"god, i already know i'm going to mess everything up completely."

"yuta, stop discouraging yourself." the boy's secretary sighed as he turned around to face his boss.

"i'm just stating what is going to happen."

"this is not going to happen." taeyong replied firmly. "you are going to make your speech the way you learnt it, and everybody will clap and encourage you, and then you'll just walk around the venue and people will come to talk to you and stuff."

yuta hummed, biting on his bottom lip quite harshly as he replayed taeyong's words in his mind. on his side, the secretary was back to looking down at the venue from the balcony they were standing on, studying carefully the dozens of businessmen chatting together while waiting for yuta's speech to begin.

"they're all so old..." taeyong pointed out as his eyes wandered across the crowd.

"yeah. most of them have traditional family businesses. and the heir takes over it whether at the death of the ceo or at his retirement, so they have the time to get old too by then." yuta explained simply as he walked to his secretary's side, leaning on the balcony's ledge in the same way to catch a glimpse of the room. "fuck, i need to speak in front of so many people?!"

"you must admit we live in a perverted world..." taeyong continued, ignoring his boss' remark. "they are all at least sixty years old, and their secretaries all seem like they just finished their studies." he told with a brow raised.

"it's not like you finished them decades ago either, taeyong." yuta pointed out, his hand unconsciously lifting to his mouth so that he could nibble at the skin around his nails.

"yes, but you're my age." the secretary retorted. "not forty years older."

"yeah, whatever." yuta shrugged it out, barely paying attention anymore as he realised the time his speech was supposed to start approached dangerously fast.

yuta had always been stressed. ever since he was a child, the boy couldn't help but become all tensed and nervous before important events. no matter how brilliant at school the boy was, each time a test was announced, yuta transformed into a nervous wreck, unable to keep his focus and to act reasonably. and of course, that came with all sorts of tics, whether it was biting his nails or lips, nibbling at the skin of his fingers, scratching himself, having a lump forming in his throat and swallowing it frequently, and so many more which conveyed his stress and anxiety.

needless to say, his level of stress and anxiety skyrocketed whenever he needed to speak in public or present his work to other people. quite paradoxical you may say for someone who became a public figure and who would need to make hundreds of speeches in his career. but well, this was yuta's little secret, and he was working on it the best he could.

"oh, there's one exception." taeyong's voice pulled yuta out of his dazed state.

"huh?" the ceo asked, checking the time and letting out a strangled noise when he realised he only had three minutes left.

"there's one ceo who seems young enough to be around our age. and he has a male secretary which seems as young as him." taeyong explained. "look, just there." he added, pointing in the direction of the men.

"oh, yeah." yuta nodded. "this is the ceo of jung corporation. his father retired early to leave him the business."

"so, that's our main competitor?" taeyong declared. "how come had i never seen his – handsome – face?"

as those words slipped past the secretary's lips, yuta's eyes were quick to widen before he faced taeyong.

"excuse me?!" he asked with a chuckle. "handsome?"

"yeah." taeyong replied honestly. "i mean, have you seen all the other old lads around? he's definitely better than all of them."

"are you trying to tell me you'd have a date with my main rival?" yuta raised a teasing brow, a smirk etching on his face as he elbowed his secretary in the rib.

"come on, the fact i find him handsome doesn't necessarily mean i want to date him."

"doesn't necessarily." yuta pointed out. "which means you'd eventually date him."

"well..." taeyong shrugged, focusing on the businessman who was currently in the middle of a conversation with another rich man. "...i guess i would let me get tempted by a rich businessman for once."

"can you believe that...?" yuta questioned rhetorically out loud, looking with a wide grin at taeyong whose eyes were glued to a certain male.

the secretary diverted his eyes from yuta's main rival, glancing down at his watch quickly before gasping.

"fuck, we're going to be late, you need to be on stage right now!" he declared, grabbing yuta's wrist and pulling the male towards the stage.

"taeyong, i don't want to make the speech..." the ceo whined as he was being dragged around until the two of them were behind the curtains that hid them from the crowd of rich and greedy men.

"come on, i know you're going to do amazing. you just need to start speaking." taeyong rolled his eyes, checking yuta's hair and suit to make sure everything looked nice. "you know it very well."

"mmh..."

and it was true. yuta was more than aware that – despite how stressed he was – once he would have pronounced the first words of his speech, tables would turn and he would be able to say everything in perfect confidence. yuta knew his speech by heart, he had written it, he owned it, and he knew that its first words would be an eye-opener that would reveal who the real ceo of nakamotors was.

yuta may be anxious and completely unable to improvise a speech under the pressure, but he knew how to assert himself as soon as he started talking when he had learnt his speech. and today was exactly that day; yuta had learnt his speech, he knew what to say, he knew when to stop and he knew which tone was best for which part. and all he needed more now was to start speaking and let confidence take over him and win the hearts of the dozens of businessmen that were standing on the other side of this curtain.

"are you ready?" taeyong asked, flashing the ceo a smile.

"not really..." yuta whined, rubbing his name.

"yes, you are." taeyong chuckled, handing yuta a microphone. "you're going to do amazing, yuta."

yuta gave his secretary a thin-lipped smile as he fidgeted with the mic. "i hope so..."

"i know so." taeyong assured. "now go and tell them who the real boss is."

☏

by the end of yuta's speech, the crowd was really loud, the different ceos and directors of the main automobile companies clapping and cheering on yuta and his provocative speech – that they seemed to have enjoyed.

taeyong was standing among these men as yuta walked out of stage, traying not to get stepped on as all of these rich and greedy men were getting excited over the fact they would be able to have a conversation with the oh-so-famous nakamoto yuta.

the secretary that was previously standing at the very end of the room, opposite the stage to make sure yuta's words were loud and clear from there, started his journey back towards the stage where he would be supposed to find his ceo so that they could start walking around the crowd together and meeting with whoever wanted to meet them. taeyong had a small digital notebook tucked in the inside of his tuxedo for that, ready to take notes, write numbers and sketches of potential contracts they could make with other companies. but before all of this could be set into place, taeyong needed to find yuta, and at the moment, it seemed like an impossible mission.

mumbling a small 'sorry' each time someone was in his way, taeyong progressed slowly across the crowd, starting to wonder if he will ever find yuta. the secretary tried his best to walk fast and avoid bumping into anyone – those greedy men tended to get extra mad whenever someone didn't treat them like gods – but considering how dense the crowd currently was, not colliding with anyone was close to unmanageable.

and as if karma wanted to prove taeyong's point, as soon as the boy was close enough to the stage to catch a nice glimpse of the green details that had been engraved on it for the occasion, the secretary tripped on something – not even aware to identify whether it was his own feet, the carpet that had been moved around or anything else – and inevitably, ended up bumping into one of the rich men he didn't want to collide with.

and in this exact moment, as his face was getting closer to the ground with each millisecond passing, the secretary didn't have the time to think about how bad this mysterious man he had bumped into would scold him when his hands gripped on the nearest thing he could reach, hoping to prevent himself from hitting the ground so hard and hurting himself. and it seemed like it worked, because instead of feeling an impact with the ground, the secretary felt himself being caught by two firm arms as he fisted with all his might a soft material.

"taeyong! i've been searching for you every- oh... mister jung?" yuta's voice rang by taeyong's side as the secretary was still in the same position, his eyes shut close after fearing to hurt himself. "well, i was about to send my secretary come and get you, but i guess you found him before he did."

and this is when the secretary registered the words his boss had just let out. well, more precisely, the name he had used to call this mysterious man that had found him before he did.

so, if taeyong had understood everything correctly, the man who had just prevented him from smashing against the hard floor was mister jung, in other words, yuta's main competitor and accessorily the man taeyong had found handsome a few minutes ago when him and yuta were peeking on the different guests from the top of the balcony.

automatically, taeyong's eyes opened wide and immediately fell into the most piercing eyes he had ever seen. all it took was a second more for the secretary to recognise the features of the man whose face was so close to his as jung jaehyun's and flush beet red in an instant as he realised that he was currently lying in yuta's main rival's arms like a princess.

"o-oh!" tayeong stuttered, letting go of jung corporation's ceo's shirt – the soft piece of fabric that he had been holding onto like his life depended on it, which was all crumpled by now – and trying to stand up straight again, inevitably hitting the ceo's nose with his forehead. "o-oh, god, i'm so sorry!" he was quick to add as he fell back into the same position, bringing one of his hands against his forehead.

the arms that were wrapped around taeyong's body slowly lifted him up without struggle, placing the secretary back standing on his feet with cheeks whose colour neared magnum p.i. well-known ferrari.

"mister nakamoto, pleasure to meet you." the ceo of jung corporation spoke professionally, holding his hand out for a handshake.

"the pleasure is mine." he replied, flashing a small smirk to his secretary who wanted nothing more than burying himself in the ground. "i guess i don't have to introduce you to my secretary."

"i guess it wouldn't be that necessary." jaehyun shrugged. "i wanted to have a talk with you."

"sure." yuta nodded, glancing behind to find a third male almost scorning at him. "aren't you going to introduce me to your secretary?"

jaehyun frowned. "my- oh, yes, my secretary." the ceo turned around and held his arm out to invite sicheng to walk closer to them. "this is dong sicheng."

"very pleased to meet you, sicheng." yuta said immediately, a smile etching onto his face as he looked at the beautiful male.

"so am i." the fake secretary answered, still salty about the speech that the ceo had pronounced minutes ago which he had found completely arrogant, provocative and unnecessary.

seeing as yuta's eyes didn't divert from his secretary after long seconds, jaehyun coughed to break him from his gaze and being his attention back to him.

"so, mister nakamoto." the ceo of jung corporation started again. "mind if we have a small talk?"

"of course not, i guess this is what is expected from us to do anyway." yuta replied with a courteous smile.

"it seems like your company is growing very fast." jaehyun started right off, not losing a second to bring yuta on the path he had decided.

"it indeed is. almost 14% over the past month." yuta nodded, repeating the data he had learnt by heart. in his endless anxiety, the ceo of nakamotors feared not being able to have a talk with the other ceos without appearing ridicule, and so, the man had learnt full sentences and numbered data to speak out for whenever he would need in order to decrease his stress level.

"and i saw that you expanded worldwide too." jaehyun continued.

"we did, effectively." nakamotors' ceo approved. "shall i make you the list of countries we are implanted in?"

"that wouldn't be necessary." jaehyun shook his head. "but i wanted to bring your attention on a point that i cleared out with all other south korean automobile companies."

"please enlighten me." yuta tilted his head to the side.

"jung corporation is the south korean leader in the american automobile industry." jaehyun explained.

"well, technically, it isn't anymore." yuta specified. "i think our subsidiary just overpassed yours last week. or did i read the numbers wrong?" he added, turning towards taeyong and bringing all of the attention on the secretary who seemed caught in a daze while staring at jaehyun. "taeyong?"

"h-huh!" the secretary shook his head, tightening his grip on dis digital pencil as he looked down at his tablet to check his notes. "no, you read the numbers right."

"perfect then." yuta smiled. "so, you may still be the leader in south korea, but you are not the leader anymore on the american market."

"this is where my deal comes." jaehyun voiced out, trying to bury his anger deep down inside of him. "just like i saw with the other actors of this industry, i would like you to propose a maximum of three different car models on the american market. and in exchange, i could give you exclusivity on another country's market."

yuta stayed silent for a few seconds, processing jaehyun's words as taeyong scribbled down what had just been said on his digital notes. sicheng, who was standing by his side, suddenly realised that maybe, a secretary was supposed to be taking notes during such a conversation, causing him to take his small paper notebook and pull out a pen quickly in hope to write jaehyun's words down.

however, in his precipitation, the chinese male didn't get a strong enough grip on the pen, causing him to make it fall and roll to the ceos' feet.

eyes widening and cheeks turning red, the technician was quick to bend to grab the pen, but he was beat of a second by yuta who picked it up with a smile.

"you dropped your pen." the ceo pointed out, looking at the small object with a brow raised. "nano electronics?" he read out loud. "is jung corporation in such a bad state that they need to use other companies' goodies rather than their own?" he added with a snort. "what even is 'nano electronics'? another company you're trying to buy in an attempt not to get overpassed by nakamotors?"

if sicheng was previously embarrassed, he was now fuming with anger at the man's arrogant words. never in his life had he met such a snooty and provocative man. who the hell did he think he was? the fact that he had become a ceo at a young age didn't mean he could act like he ruled the world. and the fact his business worked well was definitely not a reason for him to act like an arrogant bitch.

"my company- "

"nano electronics is a very successful electronics repair business that is specialised in nanotechnologies and the repair of technological and electronic devices of all sorts." sicheng cut jaehyun's words with furrowed brows as he snatched the pen from yuta's hand. "but of course you wouldn't know that since your company is too amazing and too modern to even hire technicians. no, nakamotors have their own personal technicians already, they wouldn't dare calling someone outside their company and make other businesses work!"

by the time sicheng had stopped talking, taeyong and jaehyun's eyes were as wide as saucers and a wide smirk had etched on yuta's face.

"dong sicheng..." jaehyun muttered under his breath, hoping that the secretary would realise who he was talking to. but unfortunately, sicheng was so blinded by rage that he didn't hear him. how could yuta even disrespect his company like this. sicheng was a technician, living from businesses like jung corporation or nakamotors who needed technological assistance with their electronic problems. and sicheng may have almost gotten fired from the company for not working harn enough in his managers' eyes, but he was attached to his business and ready to defend it like it was his own family.

"wow, i see that your secretary is well-informed in this sector..." yuta chuckled, glancing at jaehyun. "stop me if i'm wrong, but could that be that jung corporation's offices are getting so old that new technologies have a hard time to get implanted, which is why you would need so many technicians intervening?"

"this has nothing to do with- " jaehyun started again, only to get cut for the second time by the engineer.

"quite easy to say for someone who paid expensive to make studies that taught him nothing but how to sell ugly stuff at the higher price to make the more profit possible and- "

"dong sicheng!" jaehyun was the one to cut him this time, his voice strict and loud which caused taeyong who was standing a meter away to be startled.

the fake secretary faced jaehyun with a frown, suddenly understanding the reason of jaehyun's distress as he noticed the ceo looking like he was a second away from exploding.

"shut up." he growled. "immediately."

sicheng's eyes widened instantly as he kept his lips pressed together and nodded, diverting his eyes to his feet in order not to start getting mad at nakamotors' ceo again.

yuta chuckled again at this interaction between the ceo and his secretary.

"you got yourself a feisty secretary." the ceo informed. "i can only imagine how he would stand up in the middle of a meeting to defend your interests with fervour. actually, i'm looking forward to having a meeting with you and another few ceos to see him in the act."

"he only raises his voice when it is necessary." jaehyun informed. "but can we please go back to discussing the deal i proposed?"

"oh sure, the deal..." yuta nodded. "well, i must admit this deal could be interesting. but i may have a few conditions to add since- "

"yuta." someone spoke, interrupting their business talk.

"yes?" the ceo turned around, facing a young lady wearing an expensive-looking apron.

"you are awaited by the chef's side to declare the feast open." the lady explained.

"oh, sure, i'm coming right away!" the ceo nodded with a smile before diverting his eyes on taeyong. "so, about that deal..." yuta started again. "i'll let you see with taeyong for a meeting during which we could discuss that in a more serious environment. taeyong, block me a whole afternoon for that, mister jung is an important actor of the business and we wouldn't want to rush things."

"alright." the secretary nodded, surfing around his digital tablet to find yuta's schedule.

"perfect." yuta clapped his hands once before facing jaehyun and sicheng again. "then i guess this is my cue to leave. i hope we'll meet again soon." he added, his eyes locked with sicheng's as he pronounced the last words.

and before the fake secretary could think about another snarky remark, the ceo of nakamotors had turned on his heels and followed the girl in an apron, both of them disappearing in the crowd.

"huh... so, f-for the meeting, what day would be best for you?" taeyong broke the silence, catching jaehyun's attention.

"does your boss have something to do on thursday?" jaehyun asked, not even needing to check his agenda to be sure he was available on this day.

"no, n-nothing." taeyong replied after making sure what he was saying was true. "i'm scheduling your meeting for thursday afternoon, then."

"great." jaehyun nodded. "take my number and tell him to call me whenever he has the time so that we fix a location for the meeting." the ceo added, pulling out a black and silver business card from the inside pocket of his suit and handing it to taeyong who grabbed it with a shaky hand.

"s-sure, t-thank you." the secretary flashed jaehyun a shy smile.

"welcome." the ceo muttered quickly before checking his watch and thinking about which other businessman he would need to cross path with today.

"h-huh, i-i'm sorry again for my fall a while ago." yuta's secretary spoke again, making jaehyun divert his attention to him. "a-and for bumping my forehead against your nose..." the male added, his cheeks red once again.

however, it didn't seem like jaehyun could care less about his carelessness or the colours of his cheeks as the ceo noticed a familiar male a few meters away. "oh, mister hu!" he exclaimed, a smile etching onto his face as he grabbed sicheng's wrist pulled his secretary away towards their next business talk.