Hyukjae sat still across Leeteuk, listening to him intently give him some indirect love advice. Was he being too hard on Donghae? Maybe he did jump the gun a little early. Now, he kind of regretted giving back the flowers Donghae dropped off for him earlier without at least reading his message for him. Leeteuk's words echoing in his head and it made him think if he had possibly blew things between them already. 

"Donghae's been a workaholic for as long as I can remember." Leeteuk elaborated and Hyukjae wasn't sure why Leeteuk was trying so hard to explain Donghae to him but figured there was no harm in staying and listening to it. "Look, I'm not saying this to change your mind or anything about him, but I think it would help you decide how to proceed with him if you knew why he does the things that he does."

Unfortunately, though at an absolutle perfect timing, Leeteuk's next words were interrupted by his office phone ringing. He looked at the extension number and raised an interesting brow knowing full well the reason behind the surprised phone call. Leeteuk looked at Hyukjae and raised a shushing finger to his lips, telling him to be quiet, as he pressed the speaker button of his office phone inciting Hyukjae's curiosity. 

"Hyung!" Donghae's loud voice came through. "Have you done it? Have you talked to him? What did he say? Will he see me?"

Hyukjae's forehead creased hearing Donghae's frantic voice and then blushed a light shade of pink when he finally realized why Leeteuk was giving him that sly look. 

"I told you I was gonna call you," Leeteuk casually answered Donghae then quietly snickered when he heard him whine. Hyukjae just listened to the whole thing in his seat mildly horrified that Donghae was ranting about him to his boss! "I didn't call you so obviously I haven't spoken to him yet."

"Hyung, you said you were gonna talk to him."

"Yah, Lee Donghae. I have actual real work to do." He teased while observing Hyukjae's reaction. 

"It's not even gonna take that long." Donghae argued, and it wasn't hard for Hyukjae or Leeteuk to picture him with a pout on his face. "This is important, hyung! Really important!"

"Don't you have better things to do other than annoy me about harassing one of my employees for you?"

"I'm not asking you to harass him!" Donghae argued. "I just-...I need a chance to explain what happened to him but he won't talk to me. I'm afraid if I just ask him to come see me he'll do it out of obligation and not because..." He couldn't even finish the whole thing too afraid that if he were to say the words out loud it would actually come true. Leeteuk's sharp eyes noticed Hyukjae staring at his phone and knew that his dongsaeng has gotten his point across to him better than any defense he could have made up on the spot. 

Now...he just needed to nudge the two a little closer. 

"What do you even want me to say to him? It's not like I can undo your mess." Hyukjae looked at Leeteuk horrified feeling as though that might have been a harsh take on things that happened between them. Leeteuk just gave him a wink to ease his worries before turning his attention back to the phone. 

"You said you were gonna help me." Donghae whined over the phone and it was hard for Leeteuk to not smile at his dongsaeng's dilemma. "Just tell him what a good guy I am. Talk about all my good points like how I'm smart, sweet, handsome, charming-" Leeteuk rolled his eyes at Donghae's rant while Hyukjae bit the inside of his cheeks to stop himself from smiling because those were all things he already knew about Donghae. "-you know, just be my wingman!" 

"You make it sound so easy." 

Just then, a different voice could be heard on the phone and they both deduced it to be his secretary.

"Sir? The investors are settled in the meeting room. They're ready for you."

"Yeah, thanks. Just give me a minute."

Leeteuk frowned and picked up the phone, taking Donghae off speaker. "Yah, Lee Donghae that better not be the investors for the new line project we're starting next fall." Hyukjae watched Leeteuk go from playful to business in a matter of seconds and was completely amazed by it. He fully admired Leeteuk's ability to compartmentalized his priorities at work and in his life. No wonder he was able to handle Kangin so well. When he first heard about the two of them he thought it was just office rumor since Kangin was notorious for his temper. 

Hyukjae's heard many rumors regarding the two of them. Even the fact that Kangin slept his way up the company by using Leeteuk's high position as Chief Marketing Officer but that was quickly proven untrue. Not only because Kangin was extremely good at his job but also because Leeteuk had no pull on his department whatsoever. Apparently, he worked under someone named Heechul who was in charge of another aspect of the company. 

The more Hyukjae thought about Leeteuk and Kangin's relationship, the more parallels he was able to draw with himself. Okay, so maybe he wasn't really as upset about the deception as he originally led himself to believe. Him pulling away from Donghae after discovering that he was the mysterious all powerful boss that people in the company looked up to made him feel just a tiny bit insecure...okay, a lot insecure. 

It's just like what Donghae said. He's nice, handsome, sweet, charming, adorable, caring, and to top it off he basically has an entire empire to run. What could he possible offer the other that he didn't already have or could have better with someone else? Allowing himself to fall for his attraction to the other was basically love suicide since he's sure that whatever spark was going on with them would eventually die down leaving him to pick up the pieces of his eventual broken heart by himself in the end. 

That's how all relationships end. ,One day you're in love and the next you're dying inside.

He slowly released a dejected sigh once again falling down the rabbit hole of his own dark thoughts that he was startled back to reality by Leeteuk calling his name. 

"Huh?"

"I said are you okay?" Leeteuk repeated a little louder while giving him a worried look. "You completely spaced out on me."

"Oh - uhh, d-did I?" Hyukjae laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head trying to get rid of his earlier thoughts out of his head. "I was just thinking about the presentation I have to do this afternoon."

Leeteuk frowned since he doesn't recall assigning him any work to cause such a forlorn look on his face. 

"I should get back to work, Hyung. I still have to check in with Shindong hyung regarding the new Sweden account."

Even though he wanted to wring the truth out of him, Leeteuk held himself back and simply smiled and nodded his head. Hyukjae was relieved that Leeteuk didn't ask him any more questions and did a quick bow before leaving. As soon as he walked out of Leeteuk's office, he saw Shindong coming out of his cubicle, munching on something. He walked closer and crossed his arms in query. 

"Hyung, what are you doing in my station?" 

Shindong swallowed the small piece of chocolate he stole from his desk and grinned innocently. "Sorry, Hyuk-ah. You had so many I didn't think you'd mind if I took one."

Hyukjae was confused and furrowed his brows together. "What are you talking about?" 

Shindong simply motioned his head over to his desk to show him exactly what he was talking about. As soon as he peered his head in, Hyukjae's eyes widened seeing the many gifts that was delivered to him while he was talking with Leeteuk. There was a huge basket of fruit arrangement next to his computer, a variety of chocolate boxes, a bigger version of the bouquet of flowers that he had returned to Donghae, and not to mention the neatly lined small bears on his desk each holding out a word that spelled "Please don't be mad. I'm sorry." 

Hyukjae completely froze in place not quite sure how to react to it. Shindong giggled behind him then placed his arm around Hyukjae's shoulder as he also admired the very many "I'm sorry" presents that he got waiting for him. 

"Whatever he did, maybe you should forgive him." Shindong said. "That poor man's probably completely heartbroken if he's willing to go this extra for an apology." Then he laughed as though it was the funniest thing he's ever seen. "Seriously, man. Did he cheat on you or something."

Hyukjae just laughed awkwardly and shook his head. "No. I-It's nothing like that."

"Well, whatever it was, this should at least get him a ticket out of the dog house."

Shindong stole another piece or two off the small mountain of chocolate on Hyukjae's desk before going back to his own table to finish his work. Hyukjae just looked after him helpless before looking back to his desk. There were so many things on it he could barely see his computer, much less his desk. He then noticed the giant bear he chucked under his desk and sweatdropped a little when its black beady eyes stared right back at him as though mocking him to just accept Donghae's apology because, as said on the heart sewn on its chest, Donghae was obviously "beary beary" sorry. 

Hyukjae was busy organizing his desk to work around his new knick-knacks when Leeteuk came out of his office. 

"Hey, guys. I need a favor." Leeteuk held up a black envelope in the air while Shindong and Hyukjae both looked over to him like meerkats out of a hole. "Can one of you go up to the 50th floor and get a signature. This needs to be submitted before 3:00 this afternoon and I have a meeting in 10 minutes." He looked at either one of them expectantly and sighed when neither volunteered. "Really? Neither of you?"

Hyukjae glanced around his desk and pondered whether it would be a good idea for him to go or not. He chewed on his lower lip as he weighed the pros and cons of going but then decided that if Leeteuk had a meeting that must mean that he'd be going with the other big boss therefore Donghae won't be in his office so no harm no foul. That last thought was enough to comfort him and encouraged Hyukjae to get up from his chair and to extend his hand out to Leeteuk. 

"I'll go, Hyung."

Leeteuk blinked, a little unsure if Hyukjae knew exactly what he was volunteering for. "Are you sure? You know that that's-"

"I know, Hyung." Hyukjae answered before Leeteuk could finish. "It's like you said. I can't avoid him forever."

Leeteuk was a little surprised but mostly proud and happy to hear that from Hyukjae. He smiled at him to show his gratitude then handed him the folder. They both walked towards the elevator with Leeteuk getting off the 45th floor for his board meeting leaving Hyukjae all of two minutes to himself and get his head together before reaching Donghae's floor. He could feel his heart beat against his chest and his breath hitched a little when the elevator dinged. 

Hyukjae's grip on the folder tightened as he pursed his lip