"Mr. Choi! This is third time that I've seen you up this early!"

 

The younger man rolls his eyes and teases the concierge, "Is it really that unbelievable that I'm up on time, Ho Dong?"

 

"Well Mr. Choi, it's just that I've gotten so used to seeing your assistant waiting for you here in the lobby. I mean no offense, but it really is very entertaining seeing the young man panic about your whereabouts so early in the morning. He is like a breath of fresh air in the dull mornings."

 

Minho does not take offense, because he agrees with the older man. He finds it fun to mess with Taemin. Even moreso after they had patched things up between the two of them. Their partnership not only went back to normal. It actually improved, but only in the slightest of ways. It is easier for them to be around each other now. They still get on each other's nerves, but the irritation for the other eventually fades away by the end of the day.

 

The younger man is pulled from his musings when he sees Ho Dong smile brightly, eyes toward the door saying, "Speaking of Mr. Lee..."

 

Indeed the brunette they were just talking about enters, hurriedly pushing past the glass doors, not bothering to let the valet to do it for him. He has his phone pinned between his ear and his shoulder, probably calling Minho to wake him up. He has his usual clipboard in one hand and Minho's favorite bagel from the cafe two blocks down in the other.

 

He is walking straight towards the concierge, reading something off his clipboard, not even lifting his gaze to see where he is going because he has already crossed this lobby for god knows how many times that he can probably navigate through it safely with a blindfold on.

 

He bumps into a hard, tall figure just as he hears an amused 'Hello?' over the phone. He looks up and he sees that the hard, tall figure is Minho, grinning down at him, phone held up to his ear.

 

"Min.. S-Sir! You're up!" The younger jumps back, dropping his phone from his shoulder in the process. Minho chuckles at how his assistant is so easily surprised as he bends to pick up the fallen phone. When he straightens up, he hands over the gadget to Taemin who embarrassedly accepts it and asks exasperatedly,

 

"Why is everyone so surprised that I'm up early? I've been at this for a few weeks now, so why are you still so shocked?"

 

"I don't know," Taemin hands him the bagel and Minho happily snatches it from him, " It just takes some getting used to, I guess."

 

Minho takes a bite out of his bagel, beginning to walk toward the doors, but not before waving good bye to Ho Dong. Taemin follows right behind him, and the elder questions, "What takes some getting used to?"

 

"For one, a responsible boss. Before, it felt as if I was taking care of a baby," The younger pulls open the entrance doors for Minho, and the taller man walks right through. He nods in thanks to the boy (something Taemin had to constantly remind him to do a while back) before the words Taemin had said sunk in.

 

"YAH, WHO'S A BIG BA--" He does not get finish his sentence because Taemin has brushed past him quickly, plucking the bagel from his hand and shoving it into his mouth in the process.

 

"Let's get going, sir. We're going to be late."

 

 

The two men enter their building's lobby, and as per usual, Minho is crowded by employees trying to impress him or up to him. Taemin just rolls his eyes, having gotten used to the commotions Minho causes whenever he enters an establishment. Be it a restaurant, a park, or even in a retirement home (where Minho so generously donated 40% of their sales that month to the lovely elderly people of Seoul) there will always be a crowd of people swarming him, and until now, Taemin still does not understand why.

 

He watches boredly by the waiting elevator, standing a few feet away from the hysterical crowd, as Minho answers some of the people's questions and flirts with one... two... seven... of the females before coming up with another excuse and escaping from the mass of people.

 

He sees Minho craning his neck as if he was looking for something. Taemin sighs and waves his hand as usual to alert Minho of his location, and the man brightens up, running to him. He is a tad breathless as he fixes his tie, walking into the elevator with Taemin right behind him. When the doors close, Taemin asks a question similar to the one he asked on his first day,

 

"Why do you act so differently in public?"

 

Minho has gotten used to Taemin's random questions, so he answers without missing a beat, "Because I have an image to uphold."

 

"And that is?"

 

"How do I put this... When you've worked this long in the industry, you learn to up to people. You learn to do everything in your power to satisfy a client's needs and wants. And every client wants to be associated with someone of a good reputation, hence the Choi Minho you see in public: friendly, humble, gentlemanly, and all that other . I just adjust into what a client expects me to be."

 

After this long, depressing explanation, Taemin looks up at the taller man with a pitiful expression on his face, "It must get lonely." Taemin cannot imagine the burden of having to act like a different person for every person that he meets. The only thing that he can imagine is that he would feel so empty inside, not being able to show any real, genuine personality to any one just for their approval. 

 

Minho looks at him weirdly, "I've got actual friends too, you know."

 

"Yeah, like, three of them." Taemin huffs and crosses his arms.

 

"Three should be enough."

 

"Why don't you try making more friends?"

 

Minho groans because really, when will the questions stop? He runs his hand through his hair frustratedly and decides to just be quick and straight to the point with his answer, "To make friends means I have to learn to trust people. And in my case, I've learned not to believe a lot of the things people tell me, because in the end, they're all just bull. So I don't want to 'try making more friends' because aside from my hyungs, people are just greedy leeches." Taemin flinches at the sarcasm in Minho's voice. The way Minho says this makes Taemin feel like the statement comes from somewhere deeply rooted in the man's past, so he does not push the issue. At least not for now.

 

This is a pretty long elevator ride, the both of them think.

 

 

When they step out of the elevator, they pretend that their most recent conversation had never happened and they go off into their own offices. Things go back to normal, with random woman in too-short skirts entering Minho's office from time to time, insisting that they needed a few papers signed. Whenever these paper-signings would get too long, Taemin would direct a disapproving look at Minho from his office, and Minho would see him from his own office. The man would dejectedly pull away from the woman pushed up against him, tell her to leave, and go back to doing some actual work.

 

Taemin smiles and returns to typing on the work laptop the company provided for him. He didn't expect it to happen, but he noticed that whenever he looks at Minho disapprovingly, the man actually understands him and does as he is silently told to do.

 

Several hours into the day, Minho gets a head ache from the work he has been doing non-stop. The shipments, contracts and presentations are at this point, just swimming by in his head, so the man decides to take a break. He sits back on his couch tiredly, a glass of whiskey in his hand. He lets his mind wander, and a few minutes into his musings, he regrets giving way for his brain to think about other things. Because then he remembers his conversation with Taemin in the elevator.

 

It must get lonely.

 

He doesn't want to, but he ends up thinking about that lone statement.

 

What did Taemin mean by that? For some reason, Minho feels defensive and antsy, thinking, 'What does he know? I'm perfectly happy with how I am now. being lonely. I'm not lonely. Everyone loves Choi Minho, period.'

 

I'm not lonely.

 

Not at all.

 

He feels unwelcomed tears emerge from his eyes, so he immediately sits up and rubs at them furiously. He curses the boy for making him remember the past.

 

After successfully wiping away any signs of the tears that had run down his face, Minho hears a knock on his office door, accompanying a low, "Can I have a minute, sir?"

 

He hears the clicking of heels on his carpeted floor, looking up and recognizing the woman as Yuri, one of his regular... ahem... partners.

 

When she reaches Minho, she does not even ask for his permission and just slowly sits herself down beside Minho, leaving little space between them. She lays her arm across the couch's back, Minho's hair carelessly.

 

"Sir, it's been a while since the last time we..." She leans over and whispers something into Minho's ear, giving him a very convenient view of her chest. Minho, despite his mild breakdown due to his conversation with Taemin earlier, cannot help but be from the woman's forwardness.

 

He only smirks at her, not showing any signs of the lust he is feeling at the moment, "Yeah, it's been a while.”

 

She keeps his hair, pouting at how unfazed the man seemed to be, and continues, "Maybe... later tonight, my place? My boyfriend's in China right now, and I don't want to be alone in my apartment..." She takes on this cutesy tone in her voice, completely opposite from her sultry tone a while ago. But Minho is lured in, nonetheless.

 

He rubs her thigh intimately and whispers into her ear, "Why wait until later?" She lets out a soft gasp. They link hands and walk out of Minho's office. As they walk going to the washroom to 'powder their noses', they pass by a very familiar brunette and a boyish looking woman.

 

Minho does not miss the immediate chastising look on Taemin's face when the younger man spots their linked hands and mischievous demeanors. But at the moment, Minho is still too upset with him to care about what he thinks, so he drags Yuri off as the woman giggles shyly. 

 

 

 

 

 

"Okay. I take back everything I said about him. He's still an . And a . And every other bad thing you can find in the dictionary."

 

Taemin cannot believe that Minho would blatantly ignore him like that. He had just been speaking to Amber about how much Minho's personality has improved and how their relationship as business partners has changed for the better, where they understand and respect each other as individuals. But seeing that obvious display of uncaring-ness from Minho, ignoring him and disregarding the 'connection' Taemin thought they had formed, offended him to no end. Amber tries to console him, telling that his boss will come around eventually. Taemin does not believe her, but he nods to affirm that he does, and tells her that he'll go on ahead to his office.

 

Taemin does not know if he is angry or sad or disappointed or furious. He is upset, that's for sure, but he does not even know why he is getting this upset over something concerning him and his boss. He should have gotten used to Minho's around. He should have gotten used to Minho's coldness. But maybe after experiencing a tiny fragment of the man's warmth, even if it was just for a moment, he found himself wanting to experience more of it. Minho's warmth was pleasant, so unlike his arrogant coldness. He started to expect the unusually nice Minho, so when the jerk Minho came back around, it hurt him more than he wanted to admit.

 

He is angrily typing into his laptop when he hears a visitor.

 

"You busy?" Jinki peeks his head into the room, gently smiling at Taemin.

 

The boy looks up from the screen, and despite his bad mood, he cannot find it in himself to form a snarky reply to the elder's question.

 

"Not really," he closes his laptop and folds his arm across his chest, peering up at Jinki curiously, "What brings you here, hyung?"

 

The elder takes his seat in the chair in front of Taemin's messy desk, whistling at the mess of papers, "Nothing, actually. I was just in the area, so I decided to visit."

 

"Oh, I'm sorry, the boss is kind of..." he bitterly looks to Minho's empty office and mutters, "occupied at the moment."

 

Jinki waves his hand dismissively, "Eh, I wasn't visiting for him, anyway." He smiles at Taemin, waiting for the boy's reaction. When the younger realizes what Jinki was implying, he bows his head, trying to hide the blush creeping onto his cheeks. All he can let out is a quiet, "Oh."

 

He hears a snicker and looks up, still red-faced. Jinki is looking admiringly at him, chin propped onto his chin as he leaned back in the chair, "Aigoo, stop being so adorable, Taemin-ah."

 

"W-What?" Taemin is sure that he is flaming red now, wanting to bury his face in his hands and never come out for the rest of eternity. Jinki starts snickering even more when he sees the color on the younger's face.

 

"You look like a tomato, Taemin-ah!" He keeps laughing, pushing Taemin to retort.

 

"Yah, stop laughing, you clumsy chicken addict!"

 

"Wha-?" The man immediately stops his loud guffawing, and now it is Taemin's turn to giggle.

 

"You always trip over so many things whenever I see you, and when you do, you're always carrying around a bucket of chicken with you. Who eats that much chicken, hyung?" Taemin laughingly explains to the older man. Jinki watches as the brunette covers his mouth with the back of his hand, and he could only laugh along, not at his chicken addiction, but at how adorable the person in front of him looks.

 

 

Minho pulls down his coat, trying to smooth out the creases as he walks back to his office. He left Yuri to clean after himself after their... session, and he is kind of glad to have had an outlet to his frustrations for the day. He was kind of proud at the thought of having turned Yuri into a mess through the use of his roughness and aggressiveness.

 

As he gets closer and closer to his office, Minho hears loud sounds coming from the room next door. He his head, curious as to who was making these loud laughing noises. He realizes that the noises are coming from his assistant's office, so he looks over.

 

He sees Taemin clutching his stomach, hunched over from so much laughter. He sees a man in front of Taemin's desk, pretending to trip over himself, and realizes that it is Jinki.

 

His blood starts to boil. He clenches his fists, his thoughts running wild.

 

How dare his hyung go behind his back, laughing with the person he is angry at, the person who has been the cause of the drama in his life for the past weeks? The person who has been unknowingly forcing him to remember things of the past that he had so desperately tried to conceal from himself and the rest of the world? How dare Jinki betray Minho by doing what he was never capable of doing? How dare he make his assistant laugh? How dare he spend time with his assistant?

 

Hey Choi, are you listening to yourself? I think you're getting angry for all the wrong reasons.

 

, you're right. Where am I even going with this?

 

Here’s a little tip. Sounds to me like you're jealous of one of them. Guess who.

 

Minho decides to stop the head-ache inducing conversation he is having with himself, not wanting to know the answer. He is too pissed off to even disturb the two men laughing their heads off merrily, so he just stomps into his office and goes to work, trying his best to ignore the cries of amusement from the room across.

 

---

 

Just when things were looking up for them, Minho has to go and screw things up. But not to worry! The 2min will be sure to come. Just a bit longer! :P Oh, and if I haven't said it enough, I love all of you, lovely readers~! On a random note, my favorite part is almost coming up! :3