On that Monday morning, 13th of July, Cho Kyuhyun first met his new Personal Assistant, Lee Sungmin

Kyuhyun cursed as he entered his office complex that morning. He had a meeting in less than two hours, and he was not awake enough to think where he had put those files containing the materials for said meeting. His days had been hectic lately, moreover since his PA, his dear Mrs. Kwangsuk, had resigned due to family business four weeks prior and it seemed none of his new PA could live up to his expectation. The last one, a beautiful woman who could make a fortune as a supermodel but could not understand a thing about professional correspondence, had run away from his office in tears after he told her firmly that if she could not use her brain properly, she better stopped being a PA and started doing things that did not involve thinking at all.

Just thinking about the incident made his head hurt. Added to that the fact that it was six a.m. and he had only had three hours of sleep before some phone call came to inform that there was an unscheduled meeting waiting for him and he was expected to come with his presentation ready.

With a scowl printed firmly on his face, Kyuhyun made his way through the desks of his junior staffs, noticing that they, too, looked tired but he could not spare any strength in him to care about it too much. With a slam, he opened the door to his office and froze in his step.

He did not expect anyone to be in his office so the sight of a blond haired young man in smart grey suit was enough to make him halt his step. As he watched, the young man straightened up and gave him a dazzling smile.

"Morning, Sir. I got notified that you would be here early so I got some set up done for you. I hope you don't mind," the smiling man said. Then, as if sensing that Kyuhyun was still sending a murderous glare to his direction, he added. "I'm Lee Sungmin, your new assistant."

Their meeting was not something really remarkable, and if Kyuhyun were to be honest, he could say that it was simply disaster waiting to happen.

Kyuhyun eyed Lee Sungmin, the man who had just proclaimed to be his new assistant before he snapped his attention back to place. Briskly, he approached the man and offered him his hand.

"Cho Kyuhyun, Head of Finance Division."

Sungmin promptly took his hand. "Lee Sungmin, Mr. Cho—Ah, Sir."

"Do you have any relation to my former former assistant, Lee Sunny?" Kyuhyun asked with a bit of interest. He had that loud assistant before Mrs. Sungmin and even though she has a huge mouth, she works diligently.

"None that I can think of, Sir," Sungmin said. "Lee is pretty common surname."

Kyuhyun stared at him a bit more closely. He looked a bit nervous, somewhat. Perhaps he had heard those stupid rumors about how Cho Kyuhyun was a terror to his assistants. He knew those rumors, as well as some other rumors about him. They always painted him like he was some man eating demon or something. But, well, he thought, if Sungmin could not stand his leadership style, better have him gone as fast as possible.

"Alright, Sungmin-ssi, let's get to work. We have a meeting which, as I was told, simply could not commence without my presentation," Kyuhyun said as he walked to sit before his desk. He noticed a steaming cup sitting on his desk and, hoping for a coffee, he took it, only to be disappointed when he saw a clear brown liquid inside. He frowned and put the cup back to the desk before he told Sungmin sternly. "And I don't drink tea. I prefer coffee."

Sungmin turned his head a bit to stare at him with an incredulous expression as if he could not believe him saying that. He then shrugged. "Can't believe anyone would choose coffee over tea, but whatever floats your boat, Sir."

Kyuhyun gritted his teeth. Oh, yes, perhaps it was better to have Lee Sungmin gone as fast as possible.

For one thing, Sungmin made lousy black coffee.

If there was something that Kyuhyun really loved after a hard day at work, it had to be a nice cup of black unsweetened coffee. Coffee was his relaxation method. It reminded him of his mother, how she would drink her afternoon macchiato with him on the veranda as they talked. He knew his colleagues preferred sweetened coffee, but he seldom resorted himself to drinking it. He preferred the soothing characteristic of the bitter taste of the black coffee compared to the sweet ones and nope, not even a tea.

So it was really unfortunate that Sungmin could not even make a decent cup of coffee.

The first day of their working together, he asked him for a cup of coffee. Sungmin frowned at him as if someone asking him for a cup of coffee was something really absurd, but he complied. He came back with a cup of steaming caffeine. Or at least Kyuhyun had initially thought that it was coffee.

After he took a sip, though, he decided that whatever thing inside that cup was definitely not black coffee.

"Sungmin-ssi!" he bellowed even though his assistant was only a few feet away from him, sorting through numerous documents to be archived. "What the hell is this?"

Sungmin blinked at him. "Your coffee, Sir."

"This is not coffee! This is…" Kyuhyun spluttered. Then with suspicion he asked. "What kind of coffee beans did you use?"

"Uh, coffee beans?" Sungmin asked, seemingly out of his depth. "I just… took a sachet of Nestle and mix it with hot water and sugar. Should I have added some more sugar or milk, perhaps?"

Kyuhyun gaped at him. Nestle, he thought. Of all the things that Sungmin could have given him, he had decided it was fit to serve his boss some cheap, weak instant coffee which tasted like rain water. He sighed and shook his head.

"Next time I ask for coffee, you will bring me proper coffee. And when I say proper coffee, I mean you will have to brew it using the first grade coffee beans kept in the tin jar, understand?" he said. "I expect better next time."

Sungmin only stared at him and he looked nervous enough until Kyuhyun nearly took pity on him. He knew he shouldn't have been so harsh on the poor guy—it was only his first day working for him after all. He should treat him kinder. But it was not right. Cho Kyuhyun did not go soft toward his assistant.

He sighed and tried to banish such thought from his mind. "Just finish those documents, will you?"

And Sungmin was loud.

Kyuhyun pinched the bridge of his nose when he heard Sungmin laughing loudly as he made his way to the water cooler. He had spent his many hours since arriving in his office that morning in some heated meeting about the company's new project plan. The meeting was more than enough to give him headache and Sungmin' booming laughter only made it worse.

It had been two weeks since the first time he met his new assistant. During the time, Kyuhyun had comprised that Lee Sungmin was a decent enough assistant. At least he had not made him want to kill him or curse him to next century. But at times, Sungmin could be so annoying with his sunshiny smiles and corny morning jokes and laid back attitude. And he was so damn loud.

"God, Sungmin-ssi," he said as his way of greeting. "You surely know how to laugh out loud."

His voice made Sungmin, and several other people crowding the area of the water cooler, turn their head to his direction. Some greeted him and some eyed him warily as if afraid that he would suddenly snap at them. Kyuhyun could sense how the conversations stop now that he showed up.

"I've been told that, Sir," Sungmin said, raising his paper cup of ice water to his direction as if saluting him. "Still, good cheer could brighten up one's day."

"Or give some poor man a headache," Kyuhyun grumbled. He could feel a few people twitching at his words but not Sungmin. His new assistant merely laughed. Loudly.

"The poor man only has a headache because he's not laughing along," Sungmin said with a wink. Then with a more subdued tone and smile he said. "You need to cheer up, Sir."

Kyuhyun could practically hear other people apart from Sungmin and him drawing their breath nervously. He could feel his eyebrow twitching, his annoyance rising. His nerve had been wrecked in that meeting and Sungmin's comment was like the icing of the cake. It was with utmost self-control that he could hold himself back from snapping.

"Well," he said as he took a paper glass and filled it with water, noticing along the way how people seemed to subtly create some distance away from him. "Perhaps after I finish my deadlines I can cheer up. Or, in other words, my office in ten, Sungmin-ssi. I have lots of work for you."

After saying that, Kyuhyun turned his body and walked back to his office with his cup of water. He could hear the hushed up conversations start again after his leaving but somehow he could not care less. Lee Sungmin might be a decent assistant but, damn, how Kyuhyun wanted to maim him sometimes.

It was even safe to say that Sungmin's personality clashed with his terribly.

It took less than a month for Kyuhyun to safely decide that he and Lee Sungmin were polar opposites in term of personality.

It was not that Sungmin was crap at his job. He was doing well, better than his predecessor, at least (though Kyuhyun still thought that no one could ever replace dear old Mrs. Kwangsuk in his heart). He always managed to finish his job before the deadlines and he was proving himself to be a big help for him. But his personality, Kyuhyun thought as he shook his head, dear God in Heaven, his personality!

Sungmin was loud, while he preferred silence. Sungmin was someone who had the principle of 'act first, think about it later' while he was very much opting for the opposite. Sungmin loved to joke and flirt (with matching sweeping his blonde bangs at the side and got chummy with people; Kyuhyun preferred to be left alone. Sungmin was…

…well, better not continue or else he would go at it for hours—hours that he could use to actually do his paperwork.

So, basically, Lee Sungmin was a good assistant. He admitted that. But their personalities simply did not match and he thought it would do nothing good for their teamwork. Something had to be done before it disrupted their fine working environment. And something had to be done fast.

So with a grim determination, Kyuhyun decided to bring the problem to someone who possessed the right authority to settle it.

He had tried asking for a replacement, but his request was gently, yet firmly, rebuked.

Jung Yunho was a nice guy. Kyuhyun had known him for years. They even went mountain hiking together a few times in the past. But Kyuhyun did not deny that the Head of Human Resource Department could look so menacing with his glare and cold attitude.

"I'm not asking much," Kyuhyun said as he was trying to plead his case. "He's good, I know, but I can't work with him."

Yunho frowned at him. "Why?"

Kyuhyun sighed. Some people who did not know Yunho so well would be exasperated as hell with those monosyllabic responses that he seemed to love so much. He had known the man for years, and at times they still managed to exasperate him.

"We're incompatible," Kyuhyun said. "Look at him and then look at me. We're polar opposites."

Yunho folded his hands in front of his chin as if thinking. "Hm…"

"You understand my position, surely," Kyuhyun said, past caring that he sounded a tad desperate. "Some other man might appreciate Sungmin more than me. So could you requisite a transfer for him and a new assistant for me?"

For a moment, Yunho seemed to regard him carefully, and then he said, "No."

Kyuhyun's eyes widened in surprise. "What?"

"From what I could gather, your teamwork looks fine," Yunho said. "So no new assistant for you. And I believe that's final, Kyuhyun."

For a moment, Kyuhyun could only gape. But when Yunho said something was final, then something was indeed final. And when it was final…

Kyuhyun groaned and resigned himself to his fate.

Seeing that there was nothing else he could do, Kyuhyun resigned himself to his fate and tried to work together with Sungmin.

"Sungmin-ssi!" he bellowed loudly as he entered his office that morning, three days after his request for replacement had been rebuked. "I need those files on the market reviews for our product and similar products from our competitors from three years back. And when you're at it, have you dealt with my requisition forms?"

"Already done, Sir," Sungmin said quickly. He walked to his direction and handed him a thick manila folder. "I have taken liberty and also included the analytical review for our overseas product, Sir. And I've dealt with those forms, but I would need your signature for several of them."

Kyuhyun took the folder and skimmed through the documents contained within. To be honest, he was impressed by Sungmin' work. The folder contained everything he needed, and more.

"Schedule?" he asked Sungmin.

"You will have a conference call with the South branch at 10 a.m. and you are invited to join the Board Director for lunch. Dare I say that a promotion seems to be in your near future, Sir? And after that, there is a meeting with the marketing division at 3 p.m. and you have promised to have dinner with your mother at 6."

Kyuhyun scrunched his face. "Damn…"

"Shall I call change the reservation for 8 p.m., Sir?" Sungmin asked.

"Yes, thank you, Sungmin-ssi," he said, smiling at the man. "You've been a great help."

The smile that Sungmin gave him could outshine the sun. "I try my best, Sir."

Kyuhyun saw that smile and was reminded about his conversation with Yunho three days back. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad, he thought, to give Lee Sungmin a chance. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad trying to work together with him. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad having Sungmin as his personal assistant.

Perhaps… he should make more effort to get to know his personal assistant better.

"Sungmin," he said. "Your first name's Sungmin, right?"

"I… yes, Sir," Sungmin said, blinking at him in incomprehension at the seemingly out of nowhere question.

"Do you mind if I call you Sungmin?" Kyuhyun asked.

For a moment, it looked like Sungmin' eyes would pop from their socket. So wide he opened his eyes. So clear was the amazement on his face. And Sungmin could only manage something a bit above stutter when he said, "I… would be honored, Sir."

Kyuhyun smiled and patted the young man's shoulder as he walked past him. "It's settled, then, Sungmin. Now let's go. You're crazy if you think I could stand a conference with those South bastards without having my morning dose of black coffee."

He would have never guessed it before, but as time went by, he found that Sungmin was a very decent assistant.

Cho Kyuhyun had guessed, and afterward found out for real, that Lee Sungmin was a decent assistant. But after working with him for several months, Kyuhyun realized that Sungmin was a very decent assistant, his loud personalities notwiths