With every ounce of strength he had that morning Jongdae pushed open the door of the bar and let himself in, walking whilst dragging his feet. God, he was groggy. He apathetically approached one of the tables and in his state of lethargy failed to notice that the rest of the bar workers were huddled up behind the bar in an intense gossip, talking in a hushed whisper among themselves. When he threw his bag onto a customer table and sat himself down on one of the chairs, only Minseok took note of his presence as he nested his head atop of his propped arms.

 

“Gee, you look ready as ever.” Minseok deadpanned, taking a seat across him. Jongdae looked up a bit, not quite allowing himself to lift his head from his arms. Minseok grinned. “What time did you sleep last night?”

 

“I don’t know,” Jongdae sighed. “Sehun brought his boyfriend over last night. They were loud.”

 

Chanyeol piped up front behind the bar upon hearing Jongdae complaining. “Couldn’t you just knock on their door and tell them to keep it down or something?”

 

Jongdae frowned—alright, Chanyeol was...observant. That’s what he ‘specialised’ in, being the main bartender and having to tend to the customers who sat there. At the same time Jongdae didn’t really blame him for always being the one responsible to spread rumours. Usually some of the rumours were later proven to be true, so there was that. People just loved to confide the nice, wide-eyed bartender who listened.

 

Plus, it wasn’t like Jongdae was being quiet about it either.

 

So instead of reprimanding the tall man for eavesdropping on his whining, Jongdae threw him an incredulous stare. “Are you nuts? I don’t want to walk in on him having with his boyfriend!”

 

“Oh,” Chanyeol nodded understandingly, “when you said they were loud I thought you meant they were giggling like schoolgirls or something,” he chuckled. “Sorry. That must’ve been awkward.”

 

“What…” Jongdae shook his head at the other male, his eyebrows furrowed. Not as awkward as you, he refrained from adding. Only then did the sleepy male notice the seemingly heated conversation he was being left out of. He straightened up in his seat and eyed Yixing and Baekhyun suspiciously. “Did I miss something?” He asked, raising his voice.

 

Yixing, apparently so engrossed in their gossip, glanced at Jongdae and blinked. “Hi Jongdae,” the Chinese male exclaimed as he waved at him. “I didn’t notice you there!”

 

“I can tell,” Jongdae stated. Minseok clamped a hand on his mouth to stop from laughing. “What’s so interesting that you didn’t even realise I’m here?”

 

Baekhyun looked around, as though checking if the coast was clear. He then returned his gaze back to Jongdae. “Chanyeol heard that Huang’s going to visit this week.”

 

“Who’s Huang?”

 

“Huang Zitao,” Minseok supplied. “Junmyeon owes a lot to him.”

 

Yixing walked over to Jongdae and plopped into the seat beside him. He forced the younger to look him in the eyes before he held both of his hands firmly. “You have to understand that Huang Zitao is a very, very, very important V.I.P. to this place,” he said sternly. “I cannot stress enough how important Huang is. And he’s coming over this week—do you understand our dilemma here?”

 

“On the bright side, we’re still not entirely sure if it’s true.” Baekhyun quipped. “Chanyeol only overheard it from when manager hyung was talking to Yifan.”

 

“I honestly don’t see the problem here,” Jongdae admitted. “And who’s Yifan?”

 

“Oh right,” Chanyeol chimed in, laughing to himself in remembrance. “I forgot. Jongdae’s new.”

 

“That’s exactly the problem!” Yixing quaked, making Jongdae nearly fall from his seat in surprise. Luckily the former had a good grip on the younger, but in that moment Jongdae wasn’t certain if he should be assured or freaked out. “That’s the dilemma! Jongdae’s only been here for a few weeks and we all know Huang’s expecting everything to be in order, but what if Jongdae suddenly trips over a customer’s leg and falls and breaks a glass in front of Huang?”

 

Minseok pulled Jongdae’s hands away from Yixing’s almost white-knuckled grip, allowing the younger male to finally release the breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding. “I think you’re underestimating Jongdae. He has never broken a glass before,” he smiled at Jongdae encouragingly. “Besides, doesn’t he get a say in this?”

 

Jongdae blinked when all eyes were focused on him that moment. His cheeks reddened. “I don’t know,” he croaked out, feeling himself shrink. Although part of him agreed with Minseok, the other agreed with Yixing, so being the indecisive youth he was, Jongdae merely shrugged again. “W-well if it makes you feel better I can always stay with Chanyeol.”

 

“Are you sure, Jongdae?” Yixing asked. Minseok seemed to be asking the same question with the way he eyed Jongdae cautiously.

 

“Yeah I’m sure,” Jongdae confirmed. “I don’t want to make you guys worry. Bartending duty can’t be so hard, right?”

 

Chanyeol grinned at him. “I’ll take good care of you Jongdae, I promise!”

 

Minseok leaned in. “Huang would probably show up in a few days so we’ll be fine,” he pat Jongdae’s back. “Just relax. He usually talks to Junmyeon when he comes for financial issues. You’re fine,” he repeated. “In the meantime though, get used to things ‘behind bars’.” He pointed to Chanyeol, who had his back facing the both of them, “I hear he’s pretty weird.”

 

However, much to Minseok’s—and everyone’s, basically—surprise, Huang arrived that day.

 

The first person to react to it was Yixing. Right when he caught sight of Huang’s car he immediately hissed out a “!” which had not gone unnoticed by half of the people occupying the bar at that moment. While the rest of the waiters—Baekhyun and Minseok—sent Yixing a warning look, Chanyeol prodded on Jongdae’s shoulder and flashed him one of his signature smiles. “Just relax. Help me with cleaning these glasses, yeah?”

 

Yixing’s initial outburst had piqued a few people’s interest, and they all not so secretly looked out the window to stare at the handsome car parked right outside the bar.

 

“Huang’s here?” Jongdae asked.

 

“Yeah, but if you want to avoid him at all costs just pretend you’re busy,” Chanyeol advised. Jongdae actually felt relieved, kind of. “Baekhyun’s normally the one who takes care of him. Plus, Huang never sits near the bar. We’re good.” He wrapped an arm over Jongdae’s shoulders, giving them a light squeeze.

 

He handed Jongdae a glass mug. “Now clean this up,” he grinned.

 

Jongdae was about to, but then he saw Minseok walk over to the front of the bar to open the door and let Huang in.

 

Jongdae didn’t know what he was expecting, but he definitely didn’t expect Huang to look like that.

 

Clad in a seamless blue dinner jacket that defined his broad shoulders perfectly, Huang Zitao stood taller than 1.80m and confidently strode into the bar with shades resting upon the bridge of his nose and his head held high. His sleek black hair was nicely styled and his flawless light bronze skin accentuated his high cheekbones, hence inevitably making it hard for Jongdae not to stare at the handsome man in awe. He watched as Huang made his way over to the booth section at the back of the bar with Minseok by his side, who was assuring him that their manager would be with him in a moment.

 

When he was finally seated Jongdae tore his gaze from Huang to the sound of Chanyeol laughing. “That was our reaction when we first saw him, too! It’s not a secret that everyone finds him hot.” Jongdae sighed—Chanyeol was too observant for his liking. “Hey, wash that up. We have customers, you know.”

 

Nodding, the shorter male caught a glimpse of Yixing making his way to Huang from the periphery of his vision and decided then that he had to follow Chanyeol’s advice and make himself look occupied.

 

“Jongdae!” Baekhyun called out in a hushed whisper, running up to the front of the bar. He leaned in, glancing at Huang behind Jongdae. “Now isn’t the time. Minseok’s out to get manager hyung for Huang and I got a dozen bourbons to serve. You have to be Huang’s waiter—if you don’t go now—”

 

“What? But what about Yixing, why aren’t you asking him?” Jongdae cut in, staring at the other male in disbelief. Earlier on they were worried about him messing up in front of the Huang but now—

 

“Jongdae…” Yixing called warily.

 

Jongdae didn’t turn, frowning. Baekhyun grabbed a couple of bourbon-filled mugs from Chanyeol and walked away. Thinking that he didn’t hear Yixing the bartender nudged his ribs, but the motion only succeeded in deepening Jongdae’s already deep frown. “You deal with him Yixing,” he said over his shoulder, placing the cup he had been holding on the bar. “I’m busy, can’t you see?”

 

“Well, yes, but Jongdae,” Yixing tugged on the back of his shirt this time and Jongdae finally snapped his head in the other’s direction. Yixing pointed to the other side of the bar.

 

Huang Zitao’s shades were now resting atop of his head. Due to this, Jongdae could clearly see that Huang’s half-lidded, blue-contact-lensed eyes were looking directly at him—Jongdae wasn’t prepared for the hooked finger gesturing him to come to him.

 

After hearing Yixing and Chanyeol mutter a timid “good luck” in unison to him Jongdae’s body robotically walked out from behind the bar and towards Huang’s table.

 

Once he was about two metres away from the man Jongdae looked at him expectantly. “Can I help you with anything, sir?” He waited for some sort of command—he wasn’t quite sure why Huang called for him, but the man just stared at him, giving Jongdae a once-over with his authoritative blue orbs, and Jongdae just waited.

 

“I’ve never seen you here,” Huang observed. “Are you new?”

 

“Yes sir,” Jongdae nodded.

 

Huang removed the shades from his head and placed them on the table. He crossed his legs. “Sit down,” he ordered. Jongdae did so without any hesitance, ignoring the apologetic and confused look Baekhyun threw his way as he passed behind Huang. Jongdae leaned back when the man leaned forward to get a better view of him, a million questions in his head. Why did Huang ask for him? Did he do something wrong? Was he going to be fired?

 

In all of a sudden Jongdae was pulled out of his thoughts when he felt Huang’s finger his cheek, the other male’s eyes examining his features. Desperately trying to fight off a blush that creeped up to his ears Jongdae kept his gaze down on the hands he’d folded down on his lap. Huang muttered something under his breath that he couldn’t quite make out the words.

 

Jongdae paid no attention to how both Huang’s touch on him lingered when they left. He willed himself to look up and meet the man’s eyes inquiringly. “E-excuse me, sir?” He stuttered. He could feel his heart pounding against his ribcage in a maddening pace. What was going on?

 

“So polite,” Huang articulated, resting his face on the hand propped up by the table. “Call me Zitao.”

 

There was a hint of panic in Jongdae’s voice when he tried to respond. “But sir—Zitao—”

 

Baekhyun stopped by once again to place a cup of coffee on top of the table. Jongdae felt slightly relieved—he was about to feel slightly relieved, but it slowly dawned on him that Huang wasn’t planning on taking his eyes off of him any time soon. At that point, when Baekhyun left, Jongdae’s heart sank and he asked himself if he was ever going to get out of this.

 

“Don’t be nervous,” Huang said, completely ignoring the coffee.

 

“I’m not n-nervous,” Jongdae interjected. Alright, maybe that was a lie, but did he look nervous? He stopped fiddling with his thumbs under the table and tried to soften his features. He couldn’t help it, with someone who looked like they’d just stepped out of a Vogue magazine in front of him right then and there. His ears—no, his cheeks were probably beet red right now. Where the hell was their manager? What was taking Minseok so long?

 

Finally, Huang looked away. His hand reached out to the coffee cup before bringing it to his lips and taking a long sip. Once he put the cup back down he turned his gaze back to Jongdae. “Good. Just relax,” he smiled. No matter how many times those words have been repeated to Jongdae throughout the whole day up to this moment he realised it was extremely pointless. He couldn’t ‘relax’. With Huang sitting across him, the word ‘relax’ didn’t exist in his dictionary. “What’s your name?” Huang suddenly inquired. The tone of his voice was imposing and commanding that it took Jongdae a few seconds to register his words properly.

 

“Kim Jongdae,” he answered quietly.

 

Huang nodded. Then, as though a ray of hope had shone itself upon Jongdae, he saw Minseok with their manager—Junmyeon at his side. They both looked at him with perplexed expression. When they finally reached the table Huang nodded at him again and muttered a small “you can go now”. Jongdae nodded back.

 

“Thank you sir,” he squeaked before he could stop himself. He stood up and let Junmyeon take his seat and instantly made his way to the bar, Minseok trailing by his tail.

 

“What was that about?” Minseok asked, looking distressed.

 

“I don’t know!” Jongdae hissed. He entered behind the bar and stood next to Chanyeol while Minseok ran up to the front to stand before him. “I didn’t do anything wrong, did I?”

 

Baekhyun hurried beside him to enter the conversation. “I heard you call him by his name,”

 

“You have to be kidding,” Chanyeol interrupted, “Did Huang do anything? I’m sorry I couldn’t take care of you Jongdae!”

 

“I don’t know,” Jongdae said again. He wanted to hide. “He told me to call him by his name.” At this, all three of them turned to Jongdae with wide eyes and the same inquiring expressions. Even Yixing, who was three tables away from the bar, shot him the exact same look. “Guys stop,” Jongdae whimpered.

 

“We should go back to work,” Minseok said, and Jongdae smiled gratefully at him.

 

At long last, the bar was finally closed. No one hesitated in cornering their manager right after that.

 

As the manager, Jongdae expected Junmyeon to be much more respected and domineering with the bar employees, but here the man was, being surrounded by his intimidating workers and bombarded with questions and complaints.

 

“Why didn’t you tell us Huang was coming today?”

 

“Where was Yifan?”

 

“If you told us beforehand we could’ve made the place way more spotless and shipshape than this!”

 

“You’re lucky I stay back every night to clean the place, hyung.”

 

“Calm down!” Junmyeon said, cutting down the chatter. “If I’m correct we got pretty good feedback and you’re all keeping your jobs, so don’t worry.” He tore open the envelope that was in his hands since Huang left to reveal what looked like a pay check and a piece of paper. Clearing his throat, the man began to read from the paper. “Baekhyun and Minseok—these are Huang’s words alright? Well Yifan told me that this was exactly what he said, but anyway—he sees no problem with you two; Yixing, quit cussing in front of the customers; Chanyeol you’re good,” he furrowed his eyebrows. “‘Just stop being creepy’.”

 

Jongdae noticed that he didn’t get any feedback and was about to ask Junmyeon about it, but because everyone else was relieved upon the acknowledgment of keeping their jobs and chose to revel with a couple of drinks, he decidedly closed his mouth shut.

 

Baekhyun and Minseok hugged him and assured him that everything was fine, Yixing congratulated him for not pissing himself in front of Huang, and Chanyeol had offered to take him home after the small celebration. Jongdae declined mannerly, saying that his apartment was just a couple of blocks down. They bid their goodbyes to each other before going to their separate ways, except for Baekhyun and Chanyeol, who both hopped into the same car.

 

Right when he was about to turn a corner he spotted a black car slowing down next to him. Jongdae stopped in his tracks—oh , is he about to get kidnapped?

 

He calmed down a bit upon realising that he recognised the car, but, wait—yes, he knew that car; it was Huang’s—, , —

 

Jongdae was about to turn on his heels and run but Huang lowered the window, smirking at him.

 

“Hello Jongdae,” he greeted.

 

The said male tried to appear calm and collected. He scrambled for his words. “Hello sir,” he blinked. “I mean, Zitao.” The word was enunciated slowly, because Jongdae had no idea what Huang was doing and he looked at the other male in bewilderment. It was late—he’d just downed a few bottles of alcohol down his throat during the small party and his mind was starting to feel hazy and he desperately needed some shut-eye.

 

Huang’s smirk widened when his name rolled of Jongdae’s tongue. “Come on. I’ll take you home,” he unlocked the door. Jongdae stared at him in surprise. “Where do you live?”

 

“But sir—” Jongdae bit his tongue. “Zitao,” he tried again. “You really don’t have to, it’s not that far.”

 

All the same, despite his protests (and probably the alcohol slowly kicking in), Jongdae found himself sitting on the passenger seat of Huang’s car that was made of leather and still smelled like it was new. There was also a whiff of cologne, but Jongdae shifted his attention away to the road when Huang began asking him a few questions.

 

He subconsciously put his seatbelts on, though struggling with it because his hands were shaking tremendously because he was closer to Huang now, closer than before. When they were fastened, he folded his hands on his lap once more and twiddled with is thumbs.

 

In the middle of the talk, when Huang was asking Jongdae about how long he’s been working in the bar, his phone vibrated in his pocket. Jongdae mumbled a quick apology to the other male and unlocked his phone to discover that Yixing had sent him a message.

 

Jongdae is that you!!!! In huangs car!!!??

 

Jongdae blanched.

 

are you following me?
please stop that’s creepier than chanyeol

Jongdae!! Youre not answering my question!!!!

you're not answering mine!!!!
also yes please help

 

“Something wrong?” Huang asked. “You look…surprised.”

 

“No,” Jongdae replied quickly, stopping himself from letting the word ‘sir’ slip past his lips. Tucking his phone back into his pants, Jongdae pointed to the left. “My apartment’s just over there.”

 

Once they were parked outside of his apartment complex Huang turned to Jongdae and smiled. “I have your contact information from Junmyeon,” What? Why would he need Jongdae’s contact information? His worries were put on hold when Huang reached over and put his large hand over Jongdae’s smaller ones, making Jongdae stop fumbling. “So would you mind if I take you out for dinner sometimes?”

 

Jongdae blinked. “Oh. No, thank you,” he smiled back.

 

“So polite,” Huang said again, chuckling. The sound sent a chill down Jongdae’s spine. “Good.” He removed his hands to unbuckle Jongdae’s seatbelt and reached over once more to open the door for him. “Text me when you’ve reached your room, alright? I’ll give you my phone number.”

 

“Okay,” Jongdae answered, pulling his phone out from his pocket. Huang opened the address book and started to type in his phone number under the name ‘Zitao’ before handing it to the other male. “I’ll see you next time, then?” Jongdae asked pathetically, because he wasn't sure what to say next.

 

“Yes,” Huang nodded.

 

Jongdae hopped out of the car and closed the door softly. He entered his apartment complex with slow steps, and when he was sure he was out of Huang’s sight, he sprinted towards the elevator. He made it to room thirty-three alive in the third floor and still breathing, so he fished the keys out from his pocket and unlocked the door to see his roommate looking out the window.

 

Sehun glanced at him when he walked in, gesturing for him to close the door. “Was that you?”

 

“What do you mean?” Jongdae responded. He took his phone out from his pocket, paling at the words ‘7 new messages’ on the screen.

 

WHAT
Jongdae??
Jongdae are you ok???
Are you alive?
JONGDAAAEEEE!!
Jongdae pls text me asap i need to know if youre alive and huang didnt kidnap you and kill you

 

The last text was from Baekhyun that read:

 

Yixing told me he saw you get into Huang’s car? Is there something you’re not telling us

 

“You literally just got out of that car over there,” Sehun spoke up, taking Jongdae back to reality. “I didn’t know you have rich friends. Would you care to introduce me to them?” He grinned.

 

Jongdae looked up when he’d realised what his roommate had just said. “He’s still there?” He ran to Sehun’s side and looked out the window. Huang’s car was still parked there, why wasn’t he—oh. Huang had asked him to text him once he reached his room. “I f-forgot to text him…” Jongdae muttered. Sehun stared at him, waiting for an explanation on Jongdae’s scandalised look. The other male typed something in in his phone.

 

A few seconds later, when Jongdae didn't reply, Sehun turned to look outside the window again in time to see the car leave the side of the road and in time to hear Jongdae sigh in relief.