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Himchan sighed as he entered the office and saw a bouquet of red roses on his desk. “Again?” For some time now, someone had been leaving random presents for him, be it flowers, chocolate, and once even a self-written poem – printed off, which meant there was no way to figure out who had written it.
He put down his bag and turned to Youngjae, who sat across from him and was looking on with a mixture of amusement and disgust. “Did you see who it was?” he asked as he picked up the roses and searched for a card.
Youngjae shook his head apologetically. “Sorry, hyung, they were already there when I got in.”
“Honestly, it’s so cheesy,” Himchan complained, letting out a loud ‘aha!’ when he spotted a card hidden between the stems (not the best plan for romance, in Himchan’s opinion, because he hadn’t counted on his day starting off with pricking his fingers on thorns).
“For someone who claims not to like this stuff, you sure are smiling a lot,” Youngjae pointed out with a cheeky grin as he watched Himchan struggle to get the card out. “It’s okay to like it, you know.”
Realising that he was indeed smiling, Himchan quickly straightened out his face and threw Youngjae a glare, after which he opened the card.
“You’re beautiful when you smile.” He scoffed and placed both the flowers and the card to the side. “Who even uses a pick-up line like that?”
“You’re blushing, hyung,” was all Youngjae said, barely even sparing him a glance.
Himchan raised his hands to his indeed heated cheeks and, after telling a snickering Youngjae to shut up, he sat down. “I just don’t understand why whoever this is won’t say who they are. We’re grown-ups now, shouldn’t we be past this?”
“Unless it’s that intern, Jongup,” Youngjae shrugged. “You helped him out a lot, maybe he has a crush on you.”
“Jongup?” Himchan thought of the cute boy, but after the numerous conversations they had had, he couldn’t see him do anything like this. He seemed fairly straightforward, and even if he did decide to use an elaborate scheme to confess, Himchan was sure it would be rather more unique and less cliché; he didn’t seem to care much for society’s ideas on, well, anything, so why would it be any different when it came to romance?
“Maybe they’re just shy,” his friend suggested. “Or embarrassed. I know I would be if liked you.” He laughed when Himchan threw a pencil his way. “But, you know: Valentine’s Day is close. Maybe they’re building up to a big confession.”
Horrified, Himchan contemplated that option and realised it was very much in tune with what had been going on so far. It wasn’t that he hated romance, or clichés, or Valentine’s Day, but he would’ve liked something a little more inventive. Basically. Also, he wasn’t patient enough to wait for a big reveal.
The next morning, Himchan came in ridiculously early, dragging a disgruntled Youngjae with him and hiding underneath someone else’s desk.
“It’s your admirer, why did you drag me along?” Youngjae grumbled as he tried to get comfortable in the limited space they had, his knees continuously knocking into Himchan’s.
“Shut up,” Himchan hissed back, his eyes wandering around the office to see if anyone was already around. “And you could’ve said no.”
The wait took long enough that he could feel the heat of Youngjae’s glare and he himself could feel his muscles going stiff. He perked up when someone appeared, but they simply walked on. He was about to admit defeat when someone snuck over and he nudged Youngjae, leaning forward eagerly when the person stopped in front of his desk, looking left and right as if to make sure no one could see them.
Wait, was that-
“Caught in the act!” Youngjae yelled out as he crawled from underneath the desk.
Daehyun, someone from the Marketing department, jumped and nearly dropped the box of chocolates he was holding. His eyes were wide as he looked from Youngjae to Himchan, who had now also emerged.
“Were you guys hiding?!”
“Just to find out who the admirer was,” Youngjae shrugged, ignoring Himchan’s attempts to come up with an excuse. “Should’ve known, you seem the type to be into that kind of thing.”
Daehyun appeared to be genuinely offended at that. “Hey, plenty of people are! But,” he sighed as he handed the box to Himchan, who took it gingerly, “I’m not your admirer. Sorry.”
“Then who is it?” Himchan asked as he inspected the box carefully, but there was nothing to give an indication as to who had given them. This was getting frustrating, and right when he had thought he had found out.
“Can’t tell you,” Daehyun replied. “He’s my friend and I’ve been helping him, that’s all I can say.”
“So this was all your idea?” Youngjae asked, his eyebrows raised cynically.
“Hey, it’s always worked for me!” Daehyun defended himself. “It got his attention, didn’t it?” He turned back to Himchan and smiled at him. “He’s a good guy, really, and he really likes you.”
Himchan smiled back, but sighed deeply once Daehyun left. Well, at least the options had been narrowed down a bit, but seeing how he had no idea who Daehyun’s friends were, that didn’t help whatsoever. It did lead him to have another plan, though.
“What did you find out?”
Himchan ignored Youngjae’s look of disbelief as he listened to what Jongup had to tell him. Desperate to learn who his admirer was, he had employed the help of the intern, asking him to see who Jung Daehyun hung out with in the company, in hopes that he’d at least be able to narrow down the suspects to a specific group. Good guy or not, he was clearly someone who liked to take his time, more so than Himchan appreciated.
Judging from Jongup’s stories, though, Daehyun was quite popular and seemed to have friends everywhere, so that was a bust. Disappointed, he nevertheless handed Jongup some chocolate and thanked him for his help.
“You seriously asked someone to spy on Daehyun?” Youngjae asked flatly after Jongup had walked off. “Should I be scared?”
“I just want to know who it is, is that so wrong?” Himchan huffed.
Youngjae rolled his eyes upwards and mumbled something to himself. With the look of someone who was about to do something he would probably greatly regret, he leaned forward and gestured for Himchan to come closer, hesitating for a moment before he opened his mouth.
“I know someone who might be able to help,” he admitted. “Now, he’s the only one of Daehyun’s friends I know, but they’re really close and he knows pretty much everything about him.”
“Who?” Himchan asked eagerly. “And why didn’t you tell me about him sooner?”
“Because I thought you were sane!” Youngjae countered. He rubbed his temples and fixed Himchan with a glare. “Look, do you want to find out or not? If Daehyun told anyone, it will be him.”
Himchan nodded quickly, then frowned. “Wait, if he’s such good friends with Daehyun, why would he tell you?” He raised his eyebrows when Youngjae flushed red and cleared his throat, avoiding Himchan’s eyes. “…Right. Who is he then?”
“Choi Junhong.”
Youngjae had agreed to meet Junhong after work, though not without emphasising what sacrifices he was making for Himchan (something Himchan honestly couldn’t believe, because he definitely didn’t seem to mind it all that much; after having seen Junhong himself, he could understand why Youngjae wasn’t protesting that harshly). Later that evening, when Himchan had already changed into sweats and a ratty t-shirt, Youngjae dropped by to deliver his findings.
“Bang Yongguk,” he said as he took off his coat. “That’s your admirer.”
“Yongguk?!” Himchan blinked in confusion while Youngjae made himself at home in his flat. He knew who Yongguk was, because they had worked together on a huge project a few months ago, but they hadn’t interacted much since then. He was fairly certain that Yongguk wasn’t the type of person to set something like this up, though, and he told Youngjae so.
“He’s been getting advice from Daehyun, remember?” Youngjae pointed out. “Apparently he has no idea how to approach you, thinks he’s not your type. And I guess corny romance is what he thinks is.”
If anything, Himchan was sure he wasn’t Yongguk’s type, but he wasn’t about to admit that.
“Thanks, Youngjae… How did you get Junhong to tell you all this anyway?”
Youngjae smiled sweetly as he grabbed the remote. “C’mon, hyung, you know I don’t kiss and tell.” His smile morphed into a satisfied grin. “Though I guess I can tell you what else we did if you really want to know.”
Himchan grimaced.
The next day Himchan decided to go searching for Yongguk. If the other was being this awkward about it, it could take forever before he’d finally confess (and, to be honest, by now Himchan was a little scared to find out how he’d do it). He passed a nervous-looking Junhong and tried not to remember all the things Youngjae had shared about his flexibility, before he found Yongguk at his desk, setting up for the day.
“Himchan?” Yongguk looked up at him in surprise, which turned into confusion when Himchan placed a bottle of wine on his desk. “What’s this?”
“I know you’re the one behind all the presents,” Himchan said, crossing his arms and revelling in Yongguk’s shock for a moment. “But why? I never pegged you as the kind of guy to be into all the cheesy clichés.”
Yongguk shrugged sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. “I didn’t know how to ask you out, and Daehyun said this would work.”
“For Daehyun, maybe,” Himchan offered. “It doesn’t really suit you, though.”
Yongguk gazed at him seriously. “Is that a ‘no’?”
“It’s a ‘let’s try this again’,” Himchan corrected. “But this time I’ll do all the work.” He nodded over to the wine bottle. “Why don’t you come over tonight so we can finish that together?”
The other smiled, all gums and teeth, and agreed readily. “Why did you choose wine?” he asked curiously when Himchan was about to walk off.
Himchan grinned. “I thought it would go well with all that cheese of yours.”