[Fic] All That I Am - 1/12
Title: All That I Am
Author: Coley Merrin
Rating: R
Pairing: Zhou Mi/Kyuhyun
Genre: AU, Romance
Summary: To find a date that Kyuhyun can stomach is impossible - unless they hire one to pretend. But not even the perfect companion can stop years worth of threats, or keep their acting from becoming all too real.
***
Chapter One * Chapter Two
***
It felt different, that was his first reaction.
Would he have noticed, a month before, two months before? The house had been a stranger to him. Now, he knew that his home felt off.
It was quiet, was what he noticed next. Usually there was some quiet elevator music being piped around, or the quiet echo of a sound from the kitchen. He heard nothing. No television, no talking. Nothing. His house was never empty, and it was never quiet. He ordered it that way.
He wondered who he had to shout at to make it better, who was responsible for it. Anger rose in him, coating the unease. They’d fix it, and make sure it never happened again, or someone was losing their job. There were no scents of impending dinner. Nothing.
That was when he saw the shoe beyond the couch. One of the sturdy-soled work shoes the housemaids wore.
He leaped forward, though his instinct was to go back. The shoe, and the foot that belonged in it. Still. Prone. Had she fallen?
“Hey!” he almost shouted. Maybe she’d make a sound, or respond, or wake up. He reached for his phone. He’d call for help. There had to be someone who could help.
But he never got the chance to call.
Around him, the house went black.
***
Present Day - Two Months Earlier
***
Cho Kyuhyun was an ass. Any woman of his acquaintance between the age of 20 and 40 probably had that opinion. And it wasn’t as though he was rude to them, and he certainly didn’t hit them. He just didn’t care to date them- for very long. Getting him to commit, to date someone for longer than two months seemed an unbeatable challenge. Of course, if they had compared notes with each other, they probably would’ve discovered that about the time he broke up with each of them, he had either been bored, or they had started talking commitment. Any kind of commitment. “Going steady,” wanting to call themselves his girlfriend, hinting at marriage, or hell, even family. They soon found themselves with a tasteful bouquet of flowers and a nice card that said basically, hey, it’s been fun, thanks, I’m moving on.
So Cho Kyuhyun was an ass. He accepted it, and didn’t give it particular thought as he went about his daily life. Early morning board meetings, conference calls to China, or Europe, or the United States. Being CEO of a shipping corporation required most of his thought during the day. He simply didn’t have time to care.
There was the small part about him being completely not attracted to women, too. He needed a date for an event, so he got a date for an event. And then he didn’t need her any more.
It had worked for him so far, ever since his father had stepped down for his health. But he watched his personal assistant pace in front of his desk as though they were experiencing a serious drop in both share prices and a breakdown in the lunch line.
“You are one of the most eligible bachelors in this city, if not the whole country,” Eeteuk told him. “And Kyuhyun, you have the worst reputation of any of them. Mothers would run away if you approached their daughters with anything less than a ring on the first date.”
“I guess they’ll keep running, then.”
“Kyuhyun. Think about, for just one second, some of the trades you’re involved in. There’s the conference coming up, and there will be parties, and benefits that you’re required to attend or even putting on. Do you even know of someone who’d stick with you through that? Or that you’d want?”
He thought of the society princesses. The pretty ones that were smart or vapid. He couldn’t even imagine spending days on end together, going to parties, or functions, or breakfasts.
He grimaced into his coffee cup. “Can’t we just hire someone to pretend to date me? That’s too much work.”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking!” Eeteuk said with some triumph. “But I wasn’t thinking of just hiring a date, I was thinking of hiring you a man.”
That got Kyuhyun’s attention immediately, and the look he sent should have withered the man in front of him. He’d been half joking, not expecting Eeteuk to agree with him, much less suggest something he knew that Kyuhyun would disagree with. Eeteuk wasn’t the only personal assistant he had had, but he was the most competent to date, so this little uprising actually startled him a little.
“You know I don’t date men.”
“I know. Hear me out, though. It’ll get all those women who do want you off your back, and you’ll have someone to talk to. He’d stay with you at the house, and pretend to be your lover, and it’d do wonders for your reputation. You’re just hiring him for a set amount of time, so there wouldn’t be any danger of dating him for real, right? So you don’t have to worry about falling for him.”
That sent an arrow into him. Worry about falling for someone. Yes, that was exactly it. He didn’t date men, because if he developed feelings for some guy, he’d be tempted to keep someone around. It’d been a good five years since he’d dated a man. They’d parted ways mutually, so it wasn’t like he had some love scar that hardened him to relationships. He just didn’t know, after all this time, what to do with one.
Apparently he’d talked a little too much to Eeteuk during a congratulatory drinking session for one of their big deals.
“So is there a hotline for this kind of thing? Hello, I need a man who’s smart, but not too smart, handsome but not too handsome, and guaranteed not to fall in love with my boss? Or do you just collect numbers of guys you pass on the street in case you can throw them at me?”
Eeteuk dropped the folders he was holding into Kyuhyun’s inbox, smiling a dimpled smile that should have been reassuring and was instead just plain creepy.
“Leave it to me. I’ll find someone.”
“Maybe there’s a woman who could do the same thing?” Kyuhyun ventured.
“You have a free slot at 3:30 this afternoon. I’ll bring a candidate in then,” Eeteuk said, waving.
Kyuhyun’s coffee cup hit his desk harder than he intended. “You’ve already found someone? You realize I can fire you?”
“Not until you sign off on those reports. Buzz if you need me.”
And with a wave, Eeteuk closed the door behind him. What man would possibly hire himself out to pose as some CEO’s boyfriend? Sure, there’d be money in it. He lived in some luxury, so there would be perks. But who did that kind of thing? He supposed it was like a glorified personal assistant role, if he thought about it that way. Just with having to pretend that Kyuhyun was hot stuff. And, well. He was what he was. He tried to work out, but the hours didn’t always allow it. He tried to make sure to eat, or Eeteuk would nag at him. The man was built for nagging. He considered for a moment just pretending to date Eeteuk, but he had to hide his face at the thought of it. Eeteuk was his right hand, but he could pretend to date him as well as he could pretend to fly. Besides, all they’d have to talk about was business stuff anyway. Scintillating as it was.
There was some part of himself that was intrigued by the idea. Having someone to call on during the next month and a half to go to events with Kyuhyun would take a big load off of Eeteuk’s shoulders. Someone there at all times who was guaranteed to pretend that Kyuhyun sounded interesting, without Kyuhyun actually having to make an effort to entertain them. The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced that they should’ve tried it years ago. And appearing to date someone for any length of time would definitely raise his reputation, and reduce his stress at the same time. Maybe he wasn’t an ass, maybe he was just looking for the right person. Even if he was paying someone to be the right person. All Eeteuk had to do was find that needle in a haystack that would suit him.
He tapped his pen hard on the table and laughed to himself. That was definitely why he kept Eeteuk around.
***
Kyuhyun had a dull ache in his right temple as lunch came and went, stuffing plain rice in his mouth with some tea when he thought to, while the rest of his food sat cold. Too much time on the phone meant he hadn’t exactly had time to feed himself. He did find his candy stash, however. It was something he could shovel into his mouth with the hand he wasn’t using to write, and Eeteuk kept it well stocked. His head looked like a dark chocolate covered almond by now, but at least it kept him upright and conscious.
“Your interview is here,” Eeteuk purred through the intercom.
He stared at the clock and its mocking black arms. 3:30. On the dot. He slammed his forehead lightly on his desk, reaching back to get his suit jacket.
“Come on in,” he said, smoothing the jacket down. There wasn’t any excuse for him not to be neat. It was a bit of an interview on his end, too.
Eeteuk came in first, ushering a man in behind him. Neat suit, well-cut hair.
Eeteuk was fairly beaming. “Kyuhyun! This is the man I wanted you to meet. Kyuhyun, this is Zhou Mi. He’s been working as a personal assistant in both China and Korea. He speaks very good Korean. The agency he works for has him coming highly recommended. No, he’s never posed as anyone’s significant other, but I think he’ll do fine!”
Both he and the man stared at Eeteuk through that chirpy listing of accomplishments. Chinese, then, he thought. That didn’t matter to him. He had soft hands, wore a ring. Had an air of sophistication even if his clothes weren’t expensive. There was only really one way he knew of how to gauge what someone was made of.
And he had a nice face, with its polite smile. Arresting, certainly, though he didn’t know what to make of it beyond that. Kyuhyun stared at him, a calculating assessment. “Your nose is too big.”
Zhou Mi blinked. “I think- If my nose were any smaller, I would look like a freak of nature.”
“And that’s different, how?”
Strangely, Kyuhyun liked what happened next, the way the man angled out his chin, as though daring Kyuhyun to take another shot. Eyes cooler, and smile definitely gone.
“Your rudeness is too big. Sir.”
Kyuhyun’s lips curved. “It’s been known to be. Cho Kyuhyun,” he said, putting out his hand.
“Zhou Mi,” the man replied, and gave his hand a solid shake. A good handshake was one of those things he had come to learn to judge. Some people did it slyly, calculating grip and speed. Zhou Mi simply reached out and took his hand as though it was the most natural thing in the world.
Handsome but not too handsome. Smart, but not too smart. Put together. Kyuhyun didn’t need to be attracted for it to work, but his eyes didn’t have to fall out of his head either.
“Why would you go from being a personal assistant to fake boyfriend?” he asked.
Zhou Mi looked to Eeteuk, mouth barely opening before Kyuhyun cut him off.
“I see. Either Eeteuk won’t let you say no, or he’s offered you a king’s ransom that you’d be an idiot to refuse. It doesn’t matter to me.” A chime on his computer sounded, letting him know that a meeting was starting imminently. Eeteuk heard it as well.
“Why don’t you take tonight to think about it, Kyuhyun? Zhou Mi, maybe you can come back tomorrow? I’ll make sure of when Kyuhyun has some time free.”
“Of course,” Zhou Mi said, smile returning a little bit as he glanced between them. “It was nice to meet you, Mr. Cho.”
“Yeah.”
He’d have had to lie if he denied checking the man out as he went out the door ahead of Eeteuk. Eeteuk shook a fist at him, likely for what had been said. It didn’t matter. Eeteuk could talk a circle into a square with most people, so by the time Zhou Mi left the building, he’d be thinking Kyuhyun floated on rainbows or something.
He shoved his headset on his head, and put the whole of it out of his head. There were more important things to think about.
***
Eeteuk slipped in between meetings, grinning big enough to make even Kyuhyun’s face hurt.
“So? What’d you think?”
“The meeting went well. I think we made a…”
“No!” Eeteuk scolded. “About Zhou Mi.”
“I haven’t had five seconds to even think about that.” Well. Barely at least. “I have a suspicion that you don’t have any others, and he was your big reveal. So it’s either I like him or I don’t, right?”
Eeteuk didn’t really answer him, as per usual. “Are you attracted to him at least?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, if you’re going to try and present an image where you are lovers, you can’t walk around together like opposing magnets. And the first thing you do is insult his appearance!”
Kyuhyun grunted.
“Look, if you can’t make this work, we’ll find someone else.”
“You found this one because he had the qualifications. This isn’t some kind of meat market, and I’m not trying to find the prettiest toy in the box. I don’t have to want him in order to be able to pretend. He’s attractive enough, and people won’t fault my taste.”
“And you’ll be able to pretend well enough?”
“I guess we’ll see.”
“Kyuhyun. If you can’t even kiss him, then you’re going to seem off. You can’t just say “Oh, I like him,” and have people cooing at your dedication.”
Kissing. Him. “We’ll deal with physical contact when we have to, okay? If we have to. Stoic and restrained, that’s all.”
“You?” Eeteuk saw the look Kyuhyun was giving him, and it made its impression. “I’ll just leave Zhou Mi’s resume for you. He’ll come in tomorrow afternoon for us to go over what’s necessary, all right?”
“Great,” he grunted, and shoved another almond in his mouth. He had ship reports up to his eyeballs. He spared a glance at the picture of Zhou Mi attached to the resume, and set it aside.
***
Zhou Mi. Kyuhyun was prepared for him the next day, having glanced over the resume. He’d gone to a good school, majored in business and Korean, which explained the fluency. Several jobs with some prestigious companies, before moving to Korea and joining what he could only describe as a talent agency, which farmed workers out to the highest bidders for what they needed. It was a good way to make money quickly, if that was what someone was seeking. And in the economy they had, who wasn’t? Maybe desperate enough that taking a job like the one Eeteuk was proposing seemed like a career highlight.
Kyuhyun didn’t waste time, when Zhou Mi and Eeteuk filed in. He assumed Eeteuk had covered it already, but there was something that he needed to know.
“Do you date men, normally?” Kyuhyun asked, in lieu of greeting. “I just want to be sure how comfortable you’d be with this.”
Zhou Mi hesitated only a moment, before nodding. “Yes, I do. Though you have my word I would be professional. Though, if we have to present ourselves as dating, then how did we meet?”
“Why complicate things?” Kyuhyun said, giving a one-shoulder shrug. He waved at Eeteuk. “A mutual friend introduced us, hoping to curb my wicked ways and get me out of work. We hit it off, fell in lust, and I became your Sugar Daddy.”
Zhou Mi looked a little bemused by the description but he didn’t look as though he was protesting. “That’s easy enough to remember.”
Kyuhyun sat back in his office chair, musing out loud about the things he thought that needed to be done to Eeteuk. “Call my tailor and schedule an appointment for him. If he’s going to be going to functions with me, he’s going to need appropriate clothes. Get him what he needs. Inspect the clothes he has to see what else is needed, and take care of moving his things into the house. I’ll make sure to instruct the maids on which dresser is his, or have one brought in. There’s plenty of room in the closet.” He turned his eyes to Zhou Mi then. “Let Eeteuk know if you have any special dietary needs, and those will be accommodated. You’re not being hired for sex, or to get involved in my life any further than is necessary. If that works for you, then you and Eeteuk can formalize the agreement.”
“I understand,” Zhou Mi said, all politeness. “Thank you.”
“If that’s all?”
“Yes, Kyuhyun,” Eeteuk said, and he could hear the laughter in his voice. It made him want to roll his eyes. “I’ll be back in with the business council’s reports for your meeting.”
“Thanks.” His manners got the better of him, and he looked back to Zhou Mi. “Nice meeting you again.”
It was nice to take people off guard sometimes, and he knew he’d done that when he saw Zhou Mi’s mouth drop open just a little. And again, the quick, mobile smile. “It was nice to meet you again as well.”
Articulate, punctual, intelligent. Certainly tall. Clothes, even cheaper ones like he wore, looked good on him. Long fingers, thighs. Even the smile was engaging, natural, and real. None of the falseness men put on sometimes to impress others. No fawning over Kyuhyun, or compliments. All of those added up to a package that was attractive, from a business perspective. No one could fault his taste, and Zhou Mi had taken his insults with some amount of grace, but with the steel of pride beneath it. He liked that, too. He didn’t want a patsy, he wanted someone who could think for himself, and not depend on Kyuhyun for every little decision. And assuming the man didn’t have curiosity to go with that nose, he’d be well worth whatever Eeteuk had negotiated to pay him. He made a mental note to remember to give Eeteuk a bonus if it all worked out.
***
Zhou Mi had been cautiously optimistic that the job would be his. It was, yes, lucrative. And he had gone home with a head full of thoughts. Kyuhyun’s reaction to him, his sharp words and critique on Zhou Mi’s appearance had been easily set aside. It had been plainly obvious that they were both defensive and testing. Testing to see how he would react, Kyuhyun trying to find his boundaries in an unfamiliar situation. No, maybe he wouldn’t do it exactly that way with a customer, but if there was one thing that Zhou Mi understood, it was that Cho Kyuhyun was a smart man. But customers did not pretend to date him, and it was easier to be impartial about money than with even an imaginary relationship. Eeteuk had tried a song and dance to try and explain away Kyuhyun’s rudeness, but Zhou Mi had stopped him. He did understand. Kyuhyun wasn’t the first man he had met who threw up walls to see how the people around him would fare bouncing off of them.
Not maliciously, and that was the key. Some men did it because it amused them, like a child torturing a fly. Kyuhyun had merely calculated and moved on. That was why he had come back, or at least why he had not been persuaded otherwise. He didn’t think that Kyuhyun would be pleased to know that his testing was quite that obvious.
And then the second meeting, Kyuhyun had looked him over, assessed what needed to be done, and dismissed him. He’d been accepted as well, it seemed. Maybe it had been his reaction of the day before, or Kyuhyun was just that desperate, he didn’t know. He suspected by the time the assignment was over, he would know better.
“What are your impressions of him?” Eeteuk asked, offering Zhou Mi a chair in his little office.
“Smart, driven. Tired.”
Eeteuk nodded. “Yeah, good eye. He hasn’t been sleeping well lately, or sleeping often enough.”
It was obvious in the drawn, gaunt sate of Kyuhyun’s face. It was still a strong face, but desperately in need of a nap. Eeteuk had told him of Kyuhyun’s trouble with women, never keeping any around, pushing them away. People thought, apparently, quite a lot of things about Kyuhyun. Serial dater, married to his work, cold. A man, in essence, not to be trusted. It affected Kyuhyun’s reputation with the men he worked with. Zhou Mi winced, thinking that Kyuhyun might have dated their daughters and dropped them just as fast. It was just another way that Kyuhyun put up that wall. Push people away. Only in that case, Kyuhyun was pushing away too hard, too desperate to keep all distance. If it had been years since Kyuhyun had even let himself date a man, despite that being his preference? There was more there. More Zhou Mi didn’t have to know to do his job, but it made him think about it, despite himself.
Eeteuk laid out papers on his desk, getting a pen and sobering. “You’re being hired to pose as his boyfriend and lover. But when I found you, I was most impressed by your skill with weapons, and self defense. He isn’t just some guy off the street. He’s had threats before, though none of them physical thank goodness. But it can’t hurt for you to have your eyes open. I don’t just mean for him. As his companion, and posing as the closest companion he’s had since entering the public eye…?”
“I could be a target for threats or kidnapping. I understand that.”
“He’d never allow you beside him if he thought for even a second that you were watching for his safety.” Eeteuk sat square and looked straight at him, and for a moment Zhou Mi felt like he was getting a lecture from his dad. “I can’t put bullet points in your contract like, make him sleep more, and help him eat more, and make him laugh more. He has me to nag, so he doesn’t need another mom. He just needs someone to make him want to. I can’t make you do that, or make you care about him as a person. I don’t question that you’ll hold up your end of the job quite well. Just… If you can, think of him.”
Was it possible to stand beside someone and smile and pretend that they were important to you, and not think of them? Zhou Mi wondered. Noticing that a drink needed refreshing, or that a conversation was lagging. There were just things that happened naturally, as any kind of companion.
“I’ll do my best for him,” Zhou Mi said. It was an honest answer, and also the one that he knew Eeteuk wanted to hear. He knew what Eeteuk was saying, though. Those things, he couldn’t add into the contract, because some things couldn’t be forced. But calling on Zhou Mi as a person, that was a smart move. “I’ll start getting my things ready to move in. We’ll be sharing a room?”
Eeteuk laughed. “His bed is as big as my entire bedroom, I think. If you see each other in the mornings, I’d be surprised. I’ll work out when is the best time for you to move in, and let you know. I really want to thank you. I didn’t know if finding someone was possible. So I hope it works out okay for you both.”
“Thank you for thinking I was qualified,” Zhou Mi said, smiling back at Eeteuk.
He signed the papers, and walked away with the first of his paychecks. It was more of a downpayment, a guarantee. Much of the money went to the agency, but what was left over, it was more than he made in half a year in China. Anyone would do a good job, for that amount of money. It would buy all forms of discretion. But he was a human being, too. He saw the shadows under Kyuhyun’s eyes. It was a job, and it was something else, too. A babysitter didn’t have to love to look out for the welfare of the children in her care, but she did have to care. And he did care.
Where they told him to go, he went, and what they told him to do, he did. In his temporary apartment, he flipped through the file in his hands, several pictures of Kyuhyun, in his home, his car, office. If there was someone out there who wanted Cho Kyuhyun out of power, or injured, or worse, then keeping him safe was certainly a priority. But he knew what his bosses had said, and what Eeteuk had hinted at. There was more beneath the surface than even he knew. But he suspected that when the time was right, he would learn what he needed to know. No, he wasn’t being paid to guard Kyuhyun. But he couldn’t deny that his experience and cautious eye were part of why he had been suggested for the job. He wasn’t some glorified boyfriend machine, indulging some rich heir. But it intrigued him, anyway. The young prince who had taken over his father’s empire and seemed to be heading down the path of working himself to an early grave. There was only one picture of Kyuhyun smiling in the file, and he couldn’t see at who. It put that face in a while new light. At least… He laughed at himself. At least there would be something pleasant to look at. He let the file fall shut, and turned back to the gun he had been cleaning. Where he went, it would go with him.
***
Author: Coley Merrin
Rating: R
Pairing: Zhou Mi/Kyuhyun
Genre: AU, Romance
Summary: To find a date that Kyuhyun can stomach is impossible - unless they hire one to pretend. But not even the perfect companion can stop years worth of threats, or keep their acting from becoming all too real.
***
Chapter One * Chapter Two
***
It felt different, that was his first reaction.
Would he have noticed, a month before, two months before? The house had been a stranger to him. Now, he knew that his home felt off.
It was quiet, was what he noticed next. Usually there was some quiet elevator music being piped around, or the quiet echo of a sound from the kitchen. He heard nothing. No television, no talking. Nothing. His house was never empty, and it was never quiet. He ordered it that way.
He wondered who he had to shout at to make it better, who was responsible for it. Anger rose in him, coating the unease. They’d fix it, and make sure it never happened again, or someone was losing their job. There were no scents of impending dinner. Nothing.
That was when he saw the shoe beyond the couch. One of the sturdy-soled work shoes the housemaids wore.
He leaped forward, though his instinct was to go back. The shoe, and the foot that belonged in it. Still. Prone. Had she fallen?
“Hey!” he almost shouted. Maybe she’d make a sound, or respond, or wake up. He reached for his phone. He’d call for help. There had to be someone who could help.
But he never got the chance to call.
Around him, the house went black.
***
Present Day - Two Months Earlier
***
Cho Kyuhyun was an ass. Any woman of his acquaintance between the age of 20 and 40 probably had that opinion. And it wasn’t as though he was rude to them, and he certainly didn’t hit them. He just didn’t care to date them- for very long. Getting him to commit, to date someone for longer than two months seemed an unbeatable challenge. Of course, if they had compared notes with each other, they probably would’ve discovered that about the time he broke up with each of them, he had either been bored, or they had started talking commitment. Any kind of commitment. “Going steady,” wanting to call themselves his girlfriend, hinting at marriage, or hell, even family. They soon found themselves with a tasteful bouquet of flowers and a nice card that said basically, hey, it’s been fun, thanks, I’m moving on.
So Cho Kyuhyun was an ass. He accepted it, and didn’t give it particular thought as he went about his daily life. Early morning board meetings, conference calls to China, or Europe, or the United States. Being CEO of a shipping corporation required most of his thought during the day. He simply didn’t have time to care.
There was the small part about him being completely not attracted to women, too. He needed a date for an event, so he got a date for an event. And then he didn’t need her any more.
It had worked for him so far, ever since his father had stepped down for his health. But he watched his personal assistant pace in front of his desk as though they were experiencing a serious drop in both share prices and a breakdown in the lunch line.
“You are one of the most eligible bachelors in this city, if not the whole country,” Eeteuk told him. “And Kyuhyun, you have the worst reputation of any of them. Mothers would run away if you approached their daughters with anything less than a ring on the first date.”
“I guess they’ll keep running, then.”
“Kyuhyun. Think about, for just one second, some of the trades you’re involved in. There’s the conference coming up, and there will be parties, and benefits that you’re required to attend or even putting on. Do you even know of someone who’d stick with you through that? Or that you’d want?”
He thought of the society princesses. The pretty ones that were smart or vapid. He couldn’t even imagine spending days on end together, going to parties, or functions, or breakfasts.
He grimaced into his coffee cup. “Can’t we just hire someone to pretend to date me? That’s too much work.”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking!” Eeteuk said with some triumph. “But I wasn’t thinking of just hiring a date, I was thinking of hiring you a man.”
That got Kyuhyun’s attention immediately, and the look he sent should have withered the man in front of him. He’d been half joking, not expecting Eeteuk to agree with him, much less suggest something he knew that Kyuhyun would disagree with. Eeteuk wasn’t the only personal assistant he had had, but he was the most competent to date, so this little uprising actually startled him a little.
“You know I don’t date men.”
“I know. Hear me out, though. It’ll get all those women who do want you off your back, and you’ll have someone to talk to. He’d stay with you at the house, and pretend to be your lover, and it’d do wonders for your reputation. You’re just hiring him for a set amount of time, so there wouldn’t be any danger of dating him for real, right? So you don’t have to worry about falling for him.”
That sent an arrow into him. Worry about falling for someone. Yes, that was exactly it. He didn’t date men, because if he developed feelings for some guy, he’d be tempted to keep someone around. It’d been a good five years since he’d dated a man. They’d parted ways mutually, so it wasn’t like he had some love scar that hardened him to relationships. He just didn’t know, after all this time, what to do with one.
Apparently he’d talked a little too much to Eeteuk during a congratulatory drinking session for one of their big deals.
“So is there a hotline for this kind of thing? Hello, I need a man who’s smart, but not too smart, handsome but not too handsome, and guaranteed not to fall in love with my boss? Or do you just collect numbers of guys you pass on the street in case you can throw them at me?”
Eeteuk dropped the folders he was holding into Kyuhyun’s inbox, smiling a dimpled smile that should have been reassuring and was instead just plain creepy.
“Leave it to me. I’ll find someone.”
“Maybe there’s a woman who could do the same thing?” Kyuhyun ventured.
“You have a free slot at 3:30 this afternoon. I’ll bring a candidate in then,” Eeteuk said, waving.
Kyuhyun’s coffee cup hit his desk harder than he intended. “You’ve already found someone? You realize I can fire you?”
“Not until you sign off on those reports. Buzz if you need me.”
And with a wave, Eeteuk closed the door behind him. What man would possibly hire himself out to pose as some CEO’s boyfriend? Sure, there’d be money in it. He lived in some luxury, so there would be perks. But who did that kind of thing? He supposed it was like a glorified personal assistant role, if he thought about it that way. Just with having to pretend that Kyuhyun was hot stuff. And, well. He was what he was. He tried to work out, but the hours didn’t always allow it. He tried to make sure to eat, or Eeteuk would nag at him. The man was built for nagging. He considered for a moment just pretending to date Eeteuk, but he had to hide his face at the thought of it. Eeteuk was his right hand, but he could pretend to date him as well as he could pretend to fly. Besides, all they’d have to talk about was business stuff anyway. Scintillating as it was.
There was some part of himself that was intrigued by the idea. Having someone to call on during the next month and a half to go to events with Kyuhyun would take a big load off of Eeteuk’s shoulders. Someone there at all times who was guaranteed to pretend that Kyuhyun sounded interesting, without Kyuhyun actually having to make an effort to entertain them. The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced that they should’ve tried it years ago. And appearing to date someone for any length of time would definitely raise his reputation, and reduce his stress at the same time. Maybe he wasn’t an ass, maybe he was just looking for the right person. Even if he was paying someone to be the right person. All Eeteuk had to do was find that needle in a haystack that would suit him.
He tapped his pen hard on the table and laughed to himself. That was definitely why he kept Eeteuk around.
***
Kyuhyun had a dull ache in his right temple as lunch came and went, stuffing plain rice in his mouth with some tea when he thought to, while the rest of his food sat cold. Too much time on the phone meant he hadn’t exactly had time to feed himself. He did find his candy stash, however. It was something he could shovel into his mouth with the hand he wasn’t using to write, and Eeteuk kept it well stocked. His head looked like a dark chocolate covered almond by now, but at least it kept him upright and conscious.
“Your interview is here,” Eeteuk purred through the intercom.
He stared at the clock and its mocking black arms. 3:30. On the dot. He slammed his forehead lightly on his desk, reaching back to get his suit jacket.
“Come on in,” he said, smoothing the jacket down. There wasn’t any excuse for him not to be neat. It was a bit of an interview on his end, too.
Eeteuk came in first, ushering a man in behind him. Neat suit, well-cut hair.
Eeteuk was fairly beaming. “Kyuhyun! This is the man I wanted you to meet. Kyuhyun, this is Zhou Mi. He’s been working as a personal assistant in both China and Korea. He speaks very good Korean. The agency he works for has him coming highly recommended. No, he’s never posed as anyone’s significant other, but I think he’ll do fine!”
Both he and the man stared at Eeteuk through that chirpy listing of accomplishments. Chinese, then, he thought. That didn’t matter to him. He had soft hands, wore a ring. Had an air of sophistication even if his clothes weren’t expensive. There was only really one way he knew of how to gauge what someone was made of.
And he had a nice face, with its polite smile. Arresting, certainly, though he didn’t know what to make of it beyond that. Kyuhyun stared at him, a calculating assessment. “Your nose is too big.”
Zhou Mi blinked. “I think- If my nose were any smaller, I would look like a freak of nature.”
“And that’s different, how?”
Strangely, Kyuhyun liked what happened next, the way the man angled out his chin, as though daring Kyuhyun to take another shot. Eyes cooler, and smile definitely gone.
“Your rudeness is too big. Sir.”
Kyuhyun’s lips curved. “It’s been known to be. Cho Kyuhyun,” he said, putting out his hand.
“Zhou Mi,” the man replied, and gave his hand a solid shake. A good handshake was one of those things he had come to learn to judge. Some people did it slyly, calculating grip and speed. Zhou Mi simply reached out and took his hand as though it was the most natural thing in the world.
Handsome but not too handsome. Smart, but not too smart. Put together. Kyuhyun didn’t need to be attracted for it to work, but his eyes didn’t have to fall out of his head either.
“Why would you go from being a personal assistant to fake boyfriend?” he asked.
Zhou Mi looked to Eeteuk, mouth barely opening before Kyuhyun cut him off.
“I see. Either Eeteuk won’t let you say no, or he’s offered you a king’s ransom that you’d be an idiot to refuse. It doesn’t matter to me.” A chime on his computer sounded, letting him know that a meeting was starting imminently. Eeteuk heard it as well.
“Why don’t you take tonight to think about it, Kyuhyun? Zhou Mi, maybe you can come back tomorrow? I’ll make sure of when Kyuhyun has some time free.”
“Of course,” Zhou Mi said, smile returning a little bit as he glanced between them. “It was nice to meet you, Mr. Cho.”
“Yeah.”
He’d have had to lie if he denied checking the man out as he went out the door ahead of Eeteuk. Eeteuk shook a fist at him, likely for what had been said. It didn’t matter. Eeteuk could talk a circle into a square with most people, so by the time Zhou Mi left the building, he’d be thinking Kyuhyun floated on rainbows or something.
He shoved his headset on his head, and put the whole of it out of his head. There were more important things to think about.
***
Eeteuk slipped in between meetings, grinning big enough to make even Kyuhyun’s face hurt.
“So? What’d you think?”
“The meeting went well. I think we made a…”
“No!” Eeteuk scolded. “About Zhou Mi.”
“I haven’t had five seconds to even think about that.” Well. Barely at least. “I have a suspicion that you don’t have any others, and he was your big reveal. So it’s either I like him or I don’t, right?”
Eeteuk didn’t really answer him, as per usual. “Are you attracted to him at least?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, if you’re going to try and present an image where you are lovers, you can’t walk around together like opposing magnets. And the first thing you do is insult his appearance!”
Kyuhyun grunted.
“Look, if you can’t make this work, we’ll find someone else.”
“You found this one because he had the qualifications. This isn’t some kind of meat market, and I’m not trying to find the prettiest toy in the box. I don’t have to want him in order to be able to pretend. He’s attractive enough, and people won’t fault my taste.”
“And you’ll be able to pretend well enough?”
“I guess we’ll see.”
“Kyuhyun. If you can’t even kiss him, then you’re going to seem off. You can’t just say “Oh, I like him,” and have people cooing at your dedication.”
Kissing. Him. “We’ll deal with physical contact when we have to, okay? If we have to. Stoic and restrained, that’s all.”
“You?” Eeteuk saw the look Kyuhyun was giving him, and it made its impression. “I’ll just leave Zhou Mi’s resume for you. He’ll come in tomorrow afternoon for us to go over what’s necessary, all right?”
“Great,” he grunted, and shoved another almond in his mouth. He had ship reports up to his eyeballs. He spared a glance at the picture of Zhou Mi attached to the resume, and set it aside.
***
Zhou Mi. Kyuhyun was prepared for him the next day, having glanced over the resume. He’d gone to a good school, majored in business and Korean, which explained the fluency. Several jobs with some prestigious companies, before moving to Korea and joining what he could only describe as a talent agency, which farmed workers out to the highest bidders for what they needed. It was a good way to make money quickly, if that was what someone was seeking. And in the economy they had, who wasn’t? Maybe desperate enough that taking a job like the one Eeteuk was proposing seemed like a career highlight.
Kyuhyun didn’t waste time, when Zhou Mi and Eeteuk filed in. He assumed Eeteuk had covered it already, but there was something that he needed to know.
“Do you date men, normally?” Kyuhyun asked, in lieu of greeting. “I just want to be sure how comfortable you’d be with this.”
Zhou Mi hesitated only a moment, before nodding. “Yes, I do. Though you have my word I would be professional. Though, if we have to present ourselves as dating, then how did we meet?”
“Why complicate things?” Kyuhyun said, giving a one-shoulder shrug. He waved at Eeteuk. “A mutual friend introduced us, hoping to curb my wicked ways and get me out of work. We hit it off, fell in lust, and I became your Sugar Daddy.”
Zhou Mi looked a little bemused by the description but he didn’t look as though he was protesting. “That’s easy enough to remember.”
Kyuhyun sat back in his office chair, musing out loud about the things he thought that needed to be done to Eeteuk. “Call my tailor and schedule an appointment for him. If he’s going to be going to functions with me, he’s going to need appropriate clothes. Get him what he needs. Inspect the clothes he has to see what else is needed, and take care of moving his things into the house. I’ll make sure to instruct the maids on which dresser is his, or have one brought in. There’s plenty of room in the closet.” He turned his eyes to Zhou Mi then. “Let Eeteuk know if you have any special dietary needs, and those will be accommodated. You’re not being hired for sex, or to get involved in my life any further than is necessary. If that works for you, then you and Eeteuk can formalize the agreement.”
“I understand,” Zhou Mi said, all politeness. “Thank you.”
“If that’s all?”
“Yes, Kyuhyun,” Eeteuk said, and he could hear the laughter in his voice. It made him want to roll his eyes. “I’ll be back in with the business council’s reports for your meeting.”
“Thanks.” His manners got the better of him, and he looked back to Zhou Mi. “Nice meeting you again.”
It was nice to take people off guard sometimes, and he knew he’d done that when he saw Zhou Mi’s mouth drop open just a little. And again, the quick, mobile smile. “It was nice to meet you again as well.”
Articulate, punctual, intelligent. Certainly tall. Clothes, even cheaper ones like he wore, looked good on him. Long fingers, thighs. Even the smile was engaging, natural, and real. None of the falseness men put on sometimes to impress others. No fawning over Kyuhyun, or compliments. All of those added up to a package that was attractive, from a business perspective. No one could fault his taste, and Zhou Mi had taken his insults with some amount of grace, but with the steel of pride beneath it. He liked that, too. He didn’t want a patsy, he wanted someone who could think for himself, and not depend on Kyuhyun for every little decision. And assuming the man didn’t have curiosity to go with that nose, he’d be well worth whatever Eeteuk had negotiated to pay him. He made a mental note to remember to give Eeteuk a bonus if it all worked out.
***
Zhou Mi had been cautiously optimistic that the job would be his. It was, yes, lucrative. And he had gone home with a head full of thoughts. Kyuhyun’s reaction to him, his sharp words and critique on Zhou Mi’s appearance had been easily set aside. It had been plainly obvious that they were both defensive and testing. Testing to see how he would react, Kyuhyun trying to find his boundaries in an unfamiliar situation. No, maybe he wouldn’t do it exactly that way with a customer, but if there was one thing that Zhou Mi understood, it was that Cho Kyuhyun was a smart man. But customers did not pretend to date him, and it was easier to be impartial about money than with even an imaginary relationship. Eeteuk had tried a song and dance to try and explain away Kyuhyun’s rudeness, but Zhou Mi had stopped him. He did understand. Kyuhyun wasn’t the first man he had met who threw up walls to see how the people around him would fare bouncing off of them.
Not maliciously, and that was the key. Some men did it because it amused them, like a child torturing a fly. Kyuhyun had merely calculated and moved on. That was why he had come back, or at least why he had not been persuaded otherwise. He didn’t think that Kyuhyun would be pleased to know that his testing was quite that obvious.
And then the second meeting, Kyuhyun had looked him over, assessed what needed to be done, and dismissed him. He’d been accepted as well, it seemed. Maybe it had been his reaction of the day before, or Kyuhyun was just that desperate, he didn’t know. He suspected by the time the assignment was over, he would know better.
“What are your impressions of him?” Eeteuk asked, offering Zhou Mi a chair in his little office.
“Smart, driven. Tired.”
Eeteuk nodded. “Yeah, good eye. He hasn’t been sleeping well lately, or sleeping often enough.”
It was obvious in the drawn, gaunt sate of Kyuhyun’s face. It was still a strong face, but desperately in need of a nap. Eeteuk had told him of Kyuhyun’s trouble with women, never keeping any around, pushing them away. People thought, apparently, quite a lot of things about Kyuhyun. Serial dater, married to his work, cold. A man, in essence, not to be trusted. It affected Kyuhyun’s reputation with the men he worked with. Zhou Mi winced, thinking that Kyuhyun might have dated their daughters and dropped them just as fast. It was just another way that Kyuhyun put up that wall. Push people away. Only in that case, Kyuhyun was pushing away too hard, too desperate to keep all distance. If it had been years since Kyuhyun had even let himself date a man, despite that being his preference? There was more there. More Zhou Mi didn’t have to know to do his job, but it made him think about it, despite himself.
Eeteuk laid out papers on his desk, getting a pen and sobering. “You’re being hired to pose as his boyfriend and lover. But when I found you, I was most impressed by your skill with weapons, and self defense. He isn’t just some guy off the street. He’s had threats before, though none of them physical thank goodness. But it can’t hurt for you to have your eyes open. I don’t just mean for him. As his companion, and posing as the closest companion he’s had since entering the public eye…?”
“I could be a target for threats or kidnapping. I understand that.”
“He’d never allow you beside him if he thought for even a second that you were watching for his safety.” Eeteuk sat square and looked straight at him, and for a moment Zhou Mi felt like he was getting a lecture from his dad. “I can’t put bullet points in your contract like, make him sleep more, and help him eat more, and make him laugh more. He has me to nag, so he doesn’t need another mom. He just needs someone to make him want to. I can’t make you do that, or make you care about him as a person. I don’t question that you’ll hold up your end of the job quite well. Just… If you can, think of him.”
Was it possible to stand beside someone and smile and pretend that they were important to you, and not think of them? Zhou Mi wondered. Noticing that a drink needed refreshing, or that a conversation was lagging. There were just things that happened naturally, as any kind of companion.
“I’ll do my best for him,” Zhou Mi said. It was an honest answer, and also the one that he knew Eeteuk wanted to hear. He knew what Eeteuk was saying, though. Those things, he couldn’t add into the contract, because some things couldn’t be forced. But calling on Zhou Mi as a person, that was a smart move. “I’ll start getting my things ready to move in. We’ll be sharing a room?”
Eeteuk laughed. “His bed is as big as my entire bedroom, I think. If you see each other in the mornings, I’d be surprised. I’ll work out when is the best time for you to move in, and let you know. I really want to thank you. I didn’t know if finding someone was possible. So I hope it works out okay for you both.”
“Thank you for thinking I was qualified,” Zhou Mi said, smiling back at Eeteuk.
He signed the papers, and walked away with the first of his paychecks. It was more of a downpayment, a guarantee. Much of the money went to the agency, but what was left over, it was more than he made in half a year in China. Anyone would do a good job, for that amount of money. It would buy all forms of discretion. But he was a human being, too. He saw the shadows under Kyuhyun’s eyes. It was a job, and it was something else, too. A babysitter didn’t have to love to look out for the welfare of the children in her care, but she did have to care. And he did care.
Where they told him to go, he went, and what they told him to do, he did. In his temporary apartment, he flipped through the file in his hands, several pictures of Kyuhyun, in his home, his car, office. If there was someone out there who wanted Cho Kyuhyun out of power, or injured, or worse, then keeping him safe was certainly a priority. But he knew what his bosses had said, and what Eeteuk had hinted at. There was more beneath the surface than even he knew. But he suspected that when the time was right, he would learn what he needed to know. No, he wasn’t being paid to guard Kyuhyun. But he couldn’t deny that his experience and cautious eye were part of why he had been suggested for the job. He wasn’t some glorified boyfriend machine, indulging some rich heir. But it intrigued him, anyway. The young prince who had taken over his father’s empire and seemed to be heading down the path of working himself to an early grave. There was only one picture of Kyuhyun smiling in the file, and he couldn’t see at who. It put that face in a while new light. At least… He laughed at himself. At least there would be something pleasant to look at. He let the file fall shut, and turned back to the gun he had been cleaning. Where he went, it would go with him.
***