just to warn you all, this story has sukai tag too. so please be patient and don’t get freaked out with sukai moments. i just find Junmyeon a very gentleman type of guy and i can’t pass him just like that. ps he has all those good traits of a kind ‘good master’ (can i get a man like Junmyeon? a baby or babies like Jongin? hahahaha).

“Papa?”

Jongin hums, catching up to his son; upon reaching he grabs his son’s small hand in his own bigger one. “Yes, what is it?”

“Its parents’ day next week, you know?”

Jongin freezes a little, though regains his senses back before Jin could understand anything. He clears his throat and squeezes his son’s backpack in his other hand harder. “Yeah, why, what happened?”

“You have to be there,” Jin says but not more than that. It’s only that his son is mature enough at such an early age that he doesn’t ask for his other parent after two years already.

The first time Jin had asked for his other parent, Jongin had answered that he was in a better place now. The second time he had asked, Jongin had answered that his other father probably loved that better place more than being with them so he wasn’t coming back (although Jongin regretted saying that to Jin when his son kept silent the whole day and cried of how his other father was a bad parent). The third time he had asked, Jongin had again replied that his father was in a better place only Jin had said that he should stop lying to him now, he was big enough to understand where his father was.

“He is not coming back anymore, I know.” Then curled his four-year-old small body in his Papa’s lap and added in a soft, small voice, “I won’t ask again; it hurts, doesn’t it, Papa? It hurts me too.”

“We will go; we won’t miss it.”

“Like last year?”

“Yes,” Jongin hums, “I’ll ask my boss for a leave for that day. We will have a lot of fun too! What do you say?”

“Papa you sound more excited than me,” Jin says with a cute, little giggle.

“Because I am,” Jongin admits with a quick smile. “And here we are,” he says pointing to the school gate. “Take care of yourself and if something happens, don’t hesitate to talk to your teacher or me.”

Jin nods, not that his father had said this for the first time: it’s more than a hundred times already. “I will,” answers the five-year-old and takes his bag from his father’s hand. After pressing a quick kiss to his father’s cheek, he tells him that he should tell Jin about his problems too because he will try to help him out then. Jongin promises him that he will (not that he actually would; Jin is not old enough to understand the struggle of an adult life).

After dropping Jin off at the school, Jongin walks toward the company building at a leisurely pace. He has more than an hour for his job to start, he confirms by looking down at the watch around his wrist. After being satisfied with the confirmation and at the calm environment around him, he decides to give some time to the memories of the past—memories of Kyungsoo. His dainty fingers fiddle with the strap of his watch before he looks straight as if not to cause any problem to passersby by bumping into them.

The watch around his wrist was the first gift from Kyungsoo that the elder male had gifted him on his sixteenth birthday. The strap is old now and the watch probably out-dated after all these years but Jongin couldn’t care less. It’s been ten years, Jongin thinks, eyes stinging a little at the memory of Kyungsoo’s wide and somewhat unsure smile when he’d placed the small box on his hand. It’s still vivid—the memories of that day—and the pain shoots through his spine at the mere reminder that it was all in the past. Kyungsoo was the past, he is no more. He is not Jongin’s present, and definitely not his future. Oh how much he wants to strangle this traitor logical side of his mind.

He cannot deny that there are two parts ruling his mind most of the times when he’s thinking about Kyungsoo. The one who tells him that he lost a lot and he has no right to move on from Kyungsoo; from his first love, Jongin believes this part somewhat. Then there’s this part which tells him that Kyungsoo was his past, he is no more and that he should move on. Kyungsoo wouldn’t want to hurt himself more than he already did anyway. He will be hurting, where ever he is, he doesn’t want to you hurt yourself more than you already did. Move on, Jongin, live a little.

He shakes his head and quickly presses a hand to his cheek realizing that he was crying all this while. A few people stop him and ask him if he’s alright if someone hurt him if someone touched him (did something socially unacceptable? Morally unacceptable?), and he tells them that he’s fine and “just got something in my eyes, I am alright now. Thank you!” with a squeak, before quickly jogging away from there.

His phone rings a few minutes after he crosses the Lee’s Bakery and with a frown, he picks it up, a little hesitant because this number isn’t on his contact list. “Hello—?”

“Jongin, this is you right?” A soft soothing voice asks from the other end. “This is Kim Junmyeon, the guy, I mean Sehun’s close friend.”

Jongin stops, phone clutched tightly by his ear. “Mr. Kim?” There’s a relieved sigh from the other end and despite trying hard, Jongin can’t help but imagine the smile on the man’s handsome feature. “W-why, I mean how did you get my number? I don’t remember sharing it with you.”

“I am sorry about that Jongin, I asked Sehun for your number. I hope I haven’t crossed my limit—oh, God, I should’ve at least asked you.”

“That’s fine, Mr. Kim,” Jongin smiles a little, shaking his head. “I just got a little surprised, that’s all.”

“Thank God.” Jongin hears the sound of a door closing. “It isn’t too early, right? I mean are you at the company? At home—oh no, Jongin, I am sorry, I should’ve asked you—”

Mr. Kim, Jongin decides, freaks out a lot. It’s funny, intriguing to see such a side of someone as big as Mr. Kim Junmyeon. “I am on my way to the company,” Jongin says with a small laugh, “I just dropped my son at school.”

“Oh, I hope he is great too.” Junmyeon was one of the few people who didn’t react negatively after hearing that Jongin is a widow and has a son of five from his late husband. Jongin feels good talking to Junmyeon; at least he knows that Junmyeon doesn’t think badly of him. “I would like to meet him... I mean if you want me to meet him, that is.”

“Of course, Mr. Kim, why not; I will bring him as soon as you get the time,” Jongin remembers the smile on his son’s face when he’d told him how he will take him to meet Mr. Kim—the boy had excitedly googled the man and had read everything that his small five-year-old brain could understand. “He was excited to know about you,” he adds for good measure.

Junmyeon laughs from the other end. “Well, that’s a good sign then, I guess?” Junmyeon doesn’t explain what this good sign is; Jongin doesn’t ask him. “I will try to find some time off—you tell me when you’re free, I will reschedule everything for that day.”

“You don’t need to do so much, Mr. Kim.” Jongin shakes his head, slightly confused as to why Mr. Kim is so adamant about meeting them. “You tell me the day and time and I will make up the time for the meeting.”

“Jongin, please, I insist.” Junmyeon presses and Jongin hears the sincerity lacing his words. “It’s not a big deal. Besides, I actually want to do something other than signing all these papers and attending meetings, then this, and then that.” Then the man sighs. “I want to live a little; I am getting old anyway.”

“You’re not that old, sir,” Jongin remembers the man telling him how he has crossed twenty-nine already and is soon going to celebrate his thirtieth birthday. “You’re saying that because, maybe, you’re a little tired from all the office works, and couldn’t find some time off for yourself.”

“That must be one of the many reasons,” Junmyeon laughs but it’s humourless, “Then again; you’re young: younger than me. You could always say that to me.” Jongin hears the sound of something being opened, maybe a window. “Have you ever noticed the weather of this day, Jongin? It’s so calm today, isn’t it?”

“I did; it is.” Jongin apologizes to the man he bumped into before shaking his head when Junmyeon asks him if he’s alright. “I mean, I am fine.” He presses a hand to his cheek before looking up at a very familiar building. How much time has passed since Junmyeon called him anyway? “Uh, sir, I have reached.”

“Oh, that’s fine. We will talk sometime later?” Junmyeon asks and Jongin hears the hopefulness in his tone. “Only if I didn’t bore you to sleep, that is.” Junmyeon laughs and it sounds nervous to Jongin’s ears.

He reassures the man that he didn’t, in fact, bore him. With a promise that he will call Mr. Kim as soon as he’s free, they hang up. Jongin takes a deep breath, straightens his coat lapels a little before entering the company building. The receptionist is the same woman that he’d met on his first day at the company, and this time she only passes him a smile. Jongin gives her a smile of his own, and bows to everyone who crosses him.

It’s Baekhyun who’s waiting for him at the elevator, or perhaps he was just waiting for the elevator to reach the ground floor. “Well, good morning, Jongin!”

“Good morning, sir,” Jongin says with a smile, and bows to him a little. Baekhyun pats him on his head as if he were a puppy.

“You’re on time, any special occasion?” Baekhyun laughs when Jongin passes him a wounded look. “Kidding, kidding. Just you are here for only a few days and yeah.”

The elevator reaches the floor just before Jongin can open his mouth to retort back, or at least try to retort back. Baekhyun stretches a hand to the elevator for Jongin before deciding to guide Jongin into the elevator with a firm hand pressed against the small of the younger’s back. “I am trying to learn how to act like a gentleman and not like a douche, you know?” Baekhyun says all of sudden before pressing their floor keys.

Jongin gives a small laugh in return. “Then you’re doing well, sir, except one thing.”

“Oh, thanks, but what is that?”

“You should not touch someone without asking them. You know, not everyone can be comfortable with every touch.”

“Ah, point to be noted.” Baekhyun nods then as if something comes to his mind, he speaks in a guilty voice, “did I make you uncomfortable? I am sorry if I did, that wasn’t my intention.”

“Oh, no, sir, you didn’t.” Jongin shakes his head, quick to deny Baekhyun’s worry. “I was just saying, I mean, you have to more careful around girls. Girls and actually everyone on this planet don’t like to be touched without being asked by a stranger. Or so I think and believe.” Jongin nervously looks down and fiddles with his finger. Oh no, what if he said something that offended his boss? He can be kicked out. Oh no, oh, no—

“You’re right,” Baekhyun says and nods at him. Though, he thinks back to the moment when he was able to score a passionate night with one of the girls he had met in a bar a few months ago. How charmed she was at his first approach, that and his wandering hands around her bare thighs. Oh, Jongin is just too naive to know what goes around in this world. Not everyone is like you, Jongin, Baekhyun thinks before shaking his head. “You’re right,” he says instead. He doesn’t think if he’s ready to burst the bubble Jongin has safely tucked himself into. “We reached, come on, let’s go.” He again stretches a hand for Jongin, making sure that his suddenly itchy hands remain by his side and not follow the alluring curves of Jongin.

“Thanks, sir,” Jongin mutters, just like the last time.

The CEO, much to Jongin’s surprise, is already present, and he’s going through some of the files that Jongin has no idea what are. Baekhyun clears his throat, and Sehun looks up; first at Baekhyun then at Jongin. A flush takes Sehun’s face before he quickly grabs his phone and looks away from Jongin. “Oh, you’re already here?”

Jongin doesn’t know who Sehun is directing his words to, but he bows to his boss nevertheless. “Good morning, sir.”

An awkward silence fills the air which Baekhyun finds odd too. He doesn’t keep that to himself. “Why, what happened? Is something wrong, Sehun?” He asks, walking toward Sehun’s desk and pointing Jongin to do the same. “Or are you just hiding something from me? Or from someone else, maybe it’s Jongin?”

At the mention of his name, Jongin perks up and looks at Sehun with wide eyes. “What, sir? Did I do something wrong?”

He sounds so worried to Sehun’s ears that Sehun wants to reassure him and tell him that it’s not him but him. Oh, how ashamed he is now! Not that he would delete those three photos from anywhere, but still. “Of course, not: it does not concern you, Jongin. I am just a little tired.”

“Oh,” Baekhyun says and Sehun understands the tone. “Sehun, you remember the file that I’d give you the last evening?” Sehun answers a hesitant yes. “Can you hand that over to me—Jongin,” he turns around to Jongin. “Can you please take it to the HR’s office, and ask him to sign these for me? You have to go out for Sehun’s coffee anyway.”

“Of course, sir, it’s no problem.” Jongin quickly takes the file from Baekhyun’s hands before nodding at the man as the elder explains the pages he wants the HR’s sign on. “Oh, and Jongin, please bring two cups of coffee. I want some too if that’s not a problem, that is.”

“It’s not, sir. What type of coffee, if I may ask?”

“Whatever Sehun likes, I don’t want to trouble you a lot.”

“You’re not,” Jongin says with a shake of his head, “I will leave then, sir.” Jongin bows, and then leaves.

As soon as Jongin is out of the office, Baekhyun drops his cool, sweet smile before turning around to look at Sehun. “What did you do?” He asks with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

Sehun passes him an uneasy smile before he gives a shrug to Baekhyun. “Nothing, what are you talking about anyway?”

Baekhyun passes him a look before shrugging. Sehun knows Baekhyun hasn’t dropped the topic, yet, so he tries to stay attentive. He tries to bring his laptop and his phone close to him as much as possible, only Baekhyun catches the movements, and in a swift movement quickly snatches Sehun’s phone and laptop away from the younger’s reach.

Sehun doesn’t even try to ask for them back when silence falls between them. Baekhyun stays silent, looks at his laptop screen then at his phone’s background, and then looks at him. A smile appears on his thin lips, Sehun raises an eyebrow, Baekhyun shakes his head, and then—

He cackles loudly, the sound resonates in the silence of the CEO’s office. “You creep,” says he, looking through the three pictures on Sehun’s laptop again. “Such a creep, yikes,” he adds an afterthought.

“Shut up—give me my phone back and my laptop too—”

“Imagine what Jongin would say if he found out what you are doing with his pictures. That poor baby would definitely leave this place for good.”

Despite not wanting to, Sehun does end up imagining Jongin reacting to it and , it’s not pretty. Maybe Jongin would end up slapping him, would scream at him and tell everyone how much of a creep their boss actually is, maybe he would give all the channels interviews and tell them that the nation’s favourite bachelor is actually a creepy stalker and goes around secretly keeping pictures of everyone he deems beautiful. Maybe people would believe Jongin then and his years of reputation would be torn into—

“I can clearly see the worry on your face, sir, are you okay?” Sehun does not know when Jongin came back from the office of the HR that Baekhyun had sent him to get a sign on the pages. He doesn’t even know for how long he was thinking and wondering about various scenarios. From the look on Baekhyun’s face, he knows he did for a very long time. “Sir, is there something wrong?”

“Nothing, Jongin,” Baekhyun answers instead and quickly gives Sehun his phone and laptop back. No matter how much he loves to make fun of his best friend, he does not want him to get in trouble or worse create a bad name for himself no matter what he is doing. He will talk to him about this sometime later anyway. “Did you give Mr. Lee the file?”

“Yes, sir, Mr. Lee asked me to give you this file. He said he wants you to clear them now.” Jongin passes the said file to Baekhyun before turning around and looking at Sehun. “Sir, are you really okay? You’re looking really... pale.”

“That’s his skin tone, don’t worry, Jongin. He just loves acting like a vampire.” Baekhyun says with a snicker.

Sehun passes Baekhyun a bored look and waves Jongin off with a careless flick of his hand. “I am fine; it’s nothing to worry about.” Then points to Baekhyun, and then to the door of his office. “You can get out.”

“Oh, talking with disrespect for the elders, are we?”

Sehun clears his throat, understanding the threat behind the elder’s words. “Thanks for accompanying me, hyung... but you must have some job to do, no? Why don’t you go and finish them like a good employee that you are?”

Baekhyun snickers but nods anyway; Jongin passes them a confused look.

After making sure that Baekhyun is gone, Sehun quickly places his phone upside down on the table, switches off his laptop and looks straight into Jongin’s eyes. Why is he scared anyway? He is Oh Sehun; he can do whatever he wants to. With a deep intake of breath, he clears his throat because he’s still feeling nervous and afraid (afraid?).

“Uh, Jongin, so... today’s schedule?”

Jongin nods at him and starts repeating his schedule in a cool, professional tone. He has a meeting in half an hour, then a meeting at twelve in the afternoon, then... Jongin looks so pretty when he’s focussing on something, Sehun thinks, eyes flitting whatever he could ogle at without being caught. There’s a twitch on Jongin’s face and then he’s looking back into Sehun’s eyes. His big, wide eyes are looking worried for some reason, then there’s a scrunch of a small nose, pretty pouty lips engage themselves with speaking again. Sehun blinks, the reverie breaks, and he realizes he was staring like a ing creep. What is wrong with him anyway?

“Air; I need some air.” He gasps as if he’s dying, before getting up from his chair and practically running toward the window. He opens the window, closes his eyes and takes a few deep breaths.

“Sir?” Hesitant footsteps follow him before Sehun’s feels a presence behind him. “Are you okay, sir? Everything’s fine?”

“Yeah, yeah, everything is fine. Just give me a moment.” He waves Jongin off and then opens his eyes looking straight at other skyscrapers around his company building. Looking down at the tiny walking people on the road below him, he realizes what’s going wrong since the start; since day one when he first laid his eyes on Jongin. He didn’t his PA as soon as he got him alone! He didn’t make a move to charm Jongin into his bed or maybe on the office table where he could’ve ed Jongin from—

“Sir, your phone is ringing,” Jongin breaks the silence around them, and also shushes the demon inside Sehun’s currently useless mind.

“Pick it up, or bring it to me. At least check who it is before giving it to me,” he says with a casual tone just when his phone goes off. It’s not Jongin until answers a meek “yes, sir” that he realizes what a fool he actually is. He turns around just in time to see Jongin stretching his hand toward the phone kept on the table. “Don’t touch it!” He shouts when Jongin picks it up. Jongin looks at him in confusion, the phone is still clutched tightly in Jongin’s hand and Sehun breathes heavily. Oh no, what if he sees what I am hiding in it! He walks toward Jongin, and then stumbles upon the carpet on the floor and straight up crashes into Jongin.

They fall on the floor with a loud thud, Jongin whines lowly just in Sehun’s ear (the sound is going to haunt Sehun in his wildest dreams), Jongin’s arms are tightly wrapped around his shoulders, his own hands are placed just beside his PA’s head on the floor. There’s another crash, but Sehun doesn’t need to look at their right to know that it’s his phone. Jongin and Jongin’s presence need at most attention.

“Jongin, are you okay—” Their faces are just a few inches apart, their faces are so close that Sehun could clearly feel Jongin’s warm breath ghosting his cheek. Jongin quickly unwraps his arms from around Sehun’s shoulders; they fall uselessly beside his head (Sehun adjusts his own hands a little to give Jongin’s arms a little space—but what the hell? This isn’t shooting of a drama, why is he acting like this?).

“Uh, sir,” says Jongin, and Sehun watches in awe as a pretty pink slowly starts spreading over Jongin’s soft cheeks. Jongin parts his lips, looks up into his eyes with this terrified look in his eyes that it nearly scares Sehun back. “Sir, please get up—” Sehun ignores him or at least this ert side of him ignores Jongin’s words. He leans in, Jongin passes him worried eyes, and Sehun leans down a little more. Just when he’s about to press his lips to Jongin’s, the door of his office opens, his father steps in, and some heads of the other departments. They look up and at the intruders before Sehun quickly gets up from the floor and helps Jongin up.

Heavy silence befalls between all of them, his father passes him this surprised, horrified look before one of the heads—the HR Head—clears his throat and breaks the heavy silence between them. “Is this is what we were supposed to see, Mr. Oh?” Mr. Choi, the HR head, asks his father.

“I apologize,” his father begins in a guilty voice, “even I didn’t know that Sehun would do something like this.” Mr. Oh passes Jongin a look before looking back into his son’s eyes.

Jongin shivers beside Sehun, and from his peripheral view, he watches as Jongin tries to hide behind him. “It’s not what it—”

“For the sake of God, shut up Sehun!”

Sehun flinches and lowers his head. He does not forget to stand in front of Jongin when he notices the brief looks that some of the heads pass Jongin—disgusting looks; not that Sehun doesn’t count himself among them, but at least he isn’t as much as of an like them. “But, dad, this is not what it looks like. I just lost my balance and—”

“Thank you for giving us an explanation, Sehun, but we clearly don’t need that, and certainly didn’t ask for.” Mr. Oh passes him a stern look before turning around to look at the others. “Gentlemen, please wait outside. We will make it quick.” As soon as the men leave, Mr. Oh turns around and looks at them with a disappointed expression sitting on his face. “What did I do to get you as my son, Sehun?” He paces back and forth in the office before sighing a little. “I probably did some sin in my previous life, or maybe in this one too for I got to have you as my son!”

Jongin flinches at the cruel words thrown Sehun’s way. It’s not like Kyungsoo never did wrong in his life, Kyungsoo used to do a lot of things that Mr. Do never approved of, but it never went as far as this. This is the first time he’s witnessing such a stressed relationship between a father and a son. It’s misunderstanding, Jongin wants to explain Sehun and him, but a disappointed look of Mr. Oh on him is all it takes to shut up his mouth.

“What was your name again, Do Jongin was it? I never expected you to be like this, the first time I met you, I thought you wouldn’t do something as low as seducing—”

“He didn’t do anything,” Sehun is quick to deny his father’s disgusting accusations. He clenches his jaw when Jongin flinches behind him, before looking straight into his father’s eyes. “No one knows me better than you, dad, and you know how I go around doing these things, don’t you?” Then the CEO shakes his head. “He didn’t do anything. He has always been a good PA to me; it’s me who was trying to make a move on him ever since I first laid my eyes on him. Today too, if you didn’t come on time, I probably would have kissed him, without his permission.”

As much as Jongin is shocked hearing Sehun, he can’t deny that at this moment Sehun looks in control. He looks, somehow, responsible like a real, mature adult. Jongin lowers his head somewhat when Mr. Oh looks at him before heaving a deep breath. “I lost my balance; we fell. He tried to push me away but I only held him down. I tried to force myself on him; I held him down, and I tried to kiss him. It will be better if you tell everyone that it was my mistake and not Jongin’s, this will only ruin his reputation.” Then as if trying to put weight on his words, he speaks, “since people know about my reputation, they will forget about this soon. Do that one me; blame this on me.”

“Why do you always do this, Sehun? Are you not worried about the future, about the future of this company, about your own? What will you do if they didn’t deem you perfect for this position anymore? You’re only ruining the reputation that I worked hard for all these years.” Then the man sighs before speaking again. “You know very well that I am not doing this for your mother and myself. I have earned enough to live leisurely for the next ten years without even raising a single hand for work, this, this is all for you. Otherwise, I would have given up a long time ago already.”

“At this moment, I am only ashamed of calling you my son! How am I going to explain all of this to them? You know how much they are running after you, they are trying to look for even a single reason to kick you out, and here you are!” Then the man points to Jongin. “This kid over there is your PA; he is not your personal toy! Respect him as a human being, just because you met only disgusting people until now doesn’t mean everyone is running after you for your money and your looks.”

“He is here to support his family, to support himself, and to stand on his own. Don’t ruin his young life just for your own disgusting habits; for your selfishness. If,” Mr. Oh says just before turning around to leave the office. “If I heard this again, I will definitely kick you out myself.” Then as a reminder “Jongin, make sure he comes to the meeting that is about to start in a few minutes.” Jongin nods even though Mr. Oh doesn’t see it.

Jongin understands Mr. Oh’s worry; he does. He presses his lips in a thin line before looking up when he hears a sniff. A worry shoots through his chest as he wonders if his boss is crying. He is not, Jongin finds out when he looks at the elder’s face. Sehun’s face is flushed though, there’s a hitch in his voice, and his eyes are red-rimmed. He is about to cry, Jongin hesitantly stretches a hand toward his boss to grab the elder’s hand, only Sehun pulls back as if burnt. Jongin feels worried, but most of all he feels hurt.

“Sir, are you okay—”

“I need a minute,” Sehun says in a deep voice and looks away from him and outside of the window. “Can you please wait for me outside, I will come in two. I just need one or two minutes. J-just some time—”

“Of course, sir,” Jongin answers and quickly walks out of the office.

“What happened, Papa? Why are so... silent?”

Jongin shakes his head, gulps the rising bile in his throat before pulling his son for a cuddle. “I am just tired, that’s all. Today was a busy day at the office.”

“I know you’re not telling me something, but okay.” Jin places his small arm around his father’s waist before placing a kiss on the elder’s cheek. “I am always here for you Papa.”

“You’re such a good son, Jin, will be you be like this even when you will grow up?”

“I will,” Jin answers.

“That’s a promise?”

“Yes, I will be the world’s best son! I will never forget every good thing my Papa has taught me and will teach me. Promise.”

Jongin smiles and presses a kiss to the boy’s head. “I love you so much, Jin, you’re the world’s best son.”

“You are the world’s best father then!” Then with a small adorable smile, “I love you too, Papa. I will always love you the most.”