nine! The clock on the beige wall was ticking, but it didn't bother to count every movement of the arrow, humans are used to follow the time running in front of their eyes, but too incapable we are to stop it. Time. A term that we define with minutes, and seconds, and people say forever, but do they know how the time works? It's equivalent to the forever that doesn't exist, to the ephemeral beauty that you find in a person, a flower, a poem, and a life. Jaehyun was counting every moment he's been spending here, occasionally meeting the antique clock that was placed in the middle of the blank wall.

The broad body was sitting on the edge of the comfortable hotel bed, the burgundy bedsheets crinkling under the weight of Jaehyun's frame. Slim digits trapped the little buttons of his silk shirt, little by little moving to the next one. The petite body sleeping next to him slowly opened the eyes at the sound of the taller's actions, the dim lights caressing the porcelain face of the young man. He sat up with a wide stretch of his arms, then lead his little fists directly to his orbs, rubbing gently to allow the vision to embrace the entire room, focusing on every detail surrounding them. Making a few steps on his knees, the long arms encircle around Jung's masculine shoulders, pressing the flat chest against the muscles of the other's clothed back.

"Are you leaving already? It's only 3 in the morning", the raspy voice of a person who just woke up from the Hypnos's curse cut the evanescent silence.

"I have work to finish", Jaehyun's words were strict, like he had nothing to add and explain anything to anybody.

"But baby", the young boy brushed the tip of his nose against Jaehyun's neck, which was covered in many semi-visible butterflies, colored in red and purple nuances. "We could have some fun late as well, you can leave in the morning".

"Jungwoo, listen here, I didn't come to spend time with you, or play that stupid game called love okay? I'm not going to pretend to be happy and feed you pancakes with syrup in the morning, got it? You're a e that I'm paying to sleep with, a really expensive one I have to mention." The elder turned his head to the side to have a look at the surprised features, the corners of his lips curving into an entertained smirk, before getting up and fixing the leather belt of his pants, totally ignoring the other's presence for now.

"You seemed to really enjoy my body, and you were more intense, your hips were slow and deep, and that's not how you were before", Jungwoo tried to look for something to make Jaehyun stay, to look for something small in his actions even if there was nothing, to say that he was attracted to money and luxury is like saying that the sky was blue.

"I was stressed. Get over it already. I have hundreds of s like you I can smash anytime, just because I was slower doesn't make you special. I have something better to do than losing my time on somebody like you, need a sugar daddy? find another client, I'm not interested in spending my money on you".

That was true, Jungwoo was blessed with ethereal beauty, he looked like a flawless doll that everybody wanted, his clients were going crazy, and the boy had them wrapped around his pinky, everybody, except the one he wanted. To Jaehyun, he was literally a doll, a tool he will use because he needed to repair something deep down inside his own persona, then put it away after everything is fixed. Somebody like Jaehyun was like a mountain, immutable and no matter how hard the wind will be blowing, how many rains will flood him, Jaehyun will never kneel. Seeing his weak side is almost impossible because he most likely has no weak spots.

Jung grabbed his jacket from the chair, throwing it over his shoulders swiftly. A hand slid into the pants to reach for the wallet, then to pull out a few green bills he threw on the nightstand. Turning on his heels, he made his way to the exit, slamming the wooden door behind him, leaving a speechless Jungwoo in the bed,  who had his eyes looking nowhere but the shadow that disappeared behind the walls.

Driving to the company instead of his penthouse in the center of the capital, Jaehyun had a million thought ripping his sanity in pieces, it was the reason of a horrendous headache, but also of a storm inside his rib cage. It's been almost two weeks since the incident in the toilet of his office, and Taeyong's seraphic visage was printed in his memory like the history in the bones. Eating him inside was not Taeyong himself, but the fact that he lost what was his, and he never loses. The boy was his personal dog that ran back whenever he called and wiggled his tail when Jaehyun called him a "Good boy".

The office seemed empty, even if it was just as before, the glass table was still there and so was the armchair, the rest of the furniture too. Jaehyun made his way to the huge windows that opened the prettiest view to the city, which was invaded by little fireflies, that were actually just the lights in the apartments far in the distance. When he wanted to go to the toilet, Jaehyun simply went to the public toilet or waited till he got home, never daring to enter the toilet of his office after that. It was too intimate, the air was suffocating with the floral perfume that Lee used. Smelled like the prettiest spring day, but Jaehyun couldn't stand it.

Losing himself in the war of thoughts, the clock pointed out 8am, when the doors constantly opened and the workers came where their place was. Jaehyun looked at the door as somebody hit their knuckles on the surface before entering. 

Johnny hurled a dark folder full of papers on Jaehyun's table, with one hand in the pocket on his pants, his gaze shooting into the sitting CEO that didn't even bothered to blink, not even mentioning talking, he stared the same way at Johnny. The oxygen was getting dangerously reduced, and no one of them wanted to give up the staring contest.

"Here's the contract with Sky Corporation. This paper will help us tov expand in the US."

"Good. About them. To celebrate the collaboration between our companies there will be a banquet that I find totally unneeded, as a deputy you are obliged to be there." He had no motivation to waste his words on somebody he detested, he just went straight to the point, honestly wanting his colleague gone.

"Don't worry, I will be there and I won't be alone",