Chapter Text
Siwoo knew he was walking into dangerous territory. If Kiin sitting up a little straighter and looking like a flight risk wasn’t enough of a warning, Jaehyuk’s hand moving to Siwoo’s knee with a light squeeze certainly was. “I’m sorry, I must have misheard you, because you definitely wouldn’t just drop wedding plans on me in casual conversation like that,” Siwoo said. Jaehyuk’s hand squeezed a little tighter.
“’Wedding plans’ is a bit of a stretch at this point but, yes, Siwoo, I’m meeting with the person my parents picked next week,” Kiin explained.
“Your parents.” Siwoo’s words were icy. All three of them knew why. He knew Jaehyuk and Kiin thought he was naive for being so adamantly against arranged marriages, especially given all three of their families’ histories, but was he so wrong for wanting his friends to be happy? He didn’t think so. “And what about you?”
“What about me?”
“If you don’t like him? What happens then?” A worrying thought occurred to him. “It is a him, right?”
“Yes, it’s a guy. And I don’t know, there are, like, four bedrooms in my apartment, I think I’ll be fine. What’s the point in worrying about that now?”
“Kiin.” Siwoo knew both Kiin and Jaehyuk wouldn’t want this conversation to be happening in public like this, not at one of their most frequented restaurants. Both of their families expected the utmost discretion of their sons and a public argument among friends would immediately be blown out of proportion.
“Siwoo.” Kiin pushed back. Jaehyuk’s hand left Siwoo’s knee as he flagged down the waiter for the check.
“You deserve someone who is going to make you happy.”
“I know that, Siwoo. But not all of us get someone who is ready to fly us off to Paris at a moment’s notice and that’s fine. Seriously. I’m fine.”
“So wait a little bit! What if you find someone?”
“So what if I find someone? I’m just magically going to find someone on my parent’s list of approved families? I don’t see any reason to delay the inevitable so would you please stop making this harder than it has to be?” Kiin sat back in his chair, crossing his arms and staring at Siwoo like he was challenging him to continue. Siwoo, for his part, had nothing left to say. He resigned himself to also sitting back in his chair, mirroring Kiin’s position and waiting for Jaehyuk to finish paying.
The silence at the table dragged on for an excruciatingly long time as Jaehyuk got his card and they got ready to leave. Finally, Siwoo broke it, his voice quiet. “Who is it?”
“Han Minjoon.” Siwoo had suspected. It wasn’t like Kiin’s parents could pull from a spectacularly large dating pool, not with their strict standards. Still, there were few people Siwoo thought could be worse-suited than Han Minjoon for a guy like Kim Kiin. Siwoo had only ever really met Minjoon in passing but his reputation was less than stellar.
“I want to meet him.” Kiin looked skeptical. “That’s what friends do, right? We should do a double date so we can all get to know each other.”
Kiin nodded, seeing this as the olive branch Siwoo intended it to be. “I’ll set it up.”
Siwoo was still feeling sulky when he and Jaehyuk settled in the back of their car. He sat, arms crossed, looking out the window. “Go ahead. I know you want to say it,” he started. “Tell me I’m wrong.”
Jaehyuk was quiet for a while, prompting Siwoo to look over at him, the street lights occasionally lighting up his face. He looked conflicted. “I don’t think you’re wrong,” he trailed off.
“Go on.”
“I just don’t think he’s wrong either.”
“I knew it.”
“If he’s so set on going through with it I just think we should give the guy a chance.”
“You want to give Han Minjoon a chance? You hate that guy.”
“I mean, I don’t really know him. You know the Kim family runs in a totally different circle than us, maybe he’s not going to be that bad.” Siwoo raised an eyebrow. “And if he is that bad, we can figure something out then. Who knows, maybe it’ll turn out like-“
“Like you and Soojin?”
“I was not going to say that.”
“Yes you were.”
“I was not! You know I was not! Now you’re just being mean.” Jaehyuk turned towards his own window, pointedly ignoring Siwoo.
“Okay, I believe you, I’m sorry,” Siwoo said, pulling at Jaehyuk’s arm.
“No, I’m mad at you.”
“And there’s nothing I can do to make you forgive me?” Siwoo asked. He caught Jaehyuk’s smirk as the driver pulled into the garage of their building.
“Well, maybe something.”
—
Jaehyuk had more misgivings about Minjoon than he’d implied to Siwoo in the car. As skeptical as he was of Minjoon as a partner, though, he couldn’t help but think that an arranged marriage might not be the worst option for Kiin. In all the years he’d known Kiin, first as an acquaintance and then a friend, he’d never known Kiin to be interested in dating anyone. He just didn’t want Siwoo to completely write off the idea from the start.
Sitting across from Minjoon, however, was having him reevaluate that. As poor as his early impressions of the man had been, from the various galas and charity events they’d crossed paths at, nothing could have prepared him for just how ill-suited he was for Kiin. All three of them had been completely sidelined in the conversation. Minjoon was plenty happy to monologue about his “accomplishments,” however unimpressive they were.
“Say, Jaehyuk,” Minjoon said, perhaps finally realizing there were potential conversation partners at the table. “You met Kiin at SNU, right?” Jaehyuk nodded. “A school like that, that’s probably pretty important for a guy like you, huh?”
This wasn’t an unusual line of questioning for Jaehyuk. Although his family’s fortune had been well-established by the time Jaehyuk had been born, Park Industries and the fortune that accompanied it had been cultivated within living memory and there were many people in their social circle that didn’t want him to forget that. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked.
Minjoon assessed Jaehyuk and looked less than impressed with what he saw. “Just that your family seems quite interested in climbing, I suppose. Although, it probably seems like wasted effort now, all things considered,” Minjoon said, nodding towards Siwoo.
“I’m not sure I follow,” Jaehyuk said, keeping his voice as level as possible, if only for Kiin’s sake.
“It’s just a lot of work to graduate top of your class at SNU when all you really had to do was hook up with the pride and joy of the Son family.” Jaehyuk dug his nails into his palms. If nothing else, he had to be impressed with Minjoon’s audacity. And, honestly, it was rather incredible that Kiin’s parents had managed to find the worst possible choice for their son in every way imaginable. Kiin, for his part, looked like he wanted to crawl under the table.
Jaehyuk had every intention of shutting down this conversation but Siwoo beat him to it. “Wow, so it is true what they say,” Siwoo said and, oh god, Jaehyuk knew that voice. Nothing good would come of this.
“That the fastest way for someone like that to climb in standing is to marry into the Son family?” Minjoon asked. What had started as a vague air of superiority at the beginning of dinner had devolved into blatant distaste and disrespect.
“No,” Siwoo started, his voice cold. “I actually meant it’s true what they say, money can’t buy class. You would think your parents would have invested in some etiquette classes with what else they spent on your education. But then again, maybe they couldn’t afford it after they had to buy a new library wing to get you into Stanford.”
“Okay!” Kiin interrupted. “It’s really great you all got a chance to meet each other but I have a busy day at the office tomorrow so maybe we should call it here.”
“Yes,” Jaehyuk was quick to agree. “I have to go in early tomorrow so that’s probably best. Siwoo and I should get going,” he said, rising from the table and extending a hand to Siwoo. Siwoo accepted it, but he was clearly not pleased his dressing-down of Minjoon was being cut short.
“We’re still meeting for coffee on Thursday, right?” Kiin asked. It was usually Siwoo trying to track Kiin down for their weekly coffee dates, so Kiin must be more than a little worried about how this dinner had gone if he was going out of his way to confirm it.
“Of course, we have so much to talk about,” Siwoo said. “Terrible to meet you, by the way,” he added to Minjoon as he started walking out of the restaurant.
“He probably doesn’t mean that,” Jaehyuk offered with a shrug before turning to follow him.
Siwoo couldn’t believe that after all of that, Jaehyuk was ignoring him in the car. As soon as they’d settled in the back, Siwoo had started outlining the long list of issues he’d identified with Minjoon and it was like Jaehyuk didn’t even care. “What could possibly be more important,” he started, grabbing the phone out of Jaehyuk’s hand. He neglected to finish his sentence in favor of taking in what Jaehyuk had been working on. “Am I seeing things or are you now the majority shareholder in his subsidiary of his family’s business?”
Jaehyuk gently pried his phone out of Siwoo’s hand. “He might have things to say about when my family got our money but it all spends the same.”
“Jaehyuk, you petty bastard,” Siwoo said, admiration dripping from the words.
“I thought you liked it when I was petty?”
“I do.” Siwoo pecked Jaehyuk on the lips. “I like it.” Another light kiss. “Very much.” After the third kiss, Jaehyuk caught Siwoo’s wrist and pulled away, stopping him from going any further.
“I was listening, by the way. Keep telling me about how much you hate him.”
“Oh my god,” Siwoo said, rolling his eyes and restarting his rant with renewed energy. “We have to do something. We absolutely cannot let Kiin marry a man like that.”
Siwoo had plenty of ideas and he was happy to share them. Jaehyuk thought most of them could end up with one or both of them in jail, though, and committed to being the voice of reason in the brainstorming session. It wasn’t until they were back at their penthouse, Siwoo tucked under Jaehyuk’s arm on the couch and a bottle of wine split between them, that a realistic, or, legal, at least, idea was presented.
“He doesn’t think he has a better option,” Siwoo said. “We just have to show him that he’s wrong.”
“If that dinner didn’t prove they’re a bad match then I don’t know what will.”
“It’s not about that,” Siwoo said, sitting up and facing Jaehyuk, looking like he had had a brilliant realization. “It doesn’t matter how bad Minjoon is when there’s no one to compare him to. But if there was another option,” Siwoo trailed off.
“You want to set him up?” Siwoo nodded. “I mean, I’m not opposed but… with who?”
“There’s gotta be someone else his parents might approve of.”
They both thought for a while, long enough for Siwoo to give up and lay back down against Jaehyuk’s side, mumbling something about it being a dumb idea. Finally, Jaehyuk asked, “well, what if they didn’t approve?”
“How does that help us?” Siwoo asked, deflated.
“We’re not trying to marry Kiin off, we’re just trying to get him to call off the wedding. His family would never approve of him as a serious option, but I might know someone who can be charming enough to convince Kiin to hold off on marrying Minjoon, at least.”
—
Jihoon had been trying to convince himself he wasn’t getting fired ever since the meeting invite had come through from Mingyu yesterday morning. On the one hand, it seemed unlikely the COO would go through all the trouble of setting up a lunch meeting just to fire Jihoon; Park Jaehyuk paid other people to do that. Still, Jihoon couldn’t think of any good reason for him to request a one-on-one meeting like this.
Jihoon stopped at Mingyu’s desk, the last thing standing between him and the COO’s office. “Do you know what this is about?”
“No idea,” Mingyu said, not looking up from his computer. “I just send the invites.”
“You don’t think-“
That got his attention. He looked up at Jihoon, a mischievous expression on Mingyu's face. “I doubt it, I already told him that wasn’t going anywhere when he tried to talk to me about HR procedures. You’re welcome for that, by the way.”
Jihoon jumped when the office door opened. “Is he,” Jaehyuk started asking Mingyu, then paused when he saw Jihoon standing there. “Oh perfect, are you ready to go?” he asked. A wool coat hung over his arm as he handed a file to Mingyu, who accepted it wordlessly.
“Go?”
“To lunch?”
“Yes! Yes, I’m ready.” Jaehyuk had a few more instructions for his assistant and then turned to leave the office. Jihoon followed, giving Mingyu one last confused look as he left.
The walk through the office was quiet. Jaehyuk still hadn’t indicated what the meeting was for and Jihoon didn’t know how to ask. Things stayed quiet between them as they walked out of the building and Jaehyuk’s car pulled to the curb at the perfect time to pick them up. Jihoon tried to keep his fidgeting under control as Jaehyuk continued to work on his phone in the back seat.
Finally, the car slowed to a stop and Jaehyuk looked up from his phone. Jihoon was quick to follow him out of the car. They’d only gone a few minutes away from the office; they were still in the business district but now surrounded by fancy business hotels and restaurants. Jihoon knew this was the area where most of the lunch meetings with clients happened, but he was still quite junior at the company and wasn’t often invited to those. He waited for Jaehyuk to take the lead and he was quickly directed into the upscale restaurant on the first floor of one of the luxury hotels.
Jihoon wasn’t sure what to expect from this meeting, but the last thing he ever would have imagined was witnessing his boss plant a light kiss on the cheek of another man who rose from the table they were approaching. “Jihoon, Siwoo. Siwoo, Jihoon,” Jaehyuk said by way of introduction, a hand waving between them.
The other man, Siwoo, stuck out his hand for Jihoon to shake. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Thank you so much for agreeing to help.” Jihoon caught Jaehyuk take a sharp breath at that. Jaehyuk had already taken a seat at the table and motioned for Jihoon to do so as well.
Jihoon so badly wanted to ask what it was he had “agreed” to help with, but as soon as the trio had taken their seats a waiter was over to take drink orders and explain the fixed menu for the day. It was a relief, at least, to know he wouldn’t have to figure out what was appropriate to order for a meeting like this.
Eventually, the waiter left, though, and Jihoon was forced back to the guessing game about why he was here.
“So, I was thinking Thursday could be a gre-“ Siwoo was cut off both by the stricken look on Jihoon’s face and Jaehyuk rather frantically shaking his head. Realization seemed to dawn on his face. “Oh my god, you have no idea what I’m talking about.” Siwoo turned on Jaehyuk. “You didn’t tell him anything? Jaehyuk, what the hell is wrong with you? No wonder he looks like I’m speaking a completely different language.”
“It was your idea, you should have to tell him!”
“Yeah but he was your idea.”
Jihoon was trying really hard not to panic. Between the fancy restaurant, the pressure of really meeting one of the company executives for the first time, and whatever weird thing was going on between his boss and his… boyfriend? not panicking was starting to look like a losing battle.
Siwoo seemed to take notice. He rolled his eyes at Jaehyuk and then focused his attention back on Jihoon. “I’m really sorry about this. Obviously I would have approached this differently if someone had been more upfront about things, but let me start from the beginning now. I have a friend-“
“We,” Jaehyuk interrupted. Siwoo stared daggers at him.
“We have a friend who is making a big mistake. We want to convince him to call off his wedding, and we want to set him up with you to show him that he should.”
Jihoon knew his confusion was etched clearly on his face. “I… what?”
“We want you to take our friend on a few dates to prove that getting married is a terrible idea,” Siwoo rephrased. “You two don’t have to fall in love or anything! We just want to show him, well, I guess that he shouldn’t give up on finding love for real just yet.”
“You can absolutely say no, by the way,” Jaehyuk offered. Jihoon studied his face and he looked serious about it, but how could Jihoon say no when it was Park Jaehyuk, COO of Park Industries asking him to do it?
“I’m sorry, I just, why me?”
“Well, no offense, but the bar is on the ground to be better than his fiancé and you’ve already passed it by not offending me or my boyfriend in the last twenty minutes,” Jaehyuk started.
“And you’re cute! Cuter than Jaehyuk said you would be,” Siwoo continued. “You’re like totally his type.” Jihoon still wasn’t convinced.
“And,” Jaehyuk said, then paused for a second like he was deciding if he should continue. “I saw you and Mingyu hooking up in the supply closet at the holiday party.”
“We didn’t hook up.” Jihoon was quick to correct.
“Park Jaehyuk,” Siwoo scolded. “When I asked you if anything fun happened at that party you told me ‘no.’ Your PA hooking up with someone in the supply closet was exactly the kind of thing I was asking about!”
“We did not hook up,” Jihoon said more forcefully, which was ultimately a mistake as it brought the attention of both of them back to him. He looked back and forth between them. Jaehyuk’s face was perfectly passive as he waited for him to make a decision, but Siwoo was clearly hoping Jihoon was going to say yes. Jihoon sighed. “Who is it?”
Siwoo’s face lit up. “Kim Kiin!” He dug out his phone and started pulling up pictures of his friend for Jihoon. He didn’t really need to see the pictures. He had never met Kim Kiin in person, of course, but as the acting CEO of one of Park Industries’ major competitors, Jihoon was at least familiar with him. The pictures Siwoo shared, though, were much more casual than those on the company website. The suit Jihoon had always seen him in was replaced by a series of soft looking sweaters and even a hoodie in one Siwoo swiped to of all three of them at a tennis court.
“You’ll love him, really,” Siwoo said, not noticing Jihoon’s slight flinch at the use of ‘love.’ “He can be kind of prickly but it’s just because he’s embarrassed. He’s actually very nice, I promise.” Jaehyuk seemed to catch how overwhelmed Jihoon was feeling and stopped Siwoo from carrying on.
“It’s completely your choice,” Jaehyuk reminded Jihoon.
He considered for a moment. Realistically, Jihoon knew he was never going to say no to Jaehyuk’s request, but there was something about what Siwoo showed him that was making a compelling argument all on its own. The plan those two had concocted seemed flimsy at best but Jihoon was curious about the quiet, reserved person that existed in the photos on Siwoo’s phone and how he compared to the harsh, intimidating man he’d heard Kiin to be at work. “Okay, I’ll do it,” he agreed.
The rest of the meal was filled mostly by Siwoo describing Kiin’s exacting tastes. It quickly became obvious that Jaehyuk and Siwoo weren’t interested in setting their friend up with Jihoon, but rather an imaginary version of himself that came from their world. All in all, the story didn’t seem too far away from reality, but it was still a strange feeling to have his life pulled apart and changed like that.
Fictional Jihoon was also an SNU grad working at Park Industries, but he was reminded several times to be careful about mentioning his hobbies or after work activities. This Jihoon didn’t go to the bar with his friends, he met them at a private club for drinks. He didn’t spend his weekends finding hole-in-the-wall restaurants, he spent them entertaining people at fine dining establishments. And he definitely didn’t wear suits off the rack.
Jihoon felt his face flush when the matter of his wardrobe was addressed. He’d really been trying to match the tailored suits and designer shoes the more senior staff in the office wore, and he’d been getting there, truly, but there were so many other things to be paid for before he replaced his wardrobe that fit him well and was in good shape.
“Do you two need to go straight back to the office?” Siwoo asked. He’d addressed it mostly to Jaehyuk, but instead of answering for the two of them, Jaehyuk had just looked at Jihoon. He did have a fair bit of work to get done, but he also got the sense that being available for whatever it was Siwoo was planning was also part of what he had just agreed to.
“I don’t have any meetings this afternoon,” Jihoon said.
“Great! Oh, this is going to be so fun,” Siwoo said, rising from the table to lead the other two to whatever destination he had in mind.
Jihoon followed Jaehyuk and Siwoo down the street. As a more junior employee, Jihoon was kept far too busy to form much of an opinion on the executive board at Park Industries. Still, watching his boss hold his boyfriend’s hand in his coat pocket definitely didn’t fit into whatever impression Jihoon had previously held of Park Jaehyuk, even after seeing them together at the restaurant.
A short ways down the road, Siwoo ushered the group into a high-end shopping center. He clearly knew his way around, taking them past several designer stores until he stopped at the one he wanted. Siwoo grabbed Jihoon’s wrist, dragging him around the floor of the store and loading his arms with things to try on.
Somewhere along the way the pair had lost Jaehyuk, but they found him again sitting in one of the plush chairs outside of the dressing rooms. Siwoo pushed Jihoon past him, tossing a, “don’t worry, Jaehyukie, we’re almost done,” over his shoulder as they went.
“You don’t have to lie to me, Siwoo,” Jaehyuk said back, never looking up from his phone.
Siwoo rejected the first several pieces Jihoon had tried on, sometimes finding flaws with the fit but mostly finding something Kiin wouldn’t like about it. One of the suits he had picked out became the first ‘yes.’ Jihoon went to check the price on the tag hanging off his sleeve but Siwoo stopped him. “Remember,” he said, “you don’t check prices anymore.” He continued to adjust the way the jacket sat on Jihoon’s shoulders. “It’s close, but we’ll still get this tailored. You can change into the next thing,” he said, sending Jihoon back into the fitting room.
Usually, Siwoo was quick to decide if an item would be added to the ever growing ‘yes’ pile or not but on occasion he would drag Jihoon back out of the dressing rooms to get Jaehyuk’s opinion, each time interrupting whatever work he was doing on his phone. The first few times he had shrugged and said, “sure, why not?” The fourth time he had been interrupted for his opinion, though, he made Jihoon spin so he could get a better look at the uniquely-patterned sweater.
“What do you think?” Jaehyuk asked.
Jihoon expected Siwoo to give his opinion, then realized they were both looking at him. “Oh, uh, me?”
Jaehyuk laughed. “They’re going to be your clothes, aren’t they?”
“Right. Um, I think I kind of hate this one.”
Jaehyuk laughed again. “Well, there’s your answer. Are you two almost done?”
“Yes, yes, we’re almost done,” Siwoo said, pushing Jihoon back to the fitting room. He had Jihoon change back into his own clothes while he looked over everything and made final decisions. On their way out, Siwoo stopped in front of Jaehyuk with his hand out. “Give me your card.”
Jaehyuk started obliging immediately, reaching into his pocket for his wallet. “It’s a joint account, why do you need my card?”
Siwoo shrugged. “It’s hotter when I get to use the one with your name on it,” he said, practically skipping away with the card and the clothes. Jaehyuk dropped his head into his hands as he apologized to Jihoon who, for his part, tried to hold back his laughter as he noticed his boss’s ears turning red.
They were saved by Siwoo returning and handing two large shopping bags to Jihoon. “Thank you, by the way.” Jihoon wasn’t quite sure how to respond to someone thanking him while handing him half his annual salary worth of designer clothes, so he just nodded.
“It’s really a huge favor,” Jaehyuk added, getting up from the chair now that they were done. “We won’t forget it,” he promised.
With the shopping done and Jihoon appropriately outfitted, they left Siwoo to take Jaehyuk’s car back to the office. As soon as they were in the back, Jaehyuk turned to Jihoon. “How much work did you have left, by the way?”
“Not much, really. I’ll get it done.”
Jaehyuk checked his watch. It would basically be 5 by the time they got back to the office. “Alright, bring it to my office when we get back.”
They spent the rest of the drive back to the office in silence again. Once back, Jihoon followed Jaehyuk’s request, leaving the shopping bags at his desk and grabbing the files he still needed to review for tomorrow morning. This time when he approached Mingyu’s desk he was told to go straight into Jaehyuk’s office.
“Just those?” Jaehyuk asked, taking the files. Jihoon nodded. “Alright, I’ll get them done.” Jaehyuk was already back to typing on his laptop but Jihoon had clearly misunderstood why he was bringing the files to this office. Surely the COO wasn’t about to do his work for him. When Jaehyuk noticed him still standing there and looked up, Jihoon opened his mouth to protest but Jaehyuk beat him to it. “I’m not making you stay late after you let my boyfriend play dress up with you for three hours.”
It did sound like a fair deal when he put it like that, but Jihoon couldn’t help but think Jaehyuk staying late was still the worse option. Wouldn’t Jaehyuk staying late also mean Mingyu had to stay? Jaehyuk caught Jihoon’s glance out towards Mingyu’s desk and rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry about him, either. Siwoo would kill me if he knew I was making you or Mingyu stay late over this.”
Jihoon still didn’t love that someone else was doing his work for him, but he couldn’t see a good way out of it, especially now that Jaehyuk had the files. “Alright. Thank you.”
“That was a pretty long lunch meeting,” Mingyu said as Jihoon exited Jaehyuk’s office. Jihoon stopped to assess him. He was looking awfully proud of himself for someone who supposedly had no idea what the meeting was for.
“So you did know what it was about?” Jihoon accused.
“No,” Mingyu laughed. “Just that Siwoo was going to be there. And you never really know what’s going to happen when Siwoo is involved.”
“Some warning would have been nice.”
“Oh yeah, because that’s super easy to slip into the meeting invite. You, your boss, your boss’s semi-secret boyfriend.”
“Semi-secret?”
Mingyu shrugged. “They don’t really tell people but, well, you’ve seen them together. They’re, like, so disgustingly in love with each other they can’t hide it.”
“Is it weird being one of the people that knows about them?”
“I don’t know, not really. PAs always know about this kind of stuff. Plus, it’s way better than my last job. I used to have to pick out jewelry every time my last boss got caught cheating. Do you want to know what he did the last time I had to pick up an emergency apology gift?” Mingyu asked, pointing back at Jaehyuk.
“I’m really not sure that I do.”
“He told Siwoo he’d read the book he had recommended, but really he just watched the movie.”
“Hey!” Jaehyuk called from his office, causing both Mingyu and Jihoon to jump. “I’m not doing this so you two can stay here and hang out. Go home!”
“Sorry Boss,” Mingyu sing-songed, not sounding sorry at all as he got up to close the door to Jaehyuk’s office.