The first words that Minho utters when Taemin pulls open the car door for him are: "You're late."

 

The brunette grips the clipboard in his hands, not really wanting to deal with his boss's attitude this early in the morning, "Like you weren't late the first time we met?"

 

Minho slides in the car smoothly and teases him, "I'm sorry, but are you talking to Shindong, the driver, or me? Because I'm not feeling the respect I should be getting from my assistant."

 

"Oh, I apologize..." Taemin bows lowly in mock apology and gets right back up with a smirk on his face, "Like you weren't late the first time we met, sir?" He slams the car door closed and walks around to slide into the other side.

 

The driver tries to hide his laugh, but alas he is caught. "Just drive, Shindong." He then presses the button for the divider and effectively shuts himself and Taemin off from the driver's ears.

 

Once Taemin has properly seated himself on the other side of the car (putting as much distance as possible between him and his 'boss') Minho mutters lowly, "Talk to me like that again, and I'll make sure you get fired— With my father's permission or not."

 

Taemin wants to answer back, but he settles with a quiet "Yes sir." because he knows that he will only get into further trouble if he does otherwise.

 

 

After minutes of tense silence between the two, Shindong announces through the speaker, "We're here, sir." Minho rolls his eyes upon hearing this, because honestly, he didn't need a blow by blow report of whenever they reach their destination. Nothing happens for a few moments until Minho turns to Taemin and he grunts annoyed, "Well?"

 

Taemin raises a brow, "What do you mean, 'well?'"

 

"Taemin, Taemin, Taemin." He shakes his head slowly and pats the brunette's thigh condescendingly, "You're supposed to be opening the door for me. Silly assistant."

 

At the moment, Taemin is fuming inside. He wants to tell Shindong to drive as fast as he can while he pushes Minho out of the vehicle out into a cliff. But he does not. Instead he pulls his leg away from Minho’s reach. He puts on his most sickeningly sweet smile that he only ever uses on his stepbrother to get what he wants and gets out of the car to open the door for Minho. He does not see the way Minho's eyes slightly widened at his smile.

 

"Is there anything else you would need, sir?" Taemin grits the words through his teeth, putting as much venom as possible into the last word.

 

Minho steps out of the car, taking his sweet time as he fixes the sleeves of his suit, and gives Taemin a smug expression, "No, that would be all." Taemin closes the door and waves Shindong off with an actual genuine smile. The driver zooms off, and Minho grunts again, "Let's go, assistant."

 

The brunette is quite peeved by the way Minho keeps calling him that, but he follows anyway.

 

He turns around, and he is greeted by a grandiose 20-storey building. The majority of it is covered in windows and it looks absolutely magnificent from where Taemin is standing. The entrance to the building is monitored by two guards who are standing by the large, polished, glass doors where the main lobby is in plain view.

 

"Yah, haven't you ever seen a building before?" Minho is smirking at Taemin, amused by how much he looked like a child going to an amusement park for the first time. Taemin tries his best to stop himself from flushing in embarrassment and rushes to catch up to Minho.

 

When the guards open the doors for Minho, people immediately rush to greet him. Taemin hears things like 'How has your day been, sir?' and 'Sir, you look great today, as always.' and Taemin is immediately confused. Are people seriously up to a guy like him? Do they not realize how much of an assh—

 

"Good morning, everyone! I apologize, but I'm afraid I'm in a bit of a hurry this morning. Ciao!"

 

He flashes them a smile, and the brunette looks at the crowd of people to see that they are all gazing at him with star struck eyes. What the hell?

 

The secretary managing the main lobby's desk stands up red-faced when she sees Minho approaching the desk. "Good morning, sir."

 

"Hm?" Minho provocatively leans on the desk and tilts her chin up with dexterous fingers, "That wasn't what you called me last night, Victoria noona." Victoria sighs and Minho smirks as he lets her go, strutting towards the elevator. When they enter the confined space, Taemin finally speaks up.

 

"Okay, what is with you?"

 

Minho asks him what he means, but Taemin is pretty sure that the man understands his question -- nonetheless, he explains himself.

 

"Just a minute ago, you were an absolute assh— jerk. Well, to me, anyway. And then you go waltzing in here and you act like you're the fuc— freaking pope. And people actually believe you. Oh, and you practically flirted with say, 8 females in the span of the two minutes that we were there. That's without counting the desk noona." Taemin says this in two breaths, and Minho only raises a brow at him. Only the quiet dings of the elevator filled the air until Minho speaks.

 

"I act like a jerk around you because I want to. And I feel no obligation to impress you in any way. You already hate me anyway, so what's the point in trying to make you like me?" He almost looks annoyed as he answers Taemin's question and then he has on a sly smile, "... And it's 10, by the way."

 

"What?"

 

"10 women." He turns to leer at the brunette, "11 if you count Victoria noona."

 

"Assho—"

 

DING!

 

"We're here."

 

 

 

Minho gives Taemin a not-at-all helpful guide of the floor he will be working in. He is happy to know that he has his own office, but he is deeply aghast seeing that it is situated right across from Minho's. Both their offices are see-through – walls of glass serving as the only things separating them from the general workplace. What's the point of having my own office if I don't even get any privacy?

 

They are now standing in the space between their offices. Before Minho enters his own office, he snaps to get Taemin's attention, "You should be giving me my coffee right now, you know?" Taemin furrows his brows and puts his hands on his hips, "You didn't even ask me to get you anything!"

 

"Dark, with cream, no sugar. Cafe's downstairs. Go."

 

"Yes, sir."

 

. (At least no elevator dings could stop him from saying the word in his mind.)

 

 

 

When Taemin returns with a steaming cup of coffee, he stops in his tracks. From outside the see-through office's walls, he sees his boss in his office shamelessly flirting with one of the employees, her body pressed up against his in a way that is disgusting in Taemin's otherwise untainted eyes. His hands are at her waist, and they are busy giggling themselves silly.

 

Taemin does not know if he is supposed to interrupt the flirting session or just throw the damned coffee he traveled 13 stories down for.

 

"I'd suggest that you throw the coffee in his face, but I wouldn't want you to get fired on your first day."

 

As if someone read his mind, Taemin turned around to see a man cheekily grinning at him. He is fairly attractive with his chinky eyes and manly physique, and Taemin tells himself to stop blatantly checking out every man he sees.

 

"W-what?"

 

"Nothing, nothing." The man looks Taemin up and down and extends his hand, "I'm Jinki."

 

The brunette shakes Jinki's hand and he is somewhat comforted by the man's friendliness so he replies, "Taemin."

 

"You're the new assistant, right?" He lets go of Taemin's hand and plucks Minho's coffee from Taemin's other hand, proceeding to drink it and hissing when he feels the burn of the hot liquid.

 

"Um... That's..."

 

"It's okay, he probably doesn't even remember that he asked for coffee. He's too busy with Yuri over there." Taemin looks over to the office, and he is surprised that they are not yet doing it on Minho's desk. Jinki repeats his question to get Taemin's attention back,

 

"So, you are the new assistant, right?" The way he smiles at the brunette makes him feel comfortable enough to form a decent sentence. 

 

Taemin his head to the side, "Yes, but... You say that like it's a normal thing."

 

"With Minho, new assistants are a normal thing. In fact, it's like a weekly thing." This piques Taemin's curiousity. He actually feels worried for what Minho is capable of doing.

 

"Is there something I should know?" Taemin asks this in a quiet voice, but Jinki hears him. The man looks up at the ceiling thoughtfully, chin in his hand.

 

"Here's the thing..."

 

In a matter of minutes, Jinki has effectively explained to him the ways of the Choi Minho. He learned that Minho is entirely different as a businessman, as a boss, as a public figure, and as a friend (This had Taemin asking Jinki if it was possible that a person as horrible as him is capable of having friends. Jinki answers with a laugh, saying that yes it is possible, and that they are actually in a tight knit group of four friends). He also found out about the story behind the long list of ex-assistants. Minho isn't one to settle down, nor is he one to keep it in his pants.

 

He does not like getting romantically attached with anyone (with which Jinki did not provide an explanation. But Taemin did not want to pry.) So he takes it out on the people around him. And most of the time, the person that would be around him the most is his assistant. And most of the time, these assistants would be attractive young ladies who also find Minho attractive. But once Minho gets tired of them, he sends them away. In some cases, some of them just couldn't handle his attitude and ended up quitting.

 

By the time Jinki is done with his explanation, Taemin is astonished. What had he gotten himself into? Will he seriously be sacrificing his own time and effort on someone as horrible as Choi Minho? From what he is hearing, Minho sounds like an insensitive, inconsiderate douchebag who cares for no one but himself. Taemin dreads thinking about the time he will have to spend with the said man. 

 

But then the man in front of him is quick to cheer him up.

 

"Hey, don't worry. He's actually a nice guy when you get to know him." He flicks Taemin's forehead lightly with his finger, and smiles down at him, "And I'm pretty sure you can handle that spoiled frog."

 

Taemin rubs his forehead jokingly but pushes at Jinki's chest anyway, "Yah, hyung. That hurt."

 

Jinki grins upon hearing what Taemin just called him and crosses his arms over his chest, pretending to be hurt, "Ouch! That hurt too, you know!"

 

The brunette laughs out loud, happy at the fact that he met someone like Jinki in this god forsaken place. This might just be the only good thing that has happened for him today.

 

From his office, Minho sees one of his best friends chatting amiably with his assistant.

 

"Oppa, what are you looking at?" There is a whine in Yuri's voice as she pouts up at him from his embrace, and that is more than enough for him to completely stop caring about what he had just seen. Not that he cared in the first place.

 

---

 

Here's the official first chapter! I hope you guys like it! Comments are very much appreciated. :D