[Series]A Fragile Heart - The Sequel, Chapter 1
Title : A Fragile Heart - The Sequel, Chapter 1
Author : freedomthisway
Rating : PG-13 for now.
Character/Pairing : Eunhyuk, Kangin, Leeteuk, Heechul, Junsu, Sungmin, minor appearance of Siwon, Jang Woo Hyuk, Lee Soo Man, and others/KangHyuk (main), a little bit of KangMin.
Word Count : 2393 words for this chapter
Genre : angst, maybe a bit of crack, and then angst again/Office AU
Prologue Summary :
It’s the sequel of Betrayal.
You need to read that prequel first in order to make sense of this whole series.
In this series, Hyukjae’s story continues. With Junsu behind his back, he’s back to square one as he’s trying to conquer new city, new challenge, and new people, while licking up his wounded heart. Haunted by his past, Hyukjae never wants to deal with anything love-related anymore, but then Kangin is there: a stubborn and pushy and handsome bastard.
And he’s Hyukjae’s new boss.
Author’s Note : Here we go again, guys. A new series to conquer~! I really have to find other things to do than write. Srsly, every time I come up with a muse, the fic will evolve into more and much more word count than the last. And it’s always the angst bunny. *shakes head*
What the hell is wrong with me?! It’s like getting myself addicted, I swear.
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this. :)
Wish me luck and let’s hope my muse won’t leave me halfway. :D
Oh, and this chapter is beta-ed by the awesome renichifreak. Thank you, Carey~! xD
“Hyukjae-sshi, fix these for me and return them by the end of this afternoon. Got it?”
Lee Hyukjae stares at piles of paperwork shoved into his hands by his supervisor.
Park JungSu is one shitty bastard, and most days, Hyukjae manages to endure his irresponsible whims, but for God sake, it hasn’t been three hours and forty five minutes ago that JungSu had given him five drafts of interoffice memos that needed to get done today and Hyukjae still has today’s attendance report waiting to be worked on.
He really needs to stand up for himself this time if he wants to leave the office within sane hours today.
“But JungSu-sshi,” Hyukjae calls behind JungSu, who is already walking back to his office. Hyukjae tries to ignore JungSu’s glare when he turns back to him. “I am sorry but really, I still have lots of papers to be done and most of them are with terribly close deadlines. I am afraid I don’t have enough time to help you with your papers.”
There, I said it, Hyukjae thinks and he kind of feels a little bit proud at himself for that.
However, after spending the past few months working under Park JungSu, he knows better than that and so he isn’t too surprised when he realizes that he has been unconsciously gnawing his bottom lips in worry for the past ten seconds.
JungSu narrows his eyes at Hyukjae’s words and makes a move to approach Hyukjae slowly.
“Tell me if I’m wrong, but I think some aftershave from this morning got stuck in my ears because I seriously think I heard you giving objections to my order. Your supervisor’s order, that is.”
Hyukjae holds back the urge to back away from JungSu and raises his chin upwards instead, hoping it’ll hide his nervousness.
“You refuse to do the work I gave you, am I right?” JungSu stops a few steps in front of Hyukjae. He seems satisfied because, judging from his smirks as he watches Hyukjae’s fingers grips the paperworks tightly, he knows that the distance is already enough to intimidate the younger man. “Because really, Hyukjae-sshi, it’s totally fine with me. I can just go and find myself a new assistant who won’t mind doing his job.”
And there it is. The exact reason Hyukjae hates confronting Park JungSu.
It puts his job at stake, and Hyukjae can’t afford to lose it right now.
He only has been working here for several months, and after almost half a year without permanent employment, several months pay just isn't enough to cover all of the debts and expenses he has to make.
Hyukjae hates himself the most at times like these. If he hadn’t been so weak and stupid, that horrible thing that turned his life upside down in a night and damaged his credibility as a professional and ended up scaring all the employers all over the city where he came from wouldn’t have happened.
Not to mention all the wounds in his heart he had to patch all over again.
So Hyukjae says the only thing he can say at the moment. “You’ll have these finished on your desk by this afternoon.”
JungSu smiles at him, satisfied. “Good.” He nods and leaves.
Hyukjae turns to walk back to his desk, resigned to the fact that he’ll leave office late like always again today.
---00o00---
“Yah, you’re still working?” Xiah Junsu stares unbelievingly at Hyukjae who doesn’t even spare a glance at him, too busy typing in his computer. “You do realize that we’re not in the group of employees who gets paid overtime, right?”
Hyukjae shrugs, eyes never leaving the computer screen. “What can I say? I have a great boss.”
Junsu sighs at the sarcastic words and Hyukjae can hear him curse JungSu under his breath as he is moving to sit on the chair beside Hyukjae’s.
“So,” He says, rummaging through the piles of papers spread on Hyukjae’s desk. “Can I help you with anything?”
Hyukjae stares at Junsu for a second before turning back to the screen. “And be the one who is responsible for making your date with that pushy girlfriend of yours cancelled tonight? No, thanks.”
"Jerk," Junsu grins, punching Hyukjae's shoulder.
Hyukjae ignores him, but Junsu doesn’t budge from his seat, not even after he finishes typing another page.
Hyukjae stops his work and looks at Junsu again. “Look, I’m cool, man. You should leave now if you don’t want to be late for the date. Not that I care, but you are such a wimp when you are brokenhearted and I’m done dragging your drunken sorry ass home from the bar every time that chick dumps you.”
This time, with a grin on his face, Hyukjae swings his body aside to dodge another of Junsu’s punch.
Junsu pouts. “Yeah, whatever, Hyuk. It’s your loss.”
Hyukjae rolls his eyes as he watches Junsu rises from the seat. Their eyes meet and Hyukjae knows that Junsu wants to say something.
Something that Hyukjae doesn’t really want to hear right now because God knows he has lost enough sleep because of it as it is.
And Junsu, being Junsu, seems to understand, because in the end he just says, “Fine, I’ll stop disturbing you now. Just…, don’t work too hard, kay?”
Hyukjae nods and watches Junsu turning his back and walks towards the exit.
“Ah!” Junsu suddenly turns back. “Don’t forget that we have a board meeting with SM Hong Kong’s executive first thing in the morning tomorrow. So seriously, don’t overwork yourself tonight. Those guys come from high places and they won’t appreciate someone coming late. Okay? Bye!” Then his figure disappears behind the door.
Hyukjae mutters some curses. He totally forgot about that one.
SM. Ltd is a PMA company based in Hong Kong and the company where Hyukjae works right now is one of its many branches. Lately, due to the impact of the global crisis spreading throughout the world, SM. Ltd has to do a lot of maneuvering and solutions to reduce the harmful effects of the crisis to the company.
At first, every branch company has been given freedom by the central headquarters to decide the best solutions on their own. It is done to see which of the many solutions works most effectively to solve the problem, and in the end, to apply it to all branches.
And to Hyukjae’s silent disagreement, his company has chosen to cut the number of employees as the first step. Apparently Mr. Choi Siwon, their Branch Manager, isn’t that immune to JungSu’s powerful ability at twisting words to his favor.
More than 50 people have been cut from their job already. Some of them are old and the decision to cut them still makes sense to Hyukjae, but most of the rest were fired just because they were viewed as employees who are lacking potentials and the skills needed for the job.
Hyukjae can even name some of them whom he knows has been on Jung Soo’s bad side for some times.
As the only HRD Staff in the company, Hyukjae feels bad because he can’t do a thing about it. Jung Soo never appreciates his opinion in any form and he has never been asked for ideas in every management meeting he has attended. Jung Soo makes sure of that.
Hyukjae knows most of the fired employees well and can see the difficulties they have after they leave the company. He believes that this decision the company’s taking is just going to make things worse, rather than better.
Not only does he thinks that firing people without doing a thorough Performance Appraisal and assessment towards all the employees properly is not a wise act, but also because as he had predicted before, despite JungSu’s suggestion that the mass employees reduction can bring some positive changes to the company, their company hasn’t shown any improvement thus far.
In fact, the company’s operational costs are somehow getting bigger and the rest of the employees can’t work effectively because they have to do many additional tasks they’ve never done before.
Mr. Choi has taken action to overcome this by ordering JungSu to start screening applications for replacing some of the fired workers and for almost a week now, some newbies are roaming the office. But they are adapting to the job very slowly and compared to the employees fired, these newbies are showing even lower performance.
They are the cause of Mr. Choi being so restless for weeks nowadays, because the record of their company’s improvement is slower than any other branch, despite all the steps taken to increase the effectiveness of the company. That’s also the reason behind the sudden visit of SM’s executive directly from Hong Kong tomorrow. Plus, some rumors have spread, saying that SM Hong Kong will replace Mr. Choi with someone new, who is recommended directly by SM’s CEO due to his excellent records.
All of these things added up and caused the tense atmosphere circulating the company lately and Hyukjae just hopes he can maintain doing all of his jobs right in order to survive.
So Hyukjae forces himself to finish the paperwork faster because Junsu is right. He’ll need all of his energy tomorrow and waking up late due to exhaustion is definitely not an option.
---00o00---
The temperature tonight is quite cold by the time Hyukjae steps on the pavement outside the office and he fixes his scarf tighter around his neck to prevent the night chill from seeping into his skin. The street is still quite alive and Hyukjae blends quickly into the crowds, speeding up his steps so he can get back home faster.
The apartment Hyukjae lives in currently is located not far from the office. Junsu found it for him as he was strolling some alleys amongst the high buildings dominating that part of the city.
The low rent suits Hyukjae’s economical condition perfectly and although it’s far from decent, Hyukjae has been making efforts to make it homey and comfortable for him.
Hyukjae fumbles for a bit before he finally finds the small key to his apartment and then opens the front door, leading him straight into the small living room which also functions as a dining room.
A long rugged couch Hyukjae found in some garage sale is laid comfortably across the room, facing a small cupboard with a small television on it. A simple bookshelf is placed beside the couch. On it are Hyukjae’s favorite novels and books, some pictures of himself together with his family, a weird desk clock which is one of Junsu’s rare gifts from long ago, and some cheap scented candles Hyukjae bought at a $1 store.
The walls in his entire apartment are decorated only by light yellow paint. No frames or painting, just the way Hyukjae likes it. He hates to be captured on camera and aside from dancing; art in general was never his favorite subject anyway.
The other rooms in the apartment are only a small kitchen, a medium sized bedroom, and a tiny bathroom.
Two of the doors in the apartment creak loudly every time they’re opened and hot water runs in the shower for only two hours in the morning and two hours at night. However, Hyukjae has added his touch here and there; his favorite slippers lying on a football rug on his bedroom floor; his old boom box plugged in on a small coffee table across the television and ready to be played anytime he feels like dancing; and a pot of flowers given by his mother on the day he moved to Seoul is laid by the wall, fresh and green due to intense caring.
It’s not much, but Hyukjae likes living here.
It’s the first time he lives so far from home but somehow this place reminds him of his neighborhood back then.
Sometimes you can hear a flute played from somewhere in the building, children laughing and running through the hall, some couple fights next door, and when the night comes, accompanied by the buzz of his neighbor’s television, Hyukjae used to sits by the window, admiring the beautiful view of the night sky even though most of it is blocked by the skyscrapers.
So, yeah. Hyukjae thinks this place is pretty awesome.
And no, despite the fact that nobody answers his I’m home greeting and the only message he gets in his phone as he turns on the play button is from Junsu (asking him if he’s already been home because if he hasn’t then by God he’ll go back to office and drag Hyukjae home by himself), it doesn’t make him feel that empty.
Really, it’s not.
Hyukjae puts away his shoes and bags and checks the shower, glad to find out that the hot water still runs. He quickly shrugs off his clothes and steps behind the curtain. His skin prickles as the hot water touches it; the sensation always succeeding in loosening his tensed muscles.
It’s almost 9.00 pm when Hyukjae finally stops showering. He would’ve stayed a little longer but all of a sudden the water coming out turned cold and Hyukjae jumps off his feet as the cold beads of water stings his already warm skin. Hyukjae restrains himself from swearing loudly and quickly reaches out for the towel.
The sound outside has almost died out aside from faint noises of people talking. Probably someone next door still has visitors. Hyukjae dries his hair with his towel and rummages through his cupboard. He finds a pair of his favorite pajamas and wears them before moving to lift his clothes from earlier off the floor and puts them inside the laundry basket.
His stomach rumbles, but the whole idea of cooking some ramen and eating it alone while watching bad TV tonight isn’t that appealing to him. So he throws his towel onto the chair and flops himself onto the bed.
An hour later, the only sound heard outside is just the faint noises of night traffic. Hyukjae finds himself still staring at the ceiling above him.
JungSu will kill him if he comes to the office with eye bags on his face tomorrow. But Hyukjae doesn’t care.
It’s hard to sleep when loneliness eats you up and leaves you hollow.
TBC
PS: Sorry for the lame HRD and office thingy probing. I just dug it out of my own experience. ^^;
Author : freedomthisway
Rating : PG-13 for now.
Character/Pairing : Eunhyuk, Kangin, Leeteuk, Heechul, Junsu, Sungmin, minor appearance of Siwon, Jang Woo Hyuk, Lee Soo Man, and others/KangHyuk (main), a little bit of KangMin.
Word Count : 2393 words for this chapter
Genre : angst, maybe a bit of crack, and then angst again/Office AU
Prologue Summary :
It’s the sequel of Betrayal.
You need to read that prequel first in order to make sense of this whole series.
In this series, Hyukjae’s story continues. With Junsu behind his back, he’s back to square one as he’s trying to conquer new city, new challenge, and new people, while licking up his wounded heart. Haunted by his past, Hyukjae never wants to deal with anything love-related anymore, but then Kangin is there: a stubborn and pushy and handsome bastard.
And he’s Hyukjae’s new boss.
Author’s Note : Here we go again, guys. A new series to conquer~! I really have to find other things to do than write. Srsly, every time I come up with a muse, the fic will evolve into more and much more word count than the last. And it’s always the angst bunny. *shakes head*
What the hell is wrong with me?! It’s like getting myself addicted, I swear.
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this. :)
Wish me luck and let’s hope my muse won’t leave me halfway. :D
Oh, and this chapter is beta-ed by the awesome renichifreak. Thank you, Carey~! xD
“Hyukjae-sshi, fix these for me and return them by the end of this afternoon. Got it?”
Lee Hyukjae stares at piles of paperwork shoved into his hands by his supervisor.
Park JungSu is one shitty bastard, and most days, Hyukjae manages to endure his irresponsible whims, but for God sake, it hasn’t been three hours and forty five minutes ago that JungSu had given him five drafts of interoffice memos that needed to get done today and Hyukjae still has today’s attendance report waiting to be worked on.
He really needs to stand up for himself this time if he wants to leave the office within sane hours today.
“But JungSu-sshi,” Hyukjae calls behind JungSu, who is already walking back to his office. Hyukjae tries to ignore JungSu’s glare when he turns back to him. “I am sorry but really, I still have lots of papers to be done and most of them are with terribly close deadlines. I am afraid I don’t have enough time to help you with your papers.”
There, I said it, Hyukjae thinks and he kind of feels a little bit proud at himself for that.
However, after spending the past few months working under Park JungSu, he knows better than that and so he isn’t too surprised when he realizes that he has been unconsciously gnawing his bottom lips in worry for the past ten seconds.
JungSu narrows his eyes at Hyukjae’s words and makes a move to approach Hyukjae slowly.
“Tell me if I’m wrong, but I think some aftershave from this morning got stuck in my ears because I seriously think I heard you giving objections to my order. Your supervisor’s order, that is.”
Hyukjae holds back the urge to back away from JungSu and raises his chin upwards instead, hoping it’ll hide his nervousness.
“You refuse to do the work I gave you, am I right?” JungSu stops a few steps in front of Hyukjae. He seems satisfied because, judging from his smirks as he watches Hyukjae’s fingers grips the paperworks tightly, he knows that the distance is already enough to intimidate the younger man. “Because really, Hyukjae-sshi, it’s totally fine with me. I can just go and find myself a new assistant who won’t mind doing his job.”
And there it is. The exact reason Hyukjae hates confronting Park JungSu.
It puts his job at stake, and Hyukjae can’t afford to lose it right now.
He only has been working here for several months, and after almost half a year without permanent employment, several months pay just isn't enough to cover all of the debts and expenses he has to make.
Hyukjae hates himself the most at times like these. If he hadn’t been so weak and stupid, that horrible thing that turned his life upside down in a night and damaged his credibility as a professional and ended up scaring all the employers all over the city where he came from wouldn’t have happened.
Not to mention all the wounds in his heart he had to patch all over again.
So Hyukjae says the only thing he can say at the moment. “You’ll have these finished on your desk by this afternoon.”
JungSu smiles at him, satisfied. “Good.” He nods and leaves.
Hyukjae turns to walk back to his desk, resigned to the fact that he’ll leave office late like always again today.
---00o00---
“Yah, you’re still working?” Xiah Junsu stares unbelievingly at Hyukjae who doesn’t even spare a glance at him, too busy typing in his computer. “You do realize that we’re not in the group of employees who gets paid overtime, right?”
Hyukjae shrugs, eyes never leaving the computer screen. “What can I say? I have a great boss.”
Junsu sighs at the sarcastic words and Hyukjae can hear him curse JungSu under his breath as he is moving to sit on the chair beside Hyukjae’s.
“So,” He says, rummaging through the piles of papers spread on Hyukjae’s desk. “Can I help you with anything?”
Hyukjae stares at Junsu for a second before turning back to the screen. “And be the one who is responsible for making your date with that pushy girlfriend of yours cancelled tonight? No, thanks.”
"Jerk," Junsu grins, punching Hyukjae's shoulder.
Hyukjae ignores him, but Junsu doesn’t budge from his seat, not even after he finishes typing another page.
Hyukjae stops his work and looks at Junsu again. “Look, I’m cool, man. You should leave now if you don’t want to be late for the date. Not that I care, but you are such a wimp when you are brokenhearted and I’m done dragging your drunken sorry ass home from the bar every time that chick dumps you.”
This time, with a grin on his face, Hyukjae swings his body aside to dodge another of Junsu’s punch.
Junsu pouts. “Yeah, whatever, Hyuk. It’s your loss.”
Hyukjae rolls his eyes as he watches Junsu rises from the seat. Their eyes meet and Hyukjae knows that Junsu wants to say something.
Something that Hyukjae doesn’t really want to hear right now because God knows he has lost enough sleep because of it as it is.
And Junsu, being Junsu, seems to understand, because in the end he just says, “Fine, I’ll stop disturbing you now. Just…, don’t work too hard, kay?”
Hyukjae nods and watches Junsu turning his back and walks towards the exit.
“Ah!” Junsu suddenly turns back. “Don’t forget that we have a board meeting with SM Hong Kong’s executive first thing in the morning tomorrow. So seriously, don’t overwork yourself tonight. Those guys come from high places and they won’t appreciate someone coming late. Okay? Bye!” Then his figure disappears behind the door.
Hyukjae mutters some curses. He totally forgot about that one.
SM. Ltd is a PMA company based in Hong Kong and the company where Hyukjae works right now is one of its many branches. Lately, due to the impact of the global crisis spreading throughout the world, SM. Ltd has to do a lot of maneuvering and solutions to reduce the harmful effects of the crisis to the company.
At first, every branch company has been given freedom by the central headquarters to decide the best solutions on their own. It is done to see which of the many solutions works most effectively to solve the problem, and in the end, to apply it to all branches.
And to Hyukjae’s silent disagreement, his company has chosen to cut the number of employees as the first step. Apparently Mr. Choi Siwon, their Branch Manager, isn’t that immune to JungSu’s powerful ability at twisting words to his favor.
More than 50 people have been cut from their job already. Some of them are old and the decision to cut them still makes sense to Hyukjae, but most of the rest were fired just because they were viewed as employees who are lacking potentials and the skills needed for the job.
Hyukjae can even name some of them whom he knows has been on Jung Soo’s bad side for some times.
As the only HRD Staff in the company, Hyukjae feels bad because he can’t do a thing about it. Jung Soo never appreciates his opinion in any form and he has never been asked for ideas in every management meeting he has attended. Jung Soo makes sure of that.
Hyukjae knows most of the fired employees well and can see the difficulties they have after they leave the company. He believes that this decision the company’s taking is just going to make things worse, rather than better.
Not only does he thinks that firing people without doing a thorough Performance Appraisal and assessment towards all the employees properly is not a wise act, but also because as he had predicted before, despite JungSu’s suggestion that the mass employees reduction can bring some positive changes to the company, their company hasn’t shown any improvement thus far.
In fact, the company’s operational costs are somehow getting bigger and the rest of the employees can’t work effectively because they have to do many additional tasks they’ve never done before.
Mr. Choi has taken action to overcome this by ordering JungSu to start screening applications for replacing some of the fired workers and for almost a week now, some newbies are roaming the office. But they are adapting to the job very slowly and compared to the employees fired, these newbies are showing even lower performance.
They are the cause of Mr. Choi being so restless for weeks nowadays, because the record of their company’s improvement is slower than any other branch, despite all the steps taken to increase the effectiveness of the company. That’s also the reason behind the sudden visit of SM’s executive directly from Hong Kong tomorrow. Plus, some rumors have spread, saying that SM Hong Kong will replace Mr. Choi with someone new, who is recommended directly by SM’s CEO due to his excellent records.
All of these things added up and caused the tense atmosphere circulating the company lately and Hyukjae just hopes he can maintain doing all of his jobs right in order to survive.
So Hyukjae forces himself to finish the paperwork faster because Junsu is right. He’ll need all of his energy tomorrow and waking up late due to exhaustion is definitely not an option.
---00o00---
The temperature tonight is quite cold by the time Hyukjae steps on the pavement outside the office and he fixes his scarf tighter around his neck to prevent the night chill from seeping into his skin. The street is still quite alive and Hyukjae blends quickly into the crowds, speeding up his steps so he can get back home faster.
The apartment Hyukjae lives in currently is located not far from the office. Junsu found it for him as he was strolling some alleys amongst the high buildings dominating that part of the city.
The low rent suits Hyukjae’s economical condition perfectly and although it’s far from decent, Hyukjae has been making efforts to make it homey and comfortable for him.
Hyukjae fumbles for a bit before he finally finds the small key to his apartment and then opens the front door, leading him straight into the small living room which also functions as a dining room.
A long rugged couch Hyukjae found in some garage sale is laid comfortably across the room, facing a small cupboard with a small television on it. A simple bookshelf is placed beside the couch. On it are Hyukjae’s favorite novels and books, some pictures of himself together with his family, a weird desk clock which is one of Junsu’s rare gifts from long ago, and some cheap scented candles Hyukjae bought at a $1 store.
The walls in his entire apartment are decorated only by light yellow paint. No frames or painting, just the way Hyukjae likes it. He hates to be captured on camera and aside from dancing; art in general was never his favorite subject anyway.
The other rooms in the apartment are only a small kitchen, a medium sized bedroom, and a tiny bathroom.
Two of the doors in the apartment creak loudly every time they’re opened and hot water runs in the shower for only two hours in the morning and two hours at night. However, Hyukjae has added his touch here and there; his favorite slippers lying on a football rug on his bedroom floor; his old boom box plugged in on a small coffee table across the television and ready to be played anytime he feels like dancing; and a pot of flowers given by his mother on the day he moved to Seoul is laid by the wall, fresh and green due to intense caring.
It’s not much, but Hyukjae likes living here.
It’s the first time he lives so far from home but somehow this place reminds him of his neighborhood back then.
Sometimes you can hear a flute played from somewhere in the building, children laughing and running through the hall, some couple fights next door, and when the night comes, accompanied by the buzz of his neighbor’s television, Hyukjae used to sits by the window, admiring the beautiful view of the night sky even though most of it is blocked by the skyscrapers.
So, yeah. Hyukjae thinks this place is pretty awesome.
And no, despite the fact that nobody answers his I’m home greeting and the only message he gets in his phone as he turns on the play button is from Junsu (asking him if he’s already been home because if he hasn’t then by God he’ll go back to office and drag Hyukjae home by himself), it doesn’t make him feel that empty.
Really, it’s not.
Hyukjae puts away his shoes and bags and checks the shower, glad to find out that the hot water still runs. He quickly shrugs off his clothes and steps behind the curtain. His skin prickles as the hot water touches it; the sensation always succeeding in loosening his tensed muscles.
It’s almost 9.00 pm when Hyukjae finally stops showering. He would’ve stayed a little longer but all of a sudden the water coming out turned cold and Hyukjae jumps off his feet as the cold beads of water stings his already warm skin. Hyukjae restrains himself from swearing loudly and quickly reaches out for the towel.
The sound outside has almost died out aside from faint noises of people talking. Probably someone next door still has visitors. Hyukjae dries his hair with his towel and rummages through his cupboard. He finds a pair of his favorite pajamas and wears them before moving to lift his clothes from earlier off the floor and puts them inside the laundry basket.
His stomach rumbles, but the whole idea of cooking some ramen and eating it alone while watching bad TV tonight isn’t that appealing to him. So he throws his towel onto the chair and flops himself onto the bed.
An hour later, the only sound heard outside is just the faint noises of night traffic. Hyukjae finds himself still staring at the ceiling above him.
JungSu will kill him if he comes to the office with eye bags on his face tomorrow. But Hyukjae doesn’t care.
It’s hard to sleep when loneliness eats you up and leaves you hollow.
TBC
PS: Sorry for the lame HRD and office thingy probing. I just dug it out of my own experience. ^^;