"here they are." jaehyun declared as a black nakamotors car pulled up in the driveway of jung corporation. "remember what we talked about, okay? listen carefully to anything nakamoto may tell you, and any business secret from him is good to take."

the chinese male standing by his side simply nodded, his eyes fixed on the two males exiting the black luxury car.

"great." jaehyun simply added before plastering a fake-smile on his face and taking a step forward. "mister nakamoto! welcome to jung corporation once again!"

sicheng gulped before taking a big breath and stepping forward as well, holding his hand out for yuta and taeyong to shake – and trying his best to ignore the eyebrow wiggles that yuta did as he shook his hand. this ceo really knew ho to make every encounter border-uncomfortable and to irk sicehng in every way.

"our chief engineer is waiting for us inside to show you his work." jaehyun announced, saving sicheng from further embarrassment. "please follow us."

yuta and taeyong obliged following jaehyun as the male walked in the building and across the corridors to the engineering labs where the chief engineer was waiting for them.

sicheng stayed a few steps behind, a tight grip on his notebook and his 'jung corporation' pen, as he sighed, once again wondering why he was there when he absolutely didn't belong to this world.

seeing jaehyun and yuta talking and acting around people comforted sicheng in his choice of studies. for long, after choosing the path of engineering and mostly electrical engineering, the chinese male had wondered if he shouldn't have chosen something easier like business; something that would have allowed him to work less at school, to need to think less after getting a job, and to earn more money by doing something that seemed full of common sense. the chinese male had at first regretted to choose the path of his passion, electrical engineering, a sector in which workers were often mistreated and poorly paid, and he had started to ask himself if getting paid and respected for doing something he didn't like wouldn't be better in the end than doing something he was passionate about in shitty circumstances.

but now that he was involuntarily immersed in the world of business and transnational companies, sicheng could only be happy that he chose his passion over this fake act.

the business world was full of lies and low blows. sicheng could see it, and even worse, he was also part of it. truth and honesty were two notions that were almost foreign to the people working in that sector. all that mattered to them was to know to whih extent they could lie to make other people believe them and enrich them.

the most important actors of the business world hadn't even worked their asses off to get where they were now. they had inherited their business from other people, or they had stolen the idea from someone else and taken all credits for it, but they hadn't created everything from scratch; this never happened.

and so, after a few weeks working part-time as jaehyun's secretary and seeing deeper in the business world, sicheng was sure that he had done the right choice when he was younger. yeah, he'd rather spend his days overworking himself and be scolded by his bitch of a boss than acting like a two-faced prick who hated his rivals but made them believe he adored them for the sake of a big company.

"sicheng?!"

the chinese male suddenly got started by the way jaehyun had pronounced his name.

"h-huh, yes?" he stuttered, his cheeks becoming rosy as he realised that everyone was looking at him.

"could you get us two coffes, an americano, a black tea and something for you while mister nakamoto and i have a talk with the chief engineer, please?" jaehyun stated, his eyes discretely going from sicheng to a nearby door.

the engineer blinked a few times before turning his head towards the said door and looking back at jaehyun. "y-yeah, sure." he ended up nodding, hoping that this would make everybody stop looking at him.

silently cursing in chinese, sicheng headed in the direction of the door jaheyun had been looking at, hoping with all of his might that there would be a cafeteria or something behind that door, because sicheng had no idea where he could even find coffee in the maze of corridors that was jung corporation to him.

he pushed the door open, his eyes lighting up immediately when he caught a glimpse of a very old-fashioned coffee machine, like those sicheng could find at his engineering school years ago.

without losing a second, the chinese male repeated in his head the order jaehyun had passed before approaching the machine. old-fashioned wasn't the appropriate adjective to describe what was in front of him; 'from the age of dinosaurs' would be more fitting considering how the tape on the thing had become yellowish with time, and judging by the general aspect of the machine.

nowadays, coffee machines were much smaller and technological, proposing you a wide range of coffees and teas, allowing you to choose the size of the cup and even giving you the time left until your drink was ready. well, this very machine did nothing of all of that. there were only six buttons, allowing you to choose between 'coffee', 'expresso', 'hot chocolate', 'hot water' and 'sugar', and the last button was a red one labelled 'stop'.

"you don't know how to use a coffee machine?" a voice stated behind sicheng, causing the fake-secretary to jump in fear.

"oh, y-you scared me." he stuttered, a hand over his chest to calm his erratic heart.

"sorry." taeyong replied with a sincere smile. "i wanted to help you carry everything."

"thank you." sicheng smiled back timidly before turning back towards the machine. "huh... how am i going to make an americano? it's not in the propositions."

"an expresso and then hot water." taeyong explained.

"oh..." sicheng let out, eying the machine weirdly. "huh, okay..."

taeyong laughed a bit at sicheng's confusion.

"mister jung doesn't ask you to get coffee usually? why do you seem so lost facing the coffee machine?" he asked amused.

"w-well..." sicheng gulped, trying to find a quick excuse. "this is the machine of the engineering department. the ones we have close to the office are much more modern, you know? it's just that i had never used this one before." the chinese male said as he watched the hot water fall into the cup of expresso. "here, for the americano." he added, handing the cup to taeyong.

"thank you."

sicheng then stared at the machine again from top to bottom before sighing. "and... where will i find black tea now?"

"oh, there should be tea bags on the side. there's a small drawer where you can place them." taeyong answered immediately, approaching the machine and opening a drawer in which were placed a dozen of tea bags of different flavours.

"wow..." sicheng let out, bending to grab a bag of black tea before pressing on the 'hot water' button. "was one of mister nakamoto's hiring criteria 'knowing how to use a coffee machine'?"

"well, it wasn't a hiring criteria for mister jung i see." taeyong replied playfully before him and sicheng laughed together.

"no, effectively." sicheng noted, handing taeyong the cup of black tea before pressing on the 'coffee' button.

"speaking of which..." taeyong spoke again. "was it difficult for you to get into jung corporation? were there lots of other candidates for the secretary job?"

sicheng involuntarily tensed at taeyong's question.

was it difficult for him to get into jung corporation? absolutely not. all he had done was stay there late for some technical intervention, and jaehyun personally requested him to be his secretary. and obviously, if sicheng had been the one selected, it was that there were no other candidates for the secretary job.

"i-i..." sicheng stuttered. "i don't know. what mattered to me was my application, not all of the others."the chinese male continued with white lies. it was true that in his jobs, what mattered to him was his application and how well he did, no matter how many other candidates were passing the interview. "but in the end, i was the one selected, so this is what's important now."

"yeah, you're right." taeyong nodded, approving sicheng's words. "you have such a nice spirit... i believe that's why mister jung chose you as his secretary. he seems like someone who really pays attention to detail and who wants everything to fit with his conception of things. he must have been seduced by your ways of thinking..."

sicheng stayed silent after taeyong's intervention, simply reflecting on what had just been said.

he recalled telling jaehyun days before that taeyong looked so into him that it hurt to see, well, now he was realising that this description was perhaps a bit too superficial... taeyong was not only 'into jaehyun', he was more like 'completely head over heels for him'... and that, to the point he couldn't realise how toxic jaehyun really was...

"yeah..." sicheng breathed out, taking a deep breath as he wondered for the nth time for the past hour why he was there and not working on fixing an optical fibber. "...he must have been seduced by my ways of thinking..."

☏

"grey looks very nice on you."

surprised by the words that had just been pronounced, sicheng found himself stopping in the middle of the corridor that was leading them towards the entrance of jung corporation, the place where sichen and yuta's roads would part of the day – and hopefully forever.

"sorry?" the chinese male let out, immediately turning around to come face to face with the japanese ceo.

"i mean... other colours look good on you too. but grey looks..." yuta's eyes diverted from sicheng's face to the rest of his body, appreciating the way the grey tuxedo was perfectly tailored for sicheng's body. "...particularly nice."

sicheng held in a sigh.

that day could have been the day yuta hadn't attempted bothering him or pissing him off in any way. it could, but unfortunately, it wasn't. a few steps away from their separation, yuta had found the way to end up by sicheng's side alone, and to talk to him like he always did; like a narcissistic perverted bitch.

"whatever." sicheng let his eyes roll to the back of his head as he started walking again, furthering himself from yuta.

"i'm serious!" the japanese male immediately replied, hurrying to get back by sicheng's side while they walked. "it's just that i only had seen you in that black suit of yours that you wore to all of our previous encounters. a black suit which, i must admit, looked a bit old-fashioned in its tailoring style and- "

"do you ever shut up?" sicheng abruptly asked, interrupting yuta's words in a way that could have earned him a slap on the face – but thankfully didn't.

"well..." yuta chuckled. "never around you if that's what you're wondering."

"oh, sweet..." sicheng sighed out loud this time, accelerating his pace in hope to red rid of yuta faster. why the hell did the entrance of the building have to be this far?

sicheng was allowed a few steps in silence, but he was soon bothered again by the one and only nakamoto yuta, ceo of nakamotors – and hopefully, sicheng's future punching ball.

"so... you bought a new suit... what for? to make a good impression in front of me?" yuta asked with a smirk.

"of, if i had bought a suit for you, i would have made sure it was the ugliest possible so that you'd be so disgusted by me that you'd leave me alone." the chinese male retorted immediately, earning another chuckle from the ceo.

"well, let me crush your hopes right now, because you'd look wonderful, even dressed in a trash bag."the ceo snickered, poking sicheng's nose teasingly with his pointer finger. "even if you look better than ever in this new grey suit."

"what even tells you it's new?" sicheng stopped again, crossing his arms over his chest as he raised a brow at the other male. "i could simply have been wearing it when we didn't meet to avoid you bothering me."

a smile resembling the cheshire cat's grin appeared on yuta's face as his eyes looked deep into sicheng's. the chinese male's heart stopped for a second, frozen by the way yuta was slowly leaning forward, approaching their faces as one of his hands slid down on his back towards his butt.

however just before reaching his butt, sicheng felt the ceo playing with the hem of his suit before feeling a small tug which seemed to snip a stitch that was on the back of the suit.

"every businessman knows that the tacking stich of a suit must be removed before wearing the suit..."yuta whispered in sicheng's ear, their faces being so close that the chinese male could feel yuta's lips brushing against the shell of his ear. "...and yet, yours was still stitched."

sicheng stayed silent, his body completely frozen and his heart missing beats every other second. he recalled hearing somewhere that suits came with a stich behind their back that shall be removed, and that if it wasn't, then the suit would have nasty folds while worn... and yet, he had been stupid not to recall that this morning, when he knew he was going to meet yuta, the man that could notice any detail as small as it could be... 

seeing sicheng's state, the japanese male giggled letting his fingers delicately close around sicheng's jaw to make sure the fake secretary looked into his eyes. and with a final pull, yuta approached sicheng's face from his dangerously close, the chinese male resembling a koi fish with how his face was squished between yuta's slim fingers.

"you don't have any secrets from me, dong sicheng."

from a few feet behind them, jaehyun watched attentively their interactions, hoping that sicheng could get some nice information from anything business-related about nakamotors. but well, judging by the constant smirk that was displayed on yuta's face, these little chitchats between the two males seemed everything but business-related.

as the ceo was focused on his main rival and his fake-secretary, a gentle tug on his sleeve made him look away and divert his attention to yuta's secretary who had been walking by his side in silence.

"h-huh... can i ask you a question?" the male whispered, his eyes glancing towards his boss as if to check if he could hear or not.

"yes, sure." jaehyun nodded, looking down at the shy male next to him.

"so... for the dinner tomorrow..." he stated, his cheeks instantly reddening. "...is it still okay for you...?"

jaehyun stared at his rival's secretary with a frown for a second, not really understanding his question before he noticed the tint of red on the boy's cheeks, immediately making him remember his plan; seduce the rival's secretary, and crush the rival's company.

"of course, it is." jaehyun spoke, putting on his best smile. "why? do you have an impediment?" he added in a serious tone, making the whole act more believable.

"oh, no, no!" taeyong shook his head energetically .

"great. we'll see each other again tomorrow then." the ceo replied, patting taeyong's shoulder.

and well, the reaction was immediate. taeyong flushed bright red, his eyes lingering on his own shoulder that had been patted by jaehyun.

the ceo almost snorted at that; taeyong really made things so easy for him...

"a-and... huh... where do you want to have dinner?" taeyong asked after a few seconds of silence.

"i had an italian restaurant in mind, if that's okay for you." the ceo replied, analysing each facial expression from the secretary.

"yes, it's perfect!" he replied without second thoughts, his smile widening every second.

"send me your number on my business phone. i'll text you the details tomorrow." jaehyun finished to which taeyong nodded.

"okay, i'll send you my number." he replied now fully grinning.

jaehyun stayed silent for a while, keeping his eyes on taeyong as the boy looked back at him with admiration.

he really resembled a lost puppy, waiting for his master to give him orders like that... and this was so perfect for jaehyun's plan. he could already envision him the next day asking him about nakamoto's business while sharing a plate of pasta.

"taeyong?!" a voice broke the daze the two males were in. "let's go? we're going to be late to our appointment."

"y-yes, of course!" the korean secretary stuttered, glancing one last time at jaehyun before running towards yuta who was heading out.

jaehyun took a few steps forward until he was standing by sicheng's side while the two of them watched yuta and taeyong getting in their car that the valet had parked right in front of the entrance.

"eventful day, huh?" jaehyun let out, turning his head to look at his fake secretary whose eyes seemed lost in the void.

"you can't even imagine..."

☏

typing an email on his computer rapidly, the ceo of nakamotors lifted his head to check on his secretary who he hadn't heard for the past half an hour.

he found taeyong sitting on his swivel chair unmoving, with his eyes looking at nothing, as if he was in a deep reflexion about something.

"earth to taeyong? everything alright?"

inevitably, the secretary didn't answer, too lost in his own thoughts to even hear the ceo speaking to him. yuta stood up and walked to taeyong's side, checking the screens of his computers, only to find them switched off, surely because they had shut down after a long time of inactivity.

"hey, tae?" he spoke again, this time placing a hand over taeyong's shoulder which made the secretary jump in fear.

"oh my god! you scared me!" he let out, his heart pumping considerably fast.

"sorry, it's just that... you've been zoning out for a while."

taeyong blinked, looking at his surroundings only to realise that his screens were pitch black and that the sun had started to set outside. wow, he really had been in a long ass daze... and for what?

"s-sorry, i... i was thinking..." he mumbled, immediately typing on his keyboard to switch his computers on once again.

"yeah, i could see that." yuta hummed. "but what had you so deep in thought?"

"i..." the secretary's cheeks became red once again. "i was thinking of what to wear tonight..."

because yes, that had been taeyong's main concern since he had received a message from jaehyun on his personal phone a few hours ago, giving him the time and the address of their meeting at the restaurant. and now, taeyong couldn't help himself but wonder whether it would be a business dinner, thus requiring him to wear smart clothes, just like they did when going to the office, or if it was something a bit more casual, meaning he could dress like he usually did out of work.

honestly, he could have sent jaehyun another message to make sure, but he didn't want to appear desperate. he was supposed to be a businessman, and businessmen knew how to dress well in every circumstances.

so, yeah, for the past hours, taeyong had been mentally walking through his closet to find the perfect pieces of clothing for tonight's dinner with jaehyun.

"tonight?" yuta raised a brow. "you're going out?"

"i..." taeyong gulped, thinking of what to say for a while. "i was invited to an italian restaurant." he finished.

"an italian restaurant!" yuta whistled. "someone's going to eat well tonight!"

"yeah..." taeyong chuckled awkwardly, trying to keep his expression as blank as possible not to make yuta know that he was having dinner with his main business rival.

"and you're worried about what to wear?" the ceo asked.

"yeah, i don't know whether wearing something extra but risking to scare the other off, or going with something more casual but classy..." taeyong explained, hoping that yuta would have enough elements to give him a proposition without needing to ask for more details.

"well... honestly, i think something casual chic would be nice." yuta told after a few seconds of thinking. "say, a nice pair of jeans with a silky shit? you have a beige silk shirt, don't you?"

"yes." taeyong nodded, a small smile etching onto his face as he realised yuta's proposition would be perfect for the night. "i'm going to wear that, thank you!"

the ceo chuckled at taeyong's excitement. "no problem, i'm glad i could help." he patted taeyong's shoulder again. "and... what time are you expected at the restaurant?"

"at 7:30pm." taeyong replied with a smile.

"well..." yuta checked his connected watch. "you should switch your computer off and hurry then. it's past 6pm."

the secretary let out a gasp, looking at the time before closing all of his tabs on his computer and collecting his stuff on his desk.

"oh my god!" he exclaimed. "i'll make up for leaving early tomorrow, i promise, i'm sorry."

"no need, taeyong. you work very hard, it's okay." yuta reassured him as the secretary stood up and smiled at his boss.

"thank you, yuta."

"no problem." the ceo responded once again. "now, go. you're going to be late."

taeyong flashed yuta a smile before walking in the direction of the door. however, he was stopped in his tracks by yuta who spoke out loud.

"you didn't tell me you had started dating again!" the ceo raised a brow as he crossed his arms over his chest. "it's a date tonight, isn't it?"

taeyong faced yuta again, letting himself imagine for a second what it would be like to have a date with the one and only jung jaehyun.

"maybe yes... maybe no..."