homeless - chapter four
title homeless
pairing yunho/jaejoong
rating nc-17
genre au,romance,fluff,drama
beta
kas2umi
summary When Jaejoong allowed for a homeless man to stay in his house for one night,he would've never expected for the said man to return a few days later wearing an Armani suit and having two bodyguards flanking him.
I can't believe this!" The very first thing that greeted Jaejoong when he stepped into the office was the sight of an obviously angered Daniel yelling at someone on the phone. "I just know that it was you, stop denying the obvious so shamelessly."
Not knowing what else to do as he watched Daniel walking back into the office hastily, Jaejoong moved to stand next to Sooyoung. "What's wrong?"
"Well you know, before Daniel oppa got this position as our team leader, he also worked as an architect but stopped because of personal reasons. He never designed any buildings again until two months ago when the late Jung Sajangnim Senior literally forced him to design the new house for the Minister of Finance because he had been the one to design his current one as well." Sooyoung slowly went back to her desk with Jaejoong following her. "The design was almost finished but someone stole it yesterday. He only noticed when he wanted to fix the last bit this morning. The deadline is next week, it will be impossible for him to start over and be done with it in time. Whoever stole it wanted him to get in trouble."
Jaejoong nodded in comprehension. "And...who does he think did it?"
"His ex-fiancée." Taeyeon said as she joined them with a frown. "That woman is still so bitter about their break up that I wouldn't be surprised if it was really her."
Seeing how confused Jaejoong seemed, Taeyeon quickly continued to explain. "Kim Minjune is one of the executives in the company. Her and Daniel dated for quite a while and even got engaged but the more successful she got, the less humane she turned.She was just not the same anymore, putting herself before anyone else and was only out to be successful. And well...she treated him like trash to say the least. Ditching him for everything else that seemed more important to her and looking down on him for being an 'average' architect and web designer as she put it. Well one day, he decided to break things off and she was naturally not very happy about it. To be dumped was a huge blow to her ego."
"And since then she had tried to get rid of him several times, but neither Jung Sajangnim nor his father ever supported her in her schemes so Daniel oppa was safe. But if he can't finish this project in time and can't proof her being at fault for it, he could seriously get in trouble."
Jaejoong was shocked to say the least. He couldn't imagine how it could make anyone happy to ruin someone else's life and live on with so much hatred inside one's heart.
"Hey guys, back to work." Gong Yoo called out calmly but with enough strictness in his voice to have his younger colleagues moving to sit down at their respective desks. "We shouldn't meddle with these things unless we're being asked to."
"Yes." The rest of the team answered in unison, knowing that Gong Yoo was just trying to protect his dear friend's privacy.
##
"I didn't know Daniel hyung could be this scary." Dennis spoke as he massaged his neck,now on the way to the elevators as lunch time has started.
"Me neither." Sunny pouted. "Seeing him glaring the whole time made me feel uneasy."
Jaejoong couldn't really say anything and only managed to give his colleagues a soft smile of sympathy.
"Ah oppa, will you have lunch with us?" Taeyeon then asked as she looked Jaejoong's way.
Sooyoung grinned. "Or will you be having lunch with Jung Sajangnim again?"
"Uh Yunho is having lunch with customers right now, so if you don't mind, I would like to tag along with you guys." Jaejoong blushed and had to bite his bottom lip shyly when he could hear his teammates laughing.
"It would be awesome if you would join us. We're going to show you the restaurant with the best jjajangmyeon in Seoul."
"Sooyoung would know, she eats there every day even without us." Sunny teased her colleague who was giving her a playful dirty glare.
"Can't help it when the food is so good."
And as the two of them continued teasing each other, Jaejoong could see Taeyeon and Dennis having a very quiet but seemingly fun talk of their own as they smiled and chuckled every once in a while. When he noticed the way their eyes twinkled every time their gazes locked, Jaejoong could not help but smile knowingly. Love was sometimes too obvious to be hidden no matter how hard one tried. Jaejoong unconsciously watched the pair during the whole elevator ride until Sunny and Sooyoung decided to make him a participant in their teasing and when Taeyeon looked at him and blushed upon catching him staring at her and Dennis, he knew for sure that something was going on between them.
When they arrived on the first floor and got out to enter the lobby, Jaejoong could hear Sooyoung groan softly. "That woman."
It was not until Jaejoong decided to follow her gaze towards a woman standing at the entrance that he finally understood who she meant.
"That's Kim Minjune." Dennis whispered.
Jaejoong tilted his head a little as he looked at her,her face utterly familiar to him although he was sure that he had never officially met her before. It was not until she glared at the person next to her that he finally recognized the woman and the anger in her eyes.
"It's her." Jaejoong gasped before looking at his colleagues. "She bumped into me yesterday when I came back from lunch. She was near our offices."
Dennis frowned in confusion. "That's strange, I heard that ever since her relationship with Daniel hyung ended, she had been avoiding coming to the 5th floor."
"Well there was no other way but go there when she wanted to take something from supervisor Henney's office, is there?" Sunny asked.
"Be careful with these assumptions if you don't want to get fired." A cold voice awfully familiar to Jaejoong spoke from behind and had the whole team turning around to look at its owner as she glared at them. "Accusing a powerful executive of something like this is dangerous when you have no proof. Stop trying to blame someone else for your supervisor's incapability in taking care of his things."
When the person stepped forward and allowed for Jaejoong to see her face more clearly, he immediately recognized her as one of the women who have been insulting him on the banquet. Out of instinct, he stepped back a little and was more than thankful when Taeyeon and Dennis moved forward to cover him after noticing his uneasiness.
"Nice to meet you as always, Ara." Sooyoung scoffed. "Bye, we don't have time for your crap."
She signaled for everyone to follow her when Ara placed herself in front of the group, obviously upset at how Sooyoung behaved towards her.
"Yah, talking to me like this although I'm your senior...do you think you can get away with everything now that you have the president's slut in your team?"
Sunny walked up to her in fury. "Be careful of who you call a slut."
The brightness in her eyes disappeared and rage clouded the brown orbs as Sunny glared at the woman standing in front of her, ready to let things get physical if needed. Despite being very friendly and playful most of the time, Sunny had a quite short temper - as Jaejoong has heard from Sooyoung and Taeyeon - especially when people dear to her were being harassed.
"You are in no position to talk. It's not like you can get away with everything either." Taeyeon laughed.
"You-"
"What is this all about?" Came the loud shout from the entrance and the harsh tone of the man standing there had everyone stopping in their tracks as they looked at him warily.
Yunho was obviously upset about the commotion. His eyes soon fell on Dennis who was standing right next to Jaejoong.
"Tell me."
"It's-"
"It's just a small misunderstanding between colleagues." Jaejoong answered on his behalf and tried hard to avoid his boyfriend's unusually piercing gaze. "It's nothing to be worried about. We were about to settle everything."
"Is that so?" Yunho answered as he looked at the others for some kind of confirmation although he knew that Jaejoong was lying to him.
But his boyfriend probably had a good reason for it and Yunho was not going to question his words here in front of everyone.
"Yes, Sir."
The CEO nodded in recognition. "Go ahead and have some lunch then."
When the employees bowed and were about to walk out of the company building, Jaejoong could still feel his boyfriend's eyes on him. He turned around to see the other male smiling and immediately walked back to where the CEO stood to wrap his arms around him.
"I'm having lunch with my colleagues."
Yunho nodded before leaning in to press a swift kiss onto the lips he had missed so much."Eat well."
Truth to be told, he really wanted Jaejoong to spend lunch time with him in his office where he would make sure to order the best food for the younger male, but his boyfriend needed to socialize a bit if he wanted to continue getting along with his colleagues, Yunho knew.He watched how the team left the building and smiled every time his boyfriend looked back to take short glances at him until they disappeared behind a corner.
##
After thanking the waitress properly, the team of web designers immediately started to dig in.
"Getting angry made me even hungrier." Sunny mumbled before leading some more noodles into her mouth.
Sooyoung chuckled before her eyes were on Jaejoong. "Oppa you are too nice.You should've told Jung Sajangnim what that thing said to you."
"It will only cause more trouble."
The girls sighed at his answer and had Dennis chuckling at their reaction. "You should be happy that he is out to keep what's left of the peace in our company."
"But this way she will think that she can do whatever she wants." Taeyeon protested with a pout. "But anyway...what are we going to do about Kim Minjune ssi?"
"We'll tell Daniel hyung of course." Dennis replied."Jaejoong witnessed her walking away from the offices, that's at least something."
Taeyeon didn't look convinced. "But we don't have enough evidences to prove that she has really stolen Daniel oppa's design. We are sure that she took it, but we won't be able to convince anyone to fire a head executive with our words alone. I mean I want her to pay for her deeds too, but if we want to officially frame her for it, we need to make sure that she won't get away with it just because we don't have enough evidences."
And although neither of them liked the truth very much at the moment,they had to agree with Taeyeon. If they really wanted to help their supervisor,they would have to work a little harder.
##
Jaejoong smiled when he could finally get into the car with Yunho and go home. It had been a very long and tiring day to say the least. Daniel was of course informed about what Jaejoong had witnessed yesterday and although the man was highly agitated and more convinced of his ex-fiancèe's guilt than ever, he also agreed that they would need a little more than this to go against her the official way.
"You look exhausted." Yunho pulled Jaejoong even closer towards himself to kiss the other male slowly and carefully, wanting this moment to last forever.
With the warmth and comfort Yunho was giving him, the web designer was able to let go of all the worries he had just moments ago completely to enjoy this precious kiss and moment of love they shared as their tired bodies supported each other on the backseat of the car they were sitting in. Jaejoong closed his eyes and smiled when he felt Yunho trailing the kiss to his left cheek before the other's lips brushed against the outer shell of his ear for a brief caress. Yunho's arms were now wrapped around Jaejoong's waist for an embrace and Jaejoong could feel how much harder it got to keep his eyes open with each passing second before he succumbed to his exhaustion and rested his head onto Yunho's shoulder to sleep.
Yunho chuckled fondly as he adjusted their position and allowed for Jaejoong to use his chest as a pillow. He didn't get to ask Jaejoong about the incident in the lobby yet, but that could wait until tomorrow after his lover got enough sleep.
"Don't drive to Jaejoong's house, just bring us back to the mansion."
The driver nodded. "Yes, Sir."
'I'm sorry for kidnapping you like this.' The CEO smiled. 'But let me be a little selfish and trap you in my arms tonight.'
##
"Are you practicing for your wedding?" Yoochun teased once he saw his brother carrying Jaejoong into the mansion.
"Maybe." Yunho chuckled. "But what are you doing here again, you didn't return to your home even once since the banquet...is something wrong?"
The younger male sighed in response. "I will explain it to you later."
Yunho merely nodded before he proceeded to carry Jaejoong upstairs into his bedroom where he made sure to change his lover into one of his pajamas which turned out to be way too big for Jaejoong's lithe body. But it looked cute on him and it was probably more comfortable sleeping like this than in his suit. The peaceful look on Jaejoong's face had Yunho smiling adoringly, his fingers soon ghosting over his boyfriend's lips before he replaced the digits with his mouth. The kiss was soft as Yunho tried hard to not wake Jaejoong up by moving too eagerly. But the gentle contact was more than enough to make the CEO feel all kinds of warm.
After changing his clothes in the bathroom, Yunho headed downstairs right away and found his brother watching TV on the couch.
"So." Yunho started as he settled down next to Yoochun. "Tell me why you are refusing to go back home."
"Kahi is waiting for me there." Came the grunted answer.
"I thought you've ended things with her already."
"Yes, but now that she is back in Korea, she wants us to reconcile."
Yoochun's groan of frustration was successfully by the cushion he was pressing onto his face just as he kicked his legs around in a small tantrum and Yunho could do nothing but watch him in amusement and bewilderment alike.
Kahi had been Yoochun's girlfriend since college,the woman of Yoochun's dreams until she decided to cheat on him five months ago. When Kahi first told Yoochun about her chance to accompany her boss to his international business trips, Yoochun had been scared out of his wits. Despite seeming so overly confident to everyone, the younger Jung brother's heart was filled with tons of insecurities. He didn't want to let Kahi go because he feared to lose her to someone else - someone better - while she was away. But he didn't want to hold her back and ruin her chance of achieving something greater either. So he let her go, hoping for her heart to never change. But it did.
Not even three weeks after her departure, Yoochun received a call from her in which she confessed to have cheated on him.
With her boss.
Things between them ended there. At least for Yoochun it did.
"Whenever I get home from work, she's there waiting for me in front of the gates. I just can't stand being near her hyung." Yoochun whispered and Yunho didn't need to see his face to know that his brother was trying hard not to cry. "It makes me angry and sad. I want to hurt her feelings, telling her so many things I kept inside of me until now and yet I don't want to even see her face."
The yearning for revenge and pain were still big, it was as if Yunho could still hear the echoes of Yoochun's heart as it shattered.
"You should go home and talk to her,Yoochun. If you keep avoiding her, she will keep trying to get back together with you."
"But I broke up with her already, what more does she need to hear?"
Yunho sighed, his smile gentle and reassuring. "She needs closure.The words you have said to her on the phone...tell her face to face. Reality is sometimes hard to grasp trough the phone. Do you know what I mean?"
The cushion was removed from Yoochun's face as he nodded hesitantly. "I guess I do..."
A long moment of silence followed as Yoochun closed his eyes to imagine how the upcoming encounter with his ex-girlfriend was going to be like, not noticing his brother's gaze being directed at him.
"Have you ever wondered why I haven't helped you with Junsu ssi yet?"
Tired eyes were forced open. "I did. So why?"
"Because I didn't feel that you were ready for anything new yet." Yunho chuckled at the confusion written all over his brother's face. "Although I'm sure that you have no intention of getting back together with her again...I still think that you also need a proper closure, one last talk where you get to say all the things you want to say so you will not have to live on with those bitter words in your mind."
Soft nods of agreement were given before Yoochun finally rose himself off the couch and placed the cushion back onto its rightful place.
"Where are you going?"
"Home." Yoochun grinned. "Facing my fears."
Yunho soon went back upstairs and was surprised to see his bedside lamps turned on and his boyfriend staring at him before flashing him the most adorable smile he has ever received from anyone.
"Hello puppy." Yunho chuckled. "What woke you up?"
Jaejoong didn't answer, only patting the spot next to him until Yunho joined him under the blanket to pull him into his strong arms. The smile of contentment on Jaejoong's face only got wider when he could feel Yunho's lips pressing soft kisses onto his clothed shoulder and back.
"I don't remember why I woke up." Jaejoong yawned. "And then I realized that you've kidnapped me."
A small laughter rang through the air as Yunho allowed for his lover to turn around and snuggle into his embrace some more. Yunho loved his boyfriend all cuddly and cute like this, maybe even more than when he was being the alluring vixen writhing underneath him not too long ago.Jaejoong smiled sleepily when Yunho started to rain his face with small kisses until their lips were finally locked in a proper kiss which had them breathless all too fast.
"Do you mind?" Yunho smirked when he pulled back and saw his boyfriend blushing. "That I kidnapped you?"
Jaejoong immediately shook his head in response before leaning in to press a clumsy peck onto Yunho's lips. "Let's sleep~"
Humming in agreement, Yunho reached out to shut the bedside lamps before both of his arms were back around Jaejoong. The couple briefly adjusted their position on the bed, the steady heartbeat and even breathing of the other lulling them to sleep gently, carefully.
##
When Jaejoong and Yunho walked out of the house, Jaejoong was surprised to see two bodyguards waiting for them by the car already.
"They are back on duty." Yunho said as they got into the car together. "They would've just made you even more nervous during your first days of working so I dismissed them. They can be quite intimidating."
Jaejoong agreed wholeheartedly, clearly remembering how uneasy he had felt the first time he got to meet them. They were not really scary, just really, really intimidating.
"I've wanted to ask you something." The CEO spoke, not waiting for his boyfriend's permission he continued. "What exactly happened in the lobby yesterday? And don't lie to me again."
Jaejoong's cheeks turned red within the span of a heartbeat. He didn't think that Yunho would actually see right through his small lie.
Yunho chuckled. "Lying is not your forte, puppy."
Naturally, Jaejoong hesitated and that was exactly the reaction Yunho had expected. When he walked into the lobby yesterday and spotted one of the women who have been saying spiteful things about his boyfriend on the banquet standing not far away from Jaejoong, he caught on real fast. She must've bothered him once again if his boyfriend's uneasy expression was anything to go by.
"I've been called...some names."
He knew it.
The CEO's expression darkened in anger. Who did she think she was to insult his boyfriend like this? And whatever she had said, it must've been highly hurtful. He could remember the way Jaejoong's gaze had been cast downwards, his teeth digging into his bottom lip as his body tried to compensate the pain inside through physical pain. The pride Yunho had seen in his boyfriend's eyes hours before the incident had been clouded by insecurities and uncertainty.
"What names?" Yunho forced himself to ask through gritted teeth.
Jaejoong knew why Yunho was asking and although one part of him wanted to tell him everything, allowing for Yunho to protect and defend him...another part of him refused to depend on Yunho's protection too much. This was not Yunho's battle to fight. Remembering how he had allowed for her words to hurt him to the extent of driving him away from Yunho that night and making him hide behind his colleagues yesterday, Jaejoong felt ashamed of himself.
By showing her how much she had affected him with her words,he had only made her feel stronger.He couldn't expect for anyone else to defend him when not even he himself was capable of doing so.
He had much time to think about the happenings from the day before and the more he remembered, the more he wished he would've been more courageous. But he was getting there, bit by bit.
"It's not important, Yunho."
"It is important, Jaejoongie. It will always be important to me when someone hurts you." The tall chaebol replied.
Jaejoong smiled before leaning in to kiss his boyfriend's lips, glad to feel him relaxing when he caught Yunho's right hand in his left one.
"I know." Jaejoong whispered. "I know that you are worried about me, but please let me try to settle this on my own."
Yunho was more than unwilling to let go of things, wanting to show everyone just what awaited them if they shall proceed to bother his lover. But he agreed with a simple nod nevertheless.
Because the reasonable side of him knew that it could only do Jaejoong good to handle these things on his own in order to earn everyone's respect. Dating the CEO openly has put Jaejoong into a very difficult position, especially because he was new in the company. Some people were going to envy him, maybe accusing him of being treated better than them just because he was the CEO's lover. And if Yunho shall get himself involved in fights between Jaejoong and another employee, he would probably do his boyfriend more damage than good.
If Jaejoong shall not be able to prove himself worthy of their respect as an individual person, he was never going to be more than the CEO's lover.
"But remember, Kim Jaejoong. No other name beside 'puppy' will ever be a legit description of you." Yunho grinned.
Jaejoong blushed.
What a cheesy, cheesy man.
##
To see the couple entering the company building together was not that new to the employees anymore although most of them were still curious about who exactly Jaejoong was. He didn't get to interact with people outside of his team much, spending the majority of his time sitting at his desk to solve the tasks assigned to him by Daniel. It was not like he didn't want to get to know more people. He just didn't have the time to at the moment.
"Yoochun called me this morning. He wants us to have lunch with him today, is that okay with you?"
Jaejoong smiled. "Of course."
"I'll come and get you, alright?" The couple halted right in front of the elevators and Yunho automatically wrapped one arm around Jaejoong to pull him closer when they entered one of the metallic boxes.
Jaejoong agreed with a nod and blushed prettily when Yunho leaned in to give him a kiss in front of everyone who managed to squeeze themselves into the same elevator, including Yunho's bodyguards who were doing a good job in forcing a certain distance between the couple and the employees. It was a given that Yunho escorted Jaejoong out of the elevator and refused to leave until he got a proper goodbye kiss from his boyfriend.
Jung Yunho was one persistent man.
It took five minutes and several stares from the employees walking past them for Yunho let Jaejoong leave for work.
However, the shy smile on Jaejoong's lips never subsided even after he was greeted by the knowing grins of his colleagues as he sat down at his desk. They obviously belonged to the group of people who have walked past him and Yunho earlier. Daniel's mood - albeit still a little foul because of his current situation - was better than yesterday and caused him to participate in the teasing all too gladly.
But it didn't take long for someone to ruin the mood by storming towards them in rage.
"Daniel Henney." Minjune called out as she approached her ex-fiancé. "Who do you think you are to spread lies and defame me like this?"
All eyes were immediately on Daniel and Jaejoong was surprised to see him smirking at her, obviously not the least bit intimidated. "Defame you? You don't need me for that."
The piercing sound of skin hitting skin echoed through the whole office before Daniel's chuckling could be heard.
"Go ahead and slap me again if that makes you happy. But it won't change the truth."
This was surely not the reaction she had expected when she decided to confront him in front of everyone in order to humiliate him. She was not used to this side of her ex-fiancè.
When the two of them dated, he had been nothing but courteous, always out to make her happy. When she threw a tantrum, he endured all of it with a smile and tried to calm her down the gentlest way possible. He never got mad at her and to see him treating her with such arrogance scared her.
"Now leave." Daniel spat. "You are disturbing everyone."
He turned around and was about to walk away when she called out his name once more.
"Listen to me, Daniel. This is not the end."
Daniel said nothing. The only sound coming from him being a sigh as he walked into his office without paying attention to the woman who was staring at him with hatred burning in her eyes.
Not really knowing what else to do, everyone except Gong Yoo went right back to work and ignored Minjune as Gong Yoo dragged her away despite her loud protests. Everyone could hear the two of them arguing for quite a while before Minjune seemingly decided to leave.
"I told him it was a bad idea." Gong Yoo sighed.
"W-What do you mean, hyung?" Jaejoong stuttered, not used to see Gong Yoo this distressed.
The older male smiled weakly. "After a few drinks yesterday, Daniel decided to fight fire with fire and apparently called several people to tell them about our suspicion once I was not there to hold him back."
"Well she also spread rumors about him in the past." Sunny uttered. "So why can't he spread the truth about her?"
"That's exactly the problem. We can't prove that it's the truth." The sunbae replied. "And judging by her reaction, she won't let this slide. Although I hate to admit it...she is right. What he did is defamation and I'm fearing the worst."
Jaejoong looked around to see his colleagues lower their gazes dejectedly. Everyone knew what Minjune was capable of and although she did not manage to get rid of Daniel in the past, this time around she had a very good reason to have him fired.Jaejoong wanted to help, but how? He could not even ask his own boyfriend for help without evidences to frame Kim Minjune.
It was frustrating that neither of them could really do something useful to help.
Only a few minutes passed before Daniel walked out of his office with a glum expression, only halting when he was standing in front his team. He wanted to say something, all of them could tell. But after trying his best in giving each of them a smile which was supposed to make them feel more at least, he walked away with Gong Yoo chasing after him.
The rest of the team could do nothing but look at each other in confusion.Only a few minutes ago their supervisor seemed to be rather fine and now his mood seemed to have reached down.
"Hyung." Dennis called out once Gong Yoo was back and was more than panicked when he saw the utter worry in the sunbae's eyes. "What's wrong?"
Gong Yoo sighed. "Minjune officially filed a complaint against Daniel. Because of defamation."
Things just couldn't get worse.
Jaejoong knew Daniel for only three days, yet he felt great sorrow upon learning of the other's difficult situation and he couldn't imagine how hard it was for the others and Daniel himself.
##
It was lunch time when Daniel returned.
With Yunho following him.
Jaejoong was confused as of how to act when his boyfriend looked so stern as he told Daniel to get back into his office. Yunho looked highly upset, only responding to the employees' greeting with a small nod and not sparing Jaejoong a glance until the web designer decided to approach his lover timidly.
"Yunho..."
"Go downstairs and wait for me in the lobby, Jaejoong." Yunho said. "The bodyguards will wait for you there. I have something to discuss with the rest of your team."
Jaejoong's eyes automatically fell on the rest of the team, each of the members giving him an encouraging smile along with a nod. But it was not until he saw another nod of assurance from Gong Yoo that he finally left.
He did not notice Yunho sending him a glance much like a soft apology.
##
Not having the slightest idea why he was the only one to be sent away made Jaejoong feel uneasy and he was so busy imagining what the discussion Yunho talked about could be about that he didn't even notice who was already inside the elevator he got in.
"Being in the same elevator as Jung Yunho's whore, what an honor." Ara scoffed.
By the time Jaejoong realized what was happening, it was already too late to get out of the elevator and he pressed the button for the first floor with a soft sigh which remained unheard by Ara and her friend thanks to the elevator music which provided him at least a small cover. He didn't look at the women standing behind him directly, but he could see their reflection in the wall in front of him and cursed his luck as he recognized the other woman as Ara's companion on the banquet.
Out of all the people working in the company, he had to be stuck in a metallic cell with the two women who were obviously out to hurt his feelings for what reasons ever.
"It was nice of him to cover for you yesterday." Ara's friend said. "Deceiving little bitch probably thought you'd be thankful and leave him be."
It was beyond Jaejoong how someone could say all these cruel things to him although he has done absolutely nothing to them. He never once interacted with them so what could he have done so wrong for these two women to hate him so much?
More hurtful words were said and while the two friends were visibly amused by what they were doing, Jaejoong's heart started to ache more and more with every insult they threw his way. Neither of them intended to stop, not even when a few more colleagues got into the same elevator stared at them.
But that was all those people did. Stare.
No one ever said anything to defend him, but Jaejoong couldn't be mad at them, repeatedly reminding himself that he couldn't expect for anyone else to defend him when not even he himself was able to do so.
To finally reach the first floor made it so much easier for Jaejoong to calm down as he stormed out of the elevator and walked towards where the two bodyguards stood, approaching him once they spotted him.
"Yah, where do you think you are going?" Jaejoong could hear the women yell at him before he was yanked backwards by his hair. "We are not done with you yet!"
Jaejoong barely had time to shake her off when the bodyguards rushed towards him, one pushing his assaulter away while the other was placing himself in front of him protectively, making sure that no one would ever dare to step closer to Jaejoong without feeling the consequences.
"Touch him again if you dare, but things won't end well when you do." The slightly bigger bodyguard warned. "Your title means nothing here, Ms. Kwon."
"Who do you think you are to talk to me like this, Eric Mun? You are nothing."
"Boa!" Ara hissed under her breath, not willing to put up with these two men.
Boa glared at her friend angrily. "What? Are you being a coward now?"
"Let's not make a bigger deal out of this."
"Listen to your friend, Ms. Kwon." The second bodyguard spoke.
Boa was obviously not willing to leave, but Ara managed to overpower her and dragged her out of the company building far away from Jaejoong and the two bodyguards who did not turn around to look at Jaejoong until they saw Boa and Ara leave in a taxi, wanting to make sure that they would not come back to cause more trouble.
"Are you alright, Jaejoong ssi?" Eric asked as he approached him.
Jaejoong nodded, his right hand still busy massaging the sore spot of his scalp. "Thank you for helping, Eric ssi and..."
"My name is Park Junjin." The bodyguard standing in front of Jaejoong said when he saw the younger male looking at him questioningly.
Jaejoong smiled. "Thank you,Junjin ssi."
"Our job is to protect you, there is nothing to thank us for." Eric and Junjin replied before the later excused himself.
Seeing how confused Jaejoong looked, Eric swiftly explained Junjin's absence to him. "He is getting the car."
A small nod of understanding was given to the bodyguard before Jaejoong gasped as having remembered something important and then looked at Eric almost pleadingly. "Could you please not tell Yunho about what happened?"
"But Jaejoong ssi-"
"Please. I don't want him to get more worried than he is already."
Eric relented hesitantly.
When they could see the familiar car belonging to Yunho parking in front of the company building, Eric gently motioned for Jaejoong to walk out with him before they got into the car together and waited for Yunho.
Jaejoong was about to ask Junjin for the same favor he had asked of Eric earlier when Eric suddenly got out of the car and walked back into the building, returning with Yunho right beside him.The CEO looked less upset now, but the stern expression remained even as he got in and sat down next to his boyfriend.
"Yunho-"
"Could you do something for me, puppy?" Yunho's gaze was now gentle, nothing of the strictness from before left anymore.
"What would that be?"
Yunho sighed as he inched closer to get a hold of Jaejoong's hands, caressing the soft skin with his thumbs. "Listen to me. No matter what happens, stay out of what is currently happening to Mr. Henney."
Jaejoong shook his head in disbelief. "Yunho,I can't. I need to help hi-"
"No, Jaejoongie. No." Despite the strict order, Yunho still managed to keep his temper in check as he spoke to his boyfriend as gentle as possible despite his inner yearning to be a little rougher to make Jaejoong understand.
But he would never ever raise his voice against his Jaejoong, never. "Please just stay out of it. Please...trust me in this."
Jaejoong lowered his gaze in agony. He wanted to help Daniel, but he also believed that his boyfriend wouldn't ask for him to do something like this without a good reason.And if Yunho asked for him to trust him, then the answer could only be a definite yes.
"Alright." Jaejoong nodded. "I will."
Yunho looked relieved to say the least,a carefree smile finally finding its way back onto his lips as he leaned in to give his boyfriend a loving kiss. "Thank you."
pairing yunho/jaejoong
rating nc-17
genre au,romance,fluff,drama
beta
kas2umi
summary When Jaejoong allowed for a homeless man to stay in his house for one night,he would've never expected for the said man to return a few days later wearing an Armani suit and having two bodyguards flanking him.
I can't believe this!" The very first thing that greeted Jaejoong when he stepped into the office was the sight of an obviously angered Daniel yelling at someone on the phone. "I just know that it was you, stop denying the obvious so shamelessly."
Not knowing what else to do as he watched Daniel walking back into the office hastily, Jaejoong moved to stand next to Sooyoung. "What's wrong?"
"Well you know, before Daniel oppa got this position as our team leader, he also worked as an architect but stopped because of personal reasons. He never designed any buildings again until two months ago when the late Jung Sajangnim Senior literally forced him to design the new house for the Minister of Finance because he had been the one to design his current one as well." Sooyoung slowly went back to her desk with Jaejoong following her. "The design was almost finished but someone stole it yesterday. He only noticed when he wanted to fix the last bit this morning. The deadline is next week, it will be impossible for him to start over and be done with it in time. Whoever stole it wanted him to get in trouble."
Jaejoong nodded in comprehension. "And...who does he think did it?"
"His ex-fiancée." Taeyeon said as she joined them with a frown. "That woman is still so bitter about their break up that I wouldn't be surprised if it was really her."
Seeing how confused Jaejoong seemed, Taeyeon quickly continued to explain. "Kim Minjune is one of the executives in the company. Her and Daniel dated for quite a while and even got engaged but the more successful she got, the less humane she turned.She was just not the same anymore, putting herself before anyone else and was only out to be successful. And well...she treated him like trash to say the least. Ditching him for everything else that seemed more important to her and looking down on him for being an 'average' architect and web designer as she put it. Well one day, he decided to break things off and she was naturally not very happy about it. To be dumped was a huge blow to her ego."
"And since then she had tried to get rid of him several times, but neither Jung Sajangnim nor his father ever supported her in her schemes so Daniel oppa was safe. But if he can't finish this project in time and can't proof her being at fault for it, he could seriously get in trouble."
Jaejoong was shocked to say the least. He couldn't imagine how it could make anyone happy to ruin someone else's life and live on with so much hatred inside one's heart.
"Hey guys, back to work." Gong Yoo called out calmly but with enough strictness in his voice to have his younger colleagues moving to sit down at their respective desks. "We shouldn't meddle with these things unless we're being asked to."
"Yes." The rest of the team answered in unison, knowing that Gong Yoo was just trying to protect his dear friend's privacy.
##
"I didn't know Daniel hyung could be this scary." Dennis spoke as he massaged his neck,now on the way to the elevators as lunch time has started.
"Me neither." Sunny pouted. "Seeing him glaring the whole time made me feel uneasy."
Jaejoong couldn't really say anything and only managed to give his colleagues a soft smile of sympathy.
"Ah oppa, will you have lunch with us?" Taeyeon then asked as she looked Jaejoong's way.
Sooyoung grinned. "Or will you be having lunch with Jung Sajangnim again?"
"Uh Yunho is having lunch with customers right now, so if you don't mind, I would like to tag along with you guys." Jaejoong blushed and had to bite his bottom lip shyly when he could hear his teammates laughing.
"It would be awesome if you would join us. We're going to show you the restaurant with the best jjajangmyeon in Seoul."
"Sooyoung would know, she eats there every day even without us." Sunny teased her colleague who was giving her a playful dirty glare.
"Can't help it when the food is so good."
And as the two of them continued teasing each other, Jaejoong could see Taeyeon and Dennis having a very quiet but seemingly fun talk of their own as they smiled and chuckled every once in a while. When he noticed the way their eyes twinkled every time their gazes locked, Jaejoong could not help but smile knowingly. Love was sometimes too obvious to be hidden no matter how hard one tried. Jaejoong unconsciously watched the pair during the whole elevator ride until Sunny and Sooyoung decided to make him a participant in their teasing and when Taeyeon looked at him and blushed upon catching him staring at her and Dennis, he knew for sure that something was going on between them.
When they arrived on the first floor and got out to enter the lobby, Jaejoong could hear Sooyoung groan softly. "That woman."
It was not until Jaejoong decided to follow her gaze towards a woman standing at the entrance that he finally understood who she meant.
"That's Kim Minjune." Dennis whispered.
Jaejoong tilted his head a little as he looked at her,her face utterly familiar to him although he was sure that he had never officially met her before. It was not until she glared at the person next to her that he finally recognized the woman and the anger in her eyes.
"It's her." Jaejoong gasped before looking at his colleagues. "She bumped into me yesterday when I came back from lunch. She was near our offices."
Dennis frowned in confusion. "That's strange, I heard that ever since her relationship with Daniel hyung ended, she had been avoiding coming to the 5th floor."
"Well there was no other way but go there when she wanted to take something from supervisor Henney's office, is there?" Sunny asked.
"Be careful with these assumptions if you don't want to get fired." A cold voice awfully familiar to Jaejoong spoke from behind and had the whole team turning around to look at its owner as she glared at them. "Accusing a powerful executive of something like this is dangerous when you have no proof. Stop trying to blame someone else for your supervisor's incapability in taking care of his things."
When the person stepped forward and allowed for Jaejoong to see her face more clearly, he immediately recognized her as one of the women who have been insulting him on the banquet. Out of instinct, he stepped back a little and was more than thankful when Taeyeon and Dennis moved forward to cover him after noticing his uneasiness.
"Nice to meet you as always, Ara." Sooyoung scoffed. "Bye, we don't have time for your crap."
She signaled for everyone to follow her when Ara placed herself in front of the group, obviously upset at how Sooyoung behaved towards her.
"Yah, talking to me like this although I'm your senior...do you think you can get away with everything now that you have the president's slut in your team?"
Sunny walked up to her in fury. "Be careful of who you call a slut."
The brightness in her eyes disappeared and rage clouded the brown orbs as Sunny glared at the woman standing in front of her, ready to let things get physical if needed. Despite being very friendly and playful most of the time, Sunny had a quite short temper - as Jaejoong has heard from Sooyoung and Taeyeon - especially when people dear to her were being harassed.
"You are in no position to talk. It's not like you can get away with everything either." Taeyeon laughed.
"You-"
"What is this all about?" Came the loud shout from the entrance and the harsh tone of the man standing there had everyone stopping in their tracks as they looked at him warily.
Yunho was obviously upset about the commotion. His eyes soon fell on Dennis who was standing right next to Jaejoong.
"Tell me."
"It's-"
"It's just a small misunderstanding between colleagues." Jaejoong answered on his behalf and tried hard to avoid his boyfriend's unusually piercing gaze. "It's nothing to be worried about. We were about to settle everything."
"Is that so?" Yunho answered as he looked at the others for some kind of confirmation although he knew that Jaejoong was lying to him.
But his boyfriend probably had a good reason for it and Yunho was not going to question his words here in front of everyone.
"Yes, Sir."
The CEO nodded in recognition. "Go ahead and have some lunch then."
When the employees bowed and were about to walk out of the company building, Jaejoong could still feel his boyfriend's eyes on him. He turned around to see the other male smiling and immediately walked back to where the CEO stood to wrap his arms around him.
"I'm having lunch with my colleagues."
Yunho nodded before leaning in to press a swift kiss onto the lips he had missed so much."Eat well."
Truth to be told, he really wanted Jaejoong to spend lunch time with him in his office where he would make sure to order the best food for the younger male, but his boyfriend needed to socialize a bit if he wanted to continue getting along with his colleagues, Yunho knew.He watched how the team left the building and smiled every time his boyfriend looked back to take short glances at him until they disappeared behind a corner.
##
After thanking the waitress properly, the team of web designers immediately started to dig in.
"Getting angry made me even hungrier." Sunny mumbled before leading some more noodles into her mouth.
Sooyoung chuckled before her eyes were on Jaejoong. "Oppa you are too nice.You should've told Jung Sajangnim what that thing said to you."
"It will only cause more trouble."
The girls sighed at his answer and had Dennis chuckling at their reaction. "You should be happy that he is out to keep what's left of the peace in our company."
"But this way she will think that she can do whatever she wants." Taeyeon protested with a pout. "But anyway...what are we going to do about Kim Minjune ssi?"
"We'll tell Daniel hyung of course." Dennis replied."Jaejoong witnessed her walking away from the offices, that's at least something."
Taeyeon didn't look convinced. "But we don't have enough evidences to prove that she has really stolen Daniel oppa's design. We are sure that she took it, but we won't be able to convince anyone to fire a head executive with our words alone. I mean I want her to pay for her deeds too, but if we want to officially frame her for it, we need to make sure that she won't get away with it just because we don't have enough evidences."
And although neither of them liked the truth very much at the moment,they had to agree with Taeyeon. If they really wanted to help their supervisor,they would have to work a little harder.
##
Jaejoong smiled when he could finally get into the car with Yunho and go home. It had been a very long and tiring day to say the least. Daniel was of course informed about what Jaejoong had witnessed yesterday and although the man was highly agitated and more convinced of his ex-fiancèe's guilt than ever, he also agreed that they would need a little more than this to go against her the official way.
"You look exhausted." Yunho pulled Jaejoong even closer towards himself to kiss the other male slowly and carefully, wanting this moment to last forever.
With the warmth and comfort Yunho was giving him, the web designer was able to let go of all the worries he had just moments ago completely to enjoy this precious kiss and moment of love they shared as their tired bodies supported each other on the backseat of the car they were sitting in. Jaejoong closed his eyes and smiled when he felt Yunho trailing the kiss to his left cheek before the other's lips brushed against the outer shell of his ear for a brief caress. Yunho's arms were now wrapped around Jaejoong's waist for an embrace and Jaejoong could feel how much harder it got to keep his eyes open with each passing second before he succumbed to his exhaustion and rested his head onto Yunho's shoulder to sleep.
Yunho chuckled fondly as he adjusted their position and allowed for Jaejoong to use his chest as a pillow. He didn't get to ask Jaejoong about the incident in the lobby yet, but that could wait until tomorrow after his lover got enough sleep.
"Don't drive to Jaejoong's house, just bring us back to the mansion."
The driver nodded. "Yes, Sir."
'I'm sorry for kidnapping you like this.' The CEO smiled. 'But let me be a little selfish and trap you in my arms tonight.'
##
"Are you practicing for your wedding?" Yoochun teased once he saw his brother carrying Jaejoong into the mansion.
"Maybe." Yunho chuckled. "But what are you doing here again, you didn't return to your home even once since the banquet...is something wrong?"
The younger male sighed in response. "I will explain it to you later."
Yunho merely nodded before he proceeded to carry Jaejoong upstairs into his bedroom where he made sure to change his lover into one of his pajamas which turned out to be way too big for Jaejoong's lithe body. But it looked cute on him and it was probably more comfortable sleeping like this than in his suit. The peaceful look on Jaejoong's face had Yunho smiling adoringly, his fingers soon ghosting over his boyfriend's lips before he replaced the digits with his mouth. The kiss was soft as Yunho tried hard to not wake Jaejoong up by moving too eagerly. But the gentle contact was more than enough to make the CEO feel all kinds of warm.
After changing his clothes in the bathroom, Yunho headed downstairs right away and found his brother watching TV on the couch.
"So." Yunho started as he settled down next to Yoochun. "Tell me why you are refusing to go back home."
"Kahi is waiting for me there." Came the grunted answer.
"I thought you've ended things with her already."
"Yes, but now that she is back in Korea, she wants us to reconcile."
Yoochun's groan of frustration was successfully by the cushion he was pressing onto his face just as he kicked his legs around in a small tantrum and Yunho could do nothing but watch him in amusement and bewilderment alike.
Kahi had been Yoochun's girlfriend since college,the woman of Yoochun's dreams until she decided to cheat on him five months ago. When Kahi first told Yoochun about her chance to accompany her boss to his international business trips, Yoochun had been scared out of his wits. Despite seeming so overly confident to everyone, the younger Jung brother's heart was filled with tons of insecurities. He didn't want to let Kahi go because he feared to lose her to someone else - someone better - while she was away. But he didn't want to hold her back and ruin her chance of achieving something greater either. So he let her go, hoping for her heart to never change. But it did.
Not even three weeks after her departure, Yoochun received a call from her in which she confessed to have cheated on him.
With her boss.
Things between them ended there. At least for Yoochun it did.
"Whenever I get home from work, she's there waiting for me in front of the gates. I just can't stand being near her hyung." Yoochun whispered and Yunho didn't need to see his face to know that his brother was trying hard not to cry. "It makes me angry and sad. I want to hurt her feelings, telling her so many things I kept inside of me until now and yet I don't want to even see her face."
The yearning for revenge and pain were still big, it was as if Yunho could still hear the echoes of Yoochun's heart as it shattered.
"You should go home and talk to her,Yoochun. If you keep avoiding her, she will keep trying to get back together with you."
"But I broke up with her already, what more does she need to hear?"
Yunho sighed, his smile gentle and reassuring. "She needs closure.The words you have said to her on the phone...tell her face to face. Reality is sometimes hard to grasp trough the phone. Do you know what I mean?"
The cushion was removed from Yoochun's face as he nodded hesitantly. "I guess I do..."
A long moment of silence followed as Yoochun closed his eyes to imagine how the upcoming encounter with his ex-girlfriend was going to be like, not noticing his brother's gaze being directed at him.
"Have you ever wondered why I haven't helped you with Junsu ssi yet?"
Tired eyes were forced open. "I did. So why?"
"Because I didn't feel that you were ready for anything new yet." Yunho chuckled at the confusion written all over his brother's face. "Although I'm sure that you have no intention of getting back together with her again...I still think that you also need a proper closure, one last talk where you get to say all the things you want to say so you will not have to live on with those bitter words in your mind."
Soft nods of agreement were given before Yoochun finally rose himself off the couch and placed the cushion back onto its rightful place.
"Where are you going?"
"Home." Yoochun grinned. "Facing my fears."
Yunho soon went back upstairs and was surprised to see his bedside lamps turned on and his boyfriend staring at him before flashing him the most adorable smile he has ever received from anyone.
"Hello puppy." Yunho chuckled. "What woke you up?"
Jaejoong didn't answer, only patting the spot next to him until Yunho joined him under the blanket to pull him into his strong arms. The smile of contentment on Jaejoong's face only got wider when he could feel Yunho's lips pressing soft kisses onto his clothed shoulder and back.
"I don't remember why I woke up." Jaejoong yawned. "And then I realized that you've kidnapped me."
A small laughter rang through the air as Yunho allowed for his lover to turn around and snuggle into his embrace some more. Yunho loved his boyfriend all cuddly and cute like this, maybe even more than when he was being the alluring vixen writhing underneath him not too long ago.Jaejoong smiled sleepily when Yunho started to rain his face with small kisses until their lips were finally locked in a proper kiss which had them breathless all too fast.
"Do you mind?" Yunho smirked when he pulled back and saw his boyfriend blushing. "That I kidnapped you?"
Jaejoong immediately shook his head in response before leaning in to press a clumsy peck onto Yunho's lips. "Let's sleep~"
Humming in agreement, Yunho reached out to shut the bedside lamps before both of his arms were back around Jaejoong. The couple briefly adjusted their position on the bed, the steady heartbeat and even breathing of the other lulling them to sleep gently, carefully.
##
When Jaejoong and Yunho walked out of the house, Jaejoong was surprised to see two bodyguards waiting for them by the car already.
"They are back on duty." Yunho said as they got into the car together. "They would've just made you even more nervous during your first days of working so I dismissed them. They can be quite intimidating."
Jaejoong agreed wholeheartedly, clearly remembering how uneasy he had felt the first time he got to meet them. They were not really scary, just really, really intimidating.
"I've wanted to ask you something." The CEO spoke, not waiting for his boyfriend's permission he continued. "What exactly happened in the lobby yesterday? And don't lie to me again."
Jaejoong's cheeks turned red within the span of a heartbeat. He didn't think that Yunho would actually see right through his small lie.
Yunho chuckled. "Lying is not your forte, puppy."
Naturally, Jaejoong hesitated and that was exactly the reaction Yunho had expected. When he walked into the lobby yesterday and spotted one of the women who have been saying spiteful things about his boyfriend on the banquet standing not far away from Jaejoong, he caught on real fast. She must've bothered him once again if his boyfriend's uneasy expression was anything to go by.
"I've been called...some names."
He knew it.
The CEO's expression darkened in anger. Who did she think she was to insult his boyfriend like this? And whatever she had said, it must've been highly hurtful. He could remember the way Jaejoong's gaze had been cast downwards, his teeth digging into his bottom lip as his body tried to compensate the pain inside through physical pain. The pride Yunho had seen in his boyfriend's eyes hours before the incident had been clouded by insecurities and uncertainty.
"What names?" Yunho forced himself to ask through gritted teeth.
Jaejoong knew why Yunho was asking and although one part of him wanted to tell him everything, allowing for Yunho to protect and defend him...another part of him refused to depend on Yunho's protection too much. This was not Yunho's battle to fight. Remembering how he had allowed for her words to hurt him to the extent of driving him away from Yunho that night and making him hide behind his colleagues yesterday, Jaejoong felt ashamed of himself.
By showing her how much she had affected him with her words,he had only made her feel stronger.He couldn't expect for anyone else to defend him when not even he himself was capable of doing so.
He had much time to think about the happenings from the day before and the more he remembered, the more he wished he would've been more courageous. But he was getting there, bit by bit.
"It's not important, Yunho."
"It is important, Jaejoongie. It will always be important to me when someone hurts you." The tall chaebol replied.
Jaejoong smiled before leaning in to kiss his boyfriend's lips, glad to feel him relaxing when he caught Yunho's right hand in his left one.
"I know." Jaejoong whispered. "I know that you are worried about me, but please let me try to settle this on my own."
Yunho was more than unwilling to let go of things, wanting to show everyone just what awaited them if they shall proceed to bother his lover. But he agreed with a simple nod nevertheless.
Because the reasonable side of him knew that it could only do Jaejoong good to handle these things on his own in order to earn everyone's respect. Dating the CEO openly has put Jaejoong into a very difficult position, especially because he was new in the company. Some people were going to envy him, maybe accusing him of being treated better than them just because he was the CEO's lover. And if Yunho shall get himself involved in fights between Jaejoong and another employee, he would probably do his boyfriend more damage than good.
If Jaejoong shall not be able to prove himself worthy of their respect as an individual person, he was never going to be more than the CEO's lover.
"But remember, Kim Jaejoong. No other name beside 'puppy' will ever be a legit description of you." Yunho grinned.
Jaejoong blushed.
What a cheesy, cheesy man.
##
To see the couple entering the company building together was not that new to the employees anymore although most of them were still curious about who exactly Jaejoong was. He didn't get to interact with people outside of his team much, spending the majority of his time sitting at his desk to solve the tasks assigned to him by Daniel. It was not like he didn't want to get to know more people. He just didn't have the time to at the moment.
"Yoochun called me this morning. He wants us to have lunch with him today, is that okay with you?"
Jaejoong smiled. "Of course."
"I'll come and get you, alright?" The couple halted right in front of the elevators and Yunho automatically wrapped one arm around Jaejoong to pull him closer when they entered one of the metallic boxes.
Jaejoong agreed with a nod and blushed prettily when Yunho leaned in to give him a kiss in front of everyone who managed to squeeze themselves into the same elevator, including Yunho's bodyguards who were doing a good job in forcing a certain distance between the couple and the employees. It was a given that Yunho escorted Jaejoong out of the elevator and refused to leave until he got a proper goodbye kiss from his boyfriend.
Jung Yunho was one persistent man.
It took five minutes and several stares from the employees walking past them for Yunho let Jaejoong leave for work.
However, the shy smile on Jaejoong's lips never subsided even after he was greeted by the knowing grins of his colleagues as he sat down at his desk. They obviously belonged to the group of people who have walked past him and Yunho earlier. Daniel's mood - albeit still a little foul because of his current situation - was better than yesterday and caused him to participate in the teasing all too gladly.
But it didn't take long for someone to ruin the mood by storming towards them in rage.
"Daniel Henney." Minjune called out as she approached her ex-fiancé. "Who do you think you are to spread lies and defame me like this?"
All eyes were immediately on Daniel and Jaejoong was surprised to see him smirking at her, obviously not the least bit intimidated. "Defame you? You don't need me for that."
The piercing sound of skin hitting skin echoed through the whole office before Daniel's chuckling could be heard.
"Go ahead and slap me again if that makes you happy. But it won't change the truth."
This was surely not the reaction she had expected when she decided to confront him in front of everyone in order to humiliate him. She was not used to this side of her ex-fiancè.
When the two of them dated, he had been nothing but courteous, always out to make her happy. When she threw a tantrum, he endured all of it with a smile and tried to calm her down the gentlest way possible. He never got mad at her and to see him treating her with such arrogance scared her.
"Now leave." Daniel spat. "You are disturbing everyone."
He turned around and was about to walk away when she called out his name once more.
"Listen to me, Daniel. This is not the end."
Daniel said nothing. The only sound coming from him being a sigh as he walked into his office without paying attention to the woman who was staring at him with hatred burning in her eyes.
Not really knowing what else to do, everyone except Gong Yoo went right back to work and ignored Minjune as Gong Yoo dragged her away despite her loud protests. Everyone could hear the two of them arguing for quite a while before Minjune seemingly decided to leave.
"I told him it was a bad idea." Gong Yoo sighed.
"W-What do you mean, hyung?" Jaejoong stuttered, not used to see Gong Yoo this distressed.
The older male smiled weakly. "After a few drinks yesterday, Daniel decided to fight fire with fire and apparently called several people to tell them about our suspicion once I was not there to hold him back."
"Well she also spread rumors about him in the past." Sunny uttered. "So why can't he spread the truth about her?"
"That's exactly the problem. We can't prove that it's the truth." The sunbae replied. "And judging by her reaction, she won't let this slide. Although I hate to admit it...she is right. What he did is defamation and I'm fearing the worst."
Jaejoong looked around to see his colleagues lower their gazes dejectedly. Everyone knew what Minjune was capable of and although she did not manage to get rid of Daniel in the past, this time around she had a very good reason to have him fired.Jaejoong wanted to help, but how? He could not even ask his own boyfriend for help without evidences to frame Kim Minjune.
It was frustrating that neither of them could really do something useful to help.
Only a few minutes passed before Daniel walked out of his office with a glum expression, only halting when he was standing in front his team. He wanted to say something, all of them could tell. But after trying his best in giving each of them a smile which was supposed to make them feel more at least, he walked away with Gong Yoo chasing after him.
The rest of the team could do nothing but look at each other in confusion.Only a few minutes ago their supervisor seemed to be rather fine and now his mood seemed to have reached down.
"Hyung." Dennis called out once Gong Yoo was back and was more than panicked when he saw the utter worry in the sunbae's eyes. "What's wrong?"
Gong Yoo sighed. "Minjune officially filed a complaint against Daniel. Because of defamation."
Things just couldn't get worse.
Jaejoong knew Daniel for only three days, yet he felt great sorrow upon learning of the other's difficult situation and he couldn't imagine how hard it was for the others and Daniel himself.
##
It was lunch time when Daniel returned.
With Yunho following him.
Jaejoong was confused as of how to act when his boyfriend looked so stern as he told Daniel to get back into his office. Yunho looked highly upset, only responding to the employees' greeting with a small nod and not sparing Jaejoong a glance until the web designer decided to approach his lover timidly.
"Yunho..."
"Go downstairs and wait for me in the lobby, Jaejoong." Yunho said. "The bodyguards will wait for you there. I have something to discuss with the rest of your team."
Jaejoong's eyes automatically fell on the rest of the team, each of the members giving him an encouraging smile along with a nod. But it was not until he saw another nod of assurance from Gong Yoo that he finally left.
He did not notice Yunho sending him a glance much like a soft apology.
##
Not having the slightest idea why he was the only one to be sent away made Jaejoong feel uneasy and he was so busy imagining what the discussion Yunho talked about could be about that he didn't even notice who was already inside the elevator he got in.
"Being in the same elevator as Jung Yunho's whore, what an honor." Ara scoffed.
By the time Jaejoong realized what was happening, it was already too late to get out of the elevator and he pressed the button for the first floor with a soft sigh which remained unheard by Ara and her friend thanks to the elevator music which provided him at least a small cover. He didn't look at the women standing behind him directly, but he could see their reflection in the wall in front of him and cursed his luck as he recognized the other woman as Ara's companion on the banquet.
Out of all the people working in the company, he had to be stuck in a metallic cell with the two women who were obviously out to hurt his feelings for what reasons ever.
"It was nice of him to cover for you yesterday." Ara's friend said. "Deceiving little bitch probably thought you'd be thankful and leave him be."
It was beyond Jaejoong how someone could say all these cruel things to him although he has done absolutely nothing to them. He never once interacted with them so what could he have done so wrong for these two women to hate him so much?
More hurtful words were said and while the two friends were visibly amused by what they were doing, Jaejoong's heart started to ache more and more with every insult they threw his way. Neither of them intended to stop, not even when a few more colleagues got into the same elevator stared at them.
But that was all those people did. Stare.
No one ever said anything to defend him, but Jaejoong couldn't be mad at them, repeatedly reminding himself that he couldn't expect for anyone else to defend him when not even he himself was able to do so.
To finally reach the first floor made it so much easier for Jaejoong to calm down as he stormed out of the elevator and walked towards where the two bodyguards stood, approaching him once they spotted him.
"Yah, where do you think you are going?" Jaejoong could hear the women yell at him before he was yanked backwards by his hair. "We are not done with you yet!"
Jaejoong barely had time to shake her off when the bodyguards rushed towards him, one pushing his assaulter away while the other was placing himself in front of him protectively, making sure that no one would ever dare to step closer to Jaejoong without feeling the consequences.
"Touch him again if you dare, but things won't end well when you do." The slightly bigger bodyguard warned. "Your title means nothing here, Ms. Kwon."
"Who do you think you are to talk to me like this, Eric Mun? You are nothing."
"Boa!" Ara hissed under her breath, not willing to put up with these two men.
Boa glared at her friend angrily. "What? Are you being a coward now?"
"Let's not make a bigger deal out of this."
"Listen to your friend, Ms. Kwon." The second bodyguard spoke.
Boa was obviously not willing to leave, but Ara managed to overpower her and dragged her out of the company building far away from Jaejoong and the two bodyguards who did not turn around to look at Jaejoong until they saw Boa and Ara leave in a taxi, wanting to make sure that they would not come back to cause more trouble.
"Are you alright, Jaejoong ssi?" Eric asked as he approached him.
Jaejoong nodded, his right hand still busy massaging the sore spot of his scalp. "Thank you for helping, Eric ssi and..."
"My name is Park Junjin." The bodyguard standing in front of Jaejoong said when he saw the younger male looking at him questioningly.
Jaejoong smiled. "Thank you,Junjin ssi."
"Our job is to protect you, there is nothing to thank us for." Eric and Junjin replied before the later excused himself.
Seeing how confused Jaejoong looked, Eric swiftly explained Junjin's absence to him. "He is getting the car."
A small nod of understanding was given to the bodyguard before Jaejoong gasped as having remembered something important and then looked at Eric almost pleadingly. "Could you please not tell Yunho about what happened?"
"But Jaejoong ssi-"
"Please. I don't want him to get more worried than he is already."
Eric relented hesitantly.
When they could see the familiar car belonging to Yunho parking in front of the company building, Eric gently motioned for Jaejoong to walk out with him before they got into the car together and waited for Yunho.
Jaejoong was about to ask Junjin for the same favor he had asked of Eric earlier when Eric suddenly got out of the car and walked back into the building, returning with Yunho right beside him.The CEO looked less upset now, but the stern expression remained even as he got in and sat down next to his boyfriend.
"Yunho-"
"Could you do something for me, puppy?" Yunho's gaze was now gentle, nothing of the strictness from before left anymore.
"What would that be?"
Yunho sighed as he inched closer to get a hold of Jaejoong's hands, caressing the soft skin with his thumbs. "Listen to me. No matter what happens, stay out of what is currently happening to Mr. Henney."
Jaejoong shook his head in disbelief. "Yunho,I can't. I need to help hi-"
"No, Jaejoongie. No." Despite the strict order, Yunho still managed to keep his temper in check as he spoke to his boyfriend as gentle as possible despite his inner yearning to be a little rougher to make Jaejoong understand.
But he would never ever raise his voice against his Jaejoong, never. "Please just stay out of it. Please...trust me in this."
Jaejoong lowered his gaze in agony. He wanted to help Daniel, but he also believed that his boyfriend wouldn't ask for him to do something like this without a good reason.And if Yunho asked for him to trust him, then the answer could only be a definite yes.
"Alright." Jaejoong nodded. "I will."
Yunho looked relieved to say the least,a carefree smile finally finding its way back onto his lips as he leaned in to give his boyfriend a loving kiss. "Thank you."