In These Arms [mxm]

Chapter 24 - Chanyeol POV: Dream sweetly

A/N: Hopefully not too long till we finish the end woohooooo. Gotta get some gd peace around here. Don't forget to comment and vote because it feeds my hungry soul and makes me keep writing. seriously loving you loyal readers more than you know and it makes me wanna be a loyal writer who keeps finishing these damn pesky books. 

Please enjoy <3333 

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"I told you I'm taking another day off. Whatever issues arise, handle it."

"Sir... I appreciate your trust, sir­... but I really think you need to come in."

There were considerable interruptions throughout the day that kept us behind in work. Tasks that I had entrusted to permanent staff; especially those I held in too high esteem, those who were incompetent to fulfil their roles while easily shirking off the responsibility to interns and new hires. In the end, we had to outsource many tasks to external contractors to get the work done. It was my own fault for neglecting my work and would have to be more careful from now on. It was a mistake I would not likely make again.

As for the disciplinary action on those particular staff, I had Mr. Kim refer them to human resources to deal with. Such things were outside of my concern. It was stressful and barely found time to make a simple phone call to Haneul, but he was a grown man whether he was nineteen or twenty-seven. Mr. Kim and I worked closely with the contractors to bring everything to scratch by sitting in on endless meetings, reorganizing documentation, archiving, conducting assessments and reports, and every other measure to ensure that nothing slipped through the cracks.

It was past seven PM when I dropped Mr. Kim to his home. We sat quietly inside my vehicle with nothing but the purr of the engine reverberating between us.

"I thought you would be mad with me," he said as he fiddled with his seatbelt.

"Not at all," I said. "This was all due to my own negligence thinking I could take leave without the necessary precautions. I will have you all properly trained and retrained so that such matters will not be overseen in my absence again."

"I still apologize for my part in it though," he said, voice filled with despondence. "You placed your trust in me and all I did was betray it."

I looked at the obvious guilt etched over his expression. One thing I had learned to appreciate about Mr. Kim over the years was his raw sincerity. He took great pride in the work he conducted for this company and carrying out a good name for it. When something would not work out as planned, or when he did not succeed under certain pressures, he would take such things very personally and endeavor to improve from there. And at such times, I would usually escort him to a hotel to help make him feel better. Likewise, he had been a great source of stress relief for me, too.

As we sat here, I knew it was the exact setting where we would usually set our desires into motions, although it was typically me to make the first move. However, tonight Haneul was at home waiting for me. When Mr. Kim did not try to move, I released his seatbelt and reached over for his door.

"I will see you back at work first thing," I said. "Get lots of rest tonight."

"You're... just going to leave me tonight?" he asked, as if surprised. "You don't want to do anything?"

"I have prior engagements waiting for me at home," I said, unwilling to face the sadness I knew Mr. Kim to be wearing.

"Chanyeol..." he murmured. "If you are already going to be late, then is not fine to just be a little while later? Will it be that obvious? Or... Are you planning to end this thing with me?"