Chapter Text
Today, I am 29 years and 364 days old. Lee Taeyong thought with a sigh as he waits for the pedestrian light to turn green. As usual, the business central is buzzing with overworked salary men briskly walking to their respective buildings, probably avoiding getting late which is something he should be doing as well.
Waking up on his blaring alarm, putting on his office clothes in record time, passing by the convenient store to buy his favorite cheese and ham sandwich plus banana milk combo, pretending to work as he waits for the clock to struck five in the afternoon, lay down in bed and go to dreamless sleep—rinse and repeat process. Same thing for god knows how long. He’s not getting tired of it though, surprisingly. Even with his mundane life, he’s quite content with how he lives.
Even in the presence of his peers…
“You know, Taeyong… Mr. Kwon gave me this tons of papers due tomorrow.” Jungwoo sorrowfully plays with his fingers, eyes downcast. He’s using that voice on me again! Taeyong has this urge to roll his eyes heavenwards because he definitely knew where this conversation is headed. It’s like dejavu. “Remember that we just finished working on the Papermate account last week. That one where we had to research tons of data from five years ago? We even missed lunch and dinner and the train just to finish the proposal! Ah, it was tiring as hell. Those document files piled up like Eiffel Tower I thought it was endless! And now Mr. Kwon dumps me this account out of nowhere without telling me ahead of time. How cruel was that? He really is a slave driver!” exasperation evident in his voice.
I know. I was the one who generally worked on it because you fell as sleep halfway. Taeyong internally sighs.
“I’m still recovering from the fatigue and I have this really really important thing that I need to do tonight. I don’t think I can finish the proposal on time. Do you know someone who can help me? Someone who has a big heart and enough kindness to pity a poor man like me? I’m really at my wits’ end.” Cue the puppy eye look which renders Taeyong’s weak heart defenseless. You know, the thing about that kicked puppy look is that when you try to ignore it, it makes you a cold-hearted villain. And the guilt won’t stop haunting you even in sleep. And Taeyong values his sleep very much. And he is a man who can’t ignore his colleagues and would just go with the flow even if he is a hundred percent against it.
“Wha—”
Jungwoo’s eyes gleams under the bright lighting in their office. “You’re done with your work, right?” which made Taeyong nod. “Can you help me?” Ah, Jungwoo knew when to use the magic word, eh?
“I—I’ll do it… if you don’t mind—uhmm…. Yeah. I have nothing to do—so, yeah. I can work on it after t-this…”
So out of the kindness in his pure heart, Taeyong swallows the lump in his throat, smiles a bit (which kind of makes him look like an idiot) and offers his service because he is someone who has no life outside of work unlike—
“Thank you so much, Taeyong! Lucas and I have been looking forward to this dinner reservation and you just saved me there. You’re really such a nice guy!”
No need to rub it in my face that you have a blooming shojou love life and I don’t.
Thoughts starts plaguing his mind as he gathers the folders Jungwoo carelessly thrusted into his arms, meticulously separating each document to what he needed. There’s a lot of papers, excel files, and reports he need to read.
Checking his old wristwatch, Taeyong cringe at the time. Guess I better start or I won’t finish this on time.
Ever since he was a kid, he’s always been a wallflower who people would start to remember if they want help or something done. Always the reliable guy. Taeyong had been too shy to say no, blushing from neck to the tips of his ears because he feels uncomfortable of the attention, so he ended up doing whatever he’s told to do. Assignments? Projects? Even using his savings to buy his classmates’ food from the nearest convenient store because apparently, they oh so conveniently lost their wallet somewhere—he’s done it.
He carried those traits as he grew older and is used to people taking advantage of his kindness.
Being too shy around people, it made it hard for him to date as well. Sure, he’s fallen in love… or liked someone for a while. But those feelings were too fleeting for him to even act on it. He’s the type to be content of what he has and is too afraid to make some changes. He’s not comfortable to adapt to new things. And he’s not popular at all, had this below average look— short on height, eyes too big, jaws too sharp, and lips too thin. Girls prefer manly guys, tall and handsome.
And smart.
And reliable.
Well, he’s kind of reliable… in running errands. But that’s not the point.
Even a manipulative person like Kim Jungwoo is seeing someone. Kim Jungwoo, the obnoxious dude who wears obnoxious suits and obnoxious cologne, seated behind his desk.
Taeyong sighs for the nth time, fixing the papers scattered on his desk. Glancing around, he could see his co-workers preparing to go home. Ahhh, I want to go home and just sleep. Taeyong bit his lower lip as he stares at them forlornly.
“I heard you closed yet another deal, Jaehyun! Waah, you really are the star of our department. I wish I could meet my monthly quota as fast as you. How do you do it?” Yerin, a colleague, clasps her hands under her chin, bats her thick eyelashes, and sighs wistfully as she eyes the taller male. “Maybe you can share us your trick?”
Taeyong cranes his neck to check his peers.
The tall male, Jaehyun, smiles softly and those illegal dimples shamelessly displays itself in full glory. “You think highly of me. I’m just doing what our seniors taught us during training. It’s just the same marketing strategy you follow.”
Wah, his smile is blinding. Taeyong winced, lowering on his seat as if that smile physically assaulted him.
“You’re just so good at what you do, Mr. Sales-Team-Ace! The Japanese investors liked the proposal!” another girl workmate commented, shyly punching Jaehyun’s arms.
Ah, right.
A guy like him exists, Taeyong nods and thinks. Jung Jaehyun, Neo Culture Tech’s top sales agent three years in a row. Graduated with the highest honors in Seoul National University but decided to apply in this start-up company. Played various sports and has been super athletic as far as the gossip goes. Walking around the office with his long legs, smooth white skin, and honest to god beautiful smile. He’s also polite and good-natured. Can easily talk to anyone. Can perform miracles (closing leads from left and right). Wears the most fashionable (and most expensive) suits Taeyong has ever seen. And also, the most popular guy in the office. Truly the pride and joy of NCT.
Taeyong’s exact opposite.
“Why don’t we go out and celebrate. I know a good spot that offers excellent pork belly.” Another guy quips.
“That’s a good idea! We still have left-over budget from the team dinner two weeks ago.”
“Really, guys. You don’t have to.” Jaehyun says, bashful.
“Ey, don’t say that. It’s still a closed deal and a good reason to celebrate!”
“Yeah!”
So… they decided to go out and have fun, huh. Good for them.
Taeyong tunes out the background noise and focused himself on the excel file displayed on his work computer. He doesn’t have the leisure to just stare and low-key eavesdrop on his co-workers whose already dead set on getting drunk on a weekday just because someone closed a million-worth deal. Nah. What Taeyong should prioritize is to get this proposal done before he misses the last train schedule.
Gently patting himself, Taeyong curls his fist and silently chanted fighting. He can finish this… and end this another boring day. Drowning himself to work would somehow ease his mind off of the most important fact that he’s trying to forget. Oh how he looks forward to tomorrow.
+
[5:42am] JohnnySeo: ur gonna ur have magic now TY
[5:42am] JohnnySeo: any plans later?
[5:42am] JohnnySeo: HAHAHAHAHAHA tell me once you start reading minds kay?
[5:43am] JohnnySeo: but srsly, happy birthday!!!!!!!
[5:45am] JohnnySeo: wanna hit the club and get ye cherry popped?
[5:46am] JohnnySeo: kidding
[5:46am] JohnnySeo: NOT. Hahhahaahhah
[5:51am] JohhnySeo: kinda busy TY, let’s celeb on ur off~
Taeyong groans in frustration. His phone blared non-stop, effectively waking him up earlier than his alarm clock. What in the actual fudge cake? Taeyong squints again and again on his phone screen, reading Johnny’s message repeatedly. He woke me up for this? THIS?????
[5:56am] TYong: go fudge urself!!!!
Taeyong locks his phone and angrily tossed it somewhere, hears a loud thud, and regrets it fast. He still has a year on the phone plan god damn it!
Ugh. This is not how he wants to start the day.
Well, he doesn’t have any plans aside from coming to the office and potentially working on projects and paper works dumped on his desk—if he’s luckier, probably run some errand to the bakeshop just across their building. He has no friends, aside from Johnny, and the two messages he received today—one from said annoying friend and one from his mother—is a telltale of how socially detached he is in the society. With no one to invite for a drink and celebrate his birthday, he’s a hundred percent sure he’ll go home early today.
Sleep and plan out when he’s gonna adopt a cat to aid his lonely life. Most likely.
Today, I am 30 years old… living a sad life… and would probably adopt a cat or two soon.
Wearing his stuffy olive-green suit that he probably wore at least twice a week matched with the maroon necktie Johnny gifted him last Christmas, Taeyong started his day by walking leisurely to his favorite MiniStop store. He made a beeline towards the ready-to-eat section, quickly grabbing his favorite ham and cheese sandwich. He also took a bottle of banana milk.
He greets the store attendant, the same old man manning the cashier everyday. “Good morning.”
“Same old?” the old man smiles cheerfully, too cheerful for a weekday morning. He punched the purchase one by one. “That’s 3,500W total.”
Taeyong smiles, “One moment.”, then he slides a hand to his pocket, retrieving his coin purse. He gets the exact amount, depositing it on the old man’s waiting palm. “There you go, sir.”
His clothes get more atrocious each day. What’s with the combination, really? He seems like a nice guy, but he needs to work on his fashion sense.
Wha—
Wait a minute. W-What?
Did he just hear the old man diss his office clothes?
“What?”
The old man eyed him for a second before placing Taeyong’s food inside the plastic with the store’s logo. He then extends his arm towards Taeyong, holding out the plastic bag.
A little too shaken, Taeyong dumbly moves to get said bag, very slightly touching the cashier’s hand. And then he’s assaulted by the same voice—Taeyong watched the old man raise a brow at him, mouth set straight, probably thinking he’s gone looney. What’s his problem? Kids nowadays really.
There’s the voice again.
“W-What?”
“Huh? Kid, is there a problem?”
Taeyong shakes his head, biting his lower lip hard. Oh my god, I’m hearing things!!! “N-No, there’s none. I-I-I should get going! Thankyousomuch!” and he’s out of the store, breezing away through the street, occasionally bumping on people as he makes his way towards the office in haste.
“Early this morning?”
“Hey! Watch where you’re going, idiot!”
“Ah, I’m too sleepy to function.”
“I think my boss’ gonna be late. I have time for coffee.”
“It’s too hot this morning.”
WHAT.
THE.
HELL.
Oh no. Oh my god. I’m hearing things!
Wait. Maybe I’m just dreaming. Right. It’s gotta be a dream. Taeyong breathes and pinched his arm hard. He winced in pain. Whoops! He totally felt the sting which means he’s actually awake and living in real life.
Taeyong bristles, brings his hands up to grip on his hair hard, eyes bulging and mouth agape. Currently inside the cubicle with the door locked, he sat himself on top of the closed toilet seat, totally isolated. Then, he recounts how he started this catastrophic day.
I woke up, which is normal because if not I would be dead by now. Right. Got my favorite meal from the convenient store. Yep, right. Then I started hearing things. Which was absolutely crazy. Did I do something? I don’t remember doing drugs. I probably ate an expired lunch meal set yesterday? Right—Taeyong comically drags his hands from his hair to his face, resting it against his cheeks—Is this a bad omen? Am I being punished?
For a moment, he starts really thinking, recalling whatever had transpired that morning. So, I only hear people’s thoughts… or whatever… when I touch them. What? So I’m a mind reader now?—wait a fudging minute—is it because I turned thirty today? And has yet to experience the blissful budding romance in bed? That I started hearing things? Taeyong slowly chuckles. Right. As if that has something to do with this.
Taeyong backtracks, whips his head to the side, face contorting into an ugly expression. He suddenly remembers Johnny, his good old friend from college and his only friend in his lifetime. That bastard mentioned something similar to this months ago while getting his ass drunk on a weekend. Says about an urban legend where you’ll become a magician if you reach thirty years old and is still a virgin.
Hold up. It kinda makes sense though.
And in that urban legend, you’ll only loose the magic if you lose the V. Right. So maybe Taeyong’s gonna hear thoughts for the rest of his life.
He really needs to adopt a cat or two.
+
It turns out, it’s not a burn out as what he suspected. Sure, work has been killing him ever since but he’s never had this kind of experience before. But it’s not enough to cause nervous breakdown.
Hearing people’s thoughts by touching them, huh, what a lame-ass plot for a B-rated romance novel. Can anyone be a little more creative than this? At least give him an arsenal valuable enough to catch some girls.
Or steal one of their Ace-sama’s unlimited talents. Maybe then, Taeyong would be a little popular with the female population.
Two weeks after the initial shock that had Taeyong reeling until he got home, things stayed normal. Of course, he made some precautionary measures to be able to live with it. What he doesn’t need in his life are thoughts of how Jungwoo teases a poor soul about his godly tongue techniques. Taeyong cringes while walking as goes down the memory lane. Good thing he’s half paying attention to where he’s going, he nearly walked in straight to a lamp post.
Jungwoo, the attention seeker that he is, has been hogging Taeyong’s attention for another errand and being touchy feely that he is, touched Taeyong shamelessly, thus hearing his inner thoughts loud and clear. It was traumatizing to say at least.
Who in the right mind wears bunny butt plugs anyway????
Okay, setting that memory aside, Taeyong wish to transfer his desk mostly because he’s afraid to know more of Jungwoo’s thoughts. It scares him so much.
Day in and day out, he practiced limiting physical contact with his colleagues. He started staying in the office late to avoid the crowded train. He started using mobile money when paying for his food and necessities. He combats his dead tired body by waking up earlier than normal to generally avoid people in the elevators.
“I really need to talk to Johnny.” Taeyong mumbles softly, both hands gripping his leather bag closer to his chest. Right, being his only friend aside, Johnny Seo is a romance god. He knows what to do, given that he is soooooo good at writing fantasy-romance novels. Surely, Johnny can give him his notes for reference and maybe put a stop to this curse he’s currently suffering.
“Good morning, Taeyong. You’re early today.”
Said male jumps on his feet. Taeyong peeks from under his overgrown fringe, he knows who this person is just by that smooth velvety voice alone but it doesn’t hurt to double check. Taeyong awkwardly raises a hand for a small wave, same awkward smile pulling at his lips. Jung Jaehyun’s smile with rows of pearly white teeth is display, is really blinding and it’s too much for Taeyong’s eyes to take. “G-Good morning.”
“You also missed the lift?” Jaehyun raises a brow, easy boyish smile still intact.
God, he was so busy thinking about his current predicament that he really missed the elevator. Taeyong slinks back to hit his forehead with his palm. Wow, good job! Embarrassing yourself early in the morning in front of Mister Perfect sure is a great way to start the day, Lee Taeyong. he grimaced. “I-It seems so… he-he-he…”
Unperturbed, Jaehyun beams encouragingly. “I see,” then he gestures towards the stairs at the very end of the hallway. “Wanna work some muscles out? Let’s take the stairs.”
“What? Uh… the office is at the twelfth floor…?” Taeyong deadpans. Because they are currently in the lobby and with Taeyong’s poor stamina, he’ll probably start crawling once he reaches the third floor.
“Right. Well, just asking though. Anyway, here’s the lift.” And on cue, the blinding light from the elevator momentarily burns Taeyong’s retina as it adds to Jaehyun’s already disarming dimple like a perfect background for a prince. The latter gestures Taeyong to follow inside the metal cabin, holding his hand out to stop the elevator doors from closing.
Taeyong dumbly walks in, feeling a bit dizzy as he settles himself at the very back corner of the lift. The door closes and he slowly heaves a heavy sigh, a bit relieved. That was too intense for his poor heart. How can Jaehyun greet everyone a good morning and throw those killer smiles here and there? He’s got a lot of energy stored for a weekday morning. Taeyong has barely enough to drag himself home after work.
Hmm… A guy like him must’ve had a lot of experience, probably lost his virginity in his teens. I’m sure he’s enjoying his life of extreme popularity. Taeyong smiles wryly. When the heaven showered Earth with extreme handsomeness, unlimited talents and popularity, this guy must have been soaking outside. He pouts at the thought. And I’m probably sleeping the whole time.
The ride starts and he felt like it was terribly slow as they pass by each floor. People start filling inside which in turn made Taeyong back himself against the metal wall, trying to make his body smaller as he tunes out other people’s thought. Oh, shit! he thought. This is why he’s starting to distance himself away from the crowd.
“Ah, could I get any luckier? I didn’t think we’d run into each other this morning."
Huh? Taeyong whips his head fast only to stare at Jaehyun’s picture perfect side figure. Disregarding the fact that Taeyong is jealous of those smooth poreless skin, sharp nose and long curled eyelashes that kinda touches said smooth cheeks, Jaehyun is, unfortunately, pressed against his side.
“I can’t stare too much or I’ll look suspicious.”
Oh boy, he’s hearing Mister Perfect’s thoughts! Taeyong felt a bit exhilarated. Maybe he’ll know a secret or two from Jaehyun. The smaller internally snickers.
“It’s sticking up to all sides as usual. Damn, my heart can’t really take the cute bedhead. I’m really blessed to see it up close.”
A bedhead? Jaehyun sure has a weird taste for a prince. Taeyong snorts unattractively. Oh boy, oh boy! Jung Jaehyun has a crush in this building—inside the elevator? How much will he profit if he sells this valuable information to his female workmates? Taeyong subtly tries so tiptoe, large doe eyes scanning each office worker inside the cabin. Who’s that lucky girl that our extremely popular prince Jaehyun likes?
The lift pings as it stops on the seventh floor. People rushed their way out making Taeyong lose his footing. A small oof left his lips and then he as caught by a strong arm. Another thud, Taeyong saw a hand planted just above his head, probably supporting the other’s weight. Wha— He found himself staring into Jaehyun’s eyes. Suddenly, he felt his palms starting sweat.
And to add to his bad luck, another set of people filed inside the already cramped elevator, successfully locking them both in place.
He’s never this close to Jung Jaehyun in the entire three years he’s worked with him.
“Sorry, are you okay?” to which Taeyong dumbly answers with a small nod. This is bad. He’s not equipped with the proper skill to live on while staring into the prince’s sparkling eyes. Whoo, maybe Taeyong’s old age has caught up to his body, he’s starting to feel breathless. This scene is awfully like a shojou manga rip-off!
“Shit, so close!” Jaehyun seems too calm and unaffected, a complete 180 from his current thoughts blaring against Taeyong’s skull. “Seriously, did I just win the lottery? It almost feels wrong to be this lucky today.” Jaehyun peers down to check on Taeyong with an apologetic smile. That handsome face never showing a crack. He lifts a brow, “Sorry, it’s kinda cramped so we just need to bear for a while.”
“Woooo, Jaehyun breathe in, don’t get so flustered. I should really calm down or else he’ll hear how fast my heart is beating right now. It’s embarrassing!”
Eh? Did Taeyong heard it right? It’s a… he? Wait a minute—
“Ahhh, crap. I wonder if Taeyong can hear how loud my heart is? I hope not.”
Taeyong gapes.
“But I can’t help it. He’s just too adorable I can’t pass up this rare moment!”
No way. NO WAY?!
This must be a joke. An elaborate joke.
Taeyong is one second away from laughing. This is so ridiculous. There’s definitely no way—
“Ahhhhhh… I wish I could spend my whole day this close to Taeyong.”
W-what the fuck?
Jung Jaehyun, Neo Culture Tech’s pride and joy, the man in every office girls’ dream, likes him? Of all people????
Taeyong nearly faints.
Or he did.