"Seriously, Joonghyuk-ssi, are you not thinking?" Kim Dokja said crossly. "Of course, you have to rest if you return from a business trip. Why would you even ask me to come as usual? Does this mean you've been going on business trips, coming back tired and never mentioning a word of it to me?"
". . .You mentioned nothing about the blind date either," Yoo Joonghyuk said, a little ticked off at being scolded by Kim Dokja.
Uriel tapped his arm, caught his attention and silently mouthed, "Pathetic."
He was going to fire her and put Kim Dokja as his secretary. Kim Dokja was a fast learner, he'd pick things up quickly and he was a damn pleasanter company than this demon-like woman.
"Because I didn't know anything about it!" Kim Dokja said incredulously. "Do you really think I wanted this? You of all people should know that, Joonghyuk-ssi."
Right, right, of course, he knew. He knew, he was simply a little unnerved by Kim Dokja nagging at him.
"You said you were with your friends," Yoo Joonghyuk tried diverting Kim Dokja's attention away. "Does this mean you're with that idiot boy?"
"How long are you going to keep calling him that?" Kim Dokja sighed. "But yes."
"And with his fiancée?"
"Yes. Obviously."
Yoo Joonghyuk frowned. Why did Kim Dokja keep putting himself in such situations every time?
"I'm just going to be with the kids though," Kim Dokja said, nonchalantly. "I'll let the others go have their own dates. It's better for me that way too, you know."
Yoo Joonghyuk sort of wished Kim Dokja's blind date hadn't failed. Just so he didn't have to take on the harder task and take care of kids while the others enjoyed their time. Kim Dokja deserved a break too.
No, he didn't want Kim Dokja's blind date to succeed either. To be precise, he wanted to be there with Kim Dokja as his date. He would let him have a good time, take a nice break and enjoy his day.
Yoo Joonghyuk, distracted by his own thoughts and Kim Dokja, almost crashed into the jeep in front of his car at the red light, slamming onto the brakes just in time to stop a collision. Uriel clutched onto her seat and swore under her breath, uttering the foulest words known to mankind.
"Is everything alright?" Kim Dokja asked, concerned.
"Yes," Yoo Joonghyuk said. "Just a red light. The car ahead stopped suddenly."
Uriel buried her face in her hands. But Kim Dokja didn't have to know that he was blaming an innocent driver. How did that even matter?
"Is it late there?" Kim Dokja said.
"No, it's around five thirty in the evening right now. . .It's still Friday here."
"Oh, is it?"
"Yes, South Korea's time zone is ahead, so it's still yesterday's date here right now."
"Ah, it must be getting pretty late then," Kim Dokja said. "I won't disturb you any longer."
Yoo Joonghyuk didn't consider Kim Dokja disturbing at all. He wouldn't mind talking for some more time. It wasn't often that they called and had a chat like this. But Kim Dokja was out with his friends.
What a shame.
"It's alright, Dokja-ssi, it wasn't a disturbance," said Yoo Joonghyuk. "And you don't have to apologize for missing tomorrow. You're free to cancel whenever."
"You too, Joonghyuk-ssi," Kim Dokja told him. "You don't have to invite me over every weekend. You can tell me if you're busy. You can even ask me to get you some food, I'll get it over for you."
Yoo Joonghyuk wasn't sure about Kim Dokja's cooking skills. Nor was he confident in Kim Dokja's dietary choices. . . But those Murim dumplings were alright, he supposed. And Kim Dokja coming to visit him with food, even if it tasted like shit, sounded nice.
"I'll keep that in mind, Dokja-ssi. . .You can get your work over too," Yoo Joonghyuk added. "Just let me know if there's anything I can help you with."
Kim Dokja chuckled.
"Thanks a lot for the offer, Joonghyuk-ssi," Kim Dokja said brightly. "But I'm alright. I've got this handled, really. Remember what I told you?"
"Yes. You asked me to watch you."
"Yep. So, just sit tight and watch. I'm feeling pretty confident these days, you know. . .Ah, maybe it's 'cause I have you."
"I'm glad," Yoo Joonghyuk said sincerely, moving the car again when the light turned green. "I'll be there whenever you need me."
"I really did hit the jackpot with my boss," Kim Dokja laughed and Yoo Joonghyuk felt himself smile a little. He could clearly imagine Kim Dokja's face in his mind.
Kim Dokja gave a sigh, ". . .I guess I should just stick to using stickers next time, hmm."
"If that's what you're used to, please go ahead," Yoo Joonghyuk told him.
"You can send me stickers too, Joonghyuk-ssi," Kim Dokja said and he could hear the grin he probably had on his face at the moment.
Stickers. . .Yoo Joonghyuk wasn't a tech illiterate, but he wasn't exactly familiar with this stickers thing either. What was that supposed to be?
He knew the gist of it, the functionality, but nothing else.
". . .Where exactly do you get these stickers, Dokja-ssi?" he asked.
Kim Dokja's silence lasted a few seconds and was then disrupted by a boisterous laugh that the man seemed to quell immediately. Uriel was biting into her fist to stop herself from making any noise, tears of mirth pooling in her eyes.
Yoo Joonghyuk felt his ears grow hot with shame.
"Joonghyuk-ssi," Kim Dokja choked out. "Are you sure you're thirty-five? Not sixty-five?"
He'd forgotten. As pleasant as Kim Dokja was, he could be a right menace at times. He was incredibly annoying when he started making fun of him and the only reason Yoo Joonghyuk let him off was because he had a rather endearing smile on his face when he did it.
But now he wasn't in front of him and it was started to piss him off a little.
"I'm thirty-four," he said grumpily.
"You're turning thirty five soon," Kim Dokja said cheerfully. "I won't forget your birthday, you know."
"Because it's the same as my cousin's," Yoo Joonghyuk spat out bitterly.
"Partially," said Kim Dokja. "But now it has twice the importance, since it's your birthday too, Joonghyuk-ssi."
Tsk. Smooth talker.
"So, you're calling me old," he said. He wasn't going to lose to Kim Dokja's sly words.
"I wasn't calling you old!" Kim Dokja said and Yoo Joonghyuk was two hundred per cent sure he had that cheeky grin on his face at the moment. "Why would you think that?"
"Isn't that exactly what you did?" Yoo Joonghyuk said testily. "You sure enjoy making fun of me, don't you, Dokja-ssi?"
"I'm not making fun of you, Joonghyuk-ssi. I would never!"
"That's a lie."
"Yes, that's a lie," Kim Dokja didn't even try defending himself. Not that it would have worked anyway.
"I'd totally band with Noona and even start a new company solely to make fun of you."
Yoo Joonghyuk let out a sharp exhale. Of course he would, they both would.
"Isn't it refreshing though?" Kim Dokja said. "Everyone's out for you because they think you're too young. How this for a change?"
"It's annoying," Yoo Joonghyuk said seriously.
Kim Dokja giggled some more.
"Oh, dear," he gasped and composed himself. "Please don't have me fired though. What a waste of effort that would be—"
"I told you, I won't fire you," Yoo Joonghyuk said sharply.
"It was a joke, Joonghyuk-ssi," Kim Dokja said nonplussed. "And even if you do, I'm sure you'll have a good reason for it."
"That's not—"
"Stickers!" Kim Dokja spoke over him. "Anyway, back to business. So, here's what you do. The messaging app, you have the keyboard. You'll see a little smiley on the side. Click on that, then you should have a few options."
Kim Dokja was giving him instructions and Yoo Joonghyuk regretted driving. He had just kept the possibility that they might end up having a video call and Kim Dokja would catch him not driving when that had been the excuse he had given for the call.
"It's what my friends use often," Kim Dokja was saying. "It's pretty interesting because I get to see different age groups text. Of course, the sample size is pretty small and texting styles can be influenced by others. I still think it's entertaining."
"That's news," Yoo Joonghyuk said. "It's not just web novels you find entertaining."
"I don't just read web novels all day, you know?" Kim Dokja huffed.
"If I find you at the office with your phone, it wouldn't be a web novel you're reading?"
"I told you, I'm not slacking off at work just yet," Kim Dokja said in response. "I'll give it a few more months."
"You're saying this to your CEO right now."
"I already told you I was a horrible employee. You hired me anyway."
"You're right, I did," Yoo Joonghyuk sighed.
"Are you regretting it?" Kim Dokja sounded excited for some reason.
"No," Yoo Joonghyuk said immediately. He didn't even need to think about it. "Never."
Kim Dokja took some time to answer again.
"That's reassuring," he said. ". . .I'll talk to you later, Joonghyuk-ssi."
"Of course. Nice talking to you, Dokja-ssi."
"Um...Bye," Kim Dokja sounded a little shy.
Well, yes, saying 'goodbye' would sound weird on a phone call between friends, wouldn't it? But it was something they didn't exactly say before. They usually waved, but they couldn't do that over a phone call.
Yoo Joonghyuk sat straighter in his seat. Something felt weird in his gut. An acid reflux? He'd eaten his meals on time and drank enough fluids though. Did he have something spoilt?
"Bye," he said, ignoring the way his tongue felt heavy all of a sudden.
Neither of them could end the call, they realised.
". . .Should I cut the call, Joonghyuk-ssi?" Kim Dokja said.
"Yes, please," Yoo Joonghyuk said. "Since I'm driving that will be more convenient."
"Ah, okay. Till next time, Joonghyuk-ssi."
"Till next time."
The call ended and the silence felt oddly dull.
"You're such a mess, it's unbelievable," Uriel opened her mouth and he wished the silence would return. He shouldn't have complained. The silence was great, please come back.
"So what if Dokja's going on a blind date? Why're you getting pissy if you're just friends?"
"I'm not," Yoo Joonghyuk said.
Uriel's eyes went wide and she whipped her head around to stare at him.
"You're not friends?" she said quietly.
"What? Of course, we are," Yoo Joonghyuk snapped. "I wasn't being...pissy."
"Right," Uriel drawled. "Of course. What did I expect?"
"Poor Dokja, getting stuck with you," she lamented. "Don't even know what stickers are? Tch!"
Yoo Joonghyuk ignored her.
Uriel always said that he was fooling Kim Dokja by putting on a show and pretending to be a nice person. But Yoo Joonghyuk felt he rarely ever pretended in front of Kim Dokja.
He was unusually polite to Kim Dokja, yes. Truth be told, Kim Dokja was the only one he was that polite to. It was too late to change that now and he didn't mind being nice to him either so he failed to see how that was an issue.
It probably had something to do with how they had met. Yoo Joonghyuk first started talking to Kim Dokja with the basic courtesy to a stranger he'd wanted to bed. Their next meeting was done under the pretext of giving him an apology, so he had to be polite again.
Getting drunk wasn't his plan, going to karaoke and actually having a good time hadn't even crossed his mind, not to mention blacking out and getting carried to Kim Dokja's hotel room and falling asleep with him.
And Kim Dokja hadn't taken advantage of him. . .Honestly, Yoo Joonghyuk was the one who was more likely to take advantage of a drunk Kim Dokja, but he got knocked out first that night for some reason. And Kim Dokja had done nothing to him. They even slept with all their clothes on, it was ridiculous.
He had no choice but to be nice to the man after that. And Kim Dokja made it very easy to be nice to him.
He wanted to keep a cordial relationship with Kim Dokja at first, and when it evolved into a friendship, he had no qualms about it. He quite enjoyed it, in fact.
Yoo Joonghyuk did not have any friends. As a child, he was forced to focus on learning and training to be the next head of the family and take care of all the affairs, he didn't have time to make friends, he didn't think he would have been allowed to either.
When he went to college, he had other things to attend to, his priorities were hardly drinking and enjoying youth like his peers. And business partners were hardly friends, he had to be on guard against them. It was every man for himself, he couldn't easily trust anyone. He had colleagues, enemies, or subordinates. Not friends. Even Uriel wasn't a friend, she was one of the very few people he trusted, but not close enough to be a friend.
Kim Dokja was his first and only friend.
But he was just one among Kim Dokja's many friends. While it bothered him, he kept heart, telling himself that he was the only one who knew about the little parts that Kim Dokja kept hidden from his other friends.
Yoo Joonghyuk did think that karaoke looked fun, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves when they got to it. But he didn't really get the chance to indulge in one until Kim Dokja. He had been dragged to a few karaoke rooms but no one approached him because it wasn't easy to do so. They put on a show for him instead, hoping it would impress him; it never did.
He didn't think he would have agreed if someone handed him the plastic microphone and asked him to sing along to some song either. The only reason he said okay to Kim Dokja's proposition to sing their night away was that it was just the two of them, getting drunk out of their wits. Who'd have thought it would actually be fun for him as well?
And once the first time was done, what image was left to maintain? He might as well enjoy himself while he was at it.
It was very enjoyable. He had a great time. Everything was enjoyable with Kim Dokja. He supposed it was the feeling of having a friend. He sure had missed out on a lot. Making his first friend in his early thirties was so ridiculous. But he was glad he managed to do so.
He was going to keep Kim Dokja close to him now. He didn't think he'd run into anyone as eccentric as Kim Dokja, no one was that compatible with him and Yoo Joonghyuk would hate it if he lost the feeling he had at the moment.
They were strangely similar, him and Kim Dokja, and that helped them get along easily.
It really was a shame he wasn't going to see Kim Dokja on Sunday. He would have to wait till next week now.
Uriel sighed and sat straighter. She seemed to sense that Yoo Joonghyuk's mood had dropped and that he was going to revert to the way he was without Kim Dokja around.