Chapter Two

Thanks to Yixing, I had learned more about Sociopaths in only one week than I would have in my entire life without this article. I spent my working hours in the office and the lonely, moonlit nights at home searching for authentic information I could use and explain without a Ph.D. Degree in Psychology. I could not deny that it was indeed challenging yet fun to work with something I had never shown interested in my life before.

Whenever Yixing caught me staring at my computer screen in deep concentration, I saw a smile glint on the corner of his lips as if he couldn't anticipate my final words. I as well could not wait for his reaction, thus I put my greatest effort into the words and sentences I kept rewriting for tens and hundredths of times. Finding the right ones wasn't easy—it was different than when speaking to him, because I sincerely wanted to impress him with my article and show him that I was his assistant for a good reason.

The article was also the reason for our seldom words these days in the office, we stay kept silence dominating between the two of us to ensure the best working conditions. From time to time, when he left the office, I could feel the pressure being relieved from me as I leaned back in the chair for just a second of relaxation, before I had to return to my cold, working state.

"You've been working very hard the entire week." Yixing showed me his gratitude as he placed a cup of coffee on my desk when my eyes remained glued to the screen after he had come inside. As the intense smell arrived in my senses, I allowed myself to peer my eyes from the text and close the file before he could take a glimpse of it.

"You noticed." I slightly chuckled as my hands went to embrace the still warm cup with dark gold. "The due date is tomorrow and I'm working on slight changes, but most of it is ready."

He leaned against my desk as he sipped some of his coffee, a calm expression on his face. "I'm thrilled to see the final result, Jiye. Judging the work and effort you put into it, it must be a decent article."

"Decent, yeah. I hope it is what you imagined it to be initially."

He laughed as he said, "I'm not even able to fire you if it's below my expectations, don't feel pressured."

But was I only feeling under pressure upon the thought of being fired? To be quite honest, this exact thought had never in this week crossed my mind even once. However, the knowledge of my perhaps disappointed superior who lost hope in his assistant was occupying my mind since the day I got my due date for the article, being tomorrow, and it had intensified with every day I spent working on in doubtfully.

"I'm not fearing that." I proclaimed, putting down the cup on my desk as pushing ot over the surface quietly as my eyes trailed to his. "I just don't want to be below your expectations and dissatisfy you as an assistant."

He widened his eyes and coughed for a moment. "Don't worry, you couldn't disappoint me. I have a feeling I'll be more than satisfied with the final result. Don't you?" His lips curled into a slight smirk as he watched me in curiosity before his eyes trailed along the office reminiscently. "And I'm sure you informed yourself well about the topic."

"I did, I hope at least- wait what am I saying? I should be confident in front of you.." I chuckled nervously as I heard the pit of laughter erupt in his inside.

He placed the palm of his hand against my table, right beside the steaming cup of coffee I had placed on its previous spot. "You're interesting, leaking your inner nervousness like this." He leaned closer to my chair with the entire weight of his body only supported on the palm of his hands yet it didn't tremble once.

We looked intensely into each other's eyes for what felt like an aeon. If Yixing wasn't blocking everyone's view from the outside they would have surely been suspicious of the staring contest we held, however from their perspective it might have looked like a simple conversation between him and his assistant.

"Grandiose sense of self.." I gulped, keeping my eyes strictly glued to his dark, narrowed orbs that pierced through my soul.

He blinked at me in irritation. "Excuse me?"

"Sociopaths, they have a grandiose sense of themselves." I leaned a bit closer and crossed my arms over my chest in provocation. "Seems like you haven't informed yourself well about the topic." I laughed.

He seemed to be caught off guard for a second, making a slight feeling of triumph enhance my confidence, before he regained his cool and smiled.
"Oh don't worry about that Jiye, I will be well informed tomorrow, won't I?" He kept a smile dancing on his lips as he shot me a wink while pushing himself off my table.

I watched his back attentively as he strode back towards his table while his fingers grazed over the surface of my and later his table. He sat down behind his desk in the wide chair, allowing me to open the file with my own written article once anew.

"Oh, and you're welcome." He tilted his body to the left so he could fixate his eyes on my body behind the computer screens while his hands wrapped around the armrests of his chair. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, before he enlightened me with a small nod of his head towards the cup of coffee that was still emitting warm vapor.

I slightly blushed when I noticed my rude behavior, and looked back to my computer to avert his gaze hastily. "Thank you."

"Your shift ends late today, so don't slack."

The hours of working went by tormentingly slow that day, in particular the day I decided to stay in the office longer to make an extra research in case I could add any information. Entering the office at one in the afternoon meant exiting it around 9 o'clock in the evening which left me with more than enough time. Furthermore, most employees left the office at 6 o'clock, leaving me with more inner peace and silence to work on the article in concentration. I rummaged through tens and maybe even hundreds of websites, files and news reports upon cases that included sociopathy even in the slightest way. 

Lisa had visited a workshop for journalists with some of the other women and men in the afternoon, thus left the office already early today with no intention to return for only some minutes left of work. Junmyeon sat quietly in his office and checked the layout for the cooperation magazine with the other companies, which he had informed me about when checking on me around seven o'clock when most employees had already left.
He said it was a typical Thursday when the majority of his workers were on the pit of despair and exhaustion, their only desire being for the next day to pass by in a blink of an eye. Some were working stressful but efficiently, some were barely paying attention to what he told them while handing out next- months plan. He was content to see at least me engrossed in my work— however I didn't know if Yixing had told him what exactly had strengthen my motivation. He had already left to return home at this point.

Darkness had filled the entire office at some point. I heard a soft knock on the door that made me lift my head and tear my gaze from the screen for the first time in an hour. My eyes trailed over the empty chairs neatly put behind their desks, until they landed on Junmyeon who stood underneath the doorframe with his coat and bag in his hands.

"I can't believe that my newest employee is the most hard working one." He shook his head with a small laugh lacing through his words and leaned against the wall. "It's already eight, why don't you go home? It's been enough work for you today I believe. No one should exaggerate with work no matter the circumstance. No one besides the two of us is here."

I blinked my eyes tiredly as he mentioned the time. "I'll be going home soon, I just need to transfer this one file and clean my desk." I gave him an reassuring smile as I sighed while quietly speaking, "Yixing gave me a set of keys so I can close this office and also the main door, incase you're worrying about that."

"I was indeed worrying about your well being, you look fatigued. Please don't stay too long, I'll check the CCTV in the morning to assure myself of the time you left, Jiye."

A small laugh escaped through my pressed-together lips. "I'll remind you in the morning Junmyeon, goodnight."

"He isn't giving you too much work, is he?" He furrowed his eyebrows in suspicion, taking a step further into the office to put down his beg on one of the shelves in order to fit his arms through the sleeves of his brown coat.

"You mean Yixing? No, he isn't, I decided to put so much work into this myself."

Junmyeon had left after reassuring himself of my well being for what felt like the hundredth time, but I was not idiotic enough not to appreciate his worry and care as my employer and as my friend. He had invited me to a small get together in a bar tomorrow after work, saying that Lisa must have forgotten to tell me about it. I felt more at ease and peace after they had involved me in their plans and my mind seemed clearer and more determined to finish my never ending rush of thoughts.

My heart beat slowed down when Junmyeon flicked off the lamps that illuminated the open office hall and my eyes narrowed more on the letters scattered all over the display. My hands had done a few expert clicks on the computer mouse to transfer my finished file onto Yixing's computer, before I printed it out neatly to place it inside the folder I had bought for it. I brushed of some dust of Yixing's desk and placed the finish product neatly on the surface of his desk with a relief sigh escaping through my lips.

As I finally slouched back into my now uncomfortable seeming chair, I almost melted against the cold material. My back was aching, similar to my head and eyes that have been concentrated in the bright screen all day; it was unhealthy in so many ways that I rather wanted to let it sink into oblivion. I allowed myself a moment of relaxation that have come short today and closed my eyes while leaning deeper into the chair. The discomfort of the entire day washed off me immediately as I leaned my head into my neck, my fingers slowly grazing over the armrests like I had seen Yixing's do.

There was only one small disturbance; one may decide for themselves how severe it actually was and in what obscure way it influenced my body to tremble. I felt a soft , almost not perceivable touch along the exposed skin on my arms—I had previously rolled up my sleeves for better movement. The circular movement of what seemed like finger tips was way too familiar to claim that there was a stranger in front of me, beside me, wherever they were.

"Jiye." One more fact to tick off the probability of a stranger; the familiarly of the voice that send more shivers down my spine with only voicing my name. Despite  my eyes staying closed all the time I felt the body come closer due to the increasing heat around me.
The male withdrew his hand and hissed. "You're still here?"

When I opened my eyes, Yixing's face was only inches from mine as he had leaned down to take a closer glimpse of me. I flinched as I remembered his weird gesture of draping his finger down my arm.

"Yixing?" My voice was carrying utter surprise as I looked into his face while it remained in the same, dangerous distance to mine. "What are you doing here?"

He looked from my left to right eye, his eyes seemed to accidentally slip down to gape at my lips for a blink of an eye, before they climbed back up my face. "I forgot my USB, I forgot to unplug it from the computer here." His voice remained calm and steady as he spoke, whereas I felt like my heart was going to push its way up my throat any second.

"Oh." I replied simply.

"You didn't react to my statement." A sweet smile adorned his cherry lips as he placed his hands against my armrest. "I can't believe you're still here, it is almost nine. The latest I've ever seen someone here was ten but that was Junmyeon himself. Explanation please."

"I was about to leave—"

"No, you were almost to fall asleep in your chair at you workplace." He finally distanced his face from mine, leaving a comfortable space in between them as he spoke again. "I mean I don't care if you sleep in here, but it's not healthy to work for so long, you know? Especially if you have to be fit for tomorrow."

I sighed and looked into my lap sheepishly. "I know, I apologize." I quickly extended my hand to shove into my handbag,that was on the table as well, the my stuff scattered around the table. I was able to continue my actions for a few seconds, my bag placed on my thighs and hands eagerly pushing notebooks and pens inside, when Yixing's hand wrapped around one of my arms to abruptly stop any of their movement.

"Stop for a moment." His fingers curled tighter around my skin, spreading cold along it. He dragged it further from the outside of the bag they were previously gripping.
"I said stop for a moment and look at me, please."

Even though I understood his demand crystal clearly I didn't dare to move my head and neither tear my gaze from the inside of the bag. I sat still without moving any inch of my body and even held my breath for those endless seconds of tension between the two of us.

"Jiye." I was quite surprised, to say the least, when his other hand suddenly descended up to meet my face, more particularly place itself right at my jaw and chin. I know how badly intense his gaze was glued to my face, yet I couldn't bring myself to willingly turn my head to face him. My reluctancy only encouraged him to slowly tilt my chin sideways and up, and when our eyes met I asked myself if his heart was beating as frantic as mine or if it was calm and steady.

"Yes?" My voice shook with nervousness and sudden fright as his finger remained on their spot underneath my face.

He dragged his fingers slowly down my neck, tempting me painfully, while I attempted to stay as serene as ever while my cheeks only became redder either very passing second. "Is everything okay? Did I give you too much work? You have to be honest with me."

It wasn't until he finished speaking that, with thrilled eyes, his hand followed the shape of my neck and landed on my shoulder. I quickly shook my head to negate what he had said. "Too much work? No! No! This is not your fault, I'm simply putting my efforts into this so I—"

"So you what?" His fingers suddenly pressed into my skin with more pressure than before, not on purpose but perceivably strong.

"So I.." My eyes travelled from my shoulder up his arm, until they landed on his very own again in a magic moment of truth. "So I don't disappoint you as your assistant."

There was silence. Silence for seconds, moment, and maybe an eternity in my head. Our eyes stayed locked while his fingers showed no sign of movement or change of position on my body, driving me more into insanity. His lips fell agape as if to vocalize his thoughts, but he pressed them together just a blink of an eye later, then opened them again but remained silent while only leaving a wet trace of saliva across his lips with his tongue.

"I'm sure you won't disappoint me, honey." My body and mind shuttered upon the endearment he used, my lips suddenly lacked moist as if they had never came to touch with water or any liquid.
"Don't worry, go home, sleep a bit longer and come to the office at 10 tomorrow, alright? Should I drive you home?"

His hand decided to descend down my arm slowly while his intense stare only hazed my thoughts more. I was only to snap out of it when my eyes focused on the clock on the wall behind his body, comprehending the entire situation.

"It's fine!" I shoot up from my chair with my bag enclosed in both one hand, while the other simultaneously dragged my coat from the back of the chair. Almost crashing into his chest, I took a step back which resulted in loosing my balance completely and my body tilting back dangerously. The entire weight of my body was supported by only my heels as I felt gravitation hit me strongly and my body falling backwards.

I would have crashed down on the chair or even worse the hard floor beneath my feet, if Yixing hadn't reacted just in time. As if on cue, his arms slung around my waist, rescuing me from fate. I almost screeched when I felt his hands dig into my skin through material, because it made me feel even more lunatic; it was indescribable how his touch influenced me and simultaneously enhanced every of my senses like a curse. A good curse. A freaking good curse.

I would have liked to keep it that way, our body were closer to each other than they have ever been. My mind was spinning with the way his posture and strong hold around me were bearing something flirtatious yet unexplainable at the same time.

Good thing I still had left that tiny bit of sanity and conscience which made me run out of the office quicker than any speed any measured on earth.

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Hey guys! Your thoughts on our lovely Yixing in this story? What do you expect, considering the very first chapter I wrote for this story (-)?