It was Kyungsoo's first time at the company's cafeteria. He would usually eat out with Jongin during lunch. But Jongin had a lunch meeting with a business associate today. And the business associate insisted for Jongin to come alone. So now Kyungsoo was all by himself. Kyungsoo wanted to try cafeteria food, for a change.

The food at the cafeteria was a lot cheaper, yet the quality was good. Kyungsoo thought of suggesting to Jongin if they could eat there, permanently. But he knew that Jongin wouldn't agree. Jongin hated eating at the company's cafeteria. Jongin had shared to Kyungsoo that he tried it once, and he didn't even get to finish eating. All the people around were talking about Jongin; mostly the women, and men, ogling at him. It was terribly uncomfortable, so from then on Jongin had never set foot on the cafeteria again.

Kyungsoo sat alone, silently eating the food he ordered: cheeseburger, sweet potato fries, and chicken salad. He also got a large cup of pink lemonade. There were more fancier food there, but Kyungsoo preferred the simpler ones. He had been eating too much expensive food lately - from those times he and Jongin would eat out.

It had been two months since Kyungsoo started working as Jongin's personal assistant. Kyungsoo had anticipated that his job would be stressful. His boss was the owner of the company, after all. Yet his tasks at the office were anything but stressful. Jongin would only make him do standard work: sorting the mail, fixing the documents that needed to be signed by Jongin, relaying Jongin's schedule, going to meetings with Jongin, cleaning the desks, watering the plants, getting food outside, stuff like that. It was too normal that Kyungsoo started to miss how Jongin used to request for ridiculous things. Those times were even more challenging for Kyungsoo.

But then Kyungsoo really couldn't complain. He was very fortunate to have this job. To whine about it was out of the question. Kyungsoo was grateful to Jongin for the opportunity and he would do his job efficiently. No matter how simple or hard it would be.

Kyungsoo just wished that he had a close friend at the company that he could talk to whenever Jongin wasn't around. Some employees would talk to him before when he was still Jongin's housekeeper. But now that Kyungsoo was an official personal assistant of Jongin, those people seemed to have forgotten that he existed. As if they were deliberately ignoring him. What did Kyungsoo do wrong? He was only doing his job. There was Chanyeol, but like Jongin, he was always busy with work, and most of the time, he would be out on a business trip. Kyungsoo didn't really have any friends outside of work, and now even in the company. He felt lonely.

There were three women who sat two tables away from Kyungsoo. When they saw Kyungsoo they started whispering amongst each other. Kyungsoo just pretended that he didn't noticed it.

"Is that Mr. Kim's famous personal assistant?" One of them said, purposely speaking loud.

"Yes, that's him. My goodness. What did you think he did to get that job? I heard he was Mr. Kim's former housekeeper." Another woman chimed in.

"I'm sure he did something special just for Mr. Kim." The third lady commented. The three women snickered.

"Mr. Kim who refuses to have a secretary, and now suddenly he has a personal assistant. And look at who he chose."

"I thought Mr. Kim was smart. But he must really be desperate for choosing someone like that."

"Poor Mr. Kim." They all laughed.

Kyungsoo had enough. He couldn't take it anymore. He stood up abruptly, his chair almost tumbling down, startling everyone around. The three women who were gossiping shut their mouths in an instant. Kyungsoo strode to where the women were seating.

Kyungsoo smiled menacingly to the women. "There's something on your mouth ladies," he snarled.

When the three women just kept on staring at him wide-eyed and didn't answer, Kyungsoo went on, "There's a load of on your mouths, that's what it is. You could talk about me all you want. But don't you ever, and I mean, ever, bad-mouth Mr. Kim. You got that?"

The ladies nodded their heads obediently. They all look frightened. Kyungsoo smirked triumphantly and walked out of the cafeteria with his head held high.

Kyungsoo wouldn't permit anyone to say nasty remarks about his boss.

+

"I heard about what happened at the cafeteria." Jongin stated as soon as he sat down. He had just gotten back from his lunch meeting.

Kyungsoo, who was typing something on his computer, froze on his seat. He swallowed hard. He didn't regret talking back to those women, but he should've handled the situation more 'professionally'.

"I'm sorry, Jongin. I didn't mean to do that. Those girls just said things about you and I---" Kyungsoo halted when Jongin raised a hand to silence him.

Then all of a sudden, Jongin started laughing. He continued laughing until tears had formed in his eyes. Kyungsoo just stared at his boss, gaping. Jongin was actually laughing at him!

Jongin wiped the tear on his eyes with a hand. "I'm...sorry. It's just...it's so...funny," he said in between laughter.

Kyungsoo gasped. "It's not funny!" he grumbled, folding his arms across his chest and leaning back on his chair. "Those women said bad things about you, you know."

Jongin waved a hand dismissively. "Oh, I don't care about any of that. I'm used to it."

"Y-you're not mad with what I did?" Kyungsoo asked hesitantly, straightening up from his seat to get a better look at Jongin.

Jongin shook his head. "Me? Mad? Oh no, I'm not mad at you at all. In fact, I'm proud of you," he said. "That's just what I expect my personal assistant would do if someone talked behind my back. To be honest, I'm surprised you didn't throw something at those women." He chuckled.

Kyungsoo suddenly banged his hands on his desk. "Why haven't I though of that! I could've done something with those designer clothes they were wearing."

Jongin shook his head, smiling. "You're evil, you know that."

"Well...I just learned from the best." Kyungsoo said, winking.

And in that instant, Jongin thought that he should really consider giving Kyungsoo a raise.

+

A/N:

Rest in peace, Mr. Kim :(