Beyond the Hidden Hours: Part 3

The office had long slipped into silence, the kind that pressed against your skin and whispered reminders of how late it was. Kai rubbed his eyes, the screen's glow still burning into his vision. With the deadline chewing at his nerves, sleep wasn't an option, not tonight.

He stood, stretched his aching back, and decided to make the pilgrimage to the break room for a bitter cup of life support. As he trudged past the row of darkened offices, his gaze snagged on a soft glow down the hall.

Ren's office.

The table lamp was still on.

Kai slowed down. He's still here?

He told himself he was just curious, just checking. Nothing more. So he stepped lightly toward the glass wall, leaned in just enough to peek inside.

Ren was seated at his desk, back slightly arched, head tilted back.

Kai's breath hitched, frozen halfway between thought and instinct.

A soft sound slipped past the glass.

A moan.

Low. Drawn-out. Controlled, like someone trying not to be loud.

Kai blinked, unsure if his exhaustion was playing tricks. But no, there it was again. Softer. Needier.

His body went rigid. He backed away instinctively, heart pounding, unsure whether to bolt or keep watching.

Whatever this was… it wasn't part of the job description.

He should've left.

He meant to.

But instead, Kai leaned ever so slightly closer, the hallway quiet enough to hear the faint creak of leather from inside the room. Through that narrow slit in the blinds, the scene unfolded, and it was nothing like what he'd expected.

Ren wasn't alone.

Seated in his chair, posture slack in a way that defied his usual sharp composure, Ren had one hand tangled in the hair of someone kneeling between his legs. The other was clamped over his own mouth, trying, and failing, to muffle the moans slipping past his fingers. His eyes were half-lidded, flushed cheeks catching the glow of the desk lamp, lips parted around a stuttered breath as his hips gave a shallow roll.

It wasn't the Ren people saw in boardrooms. This was something unguarded. Raw.

And Kai... froze.

Time stalled. The pounding of his own heartbeat throbbed in his ears. The rush of heat in his chest, neck, lower, made it hard to breathe, hard to even think. His fingers twitched at his side, torn between guilt and the tight knot of arousal spiraling low in his gut.

He should look away.

But he didn't.

Kai didn't know when he started breathing through his mouth.

Didn't realize how tightly he was gripping the hem of his shirt, or how low it had slipped, his hand now pressed against the front of his slacks, pulse quickening with every soft, wet sound echoing faintly from the office.

Inside, Ren was unraveling.

His head tilted back against the chair, neck bared and glistening with a thin sheen of sweat. The man between his legs grew hungrier, rhythm rough and eager, drawing sharp gasps from Ren as his fingers clenched tighter in that tousled hair. Every motion, every broken sound, wound a coil inside Kai that had no business tightening.

His throat was dry. Mouth parted. Skin burning.

And before he could talk himself out of it, damn it all, his hand moved. Desperation overrode shame. A palm slid beneath his waistband, aching flesh pressed against trembling fingers, the friction igniting sparks through his veins.

He shouldn't be doing this.

But he couldn't stop.

Not when Ren arched with a stifled cry, not when Kai's vision blurred at the sight of it, the last thrust of Ren's hips, the tense shudder running through him like a ripple of lightning, that final gasp he barely caught in his palm.

Kai's climax hit him like a rogue wave. Hot. Relentless. A surge he tried to stifle with his teeth buried in his sleeve, his other hand desperately catching the release with the handkerchief he'd fumbled from his pocket. Heart thudding. Lungs starved.

Silence returned like a slap, heavy, cold, too real.

He stood there, frozen, sweat-damp and breathless, hand still wrapped around himself, eyes wide and locked on the dimly lit aftermath inside that room.

What the hell had he just done?

Kai's breath caught in his throat as the man's face came into clearer view through the frosted glass.

No way.

It was him, the CEO.

The one who ruled the entire company with an iron fist, the man whose voice could make or break a career, now exposed in a way Kai never imagined.

The same man who just moments ago had signed off on Kai's latest project, demanding flawless work with no excuses.

Kai's heart thundered louder than before. He wanted to disappear, to sink into the floor, but his legs refused to move.

Suddenly, the door creaked open.

Ren, or rather, the CEO, looked up sharply, eyes locking onto Kai's frozen figure.

"You're still here?" The voice was low, laced with something that sent a shiver down Kai's spine. "Shouldn't you be finishing that revamp? Or did you come to... observe?"

Kai swallowed hard, cheeks burning hotter than the summer sun. "I-I was just... getting coffee."

A slow, knowing smile curved the CEO's lips, eyes gleaming with something unreadable.

"Well, now that you're here..." His gaze drifted suggestively. "Don't just stand there. Come in."

Kai's mind short-circuited.

Come in?

Was he dreaming? Was this real?

He took a shaky step forward, heart pounding like a drum in a wild symphony.

The night had just begun.