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biffhofosho · 21 days

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What's Wrong with Director Ortega? | Part One

Fandom: Monsta X

Genre: Smut, natch

Word Count: uh, 18k this part

Pairing: OT7 x OC

Synopsis: In the tallest tower in the city of Seoul, there is a corporate kingdom whose empire stretches around the world. It is ruled by seven vice chairmen, all of whom lord over their own little departmental fiefdoms. With so many different ruling styles, they don’t have much in common save for the one director they can’t live without. Unfortunately for Director Ortega, heavy is the head who wears that crown. Seven demanding bosses and no time for herself forces her to reconsider what she wants out of life, which may just be the thing to force the self-proclaimed Kings of Seoul to reconsider what they want from her…

The Vibe: Reverse harem, ultra-competitive, CEOs, rich and spoiled men, monstas at odds, professional-to-a-fault and overworked and overextended OC who finally decides it’s time to put herself first, you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone, harsh awakenings, noraebang, goldilocks implications, atypical biffhofosho ending :D

A/N: OH MY GOD THE EDITING TOOK ME SOOOO MUCH LONGER THAN I ANTICIPATED. First of all, I realized only on edit that the first part is 808974893759874 times longer than the other parts, but there's just so much that needed to be set up... Also, low key I had so much fun writing it. But it's FINE. I can post on this most holy of days! HAPPY FREEDOM DAY, BABY WONHO. THANK YOU FOR COMING HOME TO US.

Obviously inspired by What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim?, but reverse harem and smutty af. Also inspired by the business tycoon playboy Fatal Love photoshoot because holy fuck, did that bring me to my knees. Though I’ve been a mbb since 2016, Fatal Love was the first album I actually bought (because I’d finally figured out how to buy overseas by then lol), and when I opened version 3, this was the FIRST thing that got lodged in my mind. Like a popcorn kernel, it had to be worked out slowly, over time, but after months of watching cheesy, soapy Chinese minidramas, I got the swift kick in the butt to finish my CEO smutfest. Enjoy!

Special thank you shout-out to my love, @starlightfantasy, without whom this chapter wouldn't have been nearly so lively or authentic.

Cvr | 01 |

“As always, Director Ortega, impeccable work. You may go.”

“Very good, sir,” came her customary reply. “Don’t forget that you have dinner with Chairman Matsuda of Aeon tonight at the Phoenix. I have already prepared a gift and left it with Secretary Kwon. Be sure to take it when you leave today.”

“You won’t be joining?”

She lowered her eyes, her breath gathering in her chest. “No, sir. I will leave things in your capable hands.”

“You always join.”

“I know, sir, but not this time.”

“Chairman Matsuda expects it.”

“Don’t worry, sir. I’ve already cleared it with him.”

The vice chairman said nothing, simply twirled his pen between his fingers like a baton.

Finally, she gathered her notepad and stowed her pen behind her ear. She offered a polite bow at his dismissal, but just before she reached the door, she stopped.

She pulled herself up as tall as her petite frame could muster and turned back to the wide mahogany desk in front of the sweeping windows. Beyond the stiff-backed silhouette crowning the complementary stiff-backed desk chair unfurled a smoggy Seoul morning. Dirty clouds filtered the wan light throughout the corner office.

She wet her lips and swallowed. “Excuse me, Vice Chairman Son, but there is one more matter we have left to discuss…”

The corporate auditorium was packed full of employees from every department in the Xtra Mile conglomerate. The thrum of chatter draped overhead like a heavy tarp as coworkers filed into their seats and caught up with people they hadn’t seen since the last company in-service.

As the Purchasing Department filled their rows, they met the Human Resources Department halfway. Normally, the two sides had very little to do with one another, so this gave everyone an excuse to greet each other and gossip.

But just like that, the room fell perfectly silent as a stream of seven very handsome and undeniably powerful men strolled onto the stage at the head of the auditorium. Their figures were projected onto the large screen above their heads so that even those seated in the back could appreciate the clean lines of their expensive haircuts and their even more expensive suits. Each man occupied his own podium across the breadth of the stage, so far apart that it almost looked as though they couldn’t stand breathing the same bubble of air.

At the center of the stage, spotlighted and stone-faced, one of the tallest and broadest men loomed over the employees. Without so much as an attention-grabbing throat clear, he spoke.

“Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for your attendance today as well as everything you do to further the mission of the Xtra Mile Corporation.”

“Without you,” boomed an elegant and lively blonde-haired executive from halfway down the stage, “we wouldn’t be a Fortune 500 Global company.”

The room erupted in polite applause as smiles abounded.

The man in the middle’s jaw flexed slightly, and this time he did clear his throat before regaining control of the room. “Without further delay, let us commence this year’s Xtra Mile Company Vision Showcase. I’ll turn things over to our Chief Financial Officer, Vice Chairman Yoo…”

The man in the center turned to the shorter, black-haired executive on his right whose face, despite its prominent cheekbones, looked like it hadn’t seen a genuine smile in half a decade. Right away, Vice Chairman Yoo began his overview of their mission statements and goals while the audience jotted notes and nodded along, save for one row toward the back of the room.

“Who is that?” whispered a young purchaser with expressive eyebrows over starry pecan eyes. He gazed up at the stage where a woman with perfect posture and her own expensive power suit waited at the edge, looking as much like a high-end mannequin as a real person. The waves in her espresso bob curled sweetly around her small ears and accentuated a round face with dumpling cheeks. Dark fox eyes looked even more alert against her honey skin, and they didn’t miss a single silent cue from any of the vice chairmen as her stiletto heels prowled click-clack-click-clack along the back of the stage, setting up each and every transition without a word.

One of the nearby HR managers, an older man with a five o’clock shadow and a soft face, followed the young fellow’s eyes. “Ah, that one. She’s a sad case. A face that doesn’t age, legs that never stop moving, and eyes that won’t look at you unless you’re paying her.”

The young intern’s ears reddened. “A pro- pro- prostit—”

Another older man, this one a fellow purchaser, clamped a hand over the intern’s mouth and hissed, “Aigoo! Are you daft? Intern Wong, don’t finish that sentence if you don’t want to be tossed out on your ear!”

“Forgive him,” apologized one of the young ladies also on the Purchasing team, “he’s new.”

“And stupid if he thinks a major corporation keeps a company call-girl on payroll,” snapped the older purchaser with a flick to his intern’s ear.

The HR manager stifled a grin. “That is Director Ortega. She is one of the most revered employees at this company. If you ever have the occasion to work with her, you will understand why. She knows absolutely everything that goes on in every department better than any of the vice chairmen. Nothing escapes her notice, which is why she’s so heavily relied upon.”

“Which department is hers?” Intern Wong wondered.

“Which department isn’t,” laughed the HR manager. “Director Ortega has a hand in everything because she has to, especially considering to whom she reports, but her actual title is Director of Facilitation. She oversees all administration here, top to bottom, but more than that, for all intents and purposes, she oversees the vice chairmen.”

“Ah, yes!” said a satisfied voice as its owner swiveled to scope out the sunny panorama through his office window. “It turned out to be another fine day, Director Ortega. We should be out there exploring, not cooped up in here, don’t you agree?”

“Of course, sir.”

“Will you stay for lunch then? We can go out? I remember you liked that barbecue place in Jongno. Call Taeyong and have him bring the car around, and we’ll go somewhere with tables outside.”

“You know that I can’t, sir, even if I wanted to.”

“They’re always overriding my good ideas,” he grumbled.

“I’m sure it feels that way, sir. Still, being that we are on a tight schedule, I wonder if I can borrow a moment of your time,” she said hesitantly. “An urgent issue has come up, and I’m afraid it can’t wait any longer…”

---

“She has been here 14 years, longer than any of the men up on stage, longer than even I have,” continued the older company man. “The old Chairman himself hired her when he was on a business trip to the United States.”

“She’s American?”

“Yes, and half-Korean, actually. She speaks four languages as well, and, over the past couple years, she’s been learning two more.”

“She’s a wonder,” Intern Wong marveled.

“She would have to be to impress Chairman Choi. Director Ortega was the Chairman’s personal secretary for ten years before he retired and handed the company over to his seven grandsons.”

“Fourteen years seems like too long for such a young woman,” the fledgling purchaser mused, eyes still fixed to the director on stage.

The HR manager sniffed a laugh. “I told you she has a face that doesn’t age. She’s older than you think.”

“Much too sophisticated for a freshman like you,” teased Intern Wong’s female coworker. “Keep your head in your station.”

“This will be the only glimpse of her you get, young buck,” added the senior purchaser. “She rarely comes down to Purchasing, maybe a few times a year, and when she does, she speaks only with Director Kim Doyoung. I’ve never seen her in our office for more than five minutes.”

The woman smirked. “What Mr. Moon is trying to say, very politely I might add, is that she’s out of your league.”

“And more importantly,” the HR manager chimed in again, “off limits.”

“Employees date each other here,” the intern protested.

But Mr. Moon shook his head. “Yeah, but they don’t date Director Ortega, understand?”

“Aigoo… This is my least favorite time of day, you know that? All the fun ends and you leave, and I’m left with all the work.”

“You will be fine, sir, as always, but remember to please trust your secretary with any help you may need. Secretary Ahn tells me you haven’t been using her to her full potential these days.”

He sighed and chambered his chin on his hand as his smiled at her. “Why would I? All I ever need is you, Director Ortega.”

She cleared her throat softly. “About that, sir…”

“I didn’t even suggest anything, geez,” the intern pouted.

Mr. Moon stared at the young man knowingly. “I’ve seen that look in a lot of men’s eyes over the past decade. I say this as a friend: if you want to be promoted to purchaser full-time, Intern Wong, I suggest you look only on the Director with admiration.”

“I do,” the young man muttered and immediately steered the conversation somewhere gentler. “Director Ortega must know everything there is to know about this place if she’s been here that long and that high up.”

“Exactly!” agreed Mr. Moon. “She’s so important that all seven vice chairmen share her.”

The intern and a few other nearby newer employees leaned in, both interested and confused.

“Now, how can seven executives share one assistant?” wondered the female purchaser.

Mr. Moon looked on the rapt row of coworkers like a librarian leading a storytelling session. “Director Ortega is the only connection those men have beside a grandfather.”

“They’re really related?” Intern Wong asked.

The older man nodded. “Brothers, half-brothers or cousins, right, Manager Cho?”

The HR manager shrugged his mouth sternly. “No one resents that fact more than they do. Were it not for Director Ortega, they’d have nothing to do with each other. You’d think they live on seven different continents if they didn’t share one atrium on the 28th floor.”

Intern Wong’s brow furrowed. “But how exactly does one woman bridge all those continents daily?”

“Every day,” Mr. Moon explained, “the Director spends one hour with each vice chairman, and when his hour is up, she moves on down the hall.”

“Are you serious?” blurted the female purchaser.

“I am.”

“Don’t they each have their own secretary?” asked the intern. “I’m sure they have way too much work for one hour.”

This time, a middle-aged manager from Employee Relations further down the row answered, “Of course! But Director Ortega is in charge of all of their executive assistants, too. The last hour of her day is spent with them, ensuring the day’s work is properly circulated and delegated. Still, she is the only one the vice chairmen trust with their most important business matters, and she’s the only assistant they will bring with them to important meetings. Needless to say, she’s part orchestra conductor. She must follow this rigorous schedule each day to keep the vice chairmen satisfied, which is even more challenging considering how much each of them likes to demand from her.”

“I thought you were leaving,” he said.

“In a moment,” she replied.

She placed a thermos at the edge of his desk and bowed.

Incisive eyes jolted to the container as he finally looked up from his crowded blotter. “What is it?”

“Coffee, sir. Don’t stay too late tonight though. The merger with Aeon should conclude next week, and I know you’ll want fresh eyes before you final review everything of the numbers.”

A finger of black hair stubbornly broke from his clean-combed hairline and dangled in front of his sharp eyes as he switched from appraising the thermos to appraising the woman on the other side of his desk. “I should say the same to you, Director Ortega.”

She smiled as she lowered her chin. “Ah, well, to that end, I think it’s time to break old habits, sir. Before I do, I have something to confess…”

“Doesn’t leave a lot of time to herself,” mused the older purchaser as he considered the woman’s words.

Intern Wong cocked his head as he considered this new information. “But isn’t it a good thing to be so in demand at your company?”

“Aish,” chimed in an older lady on the other side of the group of busybodies, this one from the Accounting department who wore a thick pair of glasses to match her role, “it would be if you’re not a woman. Director Ortega is 38 and, as far as anybody has heard, never dated.”

“There’s no way a woman like her hasn’t dated!” the intern protested as his eyes returned to the serious beauty on stage.

“Even if she wanted to,” continued the accountant, “she would have to turn down any suitor. The vice chairmen keep her way too busy to even think about dating someone.”

“You don’t know that, Miss Lee,” said the employee relations manager.

“The hell I don’t, Manager Kwon,” the accountant scoffed, causing a few other uninterested coworkers to pivot toward them before everyone whispered apologies except the accountant. At least, she bothered to lower her voice enough that the rest of the row leaned in. “I process Director Ortega’s overtime. I’m telling you, there’s no way that woman has a life outside of this company or those seven men. It’s downright outrageous. They should be ashamed.”

“I told you,” said Manager Cho, “she’s a sad case. I heard Director Ortega had to fly back from her sister’s wedding in Mexico because Vice Chairman Chae needed a translator, and she’s the only one he trusts to give him an unbiased translation.”

“That’s too harsh,” objected Intern Wong.

Miss Lee hung her head. “Director Ortega will never find a match. Ah! It’s too sad to see a woman of her caliber give up her whole life like that.”

“I’ll leave the initial scouting reports in your inbox for your review, sir. After you’ve made your notes, please trust Secretary Lee with their transcription.”

“Could you stay a few extra minutes to finish that? Only you know how I like things organized.”

“Secretary Lee is more than capable if you just explain your preferences to him, sir. Forgive me, but he should know that after a full year.”

The vice chairman huffed, his broad shoulders slumping, too. “Yes, of course, but he isn’t— Of course, Director Ortega. You are correct.”

“I will sit with him tomorrow and show him personally, sir, so there is no confusion.”

“That’s not necessary!” He reached toward the director across the desk but pulled his hand back quickly. “I should handle it myself.”

“I am happy to hear it, sir. On that note…”

“But isn’t there something admirable about that?” Intern Wong mused as he looked up at the dark-haired director waiting at the edge of the stage, hands folded in front of her hips. “To be so loyal and dedicated to your company that you are trusted by everyone?”

A big-eyed girl in front of them whirled around in her seat and clamped her hands over the back of it to stare at the group. With wide eyes full of shock instead of innocence, she said, “I can’t believe none of you know.”

“Know?”

“Know what!”

“Tell us instantly, Secretary Heo!” urged Manager Kwon, and the whole row shifted forward.

The secretary puckered her thin lips and lowered her voice to a whisper just loud enough to catch over the drone through the sound system of Vice Chairman Im’s speech on streamlining database growth.

“Director Ortega handed in her resignation yesterday.”

“Sir, please don’t make that face,” she said.

Yet the vice chairman sat there with his cheeks in his hands, his bottom lip jutting out. “What do you expect me to do? I hate knowing where you’re headed next.”

“I do this every day, sir,” she reminded.

“And I hate it every day. He always gets more of your time than we do.”

“You know that isn’t true, sir.”

“It is!” he complained. “Wouldn’t it be so nice to have one desk in one office and report to only one person?”

She closed her eyes and steadied her breath. “I think I may have a solution to this problem. If I may have one more moment please…”

“Impossible,” Mr. Moon scoffed. “She’s been here fourteen years!”

“Don’t talk nonsense,” scolded the female purchaser.

“I’m not,” insisted Secretary Heo. “Secretary Ahn told me yesterday at lunch. She’s Vice Chairman Lee Minhyuk’s personal secretary. If anybody would know, it would be her. She’s not a gossip.”

“Like you,” retorted the accountant.

“Game recognizes game, Miss Lee, but in this case, it’s just fact. We all need to be prepared for the trickle-down. Even if we don’t work personally with the vice chairmen, without Director Ortega as our shield, we’re sure to feel the brunt of things.”

“Now that you mention it, look how dull the vice chairmen look,” said the other young woman as she stared sadly at the stage where the tallest vice chairman now spoke. Her eyes darted down to the straw-haired executive at the far end, and she shook her head. “Even Vice Chairman Lee Jooheon looks flat. He never looks so flat! Oh, this is terrible. I love his smiles.”

Intern Wong elbowed his coworker and retorted, “Keep your head in your station, Miss Kim.”

She rolled her eyes though the bespectacled accountant nodded. “And Vice Chairman Lee Hoseok looks much smaller than usual, don’t you think? Normally, you can see his shoulders from space.”

“I’m telling you,” reiterated Secretary Heo, “Director Ortega put in a month’s notice. She’s definitely leaving.”

“Have you heard this?” asked Mr. Moon to Miss Lee. “You process her overtime, you said.”

The older woman shook her head. “I’m not in HR. Isn’t that your department, Manager Cho?”

Everyone glanced down the row to the HR manager who had grown progressively quieter. “It is, but I don’t work in Executive Resources. But…”

Everyone leaned toward him like plants straining for sunlight.

“It is possible,” Manager Cho said guardedly. “I can’t outright refute it.”

Jaws dropped right and left, and a few hands fell over hearts.

“Why would she resign now?” asked Intern Wong when no one picked up the conversation.

“Is she not being compensated well enough?” asked Miss Kim.

“I have worked here through Chairman Choi’s reign, and I can tell you for a fact that her salary would make you blush, especially when she works for holiday pay. Plus, I have heard from Director Jeong that Director Ortega receives a bonus from each Vice Chairman at Seollal,” Miss Lee said vehemently. “No, no. But money matters less when you have no time to spend it and no one to spend it on. I told you. Director Ortega is 38. Aish, she must have realized that if she wants to marry and have a family, she has a very small window left.”

“Hwaiting, sunbaenim!” Miss Kim said a little too loudly, and a few more rows turned back toward them.

“No, that’s not it,” persisted Secretary Heo. “Secretary Ahn said Director Ortega already has a man, and she’s quitting to marry him.”

“Is there anything else, sir?” she said, head cocked to the side.

“There is not.”

The usual silence filled the space between them. After several years, at least it was no longer startling.

“If you’re sure, sir.”

She bowed, and also as usual, he blurted, “One final thing, Director Ortega.”

“Yes, sir. Of course.”

“I need five extra minutes of your time today.”

“I’m sorry, but not today, sir.”

He narrowed his eyes. “You never say that.”

“I know,” she agreed. “It turns out that’s because I need a minute of your time instead…”

The older employees broke into quiet laughter.

“There is zero chance of that,” Miss Lee assured.

“If you knew her workload…” agreed Mr. Moon.

Secretary Heo scowled and jabbed a finger at the seniors. “Secretary Ahn was sure.”

“I don’t buy it,” asserted Miss Lee. “Look, there’s no ring!”

All eyes turned to the jumbo screen, to the bare, slender fingers of the director.

One of the other purchasers whisper-shouted from farther down the row, “Do you think they’ll post for her position internally first?”

“How can you be so insensitive, Assistant Lee Yubin!” chastised Miss Kim. “The vice chairmen look miserable. They’d never fill her role with such a vulture.”

The assistant rolled her sleepy-looking eyes as she informed, “You don’t get to that position without being an opportunist.”

“No one’s asking the most important question,” interjected Intern Wong, his bright puppy eyes still fixed on the glowing silhouette of the director. “If she’s no longer going to be an employee—and she’s not engaged—do you think she’s on the market?”

Both Manager Cho and Mr. Moon sighed and exchanged hopeless glances, but now, a few more men down the line swiveled from the intern up toward the stage. The whole group grew silent as Vice Chairman Lee Minhyuk took over on the mic, but nobody was really listening to his outline of new product roll-outs for the upcoming quarter. They were mounting strategies of their very own.

“Why are we meeting here?” a surly Jooheon griped as he plopped down onto a couch in the center of the round atrium that connected all seven vice chairmen's offices. “Shouldn't we go somewhere more private?”

“This is easier,” Jackson replied as he took a seat into an armchair across from his friend. The president was known for looking as cool as his voice sounded, so when he cocked his head and crossed his legs, he looked more a boss than the vice chairman. “How are you doing?”

Jooheon hissed and launched forward, though he managed to stay seated. “How am I doing? I’m upside down, man! I don’t understand.”

“What don’t you understand?”

“I don’t—” The vice chairman ran his hands through his hair and rolled his neck. After a steadying breath, he said, “I don’t understand why she’d leave?”

“Director Ortega?”

“Of course, Director Ortega. Who the hell else did you think I brought you here to talk about?”

Jackson raised an eyebrow. “Well, I don’t know what you want me to do about it. You guys wouldn’t let me near her.”

“You can’t be trusted.”

“A fine thing to say to your President of Operations,” Jackson laughed, and it was clear he didn’t take an ounce of the vice chairman’s insults seriously.

“You know exactly what I mean.”

The president kept laughing and nodded. “I do.”

“But I have always trusted your vision. You see bigger pictures than I do. Since we were teenagers, you’ve always been a barometer of the people, and at least I trust your insights,” Jooheon began as professionally as he could sitting in front of one of his best friends. “Plus, you’re a busybody.”

“I’ve been accused of worse,” the president said with a grin.

“I know. I was the one who accused you.”

Jackson shrugged. “So, what do you need?”

“What have you heard about Director Ortega’s threat of quitting?”

“Is it a threat?” the president asked with a brow raise. “Because it sounded pretty damn certain to this busybody’s ears.”

“Don’t get coy, Jackson. I’m not in the mood.”

The grin dropped from the president’s face, and he leaned across the coffee table. “Everyone’s talking about it, of course. Rumors abound. Some say she’s getting married.”

Jooheon scowled and shook his head.

“Some say she’s pregnant.”

This time, the vice chairman gasped, unable to feign his usual confidence.

“But most people are saying she’s dating or wants to date, so she wants to make more time to do those other things.”

“That’s stupid,” Jooheon fired off. “Director Ortega has plenty of time to do that now. She could be married already if she wanted to be, but she’s not.”

Jackson just glowered at his friend.

“Fine,” Jooheon conceded, “we keep her pretty busy, but it’s never bothered her before.”

“Are you sure? Did you ever ask?”

“Why would I ask that!” the vice chairman shouted indignantly. “It’s not workplace appropriate.”

“Then it sounds to me like you’re talking out of your ass,” and a beat later, Jackson added cheekily, “sir.”

Jooheon studied his fingernails as he asked carefully, “So… which one did she say it is?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think anyone does for sure. Director Ortega is the most professional person in this whole damn company. You lot should know best. What did she say when she resigned?”

“She didn’t resign,” Jooheon said tersely. “She just threatened to.”

“Oh, is that what ‘Please accept my letter of resignation’ means?”

The vice chairman sighed. “Why the hell did I put any faith in you.”

“C’mon, man, I’m ribbing you. The truth is I think you know everything, but you just don’t want to acknowledge it. What did she say exactly? Not what did Vice Chairman Lee Jooheon hear?”

The straw-haired man sank back into the couch, his hands spread across the cushions as he stared up through the glass ceiling to the obnoxiously blue sky above. “She said, ‘After fourteen wonderful years at Xtra Mile, I have decided I need to step back from my position as Director of Facilitation and spend some time on myself. I know this may be rather surprising, but it's something I’ve been considering for a while. It has been an absolute pleasure working for you…’

“From there, pretty much all I heard was static. I was too in shock.”

Jackson hummed. “Doesn’t give me a ton to work with. What did her resignation letter say?”

“Don’t know. Didn’t read it yet.”

At this, Jackson let out a groan. “You didn’t read it? What the hell kind of boss are you?”

“A blindsided one! What do you expect me to do after the rug was pulled out from under me?”

“Man up and fix it. I figured Xtra Mile’s Chief Marketing Officer would already be mounting a campaign to court back his most valuable employee. Instead, you’re whining in your ivory tower.”

“How am I supposed to do that when I don’t even understand why she’s leaving me?”

“Read the damn letter, man,” Jackson scolded. “Maybe it’s as simple as she took another job.”

“You think?” the dimpled vice chairman asked eagerly.

“No, unless she sparing your feelings.”

“This is all their fault,” Jooheon griped, only too happy to shift the blame. He waved his arm around the atrium at the six other mahogany office doors. “They're driving her away. She's always happy when she's with me.”

“Is that what you really think?”

The vice chairman narrowed his eyes at his president. “Obviously.”

“Just remember I've known you long before you were a head honcho…” Jackson said ominously. He braced his elbows on his knees and leaned across the coffee table. His hand rose, middle finger tucked beneath his thumb, and swiftly and unexpectedly, he flicked the forehead of his friend.

Jooheon yelped and cursed as he bounced in his seat. When he dropped a hand to point angrily at the man across from him, a big red mark lingered like a bullseye in the center of his forehead. “You're fired!”

“Fine, fine, I’ll clean out my desk tomorrow,” the president said without an ounce of concern. “But did I knock some sense into you?”

“You pissed me off is what you did.”

Jackson rolled his eyes. “I think you’re better off worrying about that mammoth bruise to your ego than a little welt on your forehead. The second Aeon gets wind of her leaving, they’re going to wonder about the merger.”

Though he was still babying the bump on his head, Jooheon shook it. “Director Ortega said she’d build in more than the month in case things run long with Aeon. She doesn’t want to jeopardize the project.”

“Leave it to a woman of her caliber to be acutely aware of that. She’s been in all of the merger meetings, hasn’t she?”

“She personally brought Chaiman Matsuda on board. Yeah, the Aeon merger is probably more her baby than any of ours.”

“Good. That’s good then.”

“Why?” Jooheon asked.

Jackson shrugged a shoulder. “It means she’s not running off to elope at least.”

“Elope!” At this, the vice chairman finally leapt back up.

“Calm down. I said she’s not eloping. Probably also means there’s no fiancé either yet.”

“Yet?” Jooheon deflated completely back down to the couch.

Again, the president shrugged. “I’m just puzzling out the fifty different rumors I heard today. Seems like those are the least likely now that I know more.”

“Terrific…”

“But now that I know what she said when she resigned, I think the most likely theory is that you all have zapped her personal life completely. Sucked her dry like a swarm of mosquitos.”

Jooheon sighed. “You really like to rub salt in a wound, man.”

“Hey, I call ‘em like I see ‘em. Unless she’s already married? Maybe she’s leaving to spend more time with her husband. Work on building a family.”

“She doesn’t have a husband,” the vice chairman snapped.

Jackson let out a chuckle. “I imagine you seven have seen to that, huh? Thought you were all the men she needed, I’ll bet. Guess today was your wake-up.”

“Is she dating?” Jooheon’s voice creeped up uncomfortably high, and he cleared his throat to correct it.

“How should I know? You barely let me talk to the woman. You keep her locked up like Rapunzel with you and your dysfunctional family.”

The vice chairman narrowed his already narrow eyes. “That smacks of bitterness.”

“Maybe it is. She’s a beautiful woman, and I’m a good-looking guy.”

Jooehon unleashed a wicked snarl at the corner of his lips. “You’re not just a busybody but a playboy, Jackson. I was right to keep her away from you.”

It was Jackson’s turn to narrow his eyes. “I knew it.”

Jooheon waved a hand dismissively. “I don’t need you distracting my executive team.”

“I didn’t hear you balk when I asked out Secretary Guk, and she’s at your full disposal all day, every day.”

At this, the vice chairman grumbled, “Well, you just said it. I can call on her whenever I need her. I only get an hour with Director Ortega. I can’t have her distracted for a minute of it.”

“Don’t you think that’s part of her reasoning, Honey?” Jackson said, testing the boundaries of their decades-long friendship. “Every second of her day is monopolized by a tycoon. How do you expect her to just be a woman?”

“If you’re saying this just to make a window for yourself to her, you’ve got another thing coming.”

“Look, man, it doesn’t even matter at this point. Her dance card is already so long, I’d need to take a number.”

“What do you mean?”

Jackson pursed his lips. “Exactly what I said. As soon as news of her resignation trickled down all 28 floors, guys were brushing up their marriageable resumes and dating profiles.”

“She’s not a sweepstakes,” Jooheon barked. “You don’t just try your chance to get lucky.”

“Hey, I agree with you, but you don’t speak for the vast majority of guys. Everyone has always assumed she’s unmarried, but no one’s risked courting her for fear of their careers. But if she doesn’t work for you anymore—”

Jooheon growled. “That doesn’t matter. They’re still risking their careers.”

Jackson leaned back in his chair, mouth screwed up to one side and eyebrow popped.

“For your own good, Honey, I really think you should ask yourself why that is.” A little louder, he proclaimed, “You all should.”

Almost as if scripted, six silhouettes stepped out of the shadows of six separate doorways.

Jackson swept his hand in a circle and smiled smugly at his friend. “See? Told you this was easier. Now I don't have to repeat myself six more times.”

“Jackson,” said a burly platinum blonde in a three-piece suit so tightly tailored that it looked more like an American football uniform, “do you really think Director Ortega will be that much of a target?”

Jackson scoffed that faded into a wry smile. “She's gorgeous, driven, charming, whip-smart, and well-off. A woman like Director Ortega is in a class of her own. Yes, Hoseok, she’s a catch. The only people who are going to care she's 38 are the ones she would have never entertained anyway. Hell, just between the horn dogs and the sugar babies, she's going to have her plate full, never mind her long-term secret admirers. You'll see. You won't even have to wait a day, I promise.”

“I don’t love that,” Minhyuk said as he took a chair beside the president.

“Yeah, but what are any of you going to do about it?”

The seven vice chairmen traded appraisals, but none spoke.

Jackson chuckled. “Can’t see the forest for the trees… Director Ortega really has been carrying all of you.”

“Watch it,” Jooheon growled, yet his subordinate waved him off.

“Since you’re all in one room for a change, let me pose a question that’s been eating at the back of my mind for years. I may never get another chance to ask it in case one of you actually decides to fire me after half a decade of playful threats, but why do each of you insist on sharing one assistant when you can have as many as you want?”

This time, none of the vice chairmen risked a glance at each other. Instead, they thumbed their ten-thousand-dollar watches or fiddled with the cuffs of their bespoke suits.

Sharp-jawed and sharp-tongued, Kihyun jutted his chin out as his neck twitched. He sucked in a breath through his teeth as he answered evenly, “Director Ortega is an invaluable—”

“Director Ortega is indeed invaluable,” Jackson interrupted. “No one would dare challenge that for fear of their life. But that doesn’t really answer my question, and you know it. As formidable an assistant as she is, you’re each only capable of utilizing her skill set for a maximum of an eighth of her day. Now, imagine, if you will, how much work you could accomplish if you each trusted one other person as much as you trust her. Don’t all of you have your own secretaries as it is? You can’t rely on them to mastermind your days? Or…”

The way the president said the word had seven sets of eyes snapping to him. Jackson’s handsome face hovered just on the professional side of a smirk.

“…is it that you just don’t want to?”

“Get to the point, President Wang,” snapped the most restless of the chairmen, Minhyuk.

Jackson’s palms turned up. “That is the point. This company is full of fresh young upstarts looking to make a name for themselves. They’re all more than eager to work overtime and make an impression, yet you all continuously come back to your Director.”

“Exactly,” Jooheon said as if it proved some other point, but judging from the smile creeping onto the president’s face, it may not have worked as intended.

“Exactly.” Jackson hummed as he tapped his smart watch screen and checked the time. “You know, I’ve been accused of playing with words before—”

“You’re a regular Loki,” Kihyun corrected.

“Mm, maybe. Or maybe it’s to provoke a thought. It’s served me well closing deals for you all these years. Word choice is everything. Say the right word, and you plant a seed, and the next thing you know? Boom! We’ve got a seven-figure sale. The customer thinks it’s all their idea—always has been. They leave feeling clever, and I leave knowing I’ve orchestrated one hell of a victory for the company.”

“Just say it, Jackson,” mumbled the feline-eyed youngest chairman, Changkyun, from his lean in his door frame.

The president waggled his fingers like the conductor he described, and a chill descended upon the room.

“I just did. Consider my words carefully. I don’t use them lightly.”

Jooheon rolled his eyes. “Yes, you do.”

With a sigh, Jackson raised both brows. “Fine. I’ll be blunter then. If there ever was a thing to unite the seven kingdoms under one banner, I think the whole of Xtra Mile would place their bets on the same banner. Maybe losing Director Ortega is the kick in the pants you all need.”

“Watch it,” Kihyun warned.

Jackson shrugged. “You asked what I thought—”

“We didn’t,” said the tallest, Hyungwon.

“He did,” finished Minhyuk with a glance at Jooheon.

“What a family you are,” Jackson laughed. “I honestly can't tell who among you is delusional, who's in denial, and who's been harboring secrets they've been way too afraid to voice.”

The seven other men exchanged wary scrutiny while the president rose and knocked the wrinkles from his slacks. “Well, look, you've got a month to figure it out, probably way less if I'm honest. The way I see it? You better speak now or forever hold your peace. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I've got a brush up my dating profile.”

With that, Jackson bowed to his bosses and walked out of the chairman’s wing with one insufferable hand in his pocket and one even more insufferable hand waving over his shoulder.

“Remind me to fire him,” huffed Minhyuk.

“Not before I clobber him,” growled Jooheon.

But without Jackson there to stir the pot, it left the seven vice chairmen staring at their feet or the wall. For all the silence, it felt very loud, and it was no surprise to anyone that the first to speak again was Minhyuk.

“What are we going to do?”

Hoseok laughed bitterly. “I think that’s the first time I’ve heard us use the word ‘we’.”

A few of the men hummed as the truth of that statement hit.

“Do you think Jackson’s right?” said Changkyun hesitantly. “Do you think she’s leaving because of us?”

Hyunwoo stacked his arms across his thick chest and nodded, eyes fixed on a scuff on the marble floors. “I read her resignation letter. I don’t see how it could be anything else.”

“I read it, too,” interjected Hoseok, “but she said it was about her, right?”

This time, it was Hyungwon who sighed. “Isn’t that the thing you say to spare the other’s feelings during a breakup? ‘It’s not you, it’s me’?”

More silence, this one infinitely darker and deeper.

“So it is us…” conceded Minhyuk.

“Looks that way,” said Hyunwoo.

“I still don’t get it,” Jooheon said. “I’m a great boss. I’m not the one who made her miss her sister’s wedding.”

Hyungwon narrowed his eyes. “I didn’t make her do that. She chose to come back.”

Kihyun tilted his head as he squared off with his half-brother. "Everybody here knows that you’re passive aggressive if you don’t get your way. ‘Kihyun, are you sure you want to use the gochujang? The recipe calls for doenjang. Don’t mind me, I’m just getting a pitcher of water for the table.’”

“What are you talking about? Passive aggression is your MO,” Hyungwon retorted. “And being hyper-critical.”

“You both are,” Changkyun groaned.

“Yeah, well, I’m not,” swore Jooheon. “I praise her work every day. I ask her about her day.”

Minhyuk let out a puff of air. “Yeah, to see if you can steal some of her time from the rest of us. No one’s more of a gatekeeper than you, Jooheon."

"Am not."

“Are too. You throw a fit if anyone asks for five more minutes of her time, and if they do, you demand a makeup the next day.”

“Enough,” Hyunwoo said brusquely.

“We can’t let her resign,” Hoseok agreed.

“Obviously,” Jooheon snapped.

“Can we just refuse her resignation?” asked Minhyuk.

Changkyun shook his head. “I would never test Director Ortega’s commitment. She’ll just quit on the spot, and then where will we be.”

As brains churned, tensions mounted. It was always tense when the seven men gathered together, but for once, desperation was something all seven shared, and instead of retreating to their offices, they remained at their posts—far enough away to still make boundaries clear yet approachable.

“We should apologize,” Hyungwon volunteered.

“If apologies made a difference, would we be where we are?” challenged Kihyun.

“Well, they can’t fucking hurt.”

“It’s a starting point,” Hyunwoo asserted, “which is more than we had a minute ago.”

“What if we switch up her schedule?” Changkyun suggested. “Routine can be crushing.”

Hoseok nodded. “And she could use more vacation.”

“We can throw more money at her,” Kihyun added.

A moment passed. Hyunwoo typed something into his phone. In the gathering silence, Minhyuk and Jooheon rattled the vase in the center of the coffee table with their opposing jackhammering legs.

“What, no snide remarks? No backhanded critiques from any of you?” Kihyun said with a pointed gaze finally landing on Hyungwon.

But the tall man simply scoffed as he pushed up from his lean against the wall and moved toward his office door. “Who has time for that? You heard what Jackson said. We don’t even have a month to undo our screw-up.”

“We run a sixty-billion-dollar company,” said Minhyuk. “There’s no reason we can’t strategize a way to undo our biggest ever loss.”

“Let’s just throw everything at her tomorrow and see what sticks,” Hyungwon suggested.

“Not much of a strategy,” Minhyuk observed.

“I don’t care as long as it keeps her here with us.”

“What do you say, Hyunwoo?” asked Changkyun.

The resident senior raised both eyebrows when he discovered six sets of eyes looking at him simultaneously. “You’re asking for my opinion?”

“Yeah,” Jooheon agreed.

“I’ll get some breakfast tomorrow and think on it.”

The other six sets of eyes switched between rolls and furrows, between disheartened and annoyed, but the vice chairmen settled on meeting again in the morning—after their COO had a full belly.

Just before Hoseok could enter the cafeteria, something caught the corner of his eye, and when he turned, he found his cousin, Hyunwoo, lurking like a houseplant behind a banner announcing the upcoming Xtra Mile company picnic.

“What the hell are you doing?” asked the Chief Security Officer.

“Eating,” answered Hyunwoo.

Hoseok popped an eyebrow. “In a corner? Behind a sign?”

“Evidently, our employees are very surprised to see me. It was too much attention eating at a table.”

“You’re the COO. Attention comes with the title.”

“I don’t need it right now,” the older man replied evenly.

Hoseok had both brows raised now as he took in the rigid figure of the COO who was usually considered the face of the company, yet here Hyunwoo was, literally lurking, eyes staring blankly across the early morning company cafeteria.

Slowly, the COO shifted his attention to his cousin. His face remained as placid as ever, though his tone deepened as he asked, “What are you doing here, Hoseok?”

“I protein up here every day after my workout.”

“You’re later than usual,” Hyunwoo observed.

“How would you know? I’ve never seen you here.” At this, his cousin turned to look at him and Hoseok sniffed. “What? I can't keep track of your schedule too?”

“Hey! I was here first!”

The vice chairmen looked at each other before they realized neither of them had said it. Instead, there were three suited men clustered at the other side of the dining hall with scowls and furrowed brows. They jostled shoulder-to-shoulder as a few other employees tightened around the action.

It was clear there was a line forming, and evidently, somebody had cut it, but it wasn’t for the register.

Director Ortega sat at a table clotted with flowers and gifts and cards as men and women alike waited for their turn to speak with a figure more mythical than a phoenix.

Hoseok soured, first at the sight of the long line but further when he looked back at the burly man hovering behind the signage. “You're not here to eat. You're here to observe the Director.”

The COO presented a sandwich and took a bite, and through a mouthful, he said, “I can do both.”

With a sigh, Hoseok shoved the other vice chairman over and hunkered beside him, eyes peeking around the banner.

Director Ortega greeted each of her admirers warmly but professionally, with the same gentle but sincere office smile they’d seen every day for four years. She accepted all the cards, rejected most of the presents, and divvied up the flowers with the other ladies hovering nearby. One overzealous fellow waited in her orbit, phone out, hoping to get her Kakaotalk information, though she was steadfast that she’d had enough networking to last her a lifetime.

Hoseok puckered his lips, but just before the CSO could escort the insistent prick from the building, Hyunwoo clamped a hand on his shoulder. He looked at the meaty paw and then to its owner and back again.

“She’s got it,” Hyunwoo assured.

Hoseok shrugged his shoulder and the hand fell away. “How did you know she would be here?”

“Director Ortega often brings me a sandwich from here in the morning.”

“You make her bring you breakfast?” Hoseok said sternly.

“I don't make her do anything. She just does it.”

“She doesn't bring me anything,” his cousin pouted.

Hyunwoo didn't respond. He just took another massive bite and kept his eyes on the director.

“Seems like everyone is excited for her to leave,” observed the platinum blonde, but Hyunwoo shook his head.

“Before it got so noisy, I could hear better. I think it’s more that they’re proud of her.”

“For leaving us?” Hoseok exclaimed, and his cousin silenced him with a grave scowl. Quieter now, the CSO continued, “We need to tell the others. I’m not sure our plan of attack will be effective if she’s being showered with gifts to quit.”

This time, at least, his cousin nodded. Hyunwoo stuffed his mouth with another bite.

They lingered until the clock neared the company start time, when the last person in line finally made it to the director’s table. She was standing now, mulling over how to cart a table full of unexpected gifts elsewhere, as the young, black-haired prince with a white smile offered to help.

“Why is she smiling so much?” Hoseok said. “Is she—is she laughing?”

Hyunwoo narrowed his already thin eyes.

“Did she just give him her business card?” the younger chairman gawked.

Director Ortega bowed and thanked the young man as he helped gather her offerings into a box he’d somehow manufactured out of thin air.

Hyunwoo chucked the last bite of his sandwich in the garbage, and it made Hoseok jump.

The blonde started, “You never waste—”

“Time to go, Hoseok,” said the COO, and his cousin jumped again. “We need to talk to the others immediately.”

No sooner had the pair made it up the chairmen’s elevator to their floor than they caught some of their secretaries gabbing in the atrium.

“—vowed to get Maria plastered tonight—oh my god, sirs!”

Secretary Ahn spluttered the instant she saw the two chairmen enter the atrium. Immediately, her mouth shut, and she bowed her head. Secretary Guk was less respectful and more deer-in-headlights, with her round eyes fully white and her small mouth popped open round as a bottle cap.

“Hello, sirs,” Secretary Ahn added and then elbowed her coworker until the other woman managed the same greeting. Neither of the men said anything, so she asked, “Is everything all right, Vice Chairman Son?”

“Why wouldn't it be?” he returned flatly.

Secretary Ahn’s eyes darted to the other vice chairman and then back to him and then back to the other vice chairman again as though he should understand the singularity of the moment of the two men side-by-side.

“Is there a meeting we don't know about, sirs?” she said gingerly.

“I should ask you the same.”

Both women paled until they were nearly transparent. They looked at each other again, but this time, Secretary Ahn couldn’t seem to find her polite words, which left Secretary Guk scrambling to pick up the slack.

“Oh, not at all! We were just discussing Director Ortega's going away party tonight.”

Secretary Ahn elbowed her coworker again, this time nearly hard enough to knock the other woman out of her kitten heels.

“Her going away party?” repeated Hyunwoo. “I was unaware that she’s going anywhere.”

Secretary Guk outright shivered, and when she spoke again, her voice was shaking, too. “The secretaries organized it, but… But it would mean so much if all of the vice chairmen could join us.”

The other secretary looked frantically at her, but there was nothing to be done.

“It’s just dinner, drinks, and noraebang after work, but the more, the merrier.”

Hoseok glanced up at his cousin with urgent eyes and whispered, “President Wang said we should show sincerity. This is the perfect way.”

Again, the secretaries exchanged looks, which only amplified when Vice Chairman Son said, “Secretary Guk, please email the time and place to all the vice chairmen as soon as you can.”

“Yes, sir.”

The secretaries bowed to the vice chairmen as they headed toward their respective offices, and when Secretary Ahn rose, she scowled and slapped her friend on the arm. “Maria is going to kill you!”

“Please,” said Secretary Guk as she sat down in front of her keyboard and began to type. “The vice chairmen will never show up. When have they ever showed up for anything, let alone together? Maria’s ready to leave Xtra Mile, but I’m not. What was I supposed to do?”

“Just keep your mouth shut,” her coworker hissed.

“It’s fine. You’ll see. Maria will agree with me.”

“Aigoo, Aera!” Secretary Ahn growled as she tapped her coworker on her arm again. “Have you learned nothing? Keep your mouth shut.”

“No way. You think I want Maria grinding me to a pulp?”

“Look, you said yourself they’ll never show anyway, so why say anything? We’ve worked so hard to organize this thing. I’m not going to be the one to tell everyone it’s off when she invariably cancels it. You are.”

“I didn’t think about that…”

Secretary Ahn rolled her eyes. “Of course you didn’t. You’re not the one who’d clean up the mess.”

“Okay, but if something does go wrong—”

But Secretary Guk didn’t get to finish that thought before the work day officially started and the phones began to ring.

“Oh my god, I didn’t know Maria was capable of getting tipsy, but wow,” laughed Secretary Kwon. “She is gone.”

“Yeah,” agreed Secretary Guk, “color me shocked. I always figured her for the straight life.”

Secretary Kim rolled her eyes. “All these years at seven typhoons’ beck and call will force sobriety on you. I have a hard enough time convincing myself I can have a drink on the weekend. Can’t imagine what Maria’s dry spell’s been like. She must be making up for lost time.”

The women traded laughs and then another round of shots as Director Ortega scream-shouted her noraebang lines into the microphone and they had to hurry to cover their ears.

"Holy. Shit."

It wasn’t just the sudden appearance of the English curse or that it came from the Secretary Lee in his overly dramatic alto that made all the other secretaries pivot sharply. It was the way everything else fell silent except a drunken Maria caterwauling to George Michael’s “Freedom” on stage.

“They actually showed up,” Secretary Ahn gasped.

“Who?” said Secretary Kim.

“Who do you think?”

“What!” exclaimed Secretary Guk. “Which ones?”

“Uh…” Vice Chairman Yoo’s secretary, Song Jiyoo, squinted into the foggy shadows at the entryway as more silhouettes parted the club haze. “Oh my god, it looks like all of them.”

“No way,” said Secretary Kwon. “You're plastered, One. You have to be.”

“I am not. Turn around, Haeun!” Secretary Song grabbed her pocket-sized coworker by the shoulders and swiveled her like the rest of their mob of meerkats.

“I don’t believe it...”

“We’re dead,” said the second Secretary Song Jiyoo, Vice Chairman Im’s assistant, whom the entire department simply called Two.

Secretaries Ahn and Guk looked at each other with crinkled brows. Together, they murmured, “Maria is going to kill us.”

Bumbling through the speakers, they could make out their director wailing louder than she had all night.

“All we have to see is that I don’t belong to you and you don’t belong to me. Freedom! Freedom!”

Secretary Lee looked at the two wide-eyed women, his tongue poking the inside of his cheek. “So. What do you two want on your urns?”

“Secretary Guk!” came the dreaded call no one had expected to hear from her boss, Vice Chairman Lee Jooheon, tonight.

“Sir,” she stammered as she stepped forward, her hands rushing to her cheeks to hide the alcohol coloring them. She looked frantically at her superior before she realized he was flanked by his seven fellow vice chairmen, every last one in their requisite three piece suits and ties, every hand stuffed in their pockets. She may as well have been coming face-to-face with a firing squad. “Sirs, you came?”

“We said we would,” he replied.

"Yes. Yes, you did…”

Vice Chairman Lee Jooheon took a look around, his bottom lip protruding. “We’re late?”

“No, sir,” Secretary Guk was quick to jump in. “You are right on time, of course. A bunch of us simply got here early to pre-game.”

“Is that what kids call dinner these days?” said Kihyun with a popped eyebrow.

“Ah…”

“You didn’t include the dinner in the invitation?” Secretary Ahn hissed into her colleague’s ear.

Secretary Guk simply stood there with her mouth open.

Secretary Ahn elbowed her friend, but the other secretary just looked at her helplessly. Jooheon narrowed his already thin eyes as he assessed his assistant like a lie detector, but he didn’t say anything further.

“There are a lot of people here,” mused Hoseok to Hyungwon.

Men and women clustered around tables—and soju—many with their drinks stilled in hand as they spied their bosses’ bosses. There were faces the vice chairmen recognized from their various departments, but there were just as many they didn’t, lower level managers and assistants too far down the totem pole for them to have met. No doubt Director Ortega knew them all by name.

Past the honeycomb of booths, at the head of the room, there was a packed dance floor, though once again, the revelry seemed frozen as though by a curse. Everyone watched the seven overlords.

As distracting as it all was, it couldn’t distract from the party’s crown jewel.

Dressed in an oversized buttondown and a denim skirt, Director Ortega bounced from toe to toe in a pair of blindingly white sneakers. Her waves were full-blown curls tonight, bouncing with the beat pulsing through the speakers. Mic in hand, she belted out her third encore, a booze-saturated, warbling rendition of the chorus of Cher’s “I Got You, Babe.”

And she wasn’t alone.

On the mic next to her was a young, effervescent man who seemed to be the only one in the room who didn’t have eyes fixed anywhere other than the woman next to him on stage.

Hyunwoo hummed as he glared. “I know him…”

“Hey,” interjected Hoseok with a nudge to his elder cousin’s shoulder, “isn’t that the guy from breakfast? Mr. Helpshimself.”

The COO’s eye twitched.

“Secretary Lee!” barked Hyungwon to his assistant. “Who’s that with the Director?”

“Uh, on stage?” echoed the younger man. “Mm, I don’t know.”

“Secretary Guk,” Jooheon pressed, “do you know that man?”

She shook her head. “Sorry, sir, I don’t. Maria invited him.”

The vice chairman glowered, and the secretary crumbled.

“Er, Director Ortega invited him, but I can find out?”

“Immediately,” he insisted.

Secretary Guk scampered away toward one of the HR managers who hadn’t moved so much as a muscle since the vice chairmen had strolled in, but if the paralyzed look in his eyes was any indication, he wanted nothing to do with her.

Meanwhile, Kihyun huffed. “A man nobody seems to know is dueting with Director Ortega?”

The secretaries shifted uncomfortably even as two voices, one rich in bass and the other ripe with alcohol, stampeded through the silence like a pair of frolicking elephants. Secretaries One and Two cast worried glances back at their director, who was beaming lopsidedly at the handsome fellow who was hamming it up on his knees now, hand reaching up toward Maria.

“Now, Secretary Guk!” Jooheon called back.

His assistant scurried back with her head bowed and said, “Manager Cho believes his name is Intern Wong Kunhang.”

Secretary One hummed. “Oh, that’s Intern Wong? I think I heard he was brought on to the Purchasing Department from our Macau division a month or two ago.”

“Hm,” hummed Changkyun. “What’s an intern doing at a senior level director’s going-away party?”

Secretary Guk’s head dipped a little lower. “Apparently, I had heard correctly. The Director invited him personally. He wasn’t on our executives list, sir.”

As the vice chairmen stared green-eyed at the stage, the director and her partner finished the last lines of the song with breathless laughs.

Maria bent back into a light stretch as she caught her breath, and when she straightened, she squinted out into the eerily calm party room. Gone was the soju-greased dance party, noisy conversation and uproarious laughter, replaced instead by an ambient background soundtrack and muffled parties in nearby rooms.

“Why is nobody dancing?” Maria complained as she looked around the crowded club of stricken guests.

“Hey, no worries. I can fix that. I have a song that will get them going,” assured Kunhang. He shuffled through the playlist for a minute as he added over his shoulder, “What do you think about—”

Just then though, the young man was yanked by his wrist toward the edge of the stage where his direct supervisor, Supervisor Qian glared at him with imploring eyes. “No more encores, Intern Wong.”

“Ah, come on! It's the Director's big day. If she wants another song—”

But the supervisor shook his head vehemently. “I'm doing this for your own good, Intern Wong. Hurry up off the stage now, come on. I’ll give you money for a cab. Go home early and safely.”

“Are you nuts? I’m not leaving yet. Maria invited me personally.”

Supervisor Qian slapped his hand over the intern’s mouth and hissed, “Do you want to lose your job the same month you got it? Stop talking for once, Intern Wong, and go!”

The supervisor yanked his subordinate down the steps, leaving Maria squinting alone into the haze ahead of her.

“Hyeongseo!” she shouted into the hushed crowd. “Hyeongseoie! Where are you?”

Secretary Kim, Vice Chairman Lee Hoseok’s personal assistant and Maria's best friend in the company, turned to Secretary Ahn and hissed, “Fix this, Minha!”

She raced to her friend’s aid on stage, leaving Vice Chairman Lee Minhyuk’s assistant gasping like a fish in front of the heads of the whole company.

“Uh,” Secretary Ahn began hesitantly, “sirs, maybe you would like to meet us later for some barbecue across the street? Everyone will be more presentable in a half hour, especially with some food in their bellies.”

“Why?” asked Hoseok. “We’re already here.”

Minhyuk cocked his head to the side, his warm blonde hair feathering across his forehead as he did. “It seems Secretary Ahn is trying to get rid of us.”

“Not at all, sir!” she squealed as she waved her hands. “It’s just that maybe noraebang is a little noisy and chaotic for leaders of your caliber who are used to quiet offices and boardrooms.”

“She means you’re bringing down the vibe,” came a voice from behind Jooheon followed by a pair of hands clapping on his shoulders.

“Jackson!” said the startled vice chairman. “What are you doing here?”

“Maria invited me,” he said with a cheeky smile that got even cheekier the more flustered the rest of vice chairmen grew. “I’m surprise she invited you.”

Kihyun sucked his teeth as assessed the president, who downed the shot in his hand with a grin on his face. “Having a good time I take it, President Wang?”

“It was a party, so I was.”

“Was a party?” questioned Hoseok.

“Until seven wet blankets dampened the mood.”

Kihyun pursed his lips now. “The soju seems to have loosened your lips.”

With a nod to the stage, Jackson replied, “It does have that reputation, yeah. If I were you, I’d by worried about the number one consumer of soju here tonight. When she sees you, you’re done…”

“How the hell did they find me!”

Though there was no mistaking the clear outrage, the seven vice chairmen had a hard time believing the voice was that of their esteemed, reliable, punctual, efficient, unwavering Director Ortega.

And yet one glance to the stage, where the director stood, arms flung wide and eyes blasted open as she challenged Secretary Kim, left no doubt it was the legend herself.

“Hm,” said Jackson, “I’m going to need a beer and a front row seat for this. Good luck, sirs.”

With that, the President of Operations disappeared into the crowd of fish faces all watching and waiting for what came next.

They didn’t have to wait long.

The director took the stairs remarkably well considering the booze counteracting her anger, but then purpose had always driven every move Maria Ortega had ever made. She headed straight for her seven moving targets. Several of the vice chairmen took a step back, huddling ever so slightly behind the wall of Hyunwoo and Hoseok.

They barely recognized the woman they’d seen nearly every day for years. Though her fine spray of freckles still dusted her face and neck, it was harder to make out under her heavy rose flush. Her ever-alert eyes were hard and narrow, and even though she was swaying as she planted her feet wide, her hands found a brand new home on her hips, giving her small stature the hulk of a professional wrestler.

“Director—” began Hyunwoo, but she waved him off instantly.

“Apologies, your highnesses, I know I’ve given you four years of contradictory evidence, but this is my night off,” she declared briskly. “Your offices are two streets down and around the corner.”

“Director Ortega—” tried Hoseok now, but she cut him off, too, with a shake of her head.

There was no sign of their perennial diplomatic as she ordered, “You should go. All of you.”

“But why?” said Jooheon in a blatant whine.

“We just got here,” insisted Hyungwon.

Maria scoffed. “Oh, I know. You’ve flatlined the mood.”

“I’ve never been accused of such a thing,” Minhyuk swore.

“Look!” she said and swung her arm toward the door, where a pair of coworkers were slinking out until her voice immobilized them in the doorway. “People are already leaving because they don’t want seven spoiled brats lording over their good time.”

“Brats?” said Hyungwon.

“Spoiled?” Kihyun balked, too. “We’re not spoiled.”

Another scoff. Maria scowled as she said, “I’ve never seen silver spoons lodged farther down throats. And now no one is going to want to have a good time with me because they don’t want you brats to fire them.”

“Somehow President Wang still has his job,” Jooheon shouted to Jackson, who was sitting cross-legged at one of the nearby booths, beer in hand.

With a sigh this time, Maria said resignedly, “What are you even doing here?”

“We’re here to celebrate you,” said Changkyun.

“Because we care about you,” Hyungwon added.

Maria’s eyes shifted to the Chief Sustainability Officer. Her face fixed on an expression too foreign for her face.

A beat passed. Then another.

Her lips parted. Before she could respond though, the puppy-eyed intern appeared at the director’s side, a tail practically wagging behind him. He rested his fingertips on her forearm, and her attention shifted to the young man.

“Sorry about that, Maria. Supervisor Qian thought I was too drunk to stay or something, but considering he's already six shots in, I figured he wasn't one to judge. Oh, hey!” The intern pivoted on his foot and smiled at the seven stone-faced men across from him. “You must be the vice chairmen. It's nice to meet you, Your Excellencies.”

Kunhang bowed and rose with two high eyebrows and a toothy grin.

“Your Excellencies?” Hyungwon said flatly.

The intern nodded. “I hear you're the seven princes of Xtra Mile, at least, that’s what everyone in the office says.”

“And we hear that you’re from our Macau office,” said Hoseok.

“Yes, sir.”

Hyunwoo’s jaw flexed. “Do you miss Macau, Intern Wong?”

Maria narrowed her eyes, but Kunhang simply shrugged his shoulders and his mouth. “I did at first, but I’ve gotten pretty used to things here now. I really love Seoul so far.”

“That’s no reason to stay,” Jooheon added quickly.

“Internships run their course,” agreed Hyungwon.

With a tilt of his head, the intern smiled brightly. “I’ve got a good feeling about this one.”

“You shouldn’t. Maybe you should head out before your job—” grumbled Kihyun before Maria stepped between the factions, her back to the vice chairmen.

“Kunhang, Secretary Lee needs a drink. Why don’t you two have one together for now?” she suggested as she spun the younger man back toward the stage.

“Okay, but we’re still doing another song to wake up these zombies, right?”

Maria nodded and sent him off, and when she swiveled back to her bosses, albeit teetering slightly, gone was her gentle smile.

“I invited Kunhang,” she asserted, “and I want him to stay. You have no authority to order my guests to leave.”

“Actually, we own 51 percent of this—”

Hyunwoo gave a discreet punch to Minhyuk’s side to shut him up, but it had about as much impact as a car accident. While the blonde cradled his gut, Maria glared.

“You're not the bosses of my party! In fact, you're not even my bosses anymore.”

“We are for the next month,” Kihyun reminded.

“Hey, Two!” the director shouted over her shoulder. “Clear that back booth for me please. I’m putting these seven children in time-out until they can learn to play well with others.”

An audible gasp circulated through the room along with one very inebriated giggle somewhere in the back that was quickly silenced. The vice chairmen stood there dumbfounded as their secretaries nervously followed their director’s instructions and shooed away partygoers from the back corner where a C-shaped booth lurked in the neon shadows. The table cleared, and Maria thrust her arm forward and instructed, “Sit.”

They did.

Another pair of guests seized the distraction and made a break for the exit, but the director trumpeted, “Nobody leaves until everyone’s had a good time!”

“Woohoo!” Kunhang cheered from halfway across the room. He was the only respondent though the escapees did retreat back to their tables.

“Can’t we talk about this?” Hyunwoo said in his usual steady tone.

Maria shook her head. “Your lordships talk to much as it is. Sit here and be quiet for once.”

Kihyun hummed. “Director Ortega, I think you’ve had a bit to drink. Maybe—”

“Psh, I’m not nearly drunk enough for this conversation.”

Jooheon let out a resentful sigh as he scrunched his nose and challenged, “We really did come to support you.”

But Maria swept her pointer finger from end to end of the rainbow of vice chairmen and barked, “Pinches egoístas! Todo lo que hacen en tomar y tomar! ¿Y que obtengo a cambio? ¡Solo molestias! Y ni siquiera me pueden dejar en paz. Hijos de puta.”

“That didn’t sound great,” Hoseok said with a grimace at Minhyuk.

Hyunwoo cleared his throat and started, “Director—”

“Nn-nn, no. No, no. I'm so sick of that name. That's the only name I've heard for the last 762 years.” Kihyun and Hyungwon exchanged looks at her embellishment, but the woman didn’t notice as she continued, “I have a real name, a person name not a job name. Okay?”

“Okay,” said Minhyuk with a lopsided smile.

“It's Maria. It's a pretty name. It was my mother’s name and my great-grandmother's name. Isn't it pretty? Maria. Say it.”

“Maria,” said Hyungwon slowly, testing it out.

But she surprised him when she launched across the table, both of her hands clamping over his thick lips. “Shh! Not you! Shh!”

“Why not me?” he grumbled behind her fingers, but she shook her head vehemently.

“Why are you so loud?”

“Loud?” Kihyun chuckled with a furrowed brow as he turned toward his half-brother. “You’re not loud. I can barely decipher half the mumblings that come out of your mouth. Maria, do you mean the music’s loud?”

“Not loud enough!” she shouted.

“Maria,” repeated Hyungwon, softer this time, but she plugged her ears then and shook her head.

“I said it's too loud. Shh! You call me Director Ortega.”

The silver-haired vice chairman scowled at his half-brother as he folded his arms across his broad chest. “Why can’t I say it… He just did.”

The director narrowed her eyes at the vice chairmen and said, “I’m going back to get drunk like I deserve for the first time in ages, and you are not ruining that yet again, got it? Hopefully I’ll forget you were even here.”

“How long do we have to sit here?” Jooheon griped.

Maria folded her arms. “You act like children, I treat you like children. You stay here until you learn your lesson.”

Changkyun laid a hand on his dimpled cousin’s shoulder before took the lead and said, “We came here to talk to you, Maria.”

“Well, I came here to party because it’s my party, and I’m not talking. I’m partying.”

She turned around, but before she could take three steps, Hoseok blurted, “What are we supposed to do?”

Over her shoulder, she answered, “You’re in timeout. You don’t do anything… unless you decide to leave. You want to reconsider?”

None of the men moved, save Kihyun and Hyungwon crossing their arms in unison in an unexpected reminder that they shared some genes.

Maria huffed. “Fine. The only way you’re getting up from this table is if you leave or you join in.”

“What does that mean?” asked Minhyuk.

“Seriously? You drink and you sing duets or you get out. There's no way I'm letting you stone sober tyrants hold anything over my secretaries after I'm gone. ¿Te quedó claro? Drink and sing or get out.”

“Is that all? I can do that,” the Chief Product Officer said with a smile and presented his hand. “Will you do me the honors of singing with me?”

Maria cackled, and all seven men froze at the unfamiliar sound. “With you, Mr. Lee Minhyuk? Oh, no way.”

“You’ll sing with an intern but not with us?” Hyungwon pointed out tightly.

“That’s the easy way out,” she countered, “and I've spent way too much of my life by each of your sides already. No, you have to sing with each other.”

“With each other?” they exclaimed as a united front for once.

Maria cocked an eyebrow and a hip and stared them down. “If you've got the guts. If not, there’s the door.”

With that, Maria returned to her party, stole a snack from a nearby table, and bellowed out a war cry for the party to continue. With the help of Intern Wong’s impromptu DJing and the out-of-sight, out-of-mind vice chairmen, most guests were swaying and drinking again, this time with much more moderation.

That is until everyone got the surprise of their lives.

Just as Manager Gong of the marketing department finished her off-key solo performance of XG’s “New Dance,” two sharp silhouettes climbed the stairs to the stage, and once they’d selected their song, they turned around and stepped into the lights.

Minhyuk and Kihyun each grabbed a mic and waited to catch up to the beat of TVXQ’s “Spellbound”. At the first notes out of their mouths, a couple shot glasses fell to the floor, but it was nothing to the number of jaws that followed.

“My god,” murmured Secretary One, “they could be idols. How did I not know Vice Chairmen Yoo could sing like this? I see him all day every day!”

“I didn’t know they could sing either!” said Secretary Kwon. “Did you, Maria?”

A rice cake now sagging in her hand, the director couldn’t even find the strength to shake her head as her two bosses prowled the stage looking like they’d always belonged up there. They’d shed their suit jackets in favor of their dress shirts, each having rolled their sleeves up to their forearms, which was more skin than Maria had ever seen them show in all their years together. As they glided across the floor, their buttons winked in the spotlights, taunting the woman who’d been so confident up to that very moment that she’d known everything about them.

“This feels like a concert!” one of the managers screamed over the music.

“I can’t believe we get to see this for free!” shouted another.

“Why do they have to be good at everything they do?” bemoaned yet another.

“Feels like they’re singing to you, Maria,” whispered Hyeongseo into her friend’s ear.

“Hush,” the director said because it was all she could manage.

She was too caught up in the two men, ever at odds with one another, harmonizing so effortlessly over the effervescent melody. Minhyuk was definitely the bigger ham of the two, swaying back and forth like a jazz cat with equal cool. Kihyun, on the other hand, had a way of stroking the mic that was so dizzying, it left Maria wondering how much of the room’s spinning was just the alcohol coursing through her now-racing blood.

“They’re even dancing in sync? They have moves?” Secretary Lee exclaimed at their little dance break, eyes bugging out of his skull.

Their performance ended all too quickly, and once again, the club room was silent. The two vice chairmen stood on stage, chests heaving, sweat beading on their brows, expressions tight.

Nobody bothered to hit the artificial applause since the real thing erupted from every corner, including whoops and hollers and chants for an encore. Their bosses merely bowed and made their escape from the limelight toward their mandated timeout, but not before taking a very particular route past their dumbstruck director.

As he blew past her, Kihyun lifted both brows in a challenge, and then the pair was gone… only to be replaced on stage by Hyunwoo and Hoseok.

“There’s more?” said one guest.

“Are they all going to perform? Oh my god,” exclaimed another.

The two largest members of Xtra Mile’s boardroom hiked the stairs to the stage as the applause finally dwindled for the last performance. Maria barely had time enough to process what had just happened in when the first percussive notes of Shinee’s “1 of 1” began.

Hoseok took the lead in the song, his voice sweet and melodic and his lisp clinging to the lyrics, before his cousin picked up the retro beats and flavored them with his own surprisingly lustrous RnB tone.

“These song choices, oh my god,” gasped Secretary Ahn.

“How am I going to go back to work on Monday?” Secretary Kwon lamented as she watched her boss reach his hand out toward them, his voice straining with a high note. Dreamily, she reached back, and Secretary Kim swatted her arm down.

“You’re embarrassing yourself, Haeun!”

“Probably,” Secretary Kwon whimpered, entranced.

“Is it just me,” said Secretary Lee, “or are all these about Maria?”

“I told you,” Hyeongseo sing-songed.

Abruptly, each of the secretaries turned toward the director, who waved them off. “You gossip just as much as ever, Yujun, which always adds fuel to Hyeongseo’s fire. Cut it out, both of you. They’re just showing off. When do they not? Pack of jerks, trying to make me feel bad about having a good time.”

Only then, as the weight of her bosses’ gazes bore down on her from the stage, did Maria realize she hadn’t had a drink since the vice chairmen had stormed in, and, resentfully, she grabbed for a shot glass. But the second she brought it to her lips, it stilled, and nothing she could do could tip it back.

“Damn them,” she cursed under her breath as she slammed the glass back down. “Can’t even get drunk anymore even though I don’t work here anymore.”

But with every cell she sobered up, Maria was more and more aware of how smooth her bosses were on stage, how natural and comfortable they looked under a spotlight, and how enticingly they sang into a mic. It wasn’t fair, and it just amplified her resentment.

“Hey, girl, you all right?” Hyeongseo asked her friend.

“Pack of jerks,” Maria muttered even as Hoseok stared straight into her soul with sparkling eyes.

Finally, the duo finished their serenade, bowed to the crowd and again to their director, and then hurried off stage to make way for Hyungwon, Jooheon, and Changkyun.

“Not again,” the director groaned and Hyeongseo rubbed her back.

“Worried they’re going to be as impressive as the first two duets?”

“I thought they’d leave. I didn’t expect them to take me up on it. Why didn’t I make them leave?”

Vice Chairman Yoo’s secretary quirked a finely plucked brow. “Seems like they’re figuring out what it means to lose you. I wonder what they’d say if they knew the real reason you’re leaving.”

Maria hissed, “I’ll throw you out, too, One!”

“Aera! Hey, Aera!” whispered Secretary Lee to Secretary Guk, who could barely tear her eyes from her boss, Jooheon, as the dimpled man centered himself behind a mic. “Aera, other than a boardroom, have you ever seen the three of them together?”

“Vice Chairman Lee looks so handsome…” she murmured with dimples that matched her superior’s. Her colleague swatted his hand in front of her face, and she blinked and snapped, “What do you want, Yujun?”

“I asked you a question!”

“Shh!” she said, ignoring him. “We’re witnessing history, and I’m not missing a second of it.”

Secretary Lee rolled his eyes, but his fellow assistant was right. The whole room could feel it, even the transfixed director.

“They can't possibly be a skilled as the other vice chairmen, can they?” asked Secretary Two.

A familiar throwback beat bumped out of the speakers, and Hyeongseo’s eyes glided to the director as Shinhwa’s “Perfect Man” emphatically kickstarted.

“Don’t,” Maria warned her friend.

Hyeongseo grinned as cartoonishly as an emoji.

Hyungwon took control of the opening lines with his raspy vocals, which melted right into Changkyun’s chocolate murmuring and, finally, Jooheon’s power serenading. Before anyone knew it, the latter two were trading some of the fastest, smoothest rap lines anyone in the company had ever heard.

“They can rap?” squealed Secretary Ahn as she pressed harder against the edge of the stage. “I take back what I said. Thank god your big mouth invited them, Aera.”

If Secretary Guk heard the praise, it took a backseat to the tidal wave of senses bearing down on them from the stage as the three men harmonized in ways not a soul in Xtra Mile could have ever anticipated. They shared lines just as easily as they shared the spotlight, and when they joined voices in the chorus, hearts stopped.

“They're not treating this like noraebang,” marveled Hyeongseo. “They're acting like they're on Music Bank.”

“What a pity they hate each other,” shouted Secretary Kwon over the music. “Imagine if they cut a record together.”

Secretary Lee wrapped one arm around the director and another around Hyeongseo as he muscled in between for a better look of his boss on stage. “I am never letting Vice Chairman Chae live this done. Never. And here I always thought Maria would be the one to bring them together. Who knew it would be music?”

“Who said it isn’t Maria?” said Jackson, who appeared at the director’s other shoulder. His mouth hovered by her ear as he added, “You did tell them to perform after all.”

“‘Cause you are the one!” came the line from the three performers, this time borderline shouted down on the crowd—maybe, more specifically, one President of Operations.

Maria looked up and away from Jackson, though not with stars in her eyes as the rest of the crowd did, but rather with crossed arms and a hard expression.

Hyeongseo shook her friend’s bicep. “Not even a smile? They’re singing right to you, babe. Damn, Maria, I really underestimated how pissed you are at them.”

But the director wasn't pissed. She was in shock.

She looked around at her colleagues, now flush with the stage, hands reaching up, cheering and squealing, all hoping for a crumb of attention from men Maria had only ever seen drink coffee, read reports, and micromanage every second of her day.

Now they were commanding a stage like they owned that, too.

So maybe she was more than a little angry after all.

They had it in them all along to get along, so why the hell had she been stretched thinner than watercolor on an oversized canvas all these years?

The trio’s performance wound down, and the men left the stage the same as the others—abruptly and with little attention for the fanfare that was being ladled on them from the audience. They retreated to their timeout and sat in the same order that they’d been assigned when Maria had sent them there.

“How am I going to go back to the office on Monday knowing what I know...” Secretary Guk said as she stared back heart-eyed at her boss.

“You’d better stay in your lane, Guk Aera,” admonished Secretary Two. “Remember what happened to Secretary Lee Gahyun? She asked out Vice Chairman Im one time, and she was gone the next day. You have to stay as professional as Director Ortega or you’ll be on the job market in no time.”

“I know! I’m just saying it’s going to be so hard. A girl could get lost in Vice Chairman Lee’s dimples…”

“Great,” said Secretary One, ��we’re going to be filling two positions this week.”

“A lot to think about, Director Ortega,” Jackson began with a playful look to the woman beside him. “Seems our esteemed Vice Chairmen set out to make an impression. I wonder if it worked.”

Maria gritted her teeth, shook off the two men’s arms around her, and stormed toward the back of the club, every guest’s attention once again pressing down on them. She threw her hands back on her hips and thundered, “Are you happy?”

“Are you?” asked Kihyun.

“We did it for you,” added Hoseok.

“Did you like our performances?” Jooheon wondered. “How did I do specifically?”

Maria sighed. “What was the point of all that, huh? Did you think it would make me stay?”

“No,” said Hyunwoo.

“Yes,” said Minhyuk.

All at once, the director stood there, her shoulders unusually slumped and her round face fallen. “Thank you for coming to my going away party, sirs. You’ve certainly made it unforgettable.”

“Maria!” Kihyun said. “Wait.”

But Minhyuk shook his head. “She’s right, guys.”

With that, the CPO clambered over his relatives’ laps to get out of the booth, breezed past the director, and hurried to the stage which was still empty since they’d had yet to find anyone brave enough to follow the vice chairmen’s acts.

“All right, everyone,” declared Minhyuk into the mic. “Did you enjoy the performances?”

“Yes, sir!” came the universal cheer.

“Great, and did you have fun?”

“Yes!”

“Wonderful, wonderful. Should we add noraebang to our company picnic this year?” he asked.

The cheers were even more forceful now. “Yes, yes!”

“Ah, perfect. That’s great news. Now for the bad news.” Minhyuk smiled down at his employees, bowing and nodding and making his typical spectacle of himself.

Boos that could only come with the conviction of alcohol bubbled up around the room as every last guest waited for the other shoe to drop.

“That’s a wrap on this incredible party, I’m afraid,” said the vice chairman, “but don’t worry. Your vice chairmen will work hard to ensure more things like this in the future. For now, thank you all for supporting our dear Director and making her night unforgettable.”

“Hey, wait, no—” Maria protested, but when she swiveled about the room to address her guests, she found Hoseok and Changkyun holding open the doors to the hallway and waiting like bouncers.

“As you are all still representing Xtra Mile right now, we want to ensure your night ends well,” boomed Vice Chairman Son now from the back of the room. “To that end, we have a fleet of drivers waiting at the ready out there who will take you all home safely.”

“All of us?” shouted someone in the crowd.

“All of you,” Kihyun promised.

“Except you,” Hyungwon said solemnly.

Everyone followed his hard gaze back to Intern Wong, who looked at his boss’s boss’s boss with wide eyes over the lip of his shot glass.

“You walk home,” Jooheon agreed.

“Ah, ah,” corrected Minhyuk from the stage. “My brother is joking. There’s a seat for you in my car. Have a safe trip home, Intern Wong.”

“Why would you—” Jooheon barked before Minhyuk cut him off with a smile and a knowing look.

“As we all know, Maria wants us to see all her guests home well, especially the ones she personally invited…”

Their attention slid over to the director, who was watching her superior just as carefully.

Jooheon looked back at the bewildered intern and said begrudgingly, “Get home safely, Intern Wong.”

“Aw, is the party really over?” asked Manager Cho.

“It is if the Vice Chairmen say it is,” Supervisor Qian answered and picked up his intern by the collar.

“Hey, wait!” Kunghang objected, feet skidding beneath him as he was compelled forward. “I wanted to say goodnight to the Director!”

“I’m sure you did. Come on, our free ride is waiting, Intern Wong.”

Kunhang’s puppy eyes pleaded forgiveness of Maria as he waved and shouted goodnights even as his supervisor dragged him bodily out of the room. Over his shoulder, he shouted, “Don’t forget to text me when you get home so I know you got there safely!”

Hyungwon and Jooheon rolled their eyes as the rest of the guests began to leave while the secretaries started reining in the wake of chaos in the room. For her part, Maria cleaned up one of the bottles of soju by downing it straight from the mouth. No booze had ever tasted more satisfying.

“I can’t believe you threw out all my guests,” she said bitterly.

Minhyuk shrugged. “I just followed your lead, Maria. You were the one who said the night was over.”

The director grunted and thumped the empty bottle back on the table. “I was throwing you out, not them.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time we misunderstood something.”

Maria narrowed her eyes. “Yes, but I get the feeling that was intentional rather than accidental.”

“Feelings are not enough for a court of law,” Kihyun interjected with a hooked grin, and she sighed.

“There are forty-some people here. How are you going to get them all home?”

Jooheon beamed at her. “Limos seat eight. It’ll be fine.”

“You brought seven limos to a noraebang?” she exclaimed.

“Well, we weren’t going to ride together,” Hyungwon informed matter-of-factly.

The director sighed and collapsed onto a couch, her head lolling back as she closed her eyes. “You have no idea how much I miss your grandfather. He was mature. He was respectful. He was grateful.”

“We’re not grateful?” Hoseok said with a protruding bottom lip.

“No! You’re none of those things.”

“I resent that,” said Kihyun.

“I don’t care. What else am I supposed to think? You’re the same people made me leave family events half a world away to wait on you.”

“That was Hyungwon!”

The silver-haired vice chairman went to bite back, but the director did it for him. She squared up to Kihyun and, tongue loosened by alcohol, blurted, “You’re better? Really? I was seconds away from getting laid for the first time since the Ice Age when you texted me, what was it, 17 times? The guy thought I was married and bolted.”

A bottle clattered to the floor, and everyone turned to find President Wang standing there sheepishly with eyes big as marbles just as the rest of the secretaries were.

“Jackson? I thought we kicked you out, too,” growled Jooheon. “You are definitely walking home.”

“Aw, come on, man. You owe me for—”

“Out!” the CMO snapped.

The president hurried out with all seven secretaries in tow, each one giving Maria their own version of an embarrassed grimace, and once the procession of mortification was gone, she was left to stew in the horror of her last admission. She had to divert attention immediately.

“There’s no point in asking me to stay, sirs,” she said as assertively and professionally as her tipsy state would allow.

“You already took another job?” Hoseok said, the disappointment in his voice clear as glass.

Maria shook her head. “No. No, I need time away from an office. I need somewhere to clear my head.”

Hyunwoo raised both eyebrows. “You're taking a vacation?”

The director remained silent.

Kihyun pressed his sharply bowed lips together as he narrowed his eyes. “You're moving back home?”

More silence.

“To America!” The other six shouted in unison.

“You can’t,” Hoseok insisted.

“Of course I can. You don’t own me, contrary to what you seven seem to believe.”

“That’s not it!” protested Jooheon. “Give us a chance to prove it to you. We’ll lighten your workload. We’ll give you more time off. We won’t spring meetings on you. Just don’t leave, please.”

“Dios mío, dame fuerzas! Listen, sirs, it’s nice of you to come and show your sincerity, I mean it, and I appreciate your generosity, I really do, but my resignation is about so much more than that.” Maria took a deep breath then said, “Working for your family, I’ve accomplished more than most in my life, and I’m proud of that, but there’s one thing that my career has kept me from accomplishing, and that’s become absurdly clear since my sister’s wedding.”

“The wedding Hyungwon kept you from enjoying?” Kihyun needled, but before Hyungwon could volley back, Maria slapped her hands down on the booth as effectively as across their faces.

“Why can’t you boys just get along? It would have made my job so much easier if I didn’t have to spend as much time translating foreign languages for you as I did translating messages between you. Some days, it’s more like running a daycare than it is a multibillion-dollar company.”

“Ouch,” mumbled Hoseok.

“On that trip… What did you learn, Maria?” Hyunwoo redirected gently.

Her head lolled to the side. “What’s the point of explaining? You’re all just going to argue and lob blame at one another. I’d rather we just end it here, sirs, and you can all blame each other without me having to embarrass myself.”

“We can’t fix things if we don’t know what the problem is,” the COO insisted.

“You can’t fix them even if you do.”

“You don’t know that,” said Changkyun softly.

The director shook her head. “I do, sir. This isn’t something that can be fixed by seven executives.”

“We have resources,” Minhyuk insisted, his finger stabbing a table with every word. “We have a whole company at your disposal. There’s nothing that we can’t get you.”

“You can’t get me a husband, and you sure as hell can’t get me laid.”

Maria covered her mouth, but it was too late. The damage was done, and this time, there was no one there to distract from it.

“So it’s true…” murmured Hyungwon.

“No! Oh no… See! I knew it!” she bellowed and covered her face with her hands. “Everyone in the company knows the sad fate of poor, pathetic Maria Ortega. How humiliating. Over a decade of professionalism, and I’ve cannonballed it in a few days.”

“That's not true,” Kihyun reassured.

“Obviously it is. No wonder everyone was so eager to congratulate me on quitting. Maria Ortega, the cautionary tale for career driven women. She thought success was enough, but the moment she finds out she has no one to share it with, she realizes that the world now cruelly thinks she’s too old for love.”

“Horseshit,” Hyunwoo bit with uncharacteristic ferocity.

The director slumped over, forearms on her knees. “It doesn’t matter if it is or it isn’t. Spinster is still a word in people’s vocabulary. I’ve aged out of most of my prospects. Men aren’t looking to start a life with a woman at 38.”

“I saw that line of admirers this morning,” the honey-haired COO reminded. “You were turning down offers right and left.”

“It’s not at all what you think, sir.”

“It was,” Hoseok asserted. “Those hopeful, lovestruck looks are unmistakable.”

She closed her eyes and grimaced as she flashed back through the last couple years of disasters. “You all should know better than anyone that a salesman knows just what to do to close a deal before he moves to the next more profitable town.”

“That can’t be true,” insisted Minhyuk. “No one could say no to you.”

Maria belted out a bitter laugh, then another, until it suddenly became a strand of ironic giggles over the persistent hum of the speaker static. “Are you kidding me? It’s your favorite word for me and my personal life. You are the seven kings of the word. It’s the only other thing you have in common.”

“Impossible,” asserted Kihyun.

“When have I ever told you no?” Minhyuk challenged.

“That’s not—” began Hyungwon, but he was cut off by Maria.

“‘Vice Chairman Yoo, please keep me off the schedule Friday evening.’” In a gravelly voice, she continued, “‘Director Ortega, you know I need you to assist me with all acquisitions. It’s expected. We’re finalizing the Usagi Electronics deal. This is the most vital time. It can’t be completed without you.’”

“Hey—” said Kihyun, but again, she cut him off.

“‘Vice Chairman Im, I have important plans this Saturday, so please—'

“‘Director Ortega, please take this job more seriously. You know this morning we were invited to dine with President Park. You don’t say no to President Park.’

In a deeper mimic, she continued, “‘See you on Sunday, Director Ortega.’

“‘But, Vice Chairman Son, I told you I have—'

“‘See you Sunday.’” She closed her little play with Hyunwoo’s trademark tight-lipped, cheeky bear smile before she returned to herself with an exhausted sigh. “You have no idea how difficult it is to live a real life when you have seven superiors who demand your full attention all the time. In all the years I’ve served you, I’ve never seen Gyeongbokgung Palace, I haven’t visited the top of N Seoul Tower, I haven’t hiked Inwangsan. Hell, I haven’t seen a movie since your grandfather retired! Do you know how much I love movies? Now, I can’t even watch them at home because I pass out before they reach the halfway point. You tell me if that’s fair, sirs.”

“We didn’t think of it like that,” mumbled Hyungwon.

“I know. You didn’t think of me at all. It’s always the job first—the title first—and that goes for me, too. My career was the most important thing to me for the longest time. Now that I’ve gotten everything I’ve ever wanted for myself, I found I’m missing more than I realized. And I can’t even make it to one measly blind date.”

“What’s so great about a blind date anyway?” Hoseok challenged. “They’re all out-of-shape bald guys who make you pay for your own coffee.”

Despite herself, Maria couldn’t stifle her chuckle. “What’s wrong with bald guys? You keep bleaching your hair platinum, and you might be bald soon, too, sir.”

The Chief Security Officer groped his own head as he floundered, “Back me up, guys.”

Though he’d been quiet most of the evening, save for his devastating performance on stage, Changkyun propped both elbows on the table, leaned forward, his sly eyes hiding innumerable secrets, and said, “Maybe it’s time to consider alternative avenues.”

“What do you mean…” she asked warily.

“The shortest distance between two points. Have you ever considered that, while you may not know what you’re walking into on a blind date, you do know each of us… Better than anyone, I imagine..”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, so this is how you pitch me to keep my job?”

Changkyun shook his head. “Not at all. My suggestion is simple. Why don’t you date us instead?”

Everyone’s heads whipped toward the youngest vice chairman along with a chorus of “What!”

It didn’t seem to faze him.

“Forgive my brother, Maria,” Jooheon bumbled as he nudged the chocolate-haired vice chairman hard in the ribs. “He uses his status as youngest too liberally.”

“That’s not it,” Changkyun insisted. “I’m serious.”

The director’s hands raced through her rapidly frizzing bob as her eyes searched the shadows for spot to steady her mental tailspin. “Okay. Okay, so it’s just Vice Chairman Im who’s clearly wasted then.”

“Well…” Hyunwoo said slowly. “Maybe my youngest cousin has a point.”

Maria threw her hands up. “Vice Chairman Son, too?”

“Ugh,” groused Jooheon, “you’ve asked us to drop the honorifics but you won’t? Since we’re not coworkers anymore, it’s not necessary.”

“It feels weird not to,” she said.

“Just because it feels weird doesn’t mean it is,” Changkyun countered.

Something in the youngest’s tone warned her not to trust the dark cast in his eyes.

Hyungwon caught her gaze next, and Maria froze, feeling every bit the startled rabbit she imagined she looked to be. The man always had the unique ability to stun her despite how often he managed to look like a person five minutes shy of a cozy nap. He dipped his head down, his lips jutting with his chin, as he asked, “You've never once thought about what it would be like to be with us?”

Maria scrambled to find her bearings, but it was pointless, especially with all the liquor still burning holes in her defenses. As assertively as she could, she said, “It wouldn't matter even if I had.”

“Does that mean you have?” Jooheon said, shooting forward.

The director frantically waved him back. She longed for another shot, but like so much else in her life, it seemed out of reach. She mumbled, “Did you all plan this blindside?”

“I swear to you this is the first we’re hearing it,” said Kihyun with his hand up, “but that doesn’t mean we haven’t been thinking it for a long time.”

The director shook her head. “Not possible. You have to have an angle. You’re businessmen; you always do. You think I'm so desperate and hopeless that I need to date my bosses?”

“Yes?” wondered Minhyuk.

“No!” interjected Changkyun while he glared at his cousin as his other cousin, Hoseok, whacked the blonde on the back of the head. “I’m not suggesting you stay and work for us. I’m suggesting you give us each a chance to prove to you that we’re all like you. We’re all struggling to catch up to our feelings.”

“Feelings?” she said incredulously. “You can’t have feelings for a hammer or a wrench.”

Suddenly, Hyungwon reached across the table and grasped her fingers. Her eyes shot to the often solemn man and found his just as steady and serious as she found them in a boardroom. His thick lips were pressed together into a hard line as his brow furrowed. “You’ve never once—not ever—been a tool in our eyes, Maria, and I’m sorry if we’ve made you feel that way.”

The director yanked her hand away and stared at her skin as though it were burning. All these years, and she’d never touched them save for a jolt in a shared limo or straightening a tie. Maybe it wouldn’t have felt so momentous if they hadn’t all just proposed to date her.

She cradled her hand as she said, “There's not enough soju in this world to make me accept pity dates as severance from my company.”

“You've got it all wrong,” said Hoseok. “You would be the one taking pity on us.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’ve filled our lives with so many distractions that it’s distracted us from something we've known all along.”

“And what's that?” she asked, and she realized she was holding her breath.

Now it was Hyunwoo who studied the director with an intensity she’d never seen from him. Normally, he gave the appearance of constant wonder or surprise, almost like he wasn’t taking things seriously, but usually that was a ruse to throw his professional opponent off-balance. But here, Maria was practically on the floor from tonight’s whiplash, yet there were no hints of that trickery. He was looking at her with everything he had.

His eyes hooded. His voice dropped another octave. “You don't find it odd that seven men who haven't been able to agree on anything in thirty years can all agree that we can't be without you?”

“I do! Exactly,” Maria agreed wholeheartedly. “I do find that odd. But I think the conclusion I've drawn is a lot different than the one you have. Honestly, sirs, I really think you're confusing two separate issues. You don't want the person who's been doing everything for you—short of actually spoon-feeding you—to leave, but need doesn't equal love.”

Hyunwoo’s intensity didn’t let up, even at the barb. Voice as even as ever, he continued, “And I think you're afraid of the possibility that your future has always been with us.”

“Or maybe,” she said, keenly aware of how much her own voice was now shaking, “I'm afraid of the far more likely possibility that this is all some game you seven have concocted to trick me into staying. For a bunch of guys who said they didn’t plan this, with all these pretty things to say, you sure sound rehearsed.”

Kihyun, who’d been sitting closest to her, leaned in, his voice unusually deep. “Maybe that’s because we’ve each been rehearsing this for longer than you think.”

To fight the shiver racing down her spine, Maria chewed her lip aggressively.

“At least let us have the chance to prove we’re serious,” said Jooheon.

“And how do you propose to do that?”

“For starters,” Changkyun answered, “we respect your resignation. We won't pressure you to stay on as our director anymore. We’ll start interviewing candidates as soon as you find them.”

Maria popped an eyebrow. “What if I want to recommend Secretary Kim for the position?”

They all looked to Hoseok. Worry flashed across the CSO’s face for a second before he nodded slowly. “She’s an excellent assistant. I’m sure she’d be up to it.”

“She would,” Maria agreed, a relieved smile brightening her face for the first time since they’d arrived. “If she says yes, I can start training her on Monday.”

The vice chairmen couldn’t hide their shock and hesitation, but nobody dared argue it.

Again, the director found her lip between her teeth, this time coupling it with a worrying of her top button. “So, um, how would this all work? I mean, if I believed you for one second…”

“Well,” Jooheon said as she scooted a little closer on her other side, “if you believed us, we’d each like a chance to take you out.”

“There won't be any work involved,” Hoseok promised. “We're talking about dates, so we’ll keep everything out of the office.”

“You, I’m not worried about,” Maria admitted. “I can barely keep you at your desk as it is. But a few of you…”

She glared at Minhyuk, Kihyun, and Changkyun before the first butted in, “Not this time. And you won't have to plan a thing. We'll be responsible for you for a change.”

“Despite what you may think, we’ve managed to pick up a few things over the years,” Hyungwon said.

She glared sternly at them. “I’m 38. I don’t have time for boys.”

“Director Ortega—Maria,” Kihyun corrected, “we run a multibillion-dollar company. We’re not children anymore.”

“Didn’t I just put you all in time-out?” she recapped. They pouted across the board, seven undeniably handsome faces as defeated as the director had ever seen, and Maria let out a sigh. “Ugh, this conversation is making me feel uncomfortably sober. How serious are you all planning to take this charade?”

“At least as serious as you do,” said Minhyuk.

“As serious as we’ve ever taken anything,” amended Changkyun.

Maria groaned and said, “There’s no way you can play nicely with each other. How am I supposed to come out alive from this?”

“If there’s one thing to convince us to get along, it’s you, Maria,” said Hyungwon. She clutched her temples at this sound of her name in his gravelly rumble and winced.

“This is such a bad idea. What happens when it doesn’t work out with any of you? Or worse, it does work? What happens if it works really well with one of you? You can’t get along as is. Something like this… it could makes things irreconcilable.”

Minhyuk shrugged. “If you’re leaving anyway, at least you won’t have to stay for the fallout.”

“I still care,” she insisted, hands gripping the table edge. “I love Xtra Mile. I don’t want to be the reason something happens to it. You can’t promise that you’ll be okay with this.”

“You’re right,” said Hyunwoo, “we can’t, but if it isn’t already clear, we’ll do just about anything for you.”

“Even act like family,” Jooheon said with a clap on his little brother’s back beside him.

Maria glanced between her bosses, finding a thousand different reasons why this was a stupid, terrible idea, yet she found herself resisting all of those. Time stretched between the group. One minute morphed into two and then five, but it didn’t make a difference. It wasn’t changing her fate or her answer.

She chewed her lip again, but finally, she said, “I don’t know…”

“Jackson said we needed to show you our sincerity,” said Kihyun. “Please, Maria, let us.”

“You spoke to President Wang about this?” she shouted, her whole body darkening a shade. “Oh god, I can’t show my face back at the office ever again.”

“We didn’t talk to him about this!” Jooheon was quick to swear. “No one knows about this but us.”

“Hell,” said Minhyuk, “we didn’t even know before right now.”

Maria whimpered. “You better pray no one finds out or I won’t be putting you in timeout. I’ll be putting you in prison.”

The vice chairmen shared a laugh and a nod, which was more than they’d really ever shared, and the director relented to them as she had for years. Maybe it was the wrong thing to do considering where that bad habit had led her, but curiosity—and so much more—had gotten the better of her.

Come Monday, with the booze burned out of her system and her power suit back on, maybe her misgivings would get the better of her, but as Hyunwoo’s limo driver returned from dropping off the last of her guests and offered to take them all home, she didn’t refuse.

And she didn’t refuse when they insisted on piling out on her sidewalk to see her safely into her building.

She didn’t refuse when they promised to make the next month all about her.

With one final look through the glass entryway at the seven troublesome men who’d strategically commandeered her whole life for the past five years, she muttered to herself once more, “Dios mío, dame fuerzas…”

#monsta x smut #shownu smut #wonho smut #minhyuk smut #kihyun smut #hyungwon smut #jooheon smut #changkyun smut #wwwdo #reverse harem #miniseries #original character #ot7 #coworkers to lovers

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dumbbvnnyboy · 2 years

Text

Ceo au wonho x male reader

Warnings: smut, degradation, somewhat public s3x, aftercare, slight bandage, proofread but by myself when I was 🍃, reader is down bad for him

Anyway hope yall like it

was working as an assistant for a major corporation, I was actually the head assistant for the ceo Lee hoseok, or as others called him wonho.

He was quite attractive, and Id be lieing if I said that he wasn't in my thoughts 24/7.

I'd even find myself buying tighter dress pants and suits in the hopes I'd catch some glances.

I also would bring him coffee every morning, not because he asked but because I wanted to impress him.

I fixed my hair in the mirror in front of his office while carefully holding the drinks.

When I was sure I looked good enough I knocked on his office door with a smile.

He opened the door and smiled brightly.

"Y/n! You brought coffee again, thank you!"

I smiled looking into his eyes finding myself gazing at him as I sighed.

Then I finally realized what I had just done feeling a blush rush across my face.

"I-i um did you get the schedule I sent you yesterday? I did it at the end of the day so we'd be prepared today."

He smirked down at me again.

"Yes I did, you do know your in an hour early right?"

I cocked my head to the side confused and looked down at my watch, wonho was correct causing my face to get hot once again as he laughed.

"Well if you would like you can hang out in my office while I work."

"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to be a distraction."

He looked me up and down with another smirk "life wouldn't be as fun without distractions though, would it?"

I came into his office and sat down as he got back to work staring at his computer and writing things down here and there.

I didn't even feel like I was looking at him for that long when I saw him look up with a smile and ask

"Is there a reason you keep staring at me like that y/n?"

I opened my mouth but words were hard to get out as he looked at me and got up from his chair, walking around the desk.

"Y/n I think that I'm the one that's distracting you?"

He grabbed my chin before leaning down and whispering into my ear.

"Isn't that right sweetheart"

My face completely went red as I nodded my head.

"That's what i thought."

He tilted my chin gently and started to kiss and lick my neck.

I whimpered at the sensations. As he chuckled deeply.

He kissed back up my jawline and soon planted his lips on mine.

They were single handedly the warmest and sweetest lips I'd ever felt making me whimper again.

I placed my arms around his neck deepening the kiss and pulling him closer.

His hands went down to my hips and pulled them around himself to pick me up.

He then placed me on the desk starting to knock thinks over and push them out of the way before pulling away and pushing me down.

I kept my legs around his hips as he loosened his tie and ran his hand up ny chest.

I bit my lip looking back up at him and started to unbutton my dress shirt and take the knot out of my tie.

Once that was done Wonho leaned down and started to kiss up my chest.

I bit my lip and gripped the back of the desk as he continued to kiss lower and lower.

He pulled a bottle out of his pocket and placed it on the desk starting to unbutton my pants as well.

He pulled them off gently continuing to do the same with my boxers.

"Wow y/n already hard? I guess you are a slut aren't you? Wearing these tight pants everyday, constantly bending over in front of me, or maybe your just down bad."

Mid sentence he'd started to stroke me making it harder and harder to keep my moans in.

He then stopped and brought my legs up to his shoulders while dribbling some of the liquid on his fingers.

Wonho gently pressed the digit to my hole and rubbed the rim as I took a deep breath.

When I had released the air he softly pushed in making a whimper slip between my teeth.

I decided to take one of my hands and bite into it as he continued to thrust his finger in and out.

He took out the first then followed with adding the second.

I bit down harder as i felt the stretch, a slight pain but nothing to scream over.

Wonho started with slowly moving the fingers in and out and scissoring them apart as I felt drool spill from my lips.

He smiled above me watching me fall apart under him, I probably looked like a complete whore my shirt opened as my tie lays on either side of me, my pants gone and my cock leaking precum whilst drool spilt from my lips.

Thinking about myself in such a state made my dick twitch before wonho pulled out his fingers.

I whimpered as I looked up at him and he smiled back down at me.

He pulled away and started to unbutton his own shirt and pants as he bit down onto the loose knot of his tie, if I didn't know any better I'd say he was putting on a slight show for me.

He finally kicked off the pants and boxers and rubbed some lube on his cock before positioning himself in between my legs.

He slowly pushed in and I shut my eyes tightly as he did so.

Once he bottomed out he started to kiss my collar bones and neck softly while whispering praises to me as I adjusted.

It seemed he got an idea as he stood back up and tied my wrists together with my tie.

"Y-you can move now sir"

He smirked at the name before starting to slowly thrust in and out.

I panted as he continued, trying my best not to get loud enough to raise any suspicion around the office.

Remembering there was an entire office of employees behind the door that could walk in and see or hear what was happening made my dick twitch again.

"Whats making you twitch like that sweetheart? Is it because I'm your boss, or maybe it's because you like the risk of being caught, what a slut you are y/n"

He chuckled before leaning down and kissing me as his hips sped their pace making me moan into his mouth.

He pulled away and whispered to me once again.

"You like that y/n?"

I nodded my head violently as I bit my lip again.

Wonho started to suck and bite my neck as I let out whimpers and mewls.

"Good, because *suck* I've been waiting for this *suck* since your interview."

He chuckled as my dick twitched again.

"Are you close sweetheart?"

I nodded again but that must not have been enough for him.

"Say it."

"I-hah i-im close sir~"

He smirked into my neck continuing to litter it in red and purple marks as I moaned out as quietly as I could.

I heard wonho groan as he started to speed his thrusts again.

Just then he hit a spot that had me seeing stars and gasping dryly before my legs started to shake.

One more hit of it had me cum all over wonhos chest and my own as I let out a high pitched whine.

My hole clenched around his cock as he moaned slightly.

"Fuck y/n, I'm gonna fucking breed you if you keep tightening like that."

I whimpered again as he slammed his hips one last time and I felt the warm liquid fill me from the inside.

I don't remember much after that, just him pulling out and wiping me off before I started to drift off.

Later that day I awoke sitting up in my bed and looking around.

For a second I was convinced it was a dream before I saw wonho walk in with some sweets.

"Oh finally your awake! How did you sleep sweetheart?"

The pet name brought a blush to my face before I yawned and stretched my arms out.

"Well I feel good.. did you take me home? What time is it?"

He smiled as he walked towards me and set the tray on the bedside drawer and sat on the bed with me.

"Yes I did, I couldn't just wake you up and make you work after that, proper aftercare is important no matter where you are."

I smiled as I grasped his chin and looked into his eyes.

"You really are the most perfect man I've ever met."

I sighed as he smiled.

"I know."

#wonho x reader #x male reader #x male smut #mlm and nblm only #monsta x

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bunnys-kisses · 2 years

Text

the leatherworker - wonho/hoseok lee

rating: e (18+) reader: f summary: that’s where you came in, you were the one that the companies went to when they wanted leather goods for their idols to wear. your studio was a level higher and next door to a fabric shop but you got your leather from sellers on the other side of the city. your work felt like a painting, or a puzzle. you admired the work on the leather but figuring out how to please everyone was a mind twisting puzzle. tags: unrequited feelings, smut, angst, table sex, studio sex, riding a/n: would wonho be an american rabbit (the white ones) or an english lop (the floppy eared ones)?

you hated these meetings, you really did. watching the big wigs of the design department for the company you partnered with to decide what was going to look good on stage. upcoming tours were a big commotion.

that’s where you came in, you were the one that the companies went to when they wanted leather goods for their idols to wear. your studio was a level higher and next door to a fabric shop but you got your leather from sellers on the other side of the city. your work felt like a painting, or a puzzle. you admired the work on the leather but figuring out how to please everyone was a mind twisting puzzle.

but you had a favourite client. since going solo wonho or hoseok lee found a liking to your craftsmanship. he felt like he owed you for sitting through all these meetings. he could read on your face that you’d much rather be at your studio cutting, sewing, measuring and crafting. your worn hands were made for the creation of goods, not hastily writing down notes as it felt like everyone was talking at the same time.

“ma’am, what time is a good time for wonho to come by for measurements.”

you perked up, attention on you, “oh well. i was going to say that i could use the measurements from last time, but someone had to bulk up even more.” you pointed your pen at the man across the table.

there was laughter, hoseok smiled, he crossed his arms and his smiled remained, “well, maybe i just like making your job harder.”

you broke out into a grin. after almost two years of working together, you could get away with jokes like that. he had spent enough of his off time at your studio to be able to crack a few jokes.

“so are we looking at a complete set of a harness that goes across the chest, around the arms and then highlighting his thighs? just so i know what i’m working with. it would be a pain to buy too little of the leather.” you remarked then tapped your pen against your painted lips. you weren’t the biggest lipstick user but you couldn’t come into this meeting without looking polished like a gem.

“if it’s not enough, i could always drive you.” he remarked uncrossing his arms and leaning a little more forward in his seat.

“i’ll survive on my bus pass mr. lee.” you responded. you never knew what he saw in you, you were a foreigner with calloused hands and a skill for creating all manners of leatherwork.

the meeting continued, but hoseok seemed more interested in the way your pen pressed against your lips and as you listened intently the lid covered bottom of the pen entered your mouth.

strange, strange man that lee hoseok.

the date for a fitting was settled on next thursday, but you knew what he wanted when he showed up two hours early dressed in a tank top, baggy overcoat and jeans with that small gold chain. when people asked about he said he bought it for himself, but he knew that it was the christmas present you got for him that he never took off.

when the blinds were drawn over the windows of your studio, your back was pressed up against the table. you pulled at his jacket which he shedded as his lips never left yours. large hands on your hips as he groped your sides, pushing up the baggy t-shirt your wore.

“missed you.” he said.

“missed you too, i wish you texted more.”

he rested his cheek against your collarbone, you were now in just your bra and jeans. he wrapped his strong arms around you, “north american tours are hell. i want to do my best, which means pushing myself harder.”

“i know.” you kissed his dark hair, “and i’ll be here cheering you on.” six month together, or rather together in secret. under the guise of visiting for the custom orders. but in reality he wanted to see you.

he kissed your jaw, “let me make it up to you.” as if sending you flowers every week or sending you an uber eats order to make sure you ate, or the lengthy text messages about how close he is to just putting your face all over his socials. everyone should know about you, he said. and you told him in time, for now you didn’t want to seem like you were getting better orders because you were dating him. you didn’t want either of your works to be discounted.

he pulled you in for another searing kiss as you started to deal with his leather belt, the belt you made for him. in the process groping his bulge as you feverishly made out.

“i would like to know what kind of leather you want to use.” you teased.

his lips kissed and bit at your neck, “whatever one makes me look good. i want them all to know you made this harness for me.” he purred in your ear before his assault on your neck continued.

soon enough you were both naked and he was seated on top of your table, he pushed all your work out of the way to beckoned you to join him. you made out on his lap, straddling his waist, knees digging into the hard table. he laid back and pushed the locks out of his eyes.

dark eyes gazed up at you, he said as he face wound up when you seated yourself on his cock, “i can’t wait to show the world you’re mine my little leather maker.”

you pinned his hands above his head and looked into his eyes, “i’m a leatherworker, hoseok.” then kissed him on the cheek, “ and you’re the beauty i do up in the finest goods. i spoil you.”

he leaned up for a kiss but you pulled away. he said with his mouth hanging open, “then i should spoil you too.” he groaned as you started to move your hips up and down. your pussy engulfed his cock with the sound of slick wetness.

the table creaked a little but you were more focused on the lust in your client’s eyes as you rode him. you kept his hands over his head, it laid in the midst of your materials. it was a sight to behold to see such a beautiful man laid out amongst the leatherwork you adored.

you two continued to make out passionately as your hips moved against his, your nails dug into the skin fo his wrists as you rode yourself on him. his hard length twitched inside of you as he panted and moaned, face tensing up with every hard hit of pleasure.

“like that.” you purred.

“i like you.” he responded. i love you, he thought. your kisses moved down his chest where you left wet kisses and he prayed you’d leave a small mark. something to carry you by every day until it healed. he’d let you make him all over if it meant carrying you like that, then maybe he could tell the world about his love for you. how he wanted you more than he needed to breathe.

the sex continued, your chest pressed against his. your body jiggling with the movement of your hips, your pussy a vice around his hard cock. your walls hugged him in a sweet, slick heat as you hips moved providing the friction you both so desired.

“you’re amazing.”

“you’re amazing too.”

you’re a goddess, he thought.

i want you more than anything, you thought.

the movements picked up, the sound of sex in the large room. bodies moved together with a symphony that he never wanted to end. he loved how you felt against him, your passion, your warmth, your everything. eventually he used. a bit more of his strength and got out of your hold where he grabbed your face and cupped it. he pulled you in for a searing kiss.

his tongue slipped into your mouth as you breathing rapidly through your nose as your bodies moved together against the hard table surface. you let out a small moan as your kiss deepened. his other hand on your hip, guiding you up and down on his length.

“fucking beautiful.” he said as he pulled away from this kiss, blush seared across his skin. he groaned loudly as you rubbed just right against the right spot. both hands now on your hips as he guided you up and down faster on his cock. the pleasure for both of you left you wordless.

it was like the words were on the tip of your tongue but fell down your throat when you felt the sparks of pleasure behind your eyes. you gripped onto him, nails dug into his pecks as you rode him with such a passion.

“fuck, hoseok.” you panted, feeling the curl of pleasure tighten deep in you. you swallowed back the need to scream from the pleasure and panted wildly, losing your mind to the passions of sex on your workbench.

“yes, yes.’ he grunted as your movements continued. he leaned forward a little bit, curving his back to get closer to you but as the hit of pleasure rolled through him he rested back on the table and felt the temperature in his body rise more.

the room grew hot as time went on, your bodies moving together like horny rabbits in the middle of your studio. your hope that you weren’t going to breed like them. the thought made a chuckle bloom in your lap but it never left your mouth as you were pulled in by the shoulder for another searing kiss.

you panted and let out a series of loud quick moans in tune to every jump of your hips. eyes glazed over as you opened them and your brain felt foggy, all you could rely on was the tight vice of pleasure in your gut.

your bodies were sweaty, pleasure coursed through your veins like a drug. it wasn’t long before hoseok was joining your movements to push even deeper into you. and with a few hard hitting thrusts, his head hit hard against the table, toes curled and a strangled groan exit his lips as he orgasmed. painting you white from the inside.

you were panting as you gripped onto him, pushing yourself as far as you could onto his heavy, big cock. it pushed at your walls and stretched with as his balls hit against the back of your pussy with every hard thrust. soon enough you were moaning into the echoing room of your studio. your movements slowed down and you grip on him loosened.

you pushed your hair out of your eyes as you let out a small moan in completion. you both were in silence for a few moments to catch your breath before hoseok pulled you to his chest and held you tightly.

“please.’ he said quietly, “let me show you off to the world.”

you swallowed and responded, “why don’t we get started on which leather you want.” avoiding the question. hoseok’s grip relaxed and you were able to get out of it, slipping off the table to get your clothes.

soon he was up too, pleasure ran cold by your response. even if he couldn’t have you on his arm all the time, at least he could still feel you close in moments like that. and when you touched his body during the process of making your leatherwork.

as he gazed at you from behind, he whispered to himself, “i love you, my little leatherworker.”

xoxo, U・x・U

#wonho #wonho smut #wonho angst #wonho x reader #lee hoseok #monsta x reader #monsta x smut #kpopidol #kpop x you #kpop x reader #kpop smut #bunny writes #wenee

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sustainably-du-mortain · 8 months

Note

3, 9, and 19 for Jonah for the nsfw asks, if you want to share! I love him haha and I hope you’re having a wonderful day 🥰💙

Hope you're having an amazing day too! <3 answer below the cut in case people don't want to see

3. Quickies vs Planned sex—thoughts?

He's up for both. He loves the spontaneity of quickies but very much likes taking his time, especially with people he's in a relationship with. He's much more likely to go for quickies on one-night stands. When in a relationship though, he likes quickies as a kind of foretaste to planned sex, like the morning/day before.

But he also really likes planned sex, because it gives them the opportunity to discuss trying out new things.

9. What's their favorite way to get in the mood? How do they set the mood?

TEASING!! Jonah is already a touchy person on a daily basis, but when he wants to set the mood, the touch becomes a bit more persistent and carefully placed to tease his partners.

But he also gets more teasing in his behavior. I have this particular headcanon, I don't think I've shared it here before, but when they got out, to a bar or something similar, Jonah sometimes flirts with other guys (it's all consensual with A and N, they've discussed it, Jonah can flirt as long as it does not go further, not that he would want it to go further anyways). So Adam and Nate just let him have fun, because Jonah is a confident flirt and it's kinda hot. It gets a little more interesting when Jonah purposefully makes eye contact with them while flirting with other guys because he knows what they think when he does that. He plays on Adam's jealous side and Nate's overprotectiveness to rile them up a little bit.

So yeah, Jonah becomes an awful tease when he's in the mood.

But the teasing also works on him. How many times did Nate rile him up by teasing him a little too much.

19. When they “dress-up” for sex, what’s their go-to outfit? Lingerie, suit, gown, etc.?

His typical dressing-up outfits is a suit, and it definitely enters the category of 'outfits I hope are going to get me laid' for Jonah. The one difference between dressing-up for an event and dressing-up with sex in mind is that the shirt will be tighter. He's making the buttons work real hard.

Another adjustment he makes to the suit is a vest corset. He knows it brings out his broad shoulders a little more and that it's flattering on him. Although this is 'ot something he does often.

When he's being less subtle about his intentions, he loves to wear really revealing clothes. Crop top, sheer fabric, open back, boob window. Name it, he's probably worn it. Best reference I have for that kind of clothing is Wonho, and particularly his stage outfits (see below).

And underneath it all, there is sometimes a leather harness.

Lastly, as I said above, he's not against trying out new stuff, so he's not above wearing something his partners want to see him in.

A little moodboard of his 'hoping to get laid outfits':

nsfw asks

#thank you so much for the ask I had so much fun answering those!!#this took me a little while but i had many thoughts and little articulated words #oc ask: jonah rafferty #ship: i used to live alone before i knew you #aeruh🦭#ask game

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capricornwriter5 · 2 years

Text

Is this healthy or toxic? - Epilogue (part III)

Pairing: Changkyun x female OC

Genre: smut, fluff, angst, idol AU, I.M. x OC ⚠️Warning: mentions of mental health affections, soft drugs

Words: 5k

Epilogue of: Is this healthy or toxic?

➳ Prev. Chapter

Chapter 3 - Two chaotic flowers

Liv and I.M looked at each other but neither of them sat down, they just got Jooheon's cell phone, and remained silent while seeing two pictures on a website. They knew that it would not be an easy scandal to handle.

"Monsta X's I.M and Seventeen's choreographer with matching tattoos?" That was the headline of the note, which was accompanied by a photograph of Liv's back and Changkyun's wrist.

Those were not the only pictures, because although Liv had been extraordinarily careful in the music video with Moonbin, the outfit she wore was so revealing that in several shots the form of the tattoo could be seen. In addition, someone had photographed her exercising one morning when she was wearing a top, so the tattoo was more than visible. As if that was not enough, there were close-up photos of Changkyun's design, which made undeniable the similarities between both tattoos.

"It seems that they don't have any more pictures of you, if they had, they'd have been out by now." Kihyun was looking at other pages, but it seemed like they all had the same information.

“Shit…” Liv said as I.M hugged her and kissed her forehead.

"Don't worry, baby, I'll take care of it."

"It doesn't have to be that big deal, I mean, there are a lot of people with the same tattoos." Minhyuk tried to reassure; however, Shownu interrupted him.

“They'll find more material about them, Minhyuk. Sooner or later they will. Besides, my enlistment plus this rumor will be too much to handle, not even Deok Joon or Joon Hyung will know how to manage it."

"Maybe I.M could..."

"Talking isn't an option, Hyungwon." The leader stated. “We've overcome Wonho's loss and my rumors because we've been very lucky and because we have an amazing fandom. But I'm not that confident about the military service PLUS the relationship of Changkyun being public."

"Hyung, this shouldn't be decided by us, but by I.M and Liv," Hyungwon replied while the rest nodded.

If the decision had been only I.M's, he would use that opportunity to tell everyone about their relationship, not only because he already wanted to do it, but because denying it the first time, and then accepting it would be worse. However, Shownu was right, it wouldn't be favorable for the group or Liv. Hence, the youngest of the group, who practically never had an opinion and who let his hyungs take the decisions, looked at his girlfriend and took her hand before speaking. After all, he already knew what Olivia thought, she had made it crystal clear many times.

“We can say it's a fluke. We can even say that we've been friends for some time and that, eventually, we talked about some designs. Everyone knows about my other tattoos, and some of your pictures show yours too, Liv. It wouldn't be weird if we got this one."

"At the same time? Kyun, your fandom knows you just got inked a couple of months ago. Also, if they want to investigate this, they'll discover that I made a photo shoot where I posed bareback, I didn't have the flower yet. It would be easy to do the math and discover we did it at the same time.”

“We can just ignore the situation, say the photos were edited. It's not the first time that they show “evidence” of our relationships.”

"Guys, I know you're not asking for my opinion and that I'm not even part of the group anymore," Wonho said. “But I've been part of numerous rumors, I seriously think you should leave this rest. If you don't want to make your relationship public, then be very careful not to be seen together. Liv, you'd better not go to I.M's photo shoots, and you, Changkyun, do the same. Shownu's enlistment is just around the corner, everyone will talk about that. Let the spotlight be on him.”

I.M did not want to do it, he wished to take advantage of those pictures, but there was something that worried him, something that Kihyun thought about and did not hesitate to vocalize it.

“Liv could be canceled for this, especially at this time when she has become so popular. We don't know how the fandom will take it, although to tell the truth... we can imagine it."

"Gorgeous, what do you want to do?"

Olivia turned her gaze to Wonho, hinting that she agreed with what he was saying.

*********

However, the next day what Kihyun predicted became reality, and Liv had just arrived at work when she found a large group of monbebes waiting for her at the entrance of the building. That morning she would rehearse a new choreography with Seventeen, so she was lucky to have been with several dancers, who helped her into the building.

"What the hell is going on out there?" Hoshi asked while coming to the entrance. "And what happened to your arm?"

Everything had been so unexpected for Liv that the aggressiveness of the fans demanding answers took her off guard and she had not realized how hard they had held her until she saw what Hoshi was pointing at her. The mark of a hand had been left on her arm.

"Shit, Liv, look at what they did. Come here, let's find some ice and ask for more security."

"Just let me call Changkyun, they might look for him too."

As soon as I.M knew what had happened, he walked out of the studio and met his managers. He was willing to make a live at that moment to publicly speak about the situation. However, acting like that without the authorization of his managers and the rest of his bosses would end in him being fired before ending the live.

"You do know what this is going to trigger, right?" Deok Joon asked on the way to the Starship offices, to I.M's surprise, Joon Hyung had gone ahead to try to put out the fire before they arrived. “If you don't speak clearly, and you don't choose your words wisely, the company's NOT going to protect you. This is what Joon Hyung has been trying to tell you for a long time, Changkyun.”

“We aren't banned from dating, it's not like we did something against my contract."

"You did it at the moment you decided to keep it to yourself. We can't control your life, that's true, but you also signed an agreement where you accepted to have your public image managed by Starship. Now, you can't do more than let me and Joon Hyung do our job. If they are not waiting for us with our dismissal letter."

“Hyung, this isn't about me not letting you work, they hurt Olivia, they physically attacked her.”

“If you want to protect your girlfriend, LET US work.”

The meeting with the heads of Starship was not cordial at all, Changkyun knew that they were complicated men, but the arrogance and wrath of that day went further. Among what they told him was everything he expected and what Deok Joon had warned him on the way. Furthermore, it was evident that Joon Hyung had tried to calm them down, as they agreed to listen to the rapper.

“The economic damage that this implies is enormous. You're one of the most popular members, Changkyun, if your popularity drops, so do our sales. The image the group projects does NOT match your image as a family man. Besides, this is more your fault than his.” Said the CEO of the company looking at the managers. “You receive a salary so that things like these don't happen. Are you telling me that you knew absolutely nothing about this? How could both of you be that stupid?”

"They don't…"

“We did know” Joon Hyung didn't let I.M continue talking, as he cut him off. “But we both thought the boy had a right to date someone. He has never been involved in any scandal, he was handling things well and had been very careful."

"Close your mouth, you're nothing but an incompetent and useless man. Changkyun what do you have to say? Is it true or not? How formal is your relationship with this girl?"

"If this conversation will be nothing more than insults and abuse, there's nothing to talk about," Changkyun replied trying to leave.

However, whether the CEO liked it or not, I.M had been at the top of the company's most popular members for years, both in Korea and abroad. Losing the talented rapper wasn't an option, so he asked him to come back and keep talking.

I.M said thinks like they were, in addition, he was emphatic that he would not end his relationship. Yet, the fact that both he and his managers had hidden this for so long had the Starship managers enraged and one of them first asked for the immediate dismissal of Deok Joon and Joon Hyung. Changkyun argued for more than two hours with his bosses so that it wouldn't happen. The idol was trying to assume his responsibility and defend his relationship and his managers. He even had to assume an attitude towards those men that was not usual for him, he had to impose himself in such a way that he managed to be respected and ensure that Joon Hyung and Deok Joon would not lose their jobs.

“Fine, they'll continue as Monsta X's managers, BUT you will take responsibility for this and it won't be them who will take care of your image.” Said the CEO. "It'll be me. You're key to the company, Changkyun, but don't be too clever by half, boy, know your limits and remember your place."

What came next was a series of conditions imposed on I.M. The managers looked at each other every time the argument escalated and the tones of voice rose. They weren't used to that version of Changkyun; yet, they knew that he had been dissatisfied with the company's policies for some time, so they never tried to intervene. What could they say? The rapper was right, his agency had countless questionable issues.

What definitely worked against I.M was the experience of the CEO and the rapper's loyalty towards his members and managers. He could not accept what they told him, nor refuse, first, he wanted to talk to his girlfriend and know her opinion.

*********

"So they pretend to overshadow this rumor with a bigger one?" Liv asked later when she was alone with I.M.

Changkyun nodded in silence, he couldn't even find the words to express how enraged he had come out of that meeting.

"They gave me their word that it'd all be seen as 'mere coincidences', but..."

"In short, they want fan service between you and Luda."

“At least with that people will leave you alone. Baby, they hurt you, I'm not gonna let this happen again."

"Does she already know it? I imagine she's more than pleased with this. I mean, posing with you, posing as your girlfriend. What could be wrong?"

Coming closer, I.M hugged Liv and after kissing her on the lips, he also kissed her arm she had been hurt.

"She's just my friend, I don't want to do it either, you know I'm more than happy with you. But if we still want to keep this just between us, it's the only option."

"Besides, if you don't do it, Deok Joon and Joon Hyung will be fired."

After a few seconds of silence, Liv looked at her boyfriend, thought about the implications that all that would bring, and after a sigh, nodded.

It seemed incredible to her how a few days ago they had been talking about their wedding plans and now they were forced to live a lie.

"We should've stayed longer in the other house." The choreographer murmured leaning on his chest.

Some days ago...

The peace of being away from the city, cameras, fans, and work allowed Liv and Changkyun to be a normal couple like any other. At her parent's house, they did not have to worry about the stalkers, so the girl could go out to the garden to see her plants with complete peace of mind while I.M lay down on the terrace to play with his cat or just read. However, the rapper did not concentrate much on what he was doing, because when he turned around and saw his girlfriend, his brain and heart only let him focus on her.

Just as he was about to start a new book on classical philosophy, the rapper saw Liv taking extra care of a rose bush. It was not the first time that he noticed that. The girl was pruning it, removing the leaves that were about to fall, and delicately plucking the petals that had already lost their color. Intrigued by what she was doing, I.M got up and was soon at her side.

"Hi, baby." Liv greeted him with a kiss on the head as she felt him resting his chin on her shoulder. "What's wrong, you didn't like the book that Minhyuk gave you?"

"I like you more." He said smiling at her and wrapping his arms around her waist. "Why do you pay so much attention to this particular plant?"

“Dad tried every year to make it bloom and he only managed to see one rose. Now look, every time we come it has so many roses that they fall off. He'd have loved to see this.”

Changkyun was silent, not wanting to interrupt her, besides, he was struck by how Liv was dealing with all that situation in a better way lately. He no longer saw her depressed, nor did she avoid the topic. Of course, sometimes she felt melancholic, but the therapy had helped her, and although the idol did not accept it, his company had also had a lot to do with it.

“How do you take care of it?”

"Do you really wanna know?"

“Of course! How am I supposed to keep it like this when you're not around? We can't let something happen to it."

The silence in the garden was broken by the sounds of Changkyun while Olivia hugged him so tight that the rapper could hardly breathe. The only way to stop her was to grab her face and passionately kiss her. As if his kisses were not enough, I.M grabbed her by the legs and carefully laid her on the grass with him on top.

"I can't wait to be with you like this all day." He whispered with a tender smile.

"Here?" She asked caressing his face.

"Anywhere, I don't care as long as you're with me."

After a long and passionate makeup session, the couple started to prepare dinner, or rather, Liv was cooking while I.M set everything up. Suddenly, the guy rolled the sleeves up, grabbed his girlfriend by the hip, and move her aside.

"I'm going to cook tonight."

"Kyun, we've already talked about this and we had agreed on something, I cook and you order, pick up, and wash."

Being the stubborn that he was, Changkyun shook his head. The next thing Liv saw was how the idol tried to slice the vegetables. Nonetheless, he did not know how to do it.

"Why is this so hard...?" He thought noticing how everything just turned into water.

"Kyun, I already boiled them, you need to be careful or..."

"It's okay, I know what to do."

"I can tell" She replied with a smirk.

“You have little confidence in me, Olivia. You'll see how everything turns out well. In fact, you told me you wanted to take a bath, why don't you go? When you get out, everything will be ready.”

The rapper practically shouldered his girlfriend since he was aware that, if he was stubborn, Liv was the queen of it and she did not want to leave him in charge of the dinner. Finally, and against her will, Liv took a shower and let I.M cook.

Later, returning to the kitchen, she found Changkyun in the pantry talking on the phone. He was so absent-minded that he did not lock correctly the door, so anyone passing by would easily hear his conversation. In addition, in his desperation to find something else to eat, he had left his cell phone on speaker, allowing Liv to hear everything.

“Hyung, I'm no kidding! You must help me! Why do you want me to repeat everything to you again? Are you recording me, is that it? I already told you, the first vegetables ended up being smashed water, the others that I cooked got burned, and the last ones taste disgusting, I had to throw them away. I also ruined the meat!”

Olivia leaned even closer and could hear Kihyun giggling enjoying his friend's distress.

“Why do you insist on cooking? You had already tried in the dorm and it was a mess! Let Liv take over, cooking isn't your thing.”

"Do you think that if I remove the burnt part of the vegetable, she will notice?"

“You mean the same vegetables you already threw away? Of course, don't be stupid! Even if you take away what you see burnt, everything will taste like shit, Changkyun. Buy some soju, give it to Liv before she knows you messed up all the food.”

"Hyung, you're not helping me."

Kihyun ignored Changkyun, for Minhyuk insisted on talking to him. "Hey, Minhyuk asks if you liked the book."

Already resigned that his hyungs wouldn't help him or even pay attention, I.M disconnected the call. Next, the impression it gave him to turn around and see his girlfriend there lead the rapper not only to scream but also to drop his cell phone and witnessed how the screen broke.

Between his look, the scream, the curse that escaped I.M's lips, and the way he clutched his chest, Liv couldn't stop laughing.

The girl mocked her boyfriend for a long time and the chaos he had made in the kitchen. So much so, that Changkyun sighed drinking his whiskey while listening to her laugh in the kitchen. Olivia continued crying from laughter until dinner was done.

“Kyun!" She screamed getting closer to him with a delicious plate of food. "I'm walking towards you with dinner. I warn you so you don't panic and start screaming again." While Changkyun remained silent and with a serious face, the choreographer coughed from laughing so much.

Just as I.M was about to tell her that he wasn't that easily scared, Liv tripped on a shoe. Soon, the white wall next to them was dripping vegetables, sauce, and fish. And that was not all, when I.M stood up, he discovered Olivia's hair and shirt covered in sauce. The divine justice of that moment made I.M's stomach ache from laughing so hard.

They had a hard time cleaning up all the mess Liv had made and decided they'd better go buy something after she took another shower.

Holding hands and laughing with each other, the couple walked towards the only nearby supermarket. They had stopped making fun of themselves and were now talking about some special requests they would like for the wedding. Liv had talked about the music she wanted to listen to, the hairdo she wanted to do, and the time she wanted to get married. However, when the issue of food came up, I.M made the strangest request.

"I don't want vegetables."

"Sure, Kyun, that makes sense, we can indigest all the guests with meat and sugar."

"And liquor, don't forget the liquor."

"Why are you like this, huh?"

"I almost forget it! I don't want to invite Moonbin, or Joon Hyung and Deok Joon."

"That's because you're upset, but deep down, I know you love them. They've been like your older brothers." Liv stopped him before entering the store and smiling tenderly at him, she kissed his cheek. "Well, how about we make some ramyeon?"

The store owner already knew them from all the times they had come to do the groceries. The man had always found it especially funny how Liv made I.M's face turn red every time she came to say something in his ear, he had even caught the rapper throwing away several articles due to nervousness.

That particular night they bought quite a bit of food, and when they were about to pay, Liv's ring did not go unnoticed by the man.

"What a beautiful ring!"

“Isn't that right? We'll get married soon.” Changkyun said hugging his girlfriend, he hadn't even let her answer. It was the first time he had been able to openly talk about their engagement.

"Congratulations! Your girlfriend is stunning, you make a beautiful couple.”

Olivia admired I.M's smile, it was evident how proud he was of their relationship, so much so that he, who did not usually chat much, stayed a long time talking to the man.

********

Back at home, and as usual, the dancer and the idol ate a simple meal while conversing, then watched a movie, and I.M read a bit while the girl rested on his chest. Finally, at night when they were about to fall asleep, the rapper's voice woke up his girlfriend.

"Precious, do you remember the conversation we had in France?"

“Baby, we talked about a lot of things."

"I'm talking about the next step."

"You mean, having a pet?"

"Liv, I'm supposed to be the one who doesn't understand things..." He said leaning on his elbow and moving her so Liv would listen to him. "I'm talking about being parents. I came to think of it, I never asked you. Do you want to?"

“Have a baby with you?” She asked adjusting the strand of hair that had slipped on the rapper's cheek. "Kyun, if it's with you, I want absolutely everything."

After that answer, kisses, caresses, and moans filled the room once more.

**********

Coming back to the present, Liv wished to be there again, or to had been more careful with her tattoo. Or maybe she should have heard I.M and made their engagement public.

**********

Not surprisingly, the CEO of Starship had contacts in all kinds of media, so he quickly “fixed” the matter of Liv and I.M. He planned everything in such a way that it seemed as if photos of Changkyun with Luda had been leaked. Some of these were edited, while for others the idols had been notified of what to do and when.

Everything came to light as if a fan had been the one with the information and, seeking to clarify the alleged relationship with Olivia, had published the photographs.

Although Liv was able to enjoy a little more peace, it was not the same for her boyfriend, who was already tired of declining interview invitations. Unlike Liv, Luda did not receive as many negative comments since she was a much more public figure than the choreographer, and having been in the industry for so long, she had endeared herself to many people. In addition, since rumors of both had already come out, numerous fans were excited, thinking that the relationship between the idols was true.

Luckily, Shownu's enlistment had given some air to Changkyun, Wonho had been right and that would keep the fandom busy.

**********

Just a month after Shownu had left, and two since the photos of the tattoos came out, Starship had done its thing, announcing this time an expected collaboration between Monsta X and Cosmic Girls. Not everyone would participate, but among those who would take part, were I.M and Luda.

"I am sick of this shit," Liv expressed after training with Jules and her friend warned her about some girls taking pictures of them. "And what's worse, Kyun's spending more time with Luda because of the stupid collaboration. I love him, but he's so naive, he swears Luda's doing all this because they've been friends for years and because she understands how difficult this is."

"How close are they?"

"Jules, I've no fucking idea! Some time ago I barely heard her name, and now EVERYTHING is related to her. Fucking shit!” She said throwing her bag into Jules' car.

“What if he's right and they're just friends? You know… like it happened with you and Moonbin.”

“Moonbin never asked me out, and if he did, it was just as friends. Luda's interested in Changkyun, you have to see her, Jules. Next time I'll bring her a plate for the drool.”

"Changkyun learned to tolerate Moonbin, Liv. I think it's your turn."

Liv's face was enough to make Jules stop talking. "Oh, come on! Last time you told me you would kick her ass if I asked you, and now you're acting diplomatic?"

“Okay, okay, chill! I'm sorry! Damn, Liv! I.M's right to fear when you get angry."

"I just don't like that girl, Jules. I mean, he's my boyfriend, he'll be my husband and now everyone's talking about how perfect they look together."

"Let's talk about how annoying Jooheon is when he tries to talk to me about art. That sounds better? No! Forget about Jooheon, let's go shopping and stop talking about silly men."

“I'd love that, especially since I must deal with the dumbest man of them all tonight.”

“Kihyun?”

"The same…"

To Liv's bad luck, at night it was her brother who tried to intercede for the rapper.

********

Kihyun and Liv had been playing a new video game while eating fried chicken and drinking beer. They both had difficult weeks and the first thing that occurred to them was to order food and play something. As usual, they ended up fighting, Kihyun claimed that the girl had cheated.

"I don't want to play with you anymore! Look at you, you're a grown man but continue acting like a kid because you don't accept when you lose." Liv stood up and did nothing but move closer to the TV when Kihyun yelled and warned her not to take another step.

“You're WAY more immature than me! Olivia, get away from there! You're not going to do what you've done since we were kids! OLIVIA!” He yelled at her as, with a wicked smile, she unplugged the console. "How can Changkyun stand you?"

"I don't give a fuck about the game, I've trying to talk to you about something important, Ki!"

"Oh my god! You're pregnant!"

"No, I'm not!" She replied laughing. “But it's about Changkyun, actually from this whole Luda thing.”

"Amazing that she agreed to help him while she was in a relationship herself, right?"

"He didn't tell me that, he didn't even tell me that they were such friends."

"I'm sure because you haven't given him a chance to talk, Liv, every time the subject of Luda comes up you react like an angry beast."

"Because I'm right!"

"You're not right, they're just friends, colleagues."

“How close are they? Kyun doesn't tell me anything, I can't tell."

"They were pretty close before he met you, she tried to recover that when you left, but I don't think she got anything."

"So you don't think she has any shady intention behind all this apparently altruistic act?"

"Not really."

Liv was silent, could it be possible that she was wrong and that Luda was just being a good friend? No… it couldn't be, she had seen how the idol looked at I.M. Or was she just exaggerating? It didn't make sense, she wasn't jealous, she had never felt insecure about their relationship. Liv could have continued with the questions if it hadn't been for Kihyun's affectionate hug.

"Looks like someone's getting crazy out of jealousy, huh?"

"Shut up, Ki."

"Is Changkyun coming to dinner with us? Maybe he can tell you how many times he mentions you when you're not here."

“Shut up! Besides, he's in the studio, he told me he'd be home late. That collaboration turned out to be more demanding than he expected.”

"Then it'll be like old times, you, me, junk food, and video games."

“Who do you want to fool? You always asked us to stop playing to watch your mom's dramas. Videogames are a mere excuse."

“That's also an option, I won't deny it." He replied giggling. "Come on, change that face, you've been very stressed, let Changkyun take care of this."

Liv smiled at him, but she frankly made an effort to do it because so many images and comments on social networks of the supposed couple had her more than discouraged. Being together had cost them too much to now have to put up with everyone thinking I.M was with someone else.

The worst part of the whole thing was that the choreographer's suspicions would turn out to be true.

**********

The hours went by and I.M was so focused on the production of the song that he didn't realize what time it was until he was surprised that Liv hadn't called him.

"Shit!" He expressed noticing that his cell phone was on airplane mode and that he had several missed calls from her.

He immediately called her back, but he knew his girlfriend had never been much of a late nighter and it was too late. The rapper was about to give up when Kihyun answered.

"What do you want? I was asleep."

“Hung! Did Liv sleep at your house?"

"Yes, she's here. Bye, I want to continue sleeping."

"Tell her I'll drop by in the morning!"

"Are you going to work all night?"

"It's four in the morning, I think I've done it..."

"You better don't wake me up when you come here."

Changkyun laughed hearing how fussy Kihyun could be when he slept, Olivia was exactly the same, he knew waking her up was a bad idea.

Aiming to quickly finish what was left of his work, Changkyun went to get some coffee from one of the automatic machines from the company. He was not the only one working at that hour, Luda was there too, she had been practicing a choreography when she noticed I.M walking in the hall.

"Changkyun, wait!" She exclaimed running towards him.

“Luda? What are you doing here at this hour? Don't tell me you were dancing."

"Please don't say anything about work, let's find some coffee, I'm dead tired." She said smiling at him and walking next to him. "You went back to the night schedule, I thought you stopped doing that."

"Hyungwon left recently and Kihyun didn't even come today, they said they were exhausted."

“Hey, but if you're working so hard, you deserve more than a coffee from a machine. How does a decent coffee sound for you?"

"What are you planning?"

"There's a cafeteria right on the corner."

"Are you sure? Liv's waiting for me and it's already late."

"Oh, Changkyun! It's just right there, let's go, you're wasting time talking."

To be continued... 🐱🌹

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monsta-x-jagi · 1 month

Text

Legal Affairs - Chapter 10

Synopsis: Wonho tells you what keeps him up at night before helping you sleep.

Word count: 2.3k

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just like that? He wins? He watched gobsmacked as you went and stood in the middle of the whole apartment and turned to face him.

“Where is your room?” You asked him.

Hoseok scrambled towards you, still shocked. “It’s down that way.” He pointed. When you turned around to walk there, he grabbed your arm. “What are you doing?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m going to bed,” you replied and shook his arm off.

Hoseok took a few large steps to block your path to his room. “Hang on, you’re serious about this? You were so ready to go home less than a minute ago.”

You giggled before responding. “That’s true, but you pleaded your case really well, especially with that last rebuttal about my uncle and how he isn’t even expecting me to come home tonight.”

Hoseok studied your face for a few seconds longer. “Well if you are sure, come on, I’ll get you some clothes.”

He placed your bag down on the dinner table and led you to his room. You reached over to where he was gripping your arm and moved his hand down to your own. He looked up at you surprised.

“I don’t like being pulled around like that,” you said by way of explaining.

Hoseok wasn’t going to protest. Either ways, you were letting him hold your hand.

Hoseok’s room was simple. Bed, dresser, wardrobe and mirror, a table with monitors. Hoseok handed some shorts and a tshirt for you to wear. “I promise they’re clean.”

You scrunched your eyebrows at him. “I wasn’t questioning that but good to know.”

“Right. Well there’s makeup remover on the dresser, I’ll be back in a bit.” Hoseok said and left the room, closing the door behind him so you could change.

Hoseok’s clothes were comfortable, albeit large. Hoseok returned a few minutes after your removed your makeup. He stuck his head in from the doorway. “All good? I have your phone by the way, in case you needed it.”

“Oh yeah thanks,” you said and Hoseok entered the room to hand you your phone.

You sat on the bed with it and set an alarm for 8am, since you could sleep in a little more. Once you placed your phone on the nearby table, you looked up expectantly at Hoseok.

“What is it?” He asked.

“Aren’t you getting changed? Do you want me to step out?” You asked.

Hoseok ran his fingers through his hair. “Actually, I’m going to shower first. You don’t have to wait though, I can just sleep on the couch.”

“Nonsense,” you said far too quickly. Your client didn’t need to know how much you liked having his body pressed against yours. So you added, “What I mean is, it’s your bed, you can sleep here too.”

“Y/n, I’m not making you take the couch, just sleep here it’s more comfortable,” Hoseok said as he rummaged through some drawers to find clothes to wear to bed.

“Exactly, Hoseok, it’ll be more comfortable if you sleep here,” you repeated his words, then swallowed and added, “with me.”

You couldn’t meet his gaze after that, so you didn’t see Hoseok’s faint smile. “Just get comfortable y/n. I’ll be back after my shower,” he said, and left the room.

You slid under the covers, closed your eyes and waited for sleep to come, even though a part of you wanted to be awake when Hoseok came back, so you could feel him beside you. Lucky for you, Hoseok’s shower wasn’t long. When he came in, you moved to the far side of the bed but remained facing him, watching as he pulled the covers back and climbed in.

“I set an alarm for 8, if that’s okay?” You said.

Hoseok could faintly see your form in the dark. “Sure, that’s fine.” After a beat, he asked, “what do you want for breakfast?”

“I don’t know, I’ll probably just go home for that,” you replied.

“Well what do you usually eat?” Hoseok asked as he reached for his phone. “I can order it for you.”

You shifted, trying to see Hoseok’s expression with the light from his phone. “No, don’t do that, I literally just eat toast.”

Hoseok hummed then switched his phone off. He propped himself up on an elbow. “Are you tired?”

You remained lying down. “I suppose? Isn’t it nearly 1am now?”

“Yeah,” Hoseok replied. “But can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“What do you remember from when I found you in the stairwell?” He asked.

“I heard someone talk about drugs being handed over last week and needing to write stories. And something about money. I think its some gossip writer trying to fabricate something, and you got caught in the crossfire,” you explained.

Hoseok chuckled. “You really are nothing like lawyers in movies. But I meant after that, when you were alone. What do you remember?”

You shifted, trying to get comfortable, and felt your leg brush against Hoseok’s. “It was lonely, scary, I called for help and eventually you found me.”

Hoseok still felt some pride about being your saviour. “Yes, but how did I look when I found you?”

It was your turn to laugh now. “What is this? Are you trying to suddenly feel like a hero or something?” When Hoseok didn’t say anything, you continued. “I remember you were sweaty, and that you pulled down your onesie and tied it around your waist when it got too hot.”

Well, that, combined with how Hoseok stuffed his beanie into his pocket, would explain why you didn’t recognise him as your hook up.

“Right. Okay so new question, why’d you pick that guy at the party?” Hoseok’s voice faltered somewhat as he asked.

“No clue. He approached me, and I was feeling like it.”

“So you weren’t eyeing him earlier or anything?” Hoseok prodded.

You propped yourself up and mirrored Hoseok’s position. One of your legs was almost completely pressed against his now. “Is this really what’s keeping you up at night? Who I fucked? Is my sexual history that important to you?”

You seemed a little annoyed now, and Hoseok realised asking you intimate questions like this wasn’t going to get you to realise he was your one night stand.

“I am sorry, Miss y/n, I overstepped,” Hoseok said in a quiet voice.

“Yeah you really did,” you huffed angrily. Then you asked, “Is it because you know him?”

“Yes. Even the members probably recognised him,” Hoseok said.

“I guess I can see why it matters now. If that idol really is as big as you say he is, it makes sense why you’d be curious how I didn’t recognise him.”

Hoseok scoffed. “I guess that’s one way of phrasing it.”

If Hoseok was making jokes, all must be forgiven now. “Well, I’m sorry for raising my voice earlier at you, but I have half a mind to ask you the same questions now.”

Hoseok’s lips curled into a mischievous grin. “Maybe you should. You might learn something interesting.”

“Alright, I’ll bite.” You knew this was reaching flirty territory now. “Ever hooked up with someone famous?”

Hoseok rolled his eyes in the dark. “Uh obviously. I’ll even tell you who if attorney-client privilege holds.”

“Yes, Mr Lee, attorney-client privilege holds, but I think I’d prefer not knowing. I don’t think I want to imagine you with someone I know.”

You didn’t see the implication of your words, but Hoseok did. “Why would you be imagining me, your Mr Lee, having sex with someone?”

“That’s not… I mean that just happens y’know?” You sputtered.

Hoseok’s voice became lower, more seductive in a way. “Really? You just casually imagine sleeping with your clients?”

“Don’t twist my words, I said you sleeping with someone else,” you retorted.

Hoseok wasn’t giving up so easily. “But that still involves thinking of me in bed.”

You smirked as you answered. “You’re right actually, I do think of you in bed.”

Hoseok wondered if he misheard you. “Oh? Well that is a surprise. I wasn’t expecting you to be so honest about your desires.”

“Yes, because I am in bed talking to you which implies I am also thinking of you right now,” you deadpanned.

Hoseok softly cursed out loud. Of course he couldn’t easily win against you.

The smile was apparent in your voice when you responded to Hoseok’s curse words. “I win that round.”

“I didn’t realise it was a competition,” Hoseok said glumly.

“Aww its not, I was just teasing.” You lay back down and snuggled further into the covers, rubbing your whole leg against Hoseok as you did.

“You’re still teasing me,” Hoseok said.

“I didn’t say anything,” you replied innocently.

“You didn’t need to, you body gave it away,” Hoseok replied.

“And I thought you were above imagining people’s bodies,” you said as you turned your head to face him.

“You’re really going to act innocent when your leg has been pressed against mine this whole time?

“Then move?” You replied with an eye roll, even though you enjoyed the warmth from Hoseok’s leg.

Hoseok laughed. “Don’t look so annoyed y/n, I don’t mind. You’ve already slept pressed against me before, you can do it again if you want to.”

You pushed your face into the pillow in embarrassment and groaned. “God, I broke so many ethical rules that night, please don’t remind me.”

Hoseok reached over and ran his fingers over your hair. “Don’t rules exist to be broken?”

“If they did, I’d be out of a job,” you said into the pillow.

“Right, I can see why you wouldn’t find that funny,” Hoseok said, biting his lip.

You lifted your head off the pillow and looked at him again. “Is there anything else you want to ask me? I know I am your lawyer, but considering everything we talked about earlier today, I think its safe to say I’d probably end up answering anything.”

Hoseok appreciated your vulnerability, but he didn’t want to take advantage of it. “It’s okay, I should let you sleep.”

You yawned. “You stroking my hair makes me feel sleepy.”

Hoseok didn’t bother concealing his grin. “Do you want me to keep doing it?”

“No, your arm will hurt.”

Hoseok shook his head in amusement and gently tugged on a strand of your hair. “You’re too considerate, y/n. I can keep doing it until you fall asleep.” Hoseok moved his body a little closer to you so that instead of his arm being outstretched, he could rest his elbow down while still stroking your hair. “If it’s okay?”

You closed your eyes and smiled to yourself in the dark. “It feels nice.”

As promised, Hoseok continued stroking your hair until you both fell asleep.

The next morning, your alarm startled you awake. Hoseok had his arm was draped across your waist and a leg over yours as well. There was barely any space between you and Hoseok as he somehow cocooned you. Hoseok groaned when he felt you suddenly jerk awake.

“It’s too early,” he mumbled as he turned off your alarm for you.

“Hoseok, we both have to go to work,” you said, though you didn’t try to stop him.

“Just stay like this a bit.” Hoseok looked at you with half lidded eyes, and finally pulled you in closer, until there was no space between you two.

You didn’t protest, and relaxed further into his touch.

“Y/n,” Hoseok spoke tentatively. “What’s on your mind?”

“Nothing,” you replied, eyes still closed as Hoseok kept you pressed against his chest. You couldn’t remember the last time you felt this content.

“You aren’t mad at me for last night?” Hoseok asked.

You looked up at him. “No, why should I be? I consented to everything that happened.” Hoseok sighed exasperatedly when he heard your response, which made you worried. “Is something wrong?” You asked him.

“No, it’s not that,” Hoseok replied.

“Don’t lie to your lawyer, Hoseok,” you said a little more firmly.

Hoseok sighed deeply and pulled back to look at you. “See? That’s what’s wrong. You hide behind your job, saying we are just lawyer and client, but then do something like this. Surely by now, in between all your investigating, you figured out I am interested in you.”

You weren’t sure how to respond. “But I am bound by…”

“Ethics?” Hoseok asked, finishing the sentence for you. “Respectfully, Miss y/n, ethics was out the day we met weeks ago when you came to see me at the hair salon.”

You knew he was right. The lines were blurred from the beginning. “So then what do we do now?” You asked.

“You’re seriously asking me that? After I confessed? After we slept together?” Hoseok asked incredulously. “For a stellar lawyer, you are so dense, did you know? How you can’t put two and two together about us is truly beyond me.”

Even while Hoseok got worked up about you neither accepting nor rejecting his confession, his legs never untangled from yours and his arm never left your waist. You watched his dramatic facial expressions for a few seconds, feeling entertained. When he had finished speaking, you tugged on his shirt to get his attention.

“Hey.” Hoseok looked back down at you when you spoke. “I think you’re clueless as well. I let you massage me last night. I slept in your bed, with you, in your clothes. But somehow, it never occurred to you that maybe I like you too?”

Hoseok’s face broke out in the most adorable grin, and he tucked you back into his chest. “Maybe huh? Maybe you like me too?”

“Shut up,” you mumbled into his chest. “And let go, I need to get ready for that meeting.”

Hoseok took his time with that.

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la-vie-est-belles-posts · 1 year

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For New Monbebes

Full name: Lee Min-hyuk (이민혁)

Position: Vocalist, Visual, Face of the Group

Birthday: 3rd November 1993

Zodiac sign: Scorpio

Height: 178.8cm (5’10”)

Weight: 64kg (141lbs)

Blood Type: A

Minhyuk facts:

– He was the last member to be confirmed for Monsta X (After survival TV show No Mercy).

– He was born in Gwangju, South Korea.

– He lived in Seoul but he learned to speak satori from his parents.

– Minhyuk has a younger brother that already served in military.

– Minhyuk’s mother is a former volleyball player. He said that she is very tall and that he took after her. (Deokspatch X – Ep. 7 Idol Beef World)

– He’s the mood-maker of the group, lightening up the atmosphere with his jokes and funny personality.

– Specialty: Joking

– When the TV show NO.MERCY started, he was an outsider, and many of the viewers said that he would not make it to the final line-up of the group.

– Anyway, he proved everyone wrong, as he is a vital member of the group.

– His group members said he’s the soul of the group, the one who keeps the atmosphere bright with his jokes.

– He has a strong desire to appear on variety shows and to MC on musical shows.

– He wears corrective lenses.

– Minhyuk always wears an iPad around.

– He cannot swim.

– He’s difficult to wake up.

– He’s the member who is the most difficult to convince to take a shower.

– He doesn’t like hearing that he’s cute, but he prefers hearing that he’s sexy.

– He said he admires Soyou (Sister).

– He is close with UNIQ’s Sungjoo, GOT7’s Mark, Seventeen’s Jeonghan, N.Flying’s Kwangjin and actor Park Bo Gum.

– He always liked curvy girls with fair skin.

– If he’d be left on an isolated island with one of the members, he choose Shownu (“Because Shownu will cook and we’ll eat together”) or I.M (“I’ll make him run errands!”)

– If he’d have the chance he’d like to go to a cafe in Garosu-Gil with Kihyun and Hyungwon.

– He chose Shownu as the member he’d present to his sister if he’d had one.

– According to Minhyuk, himself and Shownu complement each other well. (“His personality is exactly opposite of mine. If I go out and do things, he would take a step back. If I talk a lot he doesn’t talk at all. As a human I get attracted to him”.)

– Minhyuk said he wants to try red hair color, just like Jooheon’s hair in ‘Hero’. (10Asia November Issue Monsta X Interview)

– He’s most confident in his lips.

– He starred in “High-end Crush” (2015)

– Minhyuk is going to be on “Law of the Jungle” in Chile, replacing Kangnam (he got ill)

– He would like to learn acoustic guitar, because he thinks it would go well with his husky voice.

– He can hold his alcohol up to 2 cups of soju.

– His favorite drink is cola.

– He also likes cafe latte.

– His favorite ice cream flavors are yogurt, green tea and mango.

– His favorite food are sweet potato and pizza.

– His less favorite food are cucumbers.

– His favorite color is Red.

– His favorite number is 1.

– Minhyuk cries easily.

– He prefers sweet oranges over sour ones

– If he had to change his stage name, he’d choose Yeha (예하)

– He thought Shownu was the dance instructor when he first met him

– He thinks Wonho takes (his) pictures the best

– He can eat 3 servings of meat by himself

– He likes the song “Trivial Things” by Lee Sora. A lyric he likes a lot is 잠깐 일어나봐, 거기 어디니

– He prefers slippers over sneakers

– He talks a lot in MX’ group chat

– He always fully charges his phone, no matter what

– Minhyuk worked on his abs for a week for their promotions on “Hero” as a gift for Monbebes.

– In the old dorm he shared a room with Kihyun, Jooheon and I.M.

– Many fans thought that Minhyuk was the maknae because of his cheerful personality and maknae-like attitude.

– Minhyuk said that the back of his head is really flat.

– Minhyuk used to have a tattoo but later on removed it because fans were complaining. (He said it during fan con)

– During 170421 KBSWORLD K-Rush FB Live, he said if he were a girl he would date Wonho.

– During NO.MERCY, Minhyuk picked SISTAR’s Soyou as his ideal type.

– During NO.MERCY, Wonho picked Minhyuk as the most handsome trainee because he said he is so charming and always smiles a lot.

– Minhyuk’s ideal type: “A chubby girl. It’ll be nice if it’s someone who’s the opposite of me

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bandluvr97 · 2 years

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mbb 🎅

Noooo, I wish I got paid the big bucks, I absolutely do not. I let boys flash their money instead.

That’s so amazing! I have friends who are social workers and I see how hard they work, I admire you for doing it. So are you like a case worker?

Shownu is the definition of Head Empty Face Pretty Heart Full. Changkyun is so correct for gnawing on him out of nowhere. Sometimes I forget how strong he is, and then he’ll do some insane dance move and boy HOW, but then gets off stage and wears sandals and socks unironically… But after dancing “Bad Girl” of course he gives off dad/husband vibes, he understands the milfs. Anyway I miss his vocals, Minhyuk’s doing great covering for him but he’s not Shownu.

Did you like Hyungwon’s look in “Love Killa” most? I loved his crazy Fight Club outfit.

SO glad Wonho’s back and doing well and happy. He deserves the whole world. He's so beloved and his big muscles are for hugging (and thirst traps, aka the two most important actions).

Dude, being by yourself to grow is great! Knowing what you want, and not compromising is the best decision. Yeah, lmao, I'm 29, of course I’ve dated. I'm basically an old spinster at this point, according to my dad. But I’ve had to be the bad guy too often, where they catch feelings when I don’t, and we have to deal with the fact I’m too selfish with my time and space to be good for someone. I’ve got shit to do.

Hey love ❤️ lol!!! Fair enough 😂😂😂 best to let people show off their financial worth lol is it fun to people watch or are you more into the behind the scenes stuff?

Oh yeah it can be tricky and a little difficult some days but for the most part it’s rewarding 👍 aw thank you love ❤️ that’s very sweet of you!! 😊😊 yeah I am a case worker in Canada but social wise in the states (only six months into the position and it’s great 👍)

“Head empty, face pretty, heart full” is a perfect way to describe shownu and it’s very accurate lol it makes him such an amazing leader and he’s just so calm and composed it’s a sense of comfort ❤️❤️❤️he really is correct with the gnawing of his arms like come on man have you see those?!?! The man literally is a human pillow it’s insane and he’s a comfort human if that makes sense lol what do you think about his arms? Oh yeah!! There was one dance that OT7 did with a cover song and shownu did a twirl and the splits like SIR!!!! Ooof!!! Them feels love them feels!! Right?? He is doing a great job as a step in but he’s going to get relief soon lol

I absolutely loved his look for fatal love era and love killa was the absolute bomb! He looked gorgeous with the long hair and he sounded amazing, his outfits were on point like it was so well done 👌👌👌👌 did you see the suits though?!?! Like whooo boy!

Amen to that though!! Very glad it was resolved and we have our baby boy back ❤️❤️❤️❤️ he’s just a ball of positivity and it’s lovely 😊 don’t get me started on the thirst traps love 😂😂😂 (heavy inhale of air) he was crazy for doing that and then acting innocent like jessi said “Disney face marvel body” 😂😂😂

Thanks love ❤️ and right??? Like do I want to explore the options? Absolutely 👍 am I ready for that at the age of 25? Not yet but I’m getting there lol plus I was looking for a friend to lover kind of vibe and the people I was talking to only wanted to have sex and rush into things right away and honestly im not into that right now (the rushing into things) but if I meet the person unexpectedly and we vibe then sure! But I’m in no rush for dating if that Ted talk explanation makes sense lol I get the working vibes honestly it’s hard to make the moves and feel genuine about stuff which makes total sense lol would you want to be in a relationship that’s genuine on both sides when there’s a calm lul period?

Hope the day went well ❤️

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forever70301 · 2 years

Text

[WONHO] DAZED Interview

210105 Translated this from a Japanese translated version by haruka_MX7 on Twitter. Take all translations with a pinch of salt as there may be inaccuracies and it was very loosely translated!

Wonho says he's mostly at home looking at the reaction of fans all the time, watching Youtube and composing for the album. He does it mostly at home instead of going to the studio.

WH said he can't go exercise so he does it all at home & time passes so quickly that he's just waiting to be hungry. He looks forward to eating.

He says he doesn't drink alcohol nor meet his friends that much. He doesn't go out that much in general& spends most of his time exercising.

WH said he only eats rice, chicken fillets and sweet potatoes when he has work/activities & during the preparation period. Sometimes he eats oatmeal & cucumbers to suppress (the hunger).

He's like, this is probably going to sound like an excuse but, recently because of the mukbang recording for ohhoho, there are times he eats a lot too.

He also said now he's trying to bulk up a little.

He said he did the pilates video because fans said they wanted to see him doing pilates.

He said he reads all the comments.

When asked why 'ohhoho' the name was chosen, he said when he thought of 'Wonho TV', it gave a feeling that Youtube is like his full time job.

Originally his nickname is 'Hoho' so he used that. 'ohhoho' feels like a laugh and he wanted to make it cute.

He's preparing for the 2nd album now. He wanted to quickly show it to us but because he wants to show an even better side, so it's getting pushed back

He's preparing to be able to show a new side/look of Wonho in the beginning of 2021.

He said the atmosphere of the album this time is a little heavy, a more sexy and dark feeling. Because he wanted to show a different side/look.

When asked about his fav song in the 1st album, he said 'I just' was the first song he composed (for the album). He wrote it immediately. The lyrics&arrangement was done in a couple of hours. It's his fav song because the song conveyed his sensitivity in an honest and simple way

He said the time he was alone was so long and there was no answer to what and how should he do now. It's a song he wrote when his thinking got complicated. He wanted to ask someone questions, listen to stories but it's like no one was by his side.

He said he realized when he buys clothes or shoes, there's this lonely feeling. There are too many clothes that he doesn't know how much he has. He always wear the same clothes. There are a lot of clothes that still have the tags on them. When he thinks it's nice, he buys them without thinking. So he decided to settle/dispose them with his eyes closed. In the beginning his heart hurt because he felt that it was such a waste but after throwing them, he felt so much better. Now there's finally space in his closet too.

He said he really wants to met the fans living overseas too.

#wonho #wonhotranslations

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justasouthernlady · 4 years

Text

Breaks tumblr hiatus just for wonho.

#help #wonho #sept 4 2020 #open mind #wonho really said one night stands #WONHOOOOO IS BACK #BB BOI #BUNNY KING #sir #you cannot do me like this #I love you too much #WONHO SAID I WEAR WHAT I WANT #wonhoooooo #no thoughts #head empty #actually it full #OF WONHO

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here2bbtstrash · 2 years

Text

look down on me like that - 7 (explicit)

genre: slow burn enemies to lovers hatefucking coworkers au, smut (w some eventual angst)

pairing: yoongi x reader

summary: your asshole coworker min yoongi has made it his personal mission to ruin your life.

word count: 8.9k

contains: ~explicit sexual content~ !! alcohol mention, baby goth jungkookie 👀 some appreciation of jimin's ass 🍑 wonho is back !!! reader continues to be goin through it, jimin pulls no punches this chapter he rly said the library is open, could it be..... a.... softer yoongi???, i put some of yoongi's actual achievements as a producer in here (yes that's a warning), suckin' dick and fuckin' in the office yktfv (but make it Riskier™️), inadvisable methods of dealing with presentation anxiety, protected sex, a half-kiss that i fully expect to be screamed at about, some Sad Yoongi Backstory is unlocked (and yes it's real 🥲), and???? feelings??? maybe????????

A/N: ohhhhhh man we're back back again 🫡 i really did not think this chapter was gonna go that hard and then suddenly sdkjgdfljg i don't even know what happened. thank you so much for your patience bc i know it's been a minute 🥺 and i really really hope y'all enjoy and can't wait to hear what you think !!!! 💜 AND I CAN ALREADY TELL YOU Y'ALL AREN'T READY FOR CHAPTER 8...... (i'm not even ready 😩)

ALL MY LOVE TO @haliiimede FOR BETA READING ILY SORRY I FORGOT TO CREDIT YOU THROW ME AWAY

read on AO3!

chapter six | masterlist | chapter eight

~*~

“Jungkook?”

His nose scrunches up a little when he laughs. “Were you expecting someone else?”

“I-I… I just—” You stammer, trying to remember how to make words happen. It feels like your brain is on a five-second delay. “You, uh, look different. Your outfit.”

You’ve interacted with your baby-faced coworker literally hundreds of times at this point, and in that time you’ve become well-accustomed to seeing him in his standard corporate attire, slacks and button-downs, or occasionally changed out for boxing class, muscle tees and sweatpants.

But you have never seen him dressed like this. All black, head-to-toe. His t-shirt and over-shirt are both baggy while somehow still managing to hug tight around his biceps and the solid muscle of his chest. A silver chain dangles from one of the belt loops of his slouchy utility pants, which are in turn tucked into chunky combat boots that easily give him an extra two inches of height. A matching thick silver chain is clasped around his neck, glittering in the dim light of dusk outside your front door.

Jungkook frowns as he looks down at himself, like he doesn’t even recall what he’s wearing. “I always dress like this,” he remarks with a shrug. “Just, not at work.”

“I cannot believe you,” you say, somewhat breathless as your eyes trace down his body and back up.

“What?” He laughs again. “What did I do?”

“First you keep from me that you have dogs, and now I found out you’re goth, too? What else are you hiding, Jeon Jungkook?!”

“I’m not hiding anything! These things never came up!” He sounds so flustered that you can’t help but smile, and you see a clear expression of relief flash over his face as he seems to realize you’re not actually mad.

You shake your head, digging into your purse to retrieve your phone as you brush past him, letting the front door slam shut behind you. “That’s it. Baby Star Candy is dead. You are officially Baby Goth now. Changing your contact name and everything.”

When you turn to look at him over your shoulder, he’s still smiling, still standing dumbfounded on your doorstep.

“Come on, Baby Goth!” You can’t quite suppress the laughter in your voice. “I don’t want to be late!”

As the two of you slip into Jungkook’s car and he starts to pull out of your apartment complex, he glances over at you. ”So, what did you get up to today? I feel like I barely saw you.”

Your gut twists as it all comes rushing back— that mere hours ago Yoongi had you pressed against the door of his office, his hand up your dress, while he went through an entire business conversation with none-the-wiser Jungkook on the other side. And that once Jungkook had left, you’d turned around and practically begged Yoongi to fuck you where you stood, right up against his fucking door. And he had.

Your chest constricts a little at the thought. Sex, in the office, in the middle of the workday. Like an idiot.

You wish you could say you regret it.

Heat rushes to your face, and you fumble for an answer to Jungkook’s question. “I just, uh— today… was a lot.” You hope your smile is more convincing than it feels, and you hope you’re just imagining the way Jungkook’s eyes linger on you for an extra second before his gaze flits back to the road.

“Well,” he thumbs at the volume control on the steering wheel, turning up the radio a couple notches. “Now we get to have fun. Work hard, play hard, right?”

Your nerves start to recede again as you fall into the comfortable routine of time spent with Jungkook. It’s funny to you now that you thought it might be any different to interact with him outside of work.

Apart from the mildly distracting fit of his shirt, Jungkook is exactly the same— wide eyes sparkling in the headlights of passing cars as he babbles on about TikTok, then interrupts himself to sing along to the radio. He only pauses for breath when you interject with directions to the venue, until he’s finally pulling into a parking space and turning the key to kill the engine.

Jungkook gazes up in awe as you have your tickets scanned and lead him into the venue entrance, clearly trying to take it all in. This is one of your favorite places to see Jimin perform, and it’s still overwhelmingly impressive, even though you’ve seen it dozens of times now.

“Wow, this place is really nice. Your friend must be a pretty big deal.”

“Jimin is a huge deal,” you say with a nod and a shrug, used to it. “You’ll understand why when you see him dance… And also when you see his ass.” You giggle a little, unable to help yourself.

Jungkook laughs too, eyebrows lifting off his forehead like he wasn’t expecting that response.

You wave him down a hallway towards the center of the venue. “Come on, Baby Goth, we’re in VIP.”

His brows lift impossibly higher. “What does that mean?”

You shoot him a wink. “It means we drink for free.”

You know the route by heart as you emerge from the hallway and lead Jungkook towards the front, where you flash your tickets again to be let into a section close to the stage.

Jungkook eagerly volunteers to get the first round, and you’re thankful he isn’t gone long. Alone with your thoughts is the last thing you want to be right now— at least not while sober. When he hands you your drink, you lean in to tap the plastic edge of your cup against his in a cheers.

“To working hard and playing hard,” you smirk as you repeat his line back to him, then pause. “Just— please do not share anything I say tonight with anyone at work.”

“I swear,” Jungkook nods, and you can’t help but smile when he holds out the pinky of his free hand. You link yours with his to seal the deal. “I’m good at keeping secrets,” he says earnestly.

“Right, like you kept the secret of Yoongi’s lock code?”

His face immediately reddens. “That was different.” He covers the awkward pause— or maybe you��re just imagining it— when he takes a sip of his drink, then continues. “Did you ever end up using it?”

Your heart drops into your stomach, and you exhale in relief when at that moment, the lights start to dim, and the now filled-in crowd begins to cheer in anticipation. You wave a hand at Jungkook as if to indicate you’ll tell him later, and you pray he won’t remember to bring it up again.

As the dancers take the stage, you lean over to point Jimin out to Jungkook, though you know as soon as he starts moving you won’t have to. Everyone is talented, but there’s something about the way your best friend dances that makes it impossible to watch anyone else. He can nail any style, can convey so much story and emotion through his movements, can execute choreography flawlessly while still doing it in his own unique way.

After the first few songs, you’re both on your feet, and when Jungkook leans toward you to be heard over the music, you’re certain he’s about to gush over how good Jimin is, the way everyone does the first time they see him perform.

“You weren’t kidding about his ass!” He half-shouts instead, and you nearly drop your drink. Jungkook stares openly at Jimin as he moves across the stage, both powerful and graceful. His head tilts slightly to one side. “I mean. Wow.”

The alcohol makes you laugh easily and loud. You have to take a moment to catch your breath before you can respond. “Okay, Jungkook!”

“What?” Jungkook is laughing now, too. “I can appreciate a nice ass, regardless of who it’s attached to!” There’s a pause as you both giggle and catch your breath. “But uh— please don’t share that at work.”

You extend your pinky first this time. “Promise.”

Jungkook smiles as he locks his finger with yours, then drops your hand. The song has ended, so he doesn’t have to talk quite so loud as he continues. “He really is talented, too.”

You nod. “Jimin was a trainee for a few years, but I think he’s a lot happier just dancing like this. It was a lot of pressure.”

Soft synths of the intro to the next song have already started to build, and when the beat kicks in, Jungkook’s eyes go wide, and he looks up with a grin. “Oh shit! I fucking love this song!”

You giggle. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you swear before.”

He glances at you over the rim of his cup, his smile growing cocky. “Well, you’ve never gotten drunk with me before. The things you miss when you leave happy hour early.”

Your heart sinks a little at the memory, and you’re grateful Jungkook is already lost in his own world, bopping along to the upbeat song, so he doesn’t seem to notice the way your face falls. It’s like Yoongi has left fingerprints all over your life, and no matter what you do, you can’t get rid of them.

You take a long pull of your drink until you hit the bottom.

Jungkook is a welcome distraction to it all. By the final chorus of the song that you now recognize as an EXO cover, he’s fully gotten into it, unable to stand still and launching into some on-the-spot choreography. When he executes a dangerously well-performed body roll, your jaw drops.

“I think you missed your calling,” you shout over the music. “You should’ve been an idol!”

“Yeah?” Jungkook cocks an eyebrow, hips still moving fluidly. “Think I’d be as good as Kai?”

You nod. “Oh yeah. I can see it now.” You gesture as if reading off a magazine headline. “Heartthrob Jeon Jungkook. But they’d call you Baby Star Candy, of course.”

Jungkook smiles at you, striking a final deliberate pose for the last note of the song. “I thought I was Baby Goth now?”

You smirk as you correct him. “Only I’m allowed to call you that. Your army of fangirls will have to get in line.”

It’s like the lack of music backing him up makes him go shy, and you watch the way Jungkook’s cheeks flush, the way his nose scrunches when he laughs and waves the idea away. “I’m good. Think I’ll stick to TikTok.”

You giggle through another two drinks before the show is over, and as the dancers leave with a final wave, you cheer extra loud for Jimin until he glances your way and sticks his tongue out at you. When the house lights come up, you nod for Jungkook to follow you, making your way past more security to the back of the venue to meet Jimin at the stage door.

You can’t help but laugh a little in surprise when you round the corner to see a familiar face amidst the small group already waiting. Wonho is leaning up against the wall, looking hilariously small and nervous for how large his frame is, and clutching a bouquet of roses as red as his hair.

Biting your lip, you wave at him, and he waves back, but neither of you move to say anything else.

You can’t quite shake the embarrassment that comes with being reminded of the night you first met Wonho. Just another set of stupid Yoongi fingerprints.

Jimin emerges from the stage door a few minutes later, unceremoniously dropping the dance bag slung over his arm when his eyes land on Wonho waiting for him.

“Aw, baby!” Jimin pouts in disbelief as he accepts the roses, only to then immediately be swept up into a bridal carry. He squeaks when Wonho effortlessly lifts him off the ground.

You roll your eyes despite the smile that creeps across your face. “You two are ridiculous.”

Jimin shoots you a sour look. “Can you let me have a whirlwind romance for once in my damn life, please?” He takes Wonho’s face in both hands to kiss him squarely on the mouth.

Jungkook is clearly still processing all of this, radiating ‘confused but happy to be here’ energy as he scoops Jimin’s abandoned dance bag off the floor to carry it over his shoulder.

Jimin sideeyes Jungkook as he pulls away. “And who is this man touching my stuff?”

Jungkook’s eyes widen, and he glances at the bag like maybe he should put it back down.

You reach up to smack Jimin on the arm. “Shut up. This is my friend and coworker, Jungkook. Be nice to him.”

“I’m not going to be nice to anyone until I get some fucking food,” Jimin snaps. His toes point as he kicks his feet daintily in Wonho’s arms, a dancer through and through. “Can we go eat now?”

Your first stop is a restaurant near the venue where you order a metric ton of brisket at Jimin’s demand. While Wonho and Jungkook easily destroy most of it between the two of them, your best friend still seems to have enough to improve his mood. It probably helps that Wonho hand-feeds the majority of it to him.

When he’s not gazing adoringly at his boyfriend, Jimin is attempting to communicate with you using solely his eyes, which keep darting over to Jungkook, his brows lifting in a silent question.

You tighten your jaw and do your best to subliminally shake your head without attracting Jungkook’s attention. Thankfully Jungkook doesn’t seem to remember that there’s anything else in the world except his plate of food.

Jimin narrows his gaze at you, his universal signal for “we’ll discuss this later”, and dread floods in the pit of your stomach.

Sure enough, when you finish your meal and move to a table at the bar down the street, Jimin sweetly suggests that Wonho and Jungkook go together to grab the first round of drinks, giving no indication that he has any sort of ulterior motive. They shrug and nod, Jungkook immediately starting to quiz Wonho on his protein intake as they depart.

Jimin pounces as soon as you’re alone again. “I’m sorry, you’re having a sordid office sex affair with a coworker and you’re telling me it’s not this man?!”

You roll your eyes. “No, Jimin.”

Jimin sucks his teeth, clearly unimpressed. “I thought I raised you better than this. I’m about to make him my hot goth girlfriend if you don’t.”

“You literally have a boyfriend.”

His brows pinch together, like he’s confused why that matters. “Wonho would love a third. He can barely keep up with me. But don’t change the subject.” He leans forward, arms folded on the table as he stares you down. “Babygirl, why on earth are you wasting your time fucking a man you don’t like, when you clearly have some very nice alternatives available to you?”

“I’m not doing that anymore,” you scowl. “The correct number of coworkers I should be fucking is zero.” It feels like Jimin’s gaze is drilling right to the depths of your soul, and you press your face into your hands as alcohol loosens your lips and the guilt overflows. “…Even though the actual number of coworkers I fucked today is one.”

“Bitch!” Jimin’s hand smacks loud against the wood grain, enough to make you flinch a little. “You have got to be fucking joking!”

You shake your head silently into your palms.

“At the office?!”

You nod pathetically for a few moments before dropping your arms down on the table with a whine, your forehead quickly following. “I don’t even know what happened. It’s like when I’m around him my brain malfunctions.”

Jimin goes uncharacteristically silent, and when you dare to peek up at him, his lips are pursed slightly as if in thought. “Are you sure you hate him?”

The question makes you sit back up. “What does that mean?”

He shrugs, feigning innocence. “I don’t know, it’s just... if I didn’t know any better, I’d say that kinda sounds like a crush.”

You instantly make a face of disgust. “What?! No. Absolutely not. I know I hate him. He’s a nightmare. He’s cocky and insufferable—”

“So am I,” Jimin interrupts, crossing his arms over his chest. “And you love me.”

You open your mouth to argue back, but he lifts a single finger to quiet you.

“I’m not done.” He pauses, and there’s an immediate sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach. “What I see right now—” Jimin gestures in the direction of the bar “—is a fit, handsome, and seemingly very nice man who has spent the whole night looking at you like you put the fucking stars in the sky. And yet here you are, still talking about Suga, like you’ve been doing nonstop for the last month, who apparently has such a hold on you that he can make your panties drop during business hours. Yet I’m supposed to believe you hate him? This math is not mathing, love.”

It’s only when he stops talking that you realize your pulse is racing.

“Jimin,” you breathe. You double-blink, hot all over with a rush of sudden shame, trying to will away the sting at the corners of your eyes. “That’s not fair.”

Jimin’s gaze stays locked on yours as he refuses to back down even an inch. “Answer me this: would you be reacting this way if you really did hate him?”

Your jaw drops in disbelief, but you only get a beat of silence to attempt to process your best friend’s comments before Jungkook is thudding a glass of beer on the table in front of you.

“Sorry that took a second! It’s busy tonight,” Jungkook says brightly as Wonho moves around to the remaining open seat. “What were you guys talking about?”

Jimin fixes Jungkook in a blank stare. “Menstruation,” he replies flatly, not missing a beat.

You cling to your drink for dear life as the conversation continues on around you, and you do your best to smile and nod while you try not to replay Jimin’s words back a million times in your mind. But it’s a losing battle.

As your head spins, you run through the list of things you know to be true. Min Yoongi is your coworker. Min Yoongi is unquestionably an asshole. Min Yoongi has, since your very first day, embarrassed you, belittled you, lied to you, even threatened your job. Min Yoongi has never shown an ounce of evidence that he cares for you in any way. Your eyes flit aimlessly around the room as you try to think. Min Yoongi is—

Your heart drops into your gut. Min Yoongi is sitting at the end of the bar.

It’s not real.

This can’t be real, you tell yourself. It’s just the long, strange day and several drinks you’ve had working together to play tricks on your brain.

You blink hard, willing Yoongi’s face to morph back into that of some stranger, but when you open your eyes again, he’s just as real, exactly the same as before.

Except for the fact that he’s now staring at you.

Yoongi’s mouth goes slack, like he’s coming to the same realization as you— that the two of you have managed to find yourselves in the same place at the same time, completely by chance.

You stand up so fast you nearly knock your drink over. All three heads at the table swivel to look at you, and Jungkook speaks first.

“You okay?”

“Uh, y-yeah, yes,” you stammer unconvincingly. “Just gonna grab another beer.” Your eyes glance back up to search for Yoongi again, but they don’t immediately catch sight of him, and you don’t dare look for too long.

“You still have half of this one left,” Jimin remarks dryly.

Your gaze returns to your drink and you choose the first option that occurs to you: you down the rest in one swig and slam the empty glass on the table. All three pairs of eyes on you go wide.

“I’ll get another one for everyone, be right back!” You grit your teeth in something that you hope approximates a smile, then start to head for the bar, your heart already racing with anticipation.

After a few steps, a hand on the small of your back startles you, enough to make you freeze in place.

When you look over your shoulder, you see it’s Jungkook, also on his feet and right behind you. “Do you want help with the drinks?” He leans into your ear to ask the question, probably to be heard over the din of the bar. Your head is spinning from the rush of alcohol and from getting to your feet so fast. You don’t remember Jungkook smelling this good, or his voice being this low.

You turn to face him to answer and wow, now he’s really close. You sway slightly, a little unsteady on your feet, as your eyes meet his and your face flushes. “Oh, uh— no, I’m okay. But thanks, JK.”

There’s an extra second where neither of you say anything, Jungkook’s hand still pressed to your back, warm against the thin fabric of your dress. Then he nods and turns to head back to the table.

Your brain can hardly hold space for anything else as you spin towards the bar again, trying to catch sight of Yoongi through the crowd of people that only seems to have grown in the last few minutes. You weave through the mass of bodies with a combination of mildly polite apologies and stubborn determination, until you make it all the way up to the bar—

—where there is absolutely no sign of Yoongi. Gone without a trace, the barstool where you swear you just saw him now left empty.

You squeeze your eyes shut and exhale, willing your pulse to return to a normal pace. Maybe it was just your imagination, a trick of the light, a side-effect of an alcohol-dizzy brain and all this overthinking. Maybe you didn’t actually see what you thought you saw. Maybe…

It’s only when your eyes flutter open that you notice it. A nearly full glass of whiskey sitting abandoned on the bar, directly in front of the empty stool.

Before you can even think about why you’re doing it, you’re moving again, now fully shoving your way through the crowd of people until your palms find the glass of the front door and push hard. You stumble out of the bar, the cold night air like a slap to the face as you belatedly realize you left your jacket slung over the back of your chair.

Wrapping your arms around yourself with a shiver, you step out properly onto the sidewalk. Groups of passersby part down the middle to walk around you, and if they shoot you dirty looks, you miss them entirely. Your head whips one way, then the other, looking for— you’re not even sure what. A flash of familiarity, maybe, a glimpse of something, anything. If only just for reassurance that you didn’t make it all up.

Someone calls your name.

You spin around, your pulse thudding in your ears, only to belatedly realize it’s coming from the entrance of the bar, where Jungkook is standing, holding the door half-open as he leans through.

“What are you doing?” He steps out, letting the door fall shut behind him as he crosses to you. You don’t know why something in your gut twists, why you’re suddenly hit with the urge to scream at him. Didn’t you tell him not to follow you?

Jungkook continues when you don’t respond, his brow pinched with concern. “What’s wrong? Why are you out here?”

The question feels impossible to answer. You can’t think straight enough to make sense of any of it— why you went after Yoongi, what you planned to do when you caught up to him, why it even matters to you at all that he was here tonight.

Jimin’s words echo in your skull, deafening.

“I—” you stammer, giving the only answer you can. “I don’t know.”

A gust of cold air makes you shudder hard, and Jungkook’s hands have suddenly closed over yours on your upper arms, dry heat against your icy skin.

“It’s freezing out here,” he murmurs, clearly still confused. He shifts to wrap an arm around you, pulling you into his side, and you don’t fight it.

Emotional exhaustion takes over, and as you allow Jungkook to lead you back inside, you do your best not to think about anything at all.

~*~

The weekend blinks by far too quickly, and the dread of Monday morning looms over you, all the little moments from Friday stacked like a heavy weight in the pit of your stomach.

You don’t hear from Jimin after Jungkook drops you off that night, and you’re too stubborn to text first, secretly hoping he’ll make the first move and apologize for reading you for filth unprovoked. But considering how busy he’s been with rehearsals leading up to the show, you doubt he and Wonho leave his bedroom all weekend.

Which means that when Monday morning comes, you have to face it alone.

Thankfully, you have no shortage of work to distract yourself with, so you try to keep your head down and focus, flitting between meetings, calls, spreadsheets, emails, paperwork, slide decks. You make polite conversation with Jungkook as always, but you keep it brief. When you take lunch at your desk, you tell yourself it’s just because you’re busy. That’s all.

You work and you work and you desperately try not to think about anything else. Your coworkers slowly start to trickle out as the day wraps up, but you barely pay them any mind, only half-heartedly returning the farewells called over their shoulders as they push through the glass doors.

When you finally sit back, it’s only because your vision is burning from endless screen time. You’re not even sure you’ve remembered to blink. You press your face into your hands to give your weary eyes a break, before glancing at the clock, eyes widening at the realization that it’s already past seven.

A wave of anxiety floods your veins as it occurs to you that you haven’t seen Yoongi leave yet— you would’ve noticed. You set your jaw as you reach for your phone.

Are you still here?

The response is nearly immediate.

Presentation room.

Better than his damn office, you think to yourself, and then two more texts pop up.

Need more time.

A lot more.

Fucking hell.

You shove your chair back and get to your feet, acting on impulse more than anything else. As you storm down the hallway, you will yourself not to be reminded of shoving through the crowded bar and stumbling into the street Friday night. You were just drunk, and surprised. This is different. It has to be.

You bang open the door to the presentation room with enough force to surprise even yourself.

“Now, Yoongi,” you snap.

He’s seated in the chair behind the podium at the front of the room, slouched over his laptop, bottom lip caught between his teeth. Despite your dramatic entrance, he doesn’t so much as glance up.

“Just give me like, ten minutes.” He winces at the screen of his computer. “Maybe twenty.”

You cross your arms in frustration. “Some of us are tired, Yoongi.”

At this, his head snaps up. “Well, some of us got tapped to give a fucking presentation to the visiting overseas team. Tomorrow!”

You take a step back, your eyes widening at his tone. You haven’t heard him genuinely raise his voice like this— not since the argument during your very first team meeting.

“Not like I don’t have shit that I’m supposed to be working on,” he mutters, more to himself than to you, eyes returning to squint at his laptop. You notice now that it’s connected to the screen at the front of the room, and you can see him scrolling through the slides of a presentation, pausing occasionally to add in speaking notes.

You blink, trying to keep up. “Why did they tap you?”

“A great question,” he huffs. “Apparently they’re curious about who the producer with the Grammy nomination is. I’m being asked to do a ‘high-level timeline of my career and accomplishments’. Guess these assholes haven’t heard of Wikipedia.”

“That’s… stupid.”

Yoongi looks up again, his mouth dropping open slightly, like he wasn’t expecting that response. He finally manages to speak as his gaze jumps back down to his slides. “Thank you. That’s what I said. I tried to get out of it, but it appears I am being forced.”

“I didn’t think you could be forced to do anything.”

“You’d be surprised,” he mumbles under his breath, paired with a dry laugh. “I’ve been forced into dealing with your ass, haven’t I?” His eyes don’t move from the screen.

A smirk tugs at the corners of your mouth before you can stop it, and you step further into the space. The room is set up with three large, unnecessarily fancy tables, reclaimed wood, arranged in a U shape facing the podium and screen at the front of the room.

Taking your time, you cross behind the tables and head for the seat furthest away from the podium, dead center. When you get there, rather than pull the chair out, you spin around to sit your ass on the wooden surface, turning in a half-circle so that your legs dangle off the edge, palms flat on either side of you.

You stare Yoongi down from across the room as he continues to fiddle with his laptop. “Let’s hear it, then.” When his eyes find yours, you tilt your head to the side expectantly. “It’s good to practice with an audience. You should be thanking me.”

For a moment, you think he might try to argue with you, but to your surprise, he gets to his feet with a resigned sigh. He presses a button on his laptop, and the presentation goes full-screen, flipping back to the first slide.

His mouth tightens as his fingertips grip the wooden edge of the podium.

“Good morning everyone, my name is Min Yoongi. I’m also known by my producer pseudonym, Suga.” His deep voice is monotone, edged rough like gravel, like there’s nothing he’d rather be doing less.

You fold your arms again, surveying Yoongi carefully as he continues. Your eyes widen in surprise when only a few sentences in, he outright trips over his words, stuttering an impressive amount before he manages to get back on track. His gaze remains at a fixed point on the floor, unmoving, and he speaks like his presentation is one endless sentence, without so much as a pause.

“Stop,” you call from your spot opposite him. The command comes out louder than you expect.

Yoongi’s head snaps up again, but to his credit, he stops talking.

“Start over,” you say simply. “Remember to breathe this time.”

Yoongi blinks once, twice, then silently taps through his slides to the beginning. You hear him take a tentative inhale before he starts. “Good morning everyone, my name is Min Yoongi.”

He takes it slower this time, getting past where you stopped him before, until a moment where he falls silent. You see his face twist slightly as color blooms in the apples of his cheeks. “Uh, shit. I forgot what my next thing was. Fuck, hang on.” He fumbles with the trackpad of his laptop, and you huff a laugh of disbelief.

“Oh my god.” You can’t quite manage to bite back your smile. “You do have a weakness.”

“I just hate presentations,” Yoongi sighs, his mouth pulling up into a flat line. “The whole point of being a producer is that I can stay in my studio and not have to deal with people.”

Your fingers tap against the edge of the table, intrigued. You’ve never seen him like this before. “You just need to fucking relax, Yoongi.”

“You say that like that’s something I know how to do,” he mutters, so low you wonder if you were supposed to hear it.

You’re on your feet and crossing the room before you can second-guess the thought. Yoongi glances up with a face that reads mild confusion, and the expression only deepens when you place both hands on his chest and firmly shove him. As he’s clearly not expecting it, it’s enough of a push to knock him off-balance, and he has to take a few steps back to steady himself.

“What are y—” The question dies in Yoongi’s throat as you sink to your knees in front of him. He’s moved just slightly out of reach, and you gaze up at him through your lashes and beckon him towards you with a single finger.

He steps forward as if drawn in, like a moth to a flame.

If there’s a part of you that tells you to pause and think about this before you do it, you can’t hear it over the deafening silence in the room. And the last thing you want to do right now is think.

Close enough to touch now, you flatten your palms to slide up the smooth fabric of Yoongi’s joggers, teasing your fingers over the waistband when you get there. You glance at him again, half expecting him to tell you to stop, but his only response is the jerk of his adam's apple in a hard swallow.

A thrill runs through you at the idea of doing this here, perfectly hidden behind the podium.

“Start from the beginning again,” you instruct, your voice low and even. “If you can do it like this, you can do it tomorrow.”

A muscle in Yoongi’s jaw jumps, and he nods almost imperceptibly. You don’t move an inch until he inhales and starts over. His voice isn’t quite as steady this time. “Good morning everyone, my name is Min Yoongi.”

With a self-satisfied smirk, you hook your fingers under both his joggers and boxers at once and firmly push them down. His dick has only barely started to harden, which makes sense, given his nerves and your wholly unexpected ambush.

The thought of feeling his cock grow in your mouth, get heavy on your tongue, makes arousal start to pool in your gut.

He’s still talking, hasn’t even stumbled once yet, so you reward him with a finger curled under the head of his dick, lifting it up to be flush with his stomach. You take your time as you drag your tongue up his exposed shaft, laid flat against the prominent veins there. When you reach the tip, you shift to grip him at the base so you can kitten lick at his frenulum, purposefully teasing.

Yoongi just barely manages to disguise his groan as a cough, and you pull back, smirking a little. “What was that?”

He exhales, clearly trying to regain focus as he continues where he left off. “I have over 100 KOMCA credits as a songwriter and producer.” You hum approvingly and take him into your mouth.

As you hollow your cheeks and begin to suck, you can feel the way he swells to stretch you, pulsing warm, and it only encourages you. Your hands move to grip at his thighs, and when you take him deeper, head bobbing steadily, you taste the salt of his precum as he starts to drip.

You let your tongue loll out past your bottom lip to lap further down his shaft, and this time there’s no questioning the sound he makes: a distinct, breathy whimper. It’s enough to coax a wicked smile out of you, and you have to pull off his cock briefly to keep from gagging. You pause to admire the way it shines, glossed wet with your drool.

Your lips chase after him almost immediately, sucking just the tip in, and you swirl your tongue over it in lazy, sloppy circles.

Yoongi is clearly struggling to keep his composure now. “I was the first— oh, fuck.” He cuts himself off with a proper moan when you take him down as far as you can without warning. He hits the back of your throat and you keep him there, forcing yourself to swallow, your throat spasming around his length as you choke on it.

He tries again. “The f-first artist to win MAMA's 'Best Collaboration' award— m-multiple times.”

You finally pull off to gasp for air, a few strings of spit still connecting his now leaking-hard cock to your lips. Yoongi makes another soft noise at the loss, and you gaze up at him as you pant, reveling in the look of near-distress on his face.

“Finish the presentation,” you purr, your voice slightly hoarse from having just shoved his cock down your throat.

Yoongi’s eyes squeeze shut as he continues, and you lean forward, taking him into your mouth again tongue-first. You waste no time sucking him back into the tight clutch of your throat, and your fingertips dig bruises into the skin of his thighs to keep him from bucking his hips up.

You refuse to relinquish control. Not yet.

His hands cup the back of your head like he’s clinging on for dear life as he keeps trying to get the words out. “T-the collaboration netted me my first fuck—ing Grammy nomination. I— nnh— look forward to attending the ceremony in person next week, and I— I-I feel confident about our chances for success. Shit.”

With this, you realize that he’s made it all the way through his talking points, and you pull off his dick with a wet pop.

“There,” you smirk, pausing to wipe your mouth with the back of your hand before getting to your feet again. The steady pulse between your legs is hard to ignore. “Was that so hard?”

“God dammit,” Yoongi’s voice is heady and dark as he steps in to close the distance between you. “I need to fuck you.”

You quirk an eyebrow, a little surprised by the bold statement. “Need?”

There’s a flash of something in his eyes that makes your cunt clench. “Get on the fucking table.”

Even as you follow his order, you can’t shake the feeling of still being in control, nor the smug satisfaction earned from making this man come undone so very easily. You hike your dress up slightly before perching on the table closest to the front of the room, your teeth raking over your bottom lip in anticipation.

Yoongi’s already standing in front of you, and his hands slide under your hips to firmly drag your ass to the edge of the table. In two swift movements he shoves your dress further up your thighs, then hooks his fingers under the lace of your panties and pulls them down, tugging them off one ankle entirely and leaving them to dangle from the other.

It’s only when your legs drop open that his hurried pace slows. He pauses, with a soft hum.

You inhale sharply when he lifts a hand up to brush over you. His fingers press against your folds in a V shape, teasingly pulling your pussy lips apart. Just the small motion is already enough to earn him a slick noise.

“Or,” he murmurs, “maybe I should repay the favor?”

Your chest constricts at the thought when you realize what he means. Going down on you, here, in a conference room, where anyone could technically walk in and see. It’s after hours, but you didn’t lock the front door— it’s not unheard of for someone to forget something at the office and double-back for it. It feels too luxurious, too dangerous. In more ways than one.

“We don’t have time, Yoongi.” Your hands fist in his shirt to pull him closer, and he steps in between your spread legs. “Just fuck me.”

The look on his face makes you wonder if you’re missing out. “Suit yourself.”

He fumbles into the pocket of his still pushed-down joggers to retrieve his wallet and fish out the condom tucked inside. A shiver runs up your spine as he tears it open and rolls it over his length.

Yoongi glances up at you when it’s all the way on, one hand pressing into the table behind you for leverage as he uses the other to line himself up with your entrance. It’s only now that you realize how very close to you he is. You’ve never done this face-to-face before.

With no prep, the stretch of him is nearly overwhelming when he pushes in, and you gasp. Yoongi stops when you do, only the very tip of him nudged inside of you.

“Hurts?”

“Not in the bad way,” you murmur, and he pushes in a little further, slow enough that you can feel every inch of him working your pussy open. Your fingers grip the edge of the table and dig in hard as you whimper at the sensation.

“That’s it, fuck.” Yoongi gives a grunt of effort as you take the last of him, until he’s pressed in to the hilt, your cunt clenched tight around him, your walls already fluttering softly from the pressure. You’re both breathing heavy as his hips momentarily still.

It takes you by surprise when his hand shifts to grab your jaw, tilting your gaze up to meet his. His tongue swipes over his bottom lip as he surveys you for a moment.

“Say it again,” he murmurs.

You swallow hard. “Fuck me.”

With the hint of a smirk, he starts to move. He rolls his hips to drag his cock nearly all the way out, then fucks it in again in one heavy stroke, angled perfectly to hit your g-spot. Your eyes roll back in your head.

“God, Yoongi,” you whine when he does it again, and again. “We— nnh, we shouldn’t be doing this.”

The hand on your jaw grips tighter. “Not even a lock on the door. Anyone could walk in and see.” Your cunt throbs at the low growl of his voice. “Do you want to stop?”

“N-no,” you groan as he picks up the pace of his thrusts, enough to make you dizzy. His hand slides down to splay broad over the column of your throat. “Please don’t fucking stop.”

“Yeah?” He grunts, dark and raw, his grip tightening slightly. “Want it that bad?”

Your legs hook around his hips to urge him deeper, harder. “Need it.” Your voice is hardly more than a whisper from the pressure of his hand. You blink up at him, your eyes searching his— for what, you’re not sure.

“Need,” Yoongi breathes a laugh, more air than sound. “Makes two of us.”

Desperate for an anchor, you reach up and wrap your arms over his shoulders to pull him into you. Your mind is reeling with the adrenaline rush of doing something so reckless, and you press your bodies together until your noses bump with every stroke of his cock fucking into you. His parted lips are so close to yours now, you swear you can feel electricity sparking in the barely-there space between.

You feel like a live wire, like every sensation is amplified a thousandfold. Yoongi releases his grip on your throat to slip the same hand between his hips and yours, and his fingers circling your clit are enough to send you over the edge, fast.

“Yoongi,” you gasp into his mouth, your hands clawing at his shoulders as the pleasure builds until it’s too much, and your thighs start to shake. “Just like that, oh fuck, Yoongi, I-I’m gonna—”

“Come.” His lips brush against yours when he says it, a touch so light it could’ve been an accident.

You throw your head back with a strangled sob as your orgasm rips through you, and he leans into you, forehead dropping down against your collarbone, clearly close behind.

“God,” Yoongi groans hoarsely as his hips start to rut even faster. You’re so lost in pleasure, you can barely process that he’s speaking. “What are you doing to me?”

It only takes a few more thrusts and then he’s coming too, your cunt still spasming around him, both of his palms pressing flat to the table behind you as his voice breaks on a wordless rough-edged gasp.

You stay pressed into one another as you come down from the high together, all flushed skin and shaky breaths. Yoongi shifts first, lifting his head off your shoulder, and you take the cue to unwrap your arms from around his neck. It’s a slow, strained untangling, his spent cock starting to soften inside of you.

“Alright,” Yoongi still sounds breathless as he pulls out, and when he steps away, you reach down to tug your underwear back up over your hips.

Your saving grace is a box of tissues at the podium, and Yoongi makes short work of peeling the condom off, wrapping it in as many layers of tissues as he can before tucking it into the conference room trash can with a grimace. He uses a few more to clean himself up, then exhales a stream of air as he pulls his boxers and joggers back up.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

When you make it back to your desk, you pack your things up in a mindless haze. It’s only a minute or so after you finish that Yoongi emerges from his lab, and you follow after him out the glass front doors, neither of you speaking as you lock them from the outside.

The elevator ride down to the lobby is equally silent, until you step out and see gray-black stormy skies and a steady downpour of rain through the glass walls of the atrium.

“Shit,” you groan.

“Allergic to water?” Yoongi’s smug voice over your shoulder immediately makes your jaw clench.

“Shut up,” you snap. “I didn’t bring an umbrella, and the bus stop is a few blocks from my apartment. I’m gonna fucking drown.” Not that you care, you tack on silently.

“You take the bus?”

At this, you whip around to glare at him. “We’re not all millionaire music producers, you know.”

He shrugs, like you’re not wrong. “I can give you a ride. My car’s in the garage.”

Your eyebrows nearly shoot off your forehead, but Yoongi is already crossing to the elevator bank on the other side of the lobby. He presses the button, then looks back at you nonchalantly, like he’s just offered the most normal thing in the world.

Which, maybe it would be, under different circumstances. But there is absolutely nothing normal about your relationship with Min Yoongi.

As if to make the decision for you, a clap of thunder rumbles outside, so loud it feels like the building rattles. You swallow the last bit of dignity you have as you follow Yoongi into the garage elevator. Once the doors close, you can’t help but shoot him a look out of the corner of your eye, but his gaze is fixed on the indicator, watching the numbers tick down as you descend.

“Why are you being nice to me?” Your voice comes out harsher than you mean it to, and Yoongi turns his head to look at you, one eyebrow slightly raised.

“What does that mean?”

“Driving me home? We don’t do this.” You cross your arms over your chest, indignant. “As soon as the sex is done, you don’t want anything to do with me.”

You’re surprised when he laughs a little. “That’s funny.”

You narrow your eyes. “What’s funny?”

He stares at you pointedly, tongue poking at the inside of his cheek for a moment before he continues. “You say that, but if memory serves, you’re the one who keeps running away after.”

You open your mouth to respond, then close it, unsure of what to say. He’s not exactly wrong. Finally it comes back to you. “That’s not true. I saw you, on Friday, and I know you saw me. You left so fast you didn’t even finish your drink.”

Yoongi’s face scrunches up in a slight wince, like he’d rather not recall the moment.

“Yeah, well. That was different. I was trying to respect your privacy. Let you go on your date in peace.” He smirks slightly. “Though I guess it can’t have gone that well.”

You roll your eyes, your patience really starting to thin. “Jungkook and I are just friends, Yoongi.”

“Okay,” he says flatly. “In any case, I certainly didn’t plan to show up and ruin your night or anything. Just an unfortunate cosmic coincidence.”

You pull your bottom lip between your teeth for a second. “We seem to have a lot of those.”

“Yeah,” Yoongi sighs. “We do.”

The elevator doors slide open, and you lapse into silence again as you follow Yoongi to his car and slip into the passenger seat. After you give him your address and he plugs it into the GPS, there’s no sound at all other than the fall of rain and the swipe of his windshield wipers once you pull out of the garage.

You worry at your bottom lip until the words bubble up. “You don’t listen to music?”

Yoongi’s eyes flit from the road over to you for just a second, like he wasn’t expecting the question. “Uh, I— no, not really. I do that all day. I don’t mind the silence.” You take that as your cue to fall quiet. To your surprise, he keeps talking.

“You know, when I was a teenager, I had a part-time job at a music studio in Daegu.” He squints out the rainy windshield, like he’s recalling the memory. “I started making my own beats there, and I learned a lot of stuff that fueled my drive to be a producer.”

He glances at you again, and you nod, unsure where this is going.

“But, uh—” He huffs a laugh, like he’s embarrassed. “They didn’t pay me. Just kinda how things were back then, and I was too young to know better.” Stopped at a light now, Yoongi drums his fingers over the steering wheel. “I remember there were a lot of nights where I couldn’t afford both food and the bus ride home. If I wanted to eat, that meant a two hour walk home.”

Your jaw drops. “Jesus.”

Yoongi’s mouth presses into a flat line. “Yeah. Wasn’t easy.” There’s a heavy silence, and then he shrugs. “Anyway. Just made me think of it, when you said you take the bus. I haven’t thought about that in a long time.”

“Wow.”

The light changes color and he eases off the brake. You think maybe that’s all you’ll get, and then he nods. “It’s almost like I forget sometimes. That life isn’t still like that. It still feels like it could all get pulled out from under me any second.”

You hum as you take in his words. “And… that’s why you don’t know how to relax?”

The corner of his mouth turns up a little. “Pretty much.”

You can’t suppress the soft laugh that slips out, so you look out the passenger window, letting the sound flutter out to the rain-streaked glass. “Your villain origin story.”

When you glance back at him, a smile has stretched over the whole of Yoongi’s face, though his gaze is still fixed on the road. “Spoken like somebody who wants to walk home.”

There’s a gentle buzzing in your brain, and you wonder if it’s just a post-orgasm high. “Nice try, Min Yoongi,” you tease. “You don’t scare me anymore. I know you’re all empty threats now.”

His eyes flash, and in that moment his expression goes somewhere you can’t quite follow.

“Maybe so.”

The conversation lulls again, and you watch the rain fall fast and heavy on the car windshield, fat droplets scattered aside over and over by the relentless wiper blades.

Try as you might to not think about it, you can’t help but be hyper-aware of Yoongi sitting next to you. He drives one-handed, like it’s easy, his free arm resting on the center console between you. You can see the prominent veins of his hand in clear detail each time the car slips under the glow of a streetlight. Close enough to touch, if you wanted.

The silence has you counting your inhales. It occurs to you that this is the most time you’ve spent in such close proximity to Yoongi where you weren’t actively having sex. You don’t know what to make of it.

He turns into your apartment complex, pulling to a stop in front of your building when you point it out to him. You automatically reach for the door handle, then pause and turn back to look at him, figuring you should say something. “Uh, thanks. For the ride.”

Yoongi smirks. “Thanks for the public speaking lesson.”

You roll your eyes, but you’re smiling a little despite yourself. “I guess we’ll see tomorrow if it worked or not.”

“Guess so.”

There’s a pause, and your heart squeezes into your throat. You don’t know why it feels like you’re waiting for something to happen.

That thought alone is enough to spur you into action, and you quickly avert your gaze from Yoongi’s face. “Have a good night,” you murmur as you fumble open the door, grab your purse, and slip out of the car without waiting for a response.

As you climb the stairs to your apartment and hear the slick of Yoongi’s tires turning out of the complex, you can’t help but wonder if this counts as running away, too.

chapter six | masterlist | chapter eight

#yoongi smut #yoongi angst #yoongi x reader #bts fanfic #bts x reader #look down on me like that

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