Mingyu
Monday
21st September 2015
6:14

Mingyu woke to the sound of his alarm ringing in his ears. He lifted one arm out of the covers and aimlessly hit around his bed side table in an attempt to stop the ringing.

"Ugh." Mingyu groaned, finally opening his eyes. He glanced at the clock in annoyance and finally hit the button to turn it off.

Mingyu sat up and yawned, reaching his hands into the air, grasping at nothing. He let his arms fall and rubbed his eyes. He looked down and saw an arm draped across his bare stomach. Mingyu trailed his eyes from the arm up to the girls face. Her hair was scattered on the pillow and her face tranquil as she slept.

Mingyu grabbed her arm gently, wrapping his slender fingers around her wrist. He moved her wrist trying to free himself, but she tensed and reattached her arm around his waist.

"Mingyu..." She whined and Mingyu laughed lightly, rolling his eyes. She moved closer until she rested her head on his chest. Mingyu automatically cradled her hair, giving her a kiss on the top of her head.

"Aeri..." Mingyu smoothed his girlfriends hair and sighed. "I have to go to work, I don't want to be late after what's already happened."

She groaned and rolled off. Mingyu looked at her, feeling sorry. He jumped up out of bed and went to get ready.

He walked into the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. His eyes had bags under them from last night. After the argument he hadn't been able to get to sleep for a couple of hours. He hated fighting.

Mingyu turned the tap on and splashed his face with cold water to try and wake himself up. After showering he fixed his un-styled hair and quickly put his suit on, ready for the day ahead.

Once he finished up, he walked in to the kitchen, where Aeri was cooking breakfast. Mingyu stopped in the door way and inhaled.

"Smells good." Mingyu walked up behind Aeri and wrapped his arms around her waist, he leaned and pecked her cheek. "Well, I'm going to work."

"What?" She turned around so that her face was close to Mingyu's, to which he discretely backed away so that he could see all of her face. "You're not going to eat your breakfast?" She turned back to the stove and dished food onto some plates. Mingyu rubbed a hand down his face.

"You know that I can't be late." He gave a little wave and headed for the door. He took a deep breath before clutching the door handle. He took one step outside, when his phone rang. He sighed in annoyance and fished his phone from his pocket.

He looked closely at the unknown number, he definitely didn't recognise it. Mingyu was going to leave it go to voicemail, but curiosity killed the cat. He swiped the answer button and held it to his ear.

"Hello?" He answered politely into the speaker.

"Is this Kim Mingyu?" The voice sounded gruff and full of authority. Mingyu scrunched his eyebrows together in confusion.

"It is, who's speaking?" Mingyu turned around in the door way to see his girlfriend staring at him. She raised her eyebrows at him, but all he could do was shrug his shoulders

"It's the head secretary at Choi Corp. I have been given instructions, since you have been demoted, that we won't be needing your assistance until this afternoon." The voice spoke in Mingyu's ear, and he swallowed hard.

"Oh, I-I see. Thanks for telling me." Mingyu glanced at his Aeri who stood watching him intently, her hand landing on her hip as she grew more impatient to know who was on the phone.

"Thanks for your time-"

Mingyu cut him off with a question that he was scared to know the answer to. "Uh, I know this isn't that appropriate at the moment, but does my pay get shortened?"

Mingyu bit his lip as he heard the voice sigh on the other end. "It will indefinitely change over due course, but yes. At the moment your pay will decrease."

"Oh." Mingyu froze, facing away from Aeri. He didn't want her to see his face, a face full of shame and fear.

"Well, if that's all, have a good day sir." The voice said and immediately broke off. Mingyu stuffed his phone into his pocket and glanced out of the door. The sky was grey and the clouds looked like they carried rain.

Mingyu jumped when he felt a fragile hand touch his back. He whipped his head around to look at Aeri, putting a fake smile on his face when he saw her face of worry.

"I'll be off to work now." He lied discretely and took a step back out of the doorway. As he was about to turn around she grabbed his hand.

"Who phoned you?" She leaned on her hip, making her seem bossy.

"You know I should really be getting to work..." Mingyu trails off not knowing what else to say to avoid her question.

"Mingyu I've known you for most of my life, I know when you're hiding something. Now, tell me who was on the phone." She didn't say it as a question.

"A friend-" he tried again.

"The truth."

"The Choi Corp." he rushed out as if it was hard for him to say, which it was to a certain extent.

Aeri looked at the floor immediately, her voice low and cautious. "What do they want now?" She hissed through her teeth.

"Oh, nothing bad!" Mingyu laughed nervously, the smile getting wiped off his face when her eyes intruded his. "My hours have been cut, they want me in the afternoons now."

"What?" Her mouth hung open and he had to reach out and shut it for her.

"It's part of the demotion, I suppose." He lightly tapped his business shoes on the floor.

"D-does that mean the pay is less?" She bites her lip.

"Indefinitely, yes." Mingyu rubbed his eyes with his hands, feeling more tired than ever.

"You've got to be kidding me." She laughed with out humour and Mingyu flinched. Her face was as hard as a stone. "Can't you do one thing right?"

Mingyu's heart sunk. She'd been saying these types of things recently, rash comments without any thought behind them. "Maybe I can't do everything right, but do you know what? You can help as well. Get a job of your own." Mingyu felt horrible saying these words, but if she was going to be mean to him, he wasn't going to be nice back.

"It's not as easy as that." She huffed looking hurt, Mingyu wondered if that's what he looked like to her.

"Well, stop complaining. I'm doing my best and apparently 'my best' isn't enough for you." He turned on his heel and walked outside, she only seemed to follow.

"Well, your 'best' isn't going to make us the money to move." Mingyu stopped in his tracks and turned to her. She was looking at the rooftop house, that Mingyu had come accustomed to. "Look at it. It's shabby and worn down. I can't even think of a future in it." She turned and stared at him, instantly leaving a heavy burden on his shoulders.

"You want me to make all that money, even without your help?" Mingyu questioned, an odd sense of feeling used passed through his mind.

"You could of, if you didn't get demoted." She headed back inside shutting the front door in Mingyu's face.

Mingyu let out a puff of air and clenched his hands, this was the second fight in less than 12 hours. He tugged on his neatly styled hair until he bared the courage to knock on the door.

"Aeri... Let me in." He sighed in defeat.

"No. I don't want to see you at the moment." Mingyu pressed his ear to the door, he could hear movement from inside, he guessed she was clearing the plates of food.

"Where am I supposed to go?" He asked, not understanding what he did wrong.

"Beg for your position back." Mingyu could hear banging and took it as his time to leave.

"It's not that easy." He whispered to himself, turning on his heel and walking away from the door that was shut.

Mingyu was half way down the rickety stairs when he heard footsteps from above. "Have you come to apologise?" Mingyu said, his back facing who he thought was Aeri.

"For what?" Mingyu heard the deep voice and froze. Definitely not Aeri.

Mingyu glanced over his shoulder and saw Wonwoo at the top. He was dressed differently to what he was wearing yesterday. He wore a lose fitting shirt and a skinny black tie. His hair was styled so that it wasn't flopping over his eyes and Mingyu could actually see his face.

"Uh, nothing." Mingyu coughed and started walking back down the stairs until he got to the bottom.

"Why were you arguing again? I got my sleep this time, but still." Mingyu groaned, not wanting to answer, but he did anyway.

"Just about my job." He answered, not looking forward to explaining. Mingyu unconsciously reached for his tie and straightened it.

"What about your job?" Wonwoo asked the inevitable question.

"I got demoted."

"What? Seriously?" Wonwoo exclaimed. There was a moment of silence and before Wonwoo could ask any more questions Mingyu cut in.

"Why are you dressed so smart?" Mingyu gestured to his clothes and Wonwoo tugged on them.

"I didn't look smart yesterday?" Wonwoo asked with a smirk on his face.

"What? Oh, well, y-yes-" Mingyu stuttered out a response.

Wonwoo just laughed, "You don't have to answer that, I normally look scruffy, but today I'm going to an interview. A job interview. I'm a bit early, but that's okay, I'm going to look around Incheon before I go."

"Oh, that explains it." Mingyu scratched his head flustered. "Well, good luck." Mingyu waved 'bye' trying to get out of the awkward situation, walking in the direction to where he wanted to go.

After a few seconds of walking, Mingyu again could hear footsteps behind him. He turned his head and saw Wonwoo. "What are you doing?"

"Going to the job interview." Wonwoo flashed him a smile and continued walking. "You go on the train, right? Well that's where I'm going."

So, he did recognise me from the train yesterday...

"Oh, yeah." Mingyu said. It was silent until they reached the train station, which was sort of awkward. Mingyu was trying to find something to say which seemed cool, but not obvious that he was trying to befriend him.

Mingyu and Wonwoo walked over to where the train timetable was. "There's a train at 7:30 am-"

"Oh great! I have time to go to the store." Mingyu followed Wonwoo's glaze to look at store sold mostly food and drinks for train journeys.

"What do you want?" Mingyu raised his eyebrows, surely Wonwoo should have everything he wants. You can't be unorganised going to a job interview.

"It's not something I want, it's something I need."

Mingyu watched as Wonwoo forced his way through throngs of people, not caring who he pushed aside. He looked as if it was an urgent necessity that he couldn't live without.

Mingyu, curiously, took a step forward. He watched Wonwoo duck inside the store. Curiosity got the better of him and he followed Wonwoo inside.

The smells of food hit him. The microwaveable breakfasts that workers were having while they waited for their train to arrive. A few customers were huddled around a coffee machine. Mingyu glanced around the store trying to find the black haired boy, expecting him to be buying food, but Mingyu found him at the counter.

"Hey-" Mingyu out a hand on his shoulder.

"Just a pack, please." Wonwoo said to the man and that's when Mingyu realised what he was doing. Buying cigarettes. He thought back to yesterday when he saw Wonwoo smoking outside.

The man handed it over to him and Wonwoo turned around to face him.

"What were you going to say?"

"Is that really a necessity?" Mingyu pointed at the rectangular pack that Wonwoo held tightly in his hand.

"Have you ever heard of an addiction?" Wonwoo started walking towards the exit and Mingyu followed at his heel.

"Well, yes-"

"There are lots of cases of addiction. Some can be addicted to alcohol, betting and some even sex." Wonwoo stopped walking and Mingyu nearly knocked into his back. "I guess I'm a addicted to smoking."

"I know what an addiction is." Mingyu rolled his eyes. "But what I'm saying is that you should stop."

"I'm struck that you care for me, but it's not that easy." Wonwoo closed the conversation and Mingyu didn't want to carry it on.

The train came and both Wonwoo and Mingyu walked on. Halfway through Mingyu's ride to Seoul, Wonwoo started to leave.

"Hey-" Wonwoo glanced back before getting off, "Good luck, you know with the job interview."

"Good luck with begging for your job back." Wonwoo smirked.

"Wait! You heard?" Mingyu gritted his teeth.

"Hard not to when you're shouting at each other, but don't worry I have no friends to tell."

The sliding doors to the train shut and Wonwoo backed away. Mingyu sighed and rubbed his forehead.

After a bit of waiting the train finally stopped at Seoul and Mingyu jumped into a taxi which took him to the Choi Corp. Mingyu stood outside the skyscraper before he opened the golden handled door.

Mingyu walked up to the secretary desk and stood in front of it. One of his colleges was sitting in a office wheelie chair, her neck cranked to the side holding a phone between he head and shoulder, writing onto a notebook.

"Yes... Yes, we can do that-" She was speaking into phone when she coauthor Mingyu staring at her. "Of course. Thanks for calling Choi Corp." she hung up. "Mingyu! What are you doing here? I heard you were demoted."

"Can I speak to Mr. Choi, personally?" Mingyu gave her his cold glare and she flustered around trying to find her phone. She picked it up and placed it to her ear.

"Uh, Mr. Kim is here. He would like to talk to Mr. Choi. Hm, yes. Shall do." She hung up again and glanced at Mingyu. "You can go up to his office."

Mingyu bowed at her and took the nearest elevator to the top floor. Everything about this place was hinted with gold. The handles, the tiles, even the buttons inside the elevator. Mingyu guessed Mr. Choi liked showing off his richness.

The elevator arrived and Mingyu walked over to the door with the label, Mr. Choi. He hesitantly lifted his hand to the door.

'Beg for your position back.'

Mingyu was just about to knock on the door when it opened. "Come inside Mr. Kim." Mingyu starred opened mouth at the Mr. Choi.

"Uh, yes, Sir." He put his hands behind his back and stood straight once he entered the room.

"I was expecting you." Mr. Choi stood in front of a giant glass window and Mingyu was amazed by how far he could see.

"You were?" Mingyu coughed, "Uh, yes. I was wondering as to why I was demoted?"

Mr. Choi turned around and stared at Mingyu, who was standing awkwardly in the corner of the room. "There's a pecking order here at Choi Corp. I haven't said you've done anything wrong, but due to the wide diversity of workers here... You're not going to be the best. It happens all the time. Someone better will come over and you'll be replaced."

"Sir, if I may ask... Why do I have to be replaced?" Mingyu clenched his hands behind his back.

"Well, we'd have too many of you working in that unit then."

Mingyu felt his nails digging into his hands. He couldn't believe this is happening. He needed this job. Now Mingyu realised what a necessity is. Just like Wonwoo, Mingyu craved this job, he needed it to survive.

"But, sir-"

"It's already sorted. You'll just have to work harder to get up the ranks again." Mr. Choi walked over to the door.

"Sir..." Mingyu swallowed and slowly, one knee after the other, knelt on the floor in front of Mr. Choi. "Please let me-"

"How dare you kneel? Get up, before I change my mind and decide to fire you all together." Mr. Choi grabbed onto Mingyu's suit and shoved him into the open doorway. "Now, don't come to work until afternoon, got it? I do see you here before then, I won't hesitate to fire." He shoved him out of the door and closed the door in Mingyu's face.

Mingyu stood facing the closed door, not knowing what to do next. He couldn't tell his girlfriend, that was for sure.

"Mr. Kim, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." One of Mr. Choi's assistants latched onto his arm and showed him to the elevator.

Once in the elevator Mingyu thought about what he was going to do. He decided on going to a cafe to have lunch, before going to work on the afternoon.

Work was new. New faces, new fake people. No one noticed that he was new and just got on with their jobs. Mingyu felt oddly lonely. He wished for company and for some reason his thoughts carried him to Wonwoo. He wondered how his job interview went, was it any better than his job?

Mingyu shook his head trying to rid the thought, before getting on with his job.

The rest of the day went boringly by and Mingyu was looking forward to going home, but not looking forward to facing his girlfriend.

The train journey was quiet, along with the taxi to his apartment. He hopped out into the cold night and tugged his suit jacket closer to him, a puff of visible air coming form his mouth.

Mingyu made his way up the stairs, looking at the rooftop apartment. He stood there watching until he decided to wait a bit before going in. He sat on the cold step, covered in darkness.

He thought about what he was going to say, what he was going to do and so on. All his thoughts included Aeri, but none of them were good thoughts. Soon enough Mingyu's thoughts got he best of him and he felt his eyes closing.

Mingyu woke to a nudge on his left shoulder. He slowly opened his eyes and saw a glowing ember. His eyes focuses on Wonwoo sitting on the step below him.

"Ugh, how long have you been here?" Mingyu ran his hands down his face.

"About ten minutes." Wonwoo took the cigarette out of his mouth to speak and smoke rose up.

"How did the job interview go?" Mingyu asked trying to make conversation.

"Good, I got the job. What about the 'begging'?" Wonwoo quoted with his fingers.

"Failed miserably. I felt like I could die from embarrassment." Mingyu groaned and knocked his head on the wall behind him.

"Was it like a standing beg? 'Sir, give me my job back, please?' Or a kneeling 'Sir, my life ends here, give me back my job please?' Kind of beg?" Wonwoo lifted his legs so his chin was on his knees.

"The 'Sir, my life ends here' kind of beg."

"Woah. No wonder you're here freezing your ass off, your girlfriend's going to kill you." Wonwoo places the cigarette between his lips again.

"That's why I'm not telling her." Mingyu watched Wonwoo.

"What? Lies always end up with the truth surfacing in a bad way. I wouldn't do that if I was you." Wonwoo glanced at him, an odd look of sincerity in his eyes.

"What if the truth is worse than the lie?" Mingyu asked rhetorically. "Anyway, that doesn't matter, but I am going to find a way of revenge. My pay has been dropped and my hours and I haven't done anything wrong. I'm going to find a way to see Choi Corp fall."

Wonwoo just stuck his hand out, the cigarette in between his fingers. "Here, you look like you need some."

Mingyu coughed at the smell coming from it. "It's okay, I don't think my problems are that bad."

"Your choice." Wonwoo put it back in his mouth.

The sound of a message coming through a phone broke the silence and Wonwoo instinctively jumped. He scrambled for his phone in his pocket, until he fished it out. On the front of it Mingyu could read, Mom.

Wonwoo stuffed it back in his pocket before Mingyu could actually read the message. "You know, I've only known you for a day, but you know more about my problems than anyone I know. You never talk about your own, other than your smoking addiction. There's got to be more."

Wonwoo just raised his eyebrow and smirked. "Interested in me, are we?" Wonwoo hit the end of his cigarette on the step before he threw it away.

"W-what? I was just asking-"

"I'll see you tomorrow." Wonwoo got up and started walking towards his rooftop apartment. Just before he got to his door he turned around, "If you're going to stay out there all night, at least wear something warm." With that Wonwoo closed his door and Mingyu was left in complete darkness.