jaehyun was in the middle of an existential crisis.

i mean, how could he not when he had acted like a lovestruck boy with taeyong a while ago?

taeyong.

in other words, yuta's secretary, or the boy he was supposed to play in order to get more information about yuta and nakamotors in hope of taking over the business and becoming the leading company in the automobile sector once again.

yes, this taeyong.

jaehyun did understand what was going on with him.

this plan had always been very clear in his mind. actually, for the past weeks, this had been all that was on his mind; making sure that the plan wen ton smoothly.

he had spent days and nights earning taeyong's trust, and he was still working on it, wanting to make sure that the korean secretary trusted him deeply before asking him for information about his boss. he knew that there would be no other way for him to share business secrets.

and one of the easiest ways for jaehyun to earn his trust was to make the boy's feelings grow. as sicheng had pointed it out, and as jaehyun had noticed after, taeyong did have some kind of feelings for the ceo. jaehyun had simply made sure to entertain these feelings to make the secretary fall for him more and so, trust him better.

so, why was he now feeling like he had been the one played and not the other way around?

he had always had a perfect control over his feelings or emotions.

this was something his father had taught him ever since he was little, claiming that in the business world, it was important for him to know how to deal with what he felt in order not to be manipulated by others.

his father had taught him to be emotionless and not only to appear as so, and this had started during his youth. when children were usually granted with warm hugs and lots of kisses from their parents, jaehyun had barely ever received any. he had been taught not to care about those types of things, and to worry only about the finality of a relationship.

people weren't important for who they were, they were important for what they could bring to jaehyun. this was what his father had taught him, and this was what jaehyun had always applied in his life.

but now, all of these lessons his father had taught him seemed to become blurry and illogical, as if he had discovered a new aspect of life; a better aspect.

what if instead of caring about what people could bring him, he started caring about people for who they were.

what is instead of seeing sicheng as the fake-secretary he didn't want to have, he started to see him as the caring and passionate electrical engineer that he really was?

what if instead of seeing yuta as the man he should overtake, he started to see him as the nice and hard-working person he really was?

and what if instead of seeing taeyong as the perfect pawn to pierce through nakamoto's defence and kill his business, he started seeing him as the cute and loving boy he really was?

would that be bad? would that prevent him to run his business as well as he usually did?

his actions a while ago had somehow shown the limits of his father's teaching.

it seemed like humans were made to feel emotions and to relay on other people, contrarily to what his father had taught him.

jaehyun had – at first unwillingly – been confronted to these emotions.

first, with sicheng and the way the electric engineer always had the right words to say which had somehow caused the ceo of jung corporation to be fond of him.

then, with yuta and his constant nagging which may be bothering and annoying, but which in fact had helped him feel less tense and less formal with the other ceo.

and finally, with taeyong and his curiousness, his innocent questions and his remarkable duality which had found a way to soften his stone-cold heart.

and so, what jaehyun had felt a while ago, this craving for some kind of physical contact with another human being, this was his body's way to tell him how wrong he had been to follow his father's words.

after 26 years old of not receiving comforting hugs or good nights kisses, jaehyun's body was craving for those things more than ever. after not receiving the love and care he should have from his parents, his mind screamed at him to take the love and care he received from the people around him. and staying with taeyong as much as he could, unfolding his plan slowly but surely, jaehyun couldn't help but see how nice it was to have someone genuinely care for him for who he really was, and not for his position.

this was only it. a lack of affection. nothing else.

jaehyun's urge to hold taeyong close, to kiss him and to show him love was nothing else but his body and mind telling him that his father's words were shit and that he should allow himself to feel and to fall, like any other human being.

"god, stop thinking about it..." jaehyun scolded himself, pulling onto his hair as he tried to forget how amazing it had felt to place his lips on taeyong's.

their lips had touched for a few seconds only, and it hadn't even been a kiss, just a long peck, lips against lips and nothing else involved, and yet, it had had more impact than a bomb in jaehyun's metabolism – taeyong's too, but jaehyun didn't know that.

he had simply leant forwards, closing his eyes for a few seconds before pulling back with a smile and muttering a small 'see you on thursay' to the shocked secretary.

and he had left right after, his heartbeat erratic and his mind elsewhere despite feeling no regrets now that he had taken action.

the ceo was interrupted in his thoughts by his personal phone's ringone. he immediately picked up, putting the phone on speaker with a sigh as he already knew what this conversation would be about.

"hello dad." he stated emotionlessly.

"hello jaehyun. can i have a quick talk with you?" he asked. no 'how are you doing?', no 'am i disturbing you?', nothing. it was as if jaehyun was supposed to be doing good and to be available for him at all times. as if he was supposed to be an emotionless robot whose only concern was his business.

"sure, of course." the ceo nodded, waiting for his father's next words.

"have you found more interesting things about nakamotors?" the older man asked, as usual. "and did you come up with a way to overtake them?"

"i'm still working on it." jaehyun replied honestly. he had a plan, and it was slowly succeeding. he knew he wasn't far from getting nice information, but he just needed a bit more time.

"didn't you already give me that answer last week?"

"i did." jaehyun hummed. "but i still am. it takes time, dad."

the other man snorted on the other side of the line. "it takes time." he mocked his son. "you know what else takes time?"

jaehyun didn't answer, knowing better that giving a sarcastic answer to his father when he was asking a rethorical question.

"standing up again after bankruptcy." he spat, making jaehyun sigh.

"it's not because i'm still working on for a week it that i'll end up bankrupt." he rolled his eyes at his father's exaggeration.

"it's by waiting for one more week to act that nakamotors will keep growing, surround itself with much more influential people and become way more performant that jung corporation."

jaehyun's eyes rolled to the back of his head again as he listened to his father's rants. it seemed like the man was never happy of what jaehyun did. as if he had given his son the business, but didn't trust him.

"dad, i know what i'm doing. can you not trust me for once?" he asked with a sigh, his hands rubbing his temples.

"no. i won't trust you as long as i didn't see you succeeding." his father spat mercilessly, making the younger snort.

"and how do you expect me to succeed if you don't let me deal with it the way i want?"

"i'll trust you when you'll show me you can crush your rivals and assert yourself as the real leader of the sector." his father ignored jaehyun's words. "and this means that i'll trust you when you'll have overtaken nakamotors completely."

jaehyun didn't answer, keeping his mouth shut as he bit the insides of his cheeks, trying his best not talk back to his dad frustratedly.

"i'm giving you two weeks."

"two weeks..." jaehyun let out with a snort, unable to contain himself.

"yes, two weeks. this will be more than enough." the man explained. "world creativity and innovation day is taking place in two weeks. i want nakamotors not to exist anymore by then."

jaehyun rolled his eyes. "or what?" he asked. "what are you going to do if it takes me longer. i'm not just going to risk everything for one of your little tantrums."

"listen to me, jung jaehyun." his father spoke clearly, his voice almost menaing. "if jung corporation hasn't won over nakamotors by world creativity and innovation day, i'm taking back the business."

jaehyun's previous confidence was immediately thrown off the window at his father's words.

he couldn't believe what he was hearing. after all those years trying to show his father that he was capable of running the family business, after trying his best to convince his father that he was ready and after working so hard to become the ceo his father wanted him to be, his father would take everything back so easily.

"n-no..." jaehyun stuttered out, his hands shaking in nervousness. "y-you can't do that!"

"watch me, jaehyun. you'll see if i can or not."

the young ceo stayed silent, rage slowly taking over his body as frustration tears rolled down his cheeks, crashing on the wooden table he was sitting at. his hands were balled-up into fists as he tried his best to keep his composure and not do anything stupid that would cause his father to take the business from him earlier than planned.

"you have a bit more than two weeks until world creativity and innovation day. after that, the 'jung' in 'jung corporation' won't be standing for 'jung jaehyun' anymore."

☏

yuta took a deep breath, passing his hand through his hand in nervousness as he leant against his black car, looking at his surroundings to see if his date was arriving.

and well, he did.

approaching yuta slowly, as if he was in a slow-motioned scene from a movie, sicheng flashed the japanese male a small smile when he noticed him looking in his direction.

yuta had his mouth agape, his eyes roaming over sicheng's body as he studied him from head to toe. the chinese male was wearing black dress pants that seemed to have been made especially for him to highlight his long legs and thin waist, in which he had tucked the light blue satin shirt he was wearing, its first two buttons undone and allowing yuta to catch a glimpse of sicheng's beautiful collarbones.

"hello..." the engineer flashed yuta a shy smile as he got in front of him.

yuta didn't answer to the male's greeting for the very obvious reason that he was too caught in his daze to realise that the chinese male had even spoken. and well, this inevitably made sicheng self-conscious and caused him to look down at his clothes.

"i-is it not classy enough?" the boy stuttered. "this was the best i could find, i don't have much of those things at home, so when you asked me to dress classy i-i was so taken aback and- "

"no, no, it's perfect." yuta cut sicheng's rambling, his eyes still lost somewhere between the visible skin of sicheng's chest and his snatched waist. "you look gorgeous. and very classy, don't worry."

"o-oh..." sicheng smiled nervously, a small blush taking over his cheeks. "well, you don't look too bad yourself..." he added right after, taking the opportunity to stare at yuta as well.

the ceo was wearing a matching dark blue set consisting in wide leg trousers and a matching cropped blazer the sleeves of which had been pulled up to reveal the male's forearms. and to finish the look, he was wearing a tight black shirt underneath, the thin material hugging his chest nicely and almost looking like a second skin on him. he had finished the look with a few pieces of silver jewellery, making him look stunning in sicheng's eyes – and probably in the eyes of anyone who wasn't blind.

"oh, 'not too bad'?" the japanese raised a brow at sicheng's words. "i know how hard it is for you to make compliments, so i'm honoured."

sicheng snorted at yuta's playfulness. "i won't be repeating it, that's for sure."

"i'll savour the moment, then." yuta winked, making sicheng nod his head, feigning exasperation, but liking very much all of the attention he was receiving from the rich ceo.

"so..." sicheng spoke again after a while. "why did you request me to dress 'classy'? where are you bringing me?"

"i don't know." yuta shrugged, his lips curved up in a smile as he placed a hand on the small of sicheng's back and lead the male towards the passenger door of the car. "any guesses?"

"probably one of those luxurious ass restaurants that you, rich ceos, love to go eat in." sicheng scoffed as yuta opened the passenger's car door and invited him to hop on. "wow, what a gentleman you are. the prince charming has a lot to learn from you."

"he does, right?" yuta wiggled his brows before closing the door once he was sure sicheng was inside and won't be hit by the door. he then got to the driver's side and got in the car before fastening his seatbelt.

he started the engine, switched to 1st gear, and soon, drove around the streets to reach their destination for the night. the sun hadn't completely set yet, leaving the city in a comfortable dim orange-ish light.

"you didn't say if i had guessed right or not." sicheng pointed out after a while, turning his head to look at the ceo.

"you're not entirely wrong." yuta replied simply. "but not completely right either."

"well, i'm pretty sure i'm right about the luxurious part." sicheng shrugged. "you wouldn't have asked me to dress up to drive me to the nearest mc donalds."

yuta chuckled at that, checking the mirrors of the car quickly. "i mean, this would be a fun date idea, but not for tonight sadly."

sicheng's heart missed a beat, the chinese male processing yuta's words quickly before flushing red.

"i-is tonight a date?" he questioned, looking at the male next to him with big sparkly eyes.

"don't you want it to be one?" yuta tackled back, checking sicheng's face quickly to make sure he hadn't gone overboard.

"i-i..." sicheng blinked a few times. "it's up to you..."

"alright." yuta nodded. "it's a date, then."

the chinese male hummed simply, not voicing out an answer as he tried his best to calm down his erratic heart. yuta was really doing weird things to him.

after a few more minutes of driving, yuta pulled out in front of a modern building, a valet immediately opening the two car doors and offering to park the car. yuta thanked him and waited for sicheng to come to his side before heading towards the entrance of the building.

and just as they were about to get inside, the chinese male let out a loud scoff, which earned a confused stare from the japanese.

"what is it?" yuta asked, glancing at their surroundings.

"i was definitely right about the luxurious part." sicheng pointed out, following yuta who made his way inside.

"i never said you were wrong." the japanese male shrugged.

"you didn't, but i must admit this wasn't what i had in mind." sicheng replied, looking at the insides of the building which was very well-decorated, with ornaments that probably cost more than he could imagine.

"well, i'm the definition of 'expect the unexpected'." yuta smirked, making sicheng playfully roll his eyes.

the two males walked across the main hall, sicheng following yuta closely as he observed their surroundings very carefully. they stopped in front of two huge doors as a worker asked for their permission slip. yuta simply pulled out a card to which the worker bowed and let them inside.

"i'm guessing this is another of your 'rich ceo' privileges." sicheng told uninterestedly.

"we have lots of privileges, that's for sure." yuta nodded. "and i won't mind using them if it means offering you a nice and memorable night."

sicheng scoffed playfully once again. "yeah, i'm so looking forward to seeing you losing all of your money over card games. but well, you probably have so much money that wasting a few millions for a good game wouldn't be too bothersome, would it?"

yuta didn't answer. instead, he stopped in his tracks, turning around to look at the chinese male with a small smile.

"you are definitely something, sicheng." the japanese male sighed.

"well, what else would be expected from a rich-ass ceo to do inside a luxurious casino?" the engineer raised a brow, gesturing to their surroundings where dozens of people were already focused on their cards, their machines or their games, trying their best to maximise their profit without losing money.

yuta chuckled at sicheng's words, taking a step closer to him and reaching for one of the chinese male's hands to intertwine their fingers. "a rich-ass ceo like me could be expected to invite his date to one of his favourite restaurants, for example, namely the salon rose, the casino's restaurant."

sicheng followed yuta's eyes across the room, noticing the large doors on the side of the room above which the words 'salon rose' were beautifully engraved on a golden nameplate.

"so, we're only here to have dinner?" sicheng questioned, avoiding to concentrate on the feeling of yuta's hand holding his not to flush beet red. "too bad, i would really have enjoyed seeing you losing all of your money in an attempt to impress me." he added, using sarcasm as a way to protect himself.

yuta laughed again. "oh, i don't need to lose all of my money to impress you, sicheng." the ceo informed. "you're someone who enjoys much simpler things, i know it."

"you do." sicheng nodded. "and yet, you keep spoiling me with riches. the hotel room... the expensive restaurants... the first-class plane ticket... and now the casino..."

the chinese male was definitely not complaining of the treatement he received from the japanese mal. in fact, if anything, he was very thankful of him for allowing him to experience such things that he knew he'd never be able to experience otherwise. but somehow, he didn't need that much. he had already fallen for yuta's charms, so there was no need for the japanese male to keep doing those. and yet, yuta never seemed to stop.

he brought sicheng to eat in very expensive and luxurious restaurants in which sicheng absolutely loved the food. he had invited sicheng to stay at his hotel while they were in japan, providing the chinese male with luxurious services that he had never believed he'd be able to get a taste of – namely the hotel spa and the free massages that came with it. and to compensate the loss of sicheng's plane ticket, he had gotten him a first-class one, so that him and sicheng could stay together in the plane, and so that sicheng could see how amazing it was to have the privilege to travel in first-class.

"well..." yuta chuckled, tugging on sicheng's hand and causing the chinese male to step closer to him. "...that's maybe because i'm genuinely interested in you." and with that said, he pulled a completely dreamy sicheng towards the entrance of the salon rose where an excellent dinner was awaiting them.

☏

"so, what do you want to bet on, this time?"

"are you sure we should bet again? we're going to lose money..."

"it's fine, i didn't put much, don't worry. so, what's your bet?"

"i'd say... odds."

"odds it is, then."

yuta skilfully tapped the screen of the roulette machine they had been standing in front of for a few minutes, changing the bets before starting the game and looking at the small ball rolling on the roulette on the screen before it came to a halt on the 17th square.

"oh my god, did we win?!" sicheng gasped, seeing as a few virtual confetti appeared on the screen to inform that they had won their bet. the chinese male's over-excitement at their small victory didn't miss to attract attention on them from curious people who were expecting a huge gain.

"yes, we did, but just our initial wager." yuta explained, pulling sicheng towards him to stop him from attracting attention from other casino customers around.

and well, this had an immediate effect on the chinese male whose heart missed yet another beat as he felt yuta's chest pressed against his back.

at that point, yuta was half-seated with spread legs on the stool in front of the roulette machine, one of his legs stretched out so that his foot could touch the floor while the other rested on the footrest at the bottom of the stool. and he had just pulled sicheng against his chest, causing the chinese male to stand between his spread legs, with his back leaning against yuta's chest as the japanese male still had one of his arms wrapped around his waist while the other clicked on the screen to make a new bet.

"so, want to make another bet?" yuta asked, his breath fanning over sicheng's exposed neck.

"h-huh, j-just do as you'd like." the chinese male stuttered, utterly nervous to be in yuta's comfortable embrace.

yuta hummed before clicking on the screen, placing new bets and activating the roulette for it to give the outcome of the game.

he played a few rounds, frequently asking sicheng what to bet on, but the chinese male was too caught in a daze because of yuta's hold – the japanese male was still holding him tightly against him – to even find a way to answer to his questions.

in the end, he just watched yuta playing, sometimes winning and sometimes losing, but always enjoying himself in great company.

all in all, sicheng was spending an amazing night. sure, they were in an environment that the chinese male wasn't familiar with, but he truly loved how yuta made him feel at ease anyway. the japanese male seemed to be always there to prevent him from embarrassing himself and to genuinely care for him.

the dinner had been delicious, and the two of them even ended up sharing their dishes as sicheng didn't seem to be able to choose between two. yuta had also insisted on them ordering something for dessert, making both of them share a wonderful set of mini-pastries that melted in the mouth and only made sicheng crave for more.

after dinner, the two of them had walked around the casino, yuta explaining to sicheng the different games that could be played live and those that you could play at the machines. sicheng truly admired the professionalism of the casino workers, handling the cards with great mastery and being very precise with their gestures all while keeping on a nice smile despite the way clients may address to them.

"do you want to play something else?" yuta questioned, pulling sicheng out of his daze.

"huh?" the chinese male blinked, turning his head slightly to catch a glimpse of the ceo.

yuta sighed, placing both of his hands on sicheng's hips and turning the male around so that they were facing each other, their bodies still close to one another, and their hearts beating in unison inside their chests.

"would you like us to play something else?" yuta repeated his question, now looking into sicheng's glistening eyes.

"i-i don't know..." the chinese male replied shyly. "i-i don't know much."

"or we can just go out if you don't want to stay in the casino anymore." yuta added, trying to decipher sicheng's thoughts.

"n-no, we can stay here if you want to play more." sicheng insisted. "i don't want you to stop playing for me."

"the point of a date is for the two people to enjoy it, sicheng." yuta chuckled, his smile being enough to make sicheng's heart beat go mad again.

"w-well..." sicheng lowered his head, hiding his red cheeks the best he could. "j-just being with you is enough for me to enjoy the date..."

yuta's heart missed a beat, but the japanese male still used one of his hands to lift sicheng's chin up and force the other to look into his eyes.

he was planning on answering and telling sicheng that being with him was much more than enough too, but for some reason, the words got completely suck in his throat, as if he wasn't able to emit a sound anymore. was it caused by the way sicheng looked at him with red cheeks, envious eyes and trembling lips? he had no clue, but the chinese male did have him completely mesmerised.

"sorry, are you done playing?" a voice interrupted them, causing both yuta and sicheng to look at the side where a young girl stood with her arms crossed over her chest.

"h-huh..." sicheng stuttered.

"y-yeah, we're done." yuta nodded before pressing the 'take gain' button to collect the tokens they had earned from the bets. "the roulette's all yours." he added, standing up from the stool and grabbing sicheng's hand before dragging the male away.

he led them silently to the change counter, where yuta exchanged the tokens with money – not much, because they hadn't played a lot, and they hadn't bet huge sums of money – before heading towards the exit of the casino.

"w-where are we going?" sicheng asked, looking at their intertwined hands after yuta had asked the valet to bring him his car.

"is there anywhere you'd like to be?" yuta questioned back, looking at the chinese male with a smile.

sicheng hesitated for a few seconds before looking back up at the japanese male. "w-with you..." he answered honestly.

yuta chuckled at those words, tightening his hold on sicheng's hand as he brushed his thumb on the back of his hand. "i don't plan to go anywhere far from you either, don't worry."

and that's how the two of them spent the rest of the night chatting and teasing each other in yuta's car as the japanese ceo had parked on a parking nearby. it may not be the most romantic date location, but it was simple, and sicheng loved simple things. and so, he definitely enjoyed talking with the handsome ceo for long hours, mindlessly laughing with him as they enjoyed each other's heart whelming presence and growing feelings.