Ice-heart

Ch- 5 Distraction

Taehyung's pov

I sigh and resist the urge to run a hand through my hair. This was a complication I definitely didn't need. The coming days were going to be busy enough without suddenly second-guessing where I was going and who I am meeting.

Maybe hiring Jung-kook had been a mistake. I had assumed that learning to be an assistant was easier than learning architecture; that he could learn on the job. But maybe I'd been wrong. I had been, often, when it came to assistants. Damn Rita had been lucky on her first try.

I return to the architectural model on the screen. There's something missing, something in the curve of the outer fixtures that doesn't work. At first, I'd thought it was a problem with proportions, but balancing that hadn't helped either.

The elevator dings. I click away the project, switching instead to the office building we're developing in the Boryeong.

Jungkook is standing in the doorway to my office. He'd worn a black suit to work today, complete with matching formal shoes, but that's gone now. He's in darkwash jeans and an oversized sweater. His face looks bare somehow... no makeup on. And his dark bangs frames his face and a little ponytail on top.

I frown at him. He looks beautiful, which is yet another distraction I don't need. Sure, I'd seen it before, when I interviewed him. But then he'd worn his beauty like armor, with sharp eyes and hair swept back. This time it's disarming-seeing him like he'd look on a Sunday morning.

He steps into my office uninvited, laptop under his arm. "I'm sorry again. Let me double-check this and I'll have it fixed in no time."

"See to it that you do."

He takes a seat at the large conference table in my office, still uninvited. Few people spend time in here apart from me. I can see how his eyes drift as he fires up his laptop, running across the bookshelves I have to the large model in the corner. It's covered by a sheet, but I still feel unsettled as he looks at it.

That project is for my eyes only.

He works away on his screen, fingers tapping occasionally against the keyboard. I try and fail to focus on my own screen.

"Do you always work this late?" Jungkook asks, voice cheery. I can't tell if it's fake or not. "It's midnight."

"Often, yes. A lot of people rely on us meeting our deadlines." I frown again. Why am I volunteering more information?

He nods, clicking away. "I can imagine."

"Which is why things like calendars can't go missing."

Jungkook's shoulders stiffen, but he doesn't say anything. We both work in tense silence for another few minutes before he sighs. "It's back. I accidentally unsubscribed us both to that particular calendar. It was a simple fix. Everything's still intact."

I open the email and scheduling program. He's right. All the information about my eight o'clock meeting is readily available to me again. My fingers fly across the keyboard, quickly taking a screenshot in case he does the same thing again.

"Don't let it happen again."

"I won't," Jungkook says. Displeasure is clear in his voice-like he's disappointed in me. I frown at him and find that he's wearing the same expression as well. "I'm sorry. It was a simple mistake."

"No mistakes are ever simple."

He crosses his arms over his chest, the sleeves of the sweater long enough to cover his hands. It's a vulnerable look, completely at contrast with the fierce determination on his face. "I'm sorry, but I think a mistake on one's first day is allowed."