Business Partners | A Novel ❖

𝟸𝟼 |

'Mr. Park, you have someone here to see you.'

Seonghwa looked up from his desk to see the office secretary standing to the side, glancing over her shoulder. And as Seonghwa looked up to see who she was looking at, he felt his pulse quicken for a moment.

Kim Hongjoong.

'Thank you,' Seonghwa said kindly, standing up. 'Can we use consult room two?'

The young lady nodded, before bowing and going back to work.

Seonghwa took a deep breath, readying himself. He walked over to the waiting room where Hongjoong was standing, and tried not to falter under his sleek eyes.

'Good morning, Mr. Park.'

Seonghwa nodded. 'Through here,' he said, leading him to a private room.

And the moment the door shut behind him, leaving them alone, he felt Hongjoong drop a certain pretence. 'I heard you're heading back to Korea,' he said, pulling out an office chair and sitting down casually.

Seonghwa sighed, pulling out a chair beside him, sitting down and loosening his tie. 'We fly out Friday,' he said, nodding.

Hongjoong's surprisingly kind eyes fell upon him as he listened and processed his words. 'You must be relieved to head home.'

Seonghwa nodded. 'I guess so...'

For some reason, it felt almost nostalgic, sitting here with him. In fact, realising that this would likely be the last he saw of Hongjoong, it almost felt sad.

The brunette glanced down, biting into his lip gently, and an extended silence fell between them, surprisingly not an uncomfortable one, but more just one of reflection.

And then, Hongjoong took a shaky breath. 'Seonghwa,' he said softly, catching his attention.

He glanced up, frowning a little in surprise. 'Mmm?'

Hongjoong took a deep breath, before rubbing the back of his neck, and for the first time since meeting him, Seonghwa thought he was seeing a weakness. 'I wanted to apologise...' he said quietly... shyly...

Seonghwa's lips parted in bewilderment. 'I- what for?' he asked, not for the life of him able to think of where this was coming from.

But Hongjoong just swallowed back his timidness and faced him bravely. 'The night we met... your first night here...'

Seonghwa frowned. 'Hongjoong, I don't know what you mean...'

He took a shaky breath, looking genuinely guilty. 'I-... I was sitting at that bar, and approached you with a side agenda...' he admitted. 'But... from the moment we started talking, I completely forgot about work...'

Seonghwa took a slow breath. 'I... I thought we had a nice night...' he said softly. 'Obviously with the exception of things kind of getting out of hand... but even so...' Seonghwa felt like the truth was being drawn from within him... 'I had fun... You made my first night here very pleasant... memorable, at the very least.'

Hongjoong let out an amused breath, his cheeks flushing a little. 'For what it's worth... I didn't sleep with you because of work...'

Seonghwa looked at his guilt stricken face, and wondered whether he was right in detecting a slight sadness in his eyes. This was certainly not a side of the man he'd seen before, and he wondered where it could possibly be coming from.

Reason aside however, he was still pouring his heart out, and Seonghwa for some reason felt like he owed him his truth as well.

'Hongjoong, so much has happened to me since coming to this country... So many things I never would have thought were possible...' He flashed over the past months working here, travelling to all kinds of places and resorts, and finding himself in all sorts of scenes he only thought happened in movies.