The usually so cheerful and energetic Minki was notably quiet during the rest of the trip. He didn’t say anything at all when they drove back to the office building, and his lips still seemed to be sewn shut by an invisible thread when Jonghyun parked the car in the garage. 

“Are you ok?” Jonghyun asked softly, turning to towards him after shutting down the engine. Minki seemed deeply lost in thought, yet it only took him a second to answer. 

“I was just.. thinking about what you said earlier..” Minki timidly replied without looking at Jonghyun. “Did you- D-did you mean it?” He stammered softly, folding his hands into his lap and looking at them because staring out the window was no use anymore. 

“What do you mean?” For a moment, Jonghyun had to try and remember what Minki was talking about, but then it hit him. “Oh... You mean when I told you I care about you?” He asked, tilting his head. He couldn’t help but wonder where all this was coming from. 

Minki simply nodded in response, still reluctant to look at him. 

“Of course I meant that.” Jonghyun nodded rapidly, offering Minki a soft smile that was edged with confusion. “You’re the sweetest. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to do this without you anymore." He added, chuckling softly. "You know, I was really against the idea a partner at first. But now I’m against the thought of you leaving.”

Minki lifted his gaze to smile at him, despite looking sad and about to cry. What on earth did that mean? Wait. He hadn’t been fired already, had he? Oh no. Jonghyun couldn’t stop coming up with terrible ideas, and before he even knew it, he nervously whispered: “Don’t ever leave me.” 

Minki gasped. Just slightly, but it was still alarming to Jonghyun. And even then, he didn’t say anything. He just sat there and stared, until he reached up to rest his palm against Jonghyun’s cheek. "Don’t worry.." He whispered while slowly leaning in. "I don’t want to. I’m never gonna find anyone like you.“ He added, closing his eyes when he pressed his lips to Jonghyun’s. 

The moment their lips met, Jonghyun’s heart rate increased. He was never going to get used to the sensation of kissing such a beautiful person. Melting into Minki’s touch, he shut his eyes and leaned slightly closer to him, mesmerized once again. 

"Please kiss me again.. Tonight." Minki whispered after he pulled away. "I’ll turn off my phone." 

“Deal.” Jonghyun couldn’t hide a slight grin that etched upon his features when Minki mentioned the pesky phone. 

"I’ve been dying to... Feel you in me." Minki lowered his hand, opening his eyes to find a very flustered Jonghyun, who didn’t quite know what to say to that. What does one say to that? Stupid Minki and his overwhelming.. Sayings. 

"Come on." Minki sighed, placing his hand on the door handle. "The sooner we start working, the sooner we can go home again.”
“Um, yes.” Jonghyun agreed. This time, he was glad Minki had decided to change the subject. 

----

"Minhyun, you gotta help me!" Jonghyun basically shouted after bursting into Minhyun’s office without knocking like he always did.

"What’s the problem?" Minhyun didn’t even bother to look up at him, calmly continuing to write down whatever he was writing. 

”I… am in love with Minki." There. He said it. There was no going back now. Sigh. 

"Yeah.." Minhyun faintly shrugged his shoulders as if asking ‘so what?’. "Water is wet." 

"It’s not funny!" Jonghyun mumbled, embarrassed.

"Yeah, yeah." Minhyun grinned, he did seem to think it was funny. "You said you needed my help?" He finished scribbling down his last sentence, placed down his pen and looked up at Jonghyun. 

"Yeah.. Um... You’re my best friend. I just wanted to talk to you because... I’m so lost and I don’t know what to do." Jonghyun sighed. “I want to be with him but he scares me at the same time.. And I.. I just..” He groaned, not sure how to continue. “I feel like we’re meant to be, you know, but I also feel like the universe doesn’t want us to be together. I don’t know, there’s a certain distance that keeps..” He stopped talking upon noticing that Minhyun was staring at him in the weirdest way ever. 

"Aahh." Minhyun pouted. "You’re so adorable right now, you know that?"

"Shut. Up." Jonghyun shifted uncomfortably, then cleared his throat. "I never thought it’d come this far but.. Can you get into his phone? I’ve thought of just asking him why he acts this way… But what if I’m imagining things? What if he is exactly who he says he is. He’ll never forgive me if he finds out I don’t trust him and am watching him and-“ 

"You want to hack his phone?" Minhyun’s eyes widened. "You’re wild." 

"We do that all the time!"

"Yeah but not to guys we have crushes on’s phones!" Minhyun frowned, then started up his computer anyway. "Ok, what’s his number?" 

"Umm.." Jonghyun grabbed his phone from his pocket while walking around the desk. "Here.” He handed his phone to Minhyun, who entered Minki’s number into the professional program the company used to hack. 

"Let’s see." Minhyun hummed as the program slowly began to load and Jonghyun started to get cold feet.

"Maybe we shouldn’t.." Jonghyun began to feel more nervous by the second, and genuinely wanted to stop this. “I have a… date-thingie with him tonight. I won’t be able to look him in the eye.” 

“Then take him from behind. You won’t have to look him in the eye that way.” Minhyun kept a straight face, eyes glued to the screen.

“I really hate you.” Jonghyun sighed, deeply. 

“Ok, then leave. But I am going to stay right here find out what Minki’s doing.” Minhyun was already scrolling through a list of every signal Minki’s phone had sent out in the past 24 hours. "He sent a text to Choi Minseok about 3 hours ago! Is that his brother?" 

"Could be. What does the text say?" 

“Oh you wanna know? You’re not leaving?” 

“Minhyun, please.”

“Ok. It says; ‘How are you today?‘. Hmm. Very suspicious. This guy is a gangsta!“ Minhyun was back at it again with the sarcasm, but then he narrowed his eyes and seemed to be taking this seriously again. “Has he ever mentioned an Aron?" 

"No.." 

"I say we call this Aron right now! Judging from how often they text, he must know a thing or two about Minki." 

"What?" Jonghyun’s eyes widened. "No. Absolutely not." He shook his head. "What if he tells Minki about it? He’ll do that.” 

"You want to solve this mystery, don’t you?" Minhyun asked while dialling Aron’s number and turning on the speaker. "You underestimate me, Jonghyun.” Minhyun raised his eyebrows. “I’ll figure something out." 

"Oh, god." Jonghyun groaned, beginning to pace around the room, hoping this Aron wasn’t going to pick up at all. But oh no. There he was. 

"Hello?"

...