heaving out a sigh and praying that everything would be going smoothly, jaehyun stopped in front of jung corporation's headquarters, making sure the gear stick was in the neutral position before pulling on the hand brake and letting go of the pedals.

the ceo rolled down his window, looking at his surroundings before checking the time on his expensive watch.

"hello, sir..."

jaehyun's head shot up immediately, his heart feeling ten times much lighter at the sight of the engineer he had met the night before, wearing a black tuxedo and standing right next to his car.

"hello sicheng, thank you very much once again for helping me." jaehyun stated.

"it's my pleasure." the boy replied. "is everything okay with my clothes? and my hair? is it like that you expect your secretary to be?"

"it's good enough, don't worry." jaehyun nodded, appreciating the fact that sicheng had gelled his hair back so that they looked neatly brushed backwards. "get inside, we don't want to be late."

the engineer was quick to walk around the car and open the passenger door to get in, fastening his seatbelt immediately as jaehyun pressed the clutch pedal and shifted to first gear to start the car.

"the ride is almost half an hour long. i expect you to ask me each and every question you may have until you know enough to talk about the company and me for 10 minutes straight without interruption."the ceo started speaking, keeping his eyes on the road as he pressed the gas pedal.

"well..." sicheng thought for a few seconds, fidgeting with his fingers. "since when have i been supposed to be your secretary?"

"march 2022, right after i got the position as a ceo." jaehyun answered immediately.

"how are you with your secretary?" sicheng continued.

"exigent, just like with every of my workers." the ceo replied. "i get mad quite easily when people don't do things the way i want them to do it. and i insist to know every decision that is taken within the company before it is set in place."

"of course." sicheng nodded, thinking about another question he could ask the ceo.

"i suppose you stay at work late since you were still there at 10:30pm yesterday." the engineer continued, glancing to the side to look at the rich businessman.

"i do." jaehyun nodded. "i always wants what is best for my company, and if this means that i have to spend the night in my office, i'll do it willingly."

"don't you have a wife and kids waiting for you at home?" the engineer frowned, looking at the ceo and regretting asking this immediately as jaehyun slammed on the brakes next to the red traffic light, making sicheng hit his head on the dashboard.

"i don't see why this information is relevant for my fake secretary to know." the ceo muttered flatly as sicheng tried to disappear.

he may or may not have forgotten that he was sitting in a luxurious car that was worth more than he could ever get his hands on, and that he was sitting by the side of one of the most influential men of korea – if not the world. and so, he may or may not have forgotten that he definitely shouldn't feel too at ease in presence of this powerful businessman and talk to him as if they were friends since diapers – which was definitely not the case since they had met the night before.

"s-sorry, mister jung. you don't have to answer." sicheng apologised immediately, lowering his head as the ceo started the car again, shifting the gears experimentally each time he gained or lost speed.

the car fell into a not-so-comfortable silence as sicheng desperately tried to find another question to ask, and this time, one that wouldn't overstep boundaries. the technician looked at his surroundings, hoping to find something to give him a clue about what to ask next, but sadly, it wasn't the case.

"y-you... you don't drive an automatic car?" sicheng ended up asking, his eyes fixed on the gear stick on which jaehyun's right hand was resting.

"i don't." jaehyun stated. "and if someone asks you if you do, you better tell them that you drive only manual cars too, because it is one of my selection criteria for my secretary."

"but you don't have a secretary- "

"in the eyes of the others, i do, and it's you, so i don't care whether you drive manual cars or not, but you better tell them you do." the ceo cut sicheng's words, making the electrical engineer tense again.

"o-okay." he nodded slowly. "and... can i ask you why you only drive manual cars?"

jaehyun didn't answer immediately, causing a wave of stress to hit sicheng who was wondering once again if he had gone overboard.

but thankfully, before the chinese male could apologise and change topics, the ceo spoke.

"independently from the fact that they consume less than automatic cars, real car-lovers will all agree on the fact that there is no sound more beautiful than the roaring of the engine when you push it hard enough."

in order to illustrate his words, the ceo pressed the gas pedal harder, causing both him and sicheng to get their backs glued to their seats with the speed. the engine's roaring increased, getting louder and louder with each second passing until jaehyun let go of the gas pedal to press on the clutch and shift from fourth to fifth gear, making the engine sound die down until it was bearable once again.

"heard that?" the ceo asked, glancing at the technician sitting by his side. "that's the most beautiful sound you'll ever hear. and never ever will an automatic car be able to produce a sound close to this one."

another silence enveloped the car, a comfortable one this time, and minutes later, sicheng was back to asking random questions about the company, jaehyun or secretaries in general, questions to which the ceo answered with as much details as possible, sometimes highlighting important points that sicheng absolutely needed to remember if he wanted to make a believable secretary for jaehyun.

"we're there in a minute." jaehyun warned, checking the gps he had set before focusing back on the road. "is there a last question you can think of?"

sicheng took a few seconds to think about what he hadn't asked the male before speaking. "how do you like your coffee?"

jaehyun frowned, turning his head to stare at his fake secretary. "really?" he asked.

"i didn't ask you before." sicheng shrugged.

"and how is this relevant?" the ceo questioned, checking in the rear-view mirrors before activating the turn signal and following another black luxurious car that headed to the nakamotors headquarters. the car in front of him stopped, a valet immediately opening the door and letting a businessman get out and hand him the keys so that he could go and park the car.

"i don't know... since your company is very hierarchical, i can imagine that you would ask your secretary to bring you your coffee." the engineer explained, a lump forming in his throat as he became more stressed at the thought of pretending to be someone he definitely wasn't.

"is that how you see me?" the ceo asked, starting the car again and getting in the space the other black luxurious car was seconds ago.

"w-well, i-i..." sicheng stuttered as the two doors of the car were simultaneously opened by valets.

"good morning, sirs, please head inside, we will park the car in nakamotors' secure parking." one of them announced as jaehyun and sicheng gathered their things to get out.

however, before sicheng could start stressing because he wasn't in his usual environment, jaehyun flashed him a smirk.

"you're right. that's how i am." he spoke. "and i don't like coffee. i only drink black tea."

☏

sicheng's grip on his notebook tightened as he made sure to straighten his back when – for what seemed to be the nth time in the past hour – a man dressed in an expensive suit approached jaehyun, followed closely by a lady in a tailor skirt and heels.

"mr jung, what a pleasure to see you there!" the man exclaimed, holding his hand out for jaehyun to shake, to which the young businessman obliged.

"likewise." jaehyun replied with a smile. "how has your business been going? planning on working on some more innovations?"

"everything is going smoothly. innovation is to expect, but i'm not going to share my business secrets so easily, so you'll have to wait to have more insights about this new project." the man explained, making jaehyun laugh loudly before he switched to a more business-related topic.

needless to say, the chinese engineer that had landed here accidentally felt completely out of place. more than not understanding anything about what these rich men were talking about because of the specificity of their business vocabulary, sicheng didn't have the stature all of them had. he hadn't been raised with a silver spoon stuffed in his mouth – or somewhere else – and he certainly didn't know about all the subtilities of the high-society.

jaehyun and him had gotten at nakamotors' headquarters around half an hour ago, and since the second they set a foot in the luxuriously decorated place, businessmen kept swarming at them and asking jaehyun questions. most of these interactions seemed fake, as if the men were trying to get jaehyun on their good side, knowing that he was at the top of the automobile ladder and that his influence could be used to their own benefit.

but well, sicheng was so unfamiliar with this environment that he couldn't even tell if it was the case or not.

"champagne?" a boy questioned, standing by his side and holding a tray full of champagne glasses.

jaehyun and the other business man didn't even stop their conversation as they grabbed a glass each, taking a sip almost immediately. sicheng noticed the woman in a suit – surely the man's secretary judging by the fact she was glued to his side with a fake smile – taking one for herself too, causing him to doubt whether to take one or not.

in his technician life, sicheng had never been proposed such things. occasionally, whenever he was intervening in people's houses, some of them offered him a glass of water, but nothing more – well, except perhaps that time he had installed an optical fiber at someone's house, and the guy had suggested him to stay and have lunch with him and they had shared a whole piece of wagyu beef t-bone which had become sicheng's favourite meal since then – and so, he definitely didn't expect to find himself in a situation when he was proposed such a beverage as champagne. plus, judging by his surroundings and the silver plate on which the glasses were placed, the champagne bottle probably cost more than sicheng's apartment.

"are you not going to take a glass, sir?" the champagne guy questioned, flashing sicheng a small smile.

"h-huh, yes, thank you." the chinese male stuttered, taking a glass with a shaky hand before the waiter nodded and turned on his heels to propose champagne to other guests.

heaving out a deep sigh in an attempt to calm his erratic heartbeat, sicheng brought the thin glass to his lips and let the sparkling liquid slide though his mouth and down his throat, its fruity flavour tickling his tastebuds pleasantly.

"huh, are you attempting to get drunk or something?" a female voice disturbed sicheng, making him look down at his glass of champagne and realise that he had gulped down all of its containing in one go.

"o-o-oh, h-huh..." the chiense male stuttered, looking between his empty glass and the other secretary. thankfully someone was there to save him from this awkward situation.

"ladies and gentlemen, it is for me a pleasure to welcome all of you at nakamotors' headquarters, a place where we think collectively and we innovate more each day in hope of being able one day to take the road with fuel-less cars."

all of the attention was diverted to the stage on which a man was standing, wearing a pine green tuxedo with jade green embroidered details, perfectly matching with the rest of the venue which was decorated with similar green details.

sicheng didn't need to think too deep into it to understand that this man, holding such a powerful aura and such confidence in front of a crowd of rich and influential people, couldn't be any one else than nakamoto yuta, the successful self-made man and ceo of nakamotors.

"i think it is crazy how fast things evolve in life and how fast time flies by. it is still a bit hard for me to realise that one year ago, nakamotors was nothing but an innovative project that received a price. and it is even harder to realsie that six years ago, it was only a project that i had thought of innocently, hoping that it would help giants of this industry to innovate. but what is a better way to help than building the project yourself?"

yuta paused, looking across the room and the many businessmen and women who were listening to him like he was a god.

"i am very happy today to celebrate this first anniversary with all of you, members of the direction of companies that i have always looked up to and that pushed me to entertain my passion for the automobile world to the point it brought me there. i learnt from all of you and i took inspiration from your works to build my own and become an actor of the automobile sector."

"it was a risky move, i have to admit. it wasn't always easy, it wasn't always fair, but i am happy to say now that i succeeded. i reached beyond my expectations, and i believe that if my team keeps up the good work, we could go even further, and make fuel-less car a thing for the next years."

yuta waited for a few seconds that the people stopped clapping before speaking again, his eyes still dancing across the room as his lips were curved in a charming smile.

"it honestly feels like a dream come true, finally being able to be legitimate in the middle of people i dreamt of being as successful as when i was younger. i apologise for my speech which is as daring as my business decisions were, but my business showed me how benefitting it was to be daring, so why not try it with my speech too."

the self-made man stopped for a few seconds, keeping a bright smile on his face as he internally panicked, wondering if this part of the speech was truly necessary, or if he could have written something less violent and provocative.

but anyway, it was too late now, and he knew very well that he could not improvise because he was shit at it. and now wasn't the time to ridicule himself in front of dozens of rich businessmen.

"you may all be very frustrated by this sudden ascension, and this is what makes me even prouder of what i did. one year ago, i was nothing, unknown to the public, and now, you cannot take interest in the automobile industry without knowing my name. my business grew at lighting speed, and most of the time, to the detriment of yours. but you can't do anything about it anymore. i may have been nothing compared to you in the past, but now, we all are on the same level, now, we all are competitors. and so, this leaves the next decision to you; would you rather work with or against me?"

sicheng held himself from letting out a loud scoff after the man in a green tuxedo pronounced these words, finding them way too provocative and degrading for all the other businessmen in the crowd.

but it seemed like this opinion wasn't shared by the other people around as the crowd went wild, clapping loudly and cheering on the man on the stage, making him smile even brighter than he already was. god, how much sicheng wanted to rip this arrogant smile off his face...

"well, what more do i have to say... enjoy today, i guess. let's take a break from all of our tiring activities to enjoy our time and maybe create new links and new partnerships!"

another wave of applause allowed yuta to bow at his public before he walked down of the stage, causing the music to start again, and giving the green room a much more festive atmosphere.

"come with me, we need to find nakamoto so that we have a talk with him." jaehyun declared, grabbing onto sicheng's arm and pulling him across the crowd like a rag doll.

"f-find him? but for what?" the secretary asked, now following behind the ceo of jung corporation as the man rushed around the venue in hope of finding the other young ceo.

"to have a talk." jaehyun explained. "we need to create a nice bond from the start if i want to- "

however, before the ceo could finish his sentence, another person walking right beside him tripped and lost his balance, getting in jaehyun's way. and instead of stepping aside and letting the person hit the floor – god bless jaehyun's fast reflexes – the ceo had his arms open to catch the boy in his fall. long story short, jaehyun ended up bent forward with his arms holding onto the stranger, one of his hands in the small of his back while the other was securely placed on his nape. and if this wasn't enough, the stranger had his eyes shut close and his fists holding tightly onto jaehyun's suit.

"taeyong! i've been searching for you every- oh... mister jung?" a familiar voice stated, making jaehyun lift his head slowly to meet eyes with none other than nakamoto yuta. "well, i was about to send my secretary come and get you, but i guess you found him before he did."