The sound of his wild heart pounding uncontrollably against his ribcage results in him to softly utter out gibberish, words that flows out not-so-smoothly of his mouth while he stare’s into the older male’s brown orbs. Jongin feels like he’s being drowned, saved, and then drowned again. It’s a suffocating feeling, because he can’t do anything but be trapped in the same place over and over again. He can’t voice out his heart, and he can’t find the correct words to say. Everything’s a mess in his mind, and all he wants to do is escape. He thought this would be easy. After all, it’s just Do Kyungsoo confessing. Jongin’s been waiting for this for so, so long. Yet, why does this feel so conflicting? His heart won’t stop beating violently, the butterflies in his stomach won’t disappear, and there’s still a big lump in his throat that’s making him utter out nonsense instead of real words.

Eyes wide with distress, the idol immediately grabs his phone and stands up.

Kyungsoo knits in brows in confusion as he stares up at the male, “Kim Jong—”

“I – I,” He interrupts the male despite not knowing of a proper excuse to do so. “Dinner’s on me.” The idol opts for this quick option before walking away from their table, leaving Kyungsoo alone with unanswered questions.

The CEO stays quiet for a while, trying to process in the situation as he forces himself to not gaze at Kai’s retreating back figure. His fingers begin to curl inwards before his hands become tight fists resting upon his lap. Kyungsoo inhales curt breaths of air and pushes away the rising disappointment within his chest. He soon scoffs in disbelief at the male’s actions. It took him so much courage to discard his pride, to open the window of his concealed heart and let light shine through, but this is the reaction that he gets from Kim Jongin? Kim Jongin, the one who desperately has been waiting for his answer, dares to walk out abruptly and not give him some sort of reassurance. Kyungsoo’s left alone with doubts. The frustration, confusion and disappointment in Kyungsoo soon morph into one of anger, and he scoffs again.

“Kim Jongin, you are so ing dead when I see you.”

Kyungsoo then stands up, clutching his phone tightly in his hand, and make his way out of the restaurant swiftly, hoping that no one (especially reporters) caught them together just now.

Kai leans against the door, completely breathless and dazed. After regaining his breath, he frowns and runs a hand through his hair, silently cursing his stupid mentality for freezing up at such an important time. The idol then pushes his body off the door and languidly walks to the bed with a tired sigh.

Kyungsoo’s answer is still on his mind, and he doesn’t know if it’s that’s a good thing or bad thing. All he knows is that his mind is overwhelmed with the response. It was quite unexpected of someone like Do Kyungsoo to admit something so…so…unusual. The idol knows that Kyungsoo has a lot of pride (it comes with being a boss of a big company), and that Kyungsoo also probably despises him on some unknown level, but to have him admit that he felt something during the kiss got Kai’s heart racing oh-so-fast. And now, his heart hasn’t even gotten time to calm down one bit.

“Kim Jongin, like you, I also felt something during our kiss.”

He may be oblivious to the world, but Kim Jongin knows himself quite well.

Sitting down on the edge of the bed in the dark, Kai releases a heavy sigh.

Everything that he’s feeling right now, there’s only one answer to this.

The thought of it always lingered in the deepest part of his mind because he wasn’t so sure of it being true. The only confirmation needed was Kyungsoo’s answer, and now that he has it, he knows it’s true. Jongin isn’t a kid anymore; he’s not naïve to those symptoms. Kyungsoo is always on his mind. Everything Kyungsoo does somehow touches his heart in a special way. And the way his whole body reacted to Kyungsoo’s words – the shock he felt, the way his heart beat, and how he froze – it’s no longer a mystery.

Jongin releases a breathless sigh and falls back onto the bed.

He stares at the dark ceiling as his heart starts to slowly ache in realization.

“I…” the words leave his mouth in a gentle whisper, “am in…”

Kyungsoo groans in annoyance as he clasps on his golden Rolex watch. He isn’t feeling rather too well today, and he despises the fact that he has to attend Mr. Park’s birthday celebration with Kim Jongin - because seriously, anyone but Kim Jongin would do as his plus one at the moment. The CEO still hasn’t gotten over his anger from last night’s unfortunate event, and he swears he’ll end the idol’s life today if he has to. Fixing his dress shirt’s cuff on his left wrist, Kyungsoo exits the bathroom and grabs his black jacket that’s resting on the bed. He puts it over his white dress shirt before checking the time on his phone.

The CEO glares at the innocent screen harshly and throws it on the bed afterward.

“Ten more minutes until I have to see you.” He shudders at the thought before massaging his forehead as his headache suddenly worsens. Truth be told, the poor boss didn’t get much sleep last night due to Jongin’s incredulous actions. Kyungsoo clearly didn’t expect for him to walk off like that, but he did in the end. This ended up bothering him the whole night and he became restless.

Groaning at the increasing pain, Kyungsoo goes to his suitcase to grab a bottle of medicine.

The idol restlessly paces around the room in distress. “He’s going to kill me; Kyungsoo’s going to murder me for walking off without a proper response last night.” Kai grabs a fistful of his hair and silently screams in terror. There are dark circles under his eyes, showing that he barely received any sleep last night. His hair is disheveled also.

Kai finally remembers the consequences of angering the big boss, and walking out in the middle of a very crucial conversation surely angered Kyungsoo. He was too caught up last night in his own feelings and thoughts to realize his terrible actions. And finally after a whole night of inner turmoil, the idol only then realizes that it’s too late to apologize for what he did.

“I’m going to die before I make it back to Seoul.”

“.”

“I’m doomed.”

“Kyungsoo is so going to murder me!”

He stops walking around and runs a hand through his hair. “Actually, I can probably make that not happen.” Kai furrows his eyebrows and begins to think of a master plan to save himself from Kyungsoo’s bloody hands, but nothing comes to mind and he slouch his shoulders in surrender. “ it, just get ready.”

After tidying up his appearance with an expensive suit and neat hairstyle, the idol walks out of the bathroom with a nervous heart. He pats his chest softly before making sure that he has everything with him for the party. Inhaling a deep breath of air, Kai then sits down on the edge of the bed again until it’s time to attend the party.

Due to the room’s silent environment, the idol finds himself going back into the deepest corners of his mind and revealing his feelings little by little. He bites his upper lip out of habit and taps the white bed sheets with his fingertips. His gaze softens and his heart slightly drops in fear for the impossible. Jongin then thinks of his and Kyungsoo’s business relationship and wonders if it’ll ever pass that.

Because in Kim Jongin’s heart, something has already begin to bloom.

“Don’t even talk unless you’re directed to.”

“Okay.”

“Don’t even blink unless I say so.”

“Okay.”

“Don’t even dare to walk away and socialize if I don’t give you permission.”

“Okay.”

“Don’t even lift a finger if you’re going to be careless.”

“Will do.”

“Don’t even dare to make stupid commentaries or else you’re dead.”

 “Wait, what?”

“If you even as do something that I find irritating, you’ll never see daylight again.”

Kai flinches at the harsh threats and quickly nods his head. “I won’t irritate you tonight, promise!” He squeaks out and hopes that Kyungsoo won’t lash out on him again for a while. Strangely though, the CEO has been quite harsh ever since they he walked into his room. The idol had thought this phase in their relationship was somewhat over, but why does it feel as if they’re back to the beginning? Kyungsoo’s awfully evil today as if they’re on the day they first met.

Kyungsoo directs a life threatening glare at him. “You’re dead if you do.”

“I know this party is