"Well," Mr. Choi leans back on his chair, looking very satisfied, "this meeting went better than I expected!" The two older slowly begin to rise from their chairs signaling the end of the session, making Minho feel a tad down.

 

The end of this meeting would mean having to let go of the comforting, tender hand in his. Minho does not think too much on why this thought seems to sadden him so much for fear of realizing something he is still in complete denial of. He just likes feeling the comfort of Taemin's hand in his. That's all.

 

So with that dismissing thought in mind, he smiles at Taemin sheepishly, who in turn perks the corners of his lips up, completely understanding what the elder's smile means, and disconnects their intertwined fingers. They both stand up, trying their hardest to push what had just happened to the back of their minds; because if they didn't, they might implode from the rush of confusing emotions stirring inside their heads.

 

"Thank you for taking the time to talk to us today, Dad, Sir." Taemin bows respectfully, which the two men seem to appreciate greatly by saying 'It was our pleasure, really!'.

 

When Taemin straightens up, he pinches Minho on the arm. "Ow!" The brunette does not even look at him, but Minho understands what he is silently told to do as he massages the spot where he still felt a sharp sting. He rubs the back of his neck, too embarrassed to look at the fathers as he says, "Uh... Yeah, thanks."

 

The dynamic of the two younger men make Yun Jae and Yun Gyeom laugh heartily. Taemin covers his mouth with the back of his hand, also laughing along, probably at Minho's lack of self-awareness.

 

After a few more moments of idle chatter and last minute reminders, they move to file out of the room. Taemin holds open the door for Mr. Choi and Mr. Lee as Minho drags his feet right behind them. This meeting had tired him out more than he thought. He is busy daydreaming about the long nap he will be taking on his comfortable couch, the possibility of hibernating for the winter not far from his mind when he hears Mr. Lee addressing him.

 

"Minho, may I have a word?"

 

The furrow in Taemin's eyebrows is obvious as he peers at his father worriedly. What is his father doing? Minho has the same look on his face, panic swirling in his stomach, worried about what the older man has to say to him. But Mr. Choi who had already passed through the meeting room's doorway only keeps walking, minding his own business, telling Mr. Lee that he will be waiting in the car.

 

Minho looks to Taemin, looking for some sort of clue from the boy. The brunette catches his gaze, shrugging as if to say, 'I have no idea what my old man is planning.'

 

Mr. Lee picks up on the worry in Minho's eyes so he assures the taller man, "Don't worry, it's nothing serious. You can go ahead, Taemin."

 

Taemin, who was still holding open the door for the remaining men in the room, sent one last uneasy glance towards Minho before shutting the door and walking away.

 

Minho gulps the seemingly permanent knot in his throat. He doesn't even know why he is feeling so nervous, but something about the way Taemin's father had been looking at him this whole time makes him feel that the man knows something. Of what it is, Minho has no idea.

 

A silence ensues when Taemin leaves, making Minho fidget. He is uncomfortable being left alone with a man who is close friends with his father. He feels like he has to be extra careful when he talkes with Mr. Lee because there is the possibility that the man might rat him out to his father if he says or does something inappropriate.

 

Yun Jae cuts through the quiet atmosphere with his fatherly voice, "I've noticed a change in you, boy."

 

The statement surprises Minho, who had expected a discussion of sales or the sort. He did not expect that.

 

"... Excuse me?"

 

"I hope that you do not take offence." The older man raises his hands, as if trying to prove that the meaning behind what he said was entirely pure, "It's just that I've seen changes in you from the last time we met." He places a calloused hand on Minho's shoulder, "Good changes."

 

Minho looks down at Yun Jae's hand, the light pressure on his shoulder so painfully unfamiliar to him. He tries to remember a time where his father had interacted with him like this, but shakes the thoughts off, deciding that it is not the time, very much curious about what the elder is talking about at the moment.

 

He coughs awkwardly then asks, "Ahem… like what?"

 

Mr. Lee looks at the younger weirdly, as if surprised that Minho had not noticed it for himself. But he lowers his hand from Minho's shoulder and puts both hands in his pockets, replying, "You know, the little things. Like when my son opened the door for you on your way in. You thanked him didn't you?" Minho does not know why, but his face heats up when he realized that Taemin's father witnessed this. It's not like it's anything bad, so he does not understand why he is embarrassed.

 

"Ah," Mr. Lee chimes, looking as if he remembers another example, "There's also the fact that you were actually listening during the meeting. Unlike when we met at the restaurant where you seemed to be constantly day dreaming." Upon hearing this, Minho is so embarrassed that he is even ashamed to be in his own, perfectly smooth skin. Was I that much of an that then?

 

Yun Jae spots the horror on the younger's face, so he laughs, comforting the younger, "Don't worry, what's important is that the present Minho is different now." He pats Minho on the shoulder again with both hands, and after giving him a benevolent look, he begins to walk away.

 

But with his back turned to Minho, he walks to the exit, leaving behind a statement that embarrasses the younger to the depths of hell and beyond, "I don't know what happened that triggered this change. But as far as I know, the only major difference from past Minho and present Minho is that past Minho didn't have him around." He jerks his head to the direction of someone outside the room, where Taemin has been passing by back and forth repeatedly, pretending that there is something he has to attend to there, when in fact all he has been doing is peeking into the meeting room, trying to keep an eye on the two men.

 

Minho completely understands what Mr. Lee is implying, but he is still too deep in the denial stage to acknowledge it, "I don't know what you're talking about, sir."

 

The elder shakes his head, amused by Minho's obvious defiance to the truth. He opens the door and turns back around to properly bid Minho goodbye, "Well, that is all. Thank you for your time, Minho."

 

With that, Minho is left alone in the meeting room, a furiously blushing mess.

 

 

 

The only sounds in the luxurious car are the quiet hum of the engine and Shindong's jolly rendition of a song entitled 'Miracle'; that is until Taemin decides to release the question that has been bugging him the whole day since their meeting with their fathers."What did my father talk to you about?"

 

The elder stops listening to Shindong's impressive rapping when he hears Taemin's question. Keep calm, Choi. You've prepared yourself for this. Come on, you can do this.

 

"Nothing much."

 

Good job.

 

The dismissive tone in Minho's voice tells Taemin that the matter is not of importance, so the brunette easily lets it go. He falls back into the rhythm of the driver's third chorus, but soon becomes bewildered when the volume of the driver's voice seemed to be diminishing. He whirls his head around to see that Minho had pressed the button for the divider.

 

"Hey," he kiddingly whines, "he was just about to end the song."

 

The elder rolls his eyes, "Believe me, I've heard that song one too many times not to know the end.”

 

"Oh really?" The brunette crosses his arms, challenging Minho, "Then how does it go?"

 

"It just fades away into a na, na, na, na or something," Taemin weirdly looks at him, not quite getting Minho's explanation of the song's outro. The elder is abashed by how the brunette is looking at him, but he attempts to shake it off, literally shaking his head to do so, "But that's beside the point. I've got a task for you to do."

 

"What's new?" The brunette smirks.

 

Ignoring his assistant's sarcastic remark, he blurts the order out, wanting to just get it over with, "Get me a bouquet of flowers. I want it at my desk any time before 9 P.M."

 

The smirk drops from the brunette's face.

 

"A... bouquet?"

 

Minho isn't even looking at Taemin as he replies with a quick "Yes,", his eyes turned to the passing scenery outside, away from the boy.

 

Flowers? What the hell is he going to do with flowers?

 

Ah.

 

It's probably for Krystal-sshi.

 

Of course. For who else would it be?

 

I don't know. Maybe Victoria-noona or Yuri-noona.

 

Jealous?

 

Shut up.

 

By telling me to shut up, you're telling yourself to shut up. Now that doesn't make much sense, does it? I am your conscience, after all.

 

Taemin ignores his rather annoying conscience and the dark cloud of gloom threatening to consume him, opting to get answers to his question, "What for?"

 

But the man isn't much help in providing the answers Taemin is looking for, snapping, "None of your business. Just get me the damn flowers."

 

At first, the boy flinches, because it has been a while since Minho had used that tone on him. He was also caught off guard by the harshness in the elder's voice because he had thought that things were better between them now, after the... occurrence in the meeting room. But it seems that he was wrong. So instead of getting jealous over the recipient of the bouquet, he resolves to be angry. Angry at his boss for reverting to the insufferable jerk that he was, angry at his boss for being an ungrateful douche, angry at his boss for never genuinely appreciating any of his efforts.

 

He grunts and pouts, crossing his thin arms over his chest, wrinkling his suit jacket in the process. But since he has no other choice, seeing as he is Minho's assistant, he tells himself to just to his damn job and set his inappropriate emotions aside—  Or over a cliff, never to be seen again. Either way would be fine.

 

When they reach Minho's condominium, the man doesn't wait for Taemin to get out of the car and open the door for him, hastily getting out of the car himself. He is about to slam the door closed, when Taemin shouts, "Wait!"

 

Minho grits his teeth, not sure if he can handle any more of Taemin's disconcerting presence for much longer, as he replies with an edgy and gruff voice, “What now?”

 

"You didn't exactly tell me what flowers you wanted, sir."

 

Minho’s face colors, realizing that the younger was right. His mask of annoyance drops for a moment, as he replies with an unsteady, "Just pick what you want." before slamming the car door and going up his building's steps.

 

The brunette lets out a groan of frustration at his boss's idiocy and uselessness, but quickly regains his composure moments after, politely asking Shindong to drive him home now.

 

 

"Krystal-sshi better like these flowers..." Taemin grumbles to himself irritatedly as he hastily pays the cashier girl who had coincidentally popped open the top buttons of her blouse the minute he walked into the store. Taemin cleared things up immediately with her saying, "Sorry, we're on the same team." but it seems the girl had been too embarrassed to fix up her blouse back to its usual, conservative style. So she hands him back the change for the bouquet of pristine, white roses, sending him off with an embarrassed, "Thank you, and please come again."

 

Taemin smiles at her, telling her that she is already very pretty and that she can do without having to expose any skin, and leaves. He slides into the car where Shindong is singing again, and he waves off to the girl who now seems to be a bit cheerier.

 

On the way back to the office, Taemin stares down at the simple beauty of the white roses. Their simplicity is what caught Taemin's eyes the most. The purity of their color and the way the inner petals softly embrace each other, and the way the outer petals slightly curl out in beautiful curves brings a smile to Taemin's lips. They are beautiful. They are perfect.

 

 

 

"How much did this cost?" Minho stares at the bouquet on his desk critically, scrutinizing its every detail.

 

The brunette's eyebrow twitches from irritation, annoyed at how Minho's glare is treating the flowers he had worked so hard to choose, "50 000 won."

 

"The hell?" The elder's gaze snaps up to Taemin as he raises his voice, "How cheap can you get? I gave you 500 000 won to spend! Couldn't you find anything better?! Why'd you waste it on this?" Minho does not even try to hide the disgust he apparently feels for the bouquet, looking very, very agitated. Taemin is a bit perturbed as to why Minho is getting so worked up over a bouquet of flowers, but he is too irritated to question his boss's unusual behavior.

 

"Well then I'm sorry if my taste isn't good enough for you. If you're that ashamed of it, then just save your sorry and tell Krystal-sshi that I was the one who picked it out."

 

"... Krystal...?"

 

The younger does not hear the silent question Minho uttered.

 

He absolutely does not want to, because of his boss's rudeness, he once again walks out on Choi Minho.

 

 

 

Taemin spends the rest of the day fuming mad, thoroughly insulted by Minho's words yet again. Because yet again, after he was exposed to the elder's vulnerability, he had led himself to believe that Minho would act just a little bit nicer to him now. And yet again, his hopes had crashed and burned. Taemin feels as if every time things are beginning to get good between them, Minho just goes and deliberately ruins things.

 

He looks over at Minho's office. The man is typing away at his laptop, his face hidden from Taemin's view. Tch, he's probably on some site or whatever.

 

After sneering at his boss for a few more minutes (making sure that the man wasn't looking every time he made a face), he stands up from his chair and pulls out the USB which holds the file he'll be getting printed. He looks at his watch, only barely making out the dim 9:15 P.M blinking on the screen, deciding that after printing 50 copies of the file for this week's meeting, he will be going straight home.

 

He drags his feet to the elevator, noting the weary, tired atmosphere in the office, completely understandable since it is already past work hours. He goes through the motions, stepping out of the elevator at the 14th floor, walking to the printing room, plugging in the USB to the computer, printing out 51 copies (just in case an idiot loses his copy) and travelling back up to the 20th floor.

 

When he hears the elevator's soft ding, he lazily walks back to his office. As he is walking there, he glances over at Minho who is still typing on his laptop, a look of concentration on his face. Just then, Taemin also notices that the bouquet he had bought is no longer there. It's either he threw it away or asked Shindong to buy another one. Bastard.

 

He shakes his head as he opens his office's door, fed up with the thought of his bastard boss, the thought of snuggling into his warm, comfy bed the only thing keeping him going.

 

He almost drops the 51 copies he is holding when his eyes land on the beautiful bouquet of white roses thoughtfully placed on his desk.

 

"What the...?"

 

An amount of excitement is restored in him, the tiredness he had been feeling suddenly gone. He walks up to his desk, setting down the stack of papers in his arms, all the while staring at the roses.

 

He turns around to look towards Minho's office, and he sees the man peeking from his laptop. But when the elder catches him looking, he immediately ducks down behind the device. Taemin stands on the tips of his toes to try to get a better peek at the man in the room across, but it is no use, so he looks back down to the flowers instead.

 

He stares, and stares, and stares, not quite believing what is right before his eyes. What is this supposed to mean? What's this for? Why am I so damn happy?

 

But then he spots a yellow sticky note stuck to one of the rose's stems. He plucks it gently, eyes scanning over the words scrawled in neat ink,

 

This is for yesterday. Thanks for… you know.

 

Taemin bites his lower lip as he keeps staring at the words written in Minho's handwriting, mainly because if he doesn't, he might let out the gayest squeal known to humanity. So he only lightly catches his lower lip between his teeth and stares at the flowers and the yellow piece of paper, not noticing when Minho went back to peering at him from behind his laptop.

 

Moments of giddy giggling from Taemin and curious peeking from Minho pass by until the brunette finally gathers his scattered bearings, his belongings, and his bouquet.

 

He shakes away the redness in his face as he silently knocks on Minho's door. An awkward cough and an equally awkward 'Erm... Yes?" from Minho tells Taemin that he may open the door. He timidly walks up in front of Minho's desk. He tries to catch the elder's eye, but Minho is too busy staring at his desk's surface to look back at him.

 

"You know," He does his best to keep a teasing, joking tone in his voice, staying away from the giddiness he is feeling inside, but he fails, the words coming out in a shy resonance, "When you're not being an , you can actually be pretty… sweet."

 

Minho finally looks up at him with a look of surprise and embarrassment, but Taemin has ducked his head in sheepishness by this time, as he mumbles a timid, "Good night, sir." before walking out.

 

When the brunette is safely out of sight, Minho spins and leans back in his chair, covering his burning-red face with his hands as he smiles a huge smile; one that could rival one of a school-girl's who had just been asked out by the boy of her dreams.

 

---

 

 

I’m sorry if some parts are confusing! D: This was my supposed to be my favorite part, but it didn’t come out as good as I had hoped. But I still hope you guys like it! I was just really excited to put this up that I wasn’t patient enough to properly proof-read it. T_T Add to that the fact that it's 4:00 a.m here and my brain is probably very sleepy. On a side note, I like imagining how Minho’s face looks like in the end, all giddy over what Taemin said. Haha anyway. Leave a comment? :D