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Yifan groaned, pressing his hand to his forehead as he recalled the event last night. He regretted it. He shouldn't drink until he passed out, he didn't even know who brought him back to his room but he knew he had to thank Kyungsoo later.

He peeked with one eye, staring at the closed curtain before he shifted his eyes to see the time. He groaned even louder, hand blindly searching for his phone under the pillows. He dialed Jongin's number, waiting for couple of rings but the younger didn't answer and he wondered why. He checked that he got a new message and it was from Kyungsoo.

'I called in sick for both of you.'

The message said. Yifan smiled, replying with a thanks to the small architect. He dropped his phone and closed his eyes again, resume his sleep with a faint smile on his lips.



 

"Kris, what a wonderful way to see you again."

A middle age woman linked her hand to Yifan's arm when she saw him. She was one of the VIP guest and as much as Yifan didn't feel comfortable couple of times when she's being close to him, he had to smile and let her do what she wanted.

"It's nice meeting you too, Mrs. Park. Why are you alone again?"

"My husband was still working and he told me to walk around before we have a dinner together..." the beautiful woman sighed. She reminded the manager of his own mother and his smile became wider.

"Well, you have to find something fun to do while waiting, then. Have you go to our newest stores addition?"

"There are new stores?"

"Yes. You can check it on the second floor. I heard the chef will have your favorite menu this week in the restaurant, maybe you can go there and try the new dessert?"

Mrs. Park nodded, patting Yifan's back with a wide smile. "Thank you, Kris. You always know what I like, I've been very please doing all your recommendations."

"You are welcome."

"I wonder if you have a girlfriend already, do you have one, Kris?"

Yifan still had smile on his lips but he sighed inside hearing the familiar word.

"No, I don't have one."

"Are you sure? How come someone as handsome as you don't have one?"

Yifan only smiled, wanting to say his preference but he knew he will shock the woman. "I don't have time for the moment." he answered simply.

"Do you want to go on a blind date? My daughter has engaged already but I'm sure she has many friends you might like."

Yifan shook his head, "No, thank you. My father had already arranged it for me."

"Oh, that's good! I wish the best of luck for you, Kris! I will head to the new stores you mention then..." Mrs. Park patted Yifan's arm before she walked a way with pretty smile and waved her hand.

"Yeah, wish me luck..." he said to himself.

"Kris-ssi?"

Yifan turned around and saw smiling Suho. His eyes trailed down to see the small man wearing a dress shirt, pair of slacks and dress shoes. He stared at Suho who fidget a little, biting his lips making Yifan tilted his head. "Are you heading somewhere, Suho?"

"Yeah...to my new office?"

Yifan parted his lips, putting his hands inside his pants pocket, "You're not working here anymore?" he suddenly felt a small ache on his chest and wondered why. Did the thought of not seeing Suho anymore make him sad?

Suho chuckled, shaking his head with his eye smile. "No, I'm still working here. You told me you want me to work on different department. I want to work on the kitchen but Jongin said there's no place currently so he moved me to the event department."

Yifan let out a relieved sigh, frowning to himself why he was glad that Suho wasn't moving away. "That's a really great news."

The smaller man nodded, "I'm nervous. I hope they will like me..." he unconsciously fixed his hair which Yifan thought was cute.

"You'll be fine, I know you will. You're great, Suho."

Suho grinned up to the manager, "Can we meet up later at lunch?"

Yifan was taken aback at the sudden question, watching the excitement and worries blended in Suho's expression. "Yes, we can. I will see you later then." he recalled the first time he asked Suho and the latter refused.

Suho bowed, "Have a good day, Kris-ssi."

"You too."






"Hyung, let's have a--oh?" Jongin raised his eyebrows seeing the manager was sitting on his couch instead of behind his desk where he usually still wearing his glasses with his messy hair while reading many files. The manager looked ready to meet someone as he look as neat as he came this morning.

"Hey. Can Suho join us in lunch?"

Jongin blinked his eyes. "Suho? You mean--ah..." he nodded his head, a smirk slowly formed on his lips and Yifan groaned.

"No teasing." Yifan reminded.

Jongin stick out his tongue like a kid, "Come on then, don't want to be late on your date, right?"

"Yah, Kim Jongin!!"

Jongin ran away out of the room before the manager could stand up to catch him, a laughter was heard from inside the office.

Yifan huffed as he stood up, walking out of his office feeling his cheeks a little bit warm. "This is not a date, Wu Yifan..."






Jongin was grinning so widely as he sat beside Yifan. The manager stared tiredly towards Suho who gave a small knowing smile.

"Why do you look like that, the more the merrier, right?" said Suho with a smile.

"Yeah, just...he's too noisy sometimes." Yifan sighed, hand playing with the fork on his hand. They just ordered a minute ago and currently waiting for their foods.

"Hyung, you can't abandon me as soon as you find a replacement. We both took care of you when you're sick!" Jongin protested, slapping the order's arm quite hard that Yifan winched.

"I won't. Don't you worry, dear dongsaeng..." Yifan ruffled Jongin's hair, the latter complaining not to ruin his hair.

"Don't worry too, hyung. I will be quick, promised Kyungsoo we will go on a date after work so I have to speed up finishing it."

"Do what you like, Jongin-ah." Yifan shook his head. His eyes caught Suho who was staring at him with something on his mind. "What is it?"

Suho bit his lips, shaking his head as he shifted his eyes to Jongin. "It's quite interesting watching you too interacting."

"Yifan hyung is an interesting person, I like him a lot, Suho hyung." said Jongin with thumbs up.

"He is an interesting person. I won't accept your offer if it's not because of him..."

Jongin rolled his eyes, "You never listen to me. Like seriously, I'm your boss here but you dare to say no?" he made a disapproving sound while Suho chuckled.

"I don't know you're both close." said Yifan seeing how comfortable Suho around Jongin. He thought he won't like it if Jongin joined them but he said it's fine earlier when he saw Yifan coming with Jongin tailing behind.

Suho widen his eyes for a moment before it formed its usual eye smile. "He's been so nice to me. He's the one recruiting me and he helps a lot."

"He reminds me of my brother, hyung." answered Jongin with a grin.

"It's not shocking in your part, you're like close to every and each person here, Jongin-ah."

"They're my employees, I have to do that of course. That's the very first thing my father taught me."

Yifan always liked the serious expression on Jongin's face, especially when he's talking about work. It amused him how the childish boy turned into a young man who dealt with the harshness of world to survive.

The manager patted Jongin's back, the younger raised his eyebrows in confusion when Yifan smiled at him. "You're doing great, Jongin. I'm sure your father will understand and allow you to chase your dream in no time."

"Well..." Jongin shifted his eyes to Suho for a second before he smiled back to Yifan. "I hope it will come soon."






After the food came, they all became silent as they focus on their foods, occasionally asking this and that before Jongin excused himself.

"I can leave you in Suho's hand, right, hyung?"

Yifan pushed Jongin away from him as the younger laughed, standing up and fixing his shirt. "Please, Jongin. I'm not drunk and I can handle myself."

"Are you implying when you're drunk you can't handle yourself around Suho hyung?" the younger face a cheeky grin to Yifan who's ready to throw something on the younger's smiling face, his hand reached out to his napkin and lifted it to make pose like he's ready to throw it. "Alright, I will go now. Have a nice day, both of you." he bowed a little before leaving Yifan grumbling while Suho chuckling.

"It's nice to see him like that. He's usually very stiff and never joke around when it came to work." commented Suho, still staring at Jongin's back until he couldn't see him again.

"He's the boss after all. He needs respect and some people are easy to look down on people when they're being friendly. But he's still close with some employee as far as I know." Yifan watched as Suho nodded, a faint smile on his lips while his eyes stared down at the table. "How's work? Are you okay?"

Suho lifted his head at the worry on Yifan's voice, the manager's voice was gentle as if he knew something was wrong.

"It's okay? I mean, they're nice and all. It's just me, I was so nervous that I made couple of mistakes. They understand it as it's my first day." the small man ended with a smile.

"Don't tell me you said I'm sorry couple of times?" Yifan squinted his eyes, remembering that time when he told the man to stop apologizing like he made a mistake.

Suho looked excited suddenly, eyes sparkling and smile widened. "Oh! No, I didn't! I mean, I still said I'm sorry, but it's only...three times. I said 'I will fixed this asap' instead and somehow I don't feel down like I always do when I said sorry."

"That's great. Tell me if something happen, okay? I don't want the thing with ex manager happened again." Yifan leaned in just a little to make sure Suho kept his eyes on him.

"The ex manager...? Y-you mean..." Suho's cheek went red in a second and it amused Yifan how quick it was for him to went from excited, worried, to embarrass in record time. "W-where did you hear that from?"

"Jongin."

Suho bit his lips, shutting his eyes for a bit and Yifan saw the smaller man made a frown between his eyebrows.

"Should I not tell you I know that story?" Yifan whispered loud enough for Suho to hear.

Suho shook his head, opening his eyes slowly and staring straight to the manager. "It's okay. I'm just... I wish you don't know, but it already happened. There's nothing I can do about it and knowing you... You will say something like how I help people with what I did, not to be ashamed of what that someone...did it to me. Right, Kris-ssi?" He tilted his head to the side.

Yifan smiled, taking a breath before he chuckled. "I guess you can read my mind now, hmm?"

"I'm trying. It's not an easy thing to do..."

"You don't have to try and figure out what I'm thinking. Just ask and I will tell you what's inside my head."

Suho bit his lips and Yifan noticed he did that quite a lot. "Is it okay if I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"How is it going with your engagement?"

Yifan almost choke on himself at the question, "Oh, that... Uhmm...my father send me some pictures but I decline all of them. Baekhyun, Kai's friend said he will search someone who fits my type..." He didn't know why but he felt a little bit weird talking about the topic with the smaller man.

"What is your type?" asked Suho as he drank his water.

Yifan almost said 'you' out loud. He scolded himself mentally as there's this side of him who seems like he's attracted to Suho. He won't deny that he's just his type, but he won't say it out loud, not to anyone, even Jongin.

"Well...someone who will be a great wife and understand a workaholic Kris?"

Suho hummed, "Is it okay if I apply?"

"Pardon?" Yifan blinked.

"To be your wife?" there's a smile on Suho's lips and Yifan's mind went blank for a moment.

"Are you serious? You're joking, right?" the manager waited for Suho's reply as the latter drink some more.

Suho grinned to the manager as he put down his glass, "You should see your face in the mirror, Kris-ssi."

Yifan groaned, slumping himself to his chair as he glared at Suho who cackled. "Please don't do that..."

"I'm sorry, I can't resist. I won't joke again next time." said Suho with chuckles.

You won't joke about being my future wife or the next time you said it, it won't be a joke, wondered Yifan inside.






Yifan was shocked when Jongin pushed him aside, pulling someone inside his room as he just opened the door. The manager didn't saw the younger man when he walked in the hallway, how come he knew he's going back? He sighed, going inside and closed the door before he took off his shoes. He then walked to the living room, finding Luhan sitting on the couch, staring down like a child being scolded while Jongin stood up, arms folding in front of his chest, looked ready to barked at the pretty man.

"What are you doing, Jongin-ah?" asked Yifan as he opened his jacket.

"I'm so mad at this man that I feel like firing him but I can't as I told you already I won't fire him."

The manager saw Luhan shrinked on his seat at Jongin's angry tone. Yifan walked to Jongin and pulled him away to the kitchen, the younger protested, asking why he dragged him.

"Should you really do this in my room?" Yifan sat down on the nearest thing he could find which was his dining table. He stared up at Jongin who had little pout on his lips.

"I thought you're interested in him?"

"What? No, I said only as a back up if my father asked you."

"I know, but you did said you like a bit."

Yifan tilted his head, "That's not the reason why you bring him here, right?"

Jongin shook his head, "No. But you need to know why he's here and why he lied." his eyes searched for the refrigerator before he walked to it and took bottles of mineral water.

"Okay. Then tell me why quickly so I can go to sleep."

"He said he's chasing the love of his life!" Jongin threw a bottle to Yifan who caught it effortlessly.

"Uh-huh."

"But he still can't find him."

"And?"

Jongin huffed, pausing to open the bottle and drank. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "He said you're the love of his life."

Yifan's mouth opened wide as Jongin bit his lips in worry. "You really never meet him, hyung? You said his mother is your mother's friend. Maybe he actually stalks you or asks for information from his mother. I mean, how can he know that you will be working here? He's in here since last year, hyung!"

Yifan groaned, running a hand over his hair in frustration as he thought of what to do while staring to the floor. "I don't understand. It should be easy being a manager, why suddenly problem after problem come..."

"Hyung..."

"I know, you want to ask me if it's true. It's not, okay? I didn't live in China when I was a kid so it can't be me. He must be wrong, how can he thought that it's me?"

"He said the man talked in Chinese and looked similar to you. He envision the face to be like you when the boy grows up."

Yifan felt his head become dizzy. He opened the bottle on his hand and gulped half of it. "Let's talk to him first."