeting."

"The bird is squawking again. Is euthanasia illegal in the bird kingdom? Look that up for me."

By the end of his first month of working for Choi Minho, Taemin has practically turned into a zombie. And one of his colleagues does not fail to notice it.

"You look like hell, Taemin." Amber sips on her coffee as Taemin pours himself a cup.

"Gee, thanks." He takes a drink from his cup as they walk into the elevator.

"You're welcome," She laughingly answers him as she presses the button to their floor, but she looks at him worriedly anyway, "But really. Boss has never worked any of his assistants this hard. And I've gotta say, I've never seen anyone last as his P.A as long as you have."

"How long have you been working here, anyway?" He holds the cup with both hands, worried that it might slip from his weak grasp. All the work Minho is making him go through is almost taking its toll on him.

"About 2 years. And in the whole time that I've been here," She purses her lips, calculating thoughtfully in her head. "He's probably had about 36 assistants. Give or take." As they pass the 15th floor, Amber laughs to herself, seemingly remembering something funny, "I don't think  I even knew the names of half those women."

Taemin looks at her curiously, "They were all women?"

Amber nods her head with a quiet Um-hum. "People are saying you're the first male assistant he's ever had." Taemin finds it weird that people actually find something like that as gossip material, but he is intrigued regardless.

"Heh," Taemin stands a little straighter and tilts his chin up, "Gender's got nothing to do with it. Choi Minho won't get rid of me that easily." They reach the 20th floor just as he finishes.

Amber walks out first as the door opens, "Yeah, considering that the man's practically a sadist, we're all really impressed with how you're doing." She walks away, and Taemin feels a little less of a zombie than from minutes ago.

Taemin presses the call button for what feels like the millionth time and brings his phone up to his hear. After several rings, Minho still does not pick up. Taemin drops his arm in a huff and walks over to Shindong, "Can you wait here a few minutes while I go up and get him?"

The cheerful driver gives him a thumbs-up.

"Mr. Lee! Hasn't Mr. Choi come down yet?" The fairly old man named Ho Dong at the concierge has gotten used to seeing Taemin in Minho's condominium building, but Taemin had never really gone past the main lobby. Until today, that is.

"No, not yet. I was actually wondering if you could give me his room and floor number?"

"Sure thing," He types something into his computer and gives Taemin a piece of paper, a card, and a smile to boot. "Here."

"Sir? Are you in there?" After knocking several times, Taemin realizes that that is quite the stupid question. Where else would he be at 7 in the morning? But then he starts to doubt himself again when there is no response from the other side of the polished, oak door even as he knocks incessantly. He is about to panic and call Shindong to tell him that their boss has gone missing when he hears a string of groans from inside.

"Sir? What's wrong?" The only response is more groans, and before Taemin can stop himself, he slides the card into the door's slot. He slams the door open and hears the noises from one of the rooms. He sprints to where he thinks they are coming from.

"SIR?!" He wrenches the door open, and he immediately regrets it.

There in all his half- glory (at least that is what Taemin thinks. The lower half is thankfully covered by a comforter.) is Choi Minho, sprawled out and groaning on his bed, on his stomach. He turns to lie on his back when he hears the loud voice and he rubs his eyes tiredly.

"Taemin?" He rubs his eyes sleepily and runs a hand through his bed-hair, "What the hell are you doing in here?" Taemin ducks his head because firstly, that is the first time that his boss has ever called him by his name; secondly, Taemin finds that his morning voice is strangely pleasant to hear; and thirdly, his upper body is in plain view to Taemin's innocent eyes. The brunette does not appreciate that the first unclothed male body that he has personally seen is that of his arrogant boss's.

Taemin gulps before he speaks, head still down, "Sir, you have a meeting in fifteen minutes. I suggest that you get ready right now."

Minho a brow at how timid his assistant his being. In any other situation, the boy would have already nagged him again and again to get moving so that they wouldn't be late for his appointments. But as he looks down and realizes that he is half-, he understands his assistant's unusual shyness. Who wouldn't be intimated by his spectacularly toned body?  

"Yah, stop talking to the floor and look at me." This will surely get a rise out of him. Maybe I can freak him out enough to make him go crying back to wherever it is he came from.

Taemin reluctantly looks up, eyes darting to anywhere but him. Minho leans against his headboard, and Taemin catches the action, pulling him to look at Minho and his ness. He immediately flushes, but he does not look away. Looking away would mean weakness. And damn if he would be anything but weak in front of Choi Minho.

Minho smirks, "Like what you see?"

That did it.

Taemin throws the clipboard in his hands towards his boss, and Minho scrambles to dodge it, "ERT!" He stomps out of the room, slams the door, and screams through the oak wood instead, "JUST GET DRESSED, YOU IDIOT!"

Minho is too amused to be insulted by his assistant's name-calling.

He takes his sweet time picking out his suit for today. But honestly, it doesn't really matter to him what suit he picks. He looks good in all of them any way. He is pulled out of his narcissistic thoughts when he hears Taemin yell from outside again,

"Sir, with all due respect, would you hurry up? Onew hyung told me that he was really looking forward to this meeting with you."

Minho tenses up, getting more and more annoyed with his assistant's nagging. "Tch, what makes this meeting so important..." He grumbles to himself grumpily and then he belatedly catches what Taemin had said.

"... Did you just say 'Onew hyung'?" He calls out from inside, and when he does not hear a response, he almost thinks that Taemin had already gone downstairs. But then comes a reply,

"Umm... Yes?"

He is in the process of roughly putting on his tie when he questions Taemin again, "Since when did you get that close to hyung?" It bugs Minho that this kid has the gall to go and address one of his closest friends so casually.

There is a thoughtful sound before the brunette answers again, "I don't know, it just happened."

Taemin expects another question from Minho when the door to the room opens. Taemin is suprised at the instant change from bed-Minho to business-Minho. His bed-hair is all combed out and he is in another one of his flattering suits. Taemin would've complimented Minho on his appearance if it weren't for the angry expression on the man's face.

"When you're with me, you don't call him -- or anyone else for that matter -- hyung, oppa, whatever. Just don't. It's too personal for business associates and it bothers me. You should know better than to complicate business and personal relations."

The brunette is taken aback by the aggressive tone in his boss's but decides to talk back anyway, "Well, I don't think I'll be calling anyone oppa any time soon..."

Minho takes another step forward, tone lower, "Just don't. Got it?"

"Y-Yes sir."

"Good. Now let's get going." 

Sorry for the short-ness of the chapter. D: I'm kinda worried that the story might me moving too fast or something, so there might be a few filler chapters here and there -- but we'll see. Thank you so much for subscribing! Don't forget to leave a comment! :)