“Hey.”

            Kris looked up from his desk and into the brown eyes of his fellow co-worker, Suho.  The brown haired man walked over and sat down in one of the chairs in front of his desk.  Kris shook slightly in annoyance.  It’s not that he hated Suho.  The man was a dedicated worker and really nice.  He also had an angelic smile that made his insides melt at times, but Kris liked his personal space.  He liked being alone and working alone.  His office was his private sanction.  And Suho was currently invading it. 

            Suho leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head, “Did you hear Ms. Oh is hiring a new intern?  He’s going to be working for us.”

            It was no big surprise.  He and Suho were the general leaders in their respective departments at one of Korea’s most famous and successful businesses, Oh Corporation.  Suho with his charismatic personality worked with outside clients in public relations while Kris, who liked working by himself, was in charge of files, paper work and data management. 

            “Ms. Oh says we have to choose who the intern should work for.”

            Kris eyed Suho, “I don’t need an intern.  You can take whoever it is.”

            Suho raised an eyebrow but nodded, “Well it’s settled then.”  He shortly left the office after and Kris sighed in relief.  Peace at last. 

While most people loved lunch breaks at the office, Kris hated it because it meant interaction and having to leave the office.  But at 12 on the dot he got up from his chair.  He would always have lunch at 12 at the little café on the first floor of their office building.  He would get a tuna fish sandwich, sometimes a muffin and black coffee.  On Kris’s off days, Suho would make him stay at the café with their friends, Chen and Kyungsoo, so they could talk, but for the most part Kris would bring his lunch back to the office. 

Today as he left his office, he stopped when he saw someone he’d never seen before leaning over a cubicle to talk to the lead computer technician, Baekhyun.  The new guy looked young, well younger than him at least and had black hair and dark eyes.  He was tall and a little on the thin side but his office attire fit him perfectly despite his young face.  He saw the boy smile and for a moment Kris was temporarily frozen at the sight.  Because this guy looked…adorable? 

He was still talking to Baekhyun, but mostly waving his hands outrageously like he was trying to convey what he was saying through his hands.  Kris saw Suho move out of his office and put comforting hands around the new guy’s shoulders before bending down to the computer techie. 

“Sorry, he’s from China.  His Korean still needs a bit of work.  I think he’s trying to say that I need some help with my computer.” 

Kris raised his eyebrows.  This was the new intern?  And he was from China? 

“Ahem.” Suho looked up in wonderment as Kris walked into his office.  Suho looked around at his surroundings and immediately stood up.

“I’m sorry.  Am in the wrong office?” Suho chuckled but stopped when Kris didn’t give any indication that his joke was funny. 

Kris looked over to the corner of the room where Tao was sitting at a miniature desk loaded with papers before turning back to Suho.

“Can I talk to you for a second?”

Tao had been in Korea for about two weeks and he already found it confusing: the language, the culture the people, just about everything.  He’d been excited after being accepted as an intern at Oh Corporations.  It was a highly prestigious company in Korea.  And the first day had gone great.  His new boss Suho was nice.  Suho had that warm smile and personality that was comforting for a foreigner like him.  And while there was a language barrier, they understood each other for the most part.  Suho even went as far as getting a Chinese to Korean dictionary for him.  Suho even bought himself a Chinese Rosetta Stone so he could pick up basic Chinese. 

But it was the second day and now he found out he had a new boss.  And Tao didn’t want to be mean or anything but this tall blond man was scary.  He showed no emotion and seemed to be the serious type.  But Tao didn’t want to complain. 

Suho had just finished explaining to him that he’d been transferred to a new department.  Suho quickly handed him his dictionary, patted him on the back and left.  Tao felt like he’d been abandoned.  His new boss, Kris, as he was told, was sitting at his desk and staring at a file on his computer.  Tao stood by the door waiting for further instruction, but Kris remained motionless at his computer.  Tao noticed the man’s eyes hadn’t moved an inch from his screen.  He wasn’t reading it, so why was he just sitting there? 

“Excuse me…but..um..what…me…to…do?” Tao spoke slowly as he chose his Korean words carefully but to his surprise the blond man answered him in Chinese, “You can organize these files.  I’m Kris by the way.”  Kris leaned over, while holding out a hand which Tao quickly took.

“Kris ge.  I hope you will treat me well,” Tao said brightly.  His smile died down when Kris frowned at him, “We’re at a work place.  Call me boss.” 

Tao bowed in apology and quickly grabbed the files. 

“How are the files coming along?” Kris peeked over his computer at Tao two hours later.  Tao looked up hopelessly and frowned. 

“I’m sorry.  Please don’t be mad….but my hangul.  I’m not really good at reading it yet.  So I haven’t done anything.  Please don’t fire me.”

“Oh,” Kris’s face turned red from embarrassment.  He knew the boy had just come here and of course he wouldn’t be that proficient in Korean.  How could he be so stupid? 

“Hmmm….here.  We have some Chinese clients.  You can organize those files right?  There’s only a few though,” Kris dug deep into his file folder to take out two folders that he knew were organized to perfection.  But it was at least something Tao could do.  He wasn’t sure exactly what he could do with an intern.  He just knew for some odd reason the moment he saw Tao, he wanted to get to know the young man. 

Tao held out his hand and their fingers touched slightly when Kris handed the folders over.  And like a robot that suddenly had the inklings of a heartbeat, Kris felt his heart beat just a little bit faster. 

“And um…if you want me to teach you Korean.   Well…I mean,” since when did he stutter with his Chinese, Kris wondered as he tried to continue, “I can help you any time after work.” 

Tao looked up at him and smiled, “Thanks, boss.  I could really use the help.” 

Hey guys!! Bear with me please!! I don't usually write Taoris because I don't ship them hardcore!!!! But I tried really hard with this story :D