“Thank you for calling the law office of Dr. Lee Jinki,” Kibum said with a forced smile on his face despite the fact that he was speaking into a phone.  “See? Simple.” He said, turning to the new hire and dropping the phone back into the receiver. “We don’t say the letters after his name anymore because it takes too long.  The man has been alive for 1000 years, he’s got every degree under the sun! MD, JP, CPA, CFA, CRA… and he’s even trained in CPR. His business cards are front and back,” Kibum explained.  “So just keep it simple.”   

     The boy he was training nodded along as he took diligent notes.  Their newest employee, a siren named Taemin seemed competent enough for the task of receptionist.  After rigorous interviews and lots of debate around the office, they’d settled on hiring the siren for… exactly that reason.  They were hoping a siren might be able to handle the angry phone calls a bit better than the rest of them. After a few centuries, Jinki had lost any and all patience for such things.  Minho, their accountant, was a centaur and didn’t take kindly to being insulted. As for Kibum, as even tempered as faun’s were said to be, he could only take so much. While all of them were skilled at their respective jobs, none were very well equipped at customer service.  

     “I think that’s everything?” Kibum said, looking around the office.  “I’ll take you to meet the boss man and then you can get your desk set up.”  Kibum led the way to the center office and knocked before pushing the door open.  “Jinki? The new hire started today.”

     “Ahhh come in,” Jinki said.  He was extremely pale, his lips a vibrant red against his skin and when he smiled, bright and inviting, you could just see his sharp fangs.  However that was where his resemblance to the stereotype image of a vampire began and ended. His hair was dyed a tawny brown, softening the harsh extremes of his vampire features, and he was dressed in a simple pair of slacks and a button down.  His office, far from any windows, was bright and filled with greenery. There were potted plants from floor to ceiling and strategically placed grow lights keeping them alive.  

     “Sir, this is Taemin, the new receptionist,” Kibum introduced.

     “Ah yes, the siren, right?  Nice to meet you, Taemin. We are all excited to have you on the team,” Jinki shook his hand in both greeting and an end to their conversation.  “Kibum, would you place a call up to Jonghyun for me? I was working on something and I hit a wrong button I guess? I don’t know what but the program I was working on is gone,” Jinki looked a little sheepish when he said it.  

     “I can help with that!” Taemin chirped, inviting himself into the room and plopping down in Jinki’s chair.  

     Jinki blinked at him like he wasn’t sure what had just happened.  “That isn’t necessary, Taemin. Jonghyun in IT is--”

     “All fixed,” Taemin said, a bright smile on his face.  “You just hid the screen on accident. Everything is still there.” 

     Jinki’s face seemed to harden, like he was fighting back a swell of emotion.  “Thank you, Taemin,” he said but his jaw was tense.

     The newest employee didn’t seem to notice anything odd as he all but skipped out of the office.  Kibum sent Jinki a tight smile and followed after him. This would not bode well for the office environment.  

     “I think that went well,” Taemin announced.  He was clearly proud of himself and was trying hard to impress Jinki.  

     “Yeah, about that…” Kibum said, glancing over his shoulder as Jinki shut his door with a definitive snap.  

     “What?” Taemin asked.  “I’m really good with computers, we don’t need to call the IT department for every little thing.” 

     “But we do…” Kibum tried to explain.  “Jinki puts calls into the IT department all the time.  That’s how he likes to handle things. He’s a vampire, he’s been alive since the Crusades!  He doesn’t handle change well.” There was another, more pressing reason why Taemin should learn to leave well enough alone but Kibum didn’t feel right about blabbing Jinki’s personal business to their new hire.  

     “Oh, it’ll be okay,” Taemin said, brushing him off.  “I’ve worked with vampires before. Once Jinki sees how much more efficient this is, he’ll come around.” 

     Kibum shook his head, hopefully the new kid picked up on how things were done around here before Jinki fired him or got slapped with another lawsuit for threatening to eat someone.  

~~~

     Unfortunately, the new kid DID NOT pick up on how things were done.  Taemin was a good receptionist, he was managing the influx of calls with a calm and confident manner and he’d taken to running the office with ease.  The office supply closet was well stocked, he’d even bought the name brand post-its, the generic kind was simply not sticky enough in Kibum’s opinion.  All in all he was a good fit in the office and he was very competent at his job, even going above and beyond his duties. He seemed to know where every file was and was an absolute computer wiz.  And Jinki was going to him dry in the alley if he didn’t knock it off.  

     “It’s been 12 days,” Minho whispered over his coffee mug.  His eyes darted around the room to make sure they weren’t overheard.  

     “I know!” Kibum said.  “Jinki has never gone this long!” 

     “What are we going to do?” 

     Kibum sighed, he really had no idea.  Jinki felt like a ticking time bomb. With each passing day he grew more snappish and short tempered.  “I don’t know but we have to do something,” He said. “If this goes on much longer…” he shook his head.  

     As if on cue, Jinki poked his head out of the office and Kibum and Minho peered around the door frame to watch.  “Taemin, put a call up to IT, please. My screen keeps flashing.” 

     “Oh I can fix that,” Taemin chirped, popping up out of his chair like a jack-in-the-box.
Kibum swore he saw a vein in Jinki’s forehead twitch and he shot a terrified look towards Minho.  They both sank deeper into the break room to get out of Jinki’s line of sight. “Come on, this has gone far enough,” Kibum said, motioning for Minho to follow him over to his desk.  

     “What are you going to do?” Minho asked.

     “What we should have done from day one,” Kibum replied as he picked up his phone and punched the speed-dial line for IT.  “Hi, this is Kibum on the 2nd floor. Can you send Jonghyun down A-S-A-P? We’re having a bit of an emergency today.” 

     Minho’s eyes grew comically wide, “What are you going to tell Jonghyun?” 

     Kibum shrugged as he set down the receiver, “Does it matter?” 

     Minho cracked a smiled, “I guess not.” 

     “Now… once we get Jonghyun in Jinki’s office, we need to have a sit down with Taemin.  He’s entirely too efficient.” 

     “Agreed,” Minho said. 

     It didn’t take but a few minutes before Jonghyun peeked his head in the door.  As always, the wood nymph was dressed in soft pastel colors and his skin practically glistened.  “Hi guys, you called?” 

     “Hey Jonghyun,” Kibum smiled.  “So… we aren’t really having an IT emergency but I’m afraid Jinki is going to fire our new receptionist already.  You always seem to calm him down so I thought…” He trailed off and shot his best puppy eyes at Jonghyun.

     “I wondered why I wasn’t getting my usual calls,” He said softly, his cheeks flushed with the admission. 

     Kibum tried to hide his Cheshire Cat smile.  The two of them were so painfully adorable, he couldn’t understand why they were still dancing around each other.  “Yeah… maybe you could tell Jinki you need to do an update or something?” He suggested.

     Jonghyun giggled, “Okay.” 

     Kibum and Minho watched with bated breath as Jonghyun went and knocked on Jinki’s door.

     “Who’s that?” Taemin asked, popping up between the two of them.

     “That is Jonghyun from IT,” Minho informed him, a smile on his lips as he watched.

     “Is Jinki having problems again?  I told him I could fix it,” Taemin pouted.

     “Yeah, about that,” Kibum said, glaring at him.  “There’s a reason why we always call Jonghyun.” 

     “What?  I’m really good with computers,” Taemin argued. 

     “We know,” Kibum and Minho said in unison. 

     Taemin frowned as Jinki opened the door and his whole demeanor changed at the sight of Jonghyun.  Jinki’s face relaxed into a happy smile and the tension in his shoulders seemed to melt. “Hi, Jinki,” Jonghyun said softly, the affection clear in his tone.  “Is this a good time? I need to check your computer for updates.” 

     “Oh course!  Come on in. I’ve actually been having issues with it for weeks now,” Jinki’s voice trailed off as the door shut behind them.  Kibum and Minho both let out a deep sigh of relief.  

     “I don’t get it,” Taemin said.  “I’ve personally fixed all of his computer issues?  They aren’t really even issues! The other day he turned off the monitor on accident and was convinced he had a virus!” 

     “Taemin…” Kibum shook his head.  “It’s not really about the computer issues.” 

     “You mean….” Taemin trailed off as Jinki’s booming laughter filtered out from under the door.  

     “I mean, Jinki isn’t as bad with computers as he pretends to be,” he said, sending Taemin a pointed look. 

     “So all this time when I’ve fixed his computer for him…” Taemin paused, understanding blossoming behind his eyes. 

     “Yes, all this time you’ve been blocking the out of him,” Kibum replied.  Minho nodded along beside him.

     “Oh,” Taemin said.  

     Kibum clapped him on the shoulder, “I’m glad you finally caught on.  I was afraid Jinki was going to fire you and you’re the best receptionist we’ve had in awhile!” 

     “He was going to fire me?” Taemin asked, his tone raising an octave.  

     “Well… he’s a bit old to be eating people who annoy him,” Minho said but his attempt to reassure Taemin seemed to have the opposite effect.  

~~~

     “Taemin, that ‘Adobe’ thing popped up on my screen again today.  That’s the third time this week,” Jinki said, his tone as distant and disinterested as it always was when he spoke to Taemin. 

     “I’ll put a call in to IT and have Jonghyun come down and fix it for you, sir,” Taemin said.

     Jinki, usually so stiff and controlled when he spoke with Taemin, softened.  For the first time since Taemin had started, Jinki smiled at him, because of him and gave him a nod of approval.  

     Kibum caught Minho’s eye, the two of them sharing a grin.  He'd known Taemin would be a good hire after all.