taeyong immediately diverted his eyes from the screen of his computer after hearing his ringtone blasting in the empty office.

the secretary glanced at the caller's id, a nervous scowl appearing on his face as he picked up the call.

"hello yuta, everything alright?" taeyong asked, trying to push away the negative thoughts that were clouded in his mind.

he recalled him and jaehyun had decided a while ago to pretend like these past days hadn't happened. and taeyong was completely fine with that – of course, he was, after everything he had spilled to the ceo, he definitely didn't want any of this to be brought up ever again.

but somehow, taeyong couldn't help but stress lightly because of what had happened.

what if yuta knew? what if he could tell by the way taeyong was speaking and acting?

would he be mad at taeyong for driving with jaehyun?

would he scold him for acting friendly with the rival ceo?

would he fire him for not knowing how to drive?

"taeyong!" the japanese male exclaimed on the other side of the line. "yes, everything's good! my mother woke up a while ago and she's still doing good after the surgery so, it's very good news!"

"i'm very glad she is, yuta! this is amazing." the secretary replied, a sincere smile plastered on his face as he genuinely felt happy and relieved for his boss.

"yes, it is." yuta hummed. "i think i'm still going to stay with her for a few days to make sure everything is alright, but i'll be back at work on monday."

"yes, of course." taeyong was quick to nod as he pulled out his and yuta's timetables to check what they had for the few days yuta wouldn't be there. "take care of her, that's the most important. we don't have any important stuff the next days so, there's no worry."

"yes, i moved the meeting we were supposed to have with our shareholders to next week, so normally this week is pretty empty." yuta confirmed taeyong's words. "this means that i don't want you to kill yourself to work, huh?"

"kill myself to work?" taeyong snorted, his lips curving up in a teasing smile.

"you know exactly what i mean, yong." yuta replied sternly. "i swear if i see you connected to the network after 6pm, i'm forcing you to go on leave when i come back."

taeyong rolled his eyes at his ceo's words. "yuta, i'm just doing the work i have to do..."

"the next days are anything but busy. take this opportunity to leave work early and treat yourself a bit, alright?" yuta continued. "you could even meet your date again. you know, the one with whom you had had a really good night?"

taeyong stayed silent at yuta's words, his brain not wasting a second to recall him his night at the restaurant with jaehyun during which the two of them had talked a lot and which had ended in jaehyun driving him home.

and this naturally led taeyong's thoughts to the events of the night before and earlier that day, as him and jaehyun were driving back here. and here was taeyong's stress resurfacing.

the long silence didn't go unnoticed by the ceo who snickered on the other side of the phone.

"you didn't even wait for me to tell you to see him again, huh?" yuta questioned.

"who?" taeyong asked without thinking, pushing his intrusive thoughts away.

"your perfect date. you saw him again, didn't you?"

a small smile decorated taeyong's face as images of him and jaehyun flashed before his eyes. "yes, i did."

"and so? is he still as amazing as he was the first time?" yuta asked.

the secretary didn't need long to find an answer to this question. the answer was obvious to him, as if it had always been. "of course, he was."

jaehyun may have discovered his biggest secret, this didn't make the ceo any less likable.

he was always so kind with taeyong, proposing to pick him up, drop him off and drive him to places and he made sure taeyong was at ease, as he had done during the congress by staying by taeyong's side as much as he could.

plus, he had this natural leadr behaviour which made it almost impossible not to look at him and admire him. and taeyong was painfully aware of that anytime jaehyun was in the same room as him.

and when he had started feeling dizzy the night before, taeyong could had died because of how adorable he looked despite his unwellness. he acted like a bratty child who needed to be taken care of, which taeyong gladly did.

oh, and don't get the secretary started on the way he was so delicate and charming, always willing to help taeyong despite his miserable state and making sure that they voiced out their problems so that they didn't become real issues.

and finally, this last interaction they had had in the hotel's corridor right before taeyong had locked himself in his bedroom with his raging emotions. he could swear he remembered jaehyun inching closer to him, as if he was about to kiss him. taeyong would have loved that, and he would give everything to just taste a bit of jaehyun's lips. the night before was just not the good time, but he wouldn't hesitate to jump on the next occasion he would have. how amazing jaehyun's lips must be feeling pressed against his...

"yuta, i think i'm in love..." the secretary voiced out after a while, his cheeks obviously red and his heartbeat completely irregular.

"oh, i'm afraid you are." yuta laughed on the other side of the line. "but is that a bad thing?"

taeyong sighed. "well..." was it a bad thing? well, from yuta's perspective it definitely was a bad thing. jaehyun was his business rival, and each of taeyong's interactions with the male could endanger his boss' company. but now, from taeyong's perspective, it was a whole other story. "...depends form where you look at it."

"just look at it from your perspective, then. it's the one that matters more." yuta replied instantly, making the secretary hum as he got once again lost in his thoughts.

and after a few seconds, he had finally found what to answer.

"well, then... from my perspective it's definitely not a bad thing."

☏

"jung jaehyun, stop thinking about him and focus!" the cold-hearted ceo scolded himself for the nth time that day before gluing his eyes to the pile of papers that was waiting to be analysed on his office desk.

it had been one day since jaehyun and taeyong had had the conversation in jaehyun's car, and since taeyong had unveiled his biggest secret to the ceo. and well, since then, the korean secretary had been all that was on jaehyun's mind.

the ceo did't understand what was wrong with him. he usually had no problem focusing on his work and just concentrating. acutally, he usually never had anything else to think about than his work or the pressure his father was putting on him.

but now, it seemed like he had so much more to think, and he seriously didn't understand what had happened for it to change so suddenly.

jaehyun had never been the caring type. growing up in a family which valued business and hard work, the korean male wasn't educated surrounded by love and affection. but it didn't matter to him, he had learnt to live without them and had been taught that these kinds of emotions could even compromise a career. so, the young ceo definitely didn't want to get involved with such feelings.

too bad that these feelings seemed to have developed within him then.

if you asked him when this whole thing had started, jaehyun would answer without hesitation after the dinner him and taeyong had shared at the italian restaurant.

that night, jaehyun's plans were simple: taking advantage of taeyong's growing feelings for him to unveil yuta's business secrets and end up crushing his rival. but well, taeyong had somehow managed to prevent these types of conversations from happening by changing subjets and asking about the ceo. and jaehyun couldn't do anything but play along, which was why he had shared so many details of his life with taeyong, to feint closeness between the two of them and trick the korean secretary better afterwards.

but to his surprise, not only jaehyun wasn't able to get anything out from taeyong that night, but taeyong was able to make something click in the ceo's mind who started realising that making sicheng call him 'mister jung' was stupid.

and following that night, it was as if something had changed in jaehyun's mind. he unconsciously started being more considerate of others' feelings, and mostly sicheng; first by asking him to call him by his name, and then by visiting him more often or asking his boss to treat him better and reward him. these were things jaehyun never had done before, but the conversations he had had with taeyong had been so brainwashing that he had ended up doing these things.

but it didn't matter anyway, this only concerned sicheng, and the male was nothing but an electrical technician. jaehyun and him were not business partners, so it didn't matter if jaehyun didn't have this cold façade he always wore in front of the chinese male.

but then, it became more complicated.

jaehyun and taeyong met again, alone, causing them to find once again the dynamic they had had at the restaurant. taeyong continued caring for jaehyun, asking him all sorts of questions and sounding amazed by everything jaehyun told him.

whether it was in yuta's office or during the car rides they had shared, taeyong had always had this comforting vibe which made jaehyun feel somewhat safe and which had unconsciously pushed him to share more of his life and his thoughts – without blurting out the real reason why he was doing all of that, of course.

this was always in a corner of jaehyun's mind, and the korean ceo forced himself to recall it every single time he was sharing anything with taeyong. his ultimate goal was to attack nakamoto, to play taeyong and his feelings to hit where it would hurt the most: at the core of nakamotors.

his plan would succeed, he knew it, he believe it in. taeyong was into him, it was painfully obvious. he would always be staring at jaehyun, being lost in his thoughts after the ceo would talk, and having his cheeks rivalling the colour of tomatoes whenever jaehyun would pay attention to him. so, jaehyun would succeed, he simply needed to play of his charms a bit more, and taeyong would fall into his embrace gracefully, unveiling yuta's darkest secrets before realising what he was doing. he may be a very good secretary and have this duality that jaehyun had rarely seen before, in the end, he was still a human. and humans had flaws, one of them being that they didn't resist to love.

so, jaehyun was going on with his plan, making sure that him and taeyong crossed paths as much as they could and seducing the secretary into his death trap that would end up in jaehyun winning and all of the others loosing.

oh, how excited he was for that very moment... he couldn't help but look at a heartbroken yuta, staring into taeyong's deep glistening orbs and screaming at him that he betrayed him. he couldn't help but see their business crumbling from the inside and leaving the both of them on the streets, begging to be picked up by jaehyun.

"oh, shit!" the ceo exclaimed, jumping slightly as the sound of his phone disturbed the silence and woke him up from his daze.

the korean didn't wait a second to pick up his phone and place it at his ear.

"ceo jung on the phone, yes?" he spoke out of reflex.

"hello jaehyun... it's taeyong."

oh, taeyong.

jaehyun sighed, passing a hand through his hair as he realised that he wouldn't be able to divert his thoughts from him one second. as much as he tried to, it seemed like something was always there to remind him of taeyong.

"yes, taeyong, why did you call me?" the ceo asked, clearing his throat.

"h-huh well..." tayeong stuttered, just like he always did when he started talking to the ceo. "i was thinking about our conversation of yesterday... in the car..."

"yes." jaehyun hummed, waiting for the secretary to finish speaking.

"a-and well... you kind of asked me if i... if i was willing to learn how to drive..."

jaehyun froze at those words, flashes of the events of the previous morning coming back to his mind. fuck, he had sworn to himself that he would forget about them, and erase from his mind everything that had happed from the night before to the next morning.

and here was taeyong, making him recall everything again.

"yeah, w-what about it?" jaehyun asked, biting the inside of his cheek as he waited for taeyong's answer.

"i... i would like to learn." taeyong breathed out. "and... i-i'd like you to teach me."

the ceo sucked in a breath, nodding his head silently in his office despite knowing that taeyong wouldn't be able to see him.

"yeah, okay." he answered simply after a few seconds of silence.

"i-isn't it okay with you?" taeyong questioned, surelu feeling jaehyun's hesitation.

"no, no! it's fine. i'll teach you. i told you i would." jaehyun was quick to reply before pushing a few documents away from his desk to reveal his agenda. "are you doing something tomorrow evening?"

"h-huh... tomorrow evening? no, i have nothing why- "

"great. i'll pick you up after work for your first lesson." jaehyun cut taeyong's words. "we'll see each other tomorrow then, goodbye!"

"o-okay, good- "

and jaehyun had hung up even before taeyong could finish his sentence, slamming back the phone on his desk and groaning while holding his head with his two hands.

"what the fuck was that, jaehyun?!" he tsked at himself, feeling like a prude teenager for panicking that much over a phone call.

why had he even panicked?

he still had his mission in mind, and teaching taeyong how to drive would allow him to get even closer with the male and to get more information from him.

plus, jaehyun would have leverage on him and he would be able to blackmail him by threatening to tell yuta about his secret.

yeah, these driving lessons could only be good for jaheyun's plans. they were fucking amazing even, so why the hell was he panicking?

he wasn't panicking because he was realising taeyong was starting to have some kind of effect on him, right?

those innocently deep questions which he asked and allowed him to know more of the ceo, those moments of care during which he helped the ceo even when he was in his worst state – just like when he had almost blacked out on the road – and those simple interactions during which jaehyun had caught himself not needing to force himself to smile and play along.

he was definitely not panicking because despite how much he tried pushing his thoughts away and erasing those memories from his mind, he had found himself leaning forward towards taeyong's face after blocking taeyong against his hotel room's door, as if he intended to kiss him – which he didn't, oh god, he had no intention to kiss him, why would he? he was simply very tired and he hadn't eaten enough during the day, so his mind was playing him tricks. nothing else.

yeah, and there was no way in hell he was panicking because he was realising that he would maybe prefer to crush nakamotors without crushing taeyong's heart.

of course not.

"jung jaehyun." the ceo spoke to himself as he let out deep breaths. "you're not panicking. you're giddily looking forward to the day you'll be the one on top and the day nakamotors won't exist. that's all." he finally said with a smile, trying his best to push away this little part of his brain which was silently laughing at him and mumbling 'sure, keep telling yourself that.'