Donghae stared at the email that he sent to his company with a proud, satisfied smile on his face. This was subtle. This was good. No one would question his desire to drop the formalities and he can get closer to Hyukjae easier. It was a win-win situation and Donghae was extremely happy that he came up with this idea all on his own. 

"Mr. Lee?"

Donghae looked up and saw his secretary peering her head in through his office door, an unsure and awkward smile plastered on her face. He smiled and motioned with his hand for her to come in. 

"Did you not see the email I sent out?" Donghae asked her after hearing the way she addressed him. 

She looked down nervously and cleared , trying her best to not shift in place as she swallowed down her nervousness. "Uhm, y-yes. I-I did." 

Silence followed her answer as she kept her gaze at Donghae's desk while the latter waited for her to say or do what she came in to do. 

"Did you need something from me?" Donghae eventually asked her and tried not to make a face at her strange behavior this morning. He watched as she fumbled in place and struggled to hand him the small stack of folders that was holding in her hand. 

"Y-Yes! Uhh...I'm-I'm sorry, Mr. Lee-"

"Donghae." He corrected as he reached his hand out to take the files from her. The blush on her cheeks did not go by amiss Donghae's eye and he had to wonder what exactly was it about saying his name that made people this uncomfortable. 

"Ri-Right." She stuttered under her breath then proceeded to awkwardly smile at Donghae before following it up with a quick bow and her turning on her heel to run out of the room. Donghae was left behind to watch after her, speechless and at a complete loss on what just happened. 

"That was weird." He mumbled to himself before shaking his head and scanning the documents that was just handed to him. It was a bunch of investment reports that for their overseas stock but the numbers were lower than he expected. Donghae frowned and flipped the same pages over and over trying to analyze and evaluate why they could be underperforming. He was so immersed in his work that when he jumped a little in his seat when he suddenly heard a very loud clearing of the throat. 

"Hyung!" Donghae gasped with surprise and dropped the folder down. He watched Heechul smirk at him amusingly as he took the chair opposite of him. "What are you doing here?"

"I do run the other half of the company, you know," Heechul jokingly informed. "I'm allowed to come here and talk business with you."

Donghae glanced at the report on his desk and assumed Heechul meant what he said. "Oh, well, I just got the Paris report and yes, I do think our percent raised was a little low but-"

"Ugh! Boring!" Heechul cut him off and hastily reached over the desk and took the folder away from Donghae's desk and threw it randomly behind him.

Donghae's eyes widened but didn't make any attempt to stand up and pick it up. "Hyung! I just got that."

"Sales are fine, Donghae. There were a few false review from our competitors but I already took care of it." Heechul said then changed the subject all together. "Anyways, guess who was in my office today?"

Donghae groaned and tried to ignore Heechul by turning his attention on his computer and getting some work done. "When did Hankyung hyung get back in town?"

"He's not," came Heechul's bland answer, which soon changed into a teasing one. "I suppose that one was my fault. Let me clarify. Guess who I invited and came to my office today?"

Donghae sighed and stopped typing to give Heechul a bored look. "Hyung, I've got hundreds of employees here and much more on your end. I don't really have the time to play this guessing game with you."

"I thought you'd be in a better mood after sending that email."

Donghae's body stiffened hearing that from him then narrowed his eyes at Heechul. "How do you know about the email?"

Heechul's side smirk grew. "It's my company too." 

"You never check your emails." Donghae pointed out obviously then repeated his question. "How'd you know about the email?"

The other laughed out loud, still completely amazed at how well Donghae can deduce things on his own. Not that it was that hard to figure him out since he doesn't even know the password to his own email. 

"Aunt Jihee passed by my office today. She said you two had an interesting talk."

Donghae rolled his eyes and turned his eyes back on his computer. "It's nothing, Hyung. I just wanted to try something different."

"Like people calling you by your name?" Heechul's teasing voice did not go unnoticed and when Donghae dared to give him a small side-way look, the way he leaned in on his desk with his chin over his hand and a cheshire smile on his face, he knew that Heechul knew exactly the reason why he sent that email. "Or a particular person calling you by your name at work?"

Donghae smashed his hand on the keyboard, causing a series of incoherent letters to be typed in the email that he was trying to get done, and slumped his shoulders down while pursing his lips together in his attempt to restrain himself from jumping over his desk and lashing out at his brother. After his restrained sigh, he gritted his teeth together and asked Heechul exactly what he knew. "How much did Aunt Jihee tell you?"

"Enough." Heechul answered then casually leaned his back on the chair to get a clearer view of Donghae. "Which was a happy coincincidence considering that while you two were busy chatting it up here, I had my own conversation with your new angel." 

"My new what?" Donghae repeated but then soon realized what Heechul was talking about and was not able to help his next reaction. Out of pure instinct, he slammed his hand on his desk pushing his office chair behind and making it roll behind him while his eyes bugged out of his head. "Did you talk to Hyukjae!?"

Heechul seemed to be expecting that reaction from him and just tilted his head to the other side while keeping his amused eyes on Donghae's panicked face. 

"I did." 

Donghae groaned and face palmed himself. "Ughh....WHY?!"

"Because you didn't want to introduce him to me." The other plainly said as though it was a perfectly acceptable reason. "I'm not going to let my baby brother fall in love with someone without vetting that person out."

"I'm not a baby anymore, Hyung!" Donghae argued, slightly annoyed and frustrated now that his mind was conjuring up many different ways Heechul could have scared Hyukjae off from him. "I told you that I'll introduce him to you when he's ready!"

"Donghae, he works under Leeteuk. You want to date him. I'm your brother. Did you really think you could have prepared him for whatever it is you think would scare him off if you delayed it for a few more days?"

"But hyung, he's-"

"Special," Heechul cut him off and finishing his sentence for him. "I know. You've only said it a few hundred times already." 

Donghae pouted and crossed his brows together. "Heechul hyung...I don't want him to go away." 

The other chortled hearing the soft whine of desperation in Donghae's voice. The man in front of him might be in his 30s already but he will always see him as the little middle school kid who asked to sleep next to him after their parents died. Heechul got up from his chair so that he was once again at eye level with Donghae and placed a loving hand over Donghae's head. He ruffled Donghae's hair lightly and gave him a smile. One that showed him all the reassurance he needed in the world and one that said that everything would be alright. 

"Don't worry, Hae-ah. He's not going anywhere." 

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Hyukjae stood in front of the copy machine and waited patiently for each report to print out of it. He was too busy monitoring the papers out of the tray to make sure that he can collate it accordingly, when several of his coworkers came in the room to use the vacant machine behind. 

"Did you get the email too?" He heard one of them say. 

"Yeah. I think it went to everyone."

A series of high pitched giggles came from behind him and even though he doesn't know why, it irritated him to hear it. He knew exactly what email they were talking about. It was the hot new topic in every floor and every department with many of his colleagues saying how inspired and progressive thinking Donghae has become after he came back from his trip in Paris. Hyukjae kept his mouth shut and simply smiled and nodded his head when they would ask him what they thought of the email as he didn't want to toot his own horn. Besides....it's not like he has confirmed it with the other that the email was really about him.

Donghae could have been planning to do that since he got back. The talk they had by the elevator earlier could have just been a coincidence. There was absolutely nothing in the email that pointed to him whatsoever. Nope. Nothing at all. 

"Do you think it has to do with the person Mr. Lee-...I mean Donghae-ssi's dating?" 

Another set of soft squeals and giggles was heard and Hyukjae had to do everything in his power to not turn around and snap at them. He grabbed the small stack of papers from the tray and neatly piled them on top of the other. The screen said there was still 128 more copies to go and hes never felt a second take longer than it did in that moment. 

"Oh? Then...that means that the person Donghae's intereted in works in the company?"

Hyukjae's right brow twitched now that the person behind him has completely dropped all forms of formalities when it came to Donghae's name as though they hav