Thirst— a thing I felt in two completely different ways since Wednesday night, shaping two days. My unsaturated longing for freshly brewed coffee every morning I came into the office, but being occupied with running errands for him. My unquenched desire for his insanely satisfying touch, that has left me cold since that same Wednesday night. Both of them blended made a precarious toxin that made me drowsy and sensitive for every day, and even the sight of weekend nearing closer would not lighten my mood.

I stood in front of the copy machine, leaning against the counter while I waited for the report being printed numerous times, tapping my finger against the plastic shell as I got immersed in my thoughts again. Between the commotion that dominated our busy office today there was barely any time to think and dwell. However, in seldom moments I allowed myself to take a break, like right now, and wandered back mentally to what has happened.

Yixing has turned extraordinarily odd since what happened in the restroom, since he left right after asking me this strange yet thrilling question. When I gave him my answer he simply smiled and stood up, before telling me he'd return to our seats. When I regained my composure and fixed my hair and outfit in the mirror above the sinks, I dared to return as well to find a seemingly calm Yixing, who forgot about previous events like they had never happened. We finished our food, talked rarely, he drove me home, and I could not sleep all night which explained the heavy fatigue I lived with the following day. Ever since then we hadn't talked about anything besides work and my duties for yesterday and today.

It was strange, strangely uncomfortable and unknown. I wanted to get rid off this feeling, while Yixing did not seem to give a single care about the world as he mounted work on his desk.

I turned my head from the still beeping copy machine and glanced into our office from the opposite side of the room— he was still crouched over his desk like before, not even sitting on his comfortable chair but standing and occasionally turning around to reach out for a folder in the shelf behind himself. He had been like this since this morning, his eyes never leaving the bright screen of the computer. I shook my head as the beeping and rattling of the machine stopped, turning my body around to face it again.

"Busy afternoon, huh?" The voice behind me arrived shortly after I had grabbed the finished and still fresh report from the small opening of the machine. The feminine voice was quiet and calm, only for me to be heard. "Friday's are horrific."

As I turned around its a swift motion and the papers clammed underneath my arm, I came face to face with a stressed looking Krystal pushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Oh, hey!" I returned the smile as she beamed at me, motioning my head towards the reports I held securely. "Quartile report has to be printed and should now be on its way to Mr. Kim." I sighed and leaned against the machine again.

She pat my shoulder and lifted a folder with her hand. "Jongin asked me to copy these for him as well, it's a bunch of papers for the accountant or something.  But I also have to hold a meeting with Yura about the new design of the cover as well in just five minutes.", she mimicked my exhausted exhale, "Time's running faster today, and we still have to prepare an overview."

I smiled at her, taking the folder out of her hands. "The quartile report isn't rushing, I can handle these for you." I chuckled at her and winked, "Have fun with our best friend Yura."

"Thanks Jiye." She gave me a rushed hug from the side and waved at me as she distanced, "I'll make this up to you, just bring the copies to Jongin afterwards!"

While opening the folder and organizing the papers in the copy machine I nodded silently, watching her distance from the corners of my eyes while mumbling a quiet, "Will do."

The annoyingly noisy beeps of the machine disrupted the comforting silence in this part of the office hall soon enough, making me sigh for the hundredth time as I watched the papers fall out of the core of the machine and landing in the slot beneath. My eyes were aimlessly skimming the content of the papers, not really paying any attention. I could have gotten coffee in this time, but here I was fulfilling errands of others with good intention but horribly heavy tiredness in my eyes and every cell of my body.

Yixing was probably already waiting with another task for me, I thought, probably going to explain it to me while keeping on staring at his computer screen. No wonder he wore glasses from time to time, considering he spend most of his days like this. I was about to lift my head to peek through the window glass to our office anew to observe the man that was in my thoughts like work should have been, but something odd on the papers caught my attention suddenly.

The next few papers that flew out of the machine were covered in the weird binary codes I had seen in one of Yixing files the other day, making me narrow my eyes in irritation. I neared my eyes to the machine and turned my body to properly face it, before checking if someone was coming towards here any moment. The cost being clear allowed me to retrieve my attention back to the machine that now spit out the last paper to be copied, being the biggest of surprises from the entire stack. It was mostly empty, only the center of the white sheet carried a title in familiar, bold and italic font.

"The Counsellor."

I almost chocked as I comprehend the word written across in black. My hands immediately went to grab the copied papers and fish out the remaining old ones from underneath the lid. I stuffed them all back into the folder Krystal brought with her, breathing heavily as I looked around me. No one had seen, that was at least one bit reassuring, but the content of this paper file certainly wasn't reconciliatory. These looked exactly like the papers I had flown over on Yixing's desk, perhaps a little more precise and complicated than those. I pressed the folder against the few copies of my report while taking quick steps away from the machine, striding through the office hall with wide, cautious eyes.

They wandered along every colleague and visitor, trying to crystallize the sight of Jongin out amongst all others served this very moment. While I rapidly rushed through the office, turning and twisting my head in search, I got completely numb to all sounds and noises and instead devoted myself to the echo inside my head, vocalizing that one question once again.

"Why do Yixing and Jongin have files concerning our arch enemy, the Counsellor?"

The previously dominating sexual and physical thirsts I felt were long lost and overshadowed by the thirst for an immediate reply to my echoing questions and irritation connected to this. For this thirst to be quenched I saw hope when my eyes landed on Jongin near Yixing's office at his own desk, him being on a frantic quest for something on his desk. He threw aside files and papers while his eyes focused heftily on the surface and every object placed upon it as I accelerated my pace and strode straight towards him.

"Jongin!" I hadn't even reached his desk as I called him out by his name, making his head snap up as I became out of breath.

"I have no time Jiye." After detecting that it was only me coming towards him, he let his eyes travel down to the desk anew while his hands hastily shoved papers aside. "I'm looking for an important folder that must have gotten lost. It's important for the meeting Yixing and me have later."

I narrowed my eyes down to him even though he wasn't looking at me anymore, arriving right beside his desk, closely to my own office where Yixing suddenly was unsteady. From the corner of my eyes I could see him look up from his screen as if perceiving something strange in the atmosphere.

"Oh, for your meeting with the accountant?" I smiled down to him mischeviously.

Yixing had told me about the meeting this morning, describing it was of utmost importance. The apparent "papers for the accountant" surely were not what they were supposed to be, meaning that, either, Yixing and Jongin lied, or Krystal had grabbed the wrong folder which, randomly, contained these unusual things. But cherry on top would certainly be both of those statements combined into the ultimate truth. 

"Yeah?" He looked at me from underneath his lashes, his head remaining low. "Why are you asking?"

I shrugged my shoulder. "By any chance—" I drew out my reports from between my arm and the folder, exposing the dark blue thick file Krystal had given to me to Jongin's eyes before presenting it to him with a smile lacing my words. "Do you mean this folder?" I wiggled it in the air.

He stemmed his hands against the edge of his desk, pushing his body up and looking me dead into the eyes before speaking with a shocked voice, "Why do you have this?" His hands extended to clasp the edge of it, snatching it out from my hands while keeping his narrowed eyes on mine.

"I copied it for Krystal." I turned my head slightly to the right where one could perceive Yixing walking through his office and aiming for the door that would bring him out. I looked back at Jongin to observe him. "There were a lot of 0's and 1's on countless of pages, is that our debt?" There was clear sarcasm carried in my tone, which made Jongin scoff at me.

He tilted his head and simpered at me, clearly overwhelmed by the entire situation. "She must have gotten the wrong folder, that was not our finance file for the accountant."

I straightened out my reports as I eyed him, eyebrows raised in increasing disbelief. "Certainly not. So, what's this?" I tilted my head like he had done, only of my eyebrows raised as I nodded towards the folder he had taken from me. I needed to maintain my cool and persistence as long as Yixing wasn't here; it would be lost in a matter of a snap of fingers as soon as he arrived. "The Counsellor, Jongin?" I lowered my voice.

He slammed the folder down on the desk, gaining the attention of the few people that were in close distance to us. Leaning over the desk with his hands against it, he whispered with a threatening tone, "You're not Yixing's only assistant, Jiye." He was about to add something right before his eyes averted to someone who stood behind me, only gulping down a big lump in his throat.

"What's going on?" As soon as said male's voice arrived in my senses, I knew my persistence and determination was already biding its farewell. The additionally anger in his voice made me shriek in surprise as my eyes stayed focused on Jongin's anxious face.

As if to tell his colleague what was going on, Jongin let his eyes travel to the folder beneath his hands and nodded his head towards it sidewards. I stood paralyzed like a stationary figure between them, Yixing's tall frame casted over me from behind as he most probably followed the other's eyes and vague movements.

"Jiye." His with fury enriched voice sounded anew after a few terrifying moments of utter, nerve wrecking silence. I felt him take a step closer to my back, the heat of his body perceivable on my own soon. "Go and bring your reports to Junmyeon." He placed his hand on my shoulder, fingers curling as my eyes widened with profuse fear. "Now."

The first real touch from his hand since two days should have evoked multiple of peculiar phenomenons inside of me, but it remained only to enhance only the mediocre ones, those that were about to be dulled out by my sudden fear. I glanced at Jongin whose eyes were still glued to me, gulping like he had a few seconds ago.

"Am I not speaking English?" Yixing raised his voice as the grip of his hand around my shoulder became harsher abruptly. "I said go and bring your reports to Junmyeon this very instant."

I gave one, last single glance towards Jongin as I felt the palm detach from my body, before lowering my head and walking straight to Junmyeon's office with my reports clammed between my arms. I purposely took the longer way just to avoid turning around, which could entail facing Yixing in his deadly enraged state. For a prevention of this I'd do anything.

I kept my head low and passed by my co workers who eyed me curiously. Breakdowns like these were rare in this office, especially in the last few weeks they were told to have lost frequency quite suddenly. The proposed and plausible culprit known as Yixing to everyone had suddenly returned to his previous state, the whispers carried these words as I made my way down.

When Junymeon's voice arrived on the other side of the door in a gleeful "come in" after I had knocked, I finally dared to lift my head. I pushed down the handle of the door and walked inside slowly, my eyes looking for Junmyeon, who sat behind his desk, leaning over some papers to fill in.

"Hey, Junmyeon." I kept my voice quite as I closed the door behind my back before bowing my head slightly. My lips were still trembling, projecting nervousness into my words. "I am bringing the report and the copies you asked for."

"Oh, right!" He placed down his pen and looked up to me with a smile. "I am glad you could make it until 3, it was quite sudden that I asked for them before the evening."

I took a few steps closer in order to place the stack of papers on his table, giving him a crooked smile. "No worries. I had enough time to prepare those already."

"I doubt that with all the work Yixing is pushing towards you the last two days." He chuckled quietly while reaching out for the papers to slide them across the table so they sat right beneath his eyes. He skimmed through a few pages, flipping some of them and nodding his head. "From a first glance this looks more than fine." He lifted his head shortly and smiled. "Thank you, Jiye. I do not regret employing you, you're working very hard and disciplined."

I gesticulated vividly with my hands. "No, I'm just doing what I need to do, nothing out of the ordinary!" I looked down to my hands as I perceived my wild movements, blushing I put them into the pockets of my pants. "Nevertheless, thank you a lot, boss."

"So how are things with Yixing?" He flipped all the way to the front of the report and fished out a fresh, red folder from his shelf while he slid over the ground with his rolling chair. "Already got accustomed to his ways?" He glanced at me while putting the papers into the red paper.

Things with Yixing..good at times, bad at others— but mostly the biggest question mark ever designed in my mind and life. I didn't know if the sign was greater at work or when we met privately, but both ended up irritating me horribly.

"Oh, things with Yixing?" I looked around his office, rocking back and forth on my feet with my hands still in my pockets. "Pretty well."

Pretty well sure about to fall from the brink of the cliff they had been standing on, perhaps. Something that was also of high possibility was the fact that they weren't even standing on the edge anymore, yet slowly falling in slow motion since the day in my apartment. Maybe now, that I enraged him so much, I increased the velocity of fall unconsciously. Maybe now, that I provoked his anger again, I increased the possibility of potential danger even more.

"I am glad to hear that." Junmyeon's lips were sculpted by a smile as he eyed me for a second, before averting his gaze to something behind me and then back down to his papers. He enclosed his pen again. "I believe he's glad to hear that as well."

I was irritated for a split second on what he was smiling at other than me, moreover his last statement that he added right afterwards. I was midways turning around my head to glance behind myself over my shoulder when I perceived his intention audibly in words, and visibly in the figure that stood behind me in the doorframe, leaned against it.

"Oh I am very glad." He had smiled at me, eyes never leaving from mine. "I want to thank her in the office."

I was done for.

_________

What do you think are those weird files? And why is Jiye so curious why won't she just leave it be?
Anyways, she's in some deep trouble lmao big bad wolf return after he didn't like her underwear color