Monday morning could not have come fast enough for Donghae. After Hyukjae returned from his lunch with Leeteuk, he and Donghae had resumed chatting with each other all day and all night over the weekend and it's turned Donghae's mind into a complete mess. He was filled with a whole mesh of feelings that he couldn't quite figure out how to deal with. 

Overwhelming joy. 

Crippling anxiousness. 

Nerve wracking excitement mixed with his overactive imagination had Donghae endlessly biting on his nails as he poured his heart and soul to Siwon who took in every information the other shared with him with an amused smile on his face, not at all sympathetic to the problem Donghae was presenting to him. 

"I can't do this, Siwon-ah! I just can't, but-- ugh, he's just so perfect in every way!" Donghae whined with a hand over his face. He heard Siwon chuckle at his words which in turn made him glare at the other, upset that he was not being taken seriously. "Yah! Help me! I need some advice here."

Siwon's laughter died down but the obvious amusement on his face did not go away. 

"I don't know what you want me to tell you."

Donghae covered his face with both hands and groaned his frustrations out loud. As if that wasn't enough, he then proceeded to ruffle his hair trying to make his brain work before staring back at Siwon again with a matching deranged look on his face. 

"Tell me what to do!"

Siwon laughed out loud and shook his head helplessly at Donghae. He stirred around the spoon on his cup of coffee then took a sip of it, just to delay his answer. Donghae noticed and squinted his eyes at him, obviously not amused at Siwon's mockery of his situation. Once he was done drinking his coffee, Siwon placed the saucer down on the coffee table down and looked at Donghae with a soft gentle smile, an obvious taunt to the other.

They just stared at each other like that  for about three more seconds before Donghae lost all his patience and grabbed the small throw pillow behind him and proceeded to hit Siwon over the head with it. Siwon was quick to put his arm up in defense but the laugh that came out of him was more than telling that he was not at all intimidated by Donghae. 

"Yah!" Donghae yelled while putting the pillow back behind him. "Stop messing around and help me." 

"I believe I already helped you when I told Hyukjae that you were head over heels in love with him. How much more do you want me to do?" 

Donghae's face blushed a little at the reminder of Siwon's not-so-subtle way of telling Hyukjae about his feelings. 

"Thanks for that by the way," Donghae said dryly. 

Siwon's grin grew as he casually leaned back on his seat and replied, "You're welcome." 

Donghae rolled his eyes at him and this time didn't bother to hesitate to throw the small pillow next to him at the other. Siwon easily caught it in his hands with a laugh while shaking his head at Donghae's fowl face.

"Why am I friends with you?"

Siwon snickered and threw the pillow back at Donghae who caught it just as easily. "Because you're completely hopeless without me."

Donghae pouted, unable to refute the truth behind Siwon's words, and ended up hugging the pillow tight against his chest. 

"Siwon-ah! How am I supposed to face Hyukjae tomorrow?" 

"Just be yourself."

Donghae made a face at Siwon's suggestions and resisted the urge to roll his eyes at him again. "I need real advice."

"That is real advice."

"If I thought being myself was good enough, I wouldn't be freaking out like this, you ."

Siwon scoffed and rolled his eyes Donghae's statement. "Are we really talking about this again?" 

"It's true," Donghae mumbled under his breath as he slumped his shoulders down and leaned his back against his chair. "I need to be the guy; not just a guy."

"You're over thinking this." 

Donghae ignored what Siwon said and simply repeated himself. "Help me, Siwon-ah. I don't want to miss this chance with Hyukjae." 

Siwon stared silently at Donghae's desperate face for about five seconds before taking in a deep breath and giving in. He heaved long drawn out sigh causing Donghae to grin widely knowing that he was about to get his way. 

"You really are hopeless." Siwon couldn't help but remark. 

Donghae just shrugged his shoulders, choosing to disregard the comment altogether and chose to focus his attention on what was important.

"How do I ask Hyukjae out?"

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

The elevator doors opened and Hyukjae stepped out of it with his heart thumping quite hard against his chest. His conversations with Donghae over the weekend quickly spiraled from a drunken message to a drunken confession to a very clear back-and-forth flirting between the two of them. He wasn't sure what to expect from the other right now and the rapid breathing exercise that he's been doing since he stepped inside the building was doing nothing at all to help ease the anxiousness he felt at seeing Donghae face to face today. 

"Good Morning, Hyukjae-ssi."

The other jumped at the sudden deep voice he heard from behind him and swiftly turned around, his eyes wide and heart skipping a beat, only to realize that it was one of the kind seniors on his floor just passing by. 

"M-Mr. Kim. Goo-Good Morning!" Hyukjae bowed and tried to hide his flustered reaction from the other. However, the senior employee was much more observant than Hyukjae had pegged him for and was quick to notice the redness of his cheeks as well as the shaky tremble of his voice. 

"Hyukjae-ah, are you feeling alright? Have you gotten sick?" The elderly man placed the back of his palm over Hyukjae's forehead then his cheeks before frowning to himself when the other's temperature felt normal to him. "You don't feel that warm to me."

Hyukjae blinked and smiled at the caring gesture. He's considered the other as his mentor and the fact that he would always treat others with kindness and treat them like they were his grandchildren always warmed his heart. Hyukjae opened his mouth to tell him that he was feeling fine and that there was absolutely nothing for him to worry about when the elevator dinged and Hyukjae looked behind the elderly man to see Donghae standing behind the elevator doors as it was opening. Almost instantly, his mind and body did an immediate shut down, and he was now frozen in place with no clue on what to do or say. 

Mr. Kim found it odd when Hyukjae froze so he turned around to see what had the other so stunned only to smile at the sight of Donghae walking towards them. 

"Ah, Donghae-ah. Good morning. You're here early."

Donghae bowed his head in greeting before producing a warm smile of his. "Good morning, Mr. Kim. What brings you here so early?" 

"Well, I came to share with you the good news about the chosen project and it was just luck that I saw Hyukjae here as well." He chuckled deeply and glanced at Hyukjae, his laughter faltering a little when he Hyukjae was still acting as though he was completely out of place in their presence. "Are you sure you're feeling well, Hyukjae? Perhaps you should take the day off. You did work quite extensively on this proposal, I'm su