jaehyun stood frozen on his spot, eyes wide in a mix of surprise and horror at the words that had just left his former shareholder's mouth.

i believe you forgot to mention about how you played with yuta's secretary's feelings to get information about yuta and his business.

a look in taeyong's direction was enough to convince jaehyun that he needed to deny these facts. the secretary's eyes had widened in surprise, his face conveying nothing but pain and disbelief. he then turned his head to meet sicheng's eyes, finding the chinese male as surprised as he was but the sudden interjection.

"n-no, t-this is not true." he stuttered a lie, stealing glances at taeyong who was looking back at him more intensely than ever.

"oh really?" the shareholder frowned. "but i remember you telling me about it a bit earlier."

"h-how could i tell you about something that didn't even- "

and before jaehyun could complete his sentence, mister hu pulled his phone out and opened the recording app before playing his latest recording and approaching it from the mic he was holding so that the whole audience could hear what was being said.

jaehyun frowned when he heard the beginning of the recording, wondering why everyone needed to hear that mister hu would stop investing in jung corporation.

but then, it all started to make sense as he heard the words he had spat at ilsung in anger, when the fact that he was being recorded was completely out of his mind because of the bomb that had just been dropped by his shareholder.

how can you say that i am slacking when you don't even know how hard i work and how bad i try my best to be better than nakamotors?!

you think it is easy to see your place under the spotlight being stolen by someone?! of course it isn't.

and what did i do? i fought back, as hard as i could, trying to overpass him again without forgetting about my business.

jaehyun's eyes widened and his heart stopped beating in his chest as he knew where this was going. he could recall what had followed these words, and he knew that there was no way for him to do anything about it anymore.

you think i was happy pretending like i had a secretary to fit in when i never needed one?

you think i was happy meeting with nakamoto's secretary to befriend him in hope of grabbing any piece of information on him?

you think i was happy hearing my father saying he was disappointed in my performances every time?

well, the truth is, i wasn't. but i endured it, for the sake of my business.

and here they were, the words that would condemn jaehyun to his real loss, spoken out to the world in front of dozens of people from the automobile industry, in front of the press and so on national tv, and of course, in front of the main person concerned by this issue: lee taeyong.

the ceo of jung corporation didn't know what to do.

there was no point denying it anymore, it had been clearly said out loud, and recorded. there was no way for jaehyun to deny anything, because doing so would only result in everybody around to go against him.

"i-i..." jaehyun stuttered out as all eyes were on him, making him more nervous than he already was. and of course, in this moment of high panic and stress, jaehyun didn't find anything better than to seek for the comfort of the male that had been able to make him forget about all of his worries these past weeks.

but well, meeting eyes with him did nothing but worsen the whole situation.

taeyong was looking back at him, his face paler than ever and his wide eyes full of tears. jaehyun could see how hard he was biting on his lips, forcing himself not to break in front of everyone. and well, it didn't take long before the intense eye-contact made his feelings explode.

the secretary choked on a sob, his hand immediately slamming on his mouth and his head lowering in shame before he turned around and ran away backstage, catching the attention of a few people around.

"shit." jaehyun muttered under his breath, pushing the few people that were next to him to get out of the alleys of seats that had been arranged for the speeches. "taeyong!" he immediately called, running towards the stage behind which taeyong had disappeared.

however, as soon as he stepped on the stage, he was blocked by someone, namely taeyong's boss, or his main rival: nakamoto yuta.

jaehyun had completely forgotten about him these past minutes, but the japanese male had been listening carefully to everything that had been said. and hearing how jaehyun had seemingly played with taeyong's feelings to learn some of his business secrets, he was fuming mad – not about the secrets part, actually, but rather about the part where jaehyun hurt his dear friend cold-heartedly.

"you asshole!" yuta exclaimed, fisting jaehyun's shirt and landing a powerful punch in jaehyun's jaw as the two of them were on stage. this unexpected action earned another loud gasp from the audience who could do nothing but watch the drama unfold.

yuta punched jaehyun a second time, and a third one, jaehyun enduring the pain without trying to fight back.

as the two security guards that were holding him seemed in a daze because of the events occurring, sicheng freed himself from them and immediately ran to yuta's side, wrapping his arms around yuta's torso and pulling his boyfriend back so that he didn't harm his friend anymore.

"yuta, please, stop..." the chinese male begged, trying his best to resist as yuta forced his way back to jaehyun. "let him go, stop hurting him..."

restrained by sicheng's comforting arms, yuta calmed down slightly, standing facing jaehyun and glaring at him with the meanest gaze ever.

"jaehyun, go!" sicheng hurried jaehyun, causing the ceo of jung corporation to blink before running in the same direction taeyong had dashed away a few seconds ago.

the ceo ran as fast as he could, trying to find where taeyong could be, screaming the secretary's name like a mad man.

"taeyong!" he yelled on top of his lungs, catching the attention of a few people who hadn't been sitting in front of the stage and who had no idea of the drama taking place.

ignoring about their existence, jaehyun continued running left and right, not caring about being short on his breath as the only thing that mattered to him in this moment was taeyong.

he couldn't believe that his secret had been unveiled to the world like that, live in front of lots of important people and broadcasted on national tv. this would definitely sign the end of jung corporation, it wasn't possible any other way. but this didn't matter at the moment. what was really important was taeyong, and jaehyun still couldn't find it in the building.

desperately looking around, jaehyun headed to the main hall next to the building's entrance, this place being one of the last places he had looked for taeyong in.

but as expected, the place was bare from any presence and taeyong was nowhere to be seen...

jaehyun rushed outside through the automatic glass doors, looking both ways and hoping to find the secretary running on the pavement in any direction. but the pavements were also completely empty, no trace of taeyong there to give jaehyun any spark of hope.

well, that was until a black car drove out of the building's underground parking lot, right in front of jaehyun. the car stopped for a second at the thick white line drawn on the road, allowing the driver to check if there were any cars coming before engaging the car on the road.

this gave the opportunity to jaehyun to check the driver's identity, and his whole body froze when he recognised the secretary he had developed feelings for sitting in the driver's seat.

"taeyong!" jaehyun screamed, running in the direction of the car and catching the attention of the driver.

the secretary was started by the noise, causing him to turn his head and being greeted by jaehyun's panicked face almost glued to the passenger's window, tapping it like a mad man. taeyong's teary eyes met jaehyun's distressed ones, and the secretary choked on a sob before diverting his eyes from him and pressing the clutch with his left foot.

and then, just like jaehyun had taught him, he switched gears to first position and gently pressed on the gas pedal as he lifted his other foot from the clutch, causing the car to start rolling and gain in speed.

"taeyong, stop the car!" jaehyun ran next to the vehicle as it started to drive away, his hand holding onto the passenger's door handle.

but taeyong ignored him, pressing the gas pedal with all of his might and hoping to go far away from jaehyun, the furthest away possible.

soon, the car was too fast for jaehyun who had to let go of the handle and run on the road, right behind it. but as the street was completely free from any traffic, the black nakamotors car slowly got further and further away from jaehyun, and the ceo was forced to stop running and stare at the vehicle disappearing from his sight, driven by taeyong.

and in this moment, as he had his eyes on the black dot driving away, jaehyun couldn't help but hope nothing bad would happen to taeyong as the only experience he had had driving cars were the dozen hours he had spent on the abandoned parking in jaehyun's company...

☏

back in the other room, the atmosphere was utterly tense and the air pretty awkward.

right after jaehyun disappeared from the stage, the audience collectively let out the breath they were holding, and yuta exhaled an annoyed groan.

wiggling himself from sicheng's grip with force, he immediately turned around to face the chinese male, looking at him with a look that sicheng had never seen him wearing.

there was no ounce of love, adoration or playfulness like there usually was whenever yuta looked at him. it was only what sicheng identified as betrayal and anger, two nasty feelings that usually were able to ruin a relationship.

"you knew about it, didn't you?" yuta simply asked, crossing his arms over his chest as he looked down at his boyfriend.

"please, yuta..." sicheng held out a shaky hand, hoping that his touch could relieve yuta a slight bit.

but unfortunately, yuta pushed his hand away even before it could reach him, and he took a step back, his glare intensifying. "don't." he spat.

"y-yuta..." sicheng gulped, his eyes widening in fear.

"you knew about it." yuta let out a snort, shaking his head in disbelief. "you knew and you let him play this sick game?!"

"i-i didn't- "

"you don't have the attitude of someone who didn't know, sicheng." yuta cut the engineer's words, making sicheng lower his head in shame.

the chinese male didn't answer, standing in front of his boyfriend with tears forming in his doe eyes, not knowing what to say not to anger yuta further.

he did know about jaehyun's doing, yuta was right. and sicheng hadn't done anything to stop him, he was right as well...

"wow..." yuta tsked, seeing the absence of response from his boyfriend. "who are you and what did you do to my sicheng?"

the chinese male slowly lifted his head, his teary eyes meeting yuta's deceived ones. "i-i..."

"don't bother. i don't want to talk to you right now."

and those words being said, yuta turned on his heels, disappearing backstage and leaving sicheng under the spotlight in front of the audience and the cameras, with teary eyes and a shattered heart.

☏

he couldn't hold the tears back anymore.

as hard as he tried to swallow back the sobs that were threatening to slip past his lips, taeyong didn't have enough strength to do so.

and so, here was the secretary, crying his heart out at a red light, his face buried into his hands as he let out ugly sobs, his tears flowing like cascades down his cheeks, and his cries resonating inside the vehicle.

he didn't know how he had found himself there, in the middle of the traffic, on the driver's seat of yuta's car with an unfastened seatbelt when he didn't even have a driver's license and when he was sure jaehyun and him weren't done with the driving lessons.

but it had happened. he had found the keys that yuta had handed him before his speech in his pocket, and the urge to run away so bad had pushed him to find yuta's car and drive as far as he could to run away from the harsh truth he had heard.

taeyong didn't even want to remember about it.

the humiliation he had felt, being told in front of the whole audience and all of the people watching the event live how he had been played. he couldn't bear it.

for long weeks, his feelings for jaehyun had done nothing but grow. and here he was now, learning that it was all a lie, and that jaehyun had only pretended to like him back so that he could unveil some of yuta's secrets.

and as hard as it was for him to admit it, it somehow made sense. this was the reason why jaehyun kept diverting the conversation to work topics as soon as he had the opportunity. because he didn't have a single care in the world for taeyong or his life, but only for his business and more particularily his boss.

so, in the end, jaehyun was no different from those other greedy businessmen who cared about nothing but their business and earning money.

actually, jaehyun was perhaps worse than them all, because under his innocent and gentle looks was hidden the worst bastard of the industry: someone who would be ready to destroy someone's sanity to get his way to something.

a loud honking sound caused taeyong to lift his head, only to realise that the traffic light had turned green and that the cars behind him were urging him to start driving.

so, choking on another sob, the secretary started the car again, stalling it once and trying again, but stalling another time.

the cars behind him honked louder and longer, getting annoyed at the secretary's inability to start the car. but only, it wasn't like taeyong cared about them at that point.

his mind was a complete mess, trying to start the car over and over again, and failing each time, his thoughts refusing to leave him alone. they kept replaying all of those times him and jaehyun had spent time together on loop, making taeyong realise how much of a fool he had been because of love.

the thoughts were doing nothing but making him mad, and this caused him to stall the car a few more times, unable to calm himself down and think methodically about what he had to do. but at the same time, thinking methodically would mean thinking about how jaehyun taught him, with taeyogn sitting on the ceo's lap and jaehyun's hands holding his thighs and lifting them to help him finding the car's slip point that would allow him to start the car.

and after stalling for the nth time, taeyong let out a loud scream, pressing with all of his forces on the clutch before lifting his foot from it as his other one hit the gas pedal.

and so, the car finally started, rolling on a few meters without stalling.

but taeyong had been too caught up with his mind to realise that the cars behind him had stopped honking because the traffic light had switched back to red.

and so, as taeyong's car started driving, making it to the middle of the road crossing, he didn't realise that the cars from his side had a green light, causing him to arrive at a fast speed.

inevitably, before the secretary's thoughts could reorganise and before he could think about slamming his foot on the brakes, yuta's black nakamotors car was hit from the side by two cars who hadn't been able to slow down. the strength of the impact caused taeyong's car to make a barrel, sending the secretary's body which wasn't fastened to the seat to be thrown around the vehicle like a rag doll.

but unfortunately, taeyong was never aware of how many barrels the car did or how many cars he caused to be involved in the accident. in fact, he blacked out instantly as his head banged against the window, shattering it the same way his heart had shattered when he had learnt jaehyun's deepest secret.