Chapter five

"So you're the newbie under Chris's wings," Kenji commented.

"Seems like it."

"Oof, how's it going so far?"

"I'm just watching him work on some documents," I sighed.

"He hasn't looked up from them yet? Or, like, talked to you or something?" he wondered.

"We talked on our way here," I reasoned.

"Typical," Kenji sighed, "Told them."

"Told who what?"

"No, nothing. So, how are you liking it here so far?"

I looked around and shrugged. "It's a very pretty office."

Kenji's chuckle died out when we heard a chair creaking behind us.

"Oh, Ken," Christopher said as he strode towards us. "What brings you here?"

"I had some documents Mr. Yoon wanted me to hand to you," Kenji smiled, handing Christopher a folder.

As he turned to leave, he whispered softly, "Good luck. You'll need it," and disappeared.

Christopher walked back to his seat, the folder resting on the corner of his desk.

"You know Kenji?" he asked me while sitting down.

"Excuse me, sir?"

"You and Kenji seemed to be having a conversation earlier?" Christopher clarified.

"Oh, yes, he's one of the people who guided me, like I mentioned earlier," I explained.

"Wait, what? But I met Kenji's little brother. And you have different surnames? Oh, wait…you must be stepbrothers or something then? He never— I mean, ohhhh, yes, of course, you're that stepbrother he's always talki—"

"Don't worry," I interrupted him, laughing. "We're not brothers in any way. He's my childhood best friend's older brother."

"Ohhhh, you're Poyraz's younger brother?"

I looked at him, dumbfounded. "Yes. How do you know Poyraz abi?"

"He comes here sometimes; sometimes we go out together; sometimes we work out together."

"Oh," yeah, that makes sense.

"So you're the legendary youth," Christopher said, more to himself than to me.

"Legendary?"

"Kenji always talks about you—your talent. Yes. About your talent. Always brags about his talented younger friend. Mhm. Th-that's it. Yes."

"Ehm… okay. I'm not that talented, though."

"Still, he begged to supervise you," Christopher mumbled with an eye roll.

"He did?"

"He…" Christopher paused for a second. "Yes, he wanted to supervise such a talented youngster because, well, he's been looking out for you since you were younger."

"Oh, that makes sense. That's really sweet of him. He's always been a big help to me," I hummed.

"Figures," Christopher mumbled. I opened my mouth to speak, but Christopher was already hunched over his desk, his fingers flying across the keyboard. His brow furrowed in deep concentration, the lines of his jaw sharp under the office lights. Anything I might've said after that would have gone unanswered.

I sighed and sat back down on the couch. 

The office felt almost sterile. Polished wooden floors reflecting the overhead lights, shelves lined with carefully arranged books and files. Christopher's desk looked out of place: papers stacked high, a jumble of post-its, and blueprints spilling over the edge.

After some time, I was getting too bored and stood up to look around the office. Christopher was still too absorbed in his work. There were a lot of cupboards, shelves, and drawers. Some had model houses on top of them, and one shelf had a few vinyls and an LP player.

I picked up one of the albums: Love Yourself: Her by Bangtan Sonyeondan. After a moment, I put it back and glanced at the other vinyls. One record caught my attention. My fingers grazed the edge of the record sleeve when a deafening noise cracked through the room. My heart leapt to my throat, and the record slipped from my hands. I lunged for it before it could hit the floor.

"Yildiz?"

I shot up. "Yes, sir?" I asked, hiding the record behind my back.

"Why were you lying on the floor?"

"Erm…"

Christopher started laughing. He walked over to one of the drawers and opened it, taking out an alarm clock and turning it off.

"Sorry, that was my alarm. It's lunchtime. You see, if I don't set an alarm, I'd miss it," he explained, scratching his neck with an awkward smile.

"Oh no, it's okay," I smiled back. "I just wasn't expecting it." I carefully put the record back as Christopher grabbed his jacket and we left the office.

"You may go home."

"Excuse me?"

"It's your first day; I'll give you the rest of the day off. Tomorrow we'll make a whole day of it, okay?"

"Yes, sure, thanks!" I smiled and bowed deeply.

"And Yildiz?" Christopher said as we stepped out of the elevator.

"Yes, sir?"

"Sorry if I bored you. I get pretty fixated on my work," he chuckled, smacking my shoulder.

Smacked. Because damn, the boy's too strong.

His playful smack landed like a hammer, jostling my shoulder with surprising force. My breath caught. He didn't even seem to notice his strength.

"It's okay! I get it. See you tomorrow?"

"Same time. Bye, Yildiz!"

"Bye, sir! Oh, and please, just call me Kamber."

Christopher walked toward his car, and I took out my phone to text my brother.

About five minutes later, a car raced into the parking lot. Music was blaring even from this distance. The car stopped right in front of me.

I leaned over, resting my arms on the hood. "Hey, K."

"Get in, loser. We're going shopping!"

I laughed at the quote. "What's this all of a sudden, K? Watched Mean Girls again? And where's Poyraz abi?" I asked as I climbed in and fastened my seatbelt.

"I texted that brother of yours and told him to let me know when you were done. So, here I am," Kane explained, starting the engine. Ditto by NewJeans was blasting through the speakers again.

"So? Why'd you do it?" I asked skeptically.

"Well~" The way Kane looked at me while drawing out that single word said more than a thousand words.

"Okay, okay," I shushed him. "I don't even want to know what you've got planned. Just get on with it."

Kane took my hand and kissed it multiple times. "It's going to be fun, I promise."