“And so the first prize of today’s Workers’ Party Draw goes to… Do Kyungsoo of the Tax Department!” The emcee yelled into the microphone excitedly. “Would Mr Do Kyungsoo come up to the stage quickly, please?”

“Hey, Chanyeol just called your name!” A guy with copious amounts of eyeliner nudged the wide-eyed man beside him who was busy gobbling down his pile of chicken and steak he took greedily from the banquet tables.

“Me…me?”(⊙_☉)

“Yes you! Oh my god!” Eyeliner guy seemed like the one who obtained the prize instead and jumped frantically, shaking said man’s shoulders wildly.

“Argh, stop, Baekhyun, you’re getting sauce all over my mouth!” Kyungsoo sent a death glare towards Baekhyun’s way and wiped his mouth with a serviette before waddling up to the stage to get the ticket from Chanyeol. Baekhyun cheered loudly when Kyungsoo shook Chanyeol’s hand blankly and he could have sworn that he saw Chanyeol wink at him.

“Aren’t you excited, Kyungsoo? You get a ticket to the Maldives for five days! God, I wish I got that! How did you get so lucky? I mean, like well, you’re always lucky but you hit the jackpot this time, man!” Baekhyun babbled on while Kyungsoo just stared at the ticket in his hand blankly. Indeed, Kyungsoo had always been lucky.

When Kyungsoo and Baekhyun both graduated from high school, Baekhyun was the faster one to get a job despite Kyungsoo being the one to secure an interview first. Of course Baekhyun was jealous when Kyungsoo was offered the interview for SM Accountancy Firm but this feeling was quickly dispelled when Kyungsoo did something retarded.

“Hey, how did your interview go?” Baekhyun asked Kyungsoo through the phone while picking up Chinese takeaway for lunch.

“I’m still looking for the place…”

“What? But the interview was supposed to be like one hour ago!”

“Well, does it look like I give a anymore? I went to Block 77 three times and the damn receptionist with big bug eyes snapped at me every single time that there is no one called Mr Lee Soo Man there!”

Well, it turned out that Kyungsoo read Block 11 as 77, and hence missed the interview as a result. However, as luck would have it, both Baekhyun and Kyungsoo were accepted into the EXO Accountancy firm, where Baekhyun worked as an Auditor and Kyungsoo specialized in taxation.

“Well, why don’t you look the least bit excited?”

“I wanted the second prize… I need a new phone. IPhone 6+! God, I would never be able to afford that. ”Kyungsoo pouted at his ticket. “Plus, Maldives is for couples to have their honeymoon at. Not for singles like me who will just be seen as a nuisance there!”

“Well, just take it as a chance to relax. You haven’t taken leave since forever!”

“Not everyone is a lazybum like you, Baekhyun. You always have me cover your auditing work just because I’m nice! Maybe it’s time to stop watching your Korean dramas you’ve been fawning over. What was the name again? It’s okay it’s love? What a retarded name!” Kyungsoo retorted as Baekhyun smiled embarrassedly.

“Get me something nice, Kyungie-poo! And maybe get a hot boyfriend on the way. You know how there are many hot half- guys lounging on the beach? Go get one of them with a hot that matches yours!” Chortling, Baekhyun poked Kyungsoo’s  cheek and Kyungsoo sighed.

Maldives… this was gonna be a long holiday.

“The company has already helped you settle your boarding pass, so you can just proceed to the lounge to rest.” Chanyeol smiled his megawatt smile at Kyungsoo.

“Thanks, Channie! But why would you be here? Aren’t you always with Kris?”

“Yeah, but Kai is here too, so I’m helping both of you to check in!”

“Kai? Like the CEO?” Kyungsoo was genuinely shocked. Both Kris and Kai founded EXO, but while Kris was in charge of maintaining public relations and the image of the company (which usually involved him attending ceremonies and runways—wait, what? in designer clother with a baby alpaca soft toy in hand), Kai was the one in the background, doing all the work behind-the-scenes. While Kris was seen around in the office to blow kisses to the females when morale was low, Kai was hardly seen and new workers (aka Kyungsoo, for example) have only heard about him.

“Yep! Kris thought that he needed a break, so it’s a company sponsored trip for him! There’s another employee who’s coming along as well, he won the raffle during the mid-year draw but never had the chance to go overseas yet so he’s clearing his leave now. Maybe you guys will meet each other on the way. Bye, Kyungsoo, have a great time!” Chanyeol waved excitedly and sent Kyungsoo off with his signature crazy laughter.

“Seat B13… B13.. Here it is!” Kyungsoo fist-pumped the air when he found his seat in the business class cabin. There was already a man sitting beside his seat and Kyungsoo smiled politely at him—without knowing that the man had caught a glimpse of his hearts-printed underwear when he stretched to store his luggage.

The man was wearing sunglasses (like WTF? Kyungsoo thought. Who wears sunglasses in the plane?) and looked like a supermodel with his physique (don’t ask Kyungsoo why he could tell that when he was sitting down). When Kyungsoo smiled at him, the man took off his glasses.

“Sorry, I slept at five yesterday and my eyebags are really huge today. Are you the employee who won the year-end lucky draw this year?” The man asked as Kyungsoo plopped himself down onto the seat while thinking that the man was so tanned that the black eyebags weren’t that obvious at all.

“Yes! I’m Do Kyungsoo from the Tax department. Which department are you from?”

“I’m from the audit department.”

“Oh, then you must know my friend, Baekhyun! He’s really chatty and a ball of fluff! Oh, and you may recognize him by the eyeliner he always uses!” Kyungsoo enthused. However, the look of recognition did not spark in the man’s eyes as he looked confused.

“I’m sorry, I don’t really know my colleagues that well…”

“Well, that’s okay! I heard from Baekhyun that CEO Kai slave drives the auditors so I can understand that you don’t have much time to interact with the people from your department. CEO Kai is really scary, isn’t he?”

“Oh?” The man smirked slightly. “Tell me all the rumours and complaints you’ve heard about him.”

“Oh, um, well, it’s nothing much really! I mean, you work for him right? You would know him better than me! It’s just that rumours have been flying about that he’s really young and capable, but works like a maniac and no one really sees him around. I, for one, have never seen him around before. But you’re in the audit department so I suppose you would have at least seen him once? I heard he’s bald, by the way.Must be the stress.”Kyungsoo mock-whispered the last sentence and the man snorted slightly.

“Well, I suppose I do work for him, in a way.” The man mused. “I haven’t seen him though.”

“Oh? Then you must be new like me! I just joined the company a few months ago with Baekhyun, and the Tax department is small so I don’t really know anyone else other than those in my department and Baekhyun… oh and Chanyeol! Kris’ PA. By the way, Baekhyun likes Chanyeol. Just a small tidbit for you since you’re new like me!” Kyungsoo smiled while the man stifled a bout of laughter.

“I see… how interesting.”

“Anyway, I still haven’t gotten your name. How old are you?” Kyungsoo stared expectantly at the man.

“I’m K-Kim Jongin. Twenty three. Just call me Jongin.” Jongin coughed lightly.

“Oh! I’m your hyung then! Are you not feeling well? CEO Kai must have been really mean to you! Maybe I should pretend that the monster on my handheld Gameboy is CEO Kai and bash him up for you!” Kyungsoo curled his fingers up into a fist and pumped it in the air while Jongin just smiled crookedly.

Call me Jongin, or whatever—I will never let you know that I am the Kai you speak of so terribly.