Yifan barely withholds his grimace as Kyungsoo, his PA, wobbles over in a valiant attempt to balance the 20 manila folders in his arms. They fall onto his desk with a satisfying thump when Kyungsoo deems it safe enough to drop the heavy load. In quick succession, he pulls out his PDA and reviews Yifan’s schedule for the day.

            “Uh… Today you have a meeting with some of the newer employees.” He scrolls up the calendar in confusion. “Wait, no, never mind. That’s next week. You have a board meeting today, something about the new policies for third party distribution. I think Jongin is coming in for it too, so…” There’s a pause as he scrolls. “Lu Han’s coming around for a lunch meeting. But I think that’s it for today.”

            Yifan stretches as Kyungsoo reads his list, surfacing from behind the pile of folders to make eye contact with the younger male. Yifan takes one look at the tired eyes and smirks.

            “Jongin keeping you up, Soo?”

            The male in question scowls and turns red, as there are few things worse than one’s boss making jokes about one’s life. Refusing to acknowledge the statement, Kyungsoo turns on his heels and makes to leave the room. He gets about halfway to the door before Jongin slips into the office. The tanned male glances at his business partner, taking note of his amused expression before turning to the PA with questioning eyes. Trapped between his two superiors, Kyungsoo’s hand is forced. He turns to Kris.

            “The problem is,” he begins, “that he isn’t.” Kyungsoo’s eyes catch a glimpse of Jongin’s confused ones as he pushes past the taller male, leaving the two alone in the office. Yifan’s chuckle forces its way past the door and makes it far enough for Kyungsoo to hear, even with the added distance between them.

            The rest of the morning is spent avoiding Jongin’s inquisitive looks while simultaneously sifting through business proposals. Kyungsoo twice more makes an appearance, once to deliver fresh coffee to the pair, and again to unceremoniously dump Jongin’s half of the paperwork onto the younger’s desk. Yifan heaves a sigh as Kyungsoo stalks out after the second visit, pointedly not looking at either of his two bosses as he calls back that they should be heading to the boardroom. The two CEOs share a long-suffering look and gather their papers, before trudging their way towards certain doom.

~ o ~

            “Damn! I didn’t leave school early to have to sit through another hour lecture.”

Yifan shot a look at his partner, but ended up giving an unsympathetic pat to his shoulder. It was a wonder why Jongin continued with college anyway, considering that he was very, very capable without teachers breathing down his back. His internal monologue shrugged and muttered something about family prestige and other kinds of bull. A hand waved itself in front of Yifan’s face.

“Hello? Earth to Kris?” Jongin was even more annoying post-meeting. “I’m taking Soo out for lunch. You good by yourself?” 

            “Lunch? It’s only…” Yifan blinked once, twice, and checked the time again before yelping and reaching for his car keys. “Yea, uh, go ahead. I have a meeting with Luhan, but Sehun can take calls for a while. Jus-” He tripped over his briefcase before having a chance to pick it up. “Just… let him know.”

            Jongin’s laughter was not entirely unpleasant, but in his rush to get to the venue on time, Yifan only had time to give him the finger in response.

~ o ~

Luhan grinned as Yifan tumbled through the door of the quaint café, standing up to wave his friend over to the booth they would share. There were benefits to choosing the newly opened coffee shop, but as Yifan stumbled over an awkwardly placed chair in his haste to reach the table, he could see none. When he finally reached the pulled-out seat, Luhan winked at him mischievously and opened his mouth. Yifan really wished he didn’t.

“At least there’s no one around to watch you fall for me.”

A groan from the back alerted Yifan to another’s presence as Luhan cackled on, completely ignoring the glare his friend sent him. From the kitchen door, a small, but pretty male made his appearance.

“Luhan!” He scolded, and for once, Luhan settled down with a fulfilled smile instead of poking more fun at the taller male. “I’m terribly sorry about him. He seems to think it’s his job to scare away the customers.”

Yifan found two things wrong with that statement. One, he was fairly certain Luhan’s degree in public relations was not so he could work in the food department, especially with his lack of cooking skills. Two, he was sure that no one in their right mind would hire Luhan to work in a restaurant, even a small one like this. He was proven right when the man across from him scrunched his nose.

“Minseok!” Luhan’s complaint comes out like a whine. “You know that’s not why I’m here.” As Luhan winks again, Yifan thinks it’s one wink too many for the day. He does nothing to hide his surprise as Luhan loops an arm around Minseok’s waist once the shorter man in close enough. Luhan’s observant enough not to miss the look, and shoots a third, uncalled-for wink in Yifan’s direction. “Stunned, Yifan?”

Yifan hides his smile behind a large hand before responding. “I’m just surprised that you found somebody that can handle your craziness.” He turned to Minseok. “I’m really sorry about my friend, I hope he doesn’t give you as much trouble as he gives the rest of us.”

It’s Minseok’s turn to giggle as Luhan blushes bright red, embarrassed at the direct implication of his trouble-maker ways. It’s to his own benefit that he doesn’t challenge it, instead choosing to pout and bother Minseok about coffee for three. The rest of the lunch passes by with pleasant conversation and the lingering of something that is not quite there as Minseok and Luhan flirt around each other.

~ o ~

            By the time Yifan makes it back to the office, it’s early evening and he decides to call it a day, waving at Kyungsoo and Jongin before turning to Sehun to give the secretary the evening off. He receives both a grateful smile and a glare in return, and it doesn’t take much to guess which is from who. But Yifan has full confidence that Kyungsoo won’t burn the building down in spite. Or, at least, not this evening.

            It’s early enough that some stores are still open on the walk back to his apartment, and he falls back into his old habit of glimpsing into windows, curious eyes following the movements of customers and salesmen alike. He found something magical in the casual nuances of human body language, words being passed without moving mouths. He’s a few blocks away from his house when he reaches a familiar store, pauses a moment in the fresh air before pushing open the door to fresher scents.

            Yifan takes in his surroundings like he takes in everything else in life, quietly. When the sweet scent of flowers finally settles in his belly, he finds himself pawing through various bouquets. It’s when he’s almost through with the entire shelf that a pale hand reaches out, presenting a small bunch of flowers that Yifan honestly doesn’t know the name of. The flowers look pretty enough, though, and Yifan finds himself with a hand full of them, and a face turning to thank the owner of the hand. He almost drops the flowers when he finds that the face is much, much prettier than the bouquet, which is a feat in and of itself. Pink lips upturn in a shy smile and Yifan scrambles to grab the flowers that have started to fall from his grip. Yifan doesn’t think he could be any more embarrassed than he is right now, but the flower boy proves him wrong when he moves to arrange the flowers in Yifan’s grasp. He almost forgets to breathe when the smile turns to him.

            “Hi, I’m Yixing.”

            Yifan swears that time stops.

~ o ~

A/N: Sorry for the late! I’ve got a big test coming up, so hopefully updates will be more frequent after that. Also, un-beta'd. RIP. And something happened with the formatting in the middle there. Really sorry about that. T-T Double RIP.