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Melon was shaped like an oval with a big hole in the middle that allowed you to see all 44 floors as well as the lobby at the bottom. Five floors up was a skylight that brightened the entire building it seemed, and had me wondering where Jungkook's office was if I could see the top of the building from here. I gawked at the architecture of the building as I walked toward the receptionist desk.
"You again?" Jennie asked me, popping her chewing gum. Jimin had told me she wasn't as mean as she seemed. She would just take some time to warm up to me. I couldn't see that in the near future, but I smiled at her anyway.
"Hi. I've just been hired as Mr. Jeon's secretary and I need to see Jim- Mr. Park." I told her. If I was going to work here, I had to act the part.
"I'll let him know you're here." Jennie said, still eying me skeptically. I ignored her gaze and went to sit down in one of the trendy yellow chairs. Jimin came out of an office instead of a cubicle and it had a large curved window in the front. He sauntered over dressed in a clean pink dress shirt and gray slacks that clung to his legs just professionally enough, though he still looked attractive. His shoes were sleek and black, softly clicking on the floor with every step. Jimin smiled when he saw me, his eyes disappearing into crescent moons.
"Good morning, Tae." He greeted me. I stood and walked into his open arms. It wasn't often that Jimin was feeling well enough to let me hug him, so I took advantage of the opportunity. He straightened out his shirt and dusted off some lint that probably wasn't there, but I knew he couldn't help it. Even if there was nothing there, and I didn't have cooties, Jimin still felt the need to constantly brush himself off. OCD was complicated.
"Boss tells me you have some paperwork for me." I said. Jimin nodded and waved his hand so I'd follow him. "I do. Come on."
"I like your sweater." He said. I smiled. "Thank you. You look nice today too. Especially your butt in those pants." I complimented him. Jimin snickered and gave me a shy glance. "Stop." He blushed.
When we entered his office, we sat down across from each other. "I'm really glad you were able to find work so quickly, Tae and now you're living in a penthouse too? I'm so jealous." He muttered the last part, placing each of the papers in front of me. "Just sign all of these on the dotted line and you'll be done... I know it's just your first day, but things will begin to get easier soon. Mr. Jeon is reasonable and he won't give you any work you can't handle. However, he also has high standards and expects our best." He said.
I didn't notice it at the time, but Jimin seemed to be slightly distracted, I just couldn't put my finger on why. I nodded, listening closely while filling out the lines on the documents. "I still feel a little bad for intruding on his space though. I mean, that's his home. I work for the man and live with him. Wouldn't he get tired of seeing me all the time?" I mused, uneasily.
Jimin sighed with a roll of his eyes. "I don't know what mirror you're looking into, but no one would ever get tired of seeing you. Besides, if Jungkook didn't want you around, you damn sure would not be here. He would have just let you buy him another coffee and went on about his day. Jungkook doesn't do anything he doesn't want to do, and you shouldn't feel bad for accepting it." Jimin assured me. I nodded thoughtfully at the fact that Jimin seemed to know quite a bit about Mr. Jeon. I mean, considering there was a painting of him in Jungkook's paint studio, they had to have some sort of history I didn't know about. Not to mention, they were on a first name basis. I narrowed my eyes.
"You two seem pretty close." I said out loud. It sounded more accusatory than I intended and Jimin froze, doing his nose-wipy, glasses-pushy thing again. "We're... friendly." He hesitated to find the right word to describe their relationship. "I just didn't know that. You don't really talk about him like you do your other friends." In fact, Jimin had never really talked about Mr. Jeon, apart from work related rants. Granted, I did remember his first day at Melon, long before he was promoted to HR director. He told me how hot his boss was and didn't stop talking about him until I found another subject to shut him up with.
I gazed at Jimin, waiting to hear his response. He hesitated again. "Y-yeah, I mean, he's my boss, so-" There was no way they dated. I mean, was he even Jimin's type? Jimin was highly picky about the men he dated and last time I checked, he wasn't into BDSM, or was he? On second thought, Jimin tended to need some source of control in his life and a Dominant was perfect for that-
I gasped.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I questioned him, clutching my invisible pearls. Jimin gulped and scooted back in his chair. It was a sign of guilt, putting space between us. "T-tell you what?" He tried. He knew exactly what I was talking about, yet he avoided it. Jimin, out of all people, knew I couldn't be fooled.
"I'm trustworthy, aren't I? I mean, it's not against company policy and I wasn't even working here before so who was I going to tell? On top of that, Jungkook's the boss, he can fuck whoever he wants... no pun intended." I rambled when I was uncomfortable and at that moment, finding out the man I was developing a crush on was dominating my best friend made my chest a little heavy. Jimin shushed me. "Shut up!" He whisper-yelled, waving his hands at me like he was trying to shove the words back into my mouth.
It was too late. The cat was out of the bag.
The information only slightly surprised me after seeing the painting. Jimin had always been experimental when it came to sex and I was sure submission helped him stay grounded. I just didn't like that it was with Jungkook.
I leaned back in my chair after signing everything and Jimin refused to look me in the eyes. I wanted to know why he was so shy about all this and why he didn't tell me a word about it. Moreover, I was surprised that I didn't pick up on it sooner. You'd think someone who was getting laid would act like it.
"S-so, is it just sex, or are you two dating?" I asked him. Jimin pursed his lips. "It was just sex. But it ended almost a year ago."
"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked him, frowning. Sure, Jimin was entitled to his secrecy, but if I was getting drilled by a sexy rich man, he would have been the first to know.
"I-I don't know... I guess I just felt kinda guilty. I mean, he's my boss..."
"So?"
"So, I didn't want anyone to think I was sleeping with him to get promoted."
"You think I would think that about you?" I questioned him. "No, about you, I just... you saw what was in his room, right? What he's into? I didn't want you to know I'm a submissive."
"Jimin, I don't care what gets you off. It's not my place to judge you for it. In fact, I think it's good for you. H-how long have you been a submissive?" my curiosity outweighed my discomfort.
Everyone was the way they were for a reason and Jimin was no exception. Jimin liked domination because it helped him stay grounded with his OCD. If he relinquished control to someone else, he didn't feel so responsible for his compulsions and suppressing them. His need to have control over his disorder reflected into his sexual preferences and letting go of control was a safe space for him.
"A few years now."
How did I miss that?
"Oh... well I would never judge you, Jimin. You always judge yourself and this is why you struggle with contamination."
"Well, I can't really help it, Tae. I've been dealing with this shit since high school. I can't just stop."
"Well if BDSM is helping you, why did you stop?" I was relieved to know that Jimin and Jungkook weren't a current thing, but also quite curious as to what stopped them. "Like I said, I was guilty, and on top of that, I didn't want things to go too far. Sometimes, in those types of relationships, people start to catch feelings. I didn't want that to happen on either of our parts."
"Jim, you shouldn't feel guilty about your kinks or who you sleep with. It's your business, not anyone else's." I was telling him that as if to say that he should not have ended things with Jungkook when I knew in my chest that I was glad they weren't involved anymore. I paused to let the thought run through my mind and a pang of jealousy coursed through me. I knew just where it came from, but I didn't expect it so soon. I had only just met Jungkook, yet he was the most alluring man I've ever met, and if I wasn't mistaken, he had some interest in me as well. There were a plethora of reasons why this was a bad idea, but I was desperate for some good fortune for once in the last five years.
"But I understand why you stopped it. Feelings can get involved very easily, especially when you surrender yourself to them like that. It was probably for the best if that wasn't what you wanted." I said. Honestly, I should have been happy for Jimin and supporting whatever he wanted to do, as long as he wasn't hurting himself. So why did it bother me to imagine Jimin handcuffed to Jungkook's bed?
"Thank you for being okay with it, at least." Jimin broke me out of my thoughts, smiling softly while collecting the paperwork. "I have a lot to do today, but I'll see you around... Can you do me a favor and keep this between us? I don't even want Jungkook to know you know."
"S-sure. You know I'm good at keeping secrets."
"I know you are. Maybe we can get lunch this week if Jungkook doesn't hold you hostage." He suggested with a smirk. I forced a grin onto my lips and got up from the chair.
"Have a good day, Jimin." I told him, exiting his office and making my swift retreat to the elevator. My chest seemed to drag on the floor behind me and I felt the overload of oxygen in my brain for my excessive inhaling. I didn't bother to ask Jimin about the painting I saw or why he seemed so apprehensive about me staying with Mr. Jeon. It was now more clear why he objected to the idea, because he didn't want to reveal his involvement with Mr. Jeon.
I tried hard to clear the thoughts away as I ascended to the J floor, and took my last attempt at a deep breath before the doors slid open. Mr. Jeon was sitting across from someone and he and them were having a lighthearted conversation. The soft grin on Jungkook's face was nice to see. When I stepped out of the elevator, his eyes flickered to me and he raised his attention.
"Great. You're back. We have lots to discuss." He announced. Yeah, like your kinky relationship with my best friend, I wanted to say, but I bit my tongue. "Anyway, Jackson, we'll talk more later. I have to break in my new assistant." He told the man he had been talking with. I didn't miss the innuendo in that statement, but I didn't have much time to acknowledge it. So called Jackson nodded his head and turned to me, a smirk already having lined his lips. He held his hand out for me to shake and I took it firmly.
"Welcome aboard, Taehyung." He said, politely. Jackson was very handsome and it was obvious that he knew it. "Thank you. I'm looking forward to it."
"I'm glad. Don't let this dictator kill that attitude." He chuckled, making his way out. "I'm more of an Emperor, but that's neither here nor there. I'm still your boss." Jungkook said, narrow eyeing Jackson's back as he left.
"Who is he?" I asked, realizing I didn't get a chance to ask Jackson, himself. "Jackson is my executive marketing agent. Very talented. Anyways, enough about him. We need to get you started." Mr. Jeon held his hand towards the chair that Jackson had just been sitting in. I sat.
"Alright, so as I previously made you aware, as my secretary, your job is to do what I tell you without question, but it's not so simple. I'll be assessing your competence over the next month and determining what work I will trust you with, but to start off, you'll be answering the phone, taking messages for me, keeping and planning my schedule, filing papers, and whatever else I ask you to do. You don't get paid by the hour, so you're welcome to go home when I do, unless specified otherwise by me.
"Of course, that is your desk, the printer is over there, and I've loaded your desktop with all of the necessary documents and programs. You can take a few minutes to browse if you'd like. I'll start you off at the salary I give any other secretary. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I'd rather you ask me six hundred questions in an hour and do it right than none and do something wrong. Understand?" He asked me. I nodded firmly. "Perfect, any questions?" I knew he was testing me.
Yeah, why did you tie my bestie to your bed?
Shut up Taehyung.
"Not yet, but I'll definitely have some later." I told him. Mr. Jeon nodded. "Good. You do listen." I couldn't help but be amused by the snide quip. I smirked, shifting in my seat. There was a sense of praise in his tone that I also couldn't help but feel triumph to have had him notice my resilience.
After noting my responsibilities and Jungkook's rules, I retreated to the nice sized glass desk. As I may have mentioned before, Jungkook's office alone was the size of four studio apartments and three of the walls were floor to ceiling windows. His love for sunlight translated to his workspace and much like his penthouse, the office was the topmost floor in the building. With that realization came and my thoughts reached a rather dirty level, and I wasn't the subject of the fantasy. Jimin was. I couldn't help but wonder if he and Jungkook had ever had sex in this very office and how many times Jimin cleaned up obsessively after.
"-hyung."
"Taehyung." Jungkook called me. "Huh? Yes sir?"
"Did you hear me?" He asked. The slight smirk told me he was bemused. "No sir, I didn't." I answered sheepishly, hoping the blush on my cheeks wasn't too fierce. Jungkook narrowed his eyes but the smirk on his pretty lips never left.
"What were you thinking about just now?" He asked me quizzically. My heart jumped through my chest at the question. There was no way in hell I was going to tell him that I'd been picturing Jimin bent over his desk.
"N-nothing?" I told him. It came out more like a question. "Nothing." He repeated, unconvinced. "You don't want to know." I said quickly. Mr. Jeon eyed me again, the smirk on his lips seemed to challenge me now. "If I didn't want to know, I wouldn't have asked. Your mind is a very complex maze and I'd like to navigate it." He admitted to me, leaning back in his chair. I cleared my throat and shifted in my new seat.
"It's very dark in there... and dirty. Trust me, you don't want it." I said, chuckling nervously in hope the joke would redeem me. Besides, he couldn't be serious. Jungkook continued to eye me. His stare was intense and deep.
"Don't tell me what I don't want, Kim Taehyung." He chided lowly. Mr. Jeon's voice had a subtly growl to it that I found very sexy and when he used it, I got the strange feeling that he was flirting with me. I didn't want to jump to conclusions, but I also wasn't stupid. Jungkook's dominance translated to his CEO position and I wouldn't be surprised if he found it hard to separate the two.
When I pulled out of my mental analysis, Jungkook had leaned forward in his seat and was watching me intensely. "You're doing it again, Taehyung." I felt heat rush to my face at the sound of my name on his tongue. I couldn't help the way my brain worked, and it was best I didn't share those particular thoughts from the last few minutes with him. "I'll figure you out one day. You can't hide that brain from me." Jungkook challenged. I blinked. "Who says I want to hide from you?"
Jungkook's eyes darkened and lips puckered ever so slightly. "Your body language. But It's alright. I like to chase." He said just before going back to work.
Yeah, I know you like to chase. You chased my best friend... but I'm sure Jimin didn't get very far.
JEON JUNGKOOK
It was extremely difficult to concentrate when there was a beautiful man twenty feet away from me. Taehyung was so charming and I had a feeling he knew it. His attentive obedience didn't help much for trying not to feel anything.
To test his skills, I gave him the sales stats from the last three months and asked him to find similarities and comparisons in the data. Tae was naturally analytic so I knew it wouldn't be much of a problem for him, just tedious.
Every so often, he would get up from his seat to go to the printer and when he waited for his documents, he would stand with his hip poked out. The shape of his body was alluring and I couldn't ignore it, like one of those grecian statues that embodied sensualism. My thoughts slipped through my fingers before I could catch them and they wandered to his beauty. I lost ten minutes of work staring blankly at the numbers on my computer screen. Perhaps it was a mistake to hire him. I should have just asked him on a date.
Shit.
Regrettably, I had had this problem before, with Park Jimin. I hired him as a paid intern and he impressed me, but I waited until he proved himself in his position to make any advances on him. Sooner than later, it worked. In the back of my mind, I knew my attraction to Taehyung was wrong, but I also couldn't help who I was attracted to. As long as there was no misconduct and Taehyung wasn't uncomfortable, I hadn't crossed any lines yet. However, I made it a point to back off a little. Even still, I could feel myself getting worked up, having not done a scene in several weeks. If I was going to focus today, I needed to get this feeling out of my system.
"Taehyung?" I spoke up abruptly, and slightly too loud, at least in my head. "Yes Sir?" He responded, lips pressed into a slight pout. "Can you go to the convenience store and get me a bag of Blowpops please? I ran out."
"Blowpops?" Taehyung questioned me. "I told you, I have a sweet tooth and the type of sugar I want, I can't really have right now." I said, muttering the last part. I could tell Taehyung was confused by my request, but he didn't have much of a choice but to fulfill it. I needed him out of here for a minute while I did something very stupid. He was the sugar I couldn't have, but I knew who I could convince. Call me an asshole and you would be half right.
Taehyung stood and gathered his phone and wallet. I had never taken my black card back from him so I didn't bother asking if he still had it. "Any specific flavor?" He asked. What a good boy. "Cherry." I told him, sighing. Sexual frustration was consuming me and I was hyper-aware of all of his movements while he worked. When Taehyung exited the office, I felt like I could breathe again.
What was it about him that I couldn't get him off my mind? Yes, he was beautiful and charming and intelligent, but there was something more. He was willfully obedient and took direction a little too well. Even still, he had a mind of his own, but was willing to do everything I asked. What was I going to do? I couldn't fire him, but this moment was proof that it would be difficult to keep him around me. Of course I would do my best out of respect for Taehyung's boundaries, but that didn't come without struggle, especially when he kept dropping hints that the attraction was mutual. The telephone ran and pulled me out of my internal monologue. I picked it up and it was just the person I was about to call, even though I knew damn well I shouldn't have.
"Jeon." I answered.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Jeon. Taehyung's papers have been processed and the background check was all cleared. Would you like me to bring them up for you to sign?" Jimin asked me. At that moment, I realized how indecisive my penis really was.
"Come." That was all I said before hanging up the phone. Minutes later, Jimin emerged from the elevator clean as ever. Pink was such a nice color on him and it was hard to ignore. He carried a manila folder with what I assumed were Taehyung's employment papers.
I stood to meet him halfway and he knew something was up because if I just wanted the paper's I wouldn't have gotten up. I took the folder from his apprehensive hands as he peered up curiously at me. I rested my hand on his dainty waist. "Ah, don't go yet." I ordered.
Jimin frowned, but there was slight amusement in his eyes. His emotions were very hard to read, but his action spoke louder. I pulled him closer to me and wrapped my arm around his lower back. I hadn't come on to him in half a year, so I was sure he was surprised.
"Mr. Jeon." He gasped just as I cut him off, holding my finger to his lips and kissed him. Jimin groaned breathlessly against my open mouth, but complied, leaning in to me. Not enough time passed as we kissed breathlessly, trying to find friction to release the tension coiled in my stomach. Jimin's heartbeat was erratic against my chest as he gripped the sides of my suit jacket and I could tell he missed me, despite what he claimed. Unfortunately, I couldn't tell if I missed him or if I was just misplacing my arousal onto someone who would actually let me touch them.
The elevator dinged and Jimin and I were forced to pull apart. For a few minutes, I had forgotten that someone else had a key to my office and it could have only been one person. Taehyung stood with a blank stare as the elevator closed behind him. He held a bag firmly in his fist and blinked at us. Busted.
I really wanted to know what he was thinking, but I couldn't really find it in myself to move or speak.
Jimin cleared his throat, breaking the deafening silence. "I-I'll be on my way. If you need anything else, you know where to find me." Jimin said. I knew what that meant, and he was very naughty for that. Even still, he was headed to the bathroom to brush his teeth. I knew it wasn't anything against me. OCD was complicated, even if he didn't admit he had it.
Taehyung silently placed the bag on my desk, refusing to look me in the eyes. I wanted to say something, perhaps apologize ot assure him, but I couldn't form the words, nor did I know which ones would explain why the fuck I just made out with his best friend and if I would have stopped if he hadn't come back so quickly. Initially, I just meant to get him out of the room so I could cool down, but I neglected my better judgment when I heard Jimin's voice. I could see the storm brewing in Taehyung's eyes as he thought through what he just walked in on, except he didn't look surprised. To distract myself from the tension, I ripped open a blow pop and went back to work, ignoring the pain in my chest as if I hadn't done anything wrong.
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