You drowned out the sound of your best friend giving you instructions as he leaned against your desk, pretending to pay attention. In all actuality, you were much more focused on the absolutely riveting game of minesweeper but he didn’t know that… or so you thought.

“Are you even listening to me? I swear to Lady Gaga I will close that damn window, don’t think I don’t know what you’re doing.’

As soon as the threat passed Hakyeon’s lips you looked up at him wide-eyed, moving your hands as far away from the computer as you could because if there was one thing that everyone knew about Cha Hakyeon, it was that he didn’t make empty threats. Well, that and he would sass the Pope and feel no shame.

“Do I really even need to listen? We both know that you’ve already done everything and that I’ll basically be making him coffee and answering the phone for the day,” You responded with a slight roll of your eyes.

“, did you just roll your eyes at me?” He demanded, narrowing his own eyes in a way that was truly terrifying for anyone but you.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, babe,” you answered him with an innocent smile, causing his eyes to narrow so much you weren’t entirely sure that he could even see anymore.

“You’re lucky that I love you,” he finally responded with a small snort and eye roll of his own. “Anyway, yes I’ve done everything myself already, like I’d trust anything in your incapable hands.”

“If you weren’t paying me with a night out and free drinks I’d make you find someone else to do your job for a day.” You grumbled at him, pushing yourself away from your desk and getting ready to leave.

“Please, like you can ever say no to me.”

As much as you hated to admit it, he was right and it was definitely something that he used to his advantage at every given opportunity. Which was precisely why you were headed home to get changed for a night out with your closest friends on a work night.

Hours later you were very much regretting the demand of free alcohol and karaoke in return for taking over his duties as the secretary for the CEO of Privé for a day. A drunk Hakyeon was a very loud and opinionated Hakyeon, something your alcohol deprived mind had apparently forgotten as soon as ‘free alcohol’ was mentioned.

“I don’t want or need a soulmate, Hakyeon,” you sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that night… and it probably was.

“I really don’t see why you’re so against it,” He slurred over his drink, the one that you’d wanted to pour over him upon your return to the table thanks to the hideous name that had left your sweet, innocent lips. You didn’t think you’d ever get over the embarrassment of ordering Screaming With The Bartender.

“Sure, your parents left you and your sister to raise yourselves because all they cared about was each other, and sure your sister conveniently forgot about your existence the moment that she met hers but they don’t all turn out bad for the people around them! Jaehwan and I are still with you, aren’t we?” He asked, downing his drink a little too quickly for your liking. Even Jaehwan just sat there shaking his head at the thought of having to get him home later.

“You say that like it would change my mind. You and Jaehwan would put anyone off bonding,” You shot back with an amused snort. They were a match made in hell.

“That is beside the point,” Jinri butted in beside you, earning herself a glare from Hakyeon for stealing his gig. In the end, he just decided to ditch you all for the mic in the karaoke bar, quickly downing a Slippery first of course. “What will you do when you finally meet them?”

You shrugged at her in response, really not wanting to talk about it anymore. It was supposed to be a fun night out and instead it turned into a double team lecture on ‘Why you should be glad soulmates exist blah blah blah.” To be truthful, you’d had enough. You’d made your mind up long ago. No soulmate for you, end of discussion.

“Let’s just drop the topic for tonight,” Jaehwan cut in, your ever reliable knight in shining armour when it came to saving you from these conversations. He knew how much you hated it and that no amount of arguing with you would change your mind and would, in fact, just piss you off.

The three of you winced in tandem when Hakyeon’s song of choice came on, Madonna’s Like A beginning to play throughout the bar. You had to hand it to him, even absolutely wasted your best friend knew how to put on a show.

“HE’S NOT A !” You heard someone yell from toward the back and you couldn’t help but laugh, Jinri snickering beside you. Jaehwan had a growing look of horror dawning across his features as he watched his boyfriend on the stage.

You glanced up, only to laugh even more when you noticed the way that Hakyeon had stopped singing, hip jutted out with a hand positioned perfectly to rest there. “No one asked for your opinion, !” He snapped, before sassily flipping imaginary hair over his shoulder and turning around to demand a restart to the song. One should never interrupt a Cha Hakyeon performance.

“And I think that is my cue to take him home before somebody ends up injured,” Jaehwan stated, ignoring your puppy dog look when you turned to pout at him.

“But why? As if anyone would have the balls where Hakyeon is concerned,” You whined at him, trying to cajole him into staying. Things just started to get fun for you, now that they’d stopped their topic of discussion for the night.

“You know it’s not him that I’m worried about,” he replied with a roll of his eyes. “I’d give him one more shot before he eviscerates someone with his tongue alone.”

You sighed, knowing that he was correct, though you still didn’t like it. You also knew that it was getting far too late for you to be out when you had work in the morning, especially when you’d be covering for the CEO’s secretary. The pout remained on your face the whole time that you were getting ready to leave and your friends were trying to wrangle Hakyeon out of the bar.

//

Why, oh why, were you so weak? Thanks to your inability to turn down a totally free, all expenses paid night out with your friends you were running late. On a normal day, it wouldn’t really bother you that much, but this was definitely not a normal day considering you were the stand-in secretary for the CEO.

After making a quick pit stop to grab yourself a coffee, because by the mother of all things holy did you need it, you drove yourself as quickly as you could to your workplace. Thankfully, you were only about 15 minutes late by the time you actually arrived and you were hopeful that your day would only improve after it’s terrible start. But when had the higher powers that be ever been kind to you?

The moment you stepped out of the elevator you crashed into some poor, unsuspecting soul, who in return let out a rather undignified yelp at the scalding coffee that was now making itself at home on his formerly immaculate suit.

The moment that you realised exactly who it was that you’d just unceremoniously dumped your oh so precious coffee on, you started to panic.

“Mr Byun, I’m so, so sorry!” You bleated out, frantically pulling tissues out of your bag to try and absorb some of the damage because, of course, you’d just spilt an entire cup of boiling coffee on the CEO. You were expecting to lose your job on the spot, maybe get yelled at a little if he didn’t instantly fire you for your ineptitude and clumsiness. What you were not expecting, was the breathy and yet slightly pained chuckle that caused your eyes to fly up to his face.

“It’s alright, I’m pretty sure I have extras in the office. I can change.”

It took you a moment to register what he’d actually said because despite working here for over a year and being the secretary for his lead creative designer, you’d never been this close to him before. The man was beautiful, looking like he’d been hand sculpted by the gods himself and it completely caused your brain to short circuit for a moment.

His soft brown hair was messily styled and yet still made him look unbelievably y, something you weren’t afraid to admit. His skin was flawless, eyes warm and inviting and filled with a content happiness that you rarely saw in others. His pink lips were pulled into a soft smile despite the way that his coffee-stained shirt clung to him and how uncomfortable it must be.

You also weren’t afraid to look lower, noting the way that his suit jacket was ed and yet still seemed to hug him perfectly. You found your eyes lingering on the wet, white shirt that clung to his torso in a way that was far, far too appealing and quickly dragged your eyes back up to his before he noticed, though judging by the amused look in his eyes he already had.

“You…” You started, only to clear your throat and look away from him, the fact that he was amused at you blatantly checking him out actually causing you to feel a small tinge of embarrassment. “You keep spare clothes in your office?”

“Oh no I don’t, but Hakyeon does.” He answered you with a small chuckle, one which you returned with a smile.

“Of course, he’s always prepared for everything,” You responded, following behind Baekhyun as he made his way back to his office to change, while you made a detour to your best friends desk that was now yours for the day.

“Feel free to come to me if you need anything,” Baekhyun told you, hesitating with his hand on the door to his office and you gave him a warm smile after taking your seat.

“Shouldn’t I be saying that to you?” You asked him with a small laugh and shake of your head. He wasn’t like any CEO you’d heard of before.

“Oh, you’re right. Well… have a good day,” He told you, his cheeks looking a little red as he stepped into the office, closing the door behind him. You stared at the closed door for a moment, wondering why he was so different, so kind, before shrugging and getting to work.

//

Your morning passed pretty uneventfully given Hakyeon’s perfectionist nature when it came to his job. There was literally nothing for you to do other than answer the phone, play endless games of minesweeper and bring Baekhyun coffee whenever he asked for it. You weren’t afraid to admit that the coffee duties were the best part, the soft smiles and his shining eyes greeting you every time you stepped into his office and his softly murmured words of thanks making you feel much warmer than you should.

Should you be questioning the inexplicable way that your mind and body reacts to him? Probably. Will you? Nope. You don’t want to go there.

You glanced down at your watch, noticing that it was getting close to lunch time and that you should probably see if Baekhyun wanted you to get him anything or if he’d be eating out. Pushing your seat back, you were just about to stand when the man himself walked out of his office, glancing over at you with his ever-present smile before heading over to you.

“Hey, do you want lunch?” He asked you, propping a hip at the front of your desk as you blinked up at him, completely bewildered by the question. He was offering you lunch? Why was he offering you lunch? Wasn’t that supposed to be your job?

When you voiced those thoughts to him, it was his turn to stare at you blankly and blink at you for a few moments, before once again smiling and giving you a small shrug.

“I guess you’re right… so why don’t you go and get us both lunch and you can eat in my office with me?”

When you just stared at him instead of responding, your brain refusing to compute that the CEO had just asked you to have lunch with him, he quickly continued.

“I have more work to do so I don’t really have the time to go out of the office today and I really hate eating alone… please?” He finished with a small pout and wide eyes. Which you actually kind of hated him for because dammit, how were you supposed to say no now?

You stayed silent for a while longer, the pout not leaving his face as he looked at you hopefully and you finally admitted defeat. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if you agreed to eat with him, just once.

“Okay,” you finally relented with a small sigh, almost snorting at the way that the pout instantly changed into a blinding smile. He’d played you, and you knew it. “Anything in particular that you want, I’ll go and get it and bring it back to you.”

He shook his head at you as you got up from your desk, grabbing your bag and making sure that you had your wallet.

“Whatever you want, sunshine.” He told you, turning to head back to his office as you froze at the pet name, staring wide-eyed at his retreating back. “Just make sure it doesn’t have cucumbers!”

//

By the time you returned to the office with your lunches, you’d gotten over the fact that your boss had called you by a sickeningly sweet pet name and the way that your heart had reacted to it. That one single word had practically caused your heart to propel itself from your chest and after a very stern mental talk with the organ, you were satisfied that it wouldn’t happen again.

Knocking on the door to Baekhyun’s office, you waited for a moment until he told you to enter. He’d told you to get whatever you wanted and so you’d decided to get the black bean noodles that you’d been craving which made you stupidly happy. It was a side of you that even Hakyeon found endearing, the sheer joy that you radiated when you were finally able to eat something that your body had been demanding for weeks and this was definitely one of those times. You were practically skipping your way into his office.

Baekhyun had already removed his jacket and loosened his tie before you’d returned and you couldn’t help but n