Chapter Text
Usually, Felix would walk to work.
He would meander down the footpaths, enjoy the gentle breezes and get to work at least 10 minutes early.
Today, that was not the case.
Felix sprinted down the path, thankfully not running into anyone when he rounded the corners.
“I am so sorry I’m late,” Felix heaved once he finally found himself at the door to the laundromat, pushing his dark hair back off his forehead. “I forgot to set my alarm.”
The tiny old lady holding her usual bag of clothes waved her hand with a smile as Felix unlocked the door and flicked on the lights. “Don’t worry about it. I don’t mind waiting a few minutes from time to time.”
Felix nodded, propping himself against the counter to catch his breath as the lady shuffled over to one of the machines and began rummaging for change.
Felix finally managed to catch his breath and pushed off the counter to flip the sign on the door from ‘closed’ to ‘open’.
Felix would not say he liked his job, because that would be lying. He did not like his job. All he did all day was stand at the counter to handle the few measly orders for dry-cleaning the tiny laundromat would get, iron things if he was asked to, and occasionally fix a broken machine (which never ended well and almost always resulted in a professional being called).
Felix spent most of his morning greeting the three people who came by, switched one load from the washing machine to the dryer because the old lady wasn’t strong enough to do it herself and answered a call that ended up being the wrong number.
Felix couldn’t complain, though; the job got him just enough money to keep his share of the apartment in check, and he still got to work with clothes - to some degree, at least.
Felix had a bachelor’s degree in fashion design but he had never had the opportunity to put it to good use. When he moved in with Kangho, he realised that he needed to get a stable job that would guarantee him money, and once he got the job he had now, he had never gotten around to trying to get anything else.
The laundromat was old and hardly staying up - lights were constantly broken, there was always a leak from one of the washing machines, and the sun didn’t reach inside the building through the windows at any time of the day, which had always bothered Felix; he liked the sun.
When the bell above the door rang, Felix looked over and was halfway through a hello when he realised it was his boss, Mr Kim, an older man of about 45, though he looked much older.
“Oh, hi, Mr. Kim,” Felix said, blinking in confusion. “What are you doing down here?” Felix felt his stomach flip when he saw the solemn look on the older man’s face. “What’s wrong?”
“Look, I’m really sorry, Felix,” Mr. Kim said, eyes still downcast as he held out a yellow envelope.
Felix tilted his head slightly and took the envelope, pulling the flap open to find a thin stack of cash. He looked up at Mr. Kim. “Mr. Kim, this is a month’s worth of my pay.”
Mr. Kim nodded. “I know. I’m sorry I couldn’t give you more notice.”
Felix felt the envelope crinkle as his grip suddenly tightened. “You- you’re firing me?”
“I wish I wasn’t.” Mr. Kim gestured around the shop. “But I can’t afford to keep this place open anymore. You’re not the only one.”
Felix left his shoulders sag slightly but nodded. “Of course. I’m sorry.”
Mr. Kim shook his head. “It’s okay. Get home, you deserve to rest.”
Felix felt like he should have said more, but with virtually nothing coming to mind, he just nodded and hurried past Mr. Kim, not wanting to take up any more of his time.
Felix walked home more slowly than usual. He checked his phone and saw it was about 4, managing to make out the numbers through the hopelessly cracked screen when he tilted it right. Felix sighed as he walked. Why was it so dark?
Felix groaned and just pulled his hood up when the sky decided to be a dick and let all of its rain plummet.
As he walked along, the light of a store to his right illuminated the wet path before him, making the pavement glow with white light.
Felix looked up to find he was right beside a shining window display, headless mannequins posed inside and dressed in lavish clothing. The large screen behind them held the cursive intertwined ‘VM’ logo of Veldora Mode, the luxury clothing brand. Felix had always been slightly obsessed with Veldora fashion and had taken a lot of his university final's inspiration from the brand. He had once wished to work for them, but that dream was long ago washed away with the same gusto as the dirt on the road behind him.
He paused for a moment to stare up at the beautiful designs of clean suits and luxurious bags and glittering jewellery and flawless shoes.
He sighed and tapped the glass almost forlornly before he began back on his route.
───⋆☽❇☾⋆───
“No, I don’t want the report in a week, I need it now ,” Hyunjin snapped, tapping his fingernails on his desk. He had been on the phone all afternoon and was starting to think he had a phone-shaped dent in his ear at this point. He dropped his head into his free hand, rubbing his eyes. “No, no, Yeon Sue, you don't- Yeon Sue, I don’t understand what you're finding confusing about this. The report I asked for had a deadline set for over two weeks ago . You do get that if I wait another week that it will be four weeks overdue.”
Hyunjin ran a hand through his soft brown hair, exhaling as the attitude-filled lady he was spoon feeding this information to rattled off a list of excuses that Hyunjin didn’t care for.
A glance at the phone set told him he had more calls and messages to hear and he tried not to audibly sigh.
“Okay, Yeon Sue?” He interrupted her. “Don't even worry about it, okay? Just send me what you have so far and we can go from there.”
Hyunjin just knew this wouldn't end well. He wanted to gouge his eyes out. “What do you mean it's not started? You had a month to work on this. What… no, I understand you had - Yeon Sue, I don’t-” Hyunjin sighed again. “Just forget it, okay? Forget it. Have a good rest of the afternoon.”
Hyunjin aggressively hung up, slamming the phone back on the set. “‘Cause it’s your last afternoon employed here.” He muttered to himself before he held down the button on his phone set. “Fire her for me, would you, please, Sua?”
“Yes, Mr. Hwang,” Sua, his secretary’s voice, responded. “Also, Mr. Lee is here to see you.”
“Sure, send him in. Hold my calls for a minute, please,” Hyunjin sighed, sitting back in his chair and swivelling it to look over the soaked city from the glass wall on the top storey of the main Veldora building in Seoul. He didn’t usually use this office unless he was having a particularly busy day and he didn’t have time for the distractions of the building, but he always felt a little isolated in it - he preferred being down one floor with his best designers rather than acting like a detached CEO who didn’t care about his employees.
Hyunjin’s dark eyes watched a particularly large droplet of water slide down the glass, framed by the grey fog that hung low over the city.
He didn’t turn when he heard the door open and smelt the artificial sweeteners filling the room before the door closed. “Tell me you come bearing good news, dude.”
“‘fraid not,” The voice behind him responded. “My assistant just handed in her notice that she’s leaving tomorrow; she’s going on maternity leave and isn’t coming back.”
“Damn,” Hyunjin sighed, spinning back around in his chair, deciding he found the gloomy city too disheartening. He looked up at Minho. “So I assume you need a new one?”
“That’s the aim,” Minho answered, his jaw chewing slightly.
Minho was the Head of Design at Veldora. He had light, copper brown hair parted in the middle and was dressed in a suit, like always, and was to type to keep his things sorted and organised. He wore an Apple watch on his wrist that gave him notifications for alarms he didn't even use, for crazy things like eye drops he didn’t take. He owned a set of reading glasses that Hyunjin found out he only used to try and look smarter, and his left hand flaunted a shiny wedding ring, though Hyunjin had never met Jia, the woman Minho married a few years back.
“Hey, why don’t you ask Jisung? You two are close, no?” Hyunjin asked, tapping his lips. “He’s a very good worker, and not to mention a great designer.”
Minho pursed his lips and shook his head. “No, I’m fairly sure he’s happy as a designer - I think he’d rather die than follow me around all day. And besides, you know how Jia is.”
Hyunjin nodded. “Yeah, I do.”
Hyunjin hadn’t been there, but Jisung had gone over to Minho’s place some time last year and there had been instant hatred between Jisung and Jia, though Hyunjin had never known why - Jia didn’t want to hear a word about Jisung and Jisung didn’t like talking about Jia.
“Okay, I’ll get Chan to put an advertisement out, then,” Hyunjin sighed, rubbing his eyes.
“Thanks… Rough day?” Minho asked, leaning on the edge of Hyunjin’s desk, the smell of lollies growing more prominent.
“You said it. I had to fire Yeon Sue just now,” Hyunjin sighed. “I told her last time that she wouldn't be getting any more chances if she was late with another report… you don't think I was too harsh?”
Minho shook his head with a scoff. “No. That girl came from nothing but money and was used to anything going her way if she could pay the right amount. You gave her, what, 3 chances already?”
“5, actually,” Hyunjin sighed.
“Exactly,” Minho said, reaching into his pocket. “She’ll survive. Lazy people don’t deserve to work here anyway.”
“He says, while chewing a lolly,” Hyunjin commented with a teasing smile.
“Oh, shut up, what flavour do you want?” Minho asked, sifting through the handful of sweets he had pulled from his pocket.
“Red and purple, please,” Hyunjin responded, holding out his palm.
“Oh, going for two flavours, are we? How greedy of you,” Minho complained, but he handed over a strawberry and blackcurrant chewy to Hyunjin.
“Thanks,” Hyunjin sighed, unwrapping the blackcurrant one first and popping it in his mouth. “I didn't get time for lunch today.”
“You have a key to my Sugar Drawer, you know what one in my desk it is if you ever need a hit,” Minho commented.
“You're acting like you sell drugs out of your locker at high school,” Hyunjin teased, smoothing out the lolly wrapper and holding it close to his face to read the tiny writing on it. “Huh. Did you know that your hair grows faster in summer and slower in winter?”
Minho snorted. “Yes. I know all the facts on these wrappers. They need to get new ‘did you know’ facts. They haven't changed them in, like, 15 years.”
“And I suppose you have better ideas?” Hyunjin asked, sinking his teeth into the now-soft chewy.
“I do,” Minho said defensively. “I'll bet you didn't know that cuddling your partner can relieve physical pain, did you?”
“Okay, I get that you’re happily married, you don't need to flaunt that you are and I’m single.”
“Hey, leave my marriage out of this, it was just the first fact I thought of. It was one in a million,” Minho responded, rolling one of Hyunjin’s pencils off the table just because. “And you’re always going on about how you don’t have time for romance anyway.”
“And you would be right,” Hyunjin nodded, reaching forward and wiggling his mouse on the mouse pad to get his computer to light up. He sighed at the 321 unread emails - his inbox had been empty that morning.
“I know I am,” Minho answered, poking Hyunjin in the forehead with his index finger. “And it’s depressing - 5 years come off my lifespan every time I think about how sad and lonely you must be.”
“Surely you have something important to be doing right now?” Hyunjin asked.
“How rude,” Minho said, but stood up from the desk. “But yeah, probably.”
“Then go do it,” Hyunjin said, waving towards the dark wooden door. “Give the others my hellos and tell them I’ll be staying late tonight so they probably won’t see me, would you?”
“Yeah, sure,” Minho said, waving his fingers. “Enjoy your calls. Those little red buttons are flashing like crazy. Can’t relate.”
“How do you manage to get on top of all your calls?” Hyunjin asked. “They just seem to keep coming today.”
“So there’s this thing on the back of the set called a battery cover,” Minho explained, using his hands to gesture the shape of it, almost condescendingly. “I pull it off, tip out the batteries and suddenly, all my problems go away.”
“You’re a shocker,” Hyunjin stated.
Minho blew him a kiss as he slowly slid out the door. “I know, baby boy.”
“Don’t call me that,” Hyunjin said, promptly throwing a rubber at him, only for it to hit the door after it clicked closed, and bounced and rolled across the carpet like a footy ball - unable to choose a direction to go.
Hyunjin sighed, leaning back in his chair.
Hyunjin pressed his direct line to the advertising crew before bringing the phone up again.
It dialled for a moment before there was a click on the other side.
“Hey, Channie, can I ask a favour,” Hyunjin asked, wheeling his chair over to the side to pick up the pencil Minho had sent over the edge of the desk. “Yeah, can you put up an ad for a new assistant Head of Design, please?... Yeah, she quit… no, don’t make it too flashy, I don’t want to be sorting through hundreds of candidates… yeah, just keep it discreet. Thanks, Channie. Cya.”
Hyunjin put the phone back down before collecting himself and answering the next call.
───⋆☽❇☾⋆───
By the time Felix finally entered the lobby of his apartment building, he was soaked to the bone and shivering. He looked down as the door closed and sighed when he saw he was leaving a puddle where he stood. He clicked the elevator button as he pulled off his hood and waited, holding his arms around himself to try and stop the shivering.
He waited for a solid five minutes, but the elevator never made a noise. He tried pressing the button again, but it didn’t even light up this time.
“Fuck.”
Felix rubbed his freckled face and pushed some stray dark strands off his forehead before turning and galoshing his way up the stairs, his shoes and socks squelching as he went.
He finally made it to his door and unlocked it, pushing his way inside.
“Kangie?” He called out monotonically. “You home?”
“In the living room,” a voice trailed in.
Felix trudged down the hall past the blank walls and stopped once he got to the living room. Kangho was sitting on their couch on his phone - he hardly looked up when Felix made his presence known.
“You’re home early,” he said.
Felix hummed. “I got fired.”
Kangho looked up abruptly, his dark eyebrows furrowing. “What, why? What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything,” Felix sighed. “The laundromat’s closing down, it couldn’t stay open anymore.”
Kangho hummed with a nod, looking back down at his phone, shaking out his short hair. “Better find another job, then.”
Felix sighed. “I know, but I’ve had a pretty bad day today. Can I have a hug?”
“With you soaking wet like that?” Kangho scoffed. “In your dreams.”
Felix flicked the water from his sleeve at him.
“Oh, stop sulking and go get out of those soaked clothes. You’re tracking water everywhere and the floorboards will start discolouring,” Kangho said, waving a hand in Felix’s direction.
“Fine,” Felix huffed and made his way around behind the couch and over to their room, closing the door behind him. Usually he would leave it open, but he was really not in the mood to have Kangho staring at his ass.
Felix dug through his drawers absentmindedly.
He and Kango had known each other since they were about 15, began dating the same year and had been for almost 8 years now. Felix was extremely grateful for Kango - all throughout his childhood, Felix’s parents had fought. They seemed to hate each other, his father would drink and his mother would hit him for it, and he would hit back; the hate eventually ended in a grisly divorce, but only several years after Felix had finally left home. Kangho had been there for Felix through all that and had invited him to live with him the moment he was 18 to help him escape the terrible conditions of his own house. In comparison to Felix’s parents, Kangho was a dream come true and Felix still didn’t think he deserved someone as good as Kangho.
Felix finally finished changing and came back into the living room, where Kangho seemingly hadn’t moved a muscle. He walked over to stand next to the couch.
“Okay, can I have a hug now?” Felix asked and Kangho sighed but reached out an arm.
Felix laid down beside Kangho and sighed into the hug - it was a bit stiff, but he didn’t mind.
“Have you been smoking again?” Felix asked after inhaling the smell of smoke off Kangho’s clothes.
“Only a couple at my lunch break,” Kangho responded.
“Kangie, I thought you said you would try to quit,” Felix said.
“I was really stressed, I just needed a reliever,” Kangho said. “It's fine, muffin, I finished my last packet today, I won't buy anymore.”
“Okay… only if you promise not to,” Felix sighed.
There was silence for a moment besides the sound of Kangho’s black-polished nails clicking on his phone screen.
“Also, I was thinking… maybe it’s time for me to try and put my design degree to some use,” Felix said.
Kangho hummed in response. “Sure, muffin.”
“Do you think I should do it?” Felix asked, looking up at his boyfriend.
Kangho shrugged, eyes still glued to his phone. “If you want.”
Felix sat up properly and blinked at Kangho. “Really?”
“Yeah, go find something,” Kangho said. “You’ve got a laptop.”
Felix paused for a minute before nodding and standing up.
“Don’t take too long,” Kangho added, landing a hand on Felix’s ass as he stood up. “Dinner won’t make itself.”
“I was thinking we could order in tonight,” Felix sighed. “I’m exhausted.”
“Don’t get slack on me now, muffin,” Kangho said, eyes back to his phone. “You just got fired, we’re not ordering in.”
Felix sighed but nodded. “Fine, I’ll get it started after I have a look for places that are hiring.”
Felix picked up his laptop from the kitchen bench and made his way back to their room. With what felt like the millionth sigh that day, he flicked the lid open.
───⋆☽❇☾⋆───
Felix had been sitting on his computer for an hour now. The blue light was starting to hurt his eyes and he was pretty close to giving up and trying again tomorrow.
Just as he was closing yet another option that required him to have experience in the field, the swoosh notification sound of an email startled him. He curiously clicked onto his inbox, which was so empty he could count the number of emails he had sent and received on his hands, to find an unread email from Veldora Mode Hiring. He had subscribed to it long ago in hopes something he could do would show up one day. Felix furrowed his eyebrows and clicked onto the email. His eyes widened as he read it.
HIRING: NEW ASSISTANT HEAD OF DESIGN AT VELDORA MODE
Do you have a degree in fashion? Do you have a passion for clothes and style? Do you like working alongside others? Then this is the job for you! New to the industry? No worries!
Felix didn’t even need to read anymore to be completely sold. Of course, he did read the rest of the email to make sure he met all the criteria, and he was fairly certain he did.
He exhaled heavily and closed his laptop in time with letting his eyes fall shut; he needed to be completely sure this wasn’t a dream. When he cracked open his eyes and found that his laptop was exactly where he had left it, Felix almost made his laptop shut down from the speed at which he checked all his application papers and sent them through.
Felix hardly managed to press the send button, but when he did, he slammed his laptop closed and buried his face in his hands.
He didn’t know why he was nervous - he didn’t expect to get a response back from them; after all, there were probably plenty of older, more experienced people to take the position, but Felix held the tiniest glimmer of hope, right in the middle of his chest that hoped that he had a chance.
───⋆☽❇☾⋆───
Felix had only ever had one sexual partner in his life, and that was Kangho. Felix wasn’t entirely sure that he himself was doing it right, because every time they did it, it was an in and out job, no pun intended, with very little foreplay and Kangho was usually done within a few minutes. This usually left Felix partially hard and nowhere near finished, so he usually managed to sneak to the bathroom after with the excuse of cleaning the lube away and finish off himself while he was in the shower; that was something Felix was good at. Maybe it was because he had to do it every time after he and Kangho were done, or maybe because those times with Kangho were so few and far between - and every human has needs to be fulfilled more than once a month.
Not only when Felix was done in the bathroom was Kangho always asleep, but he left Felix to clean up; Felix would have to dispose of the condom and its wrapper, put the lid back on the lube and put that away, and occasionally even change the sheets - when that happened, Felix would have to sleep in the big bed by himself because Kangho would just move to the couch if the sheets were messy.
Tonight had been no different from usual, but Felix didn’t mind. He didn’t expect anything else and just kind of assumed that was how it was. His mind was far from the sleeping man beside him, though.
It had been just over two days since Felix sent in the applications to Veldora, and he was yet to get anything back.
He stared at the ceiling, tapping his fingers on his stomach.
When Felix checked the clock again and found it was only two minutes since he last checked, he decided this was ridiculous and carefully got out of bed, because Kangho was rather unpleasant if he was woken up.
Felix tiptoed through the door, wincing slightly when the floorboards creaked under his feet and hurried over to his laptop, pushing the screen open.
The room flooded with blue light as the screen turned on and showed him the desktop photo of him and Kangho at the beach a few years ago. He didn’t have a password - Kangho didn’t like him having one, but Felix thought that was relatively fair.
Felix’s heart skipped a beat when he saw a little red bubble with the number 1 hovering above his Outlook and he rushed to open it. He was sure his heart completely stopped when he saw the sender: Veldora Mode.
Felix’s body was suddenly not moving - one part of him wanted to move the mouse and click on the email, but the other part wanted to slam the laptop shut and never see what the email contained.
After what seemed like years, Felix finally moved the mouse up to the email and clicked - the anticipation was short lived though, because he accidentally right clicked and, instead of opening the email, it just showed him a pop up list of ‘cut’ and ‘copy’ and ‘define Mode ’ and things. Thankfully, it seemed to be a quick barrier between the anticipation and the actual thing, so Felix’s stomach finally stopped doing backflips when he clicked onto the email and read its contents.
Dear Mr Lee Felix,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been shortlisted for an interview for the position of Assistant Head of Design at Veldora Mode. The interview will take place on Monday the 4th of June, at 11 am, at our main office located. Please dress in professional attire suitable for a formal business setting and speak to the receptionist for directions. Your interview will be conducted by myself, William Beo. We kindly request that you bring a copy of your resume, a portfolio of your work, and any other relevant documents that showcase your skills. We look forward to discussing your qualifications and exploring how you can contribute to our team. If you have any questions or need further information, please don't hesitate to contact us.
Kind regards,
William Beo
Recruiter
Felix almost screamed if he was being totally honest and he had to put a hand over his mouth to stop the sound from coming out of his throat at midnight in an apartment complex.
Felix had to reread said email many more times over before the information actually sunk in, but when he actually realised he had been accepted to an interview, he had to stand up and silently pace around because he couldn’t jump (or that may result in another complaint from the people who lived in the apartment below).
“Fuck, formal business?” Felix whispered, suddenly stopping in his tracks. “I don’t own anything like that…”
Felix waved a hand and decided he would deal with the problem another time when he was feeling more mature - right now, all he wanted to do was run around screaming.
Felix stood, staring at the floor with wide eyes and tapping his fingers to his lips before his brain kicked in again and he hurried down the hallway to the spare room.
He twisted the handle to push open the door and flicked on the light - the room was even smaller than his and Kangho’s bedroom and had no windows, but the yellow light of the singular lightbulb was enough for Felix to spot the large black folder that was his portfolio in amongst the other unused items. Felix closed the door behind him.
He had work to do.
───⋆☽❇☾⋆───
Felix wasn’t sure why people used butterflies as the animal they described to be fluttering in their stomachs when they were anxious. It was surely an understatement, because Felix was having trouble deciding if it was pterodactyls or a group of rhinos stampeding in his stomach.
The bus was pretty empty and Felix sat by himself at the back, trying not to chew his nails. He had his portfolio propped up against his legs with not only his university final inside, but his loose designs and resume, plus a few other random things he hoped might boost his image.
Felix almost froze when the bus came to a stop right across from the Veldora Mode building before he realised he needed to get off the bus and gathered his folio, hurrying off the bus.
Crossing the road and pausing for a moment to look up at the stupidly tall building, Felix swallowed nervously.
It was so fancy.
He looked at the door, which was such clean glass that Felix could see his reflection in it.
Felix suddenly felt self conscious. A flow of people were walking along the path wearing luxurious, crisp clothes and jewellery that probably cost more than Felix’s entire outfit, and here he was, completely out of place.
His folio was large and an awkward shape to carry, so he just had it hugged to his chest, and he didn’t really own ‘formal business attire’, so he had just gone for his nicer clothes; a cream turtleneck and brown jacket over the top would just have to do for now. His hair was unruly and didn’t do what he wanted it to, so he just had to deal with it.
It was when he almost got run over by an angry looking business man that he decided it was best to just go inside.
Switching the folio to carry it under his arm to hope it didn’t look as awkward, Felix pushed the door open to enter the warm building. It was how Felix would have expected it - clean, well designed and absolutely massive . He almost didn’t want to walk over to the receptionist because he felt like his shoes would ruin the sparkling floors.
When he stopped in front of the counter, the woman behind it looked up with a smile. “Hi, can I help you?”
“Yeah, hi, I’m here for an 11 o’clock interview?” Felix asked, trying to fix his hair as he spoke.
“Sure. Name?”
“Lee Felix.”
The lady took a minute to type in his name, her fake nails clacking the keys noisily before she nodded. “Lee Felix for the new assistant Head of Design?”
“That’s me,” Felix nodded.
“Alright, just take the elevator up to the seventh floor and you’ll find a waiting room. Someone will come get you when they’re ready,” she smiled, and Felix quickly thanked her before heading for the elevator.
The elevator was bigger than Felix thought was necessary, but he was glad he was the only one in it as it went up - he didn’t think he could handle the anxiety of being around an actual employee in a small space.
Felix managed to find the waiting room without much of a problem and took a seat next to a massive potted plant.
The waiting room was mostly empty, save a small kid who sat opposite Felix and seemed to be staring into his soul.
Felix tried to ignore him, but the little kid, whose legs hardly reached lower than the seat itself, wouldn’t quit staring.
Before Felix could get any more uncomfortable, a woman came around the corner and grabbed the little boy.
“Come on, sweetie, we’re leaving,” she said, a hint of annoyance in her voice, and Felix watched the pair disappear.
He picked at his nail, now completely alone in a silent room.
He almost cried in relief when a man wearing a grey suit and with hair the colour of wheat came into the room and looked at him. “Lee Felix?”
Felix nodded and stood. “Yes, that’s me.”
“Great,” the man smiled, his round cheeks squishing with the motion as he gestured down the hall. “Come this way please.”
Felix picked up his folio and hurried after the man down the hallway of nice carpet and through a door, which he was asked to close behind him.
Felix had a quick glance around to see the room was pretty simple - it had two couches facing each other with a table in the middle and a few lamps and plants around the place.
“Please, take a seat,” the man said, gesturing to the couch facing away from the door as he sat on the other.
Felix sat.
“My name’s Han Jisung,” the man said, holding out a hand for Felix, who shook it a little confusedly. Jisung chuckled. “I know, I’m not William.”
“Where is he?” Felix asked.
“He died.” Jisung said it with such a straight face and such a genuine voice that Felix was absolutely horrified for a moment.
“ What? ” Felix asked.
Jisung broke the serious expression with a snicker. “Oh, he’s not dead, he’s just sick as fuck.”
Felix pursed his lips.
Jisung made a face. “Oh, sorry. I forgot I’m not allowed to swear. Sorry. I’ve never really done this before, but William’s so sick we don’t know when he’ll be back, so it was just easier for everyone if I just filled in - less paperwork and emails, you know?”
“It’s okay, I don’t mind,” Felix said, picking at his nail a bit.
“Nervous?” Jisung asked, nodding to Felix’s fidgeting hands.
Felix immediately stopped picking at them. “Sorry, yeah. Very.”
“Don’t worry, I don’t bite,” Jisung said, giggling at his own joke for a second as he pulled out some papers. “Alrighty, so… you’re Lee Felix, you’re 24 and you have a degree in fashion design?”
“Yes,” Felix answered.
“Sweet, so do I,” Jisung said, before making another face at himself and whispering something that sounded a little like ‘this is a job interview, not a conversation, Jisung’. “Um… so.” Jisung ran his finger over the sheet for a second before turning his left hand to read the scribbled writing on the back of it, the brief shine of the ring there catching Felix’s eye. “Right, tell me more about your background in fashion design and why you decided to pursue this career.”
“Well, I graduated from Seoul National University with a bachelor in fashion design when I was 21, but I never really got to pursue it - I moved in a with my partner and decided I needed a more stable job, so I didn’t try to find anything at the time,” Felix said, making sure not to mention his partner was a man - it was usually just easier that way, especially when he didn’t know someone’s values. “But I’ve always loved designing clothes and things like that, I used to give the kids at primary school makeovers at lunch time.”
Jisung snickered. “That’s cute.” Jisung sighed then, rubbing his eyes. “Jesus, I’m so sorry, I’m really not good at this whole ‘professional’ thing - I’m friends with everyone I work with.”
Felix shook his head. “No, no, it’s okay. I promise I don’t mind. I was scared you would be mean to me because I’ve never worked in the industry before.”
Jisung snorted, checking the scribbles on his hand again. “Me? Mean? Never. Okay, how do you believe your academic assignments have prepared you for this job? In fact, why don’t you kinda show me your portfolio as you talk?”
Felix did as he was asked, pulling out his folio and explaining the components of his degree final and the roles he played in creating the line and the process he went through. Jisung was very kind and attentive the whole time, listening and asking questions - he made Felix feel very comfortable and made him realise he really had nothing to be nervous about.
“Felix, you are very talented,” Jisung said, tapping the open page of his folio. “Why on earth did you think you couldn’t make it in this industry?”
Felix shrugged a little, brushing his hair back a bit. “I don’t know… my partner thought it would be easier if I got a definite job-”
“Before you tried?” Jisung asked, and Felix nodded. Jisung hummed. “Typical men. They always think they know better.”
Felix almost choked. “I’m sorry?”
“Oh, are you not gay?” Jisung asked, suddenly looking a little scared.
“N-no, I am, but… how did you know?” Felix questioned.
Jisung held up his left hand, wiggling his ring finger with a smile. “Married to a man myself - I have a pretty good gay-dar. And don’t worry, this workplace is a discrimination free zone, and everyone has the option to wear the flag of their sexuality and a badge with their pronouns if they so wish.”
“That’s very progressive for Seoul,” Felix laughed, though still a little nervously.
“Our CEO is a progressive guy,” Jisung nodded. “It was his idea.”
“Is he… y’know?” Felix asked, hoping he wasn’t stepping over a line.
“Oh yeah,” Jisung nodded. “If there’s anything discriminatory in this company, he’ll know about it and put an end to it one way or another. Okay, I only have a few more questions, if that’s okay?”
Felix nodded. “Yeah, of course.”
“So, what are some of your strengths and what are some of your weaknesses?” Jisung asked.
Felix chewed his lip for a minute as he thought. “Well, I think my strengths are mostly based around how I work with people. I’m cooperative and I like working in a team more than alone, because I can bounce positive energy off the others if I or one of them are upset for any reason. I think I’m a positive person and will never walk into work in a bad mood and take it out on someone else - it’s not their fault I’m having a bad day. I’m very organised, and… and I don’t mind going on coffee runs.”
Jisung seemed to perk up just a little more at that. “You do coffee runs?”
“Any time,” Felix smiled.
Jisung nodded, making an exaggerated tick on his paper. “That’s brilliant . And… What about weaknesses?”
Felix thought for a second. “I think… I’m too much of a people pleaser sometimes. If someone asks me to do something, I’ll do it even if it’s inconvenient for myself. I know that can be good sometimes, but I’ve found I put other people before myself all the time, and it can burn me out from time to time. But I think that’s something I can work on.”
Jisung smiled kindly with a nod. “And last question - why should we hire you?”
“I think I would make a good addition to the team,” Felix answered. “I’m dedicated and willing to learn. And I just love this industry so much, I think my passion for it will overpower my inexperience and push me to try harder.”
Jisung was nodding and Felix could see a sort of excitement behind his eyes that he couldn’t really understand.
With a swish, Jisung put the paper down. “So, I’ll let you know now that if you get this position, you’ll be under a 6 month,” he made quotation marks with his fingers, “‘probation’ period. If you perform well over those 6 months, you’ll be given a permanent contract. Got it?”
Felix nodded. “Got it.”
“And… I might hold onto your portfolio if that’s alright,” Jisung added with a wink. “I want to show it to my superiors.”
Felix smiled, trying not to tense up with excitement. “Sure, I’d be happy to let you.”
“Well then, Mr. Lee Felix,” Jisung said. “We’ll be in touch.”
───⋆☽❇☾⋆───
“What about her?” Minho asked, tapping the file of a lady.
“She left midway through, so she’s a definite no,” Jisung said, waving Minho’s hand away from the lady's folio.
Hyunjin nodded. “That's fair.”
He, Jisung and Minho were sitting in Hyunjin’s office at the coffee table, shifting through the folios of the potential assistants for Minho, drilling Jisung about each of them to try and find someone suitable.
“Come on, Seunngie, there's got to be someone good,” Minho sighed, tipping his head back and finishing the last mouthful of his third sugar-infused coffee.
Jisung hummed, tapping his lips. “There was one I thought you would like… his folio’s around here somewhere.”
Hyunjin brushed the crossed off lady's folio away and looked down at the next one in front of him. It was pretty big and it was black, so Hyunjin flipped it open to look through the pages. Inside, he found some very impressive designs and sketches with some nice colour pallets. As he flipped through, he came across the photos of the finished pieces being worn on a very young man - one specific photo caught Hyunjin’s eye, one of the man posing with a smile on his freckled-face and a blue-stained tongue sticking out, a lollipop in hand.
Hyunjin had to admit, as he looked through more of the photos, the man in the photos was one of the most beautiful men he had ever seen, and Hyunjin had seen his fair share of beautiful people in his time. He had a slight, almost fairy-like face with great bone structure and these eyes that seemed to be alive on the page. Hyunjin turned the pages towards Jisung.
“What’s this? I thought I said we weren’t hiring any new models for at least three months,” Hyunjin said as Jisung looked over. “We don’t need any more.”
“Oh, that’s him, Minho,” Jisung said, patting the other’s knee. “That’s not a new model, Hyunjin, that’s the guy I was telling you would be a good option. Felix, I think it was.”
Hyunjin flipped the paper back over. He furrowed his eyebrows. “ This guy is one of the applicants?”
“Mmhm,” Jisung nodded. “He was really nice, and he seems to have a lot of potential. His folio-”
“Nope,” Hyunjin said, flipping the cover of the folio closed defiantly.
“Wait, what do you mean nope, you haven't heard a thing about him yet,” Jisung said.
“Don’t care,” Hyunjin said, shaking his head. “Not hiring him.”
“Well hey now, it’s not all up to you,” Minho said, looking over at Jisung with a nod. “What’s his deal?”
“He’s pretty new to the industry, but he’s so talented,” Jisung said.
“Ah, fresh meat,” Minho said, nodding.
“Don’t say ‘fresh meat’,” Jisung said with a grimace.
“No, I mean like I can basically shape him into exactly the type of assistant I want,” Minho explained. “He doesn't have experience with any other competitors, either, so I can almost guarantee he’ll stay loyal to us rather than running off to join fucking Gucci or some shit like my old assistant is doing after she has the kid, the traitorous bitch.”
Hyunjin watched as Jisung and Minho looked through the folio, seeming more and more impressed with someone so young - and so pretty .
“I don’t care,” Hyunjin said, pushing the folio away with a shake of his head. “I don’t want you hiring him.”
“Hyunjin, this guy is literally perfect for this job,” Minho retorted.
“I don’t care, just keep looking,” Hyunjin said, pushing this Felix guy’s folio off the table.
“What is your problem?” Jisung asked. “You’re not really-”
“Jisung,” Hyunjin snapped, looking up at him. “No.”
Hyunjin picked up another folio in an attempt to forget about the other.
He could never work with someone that gorgeous.
He wouldn’t get a single thing done.
Ever .
He couldn’t deal with any distractions, especially now.
“Hyunjin, for fuck’s sakes, just hear him out,” Minho said, picking up and opening Felix’s folio again.
Hyunjin slammed the one he was looking at down and stood up. “I’m going home. I want the two of you out of here in 20 minutes, and for the love of God, just choose someone.”
He paused before he left the door. He turned, eyeing the two carefully. “Just not Felix.”
Jisung and Minho watched the door slam behind Hyunjin.
There was silence for a moment before Jisung spoke up. “You’re going to hire him anyway, aren’t you?”
Minho scoffed, stretching his arms up and out. “Of course I am.”