Chapter 1

Routine

It was eight in the morning, at least that’s what the main clock of the office displayed to the employees. Some would like to argue that no, it was fifteen past eight; those were people like Joonmyeon, who always forgot that they had all of their watches, and anything having to do with the time, set fifteen minutes later for the sake of trying to always be on time, even when they were late, which they technically were not. Others would agree with the clock, of course, as they had arrived to the building a minute or two before, as per habit, and they knew that they made it just on time; those were the sane ones in the office—for the most part—and they were people like Minseok and Kyungsoo.

And so the day begins, the smell of freshly brewed coffee fills the offices, some chatter and greetings take over the silence, and machines are to get the day rolling.

Of course, just like every other day, there is that one person that is 15 minutes late according to the big clock. But no, according to them, they are not late, the clock is just early. They just so happen to have to spend too much time at the café to get their coffee, or the valet just had too many cars to park before theirs, or they were stopped by yet another creepy stalker or creeper trying to ask them out (like, as if!), or everyone’s favorite, ‘Stupid Yeol just doesn't know how to drive in the mornings’.

Today, it was the second to last, as everyone could tell as soon as the fashionably late diva walked in. Baekhyun never smiled within the first hour at work, but he also didn’t come in with a murderous look in his eyes unless he had had an awkward encounter with a persevering stranger. Days like these were when nobody would dare greet the diva unless greeted first. Well, almost nobody.

“Hey-”

“You would think that after five no’s the person would understand! But no! No! People refuse to actually listen! Ugh, I swear, if I see that lawyer again, it will not be his shin that gets kicked next time!” And that was his good morning, for people had been watching as soon as the omega walked in, but after hearing the first words out, it was like the day really was beginning then. That was routine.

“C’mon Baek,” Kyungsoo said, walking over to his friend and taking his bag and jacket from him before beginning to walk to the journalist’s desk, knowing the fuming man would follow, “You got past it, and you’re in the office now. God only knows how lucky you are Kris was not here to hear your rant; we all know he can only barely tolerate you being late practically every day, to basically everything.”

“Soo, honey, when your friend says he was practically assaulted you don’t try to reprimand him, you know,” Baekhyun retorted with a roll of his eyes, sitting down once getting to his desk and turning to face his friend, “You try to sympathize and make them feel better. You did not even ask me if I was ok, is that how you’re supposed to treat your best friend?”

“Isn’t that how you treat me?” Kyungsoo asked, raising an eyebrow at his friend, “Plus Beak, if anything, I should probably be asking if the poor guy was ok. I’m sure your iness was not entirely his fault.” With said words, he crossed his arms.

Baekhyun set his cup beside his laptop and shook his head, “No Soo, you should not worry about people like him. They are dirty old s who have probably mated with more people than they can count and are just looking to take the innocence of anyone who lets them.”

Kyungsoo sighed, “Alright, whatever,” he replied, rolling his eyes, “Though Baek, don’t stay up again and watch those documentaries about pubs and stuff. I do not want to deal with your iness on Friday mornings; they ruin what could possibly be the best day of the week.”  He said before walking away.

Baekhyun merely groaned as a response and turned to face his desk, instantly turning on his laptop then drinking some of his coffee as he waited for the slow thing to turn on. Then when the damned thing finally , as he placed his coffee down, he was practically strangled to death by the tight hug from one of his favorite youngsters.

“Baekhyun-ge! Good morning!” the model cheered, his hold tightening even more if possible.

“Tao, be careful, you almost made the diva spill his coffee.” Baekhyun heard his clean freak of a best friend say from where he was at in the office.

Tao seemed to notice this and right away he let go of Baekhyun, chuckling sheepishly, “Sorry…”

Baekhyun smiled and shook his head, “It’s alright, so why so chirpy this morning?”

Tao’s grin bloomed fully and he even let out a small squeal, “Gege said he’d take me out to lunch today. Just the two of us!”

Baekhyun’s smile didn’t go away, though his heart clenched in sadness at seeing how happy Tao got over such a small thing, and even more so with reason because he knew how much the younger adored his boss, and he also knew how impossible anything between those two was.

“I’m happy for you, baby,” Baek said, standing up from his desk and side hugging the model, “But just remember that he has a girlfriend honey, I don’t want you getting so much hope just to be disappointed, ‘kay?”

Tao’s ecstatic expression fell as he made sense of his hyung’s words, but then the smile returned and he shook his head, “Don’t worry ge, even though it’s nothing, it’s progress. And I’m sure if we’re alone, his wolf will finally recognize how perfect we are for each other.”

Baekhyun sighed, “Tao baby, this sounds harsh, but even though you don’t want to hear it, you need to. He’s an alpha, you’re a beta; you being mates would make you one of the few rare cases. His mate is probably an omega, just like yours probably is too. Plus honey, nowadays, what alpha really listens to their wolf when it comes to their partners?” he shook his head and patted the boy’s shoulder, taking a sit again afterwards.

“You should go check in with Chanyeol, you don’t want our boss getting in a bad mood and cancelling your little lunch date.”

Tao frowned at Baekhyun’s words then walked away and out of the office, headed to the photographer’s workplace.

Finally, Baekhyun decided that twenty to nine was the right time to being working. So, he clicked on his browser and opened his email right away. And as he waited for his inbox to refresh, he took a few sips of his coffee. The omega placed his cup down and his lips while he stretched his hands. Finally. Finally. Work time.

And it was around this time that as the man finally focused on his work, he was relaxed with the familiar noises throughout the office. Jongin would be asking Kyungsoo every fifteen minutes if he needed help with anything, to which Kyungsoo would reply with giving him small, stupid tasks that were partially unnecessary. Jongdae would be constantly answering calls, half of them with a sarcastic tone; and after every five calls, he would be asking Minseok if he was ok. To which, the pregnant male would only reply to the first three times then would opt to ignore his mate. Joonmyeon would be going back and forth from Yifan’s office to Kyungsoo, to Jongdae, then back to the boss again.

Luhan had yet to make an appearance, as it was before lunch time; meaning Sehun was not there yet, so he had nobody to go get bubble tea with just yet. Tao was probably focusing in work just as instructed, because true were Baekhyun’s words, and he did not want his beloved cancelling what could be the start of something. Yifan, as always, was in his office, permitting nobody to see him before lunch time other than Joonmyeon.

The only surprise was Chanyeol, as for once, the tall man had yet to make an appearance within the first hour to greet the main office and annoy the hell out of Baekhyun for ten minutes. 

I'm aware this may be different than the foreword may have let on, so my apologies if it isn't as anyone expected. And this chapter is not exactly long as it is the introduction, but it does put some of the setting in. 

For any questions, please comment and I will answer upon the posting of the next chapter. Also, sorry for any mistakes, I am beta-less as of the moment.

Lastly, thank you for everyone that subscribed :D  I didn't expect subscribers until at least the first chapter was posted.

unbeta-ed