One smile.

Mina felt ashamed to admit it was all it took.

One smile from the new beautiful CEO and here she was, unable to concentrate on the paperwork in front of her. Just like that.

Sighing, Mina leaned back on her seat and threw her head back, frustrated. She had so much work to do. And at this rate, it was going to take her all day.

She closed her eyes to the sounds of her co-workers arguing which advertisement was better for their new product. 

Another sigh fell from her lips. Once again, she was slouching at her desk, reading through the files. She had to get this done one way or another.

One sip from her coffee.

Mina grabbed the next file.

Another sip.

Another file.

Bathroom break.

Another file. Another sip. Refill. Another sip.

Her back was sore by the time she was finished, her hands cramping. She stood up and stretched her arms. There wasn't much noise around the office now that it was past working hours. Those who were still at the office were getting ready to leave.

She adjusted her ponytail before grabbing her cup and drinking what little coffee was left in it.

"So much caffeine.."

Mina's eyes opened wide as she turned around. "A-Ah, Ms. Chou." She bowed slightly, her hands gripping the cup a little tighter.

"It's bad for you, you know."

Mina stayed silent, refusing to look into the woman's eyes. Even though she desperately wanted to get the conversation going and maybe see the one smile she came to admire so much.

The sharp clacks of the CEO's heels against the floor had Mina holding her breath.

Suddenly but slowly, gentle hands grabbed the cup from hers and put it on her desk.

"I hope you haven't overworked yourself today, Ms. Myoui. I'd hate it if one of my employees called in sick on my first week as a CEO."

Her friendly smile was the first thing Mina saw when she lifted her head. It was comforting. 

Until Mina noticed how close they were standing together and took a step back in surprise. The CEO's smile didn't falter and Mina was glad, she'd hate to ruin whatever this was.

Just before speaking, she wet her dry lips and parted them slightly, trying to look confident. "You don't have to worry about me, Ms. Chou. I tend to look after myself well."

"I'd like to believe that's the case."

When the tall woman crossed her arms, Mina couldn't help but admire how strong and successful she looked. Only a second later, their eyes met again and Mina felt her eyes burning with tears, embarrassed at getting caught. She hang her head low again.

"It's quite late." The CEO spoke, her soft voice the only thing breaking the deafening silence in the office. "Will you be okay driving?" Mina watched as the younger woman walked away and pressed a button, thus calling the elevator.

Never in her life did Mina tidy her things up so quick.

Throwing her coat around her shoulders and grabbing her bag, she hurried over to the elevator that her boss was keeping open for her.

"I take the subway." The doors closed.

"This late?"

Mina smiled at her concerned voice. "I'll be fine, Ms. Chou." 

The elevator announced they were on the ground floor as its doors opened. They both walked out, side by side.

"I could give you a ride?"

Mina stopped walking and turned, looking up at the taller woman. agape. "I wouldn't want to bother you."

The CEO laughed. "Actually, you would be doing me a favor by accepting. I really like driving."

Mina let out a soft laugh that she hid with her hand before finally nodding, accepting the kind offer.

"Also, please call me Tzuyu outside of work. Ms. Chou is too formal for me and I'm still not really used to it." When the CEO looked down bashfully, like she was embarrassed to request such a thing, red dusting her cheeks– Mina had never been so sure in her life she had a crush on someone.

***

"That is all." Everyone got up from their seats after the CEO did, eager to leave the room after the past tiring two hours. 

Well, Mina was an exception. As she sat there, pen in hand, she smiled softly at the CEO who shyly chuckled at something one of her employees said, dimple appearing. Mina wouldn't have minded if the meeting lasted a few more hours, really.

Noticing the very few people in the room and not wanting to leave last, Mina grabbed her notes and finally stood up. Without sparing even a glance in Tzuyu's direction on her way out, she left.

On her way, she filled herself a steaming hot cup of coffee.

Once she got to her desk and put her notes neatly in her drawer to view them later, she grabbed the cup resting near her laptop.

The taste of sugar washed over as she took a sip of her coffee. Mina liked her coffee sweet, regardless of many others in the office assuming bitter black coffee was her favorite.

"I really hope that's your first cup of the day."

Mina burned her tongue on the coffee. She jumped just a bit at the instant pain, looking up to find her boss staring at her with files in her hands.

"Second."

Tzuyu laughed. Mina felt herself relax at the melodic sound.

"I actually came to ask you something." The CEO clutched at the files she kept secure against her chest with both hands. "What are your thoughts on the topics we discussed at the meeting?"

You've been really quiet, goes unsaid but Mina's sharp enough to pick it up from the tip of Tzuyu's tongue. 

Mina was surprised. She was always quiet during the meetings because she felt nervous to speak up in front of so many people, but this was the first time a CEO (or anyone else, really) asked her thoughts in private. It brought a smile to her face.

"I agree with the new route we're taking to promote our products, Ms. Chou. I have no complaints."

"Good to know." Tzuyu looked down with a small smile. A few moments of awkward silence later, the CEO pressed her lips together. "Well then...I'll leave you to it."

The soft smile never left Mina's face as she watched her boss leave.

Their small interaction fueled her mood up the rest of the day and Mina got things done quicker than ever. It went without saying that Ray was very pleased to find his owner home early.

***

It had been about four months since Chou Tzuyu became the CEO. Things went smoothly than ever and their sales (that were already high) considerably increased thanks to Tzuyu's smart business decisions.

Mina liked going to work now. Rather than groaning about wanting to sleep more and snoozing four alarms, she threw herself out of bed as soon as she was awake. Going to work meant seeing Tzuyu after all. 

Today was one of those days where she didn't have that much work to do. Normally she would skip lunch and drown herself in paperwork to be done as fast as possible. But today...there wasn't a reason to skip lunch, so she grabbed her coat and purse.

When the elevator door opened, she came face to face with the CEO. Tzuyu mumbled an apology for nearly bumping into her, and without another word she left. Mina frowned at how unlike Tzuyu this was, noting how her steps looked urged and nervous.

Frowning, she decided lunch could wait.

She asked around, wondering why Tzuyu was so stressed all of a sudden.

Wendy, the lead of the marketing team, was the one who answered her question. "I heard some beginner company tried to sue us yesterday. Apparently we copied something of theirs? Or so they say. I'm sure it's nothing. companies always try to sue others to gain publicity."

This explained how nervous Tzuyu looked.

It was understandable that the new CEO was worried about this, considering she didn't have many experience and it was the first time she was facing a lawsuit against her company. Mina on the other hand, knew this wasn't something to be concerned about except for the huge pile of paperwork it would bring.

As Mina sat outside a restaurant, slowly eating the food she ordered, her thoughts were of Tzuyu's worried expression at the elevator. It bothered her that the CEO hadn't left the company building for lunch like she usually did at 1pm. Yes, Mina knew when she went out and came back. No, she wasn't stalking her, her desk was just right near the CEO's office, that's all.

Suddenly, Mina felt very confident to do something she never thought she would do as she walked towards the company building.

Now out of the elevator, she took hesitant steps towards the CEO's office. Without giving herself a chance to rethink, she knocked and a voice immediately welcomed her in.

Mina tried not to fidget as Tzuyu's sleepy eyes stared at her for a moment, the lively glint in them gone.

"Oh, Ms. Myoui." Tzuyu continued to organize the files on her huge desk, occasionally glancing at her laptop. "I'm afraid now isn't a good time."

It would be a lie if Mina said she wasn't expecting the smile Tzuyu always gave her when she came in. But there was nothing of the sort that greeted her this time, the shuffling of papers didn't stop and the CEO barely looked at her.

"Ms. Chou, have you had lunch yet?" Although Mina felt discouraged, she wasn't just going to leave when she came this far.

Tzuyu once again looked up, finally noticing the bags of food in her employee's hands.

With Tzuyu's eyes on the food, Mina walked closer to the big desk, her hair falling over her shoulder. "I brought some...food for you." She put the bags down in front of Tzuyu, right on the papers she was working on.

The pen clicked once when Tzuyu hit it against the desk and sighed. "I'm..." She looked up, smiled, and took the packed food out of the bags. "Thank you. You're too kind."

Mina revelled in Tzuyu's smile, feeling great accomplishment over such a simple thing. "This isn't the first time this has happened. The company will be fine. So please, don't worry so much."

Lips parted and eyes slightly wide, Tzuyu blinked a few times. "R-Right. Of course." She then chuckled, her red lips pursing. "You're too good to me, Ms. Myoui. I'm a bit embarrassed." 

Mina fought the urge to hide her face in her hands as it flushed bright pink.

"Would you like to join me? Or have you already eaten?"

"I have." She watched as the CEO took a huge bite out of the burger, while somehow still managing to look cute. Suddenly she looked more like the twenty-four-year-old that she was and not like a CEO who ran a huge company. Mina smiled softly. "I'll take my leave then,"

Tzuyu chewed faster and swallowed down the bite, "Wait!" She yelled when Mina started to move. Her employee turned around as Tzuyu walked and stopped right in front of her. She grinned playfully before holding something out.

"Ketchup?"

"I know you like it. You can take it if you want. I have enough on my burger."

Mina laughed. The mere fact that Tzuyu knew this caused her heartbeat to quicken. "Okay then, thank you. Guess I'll put this with the rest in my ketchup drawer."

"You have a ketchup drawer." It was supposed to be a question, but it came as a statement Tzuyu sounded astonished at.

"Of course I do. You don't?" How was Mina keeping this conversation alive? She was quite shocked to be able to even function properly when Tzuyu was wearing that dress. The beige dress that in Mina's opinion, was totally not suited for work. 

"Maybe I should." Tzuyu smiled.

A knock on the door made them both jump.

The CEO didn't wait to answer. "Yes, come in."

As soon as the man entered, he started ranting to the young CEO. "Ms. Chou our game development team is having problems with the publishers. They want us to release the game sooner than the date we agreed on and people are panicking. We can't do it, it's impossible. We're already behind schedule because of the sudden–"

Tzuyu nodded as the man rambled on in panic, looking down at the file that was pushed to her forcefully. "Mr. Joon. Let's calm down, first. Take a deep breath."

Mr. Joon took a deep breath, his chest rising up. "I'm sorry for barging in like this. We were very concerned, so..." He breathed out, adjusting his tie that felt like it was choking him.

The CEO flipped the next page in silence, frowning, "I'll have a talk with our publisher. Though I'm afraid our contract clearly stated they could move the release date however they wanted. I also remember you telling me it wouldn't be a problem. "

"Ms. Chou," the man's voice was cracking under the pressure, almost crying.

Tzuyu smiled. "Well, I can be very persuasive. I know a few tricks to make them change their minds." Tzuyu's eyes met Mina's. "Ms. Myoui, could you bring me the file of our last game project that was cancelled and the records of previous payments we've received by the same publisher?"

Mina nodded, her stomach flipping upside down. She felt her crush on the CEO get bigger under Tzuyu's intense stare and sudden aura change. "Right away, Ms. Chou."

***

Mina breathed in the fresh air, watching as droplets of rain raced down the window. The rain had stopped just a few minutes ago, but the sun was already out, smiling down.

With a happy sigh, she went back inside and got dressed. A little bit makeup. No time to have breakfast or she'd be late. And Mina was never late.

Giving Ray a light kiss on the head, Mina scratched behind his ears. The dog's tail kept wagging happily as he followed Mina walking towards the door with keys in her hand. "I'll see you later, Ray!" Blowing a one last kiss to her dog, Mina shut the door and locked it.

On her way to the subway, her phone buzzed– she always had it on silent when she wasn't home. She didn't like drawing attention.

It was a message from Sana. 

Minari, I picked up Ray's favorite treat like you asked but the door is locked D:

Mina quickly typed a reply,

Stop acting like you don't have my spare key, I know you took it

Her phone buzzed with another message.

...i got found out :3

Mina hid her little chuckle behind her hand, shaking her head fondly before slipping her phone back in her pocket.

"Good morning, Myoui."

"Morning." She showed a small smile as she entered the office. Taking off her coat, she sat down, unable to stop herself from glancing at the CEO's office every now and then.

Tzuyu didn't come out.

Lunch break– still no sight of Tzuyu.

"Ah, Ms. Chou left this morning for a work trip." One of her co-workers must have noticed the way she kept staring at the CEO's office. "She'll be gone for two weeks, I think. You didn't know?"

"No," Mina shook her head and tore her gaze away, her thin long fingers moving along the keyboard, typing faster than before.

As time went on and she continued to work, Mina wondered if the office was always this dull before Tzuyu became the CEO.

***

It wasn't two weeks. It was two weeks and three days. Mina didn't even know she was counting until her colleague said it had been two weeks since Tzuyu had last entered the company. Mina immediately corrected him in her mind: two weeks and three days.

Annoying as it was, life went on without Chou Tzuyu. Mina missed her walking around the office, but she wasn't ready to admit that just yet.

It was 11am. As she was doodling on one of the unneeded files that would probably go to trash soon, the elevator doors opened. Series of shouts filled the office, making Mina look up.

It was Tzuyu. She looked even thinner than she was before (which made Mina frown), her skin a little more tanned, wearing a simple white shirt tucked into her pants with high heels. Her hair was the same shade of brown but more curly as it fell down her shoulders. She looked... beautiful. Charming.

Mina slowly stood up but didn't get close. Tzuyu was surrounded by her employees, welcoming her back, complimenting her tan and teasing her for being late to work. Tzuyu laughed it all off, handing small gifts to everyone with that famous dimpled smile. Once they were all preoccupied with the presents, Tzuyu looked around the office.

Mina looked away so their eyes wouldn't meet. This didn't stop Tzuyu from approaching.

"Ms. Myoui," She sounded so happy to be back. "This one's for you. Don't tell others but I...I put a lot more thought to your present," She whispered, grinning playfully as she handed Mina a little box, wrapped in mint green paper.

Biting the inside of her cheek, Mina gently took the gift from Tzuyu's hands. She unwrapped it, grabbing the little box inside and taking its lid off.

A small cactus.

"I remembered your desk being a little empty and figured you'd appreciate a little company." Tzuyu's dimple was still there, and Mina wanted to poke it. "Do you like it?" 

Mina turned the tiny cactus around, observing it.

When her employee didn't answer, Tzuyu sighed, her cheeks tinted red. "You don't like it, do you? I should have brought somet–"

"How often should I water it?"

"...once a week. I think. Or whenever the soil looks dry..."

Mina had her eyes still on the small cactus, pressing her lips together and smiling at her new 'friend'. "It's so cute."

Tzuyu coughed into her hand. "It really is."

***

It sort of became a thing without them noticing.

Tzuyu brought her lunch once, to thank her for that one time. A few days later, Mina couldn't help but bring her a part of her meal, because the CEO seemed to forget it was lunch break. They ate together in Tzuyu's office that day, without any words being exchanged. (Usually with most people Mina would feel the need to fill the silence, but Tzuyu's presence wasn't like anyone else's. The CEO managed to make her feel comfortable but excited at the same time. Mina loved it.)

Eventually, it became a routine. One of them would buy enough for two and they'd eat in the CEO's office. Some days Tzuyu would call Mina, and some days Mina would knock on her door. Either way, they always ended up sitting on Tzuyu's couch side by side like old friends.

Mina didn't expect today to be different.

She checked the clock on her desk before closing her laptop. Her tiny cactus was slightly bigger now, adding a lively color to her plain desk. With a small smile playing on the edge of her lips, Mina stood up. She grabbed her lunch, the one that Momo made for her the other day. They lived in the same apartment building, and Momo visited her almost all the time. Recently she got into cooking and Mina had to admit that she liked having a neighbor/friend who knew how to cook. Homecooked meals were the best. And Momo's were always extra delicious.

She knocked on the door. No response came, which led her to frown. Debating whether or not it would be okay to go inside without permission, Mina ultimately decided the CEO wouldn't fire her if she did. So she pushed the door open slowly. The sight of Tzuyu with her head resting on her desk, her hair sprawled across the files, her hand loosely grasping the pen that was just about to slide between her fingers– and welp, there it goes. The pen was on the floor now. The sound of it hitting the ground startled Tzuyu awake, she hummed in discomfort before lifting her head up. Her usually perfect brown locks were a mess, her eyes were barely open, lips pursed. She lazily looked around.

Mina felt the need to sneak away when she realized how long she'd been standing near the door, staring at her boss quietly like a creep.

Tzuyu smiled at her with her eyes closed. "Hi," She leaned back on her chair and stretched her arms out, groaning. Mina noted how loose Tzuyu's tie was, first few buttons of her shirt ed, her collarbones exposed.

Mina shut the door finally, taking steps towards Tzuyu with a shy smile. "Hi."

Tzuyu hid her face behind her hands, "I'll go freshen up a bit. I probably look like a mess right now." She stood up.

"Not really," Mina mumbled but it was too quiet for anybody to hear.

When Tzuyu returned from the washroom, Mina had already taken out all the food and prepared them on the coffee table.

Tzuyu slowly sat down on the couch next to her employee, observing the food. "These don't look like takeout."

"My friend is into cooking nowadays. She made them."

"Are you guys living together or...?"

Mina shook her head and grabbed one of the plates. "She lives next door."

"Oh." Tzuyu picked up her chopsticks. "Please give her my thanks, these look amazing. I don't even know where to start."

Mina supressed a smile. "Try the rice balls."

Nodding, Tzuyu reached out. Then all of a sudden, she flinched back, clutching her stomach with a frown. She looked like she was in pain.

"W-What's wrong? Are you okay?" Mina placed her hand on Tzuyu's thigh in panic, rubbing her shoulder with the other.

"Yeah–" She sighed, "Yeah, I'm okay." Tzuyu's face relaxed and she straightened her back. "Period cramps. They're worse than usual today."

Mina retracted her hands and grabbed her plate, throwing a sympathetic look at the CEO. "Have you taken any painkillers?"

Tzuyu shrugged, finally grabbing a rice ball. "I don't like taking medicine."

"Then go home. Rest. You're the CEO."

Tzuyu laughed. "I can't just do that."

"Sure you can."

Tzuyu shook her head, blowing on the noodles between her chopsticks to cool them. "There's too many things I need to look over. Our marketing team sent in their new ideas, the video game divison's lead designer is in disagreement with the other designers so I have to settle things between them. Not to mention, I also have to prepare a presentation for the meeting with our funders. It's due tomorrow by the way, and I haven't started on it."

Rolling her eyes, Mina chewed on the bread. "The new ideas can wait, I can help things out in the video game division– I'm familiar with the team, and you can prepare the presentation from home."

At the look Tzuyu gave her, Mina cleared , suddenly shy. Refusing to meet her eyes, she continued. "Yes, you are the CEO, but that doesn't mean you have to do everything yourself. Ask for help and we'll do our best. We're basically getting paid for that."

Tzuyu leaned her head on the older girl's shoulder. Mina flinched a little at the unexpected action. "If you continue being so nice to me, I might get used it." Her low voice was on the edge of a whisper, smooth and closer.

Mina looked away, felt dry, the words that she really wanted to say stuck on her tongue. "Just go home." Were the only ones that broke free much to her dismay.

Tzuyu let out a laugh. 

As they stayed like that, the food slowly getting cold, they listened to the sound of rain hitting the window. Their knees were touching, hands resting next to each other on the couch. None of the two brave enough to grab the other's hand.

~

Coming back from talking with the video game designers, Mina sighed in relief. She was glad that what they needed was simply an objective point of view. Everything went smoothly once Mina got there and they asked her a few hundred questions.

She sat down on her chair. There was a cup of coffee on her desk and Mina grabbed it, confused. As soon as she lifted it up, a little paper came with it, stuck under the cup.

Thank you. Don't stay late. ~T.

A smile bloomed on her face as she brought the cup to her lips and tasted the coffee.

It was sweet. Just the way she liked.

***

"Our CEO is the best!" Dahyun, the enthusiastic and talented composer of most of the games' music,  shouted at the top of her lungs. "I still can't believe she's taking the whole video game division to a ski resort. And I know we're the smallest team in the company but she paid all the expenses too, can she be any cooler?"

Chaeyoung, the lead designer of the team nodded her head in agreement, grinning. "Our game exceeded our expectations so I guess she's rewarding us for that. She's too cute."

"She's been super nice and helpful this past year, I'm glad we had a CEO change to be honest."

Mina adjusted her bags. She refused to put them on the ground, not wanting them to get dirty.

"And you've gotten real close with her, Myoui. She invited you even though you're not a part of the team. What's up with that?" One of the lead programmers, Jeongyeon, wiggled her eyebrows. 

Mina rolled her eyes. "Jeongyeon, next time you ask someone to test-play your games for twelve hours, count me out."

"...No! Wait, I was just kidding! You're the best player that gives useful feedback! Don't leave me~" Jeongyeon clinged to Mina like a koala, whining loudly.

Mina giggled. "I'm gonna drop my bags, stop it!"

Jeongyeon laughed but didn't let go.

"It sort of makes sense they clicked actually, Mina and Ms. Chou are sort of similar." The lead writer, Nayeon chirped in, grabbing Mina's arm and pushing Jeongyeon off the other.

Nayeon was the one Mina was closest to in the office. Both of them started out around the same time in the company and helped each other out which led them to becoming good friends. Mina had missed her a lot the past few months, barely seeing Nayeon since the older girl had to crunch along with the rest of the team to finish up their game on time.

Just as Nayeon finished her sentence, a bus stopped near them. Tzuyu opened the door. "Get in nerds, we need to be there before dinner!"

~

Mina somehow ended up sitting next to the CEO. She was sure Nayeon and the rest of the team had something to do with it, because it was the only seat open when she got in the bus. Not that she was complaining. Nope.

This was fine.

Mina felt her eyes closing after an hour, the bus deadly silent unlike half an hour ago where everyone was singing along to the newest pop song.

Her head fell back as sleep took over, the swaying of the bus making her feel like a baby in a crib. She felt a gentle touch on her cheek pulling her head to rest on Tzuyu's shoulder. Mina kept her eyes closed but sleep didn't come as easy as before. Tzuyu's shoulder was comfy, but her arm was stuck in a weird position between them. Without thinking much about it, she slid her arm between Tzuyu's, hugging her loosely. Tzuyu probably assumed she was sleeping anyway. 

When Tzuyu leaned her head against hers, Mina's lips twitched up. The CEO also closed her eyes to get some sleep, missing Mina's soft smile that was meant for only her.

~~~

If you wanna read the rest of this: Keeping Company