XII.

A tall, slender woman, who wore a black pencil skirt with a white business shirt tucked in, walks the halls of Kim’s Toy Company with a thin, tan folder under her arm. She sends warm smiles at each person she passes as she makes her way to Kim Daeho’s, the CEO of Seoul’s famous Toy Company, office.

“Good… morning, boss,” she enters the room with a bright smile, but it somewhat falters when he sees that he’s not alone. He’s with another man, who’s tall, brunette and had sharp features, in simple words – he was handsome. They seemed to be having an important conversation before she entered.

“Ah, and you are?” Daeho shoots her an eye smile.

“I’m the new stock marketer, Park Bom,” she grins, bowing at a forty-five degree angle. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Bom was an expert in Muy Thai, letting Yuhan and Jiwook know that she would be able to handle their big mission. She was going to earn the company’s trust and sooner or later they would expect the unexpected. She understood where the two men were coming from when they explained the situation to her about getting revenge on Daeho. From what they said, Daeho never thought of the consequences and it seemed true. Why would you betray your friends who had never done anything to you?

Little did he know, karma was about to bite him in the – hard.

The brunette, Bom still didn’t know his name, seemed to be observing her very carefully. His eyes were empty and it was quite nerve-wracking.

“I would love to sit and get to know you,” Daeho stands, adjusting his suit. He saunters up to Bom, his smile never leaving his face. “But I have an important meeting to attend in a few minutes.” He walks past her and opens up the door, holding it open for her and the brunette to exit his office.

“I guess that means I can go?” the brunette raises an eyebrow at Daeho as they make their way down the corridor. Bom, at this point, really wants to know who the hell he is. Jiwook had given her the entire company’s employee’s backgrounds and with her keen memory, she knows she hasn’t seen this face before.

“Yes, yes,” Daeho waves him off as he disappears into a room.

“Who are you?” Bom questions in the sweetest voice she could accomplish. “Do you work here?”

“Something of the sort,” he answers. When he turns, Bom notices a small, pink healing cut on his neck.

“What’s your name? I’m Bom.”

“I know. And you don’t need to worry about my name, sweetheart.”

Bom eyes him suspiciously with a mixture of annoyance (because of the pet name) but she doesn’t question him anymore. She decides it’d be better to report back to Jiwook like this. There’s something odd about that man that Park Bom couldn’t quite put her finger on.

****

“Minho,” Kibum whines as he follows the older man through the company’s parking building. “Why do you have to leave?”

Minho gets out the keys to his Volvo as they near the vehicle. “Maybe I have other things to do, Kibum?” Like the piles and piles of paper work he has to grade when he gets back home. “Plus, your family is having some troubles – I think you should be there… with them…”

Kibum crosses his arms like a five year old who wasn’t allowed to have any sweets.

“Don’t give me that look,” Minho groans as he unlocks his car.

“You still haven’t given me your number, though,” Kibum reminds, whipping out his cell phone with great speed.

Minho sighs lightly as he slowly recites his number to the younger one. He swings open the door and gets in.

Kibum urgently knocks on the window wanting for Minho to roll it down. “When you save my number, put my name as something cute! Okay?” he speaks with a soft smile on his face.

“Whatever, Kibum,” he replies. “May I please go now?”

“Do you have to?” Kibum cries again, leaning his head more into the window.

“Like I said, I can’t. I have to go.”

“Fine, can I get a kiss?”

“No, you can’t,” Minho grumbles, leaning away from the younger one. “Now get your face out of my window before I choke you.”

Kibum laughs it off but he’s honestly hurt by the rejection. “Why not?” He asks as he pulls his head back, but his hands continue to rest on the door.

“I have to go, Kibum,” Minho pulls the shift stick into reverse. “Move your hands please.”

“Okay… I’ll call you if you’re not to busy later.” Kibum removes his hand from the window, the sadness in his voice starting to appear.

Minho doesn’t seem to detect it at all. “That’s cool. See you soon."

****

“Tall, brunette, unreadable eyes, you say?” Jiwook asks, raising a questioning eyebrow at the younger woman before him. “No idea who you’re describing.” The two of them are seated at a lime green table in Tapioca Dulce, one of Bom’s favorite places.

“Really?” Bom takes a sip from her Pina Colada. “I thought you knew all the employees?”

The thirty-three year man gnaws at his fingernails as he tries to pull up old memories. “I thought so too… Could you tell me more about this man?”

Bom hems. “Uh, he had a cut on his neck. It was small but still see-able.”

Jiwook, completely frustrated by now, runs a hand through his messy raven hair. “No, I can’t remember at all. I’d have to see his face to know for sure.”

“When you get home you could just check the CCTV,” Bom suggests. “You have access do that, don’t you?”

“O-Of course I do,” He’s shocked that Bom was questioning his intelligence. He was a computer wizard! (At least that’s what he thought…) “People make mistakes,” he grumbles to himself.

“Listen, Jiwook, if you want to bring Daeho down it’s obviously not going to be as easy as you think.” Bom explains. “Being inside that building kind of made me realize it. It’s like when you go to an airport where security extremely tight. Like, there are officers there who will pat you down. I did not enjoy being patted down.” She shivers at the memory.

Jiwook chuckles at her exaggerated face as he finishes up his green apple smoothie.

Bom turns serious again. “We’ll bring him down? Right?”

“We’ll bring him down if that’s the last thing Yuhan and I do.” Jiwook swears as if he’s swearing on a person’s life.

****

The sun had finally come down, when Minho finished up grading his papers. He let out an audible sigh of relief when he leaned back into his chair. The grades were the same as usual, but Kibum’s was still the same.
At the thought of Kibum, Minho glances at his phone wondering why he hadn’t called yet. He presses the home button only to get the sigh of an empty battery with a lightning symbol in the middle. He gasps as he jolts up to look for his charger. He couldn’t find it anywhere in his room so he decides to go bother his roommate (it's bad Jonghyun and him didn’t have identical phones).

He found Jonghyun in kitchen with another woman, who had long, dark brown hair. They were seated at the table drinking tea.

“Jonghyun?” Minho calls, a bit confused as to why the woman was there. Jonghyun rarely brought anyone home.

“Minho,” Jonghyun lets out a breath as if he’s been holding it for a while. “What’s up?”

“I was wondering if you knew where my charger was and… who might this be?”

“This is my older sister, Sodam.”  Jonghyun clarifies. “Sodam, this is… this is Minho.”

Sodam smirks, holding back a giggle. “Ah, the Minho you always talk about right? You were right, he is cute.”

Jonghyun glares and elbows his sister. “Can you please act like you’re getting married soon?”

Sodam holds out her hand, paying no mind to her baby brother. “Pleasure to meet you, Minho…”

Minho bows his head a little as he shakes her hand. He didn't seem to have heard what Sodam said before. “Same to you. You’re getting married? Congratulations.”

“Why thank you, sweetie.”

“You left your charger in my car, by the way.” Jonghyun seemed to be getting really annoyed and embarassed by his sister.

“Okay, thanks. I’ll leave you guys… to it.”

When the sound of the front door could be closed, Sodam beams at her brother. “He’s very cute.”

“Shut up woman,” Jonghyun blushes. “He’s not even gay.”

“He told you that?”

“He didn’t have to,” Jonghyun says. “He’s brought plenty of women around here.”

“Jonghyun, I didn’t think you could be this stupid,” Sodam smirks, finishing up her tea. “Girls will have with their own gender and come out saying they aren’t lesbians all the time.”

“But guys and girls don’t think the same.”

“Jesus ing Christ, Jonghyun,” Sodam snaps. “Stop being so technical - my point is that Minho – you know what… never mind.”

“Whatever Sodam, I think you should go home to your fiancé now.” Jonghyun stands and grabs his sister by the shoulder, lifting her up with enough force.

“Stop trying to kick me out of a house that isn’t even yours.”

“For your information, I pay half of the rent.” Jonghyun explains, approaching the door. “Come on, I’ll walk you to your car.”

**

“Um, hi, Kibum, I’m sorry I missed your call… or calls for that matter... My phone was dead…”  Minho sat in Jonghyun’s Mercedes Benz with the door open – his charger was plugged into the car. “Don’t think I was ignoring you, alright? Uh, call me when you get this okay. Please… I…” Minho rubs his heating up ears as he utters the next few words. “Uh – I want to hear your voice. Bye.”

Minho hangs up and tosses his phone into the passenger seat. He leans back into the chair, sighing.
In the parking building, he didn’t kiss Kibum not because he didn’t want to; it was just because he wanted to be cautious. Being gay was obviously something that’s looked down upon, and what’s worse when there’s a ten year difference in this… relationship…

Minho sighs. We are in a relationship right?

“Ugh, I don’t even know,” he ruffles his hair and snags up his phone again. “Why isn’t he calling me back anyways?!”

“Who’s not calling you back?”

The voice startles him, causing him to drop his phone in between the seat and the center console.

“Jesus, Jonghyun!” he exclaims. “You made me drop my phone.”

“Sorry,” he apologizes as he watches the younger man scramble for his iPhone.

“What are you doing out here? I thought you were inside with your sister.”

“She had to go so to be nice I walked her out. And now as I’m walking back, I happen to see you. You looked kind out of it… you kind of have been out of it recently.”

Minho gets out of the car, taking the charger and his phone connected to it with him. “It’s just… never mind, we should head back inside. It’s getting chilly out.”

“No, stop,” Jonghyun manages to catch the younger’s arm. He was sick and tired of Minho hiding things from him. “There’s obviously something that’s really bothering you and you need to talk about it.”

Minho exhales. “I like someone, but it’s complicated. It’s very complicated. You wouldn't understand it at all.”

"Try me," Jonghyun tests.

-Jiwook and Yuhan are plotting something again, but this time they take another approach at it? And it involves Bom! Yay, any 2NE1 lovers? ;3
-Ooh is Minho finally opening up to Jonghyun? But aw this probably isn’t what Jjong had in mind…
Don’t be a silent reader, kay?
Love you guys.