Chapter NINE ; GETTING FRIENDLY

{ wu yifan }

By the age of eighty-seven, my grand father didn't know who I was, or who he was. It's quite dangerously scary how age can take your memories away. The more I had to introduce myself to him, the less it started to hurt. It felt a lot like a routine, walking to the old homes after work and then saying the same old introduction. "Hi, I'm Wu Yifan, I'm your grandson."

I'd look at him and I'd think I was talking to a complete stranger. 

But the day my first business failed, I first seeked comfort in him. Not in the guys, not in Jinae, not even in my father. I went to a retirement home, to a man who didn't even know who I was. Once I entered the disease ridden place that reeked of medicine and oatmeal, I figured this wasn't the place to be going to when you were having a mental breakdown. But what he said to me, I don't think I'll forget in a long time. He looked me in the eye before I even said anything at all, and specifically told me;

"When you're at the lowest point, there's only one way to keep moving; Up." 

I don't think he knew how much I needed it. 

"Kris-ge? Are you with us?" Tao's face blinks at me from across the coffee table. I glance at him, eyeing his ridiculous feathered fedora instead of his face. 

"Yeah, I am. Sorry, just blanked out a little." 

Luhan smiles. "You probably lack coffee, huh?" He sips on his own. 

"Yeah," I quickly agree. 

"Or maybe you lack sleep." Jongdae suggests as the side of his lips flick up. "Didn't you stay at Jinae's last night?" 

Minseok punches him in the shoulder, to which the latter giggles and leans away. "Shut up, Jongdae." 

I roll my eyes at the both of them as I pick up my own coffee from the table. The topic of Jinae had been something I'd gotten used to, especially since I'm the only one in the circle who still has a girlfriend, and the guys need something to pick on, don't they? Yixing had just gone fresh out from a relationship that chewed his insides out, so I don't expect him to join in on the banter that was going on. 

Poor kid was in too deep with a travelling journalist, pretty young girl with platinum dyed hair. The distance gave up on them eventually, but in the time when he was planning to get engaged, so it was really hard for the kid to-- I'm trailing away from thought. 

Luhan talks after wiping fom off his bottom lip. "I've got a couple investors in Shanghai waiting on us. With them, the launching will be a breeze." 

The idea of a new business came from Luhan, who had been wanting to start it for years now, but never found the time and interest. The business was in the automobile industry, thanks to Luhan's older sibling, being a very invested mechanic and automotive designer, who never thought of expanding from his small dealership place. And so his designs went to Luhan, then to people who could make it happen. I had absolutely no idea what was going on in Shanghai, but it seemed to be very busy, because in a matter of days, EXO Motors was beginning to manufacture it's simplest model. 

The deal was that each of us would once again be spread eagle around the map, taking care of specific branches in specific countries. I was in-charge of the China outlet, because Luhan had more connections in Europe, and it all goes uphill from there. 

I had no idea when it would take effect, all I knew was that I wanted Jinae with me on it. But since she's not interested on joining on the business, she'll have to re-direct her company options to China, something I knew would be almost impossible for me to make her do. 

"How is Jinae?" Tao asks as if he was in-sync with my thoughts. I barely notice their conversation about the investors had ended. 

"Why do you ask?" I lift an eyebrow. He shrugs. 

"Maybe because you haven't been listening to anything we've been saying the whole morning." 

"Sorry, I'm just a little tired, that's all--" 

"You're worried about moving to China, aren't you?" Minseok says in a sympathetic mutter. I look him in the eye, needless of a verbal answer. 

"It's alright, Yifan. It's still years from now, yeah?" Jongdae mentions. 

"Well, she's in a job now, and I'm getting the gyst that she likes her job." I mumble. What if she did like her job? What if she planned to work there for years? I can't tear her away from her wants, they're just as important as mine, years later or now. 

"We should take the kid out," Yixing offers, drinking his mug dry. "During her lunch break, you know?" 

I cringe at the old office nickname. "I thought we agreed to stop calling her 'the kid'. It makes me feel like I'm dating a five year old." 

"Well, we also agreed to stop wearing suits now that we're unemployed." Jongdae states a-matter-of-factly, gesturing to our very business-like get-up. 

"And what? Bring back Yifan's galaxy hoodies?" I see Tao shake. "Never." 

'What's wrong with my galaxy hoodies?' I pout. They're made of cotton and the print is made from a smooth silk screen, plus the cushion around the garter, and the color that go very well with my orange Air Jordans. Perfect post-basketball look, these guys have no idea what fashion is. 

"Let's bring her to lunch and try to propaganda our way into Jinae supporting all of this." Jongdae laughs. I reply by fishing my phone from my pants pocket and dialing her number. 

"Alright, then, I'll call her." 

{ nam jinae }

I have never hesitated when Kris had called, not even once.

...Maybe sometimes when I was in the shower, or when the circumstances made it completely impossible, but I had never thought of hanging up on him when the phone was in my hand. I think the fact that I was lying to him was a huge factor, and that he might say something along the lines of "I know you betrayed me", or something worse. I couldn't pick up the phone, I couldn't. 

"Goddammit, new girl, pick up the phone, your ringtone's harvesting attention." Sehun hisses with a roll of his eyes, leading me to press the green button in hopes of shutting out the brat. 

Fingers cold and clammy, I bring the phone to my ear. 

"Hello?" 

"Goodmorning, baby." Comes Kris' low, calm voice that signals complete unsuspectedness. I wipe an imaginary bead of sweat off my forehead. 

"Hi, Fan, what's up?" I say, trying to relax by leaning on my seat. The tall guy snickered beside his drastically smaller friend, who was giving me odd looks. 

"I just wanted to know how you were doing at work and--" 

Work. At the mention of work, I start invisibly sweating again. What about work? Did he know? Was he pretending, playing bait and all? Was Kris standing across the street, staring at me?! 

I lunge under the table before I know it, ducking under the chairs and to the other guys' feet, which jumped and stuttered at my sudden stunt. 

"What the are you doing?" 

"Are you crazy?" 

I put a finger to my lip to shut them up, though only some of them were looking under  the table to me. This was the most awkward position I've been in since I went in a guy's bathroom and hid in a stall for an hour. Except, the crotches were closer now. 

"Hello? Jiji? Baobei?" 

I snap back to real time. "Hey, sorry. Connections weak." I try my best to conjure a chuckle, but it just comes out as an awkward breath of air. Good going, Nam. 

"Oh, haha." He says slowly. "Well, as I was saying, the guys and I wanted to take you out during your lunch break. Would that be alright?" 

I freeze. Would it be alright? 

I had to consider the factors, like what if someone from work recognized me? What if they followed me going back to the office? I would be screwed in the , (not literally, I hope) and hung. Or worse, Kris could break up with me after a lengthy fight I know I'll lose. But on the pros column, I get free lunch. 

"Y-yeah," I stutter out, already creating a plan in my head. "That sounds great." 

"Really? Awesome!" He cheers, and I can feel that smile of his radiating through the line. "Where do I pick you up?" 

I freeze again. "No, no! It's fine, I'll just take the bus to wherever we're eating. My schedule is pretty indefinite, and I don't wanna keep you guys waiting outside, I insist." 

"Are you sure?" He sound suspicious. Or maybe that's just me. 

"Of course," I say just as slow. 

"Alright then," He says. "I'll just text you the place. I'm probably interferring with your schedule, so I'll leave you be. See you later, Baobei, I love you." 

I bite my lip. "I'll see you, Fan. Love you." 

And I hated how it sounded so half hearted. Maybe I didn't deserve to say it to someone so perfect. 

I rise from the table slowly, careful not to hit my head, though they look at me like I hit mine hard at birth. I dismiss their raised eyebrows and grab Jongin's coffee. It was still quite warm, contrary to the big eyed one's beliefs, a little to my dismay. I rise, yet they stay inanimate in their position, looking at me like I was an alien from another milky way. I scoff. 

As if you were the ones who had to stare at crotches for a solid thirty seconds. 

No one told you to stare, Jinae. 

Shut up, brain. 

{ kim jongin }

She was in every gossip tabloid I could find with Wu Yifan plastered at the front. 

Even the one where they stitched a photo of I and him, the subpar header blasting out "Young. Handsome. Rich. Rivals?!", she was at the corner, a small stolen picture of their hands together walking out of a seven eleven, small letters saying "Wu and Secretary still together?!". It was disgusting. The media was disgusting, portraying her in this twisted, money hungry image of a girl, I read on page eighteen, where 'analysts' use Nam Jinae as a model for, another subpar header, "Symptoms she's using you for your money". 

Don't get me wrong, I barely know the stupid girl, but this wasn't fair. Nam Jinae was stupid and lazy, not cheap and money hungry. I look at the desk side clock.

"Nam Jinae, an hour late with her boss' coffee!" Would make an appropriate header. Put that on your ing tabloids. 

I put the paper down, under the stack of the papers I have already read, and call for someone to put them away, right where they got them at the library across town, or whatever. 

However, when someone knocks on the door, I immediately shove the stack under my desk. My spine leans staright, hands finding ther way knotting together on the surface of my keyboard. "Come in," 

And there's a rattle at the door before it opens. I wouldn't have been too surprised to see it was her. She looked pale, scared even. I thought she'd gotten through this. I thought I'd gotten her jitters out when I asked her to throw her drink. 

Did I not want her to be afraid of me? Maybe. 

Things were unbalanced. Odd, unorthodox. I didn't know if I really disliked it, or if I just forced myself to. 

"You're an hour late," I say, looking back down at my keyboard and the empty document, thanks to her. "And you look like you're scared of the fact?" 

I look her straight in the eye, I see her flinch. Her hand is holding the coffee, tightly. She smacks her lips together before speaking. 

"I don't mind," She says in her obnoxious, unprofessional tone and lays the coffee down on my desk. She wouldn't allow herself to be scared of me. That's the thing, only the guys weren't. Weird, unorthodox. Did I like this?

My thoughts are cut when she passed by the left side of my table to look out the window. I glance at the tabloids. Please don't look down, Nam Jinae. 

"Thanks to your inefficiency, Miss Nam, I'm going to book your weekends." I demand, immediately thinking of what she would do on those weekends. I would never give her a lot of paperwork, I knew she wouldn't do it. I have low expectations for Miss Nam Jinae, I don't want any serious part of my company in her hands. She's here to do the fluff jobs, not the heavy ones. She's a pawn to my king, she shouldn't know anything going on behind her. For instance, the tabloids under my table. God, I hope she doesn't see them, I'd come off as someone trying to stalk her. Gross. 

"You call me 'Miss Nam' all the time. It's really stiff, even for you. Just call me Jinae." She turns at me, inches away from the stack. "Deal?" 

"Jeez," I exhale. She's often nagging. I'm never going to get any of my work done. This document will forever be empty. Come on Nam, get back to where you were. Stop nagging at me and telling me what to do, you're acting like a wife. Infact-- "How about I just call you yeobo and get over with it?" 

"What?" She double takes. 

I blink once, twice, thrice, four times before I realize... , I might have said that outloud. Did I say that outloud?

"I-- What?"

"Yeobo, Jongin?" She looks at me. I swallow hard, and look at my fast moving fingers. No, I did not say that outloud, ha ha. I couldn't have, I-- 

"Yeobo?" She smirks. "Yeobo!" 

I cringe at the sound of her coos. My face burns, why does my face burn? "I-uh- No!" 

"Are you stuttering?"

Was I stuttering? 

The balance is wrong. 

Jongin, get a hold of yourself.

"Return to your station, Miss Nam. I'll send you my schedule for the month." I say, trying to regain my composure. System reset, Jongin, you slipped there. A mental 'no accident since' sign resets. Her smile fades. 

"Wouldn't want to be punished, yeobo." She walks to the door. There's a sarcastic dip in her voice, as if she had reminded herself to hate me. I watch her move so sardonically farther from me, then turning her back to the door. "Enjoy your coffee." 

I look back at the document. 

Business Reports 2014: 
      Nam Jinae is confusing me. What is she doing-- She looks a lot like Kim Soomin from high school. Haha. What if she is money hungry? Note to stay away from her in case she really is. how else would wu's company go bakrupt, other than me and my geniusI think I I SAID SOMETHING WRONG MEINRTHE 

I stop writing. My fingers repel from the board like they were the plague. What was I doing? I had papers to sort and sign, business stocks to report. All I could focus on, however, was the sound the door shutting as it echoes around the room. It seemed emptier than before. 

I shiver. I look around, everything right where they should be, but Maybe I should order more furniture.

Also, God, I need a drink. 

{ nam jinae }

I have come to the conclusion that I will never understand Kim Jongin. 

He's too complicated, I'd rather not try to figure him out. I'm supposed to hate him with the last good girlfriend fibre in my body, not try to understand him. I guess thats how it goes in the life of a secretary. 

I cringed thinking of that word. 'Secretary'. There was something extremely appaling about being the personal assistant of the man I'm supposed to hate most in the world, but something also very interesting about how vulnerable he can be when he makes a mistake. Ah, Kim Jongin making a mistake will never be erased from my memory. Are those the things that go through his grouchy little head, under the perfect geled hair and glowing, sun kissed skin? 

Let's do an analysis, shall we? I'll make no fibs, Kim Jongin is good looking. His outershell is stunning, charismatic.  He doesn't have one provocative moment, it's the way he talks, he's a classic, classy kind of y. He's y and he's fully aware of it. That's where his inner shell starts to rot, he's cocky. He's thinks he's suave and stoic all the damn time, he has no idea how to react when he's not. 

'Yeobo'. Ha! It's a stupid mistake, but it's enough to jumble his wits. He's tongue tied, he's stuttering, maybe he's even blushing a little. Suddenly, Kim Jongin is fourteen again in his attic playing his first truth or dare game with girls around. Suddenly, he's been hit in the balls with the arousal of premature adolescent temptation, with no idea what to do with it. Kim Jongin is embarrassed, people! 

His recoveries are just as quick, however, which leads me to the everlonging question: Kim Jongin, what is your weakness?

Which is why I've concluded I'll never understand him. I'll never know. This man builds up Great Wall of China sized barricades around himself, not that I've ever wanted to jump over them, but not that I've never been curious about them either. 

Before I can plunge deeper in my thoughts, there's a push on my shoulder. 

"Oh?" A high pitched yelp comes from beside me. I freeze, snapping out of my mental trance and take a good look at her. 

The girl is younger than me but taller, around her early twenties perhaps, brunette strands tightly pulled into a side braid, eyes big and very captivating in a model sense. Her outfit's pulled together by branded clothes, a white blazer from Dolce & Gabbanna, Hermes hand bag, from the looks of it this girl was rich to the goddamn core. He stumbles off my shoulder which  she bumped, holding her papers tighter so they wouldn't fall. Her eyes beam up at me. 

"I--"

"I'm so sorry!" She suddenly bursts, high pitched squeals of deep regret. Oh God, she sounds like a Japanese humanoid. 

"I'm so so so so sorry!" She starts to ramble, gently gripping my shoulder like it was a hurt animal. I froze in place. Who is this? And why does she resemble a filthy rich sugar plum fairy? 

"Are you alright? Unnie, I really didn't mean to--" 

"I'm okay," I stop her from fussing, her face starting to turn crimson. It was almost endearing. I give her a comforting smile and gesture at her papers. "You look like you're pretty busy for the morning." 

"Ah," She becomes aware of them, looking down. "Yes, it's like this every morning. I'm alright." 

She gives me the vibes of a lost highschool freshmen, definitely not as prissy as she looks. For the first time, I encounter someone comfoting in this godforsaken building.

"Do you need help with those?" I offer, giving her my two hands. She immediately widens her eyes like saucers and rapidly shakes her head. 

"No, no! It's alright, unnie, I just need to drop these off a-at Sir Kai's then I'll be on my way." There's a sense of nervousness in her voice, but it's oddly also mixed with the grace of perseverance. This shows as she nods her head once, then turns back to the CEO's door, thou. "If you'd like, though, you could have lunch with me and Eunjin during break." 

I don't question who Eunjin is before I shake my head. "No thank you, I have plans, maybe next time." 

She nods back at me in understanding, turning her head and giving a smile. She then gives a small bow. "Alright. I'm Daesol, by the way. Hyun Daesol." 

I bow in the same kind manner. "I'm Nam Jinae. It's nice to meet you." 

"I'll be on my way now, unnie, thank you." 

And as she turns away, there's this sense of endearment blanketing over me, like she isn't part of this company, like I needed a friend. It was different with Suho, who was kind and all, but I felt like he took a great part in ruining Kris' company, like he was sinister inside. It was different with Daesol, she was young, she had a naive look in her eyes, she was comforting.

It was an odd, longing loneliness. None of the 'friends' I made in Galaxy Ent. ever stuck with me, because I was always with Kris and the guys, they were always too intimidated to join in. Now, what was this feeling, that I didn't have deeper connections with an authority in this building? Did I feel free? Liberated? Independent? Like this is how it was supposed to be? 

"Hey," I speak up before she knocks. She looks back at me again with a smile. "If you'd like, when you're done with that, you could stop by my office and help me sort out master Kai's schedule." 

She laughs, and then shrugs once. "Well, I have nothing else to do until eleven thirty, why not." 

I jab my thumb to the door of my office. "Well, it's right there. Feel free not to knock." 

"Thank you, unnie." She says sincerely. It makes me smile genuinely. Sweet girl. 

I notice she takes a deep breath before she knocks. I hear the shadows of their conversation as I get in my office (now flower free, may I add.)

"Sir Kai?" 

"Come in." 

"I brought the papers you asked for." 

"Ten minutes late?" 

"Well, the printer ran out of ink in my department and I had to go all the way to the supply closet on the thirtieth floor, which had been locked, so I--" 

"I don't want this to happen again." 

"Yes, sir." 

"Your job's hanging on a thread, Hyun." 

And somehow, that fuels my despise for Kim Jongin more. 

How can someone be so truly heartless?