Two working days later, Kyungsoo received a parcel with his cameras and everything Chanyeol had taken from him, wiped of all data pertaining to Chanyeol although his work material was left almost untouched.

Kyungsoo also moved back into his own apartment, lying to his parents that the gas problem was fixed by his landlord already.

As promised, Kyungsoo stopped following Chanyeol around and had almost forgotten about the entire encounter with the said CEO, until they ran into each other again a few weeks later.

This time, it was by mere coincidence, although it made sense for either of them to be there at the time.

Kyungsoo was asked by his company to attend a fundraising gala on the rooftop patio of a five-star hotel. Kyungsoo was there to interview a rather publicly known CEO of another media and publishing company, who was also the one holding the said event.

As Kyungsoo was there on official matters, Junmyeon would be his chauffeur for the evening, driving Kyungsoo to and back from the hotel.

After the main event, which involved rich businessman and businesswoman coming up to the front stage with huge mock checks and pledging so and so amount and contributions, the guests were allowed to mingle around with an open bar and a buffet table laid out.

Kyungsoo quickly got down to business and interviewed the philanthropist CEO at a table somewhere near the poolside as per the latter’s request.

Meanwhile, Junmyeon was trying to take away some of the food from the buffet, seeing as there were rather expensive dishes being served and wanting to take some home for his children to try.

After the interview and some pictures, Kyungsoo too wandered to the buffet table to look for Junmyeon, who found someone he knew in the crowd and was now busy talking to them.

Not wanting to disturb, Kyungsoo found himself instead looking at a tiered tray of cream-covered pastries.

Kyungsoo was wearing a rental penguin suit this time and had his camera hanging from a strap down from his neck.

Pushing the camera strap aside to his shoulder so he could bend forward and reach for the food, Kyungsoo took a piece of the pastry from the tray and was ready to pop it into his mouth when he sensed the presence of someone looming around behind him.

“Kyungsoo!”

“Huh?” Kyungsoo looked over his shoulder and his eyes widened at the presence of this newcomer, still holding the pastry in front of his half-open mouth.

“I missed you, Kyungsoo,” Chanyeol lowered his head slightly to match Kyungsoo’s level, smiling fondly, dressed in a tuxedo and a bowtie.

“What are you doing here!?” Kyungsoo spoke, coming off more like an accusation rather than a question. Kyungsoo placed the pastry back on the tray, bewilderedly looking around and hoping no one he knew saw him talking to Chanyeol.

“I’m a businessman,” Chanyeol continued smiling, “-and I was invited to attend this fundraiser to make a donation. It’s normal for me to get invited to events such as these..”

Kyungsoo snickered dryly, “-and what do you have to contribute?”

“Money,” Chanyeol answered, “I have lots of that.”

“Ugh, of course,” Kyungsoo grunted, rolling his eyes and turning away from Chanyeol, pretending to check out the other types of food being served.

“Why didn’t you call me?” Chanyeol asked, following Kyungsoo around the buffet table, “I was waiting for you to call me. I missed you.”

“Why should I call you in the first place?” Kyungsoo turned his head to look at Chanyeol behind him, who seemed to be pouting and acting all cutesy.

“-because I wanted to take you out for dinner and a date. We could walk together down the river and watch the stars under the night sky,” Chanyeol revealed, “Then we can go back to my place and talk about ourselves over some wine and let things take us from there.”

“What!?” Kyungsoo almost shouted out, cupping both hands over his mouth as he looked around to see if anyone had noticed that. Thankfully, no one had.

“You can’t deny the attraction between us, Kyungsoo. You like me. I like you,” Chanyeol leaned against the edge of the buffet table, tilting his head slightly at Kyungsoo who was still scanning the crowd.

“Who said I like you?” Kyungsoo pretended to not know what Chanyeol was talking about, purposely avoiding eye contact with the CEO.

“Well, the close-up pictures of me you have saved in your camera and on your drive really says otherwise,” Chanyeol teased.

“Those were for my investigation, which turned out to be a failure and a total waste of my time and resources,” Kyungsoo sighed, holding onto the camera strapped down his shoulder like he would hold a bag.

“To be fair, your investigation was a gamble and you just lost. That’s normal in gambling…just like investing in stocks,” Chanyeol compared, “-but I’m a businessman and that’s what I do but for you, I’m willing to take a gamble.”

“Invest your stocks elsewhere. My shares aren’t for sale,” Kyungsoo quickly looked for Junmyeon in the crowd, wanting to leave the event already.

“Don’t forget to call me!” Chanyeol told Kyungsoo rather loudly before the latter stormed off.

Kyungsoo later found Junmyeon beside the fruit punch bowl, pouring some of the punch into a flask he had brought with him.

“Drive me home now. I need to get out of here,” Kyungsoo said in one breath.

“Oh, sure. You’re done here?” Junmyeon asked, drinking a little from his flask, offering Kyungsoo some of the drink, “You want some?”

“No thanks,” Kyungsoo put a hand out to refuse, shaking his head, “Just get me out of here now before I end up in a body bag at the bottom of the Han River.”

“Is anyone bothering you?” Junmyeon squinted his eyes, looking over Kyungsoo’s shoulder and towards the crowd.

“No! Of course not,” Kyungsoo denied, “I just feel uncomfortable around all these rich people. I need to go home and quickly write up the interview.”

“Sure then. I was just about done too. Give me a second,” Junmyeon quickly scooped more of the fruit punch into his flask with the ladle provided.

“Hurry up,” Kyungsoo hasted, spotting the plastic containers Junmyeon had gotten from the servers to take away the food, “I’ll carry this for you to the car. Just hurry.”

From afar, standing at a corner near the poolside, Chanyeol was still watching Kyungsoo walk away from the venue.

Chanyeol really found Kyungsoo rather adorable, even when half-annoyed and despite how Kyungsoo always seemed to be in a rush constantly.

While Chanyeol was still smiling to himself at the thought of Kyungsoo, he was approached by Sehun, his driver and assistant.

“Are you going to let him go again this time?” Sehun questioned.

“He isn’t causing any trouble anymore,” Chanyeol assured, “-besides, it’s not like he works for the Sangchal Group as we suspected earlier on.”

“However, he did have pictures of you which could put you in a compromising position. Even if we have taken care of that already, it doesn’t change the fact that he knows,” Sehun pointed out, “Wouldn’t it be wise for us to keep our eyes on him in that case?”

“No, don’t,” Chanyeol shook his head, softly turning down the idea as he put a hand out to convey his expression, “I don’t want to involve him any further.”

“You say that but you keep hoping he’ll call you,” Sehun side-eyed Chanyeol.

Chanyeol smiled, chuckling a little, “Well, I can’t help myself. He really is my type, you know.”

Sehun could only sigh and shake his head.

Kyungsoo never called Chanyeol; even when Chanyeol had told him to do so a few times now. The idea of a free dinner and a date with an attractive and rich man did seem interesting but Kyungsoo wasn’t that easy of a person to be led on like that

Furthermore, Kyungsoo was always busy working or preparing for the next news scoop to have enough time to date. Kyungsoo had spent all twenty-five years of his life as a single man and he wasn’t intent on changing that anytime s