Coffee breaks were about the only time Kai was ever away from Ami during work days. The Keurig coffee brewer was paid for by a small fundraiser that their office had done a few weeks ago, and Kai thought, ever since then, that the Keurig automatic coffee brewer was the best decision they’d ever made. He collected his mug and then spotted over to the side, letting the man behind him fill his coffee cup as well.

“Hey, Baekhyun. Hey, Suho,” Kai said, noticing that it was Baekhyun and Suho who’d joined him in the break room that afternoon. Baekhyun worked in graphics, Kai had a secretarial job that was slightly above Baekhyun in rank. Suho was the editor-in-shied’s personal aide, though he sometimes worked in copy editing. The graphic designer and copy editor waved at Kai.

“Hey, buddy,” Suho said. “How’s it going?”

“Nothing much,” Kai said, wincing as he sat himself down into a chair. Baekhyun laughed.

“Those thighs still killing you?” Baekhyun asked.

“Considerably less sore than yesterday,” Kai answered, blowing onto the surface of his coffee. “I haven’t worked them out in a month, then decided to go to that Brazilian booty work-out class three days ago at the company gym.”

Baekhyun and Suho grabbed their coffee mugs and joined Kai at the table. Their break room was really an old copier and fax room, but since the company’s expansion some years ago, they were able to renovate it into something you wouldn’t mind having lunch in. Suho wiped at a coffee stain on his tie while Baekhyun laughed at Kai’s story.

“You went to a Brazilian booty class?” Baekhyun asked. “Stand up, then. Turn around and let me judge the results of your hard work.”

“Shut up,” Kai said, kicking Baekhyun under the table. “Don’t be sore just ‘cause you’ve got a flat .”

“Ouch,” Suho said, laughing along. “I didn’t know you were so conscious of people’s asses, Kai.”

Kai scoffed. “I’m really not,” he said, taking another drink of coffee. Baekhyun massaged the front of his shin where Kai had kicked him.

“He’s not that conscious of his own ,” Baekhyun said, nudging Suho. “Besides, I bet he really just did it to check out everyone else’s , am I right?” The three of them filled the break room with shrieks of laughter and knowing glances exchanged between the boys. 

“Honestly, it wouldn’t even have been my first choice of a work-out,” Kai said. Suho scoffed.

“Obviously, not,” he said. “What made you want to go to a Brazilian booty class, anyway?”

“Actually, it was Ami’s idea, I just got dragged into it.” 

Baekhyun and Suho ceased their laughing and exchanged looks with one another. 

“Oh,” Baekhyun said. “It was Ami’s idea, was it?”

“And you decided to indulge her?” Suho asked. Kai raised his brows at them, not sure what in the world triggered the change in the tone of their voices. Ami was Kai’s co-worker, the editor-in-chief’s second secretarial assistant. Their desks were right next to each other, and as his partner, he spent most of his work-day with Ami, when he wasn’t laughing with the boys in the break room. 

“Yeah?” Kai said. “Well, she said she was going to do it with Seohyun, but she had a date that night, and I felt bad, so I offered to go with her.”

“Oh, you felt bad, huh?” Baekhyun asked. Kai laughed, confused.

“What’s going on?” he asked. “You’re acting weird.”

“Nothing, nothing at all,” Suho said, laughing behind his coffee mug. Kai’s smile disappeared. Lately, he noticed that everyone seemed to act strange around him, especially when he brought up Ami. He wanted to get to the bottom of it.

“Alright, what is it?” Kai asked. “You two started getting weird as soon as I brought up Ami. What’s going on, huh, Baek? What, are you in love with her?”

Baekhyun nearly spat out the coffee in his mouth when he asked that. “Me?” Baekhyun asked. “Of course not! She’s your girlfriend, not mine!”

Kai burst out laughing. “What? Ami is not my girlfriend, what the hell?” Suho’s face remained serious.

“She’s not?” Suho asked. Baekhyun and Kai both looked at him, always forgetting that Suho had only been around for a couple of weeks. The older boy raised his eyes at Baekhyun and then looked back at Kai. “Well, that’s not what everyone thinks,” he said. Kai stopped laughing, his brows furling.

“What does everyone think?” Kai asked. “That Ami and I are… are…”

“Everyone thinks you and Ami are boyfriend and girlfriend,” Baekhyun said, finishing his thought and taking another sip. “Or they at least think you should.”

“What?” Kai said incredulously. “That’s ridiculous. We’re just co-workers, we don’t even talk much outside of work.”

“You went to a Brazilian booty class with her,” Suho said. “After hours. That’s weird. That’s a boyfriend move, not a co-worker move.”

Kai scoffed. “I was just being nice!” he exclaimed. Baekhyun shook his head.

“You’re in such denial, bro,” Baekhyun said. “Come on, everyone in the office knows you like her. And trust me, she likes you, too. We all got bets on this, too. Take Sehun over in document delivery. He’s got $60 saying you two will be official by Christmas. Chanyeol and I are betting the same amount, but by New Years Eve. More romantic than Christmas, anyway, Christmas is too-family friendly. New Years Eve is ier.” 

“What in the world?” Kai said, sitting up, unable to believe what he was hearing. “She’s a work partner! Totally off limits, it’d be inappropriate to be flirting while we’re working. We’re professionals. Don’t you think it’d be inappropriate for me to date Ami?”

Suho and Baekhyun exchanged glances. “Well, do you think it’s inappropriate?” Suho asked. Kai scoffed and stared at his co-workers but found himself unable to answer. Baekhyun took the last drink of his coffee and stood up.

“I gotta get back to the desk anyway, kids,” Baekhyun said, checking his watch. “I got a pie chart to do before I get out of here. I’ll see you guys later.”

“I should go, too,” Suho said. He gave Kai a pat on the shoulder and followed Baekhyun out of the break room, leaving Kai alone with his thoughts. Before long, he stood, returned his mug to the sink and made his way back to his desk. 

Ami was there. She always took her coffee break earlier than him so that she could come back to her desk and get back to work as soon as possible. She was a bit of a busy-body and Kai constantly had to remind her to take her lunch and coffee breaks. Otherwise, she’d never leave that desk. As he slid back onto his chair, Kai looked over and saw her leaning over a piece of paper. Through a curtain of her long black hair, he could just make out a red pen scribbling all over the paper. Her eyes were squinted in focus and Kai guessed that she was probably editing a paper or something. She often used her downtime to catch up on school work. He remembered her mentioning once that she was trying to get into law school.

Both Kai and Ami’s focus was shattered when the red pen in her hand suddenly broke, spilling red ink onto her paper and onto the white sleeve of her shirt.

“Oh, !” Ami said under her breath. Kai laughed aloud, making her turn to face him. Ami gave him a glower.

“This is not funny,” she said. “Oh jeez, this is the second time it’s happened to me, you know? First time was earlier today in class. It was a blue pen. Red is even worse.”

Ami began scrambling around her desk. “Where’s that pack of baby wipes I always keep around?” she muttered. Kai opened a drawer in his own desk and pulled the item out. 

“It’s over here,” Kai said, getting up and walking over to Ami’s desk to hand it to her. “I was using it to dust around my desk. Sorry.”

Ami smiled up at him, opening up the box of wipes and taking two. “Oh, it’s alright,” she said. “But you know, it may be a good idea to put it back onto my desk when you finish?” She wiped at her sleeve and wiped the ink on her desk. Kai laughed, leaning against her desk.

“Well, we share pens, paper clips, white-out, and hand sanitizer,” Kai said. “I just figured that baby wipes was one of the other things that belonged to the both of us.”

“When you buy your own baby wipes,” Ami said. “Then you can keep it in your desk. Until then, this stays here, and you gotta ask if you want some.”

“Understood,” Kai said. Ami leaned back in her chair and stretched out her spine with a sigh of relief.

“Is your back killing you today, too?” she asked. “For a gluts and quads work-out, it really stretches out your back, doesn’t it?”

“It’s thighs for me,” Kai said. “I guess that means it’s working.”

Ami reached out and poked the side of Kai’s left thigh. “Ooh, I see what you mean,” she said. “Nice and firm, you’re really on your way to that Brazilian booty. Our trainer would be proud.”

Kai laughed gently. “Yeah,” he said, remembering what Suho and Baekhyun said to him in the break room. Ami clean dup her desk and tossed the soiled wipes into a bin under her desk. Once finished, she took out a file from her drawer and opened it up, running a finger down her to-do list. Kai tapped her shoulder.

“Hey, can I ask you something?” he said, still leaning on her desk. Ami looked up at him with her big, brown eyes. 

“Sure,” she said cheerfully, but then turned back to the schedule. “Go ahead.” 

Kai bit his bottom lip. “Are we…” he started to say but then the words right back into his mouth. “Do you think… we spend too much time together?”

Ami shrugged. “No, I don’t think so,” she said. “We both work 35 hours a week. Not exactly like we have any say in the matter, right? We spend exactly the right amount of time in the office.”

“Yeah, but what I’m asking is,” he said. “Do you think it’s weird that we spend 35 hours together?”

Ami looked up. “Isn’t that like, a default amount of hours?” she asked. “I don’t find it weird.” Ami turned back to her task and began working again. Kai played with his hands, searching for the best question to follow up.

“So, what do you think…” he said. “Of our relationship? Our professional relationship, I mean. You think we’re too close, a little too friendly?”

Ami raised an eyebrow at Kai. “What are you talking about?” she asked. Kai laughed nervously. 

“I just… okay, here’s a different question,” he said. “Do you think that the way I act is… is it too boyfriend-ish?”

Ami laughed this time. “Too boyfriend-ish?” she asked. “Where is this coming from? Why all the weird questions?”

Kai shrugged. “I was talking to Baekhyun and Suho in the break room earlier,” he said. “I told them about the work-out class thing—,”

“You did?” Ami said, flinching a bit. “Ooh, what’d they say? God, it’s a little embarrassing, I totally in that class.”

Kai laughed. “You were okay. I was better. Anyway, I told them about it and they thought it was kind of weird of me to go with you to that.”

Ami shrugged. “Maybe,” she said. “I don’t think so.”

“The point is, I am pretty sure this whole office is under the impression that you and me…” Kai paused. “Well, you and I are—,”

“Work out partners?”

Kai swallowed. “Uh… yeah, something like that. But thing is, everyone in this office thinks you’re my girlfriend.”

“What?” Ami said widening her eyes. “They really think that? They’ve never even seen us on a date or anything, what makes them jump to that conclusion?”

“Do you think it’d be inappropriate if we dated?” Kai asked. 

Ami shrugged, and then Kai shrugged. Although now that he thought of it, he did act differently with Ami. He was still himself, of course, but being with her made him want to be more than just himself. She was a tireless worker, the most honest person he knew. Ami was always smiling and always unapologetically true to herself. She was the perfect partner for him, Kai thought. The perfect partner for anyone, really, but he was infinitely thankful that she was his. Kai would often carry her things up the stairs, but only because he was trying to be a regular gentleman. Kai would often buy her gifts, but only because he wanted to thank her for all her help. Kai would also often comfort her during her stressful days or offer advice when she needed it, but any other friend would do no less. But he couldn’t deny that it was more than friendly warmth that he felt toward Ami. He just wasn’t sure it could be called romantic.

“You know,” Ami said, standing up. She still had to look up at him even in that position; she barely reached his shoulder in height. “This seems like as good a time as any to address the team.” Ami stepped around him and began walking toward the main office area. Kai walked behind her.

“Address them about what?” Kai asked. Too late, for she was already clapping her hands and calling everyone’s attention by the time he caught up with her.

“Attention please!” Ami said. “Can I have everyone’s attention? Hello? Yeah?”

The team all looked up from their computer screens. Kai looked over and noticed Baekhyun over in the graphics department, probably putting pause on that pie chart he was working on. Ami smiled.

“Great! Thank you! So, it’s occurred to me that we need a little refresher on some common work-place regulations. So, if everyone could please take out their pocket handbooks—!”

Ami somehow produced a pocket-sized employee handbook from behind her and waved it around for everyone to see. Kai raised an eyebrow at her. “Does everyone have their pocket handbooks? Yes? No? Just wave it in the air if you have it—,”

“We don’t have pocket handbooks, Ami,” Kai reminded her. Ami widened her eyes.

“Oh,” she said. “Never mind, I’ll just paraphrase it for you all. Anyways, I just want to remind everyone that it’s unprofessional and unbecoming to engage in workplace gossip. Okay? If anyone has a question about me or Kai, just ask and we’ll tell you the truth! Alright? So, any questions?”

At first, no one budged, but after a few seconds, one of the interns slowly raised his hand. 

“Yes, Sehun?” Ami asked.

“What happened to your sleeve?” he asked. Ami looked down and remembered that a giant red stain was on her sleeve, near the wrists.

“Oh, don’t worry, it’s just an ink stain,” Ami answered. “Anything else? No? Alrighty, well thanks for listening, everyone. Back to work now, please!”

Ami went back to her desk, leaving Kai feeling a little struck back in the main work area. He noticed Baekhyun containing his laughed in the graphics department. After a few more seconds, Kai returned to his desk. There was a pile of work left there by the editor. A similar-sized pile was on Ami’s desk. Kai leaned back in his chair, trying to forget that his co-workers had bets placed on these rumors. It was looking now like another long night of work. He jumped straight into the pile, checking to make sure the paperwork was properly filled out, answering and making necessary phone calls, and working closely with Ami to coordinate their efforts. It was 8 PM by the time they finished. Ami always worked with a little extra effort, and Kai had acquired a habit of not leaving the office until his partner was also finished with her work.

Tonight, Kai leaned back in his chair, playing tetris on a scientific calculator while Ami finished up the last of her pile. It was at this moment that he looked over at her. The lights in the office were off now, and the only sources of illumination were coming from the lamps that perched on both of their desks. The yellow light cast shadows against her face that highlighted the contours of her face. Kai caught himself staring at the contrasting lights and darks, struck by the brightness of her skin against the shadows, the soft brush of eyelashes on her cheek. Her hair had gotten more unkempt since the start of the day. It was tangled now, the way hair looks when one first wakes up. He wondered if Ami was aware that she was beautiful.

Feeling a pair of eyes on her, Ami paused in her work and looked up in time to meet Kai’s gaze. Her heart started beating; he was staring so intensely, in such a way that he hadn’t before. She nearly gasped. 

“Y-You’re still here,” Ami said, slightly breathless. 

“Yeah,” Kai said. “I was waiting for you.”

Ami her lips. “You don’t have to do that.”

Kai smiled and just shrugged. “It’s okay.”

Ami smiled. She put her pen down and leaned back in her chair. As long as Kai felt comfortable staring at her, she decided to play his little game and stare right back. He laughed a little seeing her defiant little move. She leaned her chin against her hand and stared and stared until one of them blinked. The staring competition soon turned into a game of making faces until they were both laughing too hard to get any work done. Ami decided it was time to call it a night. She gathered the papers into a pile and laid them neatly on her desk, so they could wait for her the next morning.

“You got a ride home?” Kai asked, shrugging a coat onto his shoulders. He knew Ami took the trains home, but he always asked anyway, just to be polite. Ami nodded, putting her own coat on. Kai opened the door and the two of them shared an elevator down to the ground floor. Outside, the air was chilly. It was around that time of year when autumn began to turn into winter. Both Kai and Ami held their jacket closer to their bodies. As was customary, Kai began to walk with Ami toward the station, where they would inevitably board different trains. 

Ami fell into step beside her partner, relishing the small joy of walking alongside someone. That was what she liked best about Kai; she liked having someone walk beside her, not just on the sidewalk but in all walks of life. It was just that feeling of not having to be alone that made her love his company. Kai had been the only secretary until Ami joined the team. At first, she had a hard time assimilating into the environment. She almost quit a few weeks later. It was Kai who had convinced her to stay, convinced her not to give up. Soon, Ami was coming back every day, unconsciously wanting just to be with him. 

Up ahead, the station was becoming more visible. Ami felt a pit settling into her stomach, as it always did when it came to this part of the evening. She looked up at Kai, who was focused on the road ahead. It suddenly occurred to her that she was afraid each night of getting on a different train, going away from him. And only tonight did she realize that it was because, wherever this boy was, that’s where she wanted to be. 

They were partners, she and Kai. Walking together in the same direction, it was only a matter of time before they decided that they ought to look to each other sometime. 

Ami stopped. Kai turned back to her after a few steps. 

“What?” he asked. Ami looked down at her shoes and then up at him. 

“Do you think…” she began. “Do you think it’d be inappropriate if we dated?”

Kai raised his brows. Ami continued. “I mean, I know we’re co-workers and all, and everything has to be strictly professional. But tell me what you think. Do you think it’d be inappropriate if we dated… even though we work together?”

Ami watched him closely, noting every slight movement he made. “Respect for the rules” was something Ami put heavy emphasis on in her resume, and one of those rules was about maintaining a professional relationship with one’s co-workers. Kai walked closer to her, watching her face and pulling his hands from his pockets. 

“We’re not at work now,” he said, smiling. Ami looked up at him, receiving his answer, and she laughed. She reached out with a burst of courage and took his hands, supposing that some rules are meant to be broken.