Chapter 3

Alex

After a long morning of arduous work, I stretched my arms one hour before lunch. I swiveled my neck and squeezed the medulla against my shoulder blade.

While I closed my eyes, the cracking sounds seemed satisfying. To get a cup of coffee, I stretched my torso forward and pushed myself away from my desk.

Just as I was ready to turn the knob to open the door to the lounge, I pressed my temple and heard the women conversing about something. I opened it anyhow and noticed them yanking.

With a smile on my face, I flicked my head down in answer.

“Excuse me.” I approached the cupboard and the coffee maker. I poured a generous amount of coffee into the mug by tilting the serving carafe.

“Hey, Mr. Yoon.” Stephanie, the department’s assistant head, called my attention while squeezing her hands around the mug and sipping a little, and she smiled. “Just to clarify, we’re discussing our bachelor boss.”

“Oh, okay.” I forced a smile when I regained my sight of her after a brief blink. I looked down as I noticed the coffee leaking until my mug was full. “How is he doing?” I took a step back and confronted the three women. I sipped my drink while digging my other hand into the pockets of my jeans.

She set the mug on the bar table in the middle of the room.

While turning the stools in my direction, the other two women did the same. Their gazes were fixed on me, waiting to hear what I had to say.

“I heard you and Mr. Lau are acquainted. Is that true?”

I choked a little bit as I sipped my coffee. I swallowed the warm drink down my throat as I raised my face and sighed. “What makes you think that?”

“I heard he attended the university as you did.”

I nodded. “We went to the same college. We were not even classmates. I suppose it’s more like a casual acquaintance.”

I smiled, attempting to maintain my cool in front of them by downing another cup of coffee while maintaining eye contact with her.

She agreed with a nod. But then Jewel, my other coworker who sat in front of Stephanie, tapped her arm, as if wanting to be heard, before turning to face me.

“I went to the same university as you, and I’m familiar with you guys.”

This time I coughed. I calmed down by pressing my chest and stroking it in circles.

“Are you all right?” Stephanie was ready to stand when I raised my hand to stop her. She sat down again and gave me a worried expression.

“I’m OK,” I responded after being reassured. I turned to Jewel, who seemed astonished by my reaction, her eyes wide.

She let out a sigh of relief and leaned her torso toward me. “They weren’t your average students.”

“Tell us about what you know, Jewel,” Topaz, a coworker who appeared to be a nerd but who gossiped better than the other women in the workplace, let out a loud whisper with delight at Jewel’s tale.

Jewel raised her face and closed her eyes in the direction of Stephanie.

“They were every young lady’s fantasy back then.”

“Fans?” Stephanie interjected, seemingly agitated. She looked like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing about her big boss and his relationship with me.

Jewel was beckoned to continue by her wrinkled brows as she smiled while staring at me.

“Mr. Yoon now looks completely different than he did before,” Jewel continued.

The two women exchanged gasps.

They covered their mouths with their hands and stared at me, puzzled. “Back in the day, he was a well-known rock star. Their band, The Painkillers, was a smash hit,” she added after she sipped her coffee.

While I sipped my coffee and realized it was empty, she reminisced about the good old days, and I couldn’t help but smile. I made my way back to the carafe to pour another mug of Americano.

“He even had this hairstyle,” Jewel paused as she took a breath and touched her scalp to demonstrate my hairstyle, “He appeared to be a thug of some type, an imposing gangster.”

“Really?” Stephanie gasped and gave me a surprised look, and I nodded in response, leaving the others.

Jewel made a funny impersonation of the supporters, raising her arms in the air.

We both laughed.

“How about Mr. Lau?”

“Mr. Lau was the complete polar opposite. He reminded me of an angelic balladeer. He appeared to be the same as before.”

“The CEO can sing?”

Jewel was smirking and shaking her head. “He’s not only a singer. He composes music and performs a variety of instruments, although…” she paused and gave me a wink and a smirk.

“But, what?” Topaz interjected as Jewel appeared to be on the verge of saying something new.

Stephanie, on the other hand, attempted not to make it clear by tightening her grip on the mug. Yet, looking at them made me smile.

“He’s promiscuous.” Jewel sipped her coffee without letting go of her eyes, which were still staring at me.

They both gasped and laughed.

“Is that true?” Stephanie sputtered and chuckled as she smashed her hand against the table as if she couldn’t believe what she’d learned about the boss. I guess I know where this dialogue will lead.

“Despite his reputation as a playboy, his supporters stuck with him.” Jewel turned her head to face me. My brows furrowed, anticipating what she would say next. She smirked as she pointed her finger and shook it. “I was in attendance at the combined concert.”

“What’s the point of a join concert?”

“Mr. Yoon had The Painkillers and the CEO had DBXQ. They were rivals. It was chaos. Nonetheless, the student council had the bizarre idea of putting the two of them together in a benefit concert. They took a chance and succeeded. Since they began the project, the school has become more tranquil.”

“So, Jewel, what was that smirk?” Stephanie wittingly asked after she noticed Jewel’s quick reaction.

As she stared at me, Jewel shrieked. Her hands pressed against her face.

“When I remember that, I can’t help but flush.”

“What?” Stephanie asked again in response.

Topaz, on the other hand, sounded like she was begging Jewel to spill the beans.

While I was experiencing goosebumps up my spine to the base of my skull, Topaz inquired, touching her shoulders many times because of the thrill.

I kept my cool while holding the mug. Despite my constricted chest, I maintained a blank expression on my face.

“There was also a bromance between Mr. Lau and Mr. Yoon. And amid their preparations, they displayed nothing except their love for each other. They held hands, hugged, and displayed in the same way that K-pop boy bands do,” Jewel mentioned after she let out an exasperated sigh.

I noticed the two women’s faces turning scarlet, and their voices became louder as they squeaked.

Jewel screamed while keeping her cries to a minimum during their concert.

“What happened next?” Stephanie inquired, clearly desperate.

“They exchanged kisses,” Jewel paused and yelled once more, her body quivering and wiggling in her seat, “It was quite romantic. On stage, our boss kissed him twice back then. Not just any kiss, but a passionate kiss on the lips,” she halted and screamed.

When she and Topaz realized they were too loud, they were quick to cover their mouths with their hands, and their eyes widened.

Stephanie exclaimed, “Oh my God,” as if she couldn’t take it any longer.

Astonishment is an understatement for how they now look at me, which rendered me speechless. What am I supposed to do now?

I grinned as I thought about how I needed to learn to let go.

Consider the case of Jewel. She’d been there before. Because everyone had seen the story about Chen and me, I couldn’t stop her from spreading it.

When I approached the sink to wash the cup I used, the three of them continued to poke me with their fingers. I laughed.

“It’s all over now. We have to maintain our professional distance.”

Was it truly like that, Alex?

I wiped the mug with a kitchen towel and returned the dish to its proper home in the cupboard.

“Besides, the student council requested our assistance.” I shifted my weight into my pockets and turned to face them. “It was for the benefit of university peace. They’ve been desperate to bring order to the school. So they discovered that it was a good strategy to put an end to the fighting between the two bands, and it worked.”

They agreed with a nod.

“Well, I’ve got to get back to work,” I continued as I walked toward the door. But before I could leave, I turned to look at Stephanie, who seemed astonished. “By the way, the report will be printed today. I will put it on your desk at lunch. Also, please don’t mention anything that may harm Mr. Lau’s reputation as the company’s CEO. Excuse me.”

“Alright,” Stephanie replied and almost stammered out. She was still troubled by what she had just learned about our history.

Regardless, the events that happened between Chen and me won’t mean anything anymore. Besides, I didn’t even think he’d be bothered by the fact that I found myself here.