Kyungsoo and his new friend texted everyday—but Kyungsoo never had the chance to meet Jongin since the vacation. Whenever Kyungsoo asked Jongin out for lunch, Jongin was always busy, which led to Kyungsoo thinking that Jongin did not treat him as a friend at all—but he quickly understood that Jongin was being mistreated by CEO Kim and swamped with insane amounts of work--the same fate every auditor under CEO Kim had to face. 

Well, all of the above were true, except that CEO Kim and Kim Jongin were the same person. He usually didn’t text Kyungsoo first because he was worried that he couldn't sustain the conversation, but always waited for his phone screen to light up with Kyungsoo’s name on it. When he started to become busy, he would neglect his conversation with Kyungsoo but the latter wouldn’t mind and waved it off like it was nothing.

To: Jongin  (｀・ω・´)” 
From: Kyungsoo⊙ω⊙

It’s okay, I know CEO Kim is a slave-driver. I’ll kill him for you in my game boy!  ψ(｀∇´)ψ

Kai felt like he was getting a bit sick—probably due to Kyungsoo’s cursing. But the Jongin in him felt touched, and was amused by Kyungsoo’s actions.

This day, Jongin was busy checking the final versions of the files to be submitted and had to prepare for a meeting with the HQ in New York, with his eyebags getting heavier day by day (not like one would notice, but whatever).

To: Jongin  (｀・ω・´)” 
From: Kyungsoo⊙ω⊙

Hey Jongin you free tonight? I got a group of friends to noraebang, would you like to come? ヾ(@^▽^@)ノ

To: Kyungsoo⊙ω⊙
From: Jongin  (｀・ω・´)”

sry, not free tonight. need to finish ceokim’s work

Usually Kyungsoo would just let it go, but he seemed insistent tonight.

To: Jongin  (｀・ω・´)” 
From: Kyungsoo⊙ω⊙

Until what time? I asked Baekhyun today, he said that the auditors don’t have much to do this season.

To: Kyungsoo⊙ω⊙
From: Jongin  (｀・ω・´)”

maybe around ten?
i’ll treat you someday

To: Jongin  (｀・ω・´)” 
From: Kyungsoo⊙ω⊙

I’ll wait for you tonight?

To: Kyungsoo⊙ω⊙
From: Jongin  (｀・ω・´)”

ok

Kai had a few more sessions of drinks with various clients in the afternoon and evening, which led him to forget about his promise to Kyungsoo quickly. After returning to the company to settle a few more documents with Kris, he sighed and stared out from the sixtieth storey of the skyscraper building. The beautiful night view of the city did little to help his mood and fatigue, and Kai wondered where the initial joy of working went to.

Kai was ambitious, definitely, being the CEO of such a successful company at the mere age of twenty two. He had a target to achieve ever since he graduated, and took a much shorter time than everyone to achieve what he wanted with his soft skills. He never doubted the intensity of his dream, but yet he felt sick and tired of staying in the office all day long, and there was an empty void in him yet to be filled up—which couldn’t be filled up with the material things he owned. No one to think about when he was in bed, no one to welcome him home to the empty loft he lived in, and no one to love with his heart that had so much love to give away. It was a kind of loneliness that engulfed him, that seemed to suffocate him when he was alone.

But that was just a sudden thought where the more vulnerable Jongin was able to appear. Quickly, Kai brushed these thoughts aside and began to work on excel files again.

Only until eleven did Kai look at his phone, and only then did he realize that he had forgotten all about Kyungsoo’s promise with him. Panicked, he quickly dialed Kyungsoo’s number in a bid to apologise.

“Hey, I’m sorry about that! I’ve been doing stuff so is it okay if I go now?”

“The party ended already, Jongin.” Kyungsoo sounded off, but it was nothing Jongin could pinpoint and he felt guilty because he had forgotten all about him.

“It’s actually my birthday today, and a few of my friends came together to throw a party for me. Like Baekhyun, the one in your department and Chanyeol, Kris’ PA and a few others. I thought you’d be free cause Baekhyun was, but it seems that you’re busier than him.”

Kai’s heart constricted suddenly at Kyungsoo’s words and realized how foolish he had been—he was fool who kept looking forward, which led him to missing out on the beauty surrounding him at times.

“Happy birthday, Kyungsoo hyung.” Kai enunciated slowly.

“Have you eaten dinner? Please tell me you have.”

“I have, why?”

“I have some leftover cake that I packed for you, so if you want to have supper now, I could wait until you finish your work on hand.”

“Okay, give me some time and I’ll go find you, definitely.”

“Call me when you’re done?”

“Okay!”

For some reason, upon knowing that he had missed Kyungsoo’s birthday party made Kai extremely frustrated—he felt like he had missed something really important.  A promise that he couldn’t keep made him feel angsty, and without being able to focus anymore, Kai decided to leave all the loose ends to Kris to tie up.

“Hey, I’m off duty already, where are you? Is it too late for me to go find you already?”

“Nope.”Kyungsoo’s voice was rich and melodious, soothing Kai as he sank back deeper into the comfy sofa in his office (that he usually took as his bed during peak seasons). “I’m downstairs actually, you’ll be able to see me when you exit the lobby.”

“Where are you?” Kai asked as he looked out of the window. The first snow in Seoul had started, and he could only imagine how cold Kyungsoo was standing outside.

“Can you see me? I’m beside the fountain!” Kyungsoo waved and Kai could only see a faint silhouette of him waving his arms around spastically.

“How long have you been here for?”

“Since I called you actually, I kind of knew you would be at the office. I was counting up the levels because the auditing department takes up two levels so I was trying to count to see which one is yours. But so many lights are switched on and I keep getting confused and the snow keeps getting into my eyes, so I gave up already.” Kyungsoo laughs softly and sighed. “You can’t see me, can you?”

“Nope, I can.” Kai contradicted with a grin. He walked over to the light switch and flicked it down for a while. “I’ve switched off my light, see? One, two, three and I’m switching it on again. You know where my office is now? If you don’t see the lights on next time, don’t bother waiting for me already.”

“Okay, okay Jongin. Hurry up and come down, I’m freezing and becoming a snowman already!”

Kai laughed and hung up ,grabbing his coat meanwhile. His smile turned a little embarrassed when he spotted Kris smirking while leaning on the door.

“Has little Jonginnie found his true love?”

“Shut the up, Kris.”

“How secretive. Let me go down with you to find out who’s your one true love~” Kris made smooching noises and Kai glared back at him.

“You go down with me and I’ll go onto twitter to spread rumours about you and Yixing.”

“You wouldn’t dare.” Kris frowned and his eyebrows shot up.

“Try me.”

“Kyungsoo.”Jongin called out as he stared at the shivering man in front of him.

“Jongin, you’re finally here! I feel like I’m gonna become a snowball soon.”

“Yes, I’m here.” Jongin patted Kyungsoo’s head softly. “Where are we going?”

“I don’t know, just felt like seeing you.”

“How about your house? I wanna eat your cake!” Jongin suggested but Kyungsoo blushed.

“My house’s kind of messy…” Sniffling, Kyungsoo rubbed his nose and Jongin put his scarf around Kyungsoo’s neck.

“Don’t take it off or your neck will break and your head will fall off!” Jongin warned. Kyungsoo stiffened and nodded vigorously as Jongin smiled gently. They stared at the sky together for a moment, with light snow falling onto their shoulders. Jongin's scarf kept the snow from falling into Kyungsoo's eyes, and Jongin shook the snow atop him away before his head drooped slightly onto Kyungsoo’s shoulder.

“Kyungsoo hyung, I’m feeling a little tired.”