my prada's at the cleaners
Someone pls tell me why I was writing this instead of doing research for my dissertation.
um this is not-fic, merely a fangirl's delusion. Kyuhyun, Zhou Mi, kind of barely there QMi?
Deposition room #1
"It’s raining." He stared blankly outside the window, his chair swerved halfway away from the table and a dozen other people in the deposition room.
"I’m sorry?"
The Lee brothers should have hired a younger lawyer since this one's hearing was getting worse with age, Kyuhyun thought, tugging on the cuff of his sweater.
"It just started raining." He repeated with a slight incline of his head, his eyes still glued to the looming grey skyscrapers outside.
"Mr. Cho Kyuhyun, do I have your full attention?" The lawyer's voice was strong with an edge of annoyance.
"No." He could feel everyone's eyes drilling holes into the back of his head. The Lee brothers, their lawyer, his own laywer, the court reporter, the defense attorney.
"Do you think I deserve it?" A lesser man would have been grinding his teeth by now, but the man's voice was insistently pleasant. Kyuhyun almost found it annoying.
"What."
"Do you think I deserve your full attention?"
Kyuhyun flicked a glance towards the man. "I had to swear an oath before we began this deposition and I don’t want to perjure myself," his words were fast, almost snappy, "so I have a legal obligation to say no."
There was a short pause where everyone had to recollect their thoughts.
"Okay," the lawyer finally regained his voice, "'No' you don’t think I deserve your attention."
Kyuhyun finally swerved his chair back to fully face the entire table.
"I think if your clients want to sit on my shoulders and call themselves tall they have a right to give it a try." He stared straight at the Lee brothers who were apparently trying very hard not to jump out of their seats and flip the table on his face. "But there’s no requirement that I enjoy sitting here listening to people lie. You have part of my attention, you have the minimum amount." He stretched out the word mi-ni-mum, short of spelling it out letter by letter. "The rest of my attention is back at my office where my colleagues and I are doing things that no one in this room, including and especially your clients, are intellectually or creatively capable of doing." His eyes calmly swept over the room, staring down any and all outraged twitch of facial expression. "Did I adequately answer your condescending question?"
There was a long pause. The whole room was silent, except for the sound of rain hitting the glass windows.
"I’ve got 12:45. Why don’t we say that’s lunch." His own lawyer finally spoke up, breaking up the tense note.
"Back at 2:30?" The Lee brothers' lawyer grudgingly nodded.
-
Deposition room #2
The sun was setting behind the familiar grey skyscrapers. It was dusk, and the sky outside the deposition room was turning purple. Zhou Mi was lost in thought, numbers and words numbing his head and the tip of his tongue.
"Zhou Mi?" The old man, his lawyer, called out his name softly. He could hear the pity. Zhou Mi looked up, his voice pitched low.
"Could you please repeat the question?"
"No. It was an outrageously leading question the first time around and now you want us to hear it again?" Kyuhyun's lawyer leveled a glare towards his, but the defense attorney had already nodded.
"Yes, would you read it back, please."
The man paused, visibly displeased. "Well, go ahead."
Kyuhyun was still resolutely not looking at him, let alone making any eye contact. Zhou Mi's fingers unconsciously curled tighter into fists at the edge of the table.
The court reporter calmly read outloud what he had just typed. “And when you signed these documents," these documents meaning the business contracts, "were you aware that you were signing your own death certificate?”
Zhou Mi bit his lips, considering the question, his eyes fluttering closed for a second as he remembered that day. "No," he paused, dragging in a deep breath. "It was insanely stupid of me not to have my own lawyers look over all the papers... In all honesty I thought they were my lawyers." Bile was almost rising up to his throat. Zhou Mi blinked back the burn at the corner of his eyes, staring straight at Kyuhyun, desperately trying to catch his eyes.
"I was your only friend. You had one friend."
The words came out louder than he'd expected. They hurt coming out, more than anything he had ever said in the previous endless days of legal struggle, more than anything he had ever said in their entire relationship. Kyuhyun just stared at him, silent and sullen, his dark eyes wide and unreadable.
"My father won’t even look at me." Zhou Mi's voice shook, hand flying to his mouth to keep the words in. His teeth clamped down hard on his knuckles.
"Okay. Zhou Mi? Did Mr. Cho say anything to you after you signed the papers?" His lawyer gently made the transition to the next part of the statement.
Zhou Mi rubbed lightly at his temple, tearing his eyes away from Kyuhyun. "There was a lot of handshaking and a lot of congratulations... He’d already told me that he wouldn’t be coming back to school for at least a semester so we were saying goodbye for a while. And then before I left, he said... I had to come down for the big company anniversary party." And then after that, right after that, Kyuhyun had asked him-
"Zhou Mi?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you remember that algorithm?"
The algorithm that had started everything, the algorithm Zhou Mi had scribbled down in chalk for Kyuhyun on his bedroom's window because Kyuhyun had asked him for it. Kyuhyun had asked for his help since the very beginning, Kyuhyun had wanted him, not anyone else, not his classmates, not his flatmates, but him. And that had somehow become the basis of their relationship - Kyuhyun asked, and Zhou Mi gave him everything he had.
Kyuhyun was smiling at him. Soft and almost shy. Reminiscing about their beginning. And Zhou Mi smiled back.
"Yeah."
"In late November I got the e-mail from Kyuhyun telling me to come out for the company anniversary party." Zhou Mi's voice was back to the monotone it should have been.
"What else did the e-mail say?"
"It said that we had to have a business meeting. That a big business player was making an investment offer that was hard to turn down. So I came to Seoul, coming straight to the office. It looked awesome. It was awesome." Metallic letters on the wall, maple desks, new computer monitors, carpeting, a wall covered in graffiti by an artist commissioned for the job and tons of young employees. "Everyone was in high spirit. I didn’t know whether to dress for the party or for the business meeting so I kind of dressed for both. But it didn't matter."
"Why not?"
"Because I wasn’t called out there for either one."
"What were you called out there for?"
"An ambush." Zhou Mi looked up to stare straight at Kyuhyun again. "I walked into the office, the lawyers were there, greeting me. Not Kyuhyun. At first I thought they were joking, giving me more contracts to sign. But then I started reading." Zhou Mi closed his eyes, remembering how he had flashed hot and cold with what he had read sinking in, how the tip of fingers had turned numb, shaking as he'd clutched the papers.
"What was Mr. Cho Kyuhyun’s ownership share diluted down to?" The attorney's voice sounded far away, as if coming from behind a glass wall.
"It wasn’t."
"What was Mr. Park’s ownership share diluted down to?"
"It wasn’t."
"What was Kim Heechul’s ownership share diluted down to?"
"It wasn’t." Zhou Mi stared straight ahead, his voice steady.
"What was Choi Siwon’s ownership share diluted down to?"
"It wasn’t."
"What was your ownership share diluted down to?"
Zhou Mi paused. The number still burned on the back of his eyelids.
"Point. Zero. Three. Percent."
-
'k so I just wanted Cho Kyuhyun the socially-stunted genius and his enamoured business partner Zhou Mi ok. Original screenplay belongs to the ever amazing talented Aaron Sorkin, I sincerely apologize for this travesty, etc. ;__;
um this is not-fic, merely a fangirl's delusion. Kyuhyun, Zhou Mi, kind of barely there QMi?
Deposition room #1
"It’s raining." He stared blankly outside the window, his chair swerved halfway away from the table and a dozen other people in the deposition room.
"I’m sorry?"
The Lee brothers should have hired a younger lawyer since this one's hearing was getting worse with age, Kyuhyun thought, tugging on the cuff of his sweater.
"It just started raining." He repeated with a slight incline of his head, his eyes still glued to the looming grey skyscrapers outside.
"Mr. Cho Kyuhyun, do I have your full attention?" The lawyer's voice was strong with an edge of annoyance.
"No." He could feel everyone's eyes drilling holes into the back of his head. The Lee brothers, their lawyer, his own laywer, the court reporter, the defense attorney.
"Do you think I deserve it?" A lesser man would have been grinding his teeth by now, but the man's voice was insistently pleasant. Kyuhyun almost found it annoying.
"What."
"Do you think I deserve your full attention?"
Kyuhyun flicked a glance towards the man. "I had to swear an oath before we began this deposition and I don’t want to perjure myself," his words were fast, almost snappy, "so I have a legal obligation to say no."
There was a short pause where everyone had to recollect their thoughts.
"Okay," the lawyer finally regained his voice, "'No' you don’t think I deserve your attention."
Kyuhyun finally swerved his chair back to fully face the entire table.
"I think if your clients want to sit on my shoulders and call themselves tall they have a right to give it a try." He stared straight at the Lee brothers who were apparently trying very hard not to jump out of their seats and flip the table on his face. "But there’s no requirement that I enjoy sitting here listening to people lie. You have part of my attention, you have the minimum amount." He stretched out the word mi-ni-mum, short of spelling it out letter by letter. "The rest of my attention is back at my office where my colleagues and I are doing things that no one in this room, including and especially your clients, are intellectually or creatively capable of doing." His eyes calmly swept over the room, staring down any and all outraged twitch of facial expression. "Did I adequately answer your condescending question?"
There was a long pause. The whole room was silent, except for the sound of rain hitting the glass windows.
"I’ve got 12:45. Why don’t we say that’s lunch." His own lawyer finally spoke up, breaking up the tense note.
"Back at 2:30?" The Lee brothers' lawyer grudgingly nodded.
-
Deposition room #2
The sun was setting behind the familiar grey skyscrapers. It was dusk, and the sky outside the deposition room was turning purple. Zhou Mi was lost in thought, numbers and words numbing his head and the tip of his tongue.
"Zhou Mi?" The old man, his lawyer, called out his name softly. He could hear the pity. Zhou Mi looked up, his voice pitched low.
"Could you please repeat the question?"
"No. It was an outrageously leading question the first time around and now you want us to hear it again?" Kyuhyun's lawyer leveled a glare towards his, but the defense attorney had already nodded.
"Yes, would you read it back, please."
The man paused, visibly displeased. "Well, go ahead."
Kyuhyun was still resolutely not looking at him, let alone making any eye contact. Zhou Mi's fingers unconsciously curled tighter into fists at the edge of the table.
The court reporter calmly read outloud what he had just typed. “And when you signed these documents," these documents meaning the business contracts, "were you aware that you were signing your own death certificate?”
Zhou Mi bit his lips, considering the question, his eyes fluttering closed for a second as he remembered that day. "No," he paused, dragging in a deep breath. "It was insanely stupid of me not to have my own lawyers look over all the papers... In all honesty I thought they were my lawyers." Bile was almost rising up to his throat. Zhou Mi blinked back the burn at the corner of his eyes, staring straight at Kyuhyun, desperately trying to catch his eyes.
"I was your only friend. You had one friend."
The words came out louder than he'd expected. They hurt coming out, more than anything he had ever said in the previous endless days of legal struggle, more than anything he had ever said in their entire relationship. Kyuhyun just stared at him, silent and sullen, his dark eyes wide and unreadable.
"My father won’t even look at me." Zhou Mi's voice shook, hand flying to his mouth to keep the words in. His teeth clamped down hard on his knuckles.
"Okay. Zhou Mi? Did Mr. Cho say anything to you after you signed the papers?" His lawyer gently made the transition to the next part of the statement.
Zhou Mi rubbed lightly at his temple, tearing his eyes away from Kyuhyun. "There was a lot of handshaking and a lot of congratulations... He’d already told me that he wouldn’t be coming back to school for at least a semester so we were saying goodbye for a while. And then before I left, he said... I had to come down for the big company anniversary party." And then after that, right after that, Kyuhyun had asked him-
"Zhou Mi?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you remember that algorithm?"
The algorithm that had started everything, the algorithm Zhou Mi had scribbled down in chalk for Kyuhyun on his bedroom's window because Kyuhyun had asked him for it. Kyuhyun had asked for his help since the very beginning, Kyuhyun had wanted him, not anyone else, not his classmates, not his flatmates, but him. And that had somehow become the basis of their relationship - Kyuhyun asked, and Zhou Mi gave him everything he had.
Kyuhyun was smiling at him. Soft and almost shy. Reminiscing about their beginning. And Zhou Mi smiled back.
"Yeah."
"In late November I got the e-mail from Kyuhyun telling me to come out for the company anniversary party." Zhou Mi's voice was back to the monotone it should have been.
"What else did the e-mail say?"
"It said that we had to have a business meeting. That a big business player was making an investment offer that was hard to turn down. So I came to Seoul, coming straight to the office. It looked awesome. It was awesome." Metallic letters on the wall, maple desks, new computer monitors, carpeting, a wall covered in graffiti by an artist commissioned for the job and tons of young employees. "Everyone was in high spirit. I didn’t know whether to dress for the party or for the business meeting so I kind of dressed for both. But it didn't matter."
"Why not?"
"Because I wasn’t called out there for either one."
"What were you called out there for?"
"An ambush." Zhou Mi looked up to stare straight at Kyuhyun again. "I walked into the office, the lawyers were there, greeting me. Not Kyuhyun. At first I thought they were joking, giving me more contracts to sign. But then I started reading." Zhou Mi closed his eyes, remembering how he had flashed hot and cold with what he had read sinking in, how the tip of fingers had turned numb, shaking as he'd clutched the papers.
"What was Mr. Cho Kyuhyun’s ownership share diluted down to?" The attorney's voice sounded far away, as if coming from behind a glass wall.
"It wasn’t."
"What was Mr. Park’s ownership share diluted down to?"
"It wasn’t."
"What was Kim Heechul’s ownership share diluted down to?"
"It wasn’t." Zhou Mi stared straight ahead, his voice steady.
"What was Choi Siwon’s ownership share diluted down to?"
"It wasn’t."
"What was your ownership share diluted down to?"
Zhou Mi paused. The number still burned on the back of his eyelids.
"Point. Zero. Three. Percent."
-
'k so I just wanted Cho Kyuhyun the socially-stunted genius and his enamoured business partner Zhou Mi ok. Original screenplay belongs to the ever amazing talented Aaron Sorkin, I sincerely apologize for this travesty, etc. ;__;