Chapter 1

A hotel CEO's office was the reflection of the hotel itself; flashy or trashy, elegant or boring, contemporary or hippie; the quality of the hotels would be judged from their CEOs' office style.

Jongin's office was spacious and extravagant, reeking of luxury and elegance the moment anyone stepped their feet inside. A circulated aromatherapy scent would greet them, offering a pleasant smell as they inhaled air into their lungs. The scent, a mixed of citrus, mint, and subtle vanilla scents, oozed a refreshing yet soothing aroma throughout the room. It was specifically made for Jongin; the CEO personally asked the renowned perfumer -Mauricio Dubois- himself.

Surely, no matter how extravagant an office was, without the personality of its owner it would've looked as if it was blatantly copied from Designer Digest.

Jongin's office was a combination of hi-end designer products and catastrophe; a big dart board on Darcy Pearl wallpaper, two pogo sticks showcased proudly next to Cote Mason ceramics sculptures and whatnot. Kyungsoo never bothered to question his boss' eccentricity. To him, his boss was a bottomless ocean, and he didn't fancy to get the tip of his toe wet, let alone to willingly dive his whole body inside.

Kyungsoo's sleek platform shoes created a small tapping sound on the black walnut linoleum floor as he walked into the office, straight to the center of the room. Kyungsoo was assured he would see his boss sitting behind his desk, and indeed he found him there. Facing out his chair, his boss was looking at the busy day of Seoul through the gigantic clear glass window.

"I got some documents for you to sign, sir," Kyungsoo said in his flat, professional tone.

"Leave them on my desk," Jongin murmured without looking back.

"You'll have a meeting with Mr. Kwon Ji Woo, an exec from our private-label company, at 3 o'clock. The files and agenda for the meeting are ready for you; I've put them on your desk. Please check the contents before the meeting." Kyungsoo went on with his reports despite the lack of attention from his boss. It was becoming a habit for him to spill all the schedules at once, and during the day he would remind his boss over and over again like a broken record on repeat.

".... A meeting with Mr. Choi Yo Min from CYZ at 4 o'clock about hotel's management agreements; the revised contract has been sent to CYZ and us. I've given it to you three days ago, and another copy of it is on your desk."

"There's a phone call from Mr. Noh Ji Min from Royal Bank of Korea, asking for an appointment with you for a business dealing. He's hoping to get a call from us before 5 o'clock."

Kyungsoo took a deep breath, adjusting his glasses down onto the bridge of his nose.

"And I want a raise."

Finally Kyungsoo drew out Jongin's attention. The CEO pivoted his chair suavely. "A raise?" he asked calmly.

Kyungsoo nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Why do I need to give you that?" Jongin leaned his elbows stylishly on his 'CEO Power Desk', piercing an intimidating gaze at his secretary hoping to see him quiver. To no avail, Kyungsoo returned his eyes uninterestedly, almost as if he was bored. Jongin smiled inwardly. His secretary was a tiny mountain rock.

"So I can continue working for you, sir," Kyungsoo replied shortly.

"You didn't answer my question, Kyungsoo."

Kyungsoo sighed. "I got a job offer from Su Hotel CEO. 10 percent raise."

"Suho? Why would you work for a person who only put half of his name for a hotel name, giving a ridiculous reason that 'ho' in 'hotel' is taken from his name. Such a cocky attitude from someone who only owns the second largest hotel chains in the country." Jongin rubbed his eye tiredly, eyebrows were raised in disbelief.

"You might as well work for the third loser, with that kind of mindset you have."

"Actually, Holy Dae Inn gave their offer too."

"Jongdae...," Jongin hissed through his gritted teeth. Kim Jong Dae was the worst, and his hotel's name was even more hideous. It's a good thing that Jongin started the business earlier; he could not imagine if that troll stole his Jong name.

"fine. 7.5 percent raise," he grunted.

"But-" Kyungsoo was about to object but Jongin cut him off.

"Did they offer you mileage allowance? Better health care? Generous clothing allowance?" Jongin swept his eyes at his secretary from head to toe. Round rimmed glasses. Long sleeves plaid shirt, buttoned up, with a boring cardigan on top. Well, maybe not that generous, Jongin thought.

"We haven't talked about that," Kyungsoo politely replied.

"In which Su branch will you hypothetically be working at?"

Having the answer from Kyungsoo, Jongin grabbed his smartphone and started to type down something efficiently. "Your place is in-" he mumbled to himself, tapping and sliding his finger across the touch screen.

"An hour and fifteen minutes by train to get to the new place," Jongin stated at last.

"Two hours by car. You'll be saving much more time if you keep your job here, so I guess 7.5 percent raise is reasonable enough."

Kyungsoo sighed deeply, unconsciously jutting out his lower lip in a small pout. His face darkened. He didn't need a salary increase, but for him it's a matter of life principle. He glanced up at his boss before answering hesitantly. "I'll take it. Thank you sir," he mumbled.

"Why do you want a raise that bad, anyway?"

"Do you have debts or something? A family to support?"

"A family to support?" Kyungsoo chuckled dryly. "Mom..." His voice trailed off and he didn't finish his words. "Nevermind, sir."

Kyungsoo didn't purposely let out his feeling, but he supposed, it wouldn't cause him any harm if by doing that could get him more.

"Okay then, if you don't have anything more to say, you can go." Jongin waved his hand nonchalantly toward the door.

Kyungsoo forgot that his boss was a heartless bastard.

***

"It's the third time in two years that you give him a raise, right?" Sehun's head emerged from behind the leather longue chair he'd occupied since morning, enough to let Jongin know that he was alive and breathing, 20 feet away. Sehun lazily went back to his former position. His long upper limbs reached out for a cushion and tucked it between his legs. He sighed contentedly. The new sofa was phenomenal, but the cushions could be better.

"So?" Jongin replied uninterestedly. He put his interest on something else he didn't bother to give a at what Oh Sehun said. After a short ponder, Jongin grabbed a paper and folded it in half, and then the top corners in to the center. Making a little hum, he reached in his pocket to pull out his wallet. He picked a credit card and threw his wallet carelessly on his desk, using the black card to make the fold nice and crisp.

"So... why?"

"He's a valuable asset, that's why," Jongin nonchalantly replied. His tongue jutted out in concentration as he folded the angled edge into the center.

"A little bundle of tidiness; and a fierce one too. Do you know what his answer was, when I asked him about his first impression of my hotel? He said my hotel's name was tacky and highly not sophisticated." Jongin chuckled. You don't say things like that on an interview and hoping to go home with a new job (Kyungsoo got home with the job, but that's another case.)

"Well, it's tacky indeed. Naming your hotel 'Jong Inn'? Really, Jongin?"

"It's genius, right? And that tiny little grenade unhesitantly diss my hotel’s name on his job interview." Folding down the two top flaps and he's done. Grabbing another sheet of paper, Jongin immersed himself into the origami world.

"But that's not entirely the reason he got the job," he carried on with his explanation. "Kyungsoo happens to be so damn efficient he could've done the work before you finish telling him what to do. Let me give you an example."

Jongin pressed the intercom button as he spoke, "Kyungsoo, come here." He stood up and spun on his heels to have a few steps forward. Leaning back against his desk, Jongin crossed his arms over his chest and waited.

There was a soft knock on the door, and soon a mop of fluffy hair peered into the room, followed by the rest of the owner. Before Kyungsoo could say a word a paper airplane landed perfectly on his forehead and fell to the floor. Kyungsoo stared down to look at the flying object on the floor. He was not amused. He bent down to pick it up. Taking a glance at the folded paper in his hand, he recognized it right away. It was -supposedly- a contract with an internet provider company he gave to Jongin a day before, which should have been signed by his boss by then.

"Find me new internet provider companies; I don't want to continue this one. Their Wi-Fi ," Jongin grouched.

"There, I sent you another page of the contract," he cheerfully said, throwing the other paper plane he made, inappropriately using it as a dart and Kyungsoo's forehead as the bullseye board.

Kyungsoo caught the paper airplane in the air; his expression remained the same, as if it was a normal thing to do, catching paper airplanes thrown by his boss.

"Internet provider? For this hotel, sir?"

"For starters. Call every Jong Inn's geek we have, and give me the report of how their Wi-Fi are. I want High Speed Internet Service in every room Jong Inn have, in Jong Inn's pools, Jong Inn's elevators, Jong Inn's roofs, Jong Inn's basements –“ Jongin bit back a grin. These past two years he had developed a liking for torturing Kyungsoo, maybe for a little bit too much. Finding out that his secretary despised his hotel's name the most, he happily used it on every occasion he could.

".... And every little places that have Jong Inn's name in it. Find the fastest companies in the country, ones that can provide us network speed for Blu-Ray video streaming if you must."

"Get me a cup of coffee from my favorite place, and as for Sehun, he likes the caramel latte from that maid cafe, what's the name? 'Miau?" A blond haired head emerged and gave a nod.

"Yes, Miau," Jongin went on. "Oh, and finish the internet thingy report in an hour."

"With whipped cream, please," Sehun added from afar.

Kyungsoo nodded, and without a word he went out of the room.

"Meanie. The coffee shops were on the opposite sides, four blocks away. It will take him at least one hour to buy your orders and get back here," Sehun commented after Kyungsoo left.

"Watch," Jongin replied coolly.

Half of an hour later Kyungsoo showed up with two hot coffee in paper cups in his hands. "Your coffee, sir," he said to Jongin, placing Jongin's favorite, Espresso Machiato, on the desk, and then he walked toward Sehun and handed him his coffee. Kyungsoo walked out of the room and came back with a tray of muffins, placing it on the table in front of Sehun.

Sehun was agape. "How can you bring them so fast?" he asked, staring at the muffins on the table looking utterly confused.

"I offered to arrange the snacks for some morning meetings," Kyungsoo said with a shrug. "That way I could ask them to deliver the orders."

"Here's the report you asked, sir." Kyungsoo walked efficiently toward his boss and handed him a stack of papers.

"Apparently to have sufficient network speed for Blu-Ray video streaming needs millions of dollars in investment, but I'll leave it to you and the Board of Directors to decide." Kyungsoo gave a small nod to Jongin and Sehun and left.

"Wow..." Sehun whispered with an admiration sigh.

"See?"

"But the coffee thingy was a coincidence, though," Sehun insisted.

"There is no 'coincidence' in Do Kyungsoo's dictionary, Oh Sehun."

Jongin happily pressed the overly-abused intercom button and summoned for Kyungsoo, who just went out of his office less than five minutes ago.

For the nth time that day Kyungsoo came through the door. "Yes, sir?"

"Tell me what are Jong Inn's Seoul managers doing right now."

"Mr. Park Jun Hwan, the Food and Beverage Manager, is having a meeting with a supplier."

"Mr. Cho Mi No, Jong Inn Seoul's Hotel Sales Manager, is in his morning meeting with his subordinates in Exol conference room, discussing about the upcoming event for Summer Festival."

"Mr. Im Jae Bum, the Night Manager, is not having a schedule right now, but at 11 o'clock he'll have a meeting with his staffs."

"Mrs-"

"And Sehun?" Jongin cut his secretary's seemingly endless report.

Kyungsoo turned around to look at Sehun. "Mr. Oh is in your office, munching a Sparkling Jumbo Blueberry Muffin, but if what you asked was what he supposedly should be doing right now, then, Mr. Oh should have been in a meeting with Jong Inn Seoul General Manager..." Kyungsoo glanced down his watch, "Since fifteen minutes ago."

". I forgot," Sehun mumbled. He swallowed his remaining muffin in a large bite and stood up, patting his pants to clean the crumbs off him. A few strides later, he raised his index finger as if he just remembered something important. Sehun stopped abruptly, quickly turning on his heel back toward the lounge area. He grabbed his suit jacket from the back of the couch and slipped his arms into the sleeves.

"Bye Jongin, bye Jongin's secretary." Walking fast toward the door Sehun gave a wave without looking back. The door closed with a loud thud.

Kyungsoo narrowed his eyes at the door, thinking of a way to get out of the room fast, but unfortunately Jongin took it as a disapproval glance at Sehun's horrible time management. He flicked his eyes at the door briefly, walking around his big desk to sit in his chair.

"Well, Sehun may appear like a brainless brat, but he's been a valuable asset for our company; Sehun is an outstanding...." Jongin's voice trailed off. His lips curled up into a small smile, and he leaned back on his chair. He put his hand behind his head and crossed his legs.

"Do you know that it's Sehun who came up with the idea of taking out 2.5 percent of our gross income for 'Jong Inn Service Insurance' fund? Someone who, say like, spend 500.000 won to stay a night might receive 100.000 won worth of birthday gifts from us without our dearest guest expecting it; out of the blue we might knock on their door and bring them our specially made birthday cake and wine, or maybe a huge bouquet of red crimson roses.

"Not necessarily need to be birthday events, of course; our staffs might overhear an elderly guest mumble that she misses to taste delicious Mugwort ricecakes she used to have. She smiles sadly and forgets it afterward. When she's having her dinner, without being asked, we serve her the rice cake we personally buy from a small traditional store she mentioned once. Can you imagine what kind of delightful experience we could've given to our guests because of that? No matter how rich someone is, to be given such a nice compassion will always be meaningful."

Jongin looked up and stared at his secretary, who looked like he was about to cry. He mentally gave himself a pat on his back. That little creature might be so touched by his heart-warming speech by now.

"Next time, she might be coming back to us, bringing a bunch of happy friends along. A happy customer is a happy Jong Inn, and a happy Jong Inn is a happy Jongin," he continued, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at his secretary. Kyungsoo hated every time his boss did that. He sent his boss an unamused gaze, eyes wide open, staring judgingly at him through his glasses.

Jongin shrugged, deciding that his secretary was not too fond of his joke. Maybe Kyungsoo was not that smart to catch his pun. Jong Inn and Jongin. See? He stifled a giggle. Running a quick glance at his secretary, he found the same unamused pair of wide eyes fastened on him. Jongin cleared his throat and went back to his wise-successful CEO’s tone of voice.

"Not to mention people tend to spend more when they're in their best mood -- well, in their worst mood too, of course, but I don't get the benefit of making a bunch of unhappy guests just for some glasses of booze. Unhappy drunk guests tend to destroy things, and what even worse is that they usually won't remember a thing on the next day. Showing CCTV evidence to a guest is not really a five stars hotel thing," he explained wisely.

"Sehun is outstanding at people skill; he's good at finding a tiny hint someone has.

"There was one time he threw a Japanese costume themed breakfast buffet because he found a kid looked 'unhappy'. Sehun somehow was deadly assured that a costume themed breakfast would cheer the kid up.

“In a couple of hours Sehun marched in with a dozen of people carrying some odd stuff -- colourful wigs, fabrics, props, leather boots and all. He handed out the costumes and briefed Jong Inn's employees himself." Jongin shook his head. He himself could not believe what Sehun did. His friend was that type of people who preferred to watch the TV on his phone because they were too lazy to grab the remote.

"The next morning, Jong Inn was as vibrant as the wildest dream an emo kid could have ever dreamed."

Kyungsoo cringed at hearing his workplace's name. He would never get used to the tacky name. What have I done to end up working at a place like this? Kyungsoo pondered in his melancholy feeling.

"The look in the kid's eyes was priceless."

Kyungsoo snapped back from his thoughts. Oh. Looked like his boss hadn't done yet. Better acted like he was giving a damn.

Kyungsoo widened his eyes in false awe, trying to look as if he cared -- which he miserably failed to do. At least he tried.

Jongin smiled tenderly, clasping his fingers hands beneath his head and resting his back on his comfortable leather seat.

"The look in the kid's father was even more priceless. Apparently he should've accompanied his ten years old son to a 'something-Japanese-cartoon' convention, and they're late to get to the event on time due to his work. His son was at the edge of cutting ties with him when Oh Sehun came and became the savior of the day. The man was so thankful to us he threw a big party for his son's birthday the next month. Booked a hundred rooms from us."

Kyungsoo waited for a moment, and to his relief nothing more came up.

"Sir," he spoke calmly.

"Yes?"

"You forgot Mr. Oh's position in your company, right?"

"Not a clue."

***

"Sir, please fix your tie, you're going to have a meeting at 11," Kyungsoo greeted his boss with a nag as he handed him some documents, glancing at Jongin's messily tangled tie.

"Fix it for me." Jongin got up from his seat and in a few long strides he had stood up in front of his secretary, towering the smaller male before him. He bent forward and offered Kyungsoo his horribly made tie that was hanging down his neck, urging his secretary to do something about it. Kyungsoo sighed, but he complied anyway. He loosened the tie and stood on his tip-toe to take it off. Better to start from the beginning.

Kyungsoo furrowed his eyebrows in concentration, adjusting the length of the wide side and narrow side of the tie before he carried on, his warm breath swept against Jongin's chest.

Jongin looked down, gazing at the smaller male who's fumbling with his tie, looping the wide side around his neck, sliding it up, before he tightened the tie and shaped the knot into a triangle shape. Kyungsoo smiled in satisfaction; his small fingers skillfully doing the final adjustment. Perfect. Now his boss was good to go.

As Kyungsoo smoothed his tie, Jongin bent down to check on his secretary's work; his steady breath fanned through Kyungsoo's hair, playing with the naughty strands of the fluffy mop hair.

"Do you want me to order something for lunch, sir?" Kyungsoo mumbled. His eyes were fixed at the tie in his hand, looking for any flaw or imperfection.

"No, I'll lunch out today. Why?" Jongin whispered under his breath. His lips were not so far away from Kyungsoo's ear; hence he didn't find the need to say it louder.

"I have an appointment with my optometrist at 12:30. I'm considering to wear contact lenses, so I need to know whether my astigmatism will be causing a problem or not."

"Contact lenses? Why would you want to wear those?"

Kyungsoo shrugged. "To make me look more professional, I guess. I read an article about it somewhere."

"What did you read? Secretary Weekly?" Jongin chuckled. He put his hands on Kyungsoo's shoulders and drew his secretary closer to him, bending down to Kyungsoo's height so they were eye to eye. He stared down at his secretary, looking at his own reflection in the round glasses.

All of a sudden Jongin cupped Kyungsoo's face with a hand, while his other one was already on the rim of Kyungsoo's glasses, quickly taking the specs off of his secretary's face. He calmly held Kyungsoo, who's struggling to get his glasses back, with his palm that was covering most of the smaller male's face.

"S-sir, give me back my glasses, please," Kyungsoo cried. He flailed his hands to grab his glasses, which had been held up beyond his reach by his childish boss. Jongin hummed. He wrapped his arm around Kyungsoo and held him in a firm hug, burying Kyungsoo against his chest, with hand holding the glasses securely rested on the crook of neck.

Jongin fished out his phone from his pocket with his free hand, fingers slided and tapped on the screen. Finding what he'd been looking for, he grinned. He loosened his grasp and put the spectacles back on Kyungsoo's face.

"Look," he lightly said, gesturing Kyungsoo to look at his phone.

Kyungsoo grunted. He adjusted his glasses before unwillingly did what his boss ordered him to do. He looked at the phone screen, unconsciously tilting his head to a side. Knitting his eyebrows, he looked up at Jongin in confusion. What's with the owl cartoon?

Jongin drew two small circles around the owl's eyes with his pinky finger. "Owl with glasses," he hummed. Jongin made sure Kyungsoo had seen his drawing before erasing the circles he made.

"Now," Jongin showed his phone to Kyungsoo, "Does it look more professional to you?"

Jongin laughed, watching the small ball of rage leaving his office in full tantrum.

A messy blonde haired head peeked up from behind the couch. "Dude!" Sehun exclaimed. "Just when I thought I would see Titanic, you gave me Dumb and Dumber. What the , man?" he protested.

"What are you doing in my office, exactly?" Jongin sneered at his friend.

"We're going to have lunch together, remember?"

"It's 10 o'clock."

"Oh."

Sehun dove back to the couch. He yawned. "I'll have a short nap, then. Wake me up when it's time, okay?" He grabbed a cushion with his feet and clamped it between his legs, groaning in happiness.

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