JJG

Jeongguk made sure to hide his face as he went to his designated workspace in the team office. A weekend had passed but Jeongguk still didn't feel ready to face Taehyung again.

"Good morning," he whispered as he took his seat.

Chaeyoung knotted her brow as she whispered back the geeeting.

"Why are we whispering?" Eunwoo whispered.

"I don't know," Chaeyoung replied, returning to her normal tone.

"Jeongguk-sshi, did you leave early on Friday?" Jisoo asked.

Jeongguk nodded awkwardly, remembering what happened. "I had too many drinks."

"You never get drunk though," Eric commented.

"Ahh, we shouldn't have all drank so much. We couldn't go to karaoke!" Yoona whined.

"Next team dinner, we'll go to karaoke and get take out," Jinyoung suggested to which everyone agreed by showing a thumbs up or okay sign.

Jeongguk bit his lip as he logged into his computer. He should've first checked in with Taehyung but he again was not ready for that.

"Team meeting in 15 minutes in Room B! Oh Jeongguk-sshi, you're here," he heard Sohye's voice announce.

Jeongguk mentally groaned. He turned his head ever so slowly and looked at the girl. He offered a smile. "Good morning. I just have a quick thing to check, I'll be right there."

Sohye smiled back and nodded. "Good morning. Take your time!" she said and went to the printing machine. She collected her prints and left.

Jeongguk stared at his computer as he didn't actually have anything to do. He sighed and put it to sleep. He'd have to face him eventually so there was no point in dragging this out. They already talked about it in the car so there was nothing to worry about.

Jeongguk got out of his seat and walked into the other office. He went around the desk and took his seat beside Sohye who was currently in the Director's office. When she walked out, she came over to desk and placed her folded hand on the counter. Jeongguk got up on his feet.

"Since I'll only be here for three more days, from today onwards you'll be assisting Mr. Kim with everything! No more splitting work. Okay?" she asked, pressing her finger and thumb together making a circle and stretching out her other three.

"Okay," Jeongguk replied, hesitantly copying her okay sign.

Sohye smile and handed the tablet on the counter to him. "The passcode is 0901," she said.

Jeongguk nodded, pressing the home button to tap in the number when he realized. His head snapped back to Sohye. "Um, who chose the passcode?"

Sohye tilted her trying to recall the memory. "This was the passcode when I first started being Mr. Kim's assistant. I can't believe it's lasted this long. I'm pretty sure Mr. Kim chose it."

Jeongguk nodded and turned his attention back to the table. He tapped in the passcode and opened up to a generic wallpaper and layout.

"The calendar, reminders, and a notes app that's downloaded will be your best friend. Stylus at the side. Take note of everything and anything but make sure to keep it all organized. Put any event into the calendar to the hour, no matter how small. I'm sure you can handle it," Sohye said.

Jeongguk nodded, opening up the calendar app to see everything colour coded with the time and everything. He browsed through the schedules for the week. He noticed it will be Taehyung's father's birthday on the coming Friday. He hadn't visited the man in a while.

He went back to the present day. In a minute, Taehyung had planned a team meeting that Sohye had announced earlier. Jeongguk was in charge of taking meeting notes as usual. Just in time, Taehyung walked out of his office. He met Jeongguk's eyes for a split second before turning towards Sohye.

"Are we ready?" Taehyung asked.

Sohye looked at Jeongguk with a wide smile. Jeongguk looked back at her then he realized what the girl was eyeing at.

"Oh– Um, yes. Everyone should be in the meeting room B right now," Jeongguk said. Taehyung looked at Jeongguk for a little longer than necessary but eventually nodded and looked away quickly.

Jeongguk went around the desk so that he could stand behind Taehyung as they began to walk to the room. When they entered, everyone was seated in the rectangular table. They quickly stood up and gave the Director a quick greeting before taking their seats again. Taehyung bowed as well.

Taehyung leaned back his head towards Jeongguk, who really wanted to step back but he just tightened his grip on the table and stylus and stood still.

"Is there a meeting room with a circular layout near?" he said in a hushed down, and god his deep and raspy whisper just sent shivers down Jeongguk's back. Jeongguk nodded, not trusting his voice. He mentally scolded himself for allowing the other to still have this kind of affect on him.

"Could you book for that one for our next meetings?" he asked again, his voice still low and quiet. Jeongguk once again nodded, quickly jotting it down.

Taehyung went and took his seat at the front and Jeongguk took the seat at the side close to him while Sohye took the one on the other side of the table. Taehyung grabbed the projector remote and turned it on and connected the USB he had brought.

"Thank you for coming, so let just get right into it. We've been giving the opportunity for a new project. We'll be taking up some ideas now and more proper proposals in the next meeting. Now, the project," Taehyung said as he was clicking on the laptop. He opened up a slideshow and showed it to everyone.

"This is our new line designs and palettes for Winter. All marketing teams have been asked to come up with a proposal for this country-wide promotion. Now, I wanted to be honest with you all so I'll be telling you now. There have been talks of laying off this team," Taehyung said. Whispers immediately erupted. Jeongguk's head snapped up from the tablet screen to look at Taehyung's worried face after losing control of his audience.

"What why? We've shown promising results," Jisoo spoke out loud, getting nods from everyone else.

"And so have all the other teams. It's just not enough," Taehyung explained.

"So what'll happen? Will we get fired?" Eric asked.

"That's a possibility, or you may get dispersed into other teams or departments. I'm not quite sure, but this is our chance to not let that happen," Taehyung replied.

"And what happens if we do succeed. Will they just drop it all together or are we still at that risk?" Jin questioned.

Taehyung went silent but that answered Jin's question very well.

"Let's just work hard, everyone. I'm sure if we show good results this time they'll know we're a valuable asset," Jeongguk joined in the conversation. Everyone nodded but their moods had clearly shifted and not as ease. His eyes flickered back Taehyung who gave a him a smile and Jeongguk quickly went back to looking at the tablet.

Taehyung began to explain the project and everyone paid close attention as their jobs quite literally depended on it. Even if they did get dispersed, their salaries might decrease. Plus, they've built a strong bond with each other and they couldn't imagine working with anyone else.

There were a few ideas thrown here and there, but none of them were good enough or they needed to be taken to the next level. The next meeting was to be held in two days and everyone was to come up with at least one idea.

Jeongguk went back to his team desk to type of the presentation notes but couldn't help but think about the situation they were all in. If Jeongguk loses this job, he doesn't know if he could get such a high paying job again. Sure he's built up his experience but he didn't want to leave this team either.

Yoona groaned loud. "What are we going to do?"

Chaeyoung rubbed her shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll figure something out."

"Okay guys, let's put our smart brains to use and get working!" Eunwoo cheered, balling up his fist as encouragement.

"You keep us all sane," Jin said, ruffling his hair and taking his seat.

Jeongguk finished typing up the notes, printed them and put them in a folder. He went over to the office and showed Sohye the folder really quickly to let her know. He knocked twice or Taehyung's heard, waiting for the come in and entered.

He went in and gave him the folder and Taehyung thanked him. Jeongguk went to leave, but turned around and walked back.

"Um, I know you've reviewed our past projects. Do you think we have a chance to get this project?" Jeongguk asked.

Taehyung offered him a smile. "I'll make sure we do. Trust me."

Trust. That's something that could be easily broken and take forever to gain back. He'd lost trust in Taehyung long ago. Trust that he'll always be with him and take care of him in their old days, all destroyed. But something in him wanted to trust him again. His heart, more specifically, but his brain knew better.

Jeongguk nodded and gave a quick bow then turned to leave but the doors opened first. Came in a man followed by Sohye.

"Excuse me, you need to tell me who you are first," Sohye said. Taehyung stood up just as confused as her.

The man ignored her and walked over to him. Jeongguk quickly stepped away. The man reached out a hand. "Lee Minseok, President Lee's fifth son."

Taehyung nodded toward Sohye and she left the room. He took his hand and gave it a firm shake. "Kim Taehyung," he introduced himself too.

"I know," Minseok said with a smile that didn't rest east.

Taehyung's expression faltered for a second but he quickly put his smile back on as he took his hand back. "Please, take a seat," Taehyung pointed over to the couch. Taehyung walked around his desk to join him on the single seat in his couch set.

"Would you like anything to drink?" Taehyung offered.

"A cup of coffee would be nice," Minseok replied.

Taehyung looked over at Jeongguk and he nodded and left the room. He made the coffee and a cup of tea and went back to the office. As he walked in, he could feel the tension in the air. Taehyung was just nodding at whatever the man was saying.

Jeongguk placed the cups in front of them and walked to the side. He was about to leave but Taehyung coughed, grabbing his attention. He met with Taehyung's eyes and he knew Taehyung was telling him to stay.

"This is very nice. Thank you," Minseok said after taking a sip of his coffee. Jeongguk gave a short smile in reply.

"Anyways, as I was saying, I recently decided that I wanted to work for the company again. Old man didn't know what he was thinking when he gave you the position instead. It feels all weird to go talk to him now, you know? So if we could come to an agreement, we could go discuss with him some kind of alternative arrangement for you."

Taehyung raised his brow but his smile was still there. "Sorry, correct me if I'm wrong, you'd like for me to step down when I've just arrived?"

"Well I heard you came from America, I could arrange a position for you there," Minseok said, taking another sip.

Taehyung chuckled. "That's kind of you but I'm quite fine here."

"Well you should listen while I'm being kind, no?" Minseok said, cocking his head.

"Excuse me?"

"Listen, old man's lost his mind and won't listen to me. We could sort this out without any problem. Now unless you're adamant on getting on my bad side, so be it."

Taehyung set his cup down and crossed his legs. "Listen," he said, mocking his tone. "President Lee chose me as the suitor for this position and I plan to do everything to make him know he made the right decision."

Minseok opened his mouth to say something again, but Sohye cleared her throat, standing at the door. They hadn't noticed her coming in.

"Mr. Kim, you have an appointment to attend to," she said, throwing a glare at Minseok.

Minseok stood up. He took out his wallet and pulled out a business card and offered it to Taehyung. "I'll give you a day, call me when you're ready to negotiate."

Taehyung smiled back. "It's okay, I won't need to."

Minseok scoffed and placed his card back. "Fine. You used your connections to get here and I'll use mine to bring you down," he said lowly and walked to the exit.

"For your information, Mr. Kim worked hard to get this position unlike what you're trying to do right now," Sohye said just as he was at the door.

Minseok pulled at his suit and threw a nasty look before leaving. Sohye kissed her teeth after he was out of sight. "What does he think he's doing?" she asked to no one in particular, crossing her arms.

"It's alright, what appointment was it again?"

Sohye shook her head. "There isn't one. I just saw through the glass how uncomfortable you were."

"Ohh. You didn't have to but thank you, Secretary Kim."

Jeongguk gripped onto the tray, not having a good feeling down in his gut.

•—•—•

"Did you call someone to come fix the printer? It's out of service again," Sohye asked.

"Mhm, they sent someone earlier. Apparently the ink's just getting blocked. They fixed it temporarily but will get us a replacement soon," Jeongguk informed. Sohye nodded and told him to cross it out of the note she had made earlier.

"By the way," Jeongguk started. "How long have you known Mr. Kim?"

Sohye tilted her head as she counted up the years. "I think it was five years ago? Maybe 5 and a half? He'd started getting a lot more attention and his manager wanted a personal assistant for him.

She paused to laugh. "It's kind of funny actually, he wouldn't let me do anything saying he didn't need one but didn't fire me! It was like I was getting paid for doing nothing. Then eventually he realized he did need an assistant in his tired and busy life, especially when he was still going to school, and let me do my job."

"So you've been with him throughout most of his career?"

Sohye nodded. "I guess so. Why?"

"Just asking," Jeongguk said. He actually didn't know why he did, it was just a random thought that came across in his mind.

Sohye sighed. "Who knows what HR will put me in when I go back to America. I'm sure Mr. Kim has put in a good word for me but I'll miss working with such a good boss. I'm not just saying this but you're very lucky, Jeongguk-sshi."

Having his ex-boyfriend who he thought he was over but still might not be as his boss? Mhm, must be the luckiest man on Earth.

"Why not just stay in Korea? You mentioned you had family here," Jeongguk asked out of curiosity again.

Sohye tucked a piece of her hair back, getting a little flustered. "Oh trust me, I would but my fiancé lives in America. I don't know how I've lasted a week without him. I know it might sound stupid, but I would go to the ends of this world if it means I could be with him. Letting go of an amazing boss is just one of the sacrifices I have to make in the name of love."

Something about that situation felt all too familiar to Jeongguk. He once was ready to drop everything and run after Taehyung if he'd just asked, and maybe even if he didn't. It was just that Jeongguk didn't want to be the only one feeling that way.

"No. No, that's not stupid at all," Jeongguk said softly, his voice coming at as barely a whisper.

"Hmm?"

Jeongguk shook his head. "I noticed your ring before but I didn't want to pry. It's quite lovely."

Sohye raised up her hand and showed off the ring with a wide smile. "I know right? He picked it all by himself."

Jeongguk smiled back and nodded. He couldn't help but feel a little jealous of her life. She seemed so happy and he could tell by the way she talked about her husband-to-be that she loved him very much.

He missed having someone to shower all his love too. To think about and miss 24/7. To just have a special someone. Jeongguk had felt like this for a long while now, but for some odd reason, he'd never made the effort to go find that someone or give anyone he's met that chance.

•—•—•

KTH

Earlier...

Taehyung checked his watch and saw that he only had a minute to get to the meeting room. He grabbed the USB and went out.

He knew Jeongguk was there but he made sure not to look at him, not feeling ready to face him just yet. "Are we ready?" he asked Sohye but she looked over at Jeongguk.

"Oh– Um, yes. Everyone should be in the meeting room B right now," Jeongguk answered his question.

Taehyung looked over at him and all he could see were the events that took place at the restaurant. His soft lips meeting his.  That's all that's been on Taehyung mind for the past two days. He also remembered Jeongguk looking so hurt when he said he broke their promise. Calling him a liar.

Taehyung knew there was no point to be feeling regret now. He made a decision and he needs to know they come with long term consequences as well.

—•
IT WAS TAEHYUNG DAY A FEW DAYS AGO BUT LETS JUST APPRECIATE HIM AGAIN!

I wish nothing but the best for him 🥺🥺💕

And happy new year!!! Damn, 2020 that's crazy !
Let's make this a great year y'all

Bye<3