donghyuck's eyes widened after hearing the older's statement, while his mouth dropped. "it's so obvious that they only want your company!" he tells after the ceo had just told him about mr. moon's purpose of their meeting.
"well, that's how it usually goes if one's company needs money so bad." mark replied. but he just can't help but to notice how donghyuck had now started to talk to him informally but if he's going to be honest here, he wouldn't complain or even correct his secretary.
it's better than this rather than the awkward atmosphere they had earlier.
the younger leaned back on his chair as he pursed his lips, still in disbelief of what he just heard. "if i were you mr. lee, i'd reject him right away in front of his face." he said, nodding with every word he says.
when donghyuck heard his ceo chuckle, he looked over his side and he saw him shaking his head. this made him slap his lips with his palms, "oh, i'm sorry!" the younger suddenly said, grabbing the ceo's attention, "i apologize, mr. lee!"
"for what?" the older looked at him with a frown, noticing how donghyuck is looking at him as if he saw a ghost.
"well... i-i didn't realize i'm starting to talk to you informally..." the younger slowly said, and started averting his gaze away from the ceo.
mark smiled before shrugging his shoulders, "i don't mind." he plainly said.
"e-eh..?"
"anyway," the ceo clears his thought in an attempt to erase the smile on his lips, "where's your place, we can drop you ther—"
"oh no! it's fine—i'm fine!" donghyuck refused, shaking his hands as a no towards the ceo.
the older looked down at his wristwatch to check the time and shook his head, not agreeing with what the younger just said, "it's too late at night, donghyuck." he stated, making the younger check the time on his phone.
he slowly started nodding his head, agreeing with what the ceo said. "you can just drop by the bus stop, my place is closer there anyway."
mark didn't say anything after that so the younger can't quite tell if the latter agreed to him. their journey went on, until they were closer to the ceo's building.
once the younger finally saw this, he sprung his back up from the backrest and tried to peek where the bus stop is. the older seemed to notice this and glanced over to where he was looking. "do you live in that building?" the older asks.
"yes!" the younger immediately replied, "you can drop me off here at the bus stop—"
"let's go directly to that building." mark said to his driver and did not take any more answers from the younger.
-----
as he plopped himself down on his bed, a sigh then escaped from his lips. "my ceo dropping me off my place, what a way to end the weekdays." he talked to himself while looking up at the ceiling.
a lot has happened for the past five days while he was working under the lee company. it wasn't easy, he wasn't expecting to, in the first place. those days he saw the ceo's strict side and he also saw his soft-hearted side.
well, he assumed that the ceo telling him the company's dirty secrets is a kind thing for him to do.
suddenly, he heard his phone ringing causing him to flinch on his spot. he rolled over his bed to reach for the device on his bedside table and looked at the contact name before immediately answering it.
"oh, jaemin?" he answers.
"what's up, our secretary!" someone on the other line replied which made the tanned male furrow his brows as he doesn't sound anything like jaemin.
"is this jungwoo?" he asked, not even bothering to pay attention to the person's teasing.
"i am!"
"oh hey!" donghyuck continues, "are you calling on jaemin's phone?"
just then, donghyuck heard another voice and this time it did sound like jaemin, "yeah, he is." jaemin said, while chewing on his chips, "actually renjun and jungwoo came into my apartment to raid my fridge, now jungwoo snatched my phone from me while renjun is still eating at the kitchen."
donghyuck released a small chuckle while shooking his head in disbelief, "why'd you guys call anyway?"
"oh! we decided to take you out tomorrow since we haven't hung out that much anymore." jungwoo answered.
"are you free for tomorrow though?" jaemin is quick to add, just in case donghyuck has something to do.
"oh yeah," donghyuck said, "have nothing to do tomorrow, thankfully."
"great!" he heard the voices on the other line cheered, and for some reason, he also caught a new voice, so he assumed renjun is already with them, "how about let's meet tomorrow at our coffee shop around three?"
donghyuck hums before saying, "sound good to me."
the time flowed fast for the boy, as he is now sitting inside the coffee shop, the place where his old job is.
"so..." jaemin started, dragging out his word as he rest his chin on his palms, leaning closer towards donghyuck, "how's the new job?"
donghyuck just shrugs at the question as his attention was on the cake he's busy eating, "i don't know." he simply says.
the three then looked at the tanned male in disbelief with his answer, "you don't know?" renjun asks in shock, "you don't know the feeling of working with the son of the most famous ceo in seoul?"
donghyuck only nodded as an answer, yet the three don't seem to be satisfied enough. "details, donghyuck lee. we need the details." jungwoo butts in before taking a sip on his drink.
the tanned male finally decided to turn his attention away from his beloved food and faced his friends, "details?" he asked, repeating what the older said, and then his friends nodded as a response, "pretty cool, i guess? he orders me around, which is understandable because i'm his secretary anyway, pretty strict—understandable too, but to be honest he's kinda nice?" he stated but his last words sound like he's asking a question.
while donghyuck is busy talking, the three of them are just staring at him with a smile, too fond of what the tanned male is talking about.
"his attitude is completely different from our first encounter, he probably just did it to scare me or something—i don't know." he adds, "not to mention, he also told me about their company's secret or whatever you call that." donghyuck finishes and finally got back to his food.
meanwhile, the three already have their eyes wide open in shock about what they just heard, "you're only a week in this company, and he already told you about his deepest darkest secret?" jaemin gasps.
the younger playfully rolled his eyes, "don't overreact." he told.
the three just nodded to what the younger was saying and were now about to take a sip on their drinks when a realization hit jungwoo.
"wait, what was the secret though?"
-----
dropping his bag down his sofa, he immediately let out a heavy sigh and plopped his body down.
he looked at his wall clock and just noticed that it was almost midnight. he clutched his head as he feels like he was going to pass out anytime soon. he needs to stop drinking until he can't take it anymore, this is not a healthy habit.
after spending their time in the cafe, they decided to shop to spend more time together until they don't notice the time anymore and ended up in the bar to drink their asses off, because, after all, it's weekends, all four of them don't have work to go to the next morning.
with his heavy head, he picked himself up from his sofa to sloppily walked towards his bedroom, and while he does that, his hands are also busy stripping his clothes off and just leaving it on the ground. thank god he lives alone because he doesn't want anyone to see this mess.
right before he can even enter his room, his phone rings, resulting him to immediately turn his head around in the direction.
he groaned while thinking who could be calling him at this hour.
finally picking up the device, he looked at the name but it was only phone numbers that are displayed, his vision is also becoming blurry which did not help at all, so not thinking much of it, he picked up the call with a, "who's this?" before walking back on his room.
"good evening, donghyuck. i was not expecting you to pick up this call, especially at this hour, but hello."
donghyuck felt a sharp pain that made him clutch his head in to try and ease the pain, this alcohol is really getting into him, he thought to himself. "hello." he finally blurts out, "tell me who's the person behind here." he sluggishly added.
"mark. mark lee."
donghyuck's body being plopped on the bed made the other line blurry, but he doesn't think much of it anymore. the male just wanted this call to end so he finally get the sleep he wanted.
realizing that his secretary is not saying anything behind the line, he continues, "i'm sorry, you're probably sleepy right now, we can just continue this conversation tomorrow—"
"oh wait! i know y-you!" donghyuck giggles, hearing the familiar voice on the other line.
"d-donghyuck?"
the younger hiccuped, and pushed his upper body up, "don't worry so much about me mr. lee, i-i can reassure you that y-your—" he stopped as he felt another hiccup coming, "your secret safe!"
at this point, the ceo had his brows confused. is he drunk? he thought to himself and was about to speak when the younger took the lead.
"mr. lee, i also have a secret." he chuckles, he doesn't even care if he's getting dizzy at this moment.
when the older finally realized the younger's state, he decided to speak up, "donghyuck, i think you should rest now, it's getting late—"
"shh!" donghyuck cuts him off, "we kinda have the same secret, mr. lee," he states, cutting another hiccup that is about to come, "i-i'm also gay!"