Zero by One: Take Me Home

20. The Brewing Storm

Eyebrow twitching in alert at the eerily blunt assumption that threw him off guard, Taehyun quickly blinked away his daze to react on beat.

　"I went straight home yesterday, sir. I don't see how that's possible."

　"Well, I'd like to believe it's true since you've said it yourself." Beomgyu shrugged before standing up, his left hand reaching for his pocket as he strode towards the intern from his desk;

　"But, you see..."

The superior brought out his hidden hand to toss something at the subordinate.

　"Where did you..."

Speechless, Taehyun looked, wide-eyed, down at the dreaded employee ID he had been fretting over for a week landing right into his palms.

　"Now, don't mind if I act a little arrogant- As a matter of fact, it wasn't supposed to be a request but a warning anyway." Beomgyu took a step forward;

　"Since I've saved you 5000 now, I desire a return for my favor."

　Taehyun blinked. "Uh.. sure... If that's within my reach."

　He's not gonna humiliate me in public for ₩5000, is he??

　"Oh, no need to tense up." The noirette took the card and hung it over Taehyun's neck personally before his elegant fingers brushed against the employee's shoulders in a dusting motion.

　"I think honesty isn't something you can't afford to give me, Mr Kang."

Within a second, the other man backed off on his own accord after going in for a sudden contact, giving Taehyun's thin thread of patience a reason to stretch a tad longer than max before it could snap. His disquiet for the other's inscrutable mannerisms was growing dramatically like inflation rate.

　'Honesty'?? Lord, isn't 8:45 too early for a mind game--

　"Yesterday, did you come back to the company after the dinner?"

The brunet's gaze shot up from the ground to meet Beomgyu's face almost too indiscreetly.

Taehyun swallowed hard and dry, his mental gears steaming from evaluating the risks that could dig his own grave at one wrong move.

Not in the mood to sabotage himself anymore, he immediately started wriggling his way out with no other resolve than fabrication.

　"No, sir. I went straight home because my brother had an emergency."

Not entirely false since he indeed went back for Yeosang. Though, Choi Beomgyu didn't need to know that the scene actually took place at the hospital, or the other major piece of info that he left out for the sake of world peace.

　"Oh, really? What kind of emergency?"

　"It's his personal affair, sir. I'm afraid I shouldn't be spilling it to just about anyone," countered Taehyun without batting an eyelid.

Nodding along at the other man's pretence, Beomgyu tilted his head, and reached out only one hand to stroke the blue satin band hanging on Taehyun's neck.

　"So you mean to say, a pair of wings must've occured to your ID card for it to magically appear on our team's pantry floor?"

When met with absolute silence afterwards, Beomgyu couldn't help but chuckle at the stubbornness.

　"You know what... Let's skip the order of questions." He released the ribbon band;

　"Last chance for you to be honest with me, Mr Kang, use it wisely," and yanked him by the collar of his white shirt towards his face.