Did I mention that after my 5th year of working in the same company, I've grown rather tired of company dinners and that I'm really only there for the free food and beer? And of course since they tend to fall on Fridays, Baekhyun and I agree that he'll have the house for the night if he wants to. He's taken up that offer for the past five times now, and tonight will be his sixth. I secretly thinks he feels indebted to my boss. 

"Taeyong, you should go mix around with colleagues from your batch," I frowned at the male seated opposite me, drinking his bottle of soju slowly, "stop hanging around old women like me. It's unhealthy for you mental age and network." 

He rolled his eyes (gosh, that boy has no respect for his elders) and placed another piece of meat onto my plate before helping himself to one. Thankfully nobody saw this exchange, because our colleagues have the tendency to make a mountain out of a molehill. A couple of them in the office have already tried probing me about my relationship with Taeyong simply because he "still makes coffee for me after the two weeks of mentorship", completely ignoring the fact that I am rightfully superior and that's the least I would expect of him. 

"Everyone's seated randomly tonight to mix around," he explained calmly, "besides, they're gossiping about the relationship between the new intern and Henry from the Finance Department, and I'm not the least bit interested in that."

I nodded, impressed by his answer. Not many newbies in a company can stop themselves from succumbing to the powers of peer pressure and fitting in. 

"Besides, you're pretty fun to talk to," he added as an afterthought. "You don't seem to enjoy mixing around with the other managers either." 

Gosh this boy is really treating me like a same-age friend. I pointed out that he had been using banmal with me for a few days now when we were speaking in private after work hours, but he simply shrugged with a simple "do you want me to change?" I gave in to him too easily. I would never admit to that brat, but I do somehow enjoy his company. 

Maybe he does make me feel slightly younger again. 

"Manager Kim and the others are talking about her upcoming trip to Europe with her husband," I said moodily, "I've never been, am not interested in a trip there anytime soon, and I have already listened to her love story for about fifteen times now over the past few years of working together. She was repeating her Valentine's Day celebration story from last week for the third time just now. I don't deserve to be tortured during a party." 

As usual, Taeyong was rather cautious about replying, and fell into his pronouned moment of silence as he took in my old lady ramblings. 

"You're single." 

No Sherlock. What a savage kid. 

"Wow, what an astute observation," I said sarcastically, "I want to pull you into a headlock now but everyone will be a witness to the murder." 

Taeyong chuckled lightly, something that he often did when we talked.

"You say the funniest things," his eyes turned into two crescents along with the grin that stretched on his face. The alcohol in my system was making me think that he was cuter than usual. Damn, I'm too old for alcohol. Or maybe I should drink more often with XiuChen to train my tolerance. I've heard from Chen that Xiumin is an absolute monster. 

"Taeyong, how's your alcohol tolerance like?"

Taeyong seemed surprised by the change in topic, but smiled. I suppose he thinks I'm drunk-talking now. 

"Pretty high actually. I can do four bottles of soju and I'll still be rather sober," he said with that thoughtful expression again. Evidently that bottle that he's drinking had no effect on him whatsoever. He was still measured and composed like always. 

"Kid, then why are you still sipping slowly on your first bottle?" I asked almost accusingly. 

To my utter shock, he said almost matter-of-factly, "you will need someone to send you home later right? I can't be drunk if I'm going to do that."

I muttered something about being "presumptuous" and "overly mature", which I think he overheard because he was laughing again.

"Drink all you want. You probably need it," he teased. I was legitimately going to reach across and pinch him, but I was still sober enough to restrain myself. 

"Send Yeri home," I pointed discreetly at the pretty employee that had reported to work along with Taeyong on his first day, "for a smart kid you really don't know how to put your investments in the right basket. Go for the pretty one who is actually interested in you. She's been sending me weird stares since the start of dinner. I swear she wanted to sit across you." Because which female employee wouldn't? Taeyong is a blessing to the eyes, especially after you get tipsy and your mind puts in filters on your behalf. 

Taeyong just shrugged, "Really? Not my problem. I don't think she's that pretty anyway." 

I felt so scandalised by that statement I gave him a face of utmost shock and terror. If he doesn't think Yeri is pretty, this man has eyesight problems. Maybe that was his flaw, aside from being a totally rude rascal. 

At one point in the conversation, I might have gotten too tipsy, because I thought he muttered a "you're prettier" while chewing on his drumstick. But who am I kidding.

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The worst part about company dinners was not actually the gossips and the excessiv