“Take care, I’ll be back for dinner!”, Chanwoo quickly left before Hanbin could say anything else. Hanbin could only sighed…

“Woah! Such a big room!”, Chanwoo said as he entered the meeting room. The secretary smiled hearing Chanwoo’s comment. “Please wait here for a while, the chief will be meeting you soon.”, she said, leaving the room soon after.

“How many people can fit here?”, Chanwoo asked himself. He started counting the chairs, “One, two, three, four…”.

“Having fun counting chairs?”, someone suddenly asked.

Chanwoo shrieked a little out of surprise. He then turned around, “You scared me…”. Upon seeing the man, Chanwoo felt like he has seen the man before. “Are you… Are you Junhoe? Woah! You look even better without mask.”

Junhoe smirked at the compliment, “Yeah, heard that a lot. Let’s get the negotiation done.”. However, Junhoe quickly changed his mind, “But, before that, let’s get to know each other.”

Chanwoo is a bit… interesting, or so Junhoe thought. On the surface, he is just like everybody else: Always complementing Junhoe, happily his boots. But there is a feeling, a hunch, after that masquerade ball night, that Chanwoo isn’t like them.

So, they started talking. The topics ranged from the basic family and business, to the very personal romantic life. In fact, the topic changed every 5 minutes or so, but they could somehow still connect.

And from their conversation, Junhoe could clearly see that Chanwoo is, in fact, different. He does compliment Junhoe a lot, but not like how other people compliment him. There is just something in Chanwoo that make him unique.

For example, when Junhoe talked about his romantic life. He went straight to the point: many people chased him, but he rejected all of them. Not even one leave a mark on his heart.

“So… You’re a jerk?”, Chanwoo asked after hearing Junhoe’s romance history. But he quickly added, “Whoa! That’s awesome! I never met a jerk as evil as you before. Not even Hanbin.”.

Junhoe lifted one eyebrow at the half-compliment-half-scorn that Chanwoo just threw at him. “Is that a compliment? And what did you mean, ‘Not even Hanbin’?”.

“Oh, you don’t know? He is so bad! He always makes me do stuff for him!”

“For example?”, Junhoe asked.

“Make him breakfast, carry his bag, do grocery for him…”, Chanwoo started listing all the things that Hanbin has ever made him do.

“And you willingly do them?”, Junhoe interrupted.

“Of course! I’m his friend! Best of friend!”

“Just friend, huh?”, Junhoe asked quietly, almost as if he’s talking to himself.

“Eh…? What’s that?”, Chanwoo asked.

“Nothing. Now, where were we?”

They continued talking like that, completely forgetting about the negotiation. Before they even realized it, the sun already set.

“Oh… Look at the time.”, Junhoe said.

“Ah! What about the negotiation? I completely forgot!”, Chanwoo shouted in surprise.

Junhoe laughed at Chanwoo’s reaction, “Well, Let’s make it easier for you. I’ll just agree with whatever condition you put in.”

“No, you can’t do that. We need to do it properly! Otherwise what will I say to my father?”, Chanwoo protested.

“I see… Well, we can do it now, if you want.”

“But it’s already late. I don’t want to hold you back… What if I just come back again tomorrow?”

For some reason, Junhoe got slightly happy when he heard that Chanwoo is coming again (although he wouldn’t admit it). He ended up staring at Chanwoo for a while.

“Unless you really want to do it now?”, Chanwoo added, bringing Junhoe back to reality.

“Nah, we can do it tomorrow.”

“Ok. I’m going home then.”

“How do you go home? Did you drive?”, Junhoe asked.

“No, I took taxi.”

Hearing that, Junhoe stood up and said, “I’ll drive you home.”.

“Hmm? I don’t want to bother you. I can go home myself.”

“I insist.”, Junhoe said as he grabbed Chanwoo wrist. “Now let’s go.”

“You’re just like Hanbin…”, Chanwoo said quietly to himself.

“What’s that?”