Chapter Text
M8- "We didn't know each other when I started working for his grandfather's company."
It was an average day in South Korea, the sky was blue littered with some light feathery clouds. The breeze was slight, cooling down the august heat. Tall buildings lined the street the reflections on the glass, glittering. The bright reflections beautiful and dominating on the retinas of the people walking down the side avenues. Trees lined up behind each other providing the necessary shade to the bustling corporate workers. The expectations to work in from the early morning seven to late night skies, was a practice so toxic and normalized in a society prided upon being hardworking. But coming at the price of broken families, mental disorders, health-happiness.
Even so they go on, like how everyone else has. "Let's go grab a meal sometime." Something so welcoming, so warm has become a parting goodbye. It's pieces like this, that are so normal, and you just go with it.
Myunghao, was a young man who had finished high school. He had been working part time here and there, but he finally got his job that he been wanting. It was at the company BSK, a corporation that dealt in financing and banking, it was decent company not chaebol leveled but one that could hold on its own. His first day was ordinary, he was assigned a clerk-levelled job, and got introduced to his co-workers, he worked with Choi Seung Cheol, though Myunghao learned to call him Seungcheolie for it seemed the grown man was hell bent on how Myunghao addressed him. Something along the lines of being closer to his junior.
"Call me Seungcheol or Seungcheolie hyung, okay?" He beamed at Myunghao.
"We are like family now alright, especially to you" He added with a smile that reached his eyes.
Minghao couldn't help but accept the warmth of Seungcheol.
Then Yoon Jeonghan who had a lazy smile, whose energy seemed quite low for the morning sunrays, said his hello and quickly hugged him, oddly patting his head as if he were a little pet.
"Welcome Myunhao" he said as he stepped back smiling to Myunghao. "Fighting" He added with a small motion of his clenched hand slightly raised.
Lastly Hong Jisoo a kind gentleman, who smiled at Myunghao and advised him to come to him if he needed help adjusting.
"I know being a foreigner can be quite difficult, you can come to me any time...I'll try to help you to my best of abilities" He encouraged Myunghao.
"Ah thank you Hyung" He replied with a relieved smile. He finally had someone at work that he could get help from.
...
The company salary was decent enough for himself, he came from China, he left as he felt that he could help his parents, himself make more money. So, he had arrived all alone by himself to a strange country where he felt isolated by the people around him. People would be biased against races that weren't Korean or fit a western standard. And the Language barrier didn't help him either. His Korean was choppy, a high school level and he couldn't remove his hometown accent, that laid thick when he was nervous, angry or excited.
His Boss was semi-bald, sporting a mudguard, hair wispy and grey to the side hiding his insecurities. He was content with life and whenever he got the chance, he'd brag about his two kids, a girl and boy. The daughter was a nurse, working at Seoul's Biggest Hospital. His son studied abroad. When he was talking to Myunghao about his job expectations he would get sidetracked.
Asking questions about his wellbeing,
"Is Korea treating you well?" he inquired.
"Ah, it's been fine so far" he replied plastering a smile.
In reality it's been rough but why should he tell his boss, it's not going to change much.
Then the boss looked at Myunghao taking in his response, "Oh that's good to hear."
He continued showing him around the building, pointing to the entrance and showing him the different exits. While they were outside, he started to talk about his wife.
"You know Xu Minghao my wife she's also Chinese" he said while he was walking, Myunghao's eyes widened slightly as he looked beside to his boss. Who kept his eyes forward.
"Her name's Lian... and she was the shyest person I had ever met; she was quite the opposite of me." He chuckled to himself. Myunghao nodded along focused.
"She was brought up to be housewife who obeyed her husband, she learned from her quite strict mother that being quiet was better than talking back."
"But when I met her while I was travelling in China..." He smiled; eyes reminiscent about the past that played vividly like a film in front of his eyes. He shakes his head slightly giddy from the memories.
"Do you know what she had called me?" He asked. Myunghao shook his head side to side in response.
"Her light, and she told me that she was forever in debt to me, I think she hopes to never be free of it." He adds.
Myunghao looks down at what the man was carrying, a bento box wrapped in a rich red silk cloth with golden dragons embroidered on it."
"Oh" Was all Myunghao could reply. He had dreamed of a love so freeing and light. He admired their relationship. His timid heart yearned for one.
They then walked inside the main lobby of the building it was grand, majestic. The floors laid with an off-white limestone or marble he couldn't tell the difference. The light above was enticing with its warm golden hue. It dazzled bright from the intricate chandelier, a thousand diamonds glittering.
Once he went through the mandatory security check, pulling out his fresh badge. He followed his boss to the elevator. It still felt surreal. Myunghao felt proud of how far he has gotten. He adjusted the slim grey suit jacket, his biggest purchase he's made for clothing, a designer suit. He made a promise to himself to always treasure it. He then zoned out when he stopped at the metal elevator doors, feeling overwhelmed and slightly giddy from the bustling workplace environment. His eyes honed on the escalator's door's display, frozen in front of it. Watching the orange arrow flickering down. His ear's filled with murmurs of his coworkers, a buzzing white noise. Suddenly the doors slid open, a flare shot, a crowd of workers jam packed themselves into the small, enclosed area. Luckily Minghao was able to cling to his boss and make it. His height and stature coming to his aid. He had learned martial arts ever since he was little, and meditation keeping his body and mind in sync. While him and his boss were smushed in the elevator, he noticed a man even taller than him.
Catching his eye.
The man wasn't wearing a typical work attire, just a simple dress shirt that fit tightly onto his broad chest, a cream-colored pant that he could barely see from his view and oddly a tan trench coat hugging his built figure. Myunghao couldn't process what he saw. The man's head was slightly down but he lifted it up slowly. Allowing Myunghao to fully take in the view of his face. The stranger's face was chiseled yet his features soft, his eyes were big and endearing to look at, his smile kept lips pursed. His hair worn in a side part cut in medium length, jet black color. It reminded Myunghao of a puppy strangely, aloof and loving. He himself was more reserved, his eyes cut sharp, but he was quite shy, others had said that he had quite a short temper, but he tried changing through mediation. He also found other ways to express himself.
Myunghao sighed, pushing up his glasses, his face slightly scrunched with disappointment. His Boss picked up on it quickly.
"What's wrong Minghao?" He inquired.
"Nothing it's just that no one has gotten off yet...it's pretty crammed."
"Why of course, we only passed two floors... this building has thirty!" He exclaimed with a smile.
But that wasn't the whole reason it was a sort of a white lie, he felt that had to get off soon. When would he be able to see, that man again let alone get to know him.
"I mean what am I thinking there is such a low chance that we would see each other, let alone him being even interested in me" He thought to himself in a mellow matter.
Ding! Someone had pressed the button. The display shown the 4th floor.
"Let's go Minghao!" He and Myunghao walked with some workers. He had turned his head slightly looking back, straight at the man who he had eyed previously. It was a quick glance while the doors were closing, but their eye's had locked, a subtle smile played on the stranger's face.
⇠☆((.⭐◯✕◯⭐))☆⇢
After one hour, the tour was close to finish. He hadn't toured the upper ten floors due to his low clerk position. While he was on his last floor, he was shown the storage area. It was a floor that had rows of paper documents stashed in big white cardboard boxes. It seemed meticulously kept though it didn't take up the whole floor, it also housed some extra rooms that were the previous breakrooms, each one was not being used. Due to the convenience of the first and second floor, housing the cafeteria and lounge rooms. The boss told him that the only people who came to this level were end of the Fianacial quarter clerks, who filed the physical copies just in case, even though they had an already advanced database. Myunghao had noticed how empty and lax it was. The boss showed him how it was organized from alphabetical to numbers. The boos proceeded to walk over to one of the walls, Myunghao following right behind him. There was a clipboard hanging with a pen dangling from the rope tied to the metal clip. On the paper there was a table printed on it, that had a few signatures on one of the columns.
"This is the sign in sheet, I know it looks really elementary or useless, but we use it just for knowing who was in here and like the time spent. "The boss said relaxed with a smile.
"Because this isn't the most monitored space". He added with a sigh as he himself detested it.
Myunghao gave a curt nod, his hand slightly outstretched "May I...?"
His boss eager to give the clipboard to Myunghao said "Yeah sure thing. Here ya go!"
Myunghao took the clipboard and saw that he needed to sign first the date, time entered then exited along with his signature and his work unit. It was pretty straightforward, he signed as written and placed the board back to where it his boss had taken it off. As his tour finished, he was walking towards the exit, he couldn't help but turn around and stare at those empty doors, standing there with no hint of inhabitance, it freaked him out to be honest, but it gave a solemn comfort...
He had gone to his level 4 home base as he liked to call it and met his coworkers again seeing as the lobby wasn't where they usually met up. He was shown his desk. The desk was simple nothing big or fancy. It had an opaque divider, making the view of the other desks hazy and the walls were imposing the only source of day light was the clear windows that lined the outside of one of the walls. His work room was small, but considering the fact there were ten more other similar layouts on the floor, quickly adjusted Myunghao's mindset. He was just thankful that his desk was in the back near the staircase, that only led to the paper room upstairs, it was the only way to it other than the main building staircase. Which was used for a more easy and quick access to floors.
Myunghao's box holding his personal items was already sitting on his desk from the morning since the tour started, it had taken the brunette a whopping 5 hours to finish the complete tour. He started opening the box when the lunch bell rang, work was sort of similar to school in that sense.
He headed down the hall towards the lunchroom, there were only a few middle-aged men who carried a box packed by their spouses. The rest had crowded to the cafeteria and lobby he supposed. He didn't feel like going with his other coworkers even though they had practically begged him, but he needed some quiet time for himself. He exhaled a deep breath and headed back to his desk and fell into his chair. Back slouched and neck craned back. His stomach had growled a quiet grumble heard by him.
"Oh my god, I didn't even make lunch" He smacked his forehead in irritation.
"I can't even cook a decent meal to save myself..." He looked up to the right and eyed the machine, "I'll just go get some snacks from the vending machine. " He hopped from his chair heading in the direction of the machine.
He then pulled out his wallet, dark brown and the leather had some cracks. The wallet was on lifeline in full honesty, but he had treasured it. It has been his since he graduated middle school. A birthday gift from his parents, that had since then been his lucky wallet. Filled with petty change from his chores, his first parttime job delivering newspapers back in his hometown. Along with a red envelop engraved with golden characters.
He easily found the 500 won note, he trudged closer to the machine located on the other side of his desk. As he was deciding what he should get, his eyes immediately widened to the initial sound of a loud sigh, and the sounds of someone eating something, specifically the slurping sound of noodles maybe?
Like he could hear the soft slurps from the moment he halted in thought. He assumed that everyone was already gone. That too it sounded like it came from the back stairs that led to the storage room that nobody but him would probably use around this time. He slowly walked up to the door, loitering in front of it. His eyes piercing the door as if he was in a staring contest. His mind was confused, and curiosity got the better of him.
He turned the knob quickly to its right, surprisingly it's screech was suppressed to say the least. He carefully opened the door, peering in. To his surprise he couldn't see anyone from his angle. So he mustered some bravery after all he wasn't that much scared. So, he stepped completely into the room. He turned around to quietly close the door, trying not to disturb anyone. But a figure loomed behind him, he could physically feel their presence. The slight shadow casted in front of him a clear indicator. His breath hitched, heart quickly beating as if he had tachycardia. Immediately shutting his eyes, praying it wasn't someone mean, like a higherup or worse some sleazy dude. Myunghao thoughts was spiraling more and more. But he decided in that moment it would be better to apologize and blame his ill-acquired curiosity then to deal with whoever was behind him.
"Okay..."Myunhao mumbled while turning around and opening his mouth first to apologize.
"I am..."He immediately fell silent, mouth still paused as he opened his eyes and...
there he was the tall man which he saw in the elevator that captured his eyes. His height felt imposing now that they were closer, though the man was only a couple inches taller. Myunghao's back was towards the door, and he was only a one or two inches apart from him. One of the man's arms to his side the other one resting on the door next to Myunghao's shoulders. His gaze stuck on Myungaho's face, burning with embarrassment on the inside yet it was ghostly pale from the stranger's perspective.
The man noticed the tips of his ear turning a bright hue of red, making note of its cute shape. He didn't know the shorter man in front of him only that he was appealing to look at. In simpler terms adorable with his wide eyes when he first saw him enter the elevator, he vividly remembers his piercing eyes staring at him.
Only it had made him feel..., feel well special, something he rarely felt.
As Mingyu took a step back, he saw the shorter man look at the top of his head taking him in. From his face, giving a second each for his eyes, then following down his body. The man in front of him, his gaze lingered on Mingyu's chest, slowly tracing his arms with his eyes. Mingyu had noticed a certain shine to younger man's eyes. Yet continuing to watch him until the other man had the courage to look him up into his eyes. Mingyu for some reason wanted his attention wrapped on him and only him in that moment.
"Umm...Myunghao's had responded, breaking his own silence.
"I'm sorry, like I really am. I didn't know you were-"
"It's fine, fine " Mingyu interjected not letting him complete his sentence. "I was just eating "He added with a slight smile
"Oh... you don't, you know eat with the rest of the workers..."He asked fully knowing he wasn't but that wasn't the point. He had like a genuine excuse. But he was hoping for a reply with a reason.
"Yeah" He nodded slightly tilting his face in confusion.
"So what level do you work?" He inquired, looking at the taller man, noticing that he didn't have an id card, strung around his neck. His neck looked so strong and tan. Minghao shook his head slightly to get rid of the unnecessary thought process.
Mingyu pondered, he had just met this, beautiful young man, that seemed to be of his age. Had no clue about him or his likings, hell he didn't even know his name.
"Well, before that...What's your name?"
"I don't think we've introduced ourselves" Mingyu responded again with a big, charming smile. Flashing his canines.
Myunghao just cemented his opinion on how aloof and puppy like he looked. He always was a sucker for those type of boys. He himself preferred a dog/puppy type of boyfriend (ifykyk😉). But that's not what's important, did he just switch the topic? Well let's just get introductions out of the way.
"My name is Xu Minghao, my Korean name is Myunghao, Seo Myunghao. You can call me whatever of the two. It's honestly up to you, and what's easiest or what you like." He chuckled bringing his hands to the back of his neck, rubbing it slightly.
He didn't know why he got nervous around the tall, handsome looking man. Or maybe he knew and was just trying not to think about it much.
"Nice to meet you Minghao, does that mean you're not Korean?" He asked.
"Yup. I am from Haicheng, China. I'm Chinese" He replied.
"Oh, that's so cool!" No wonder. You're so beautiful and your eyes are so pretty. I couldn't believe a Korean could have such unique looking features". He beamed at Minghao, slowly realizing what he had blurted. Sheepishly looking away to everywhere but Minghao.
I can't believe I just said that out loud especially the second part. I literally got second-hand embarrassment from myself. Is that even possible? He wondered cursing his own brain mentally for what happened.
Minghao, widened his eyes, his lips in a surprised pout.
"Uhhh, th-thanks" He stammered. Seeing how tense the other man looked.
Mingyu then rapidly apologized.
"I am so sorry. I did not mean to make you feel uncomfortable, I am so sorry Minghao." He pleaded.
"It's-" Without giving time for Minghao to even finish responding the taller man said his name.
"My name is Mingyu, Kim Mingyu. And I'm a 97' liner." He blurted looking expectantly at Minghao.
"First of all, you did not make me uncomfortable okay Mingyu" He said in a gentle tone. He saw how bad Mingyu felt, and the automatic change in Mingyu's face made him smile. Mingyu huh... well I'm never forgetting that name he thought to himself.
"But wait really!" Mingyu exclaimed. Happy that Minghao didn't feel weird about it and another reason was that Minghao said his name. It felt so heavenly when he pronounced his name, he wanted him to always call him, his voice was already like silk, but when it was his name, it was sweet as honey.
"Yes, and also, I am also a 97'liner too. " He responded with enthusiasm.
He felt and looked visibly relaxed, Mingyu wasn't some sort of sunbaenim, making an excuse of age which really didn't matter to him, but he preferred someone he could equal with. He also secretly hoped to become friends with him, his heart wanted more, and he knows that, he never believed in love at first sight. Knowing all too well how fickle human's hearts can be. How it took more than looks to truly fall for someone. Minghao wasn't a negative person by any means, it's just that he's seen some of the worst that the world could be and give. He was very realistic in his views. But nonetheless there was a spark in his heart. A butterfly that was dormant inside of him, suddenly fluttering it's wings.