Boss Complex

19. Coffee and Cocoa

"Do you need anything else?" The waitress seems to be looking at both men with equal interest as she hovers at the peripheral of their table for two. The atmosphere reads with the tension of the conversation yet to be had, but she seems perfectly blind to it, or is ignoring it pointedly to flirt.

"We're fine." Kyungsoo says curtly.

"Thank you." Jong In adds, eyes never straying from the small sulking man before him.

"The weather is nice today." Jong In says calmly, seeming not to note the man's moodiness as out of the ordinary.

He pulls away the hard gaze he's pinning on Kyungsoo to look up to the sky with a grin. He then holds a hand up, as if to feel the temperature on his palm. The sun is bright; the skies clear, with crispness in the air but not touching the bitter bite of winter's breath today.

"You can cut the pleasantries, Kim." He growls in response, irritated by the very sight of the man before him.

He scoops his coffee mug to his palm to hold it in place and steals heat through the company brand embossed ceramic mug to distract himself but Jong in stands abruptly and grabs his scarf as if to leave. Kyungsoo stumbles to his feet and takes hold of the man's coat sleeve.

"Okay. Okay, we'll start with small talk." He says quickly. "Don't go yet, I'm sorry. Sit back down."

Jong In hold the wide doe-eyed man hostage once more, frozen in place for a moment, adjusting the shift in his weight back towards his chair after a long threatening look in silence. Kyungsoo drops his hold immediately and takes his seat again, looking around self-consciously, feeling Jong in's gaze lingering on him longer than he felt comfortable with as was becoming usual.

"So... the weather is nice today." Kyungsoo comments and Jong In cracks a smile.

Though his eyes remained stern, he felt a small pull for a smirk at the sight of the man's warming expression. Perhaps though, that's his feelings resurfacing for how apologetic he feels about what happened just a few days before...

"Baekhee is getting married?" Kyungsoo heard the surprise in his own tone, but this was no small revelation.

"Yes... I just... I can't talk right now..."

Baekhyun's voice quivered on the other end of the line and Kyungsoo smirked.

"Are you getting emotional over your only sister getting engaged?"

He didn't hold back the laughter at how ridiculous that sounded but in honestly, he was partially laughing at the situation altogether. Baekhee was hardly what one would call the marrying type. Like her brother, she enjoyed flitting about from one person to another and marriage seems quite sudden when she hadn't even been seriously seeing anyone a few months back. He rationalizes that she must have actually given in to her parent's wishes and agreed to one of her blind marriage setups. Baekhyun had mentioned something about that at one point... but he hadn't really taken it seriously. But as the silence on the other end stretched on, he finds less and less amusement, feeling his own heart-shaped grin slip.

"Baekhyun?"

"Kyungsoo... he's... he's so awful." Baekhyun's voice cracked letting the floodgate falter with it. "I think... I think I really like him and I could lose my job... he's so unprofessional and I... I think I actually like him so... so much...I think I really like him..."

"Baekhyun, are you really crying right now?"

Kyungsoo had known this man for a very long time and he was not one to cry. Not like this. Kyungsoo's energy fizzled with puzzlement and he felt his fingers grip the phone a little tighter. Tears were a rare and unexpected occurrence: Rare, unexpected and serious.