the korean secretary heaved out a long sigh as he leaned his head back on the leather headrest of the passenger seat.

"so, you didn't come with your car?" the driver questioned, diverting his eyes from the road to taeyong for a quick second.

"someone was kind enough to drop me off." the secretary mumbled, not giving more information.

"oh..."

silence took over the car again as the vehicle accelerated on the road, following the route the gps showed. however, the silence didn't last as long as taeyong hoped it would as it was broken by the other once again after a few seconds.

"and is there a reason while you seemed so tense during the car fair?"

"yes, yuta, there is." taeyong was quick to answer, his tone rather harsh causing his boss to be surprised by the sudden outburst.

"wow, okay..." the ceo let out a small snort. "i won't ask about it if you don't want to talk."

yes, taeyong didn't want to talk about it.

ever since he had set a foot in jaehyun's car after failing to call a taxi, the korean secretary had been so embarrassed that he hadn't dared uttering a word.

and now that they had spent two whole hours at the car fair, yuta and jaehyun both presenting their car models and showing the notable elements of their vehicles, taeyong couldn't realise how stupid he may have seemed in front of jaehyun. and this enraged him.

"l-look, i'm sorry for yelling..." the secretary said after a while, between two sighs. "it's just that... i was stressed and... yeah, tired surely."

"don't worry, it's okay." yuta shrugged in off. "i should have asked a bit less directly i guess."

"i'm really sorry, i swear i'm not like that." taeyong continued, his eyes focused on yuta.

the japanese male simply chuckled. "hey, it's okay. i know you taeyong, i know you're not like that. we all have our bad days, you know?"

"mmh..." the secretary humed in approval, a slight weight being lifted off his chest as yuta assured him that he knew this type of behaviour was exceptional.

to be fully honest, taeyong couldn't really understand what was going on with him these days.

he couldn't really recognise himself in his actions and sometimes, not even in his words.

it wasn't usual for taeyong to keep secrets from people, let alone from his boss. and yet, here he was, having developed a crush – and a massive one judging by how everything he did or said was thought about not to repulse jaehyun – on his boss' main rival, or in other terms, the last person taeyong should be hanging out with. and if only it was just a crush, but now, they had been to the restaurant together, drove jaehyun's car multiple times, and they were even on first name basis when no one else was around.

this was not taeyong, and this was seriously starting to freak him out.

"you know, maybe... maybe talking could distract you." yuta suggested, side-glancing at his secretary who seemed to be in deep thought.

"i don't really want to talk, though." taeyong replied in all honesty, his eyes focused on the scenery outside.

"well, hearing me talk, then?"

taeyong turned his head, staring at yuta whose eyes we focused on the road. "you want to talk?"

"well..." yuta chuckled. "i still haven't told you about my date, have i?"

the secretary kept a blank face on, yuta's words simply making him recall one of the main reasons why he was in such a bad mood in the first place.

yuta's date, which had surely been so nice that the boy had stayed up until four in the morning to send taeyong a message; message which had been read by taeyong way to late and caused jaehyun to come to nakamotors for nothing; and jaehyun's presence at nakamotors which had made it possible for taeyong to embarrass himself in front of the ceo.

so, it seemed like everything was fated and had happened because of one and only thing: yuta's freaking date.

"yeah, right." taeyong exhaled, leaning his head back against the window quite harshly. he didn't really want to hear about yuta telling him how much of an amazing night he had had when this had caused taeyong to be in such a pissy mood today.

"so, the date in itself was awful." yuta started, not glancing at his secretary as he told his story. taeyong forced himself to keep his remarks to himself, not wanting to anger yuta. "like the guy was barely interested in me, and all he wanted was to have dinner at the stars'n bar, you know? the american bar and restaurant downtown."

"yeah, the stars'n bar." taeyong simply hummed.

"well, if fact, he only wanted to go there because his ex was a waiter there, and he still wasn't over him." yuta continued his story. "and of course, at the first opportunity him and his ex-boyfriend ran away and locked themselves in the bathroom."

"and what part of it happened until 4am?" taeyong couldn't help but ask slightly irritated. how could have yuta abandoned him this morning if his date had been such a disaster?

"well, the second date did last until 4am." yuta smiled as he thought again about how his night had turned out. "in fact, after being abandoned i noticed..."

the ceo stopped himself in the middle of his sentence, wondering if he should go further and tell taeyong with whom he had spent the night. wouldn't the secretary find it weird, or even disturbing that yuta had gone out with his rival's secretary? was it even allowed?

"you noticed?" taeyong asked, seemingly uninterested.

"i... noticed someone sitting at a table alone, and i decided to talk to him." yuta simply stated, not completely lying, but not saying the whole truth either. "and he accepted, so we had a very nice dinner together. we talked a lot and yeah, i drove him back to his house but we stayed a few hours more in the car just chatting about random things. and he left me at 3:30am, so i got back home around 4am, which is when i decided to send you a message."

in the midst of yuta's story, the secretary's head had turned sideways so that he could stare at his boss and frown at the male's words.

"so you didn't even go further than talking?" he questioned.

"well, everything is not about sex." yuta shrugged. "it could work out with this one. i don't want to ruin everything on the first night."

taeyong snorted silently, his eyes unconsciously rolling to the back of his head as he looked back at the road from the window. "right..." he mumbled. "glad you had a good time, anyway."

"yeah, thanks." yuta smiled brightly, checking his rear-view mirror before lighting up his turning lights and taking a turn as indicated by the gps.

the rest of the drive was silent, neither taeyong nor yuta having other things to share for this gloomy sunday. plus, judging by how pissy taeyong was, yuta guessed it wouldn't be the best to bother taeyong with his usual teasing attitude.

so, yuta kept his mouth shut, pulling in front of taeyong's apartment building before unlocking the car doors.

"here, you're home." the ceo declared, making the secretary hum nonchalantly.

"thanks." the korean replayed, opening the door without giving yuta a look.

the japanese ceo stared at his secretary worriedly. he had never seen taeyong in such a mood before, and it was seriously starting to worry him.

what could have happened for the usually bubbly male to be so gloomy? the secretary didn't seem to want to share it, so yuta wouldn't push him because tayeong shall be able to have his own privacy, but he really hoped it wasn't something too bad.

"yong!" he exclaimed right as the secretary slammed the car door shut.

yuta quickly rolled down the window as taeyong faced him again, leaning slightly inside the car through the open window to hear what yuta would tell him.

"i have the leaders' seminar next tuesday." he informed. "and i'm going to work on it tomorrow so... you don't have to come to work if you don't feel like it."

"hmm?" the korean secretary let out confusedly.

"it's... the seminar made for the ceos. our secretaries aren't invited so... so, yeah. since i'll be working on it tomorrow, it's fine if you can't make it to work." yuta explained, showing off a gentle smile. "you need to rest."

the secretary hummed again as he nodded his head.

"i'm sorry again for today." he declared.

"it's okay. it happens." yuta assured. "take care for me, okay?"

"okay..." taeyong nodded weakly.

"good." the ceo flashed him a smile. "we'll see each other on tuesday, then."

and with that said, yuta's black car drove away, leaving taeyong alone in front of his apartment building, seriously wondering what was wrong with him.

☏

just like on any other monday morning, jaehyun was seated in his silent office, focused on the files that had been placed on his desk and working hard on them.

he may have worked the day before, this was no excuse not to be present on a monday. in fact, despite what jaehyun had told yuta's secretary the day before, for him, every day was a business day, and he wouldn't slouch considering that he had worked the day before despite it being a sunday.

so, here was jaehyun, working in all of his glory, lost in between the lines of the many contracts or reports that had been handed to him. he was completely devoted to his work, making sure that he didn't miss a single detail of what he read, keeping a notebook by his side to write down the few questions or remarks that he could think of.

in other words, the ceo was imperturbable. or well, he would have been if it wasn't for his phone ringing and breaking the royal silence that had previously taken over the room.

"ceo jung on the phone, i'm listening?" the male spoke out by reflex, not even checking the caller's id as he picked up the phone.

"h-huh... hello, it's sicheng..." the shy voice said on the other side of the line, unconsciously causing a small smile to appear on jaehyun's face.

"oh, hello sicheng." he greeted the male. "do you need something? should i come to nano electronics? is your boss bothering you?" the ceo bombarded the male with questions – something absolutely not frequent for him.

"no, no. i just wanted to have a small talk with you." sicheng replied quickly, reassuring the ceo who was about to start packing his stuff.

"oh, yeah, okay." jaehyun hummed, leaning back on his armchair. "well, i'm listening then."

"first, i wanted to ask you how the car fair was? were you able to discuss about interesting things?"the chinese male asked gently.

jaehyun's heart couldn't help but melt at sicheng's care for him and his business matters when he knew very well that he didn't like being his secretary.

the more jaehyun got to know sicheng, and the more he realised how precious the chinese male was. he truly cared for the people around him, and this, even though he faced lots of struggles, and this was very respectable. in some ways, jaehyun was happy that the electrical technician had been there that night before the congress, when jaehyun needed to find a secretary. in fact, he slowly realised that sicheng's profile did fit perfectly with what he would ask from his secretary.

"jaehyun?" sicheng called for the ceo's first name worriedly as he still hadn't received a response from him. "are you alright?"

"huh, yeah, sorry." jaehyun cleared his throat. "the car fair was fine; not the most interesting but it was worth seeing."

"and... was mister nakamoto present?" the chinese male asked with hesitation, causing jaehyun to frown.

"yeah, he was." he nodded. "but he didn't meet us at his headquarters as planned. he directly met us at the fair later on. why, though?"

"well..." sicheng took a deep breath. "this was the second thing i wanted to tell you about..."

the ceo hummed, anticipating sicheng's next words. he had no idea what the chinese male could want to say, but judging by the way his voice was trembling, there were high chances that it wouldn't please jaehyun.

"after my intervention at the bar yesterday, the waitress offered me a drink, and yuta was there so... so when he saw me, he invited me for dinner... and... and i said yes, and we spent most of the night together... just talking, of course, it was just talking..." sicheng explained, making a few pauses in his speech. "but i thought... i though i'd let you know."

"okay." jaehyun simply stated after a few seconds. "thank you for telling me. i really appreciate it."

sicheng stayed silent for a few seconds. "a-aren't you mad at me...?" he questioned, definitely not expecting such a calm and collected reaction from the ceo.

"mad?" jaehyun repeated. "why would i be mad at you?"

"i-i don't know... he's... he's your rival..."

"sicheng." jaehyun said quite sternly, shutting the chinese male. "you didn't tell him anything compromising for my company, did you?"

"no! of course not!" sicheng was quick to deny.

"then it's all good." jaehyun assured. "i've been working with you for a few weeks now, and i can see how you are. i know you wouldn't just tell him everything like that..." the ceo finished, the last words barely above a whisper as they were so unfamiliar to him.

the chiense male didn't answer right away, taking a while to process jaehyun's words.

in fact, it seemed like he had mistaken his reading of the ceo; well, it seemed like the person talking to him over the phone was completely different from the cold ass ceo he had been with at the congress on the first day as his fake-secretary.

jaehyun wasn't just a selfish and megalomaniac bastard, caring only about his business and money. it seemed like behind this awful carapace was a soft little boy who hadn't received enough love and attention from other beings.

and well, sicheng like this version of the ceo much better.

"t-thank you, jaehyun..." he spoke sincerely, smiling on the other side of the phone.

"of course, sicheng." the ceo replied with as much sincerity, surprising himself. he definitely couldn't recognise himself anymore.

the chinese male coughed slightly, catching jaehyun's attention again. "and... huh... there was a third thing i wanted to tell you."

"sure, go on." jaehyun hummed.

"well, i wanted to thank you again for praising me in front of my boss. thanks to you, he allowed me to take a few days of leave so... yeah, i'm going on holiday." the fake-secretary explained, making jaheyun smile.

"that's very good. i'm glad he did that for you."

"yes." sicheng approved. "so... if that's okay with you, i would have liked to go to japan from wednesday and i'll be back next friday. i really want to go and visit japan, i've never been there, and i have so much to learn there from the nanotechnologies and nanoelectronics..."

"why are you asking me if that's okay?" the ceo frowned.

"well, because... i'm supposed to be your secretary and... i don't know if there are major events next week to which i need to be so, i wanted to make sure with you before and- "

"sicheng." jaehyun cut the chinese male's blabbering. "i am not your boss, you don't have to ask me."

"but if- "

"no buts." the ceo cut him again. "you're going to japan from wednesday to next thursday and that's final. you have nothing to ask me. and mostly don't even think about this fake-secretary thing while you're in japan, okay? you just enjoy your vacation, doing everything you please, but with your mind far away from work. understood?"

there was a small silence. "yes, okay..." sicheng ended up saying. "i'll book the tickets, then."

jaehyun hummed, his lips curving up in a smile. "as you should."

☏

"sorry, yuta is currently unavailable because he is preparing for an important seminar." taeyong sighed as the person on the other side of the phone blabbered in his ear despite him trying to explain that the ceo had more important business to deal with.

"as i said before, it won't be possible right away." taeyong insisted before opening on his computer the tab with yuta's schedule and his own. "the best i can propose you is a videocall on... thursday night? or friday morning?"

the secretary stayed on the phone for a few more minutes, humming when the person on the other side of the line decided a time slot that fit with their schedule.

"thank you. have a nice day, bye." taeyong finished before hanging up and slamming the phone on his office desk.

from the other side of the spacious office, yuta looked at his secretaru with a brow raised.

"who was it?" he questioned.

"people from the factory in china." taeyong exhaled loudly. "they absolutely want to have a talk with you, and they didn't want to tell me at which subject."

"you told them i would have the time after the leaders' seminar next tuesday?" the ceo tilted his head to the side.

"yes, i did, but well... they didn't want to hear it." tayeong explained. "you have a half an hour-call with them on friday morning."

"okay, thanks." yuta simply hummed before focusing back on his presentation for the leaders' seminar.

however, after a few minutes of building his presentation, the ceo diverted his eyes to his secretary whose mood seemed to be as awful as on sunday after the car fair.

"yong?" the ceo called, making the secretary lift his head.

"yeah?"

"are you okay?" he asked worriedly. "you look kind of... out of it."

"i'm fine..." taeyong sighed. "just..."

ashamed? guilty? remorseful?

stupid? foolish? brainless?

laughable? idiotic? derisory?

absurd? weird? silly?

or perhaps every of those?

yeah, he was still not over the fact that jaehyun had caught him red-handed trying to call for a taxi when taeyong could have just asked jaehyun to ride with him.

what must the ceo think of him now? he may even believe that taeyong didn't want to be in his company when in fact, it was the opposite.

and then, he felt mad at himself for not being able to look at the other ceo in the eye during the car fair because of how shameful he felt. jaehyun must have felt as him taeyong was completely rejecting him.

and the fact that they hadn't been able to see each other since that incident definitely didn't help. and the fact yuta – and jaehyun too probably – was too busy with the leaders' seminar didn't either, because they had no meeting planned between jung corporation and nakamotors.

so, no, taeyong wasn't what you could call fine.

but there was no way in hell he could tell that to his ceo.

"...just tired." taeyong finished his sentence.

"oh." yuta nodded. "don't hesitate to tell me if something isn't going well, okay?"

"yeah, i won't." the secretary flashed yuta his best smile – but right now, his best was barely a smile.

god, how complicated could it be to have a stupid crush on a rival ceo...?

☏

jaehyun heaved out a sigh as he straightened his back before pressing the doorbell, waiting a few seconds for someone to open the front door.

"jaehyunnie, hello!" a woman greeted him as he was pulled in a quick hug. "you're just on time, i was about to put dinner on the table."

"hello mom." jaehyun replied before kicking his shoes off and entering his family house.

he was quick to reach the dining room where his father was sitting at on his phone.

"hey, dad." jaehyun spoke simply, catching the former ceo's attention.

"hello, son. how have you been?" the man asked, placing his phone on the table before patting the chair next to his to invite jaehyun to sit with him.

"i've been good." jaehyun obliged, sitting down next to his father. "i'm preparing for the leaders' seminar. it's on tuesday."

"yes, i heard so." his father nodded. "have you finished your presentation yet?"

"almost. there are one or two things that i'd like to add." the ceo informed, making his father gasp.

"you're not done yet?!" he scolded. "but it's friday already! you absolutely need to finish this presentation the quickest."

"it's fine, dad. i still have monday for the last touches." jaehyun rolled his eyes, tired of the constant nagging from his father. it seemed like what he was doing was never enough.

as if he only had this seminar to think about. but jokes on his father, in addition to this seminar, jaehyun had a few pending partnership requests to deal with, two or three contracts to sign, and a few performance reports to review. and that is without counting the number of interviews he had for magazines or just the local press.

jaehyun tried his best to be a perfect ceo, but sometimes, it wasn't possible to always be two steps ahead and have everything ready a whole week before an event.

but it seemed like his father couldn't understand that – as if he hadn't been a ceo himself and had to deal with the same struggles.

"so, why did you invite me here for dinner?" the ceo of jung corporation asked as his mother placed the main dish on the table and grabbed jahyun's plate to serve him a nice portion.

"we wanted to see you, why else?" his mother replied with a warm smile which jaehyun returned her. however, he immediately turned towards his father, knowing that there must be something else.

"so?" jaehyun raised an uninterested brow after thanking his mother.

"i wanted to discuss with you about nakamotors."

the ceo held in a sigh, not wanting to anger his father.

nakamotors. couldn't his father understand that he was working on it, but that he needed time? this whole plan with taeyong was part of it, but he couldn't crush everything by going too fast, otherwise he would end up busted.

"what about them?" jaehyun questioned before eating a spoonful of the delicious dish his mother had made.

"have you figured out a way to overpass them?" the older man asked, his eyes fixed on jaehyun who was busying himself by eating.

"i'm working on it." he simply answered.

"well, at some point, you need to start acting, jaehyun." his father said sternly.

"i know..." the ceo tackled back. "trust me, i know. i'm just finding the right moment."

"we are not playing a game, jaehyun. this is real life. if you are a bit too careless, you lose. and losing can have drastic consequences!"

"i know, dad!" jaehyun replied in a harsh tone, glaring at his father.

"no, you don't know! you know nothing, jaehyun!" his father got back at him, his voice louder and his eyes more menacing.

"boys, can we just enjoy this dinner together and put the business problems aside?" jaehyun's mother intervened to which neither jaehyun nor his father answered.

the three ate without talking for a while, the sound of their utensils clicking against the porcelain dishes and breaking the silence.

the atmosphere in the house was everything but homey in jaehyun's mind, but at the same time, it had never felt homey in his teenage years, so he didn't know what he was expecting today.

"i have a question, dad." jaehyun stated after a while, his mother sighing as she could already predict that the question would be business-related. but well, they were all painfully aware that the only subject of discussion in his household was business, and whenever they prevented themselves from talking about, then there was absolutely no discussion going on.

"yeah, what is it?" the ceo's father raised a brow.

"do you remember the article about nakamoto's shareholders that you told me about on the phone last week?"

the older male stared at his son curiously before nodding slowly. "yes, why?"

"well, i was trying to find it on autoinfo but i couldn't. was it in last week's one? or in the one from the week before?"

jaehyun's father gulped down the food he had in his mouth before answering. "i can't remember. i'll go check after dinner."

"hmm." jaehyun hummed, going back to focusing on his plate now that his question had been answered. but well, it seemed like he would still have to endure the painfully tense atmosphere of their business-talks a bit longer.

"have you talked with your shareholders on your side?" the man asked.

"yeah. my main shareholder accepted to hold more shares." jaehyun nodded. "we had a business meeting at the beginning of the week."

"very good." his father nodded. "but keep going. don't let nakamotors outsmart you on that one. this is very important. this could be one of your possible windows to take the lead in the sector once again."

the ceo only sighed at those words.

so, his father truly wouldn't let him manage his company the way he wanted.

he would keep pressuring him until the end.

and of course, he would never tell him how proud he was of his son.

but was he even proud of jaehyun in the first place?

☏

"so, i have everything ready for the leaders' seminar, this is awesome!" the japanese ceo exclaimed, looking over at his presentation again to make sure he hadn't missed anything.

"and you're early." taeyong pointed out. "it's only monday morning, so you still have the whole day to add or remove something if you see a problem."

"exactly." yuta stated, happily closing the tab with the presentation. "i'm so going to impress them tomorrow. my speech is flawless."

"have you revised it yet?" the secretary asked, knowing how yuta was very bad when it came to improvising in front of an audience, and so, that he needed to learn his speeches by heart to make sure he didn't make a fool out of himself in front of everyone.

"yes. i know almost all of it." the ceo hummed. "it's promising to be a very good seminar. too bad you won't be there to see me outsmarting all of them."

"mmh." taeyong mumbled, glancing at the ceo for a second before focusing back on his work.

"don't worry, i'll send you a selfie with mister jung. he'll surely be feeling alone too without his secretary." yuta giggled as his thoughts wandered to sicheng.

on his side, this sole sentence had been sufficient for taeyong's seemingly good mood to darken again.

and here he was thinking about everything that had happened all over again, and how ashamed and mad he was at himself for acting like such a prude...

thankfully, before taeyong could completely start sulking, yuta's personal phone rang, catching his and his secretary's attention.

"unknown number." the ceo declared. "with a japanese indicator..." he added, recognising the indicator from his home country.

"well, pick up, you never know." taeyong simply replied.

"hello, nakamoto yuta from nakamotors." the ceo spoke in his native language, waiting for an answer.

"hello mister nakamoto." the person on the other side of the line answered in japanese. "this is tokyo general hospital. we are very sorry to inform that your mother had an accident and that she will be going through surgery tomorrow."