Minah sighed. While Hakyeon did not have her running complex calculations, the numbers were still taking her for a ride. What was the limit for tax exemption on rent allowances again? Why couldn't this entire process be digitised? 

Oh right. Haneul was working on that software. 

Caffeine would give her the energy needed to tackle this job. She got out of her cubicle to tell Hakyeon she was going to take a break but the man dismissed her sympathetically, he had probably given up on her inability to math even if he mothered her pretty much the entire time she had been there. She gave him a smile before walking to the pantry.

"Duckling is here" Wonshik announced as she walked in, she fought the urge to roll her eyes at the nickname; why couldn't it be cool like Tigeress or something? There was some noise and shuffling as Haneul greeted her and made place for her at their table.

"How's finance coming along?" Haneul asked her.

"I never really liked math. Hakyeon taught me a lot though" she said, feeling a little guilty for it. 

"That's okay. It takes a while" Wonshik assured her. "And in two weeks you will be working in Admin with me" he reminded her, leaning back in his seat and resting his arm around Haneul's chair.

"I wouldn't put it above Sanghyuk to extended that deadline" Minah scowled, Han Sanghyuk knew she couldn't add numbers, and deviously put her in the Finance department just to enjoy the fun of her struggling. Additonally he was still making her do work for his department because he insisted that he liked her while she was quite certain he wanted her to punch him in the face some time soon.

"Send him more reports in pink girly fonts and he just might switch you out early" Haneul suggested with a grin, before taking a sip of her lemon tea. Minah grinned too. That strategy had been more effective than planned.

"Have any of you guys seen Hongbin around?" Jaehwan asked, peeking into the pantry.

"I was wondering when you'd show up" Minah said, winking conspiratorially at Haneul. Haneul blushed and decided to bury her face in her coffee mug. Even if Minah had shifted departments, her teasing about the trio had not ended making Haneul somewhere between flustered and frustrated. 

"I saw Hongbin earlier in the morning. No idea where he might be right now" Wonshik said, while Jaehwan pulled up a chair. Wonshik stretched out even further to kick the chair a few inches away, making Jaehwan pout. He turned to Haneul and made a move to sit on her lap.

"Well his phone has been ringing for the past five minutes. Someone really wants to talk to him" Jaehwan began only to have Haneul roll her eyes and shove him back to the chair he had initially drawn.

"Hongbin is a wanted man" Wonshik joked, now patting Jaehwan's thigh while the other chuckled in agreement.

"Tell me about it" Haneul grumbled. Her team probably had the maximum amount of admirers. Every time Hongbin stopped by to talk to her, the team took a while to go back to normal productivity. "Stupid Abstract piece of art." she grumbled.

"Hongbin was always popular," Jaehwan agreed. "I remember him having a fan club back in college."

"You studied together?" Minah asked in surprise. While she might have come into the break room for coffee, this conversation was rather diverting even if she intended on getting back to helping Hakyeon out. She'd developed a soft spot for the much-bullied head of Finance who often looked so harrassed by everything that she often felt like just asking him to take the day off.

"In college. Haneul, Wonshik and I were in the same high school" Jaehwan told her.

"Oh wow" Minah said in awe.

"The familiarity shows" Haneul added. Minah nodded in reply.

"Most of us knew each other before we decided to start VIXX Consultancies" Wonshik told her, stirring his coffee as it cooled.

"That's pretty cool" Minah said, not sure if her being a newbie with a group of old friends was something that was good or not. 

"I am pretty sure you're all paid to work here" a voice behind them said.

"We decided to take a small break" Minah said before anyone could respond. Haneul raised an eyebrow when Taekwoon just shrugged and went to get some coffee instead of telling them off. Yet more strange behavior from Silent thanks to Duckling. Haneul grinned at Minah who rolled her eyes.

"Have any of you seen Hongbin today?" Taekwoon asked coming back with an espresso.

"I was just looking for him" Jaehwan told him, fumbling around with Haneul's coffee mug as she attempted to swat his hand away.

"He has a client meeting in ten." Taekwoon said with a frown.

"Must have been the guy calling him" Minah reasoned to herself.

"Who called Hongbin?" Taekwoon asked her.

"His phone had been ringing for the past ten minutes" Jaehwan said. Taekwoon frowned.

"We should go find him" he decided.

"Minah will you help me?" he asked (ordered) her.

"Sure" Minah said, hesitantly.

"I can go along if you like" Haneul offered with a smirk.

"No thanks Monster" Taekwoon said, eager to get away. Haneul with a twinkle in her eyes was never a good sign.

"Okay then" she shrugged. She could always get back at him later. Minah waved goodbye to Wonshik, Jaehwan and Haneul and followed the boss around, not without giving Haneul a playful nudge. She tried to keep a straight face but couldn't keep the latest Business Cat comic out if her head. She made a mental note to give Sanghyuk more credit for the idea next time.

"Isn't that the guy from the Intimately meeting?" Minah asked. Taekwoon's face immediately darkened, he didn't like the new prospective clients, not only because they had been rather disrespectful to Jaehwan (and that slimy Joon man had leered at Minah before leaving), but also because they were constantly requesting unreasonable services and generally being a pain to work with.

"Yes it is" he confirmed.

 "I forgot his name. Is he the client that Hongbin is meeting?" Minah asked him as she peered over the glass door into the visitor's lounge to spot the same man she had seen at the Intimately meeting sneer around at everything he saw.

"Yes" he answered curtly. Minah raised an eyebrow but knew not to continue the conversation as the two entered the lounge.

"Mr Jung" the guy said, there was something slimy and greasy about the way he looked, probably the slicked back hair and the thin voice and that look frogs give before they stick their tongues out and capture a fly.

 "Mr Lee. How may I help you?" Taekwoon asked in a forced civil tone, he crossed his arms as Minah bowed and stood beside him feeling a little dwarfed.

"I am waiting on Hongbin. He has a meeting with me and he is running late" Lee Joon said with a scowl.

"He'll be here in ten minutes. If you wish then you can wait in the conference room with me" Taekwoon offered. 

"Mr Lee!" a voice called out from the reception area behind him.

"Where have you been?" Joon asked.

"There was a miscommunication. Miss Sukyung said that we would be meeting at the cafe across the street" Hongbin told him. "I was waiting for you there."

"I see. Unfortunately she was busy and I came in her stead" Joon told her.

"I don't see the point in wasting time. We can begin ASAP" Hongbin decided, heading towards the conference room.

"I just invited Mr Joon to join me" Taekwoon spoke up as Hongbin turned to him with a knowing smile. He spotted Minah who had, along with Jaehwan, been the saviour of the first meeting.

"Sure. Minah can join us as well" Hongbin said.

"Minah?" Joon asked, eyes raking up and down Minah, assessing her. There was a flicker of recognition in his eyes that made Taekwoon uncomfortable and Minah want to gag.

 "She is our english language consultant" Hongbin put in, sending Minah a pleasing smile. 

"Hakyeon needs me I'm afraid" Minah said wanting to escape all this grossness at once.

"I'm sure the company has enough people that can be spared for one person's job" Joon said with an eyebrow raised.

"Hakyeon can spare you for half an hour" Hongbin said, jumping the gun. "And if Mr Joon would like, we can take the meeting downstairs to a new italian coffee shop. I've been told you appreciate a good cup of coffee."

"Coffee is life" Minah agreed and almost wanted to hit herself for it. The involuntary need to diffuse tension in awkward situations had only ever led to more awkwardness.

"You like coffee Minah?" Joon asked with a raised eyebrow. Minah nodded while Taekwoon cleared his throat. "You are a woman of many talents" he said, unconsciously praising her.

"All of our employees are talented" Taekwoon put in, his fingers curled up in a fist as Minah looked down and away, not knowing what to make of the comment. Taekwoon fixed his suit, all ready to follow Hongbin and Minah.

"Taekwoon. We're ready for our meeting" Haneul said, appearing behind him. making him curse internally.

"You seem to be busy. I can handle this" Hongbin assured him.

"Yes. I believe two of your talented employees will be more than enough" Joon said acidly. The two men stared at each other before Taekwoon broke it off to nod at Hongbin. "After you" Joon told Minah courteously. Taekwoon watched them leave the office floor and walked off as well, making Haneul run after him.

"So the new interface now gets real time data. The values are refreshed on their own every 100 microseconds. There is a visible lag but I am working on reducing that to our network delay at minimum…and you are not even looking at the web page" Haneul scowled as Taekwoon nodded mindlessly while staring intensely at the screen. Sighing Haneul continued to look at the screen.

"Snape dies in the sixth Harry Potter book" she continued in the same tone she had previously adopted.

Taekwoon his chin, analysing the laptop ad that had popped up on the side.

"Han Solo shot first" 

Taekwoon continued to stare, the ad was really flashy and kept blinking back at him.

"Duckling is making out with the slimy lizard!"

Taekwoon's head turned towards her. "What?" he asked as slimy lizard had triggered off the image of Joon, although he wasn’t very sure as to what Duckling was but he could vaguely make out that Haneul was referring to Minah. “What the heck is Duckling?” he mumbled.

 "It's not a secret that you like our little Duckling Minah. Lee Joon was also very appreciative of her from what I heard" Haneul said with a smirk. Of course Haneul had to say something about the new employee with that damn twinkle in her eye.

"What about that?" he asked pretending to be oblivious, leaning back in his seat and crossing his legs. After spending the last year of college dealing with Haneul’s devilish behaviour, he knew that ignoring her teasing would be the best way to deal with it. But Haneul wasn’t having any of that.

"Oh please. You just want to cancel the deal with Intimately because you don't like the Lizard. And you don't like the Lizard because he is hitting on your girl" she sang.

"He better not be hitting on any of our employees" Taekwoon growled “and Minah is not my girl.” He denied, making Haneul roll her eyes.

 "But Minah more so" Haneul put in, shifting her laptop away, knowing this meeting was going to go no where.

 "ANY of my employees" Taekwoon insisted, trying to pull her laptop closer so as to change the topic.

 "Especially the ones you like most" she reminded him tugging the device away.

 "By that logic that slimy git is free to hit on you anytime" he conceded, only to receive a whack from Haneul. 

"I hope he charms Minah" she stuck her tongue out at him.

"I hope Sanghyuk conveniently forgets to award you your performance bonus." Taekwoon wasn’t certain as to what to make of Minah’s reaction to Joon’s behaviour since she didn’t seem to let out anything particularly. But he was currently feeling rather vicious towards Haneul.

"Hey! You work with all this madness is and then see how you feel when your bonus isn't adequate." Haneul complained, waving her hand towards the laptop while displayed a boat-load of coding.

"You can work with dimwitted clients and then earn the right to complain." Taekwoon countered.

"No thanks. I hope that Lee Joon turns up around here more just so you can see his ugly face." Haneul grinned as Taekwoon glared at her.

"I hope that bloody deal with Intimately gets cancelled." Taekwoon spat.

"That's only setting you up for a not nicely worded email from Hakyeon and the board of directors asking how the heck is the company supposed to make money when you get every deal cancelled? Hmm?"

"I still hope the deal gets cancelled." He grumbled, looking down.

Haneul shook her head. She shut down the application and disconnected her laptop. There was clearly no point in presenting the prototype now. Maybe she could club it with the prototype of the finances management system she was supposed to demonstrate to him and Hakyeon. And she would ask Minah to sit in just so Taekwoon could concentrate. 

"I think they are back" Haneul said as she saw Hongbin pass by, talking to a rather mutinous looking Minah. Hongbin was laughing at her as she tried to swat at him as he ducked away from her hand. Haneul waved at Minah who halted by the conference room Taekwoon and Haneul had been sitting in.

"Hey Minah! How did it go?" Minah gave them a wide grin and a thumbs up.

 "Hongbin saved the deal from getting cancelled on us. He is a genius at handling customers" Minah said with a smile “I need to go though, I’ve been away from my desk for far too long and Hakyeon will probably be needing me there.” She walked on because she had been away from her work for over an hour. 

Haneul turned over to see Taekwoon's dark face before quietly exiting the room. Sighing, she stood up and followed him out of the conference room and headed to the Finance Department. This was the most organized place in the entire office with all the papers filed and placed in their respective places unlike everyone else in the office who seemed to leave their stuff all around the place. Spotting Minah, she headed over to her cubicle.

"How did the meeting really go?" she asked, peering over the separator.

 "It basically . The man claims to love coffee but doesn't know the difference between a frappuccino and a cappuccino. H even dissed the macchiato. HOW? I was dying on the inside" Minah grumbled, stabbing at her keyboard.

 "That's professionalism. Everything that isn't a disaster went great. Especially to your boss" Haneul added. It was a small revenge. The longer Taekwoon thought Minah had fun, the more points she got. Minah nodded dismissively and went back to her work. Haneul approached Hakyeon who looked up at her with very tired eyes.

“I’ll be presenting the prototype of the finance software to you and Taekwoon, so please don’t look so sad.” She said, ruffling his hair as he grinned back at her.

“I’ll let Taekwoon know then.” Hakyeon nodded, picking up his phone to give the BossCat a call.

Elsewhere Taekwoon sat wondering if it was too late to pay cancellation fees and be done with this horrid ordeal altogether. And if being a coffee connoisseur was all that was needed to impress women. 

A long chapter to make up for the odd delay. And as you've guessed it's me (animeotakupooh) and not Ryukai today. 

I took hold of the steering wheel and the ship didn't sink u_u (thank god)

I (Ryukai) gave inputs because I wanted the Wonshik-Jaehwan-Haneul thing going on even if it was subtle.