lying in in pyjamas on top of his covers, jaehyun stared at the ceiling of his bedroom while letting his brain repeat the words sicheng had pronounced earlier in the afternoon.

taeyong looks so into you that it hurts.

the boy has been looking at you dreamily the whole afternoon.

it seemed like you could ask him one of his deepest secrets, and de would be ready to tell it to you without second thoughts.

jaehyun hadn't paid enough attention to nakamoto's secretary this afternoon to confirm sicheng's assumptions. actually, he had never paid enough attention to his secretary at all.

what was the utility of busying himself with a secretary when he knew they were everything but reliable, and when he had the possibility to exchange with the ceo in person?

but now that he recalled sicheng's words, he realised that maybe he should have paid more attention to the secretary whose name he couldn't even seem to remember.

anyway. lying on his bed late at night, his brain going crazy as it tried making flashes of his interactions with taeyong take life in his mind, the ceo of jung corporation sighed his frustration, not being able to recall anything despite his efforts.

there was nothing to do, jaehyun wanted nothing to do with the secretary, and so, he had no memories of whatever the male had told him, or of however the man had looked at him.

he couldn't remember the nervous stutter taeyong had whenever he was facing jaehyun.

he couldn't remember the way his eyes kept diverting to jaehyun, even when the ceo wasn't the one talking.

he couldn't remember how fidgety taeyong was whenever jaehyun talked.

he couldn't remember the blush on taeyong's cheeks when he had to talk to jaehyun.

he couldn't remember the heart eyes taeyong was giving him whenever he was around.

of course not. he couldn't remember anything.

all he had was sicheng's words, spat mindlessly as the engineer was in a hurry.

and jaehyun had no way to confirm them. all he could do now was meet nakamoto and his secretary again, and hope that sicheng was right, and that he would be able to use that to his advantage. but then, what if sicheng wasn't right?

despite all these doubts and questions, there was one little thing that gave jaehyun hope. and that was the fact these words had come out from sicheng's mouth.

jaehyun and sicheng didn't know each other that well. they weren't friends. business colleagues perhaps, but they weren't even from the same world. and they may not be close, but there was one thing that jaehyun knew and had learnt from the few times they had stayed together and talked; one thing that made him think that there was a high chance that sicheng's sayings on nakamoto's secretary might be true.

sicheng was someone spontaneous and straightforward, but always truthful; no matter who was standing in front of him, he had no problem spitting to their face their home truths, as bad as they may be. and he did so at any time, whenever the thought would cross his mind.

the engineer had done so to jaehyun a few times, which had at first disturbed jaehyun very much, but who couldn't seem to be that bothered about it anymore. he had also done so to yuta, during the congress in which jaehyun had thought he would strangle sicheng for speaking that way to such an important ceo – even if it felt good to have someone speaking at yuta the way he deserved.

and more than being truthful, sicheng was honest. he had even told it to jaehyun a few times; honesty was one of his most important values, if not the most, and lying by pretending to be jaehyun's secretary was for him a very hard mission that went against his principles.

in addition to that, jaehyun had been pleasantly surprised by sicheng's observation skills and his quick-wittedness. whether it was to understand what jaehyun's phone code was about, or to analyse people's sayings and behaviour, sicheng seemed to have good analysis skills which allowed him to draw good conclusions effortlessly.

so, all in all, the more jaehyun thought about it, the more sicheng's words seemed legit.

they had slipped out of his mouth naturally, after a long afternoon of observation and as he spat everything he had to say on how awful the meeting was, and why it was so catastrophic. and as jaehyun had noticed that sicheng seemed to know what he was talking about, it would mean that it was the case this time to, and so, that taeyong truly was into him.

and this meant that jaehyun would have the opportunity to use his feelings to his advantage.

☏

activating the turn signal and switching to a lower gear, jaehyun turned his head to check if there was no other car before taking the exit which led him to the street on which was the headquarters of nakamotors.

after a nice night of sleep, jaehyun had finally decided to set in place his plan, and see if he couldn't learn more about nakamoto and his company through his secretary. but this implied that he would need to talk to his secretary, and for that, he needed his number – and accessorily his name which he still couldn't remember. and is there a better way for that than to go directly to the headquarters and ask for himself? plus, that way he would be able to see how the secretary acts around him, and perhaps confirm sicheng's sayings for real.

so, after around half-an-hour of driving, jaehyun parked his car in front of the headquarters' entrance, a valet immediately approaching him to ask if he had a meeting scheduled at the company.

the ceo only had to lower his sunglasses for the valet to straighten his back again and open his door to help him out.

"good morning, mister jung, you may head inside, we will park your car in nakamotors' private parking." the valet let out as jaehyun removed his seatbelt and got out of the vehicle.

"thank you." he stated simply before making his way to the entrance and then to the reception, where a lady was smiling at him since the second he arrived.

"good morning, how may i help you?" she asked, head tilted to the side.

"i need to see mister nakamoto, please." jaehyun replied simply to which the receptionist nodded before checking something on her computer.

"mister nakamoto is currently unavailable, but i could try reaching his secretary if you'd like."

jaehyun tried to contain his smirk at the words the woman spoke. "it would be very nice of you, thank you."

the secretary was immediately called, and he asked for jaehyun to wait in a seated area for a minute before he got there, which the ceo obeyed. a while after, the elevator in front of the reception dinged, and nakamoto's secretary walked out of it, his eyes looking around searching for jaehyun.

the ceo of jung corporation stood up immediately, making his way towards the secretary whose ckeeds coloured a shade darker as he noticed him.

"m-mister jung." the secretary flashed a sincere smile. "it's a pleasure to have you here." he added, holding his hand out for a handshake.

"the pleasure is mine." jaehyun replied almost flirting as he glanced at the hand that was held out in front of him. it was slightly shaking, mostly conveying fear or nervousness, and judging by the shy smile the secretary was giving him, jaehyun assumed it had to be nervousness.

the ceo shook taeyong's hand, noticing that it was also slightly moist, confirming his suspicions.

"would you like to follow me to a meeting room? i believe it would be more comfortable than talking here." the secretary explained, his smile never leaving his face as he was staring at the ceo.

"of course." jaehyun nodded simply. "you can lead the way."

with a small cough, the secretary turned on his heels and used his badge to call for the lift, allowing jaehyun to catch a glimpse of his picture and his name.

lee taeyong. here it was, now he better keep that in mind.

"follow me, please." the secretary – taeyong, jaehyun forced himself to repeat in his head – announced after the lift reached a higher floor.

the ceo let himself be guided across the labyrinth of rooms by the secretary who seemed everything but lost. they reached the furthest room of the corridor which taeyong opened with his badge once again, allowing the two of them to get inside.

"please, make yourself comfortable." he declared. "would you like something to drink? water? coffee? or black tea perhaps?" the secretary added as jaehyun analysed his surroundings.

"huh... black tea will do, thanks." he replied simply, completely bewildered by the scenery they were in. three of the walls of the room were replaced by bay windows giving a wonderful 360° view of the city from one of the highest floors of the nakamotors' headquarters. it was furnished with expensive looking couches and tables, a big video projector facing the only white wall of the room, and a bunch of tablets, wires and technological stuff placed all around the room.

as the secretary walked out of the room – surely to grab jaehyun his cup of black tea – the ceo of jung corporation continued studying his surroundings in detail. this room alone seemed to be more technological than everything he had at his own headquarters. everything was modern and high-tech, made of glass or trendy materials. and staring at every element compising this room, jaehyun couldn't help but understand why the arrogant ceo had compared his headquarters to the chateau of versailles, with its old tapestries and its heavy wooden furniture. their headquarters were like day and night, drastically opposed.

"m-mister jung, here is your cup of black tea." taeyong stated as he stepped in the room, holding out the mug to jaehyun with a shaky hand – which caused a bit of hot liquid to spill on jaehyun's hand and tuxedo. "oh my god, i'm sorry!" the secretary exclaimed with widened eyes, immediately rushing to a corner of the room where he grabbed a tissue before coming back to the ceo and cleaning the small stains of tea on his hand and on his clothes.

"it's okay, i'll drop the tuxedo at the dry cleaners." jaehyun replied simply before taking a sip of the black tea. "aren't you drinking anything?"

"o-oh, no." taeyong shook his head, cheeks slightly red. "i'm not thirsty." he added, flustered that the hot ceo was taking interest in him.

there was a short silence which allowed jaehyun to think again about sicheng's words the day before, and somehow, he couldn't help but start believing that they were genuinely true.

taeyong seemed to be a nervous wreck around him, his cheeks were reddening every once and then, a slight stutter could be heard each time he spoke, and jaehyun had caught him staring a bit too intensely at him a few times already – just like it was the case right now. he still couldn't be 100% sure that taeyong was into him, but he could definitely see that he had some kind of power over the secretary of his main rival, and this was only good news for the ceo of jung corporation who would be able to use this to his advantage.

"s-so..." taeyong coughed, seemingly wakig up from the daze he had been in for the duration of the silence. "were you here to see yuta?"

"i would have liked to have a quick talk with mister nakamoto, yes." jaehyun nodded. "but i believe he is in a meeting right now."

"exactly." the secretary approved. "b-but if you want to i can maybe tell him that you are expecting him and- "

"there's no need to do that." jaehyun cut the secretary's words. "i believe i can ask a few things to you directly."

"t-to me?" taeyong repeated with flushed cheeks, slightly surprised by the request.

"yes, to you." jaehyun's lips curved into a smirk. he could slowly realise how easy it was for him to have control over taeyong, and it made him so much more confident about his plan. "do you mind if we have a small one to one meeting?"

"a-a small one to one meeting..." he repeated again barely above a whisper. "no, of course not!" he quicky replied so that jaehyun could hear him clearly. "we can have a... one to one meeting... together..."

jaehyun let out a slight chuckle at taeyong's panicked state. oh, this seemed like it was about to become too easy for him... "good."

another short silence took over the room, giving taeyong the opportunity to gulp down the lump that was forming in his throat out of nervousness.

the secretary then took a hold of himself and invited the ceo to sit down on one of the sofas as he took a sit himself facing him.

"w-what did you want us to discuss about?" taeyong asked, clicking on a button on the armrest which opened a small hatch from which he pulled a tablet. jaehyun blinked a few times at that sight, dumbfounded by the technology of the place while taeyong opened his work session on the tablet to have access to his files and his own notes. "m-mister jung?"

"huh, yes." the ceo coughed, shaking his head to concentrate on the reason of his visit again. "first of all, i wanted to ask you if you could give me your number."

taeyong's face immediately paled at jaehyun's words, his whole body being covered with a veil of nervousness and stress as he processed the words the ceo had pronounced. "m-my n-number?" he repeated in a shaky voice. needless to say, this only confirmed that jaehyun had hit in the right spot.

"well, yes." jaehyun nodded. "mister nakamoto mentioned that you were the one scheduling meetings and events, and so, i believe that you will be the person i'll have to reach whenever i need to plan a meeting with your ceo."

"o-oh, right." the secretary stammered. "m-my number... f-for business-related matters."

"i mean... it's not that i hate driving all the way to your headquarters just to see you, but i don't believe the planet is a big fan of it." jaehyun replied with a chuckle before he took another sip of his black tea.

"r-r-right..." taeyong gulped, trying to force himself not to blush at jaehyun's words. "i-i'll write my number on the wall."

with a few clicks on the tablet, the video projector of the room got switched on and connected to the tablet taeyong was holding. the secretary opened a blank page and scribbled his number on it so that jaehyun could have it, under the once again bewildered eyes of the jung corporation ceo.

"i-i'm also giving you yuta's number so that you have it for emergencies." the secretary added, scribing the second number from memory as well.

"it could be useful, thank you." the ceo stated, pulling his phone out and snapping a picture of the numbers that were appearing on the wall before taeyong shut the video projector off again.

before taeyong could think about a way to ask the ceo what his next question was, the door of the room was slammed open, revealing a man wearing a pair of red dress pants and a white shirt with the first buttons unbuttoned and the sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

"mister jung, what a surprise to have you here!" the man exclaimed, closing the door behind him and approaching the ceo of jung corporation for a handshake.

"pleasant surprise, i hope, mister nakamoto." jaehyun raised a brow, standing up and shaking yuta's hand firmly.

"always." the ceo of nakamotors answered. "so, what has you here today?"

an honest answer to that question would have been 'i wanted to check if your secretary was really into me, and if i could use him to make your company sink', but unlike sicheng, honesty wasn't part of his core principles.

and so, since jaehyun had now figured out that taeyong did indeed have the hots for him, and that he would be able to use him, jaehyun had no purpose being here anymore. but for the sake of his business, and mostly for the sake of his plan, the ceo stayed a bit longer, spitting unnecessary facts and asking random questions to the other ceo and thus, drowning any suspicion that the ceo or the secretary could have.

☏

painfully kneeling under a pile of carboard boxes, the electric technician swore in his native language for the nth time in the past hour, trying to untangle the dozens of wires that were currently resembling a giant ball of electric yarn.

and as usual for him, the silence surrounding him never lasted long.

"sicheng!" the voice of his boss made him jump slightly, causing a few cardboard boxes around him to fall to the floor.

"the hdmi cable that you asked for is here, boss. i will just need a few more minutes to untangle it." the worker immediately replied doubling his efforts pulling onto the specific wire that he had been trying to get for the past hour.

"i don't care about this fucking hdmi cable anymore, sicheng." the boss tsked. "there's someone who is asking for you."

the technician frowned before turning his head to look in his boss' direction.

"for me?" he repeated. "but who?"

"i don't know. but it better not be a client complaining." his boss barked immediately. "now go see them quickly. each second that you spend not working will be deducted from your pay."

as soon as those words were pronounced, the chinese male hopped to his feet and rushed back inside the shop, making sure to dust off his orange shorts that had become dusty because of how dirty it was in the storage warehouse.

the second in set a foot in the store, sicheng immediately noticed a man in an expensive-looking suit standing by the counter with a equally expensive-looking briefcase.

"mister dong sicheng?" the unknown man asked.

"yes, it's me. how may i help you?" the engineer replied.

"i am mister jung's personal tailor." the man explained. "he specifically asked me to come and to take your measurements."

"my measurements? for what?" sicheng repeated dumbfounded.

"for a new suit." the tailor said with a snort. "do you perhaps know somewhere we could be more comfortable for that?"

"o-oh, yeah, sure." sicheng stuttered before asking the tailor to follow him towards one of the rooms used for appointments.

once the two of them were in the room, the tailor placed his briefcase on the table and pulled out a small notebook, a pen and a measuring tape.

"stand straight please." he demanded, approaching the engineer in orange shorts and placing the measuring tape next to him and letting it unroll to the ground.

sicheng let himself be guided by the man in this measurement session, staying silent as the man asked him to change position and wrote down the measurements in his notebook.

the session lasted around a dozen of minutes, the tailor measuring sicheng's body from head to toe, not forgetting the circumference of his waist, his arms, his legs and even his wrists and his ankles.

the measuring work was done very professionally, and for a few minutes, sicheng did genuinely feel like those rich ass people who always had staff to do the smallest things for them.

sicheng had already had to take measurements for nano electronics when he had had to decide whether his orange work uniform would need to be in size S or M, but he only had had to give them his waist measurement, the width of his shoulders and his overall height. now, it seemed like the tailor was measuring every single detail of his body.

"did mister jung mention why i would need another suit?" sicheng broke the silence, this question troubling him since the beginning of the measuring.

"it is necessary for you to have a nice suit as you are his secretary." the tailor answered simply, staying focused on his work.

"i'm not his secretary." sicheng retorted. "at least not for long."

"he still requested me to make measurements for a new suit." the tailor said, continuing his measurements and not forgetting to write them down on his notebook.

sicheng stayed silent after those words, hoping that this wouldn't mean jaehyun needed him for much longer as his secretary. every day passing seemed closer to his last day as an electrical technician at nano electronics. his boss was more and more on his back, and considering he had never particularly liked sicheng, his behaviour these days was close to being border.

the worst part of this was that sicheng absolutely loved his job. no matter how bad his boss yelled at him, or how little he was paid, sicheng had become an electrical technician because he had always wanted to be one, and he absolutely loved what he was doing – when his boss gave him field missions, of course, not just when he was asked to untangle the wires in the warehouse attached to the shop.

"we're all good. thank you, mister dong." the tailor declared, closing his notebook and throwing it back inside his briefcase with his measuring tape and his pen. "the suit will be delivered to you in a few days."he continued walking towards the door to exit the room and then the store. "i left my card on the table if you ever need a retouch or if you ever have a question."

"i-i'm sorry, sir, but... i..." the engineer stuttered as the tailor was halfway through the door.

"you?"

"i-i... i can't afford a suit. i don't have enough money." sicheng stated transparently, guessing how expensive the piece of clothing would be and knowing very well that he wouldn't be able to afford it with his underpaid technician job.

the tailor stayed silent for a second, looking at sicheng in his orange uniform from head to toe before looking back into his eyes.

"i'm aware." he said. "mister jung said he would be paying for you. goodbye mister dong." the tailor added before leaving.

and that's how sicheng's life had turned out. almost jobless, with very little money, and pretending to be someone he definitely wasn't.

before the chinese male could even take his head in his hands in desperation, the door of the room was slammed open by none other than his boss who stared at him from the doorway with wide eyes.

"you have a sugar daddy paying for everything you want?! is that why you are always focused on everything but your work?!"

and god, could things become even worse?