Battle of the Mins Chapter 2
“The rest is your call now. Seeya, have a nice life.”
Taemin stared at the retreating figure of his ex-boyfriend and muttered, “Same goes to you, asshole.”
He slowly reached into his bag, a purse as Minho used to call it teasingly, and took out a small purple leather wallet. It had been a birthday gift from Minho when they first started dating and for some reason, it was the one thing that Taemin had decided not to return to him. Opening it up, on the side pocket there was a small wallet photo of Taemin and Minho goofing off in a photo booth, Taemin smiling an ear-splitting grin and Minho pretending to kiss him.
Taemin reached into the biggest pocket of the wallet and took out four dollars for his drink and put it on the table along with the wallet photo. It was the first time paying for himself when out with Minho but really it was a small price to pay considering the relationship that had cost him the most heartache in his life was finally over.
Taemin turned to go, standing up and grabbing his things. But he had only taken two steps before he stopped and turned back towards the table. With a sigh he reached down and picked up the small photo once more. He clutched the picture in his hand for a few seconds before finally pocketing it and walking out of the café.
++++++++
FIVE YEARS LATER
“Bottom line is we need him.”
“No.”
“Yes. Minho you’re just being stubborn right now. I don’t know what you have against this guy but it doesn’t change the fact that we need a good stylist backing up Lee Jinki. We’re basically starting from the drawing board and we need some fresh new ideas and concepts. This guy’s got it.”
“I know, I know…” Minho groaned, rubbing a hand through his hair in exasperation.
Looking through the portfolio on his desk, Minho couldn’t help but agree with Jonghyun, his head coordinator and also right-hand man in CM Entertainment. The glossy prints displaying past works and accomplishments were nothing less of extraordinary. He closed the portfolio book irritably.
“Call him in for an interview within the week.”
Jonghyun let out a mental fist pump at his boss’s declaration. Considering it was his duty to make all the preparations for the debut of the different artists under their company, it was really his head on the line if anything went wrong. For the new solo artist, Lee Jinki, Jonghyun wanted to make sure he pulled out all the stops in terms of providing him the best staff possible.
“You won’t regret it, boss.”
Minho waved him away with a dark mutter, “Why do I feel like I will?”
When Jonghyun gave him a puzzled look Minho merely smiled, wiping away all traces of gloom from his face. “And didn’t I tell you not to call me boss when we’re alone? I mean we’ve only been friends for oh, five years.”
Jonghyun shrugged playfully with a mischievous grin, “Just trying to keep up some semblance of professionalism Minmin.”
Minho had met Jonghyun when he first came into the company, working under his father after he graduated university. Considering Jonghyun was the only guy around his age amongst higher-ups and executives that all looked like they were about to die any minute, the two had hit it off immediately. Minho remembered fondly how many a long hour in the office was spent furtively playing paper football across Minho’s desk or taking three hour long “breaks”. After Minho’s father had died two years ago and Minho had taken over the company, he had kept Jonghyun close by his side as one of his most trusted colleagues and friends.
Jonghyun turned to go with a lazy wave over his shoulder, “Tell Soo Jung I say hi.”
“Will do.”
Once he heard the door of his office close, the smile on Minho’s face slowly disappeared, replaced instead by a dark glower.
Lee Taemin. He had some nerve, even thinking of coming to his company. Though he knew there wouldn’t be many reasons to run into him again, he didn’t look forward to the thought of going to work under the same roof with the man who had broken his heart.
+++++++++
Minho felt utterly sick to his stomach as he saw the sight in front of him.
Taemin was rocking his hips frantically, grinding up to the muscular guy on top of him who was busily attacking his exposed neck and shoulders with his lips and tongue. His thin, pale legs were wrapped around the unfamiliar man’s bulky waist, the two were still fully clothed on the bottom but they might as well have been fucking in the way they were rubbing against each other. The obscene sound of the man lapping at Taemin’s skin filled the room along with Taemin’s moans.
Upon hearing him open the front door, Taemin languidly turned his head to the side to gaze upon him with those piercing eyes, eyes that had previously looked upon him with so much love. Now they were hazy with lust yet somehow steadily gazing at him with a look that was contemptuous, resentful.
“Taemin?”
Between his sighs and moans, Taemin directed a greeting to him, “Hey babe. Welcome home.”
Minho felt like he was going to throw up. He was so confused and he just couldn’t understand what was going on right now. Why was Taemin there on the sofa with some other man? Looking at him with those eyes? It was all too much, too sudden. Not only was he nauseous but his head was spinning and hands shaking uncontrollably.
Minho used to think that if he ever caught his lover cheating, he would immediately confront and beat up both his lover and the other man. But in real life it was different. There was no confrontation. Instead, he ran.
When he left the house that day, left the scene of his beloved boyfriend being mauled by some stranger in their home, it was the start of a two week period in which he didn’t contact Taemin or return home. Not that there was word from Taemin during that time either.
And when he finally did return home, he was greeted by telltale signs of a hastily moved-out Taemin, the house a disorganized mess and only a trace of dust and a big gap where Taemin’s trunks used to be. It was this sight that finally made him realize what a two week period spent in an angry, drunken stupor had made him forget: that this was truly the end.
He only saw Taemin once more on the day they returned a few of each other’s items to their rightful owner. It was only after they said their final goodbye that Minho realize that he had never even once asked Taemin the simple question, why.
++++++++++
Minho tapped his fingers impatiently on his expansive mahogany desk. He was late, of course. Just one more way to piss him off.
With a sigh, Minho tried to keep his hands busy by organizing the different office supplies on his desk. The only problem was that it was so fucking clean. All his pens and pencils were neatly arranged in a cup as were the different stacks of paperwork in a tidy array in the corner. With another growl of frustration, Minho made himself a mental note: remember to fire secretary.
Just as he was about to hit the buzzer to connect to his (worthless) secretary, the door of his office burst open and his eyes were blinded by what seemed like a light radiating from the figure before him.
Okay, maybe it wasn’t quite a light but it was true that Taemin’s hair was now dyed a brilliant shade of blonde that was irritatingly flashy due to the all the natural sunlight that came in through the huge windows in the back walls of the office.
“So sorry I’m late!”
It seemed the years had had no effect on Taemin’s eternally youthful face, honey blonde curls framing his eyes and cheeks in a way that looked almost cherubic, if Minho didn’t know Taemin’s true nature. He was as skinny as ever, nearly impossibly so for a man, and the deep purple silk shirt that elegantly draped off of one shoulder gave him an urban appeal. It was a dangerous combination of a baby face and sexy body, something that Minho knew well enough not to fall for again.
“Just sit down,” Minho managed to grunt out as he went into the preliminary debriefing that was common for newly hired staff. Though he had done such talks more than he could count in the past, today he found it difficult to concentrate on simple sentences, much less words.
“So you’ll start this Monday. We’ll expect you here at 9am sharp. The whole staff will meet for some initial preparations,” Minho finally finished with an inward sigh of relief that he didn’t have to keep droning on (more like fumble through simple speech).
Taemin smiled, “Of course, that sounds great.”
Suddenly he leaned in forward with a devilish grin, making Minho flinch and jump back in his seat.
“Did you miss me Minho dear?”
Minho didn’t answer, merely staring at his ex-lover.
Taemin continued conversationally, as if he was just talking about the weather, “Your secretary was quite pretty. Are you fucking her?” Taemin paused, bringing his hand prettily to his mouth, “But it’s not my place to ask is it?”
Minho narrowed his eyes, “Speaking of fucking, I’m sure you’re quite busy in that area these days?”
Taemin’s eyes creased into half-moons as he let out a small laugh, “Oh you know the trend. Just like money, one can’t have too many partners either.” Taemin gazed at him over the rim of his teacup which the secretary had brought in earlier, “Don’t you agree, Minho?”
There was a moment in which Minho glared at the beautiful man in front of him and Taemin merely beamed back at him. And though Minho knew he would regret it later, he mustered up the courage to ask the one question he had been holding in all these years. He couldn’t help that his curiosity had taken over him.
“Why did you do it?”
“What do you mean?” Taemin innocently widened his eyes and raised the tip of his teacup delicately to his lips, only taking the tiniest sip. It seemed his every motion pissed Minho off-as intended-going by the violent twitch in Minho’s eyebrow.
“You know what I mean.”
Taemin cocked his head to the side and pretended to think for a moment, “Oh that. I don’t know…maybe I was just bored?”
“Slut.”
The slander erupted quietly from Minho’s mouth, piercing the air. Minho himself even felt a bit shaken after saying it though he tried to act cool.
However Taemin only smiled wider, showing all his teeth, “So are we done here? I’m hired right? I think my portfolio speaks for itself really.”
Without waiting for an answer, Taemin picked up the paperwork on the table and got up from his chair. “By the way you should fire that bitch. This tea is disgusting.”
With a final smile, Taemin waved to Minho and headed towards his office door. Minho could only sit and stare at his retreating figure, his swaying hips…
Suddenly Taemin swiveled around, causing his curls to bounce cutely like metal springs. “By the way, that wasn’t so hard was it?” He winked cheekily, “Though I wasn’t being exactly honest.”
Long after Taemin was gone, Minho still sat at his desk feeling befuddled, like something was off. If there was one thing he was sure of, it was that he would regret ever hiring Lee Taemin.
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A/N Sooo what'd you guys think?? Told ya it'd be longer this time! :) Oh from this point on, ITALICS are flashbacks to when they were still dating (there may be a quite a few of these)
A/N2 Anyways, can I ask y'all a FAVOR???
For my work place called Hannah and Friends, a nonprofit organization for people with special needs, we're trying to get a lot of "likes" on our facebook page in order to qualify for a grant.
I bet a lot of you have facebook so can you just go HERE and "like" our page?? Pretty please?? If we can get a ten ppl increase by tomorrow morning I will update again within TWO DAYS!! (promise!)
THANK YOUSSS