[CONTENTID1] l o n g i n g [/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]

“I cannot believe this,” Junhui groaned, sinking into a chair. “If he wasn’t our boss and I didn’t rely on him to pay me, I would kill him.”

Mingyu sighed. “It’s not just him, though. Our entire company screwed up.”
“Well, I had nothing to do with it,” Junhui muttered, affronted. “And now here I am, wasting away with all this paperwork when I could be at home, or with Jeonghan, or both–”
“You’re not the only one! I’m a hard worker myself, you know,” Mingyu retorted. 
Jun snorted. “Oh please, if it weren’t for Jisoo you’d never get anything done.”
“That’s not true!”
“It sure is.”
“I do not rely on Jisoo!”

“Yes?”

Their musings were interrupted by a curious looking Jisoo, having heard his name. Mingyu quickly backpedalled. 

“Oh–uh, hey. This , all this extra work we have to do since our company messed up a mass order and all,” he babbled.

Jisoo nodded, running a hand through his hair, exposing his forehead. Mingyu found that Jisoo looked undeniably handsome with his bangs pulled back and forehead showing, but figured it was best if he kept that thought to himself.

“I finished my portion of the paperwork so I was wondering if you guys needed help,” Jisoo explained, gesturing to the mess on the other two males’ desks.
Jun shook his head, a wry smile on his lips. “You’re too nice for your own good. People’ll take advantage of that kindness, you know.”
Mingyu elbowed Jun in the ribs. “What he means is, thanks Jisoo, but you’ve worked hard enough. We can handle it.”
Jisoo played with the edge of his sleeve. “W-well, actually I just kinda want to be here,” he said timidly, looking up at the pair shyly. “It’s boring in my section of the department.”

The other two raised their eyebrows at Jisoo’s startling honesty. Jun snickered while Mingyu simply smiled. “That’s fine then, I guess. Why not just go home, though?”
At the word ‘home’, Jisoo stiffened momentarily before letting his shoulders relax. “Ah, I have nothing to do at home either, at least here it’s rather lively,” he said with a smile. 
Mingyu noticed his smile didn’t reach his eyes. The skin around his eyes were tight, as if holding back secrets. 

“Is that so? Guess you can help me, then,” Mingyu said, ignoring Jun’s protests of having Jisoo help him instead–“Get Jeonghan to help you.” “But Jeonghan’s just a secretary!” “Too bad.”– and pulling up a chair for Jisoo to sit on. Jun returned to his compartment, and it was just the two of them, working in silence for a moment. 

Mingyu found himself glancing at the other’s side profile every once in a while. He really has a gorgeous profile, unmatched in the office, he noted. His neck stands out too. You’d think someone with such a prominent Adam’s apple would have a deep voice, but I guess that’s not how it works.

Jisoo turned to him suddenly. “Is there something wrong?” he asked.
“N-no, why?”
“You were staring at me, so…”

Mingyu couldn’t help but feel flustered, which was stupid, because he wasn’t a silly high school student who’d gotten caught staring at somebody, but an adult. Still, he looked away in a rush.

“Ah, no–it’s nothing.”
Jisoo hummed to himself, and Mingyu wondered what his singing voice sounded like. Probably soothing. Okay, enough with your obsession with Jisoo, he reprimanded himself. They finished their work easily thanks to the older male, and decided to get going.

“Mingyu, can I ask you something?” Jisoo asked as they exited the building.
“Yeah?”
“Do you drink?”

Well, that was unexpected. Again. Mingyu wondered how Jisoo always managed to catch him off guard. “Y-yeah, sometimes.”
Jisoo paused, contemplating. “I don’t usually drink but I’m feeling up to it tonight. It’s Friday night, so want to join me?”
This was definitely an odd turn of events. Mingyu agreed because why not? Better than rotting away at home, alone.

Back when Wonwoo had passed away, Mingyu drank himself into a stupor almost every night. It got to the point that his family and friends were worried he’d get alcohol poisoning and banned him from buying any or going to any bars. Soon, Mingyu gradually managed to get by without using alcohol to numb his senses.

Entering the bar, Mingyu sensed that hint of desperation he’d felt way back then. Drinking to detach yourself from reality. Isn’t that why people came here?

Is that why Jisoo came here?

They started off lightly. One shot, two shots. One glass, another glass. 

“So, what made you come here?” Mingyu asked, sipping from his second glass while Jisoo was still on his first. 
Jisoo shrugged. “Needed to unwind or whatever. Things have been kinda stressful lately.”
“Really? How?”
Jisoo sighed, putting his half empty mug down. “It’s complicated.”
“Well, I’ll probably forget anyway, since we’re getting drunk and all. Tell me.” Mingyu didn’t know why, but he wanted to know what was plaguing the other’s mind.

Jisoo suddenly swiped the glass of beer back up and chugged the entire remaining half in one swig. He set the glass down, his face already slightly flushed.
“I have a partner, you see,” he mumbled. “And lately things have been rocky between us.”
He ordered another mug of beer, despite how much he hated the drink. He just wanted to keep drinking at this point.
“I don’t know what I did wrong,” Jisoo proclaimed. “He just suddenly doesn’t seem to like me anymore.”

Mingyu had stopped drinking by now, instead listening to Jisoo intently. Besides, the latter was doing enough drinking for the two of them. In between sentences he would take a hefty swig of the drink. Mingyu couldn’t help but be in awe over the contrast between Ji