Thankfully, the interview went smoothly despite the intense, but controlled, stares they sent each other. Seungcheol gave Jihoon all the information he needed to do the job with ease, and Jihoon was glad he wasn’t like some of his other candidates who could ramble on for hours. Like, he didn’t to know his candidate’s mother’s middle name. Or their second pet’s nickname. Or worse, their hobbies. He had one candidate previously, who dragged the interview for a good ninety minutes, talking about their hobby of snail watching. WHAT WAS THERE TO EVEN WATCH??

Sometimes Seungcheol would spout some fancy finance-y terms that Jihoon completely did not understand, but just smiled and nodded along. That was a PRO TIP given to him by a senior when he first joined. If you don’t understand the terms they used, just smile and nod. It’s not like Jihoon was in the banking industry. He did know some terms and overall how things worked, but at the end of the day, he’s still speicialised in recruiting, not banking.

He found out that Seungcheol was a man of development, and wanted to leave his previous job in order to find something more challenging. With more career progression. And Jihoon found that impressive. For someone who was just a year older than him, Seungcheol had a pretty impressive resume AND aspirations.

Not bad at all.

-

“So this will be it for our first meeting. Thank you for coming down, I will contact you as soon as I’ve found a suitable job opening for you. You should keep your hopes up, your qualifications are all present.” Jihoon stands and extends one hand forward for a final shake as he picks up his pen and folder with the other. The interview casual meeting was over and Jihoon already had a few job positions in mind for Seungcheol.

“Oh I almost forgot, here’s my name card.” Jihoon pulled out a small card from his folder that contained his office contact information and handed it over as he escorted his candidate to the lift at the reception area. “Feel free to contact me if you have any other questions. I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”

“Can I have your personal contact number as well? Just in case I can’t get you through these.” Seungcheol said as he waved the name card between two fingers, eyes hooded, sending a cheeky glance towards Jihoon.

Well, that was unexpected.

“No.”

 Jihoon replied curtly, smiled a sarcastic smile, and walked straight back into his office. Jihoon was hoping and praying that he was not blushing, or if he was, that Seungcheol did not see anything. But once again, his prayers don’t work. Little did Jihoon know, Seungcheol was smiling to himself as he saw the smaller male walk into the office, ears dusted with a nice shade of pink. Cute.

-

“So how was the interview? Is he weird?”

“He seems normal, I think.” Jihoon’s vague answer caught Soonyoung’s attention. He tries to read the nonchalant expression on JIhoon’s face as he rolls himself over on his chair.

“You’re acting suspicious. Why are you blushing? Was he hot?” Jihoon could practically hear the smirk in Soonyoung’s question. He stared back for a moment, then turns back to face his screen as he sighs out a reply, knowing that his friend would not stop questioning him till he got an answer.

“A little. He asked for my number at the end of the interview.”

“Your office contact details? Did you forget to pass him a name card?”

A face palm deemed fit for the situation and a face palm he did. “My personal number you idiot, not my office number. God, why am I even having this conversation with you?” He gets back to typing on his computer, leaving his friend to absorb the information he just received. From the side of his eyes, Jihoon could see Soonyoung’s expression evolve into one that said: What The .

“Woah woah woah, are you trying to tell me that a hot guy asked you for your number and you rejected him??? Jihoon, you’re single, do we need to have The Talk again?”

Jihoon remembered the last time Soonyoung gave him The Talk. A quick summary: The talk lasted forever. Like a mother telling you how sad and lonely you’d be without a partner. Nagging, basically. Jihoon knew that his friend only meant well, but he wasn’t THAT lonely. Was he?

“No please i almost went deaf from the nagging the last time we had The Talk. Anyway, he was a damn candidate, and I don’t know about you, but I like to be professional in my field of work. So if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to continue getting work done. As should you by the way, you’ve got 4 more weeks till the period ends.”

-

“Bye Jihoon, see you tomorrow. Don’t stay too late.” Soonyoung said as he walked past. He let his eyes wander to the clock on his screen, realising it was already 8PM. 12 hours of his day had flown by in the office, and it was probably a wise choice to head home. He waved at Soonyoung as he exited the office with some of the younger colleagues, and he could hear their chattering (mainly Seungkwan) die down as the main door closed behind them. Jihoon took that as his cue to start packing up and leaving for home.

He stopped by the usual eatery a block down from his home to grab the usual dinner, and a cup of lemonade cause WOW they made good lemonade, and walked back, ready to retreat